Transatlantic updates

[chefchick]

Cantgetin- thank you so much for the updates (and the great news regarding the extension of DBE). I will be sailing on the October TA and the extra food specials will be very welcome when sailing for that many nights.  Can you give us any insight into “additional” entertainment, daily activities or parties that might be happening?  Thanks in advance 🥂

[cantgetin]

I've been saving the daily sheets....likely when I get home, I'll go thru them and list the entertainers. I'm not aware of any "extra" parties, but we do have some different things than we had in October.  In addition, we have a cruise group that has organized a bunch of things--VV gave us an exercise space and a conference room type space for a couple hours each day.  We have people teaching various styles of dance, a football coach lecturing on "American football," a book swap group meeting a few times to trace books, and many other groups getting together to enjoy or teach their interests.  Someone even put together a spread sheet so we could track it.  We will have a May the Fourth t shirt day, etc.  Anything people could think of was added to our list as a "let us know if you are interested.n VV offers several solo sailor get togethers, but we added more.  In October, we had people teaching knitting and crochet, dot painting, and other interests based on the people on board.

 

It might be worth mentioning that we are aware of a couple of cabins which have tested positive for covid.  The ship's policy is that everyone in that cabin is confined to the cabin until they have tested negative for two days.  A few crew members are choosing to mask, and crew must be vaccinated.  Sailors have no requirements or restrictions unless they test positive while on board.  

[MeganGC1983]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:26 AM, cantgetin said:

We are now close enough to Europe that my computer is automatically logging on to Cruise Critic UK, and on other sites all the ads are in Spanish.  I have to manually send it back to US sites, and some of those say that I can't reach them from my current location,

I’m guessing at this point you can’t post because of the US site issue? Trying to figure out the European CC logistics. Hope you are having a fabulous cruise either way. 

[cantgetin]

51 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I’m guessing at this point you can’t post because of the US site issue? Trying to figure out the European CC logistics. Hope you are having a fabulous cruise either way. 

Posting with no problem.  When I enter "Cruisecritic.com," t goes to the UK site with a link to press for the US site.  Click that link and I can do everything just like usual.

[MeganGC1983]

8 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Posting with no problem.  When I enter "Cruisecritic.com," t goes to the UK site with a link to press for the US site.  Click that link and I can do everything just like usual.

Wonderful. Thanks so much. I’m wanting to do a live from Resilient from Greece, so that’s great to hear. Enjoy. 

[Bigscottydawg]

Looking at booking this TA 2024, can someone comment on the 8 sea days and how the weather was (aside from the rain spout)? Was it warm enough to be on deck during the day much? Thanks :)

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, Bigscottydawg said:

Looking at booking this TA 2024, can someone comment on the 8 sea days and how the weather was (aside from the rain spout)? Was it warm enough to be on deck during the day much? Thanks 🙂

Totally wonderful.  We had one day with a bit of rain that didn't last long.  There is. hook on the balcony to attach the hammock to...this minimizes it getting wet as it is as far back as possible.

Cool nights on deck when the ship is moving, so you'll want a sweater or jacket of some sort.  Otherwise swimming weather every day, sometimes more sunny than other days, but always warm and nice.  I've been "deck walking" every morning in t-shirt and shorts.

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by cantgetin

[scubagal44]

8 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Wonderful. Thanks so much. I’m wanting to do a live from Resilient from Greece, so that’s great to hear. Enjoy. 

 

You shouldn't have any issues, I did a live from my Med sailing on Valiant in Oct and the main issues I had were with the slow internet speeds rather than anything on the CC end.

[MeganGC1983]

3 hours ago, scubagal44 said:

 

You shouldn't have any issues, I did a live from my Med sailing on Valiant in Oct and the main issues I had were with the slow internet speeds rather than anything on the CC end.

Thanks. I’d hate to start and then ghost everyone. 

[cantgetin]

Got off the ship today....😂. 20.80 Euros for cab from terminal to BCN for 2 people and lots of luggage.  We could have put 2 more in the large cab easily.  The folio was in my email before we were checked in at the airport.  The wait from the time we got outside till we had a cab was about 5 minutes. VV had awnings set up so we could wait out of the sun.  Interestingly, we left the terminal about 11 and there were already LOTS of embarking passengers lined up despite terminal arrival times not starting till 1:30.  Guess the coffee shop will be doing lots of business while they wait. We had to cut thru their lines to get to the taxi area.  For those who don't know, there is a plaza next to the VV terminal and a coffee shop on the other side of the plaza.  Our experience was that there is no waiting inside the terminal prior to 30 minutes before your terminal arrival time.  You can drop luggage early, either with VV personnel or with curbside porters.

Did breakfast as Razzle Dazzle today as we weren't in a hurry.  Service was slower than usual.  Sam commented that they were "short" 5 servers; I don't know if that was due to end of contract disembarkations or if they had been reassigned to The Galley for disembarkation day.  Still, well worth the time for a nice breakfast.  

It would be lovely if people would read the instructions for VV disembarkation rather than assuming what they'd done on other lines, but their issues didn't really affect me.  The terminal people in Barcelona were absolutely lovely at disembarkation, same as when we embarked from this port.  They were far better than the mess at Miami (which we have also encountered each time we've been there).  Immigration had multiple desks open, barely glanced at passports.  No Customs.  

To put travel to BCN in perspective....there was a group on our cruise who had early flights.  They originally booked a 6 person/6 suitcase van for 8am departure/ 55 Euros (plan was self disembarkation, van pick up at 7:45, will leave at 8 regardless of whether or not all were there).  They had a lot of interest, so were able to increase to a 13 person van for 80 odd Euros.  That's the best deal I've heard of for transportation.  Seems the VV transfers were rather disorganized and ran late...and cost $25 per person.  I may do a trip report later (think I'll get home first), but I'm open to any questions.

[Shaded Lady]

On 5/1/2023 at 12:12 PM, Rogueperson said:

I'm glad i found this thread.  I'm looking to book the transatlantic for next year, probably in the next two days or so once my TA gets pricing for next year on Scarlet Lady.  It will be my first one on Virgin, but the price is amazing!  I was a little hesitant to do such a long cruise on my inaugural Virgin cruise, but the price made it worth it. 

 

I'm new to this board, but I don't see many live threads.  I will more than likely do one while i'm onboard so that should be interesting.

 

Thanks for the preview.

@sid_9169 and @MeganGC1983 have both done live reviews from VV ships... check out their reviews- they're really good!

[cantgetin]

I did a lot of posts from the April TA.  It wasn't a daily review,  but more of answering questions about the cruise.  The pricing for April 2024 is unbelievable, especially if you can combine it with a MNVV discount/loot, and you'll qualify for a FL resident discount as well.  We love TAs and have done a total of at least 10, 2 on VV.

[Bigscotty]

Is there a good mix of vegetarian options available in the various restaurants. My adult daughter is a vegetarian (not vegan). She eats milk, eggs, cheese, etc, just not meat or fish. Will she be happy with the menu choices?

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, Bigscotty said:

Is there a good mix of vegetarian options available in the various restaurants. My adult daughter is a vegetarian (not vegan). She eats milk, eggs, cheese, etc, just not meat or fish. Will she be happy with the menu choices?

No one can say whether another individual will be happy or not, but there are a wide range of vegetarian menu options in the various restaurants.  Test Kitchen has 2 vegetarian menus, Razzle Dazzle is a "Plant Forward" restaurant with a few meat options.  Each of the other food locations had vegetarian options.  This is way more than I've seen on any other ship!

 

[CruisingWalter]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:53 AM, cantgetin said:

I did a lot of posts from the April TA.  It wasn't a daily review,  but more of answering questions about the cruise.  The pricing for April 2024 is unbelievable, especially if you can combine it with a MNVV discount/loot, and you'll qualify for a FL resident discount as well.  We love TAs and have done a total of at least 10, 2 on VV.

 

From what I've been told the Florida Discount Rate only applies if you book a cruise 45 days from sail date and it applies to Caribbean sailings. From VV's website:

 

"Treat yourself to our most inclusive and irresistible offer of 2023 when you sail within the next 45 days to the most gorgeous destinations across the Caribbean with our exclusive Florida Resident Rate. But hurry, this offer ends May 24th.

 

REGIONS: Caribbean"

Edited May 18, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[cantgetin]

Thanks for posting that......I'm not a FL res, so I looked quickly at the discount and sighed.  

[Rogueperson]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:53 AM, cantgetin said:

I did a lot of posts from the April TA.  It wasn't a daily review,  but more of answering questions about the cruise.  The pricing for April 2024 is unbelievable, especially if you can combine it with a MNVV discount/loot, and you'll qualify for a FL resident discount as well.  We love TAs and have done a total of at least 10, 2 on VV.

This is exactly why we jumped on it.  Our first TA, but not the longest cruise we've been on.  We were hesitant to book a new cruise line (to us) for such a long cruise, but that price could not be beat.  I'm hoping that they will extend the loyalty match, as we're Diamond Plus on Royal, but even they didn't, they're giving us a $600.00 bar tab already!!!

[cantgetin]

5 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

This is exactly why we jumped on it.  Our first TA, but not the longest cruise we've been on.  We were hesitant to book a new cruise line (to us) for such a long cruise, but that price could not be beat.  I'm hoping that they will extend the loyalty match, as we're Diamond Plus on Royal, but even they didn't, they're giving us a $600.00 bar tab already!!!

My first VV was the October 2022 TA.....and I got off the ship with 3 more booked.  I am not at all VV's main demographic--almost 70, somewhat conservative in my choice of activities, etc.  I loved....the fact that you can make this cruise anything you want it to be.  If you don't like loud parties, don't go,  If you don't like to dress up for dinner, go casual...but if you want to dress up, go for it.  I loved the food, the crew, the hammock, the "almost all inclusive," some of the entertainment, etc.

[princevaliantus]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:36 PM, cantgetin said:

Wifi has been quite good.   We have premium at no charge on 2 devices as part of Deep Blue Extras.  It is infinitely better than it was in October 2022.  We are on Starlink and I'm testing at 8 Mbps download and 7 upload.  

We had slow service  and mixed up items in Razzle Dazzle on Bimini day, but the past 2 days it has been a different crew in there and  it has been good. That first brunch left us looking at each other and hoping it wouldn't be 2 weeks of that!  

Self done entertainment...thru a social media group, we have organized dance classes in Latin, bellydancing, and ??, a book swap which will meet a couple of times, several events for solo cruisers (in addition to those provided by VV), a football coach doing lectures on "American football," etc.  From VV, we have book club, several game/card tournaments (today was Uno, yesterday was Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart), day camp crafts, various musical events, Bingo with Diva, Seahorse auction, a comedian....our plans for tonight are stargazing and a musical act.  I'll try to give more on events tomorrow.  I do know that they brought on at least 6 entertainers in addition to the VV crew to keep us occupied.  On October 2022, they only had 3.

Which ship is this?

[cantgetin]

57 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

Which ship is this?

Valiant is the only ship that has done the TAs so far.  Scarlet will do one in April 2024 as she heads to Europe for dry dock (dry dock is rumor, the sailing is for sure).  My comments were based on the most recent Valiant TA, April 2023.