RESILIENT LADY - maiden arrival at Piraeus

[CretaMed88]

Virgin Voyages' RESILIENT LADY arriving at Piraeus Port for maiden time. This is the first ever time a VIRGIN VOYAGES' cruise ship arrives at the biggest Greek Passenger Port. RL will use Piraeus as homeport in her East Med cruises. Fair seas to RL !

 

 

[aronde]

We saw it yesterday at Santorini from our Celestyal Crystal ship. It looks nice but wow as also seen in the video above it really pumps out some exhaust. Way more than other large ships we have seen on our travels! 

[FFMilesJunkie]

She's on her shakedown cruise right now with VV Friends and Family on board.  Mermaiden in 3 days!!

[drewdawg199]

on the first two ships they have to constantly wipe down the exhaust dust off of the back decks and running track, kind of crazy. That's pretty much my only complaint about VV.

[jaxcruisinguy]

It’s interesting how much soot they produce as they’re supposed to have some special first of its kind diesel particulate filter. 

[singleflyer]

I'm surprised we haven't seen any reports from the ship yet.  I see a few reviews but nothing posted here.  I'll be interested to hear if there are any differences.  I am deciding between Resilient (Greek Glow) and Valiant (Irresistible Med) for this July.  Would lean towards Greek Glow but nervous about new ship hiccups.  

[cantgetin]

I've seen some reports on other sites as I have friends on the current Greek Glow.  Everything they've posted has been good.Basically they are posting about how much fun they are having and loving the new ports.

[singleflyer]

1 minute ago, cantgetin said:

I've seen some reports on other sites as I have friends on the current Greek Glow.  Everything they've posted has been good.Basically they are posting about how much fun they are having and loving the new ports.

 

I assume the boats are identical.  I'm leaning towards Resilient as it sounds like there are some new shows that I didn't see when I was on Scarlet. 

[jon81uk]

6 minutes ago, singleflyer said:

 

I assume the boats are identical.  I'm leaning towards Resilient as it sounds like there are some new shows that I didn't see when I was on Scarlet. 

The ships are broadly identical, from posts I’ve seen there is a new art photo spot between grounds club and social club. 
Razzle Dazzle has a new evening menu too. Plus all new shows.

[jaxcruisinguy]

13 minutes ago, singleflyer said:

 

I assume the boats are identical.  I'm leaning towards Resilient as it sounds like there are some new shows that I didn't see when I was on Scarlet. 

The desk lamps in the cabin are new, curtains and closet curtain. Carpet also looks like a different weave. The furniture in the social club is identical to valiant but different than scarlet. Each ship has unique decor/artwork in the elevator lobbies. Scarlet has coral artwork, valiant coded nautical flag signals and I’ve seen resilient is the most boring just some geometric colored shapes. 

Edited May 26, 2023 by jaxcruisinguy

[Fogcityca13]

1 hour ago, singleflyer said:

I'm surprised we haven't seen any reports from the ship yet.  I see a few reviews but nothing posted here.  I'll be interested to hear if there are any differences.  I am deciding between Resilient (Greek Glow) and Valiant (Irresistible Med) for this July.  Would lean towards Greek Glow but nervous about new ship hiccups.  

JoJo’s World and Jthenomad (The Shiplife) both did some great vlogs on the mermaidin voyage. They do have video of the new shows including the up charged show Another Rose.
 

There are a few regular folks that post here that have upcoming trips planned. I won’t be on until July.

[MeganGC1983]

I’ll start a LIVE review next week. Sailing 6/4 on Greek Island Glow. 

[Fogcityca13]

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I’ll start a LIVE review next week. Sailing 6/4 on Greek Island Glow. 

Looking forward to it! We leave in 41 days.

[_tacocat_]

I’ll be on starting tomorrow! Super excited to see some familiar happenings cast faces!!!!

[neverendingcruising]

Very similar, with the minor differences pointed above. Another change is the tattoo shopped moved back in the corner by Extra Virgin. Where the tattoo shop used to be is a logo merchandise shop. 

 

There's also no jetway type thing in Athens so you board and leave the sailing on deck 4 like any other port of call. 

 

We have Deep Blue and noticed that the WiFi and the coffee never showed up on our bill at all which was nice. Previously it felt like it took forever to come off the bill or you had to bother sailor services. Not sure if that's just on Resilient or a fleet change. 

[singleflyer]

11 minutes ago, neverendingcruising said:

Very similar, with the minor differences pointed above. Another change is the tattoo shopped moved back in the corner by Extra Virgin. Where the tattoo shop used to be is a logo merchandise shop. 

 

There's also no jetway type thing in Athens so you board and leave the sailing on deck 4 like any other port of call. 

 

We have Deep Blue and noticed that the WiFi and the coffee never showed up on our bill at all which was nice. Previously it felt like it took forever to come off the bill or you had to bother sailor services. Not sure if that's just on Resilient or a fleet change. 

My wifi never showed up on Scarlet in April, so I'm thinking it may be fleet-wide.  Didn't order coffee so not sure about that.  

[neverendingcruising]

Oh, and Persephonne was fantastic. Dare I say better than Duel Reality? It's at least a tie.  

[cantgetin]

We had the same experience of Deep Blue charges never showing up on our wallet at all on Valiant in October 2023.  Yes, it was a nicer way to do things!

Interesting that that tattoo shop on Valiant was over by the hair salon.  Valiant used to have 2 logo shops, but one turned into a Louis Vuitton purse shop. Overall, I wasn't thrilled with the new company that is running the shops; there was very little we'd even consider!  Several of us on board had a chat about things we would have purchased had it been available!

Edited May 27, 2023 by cantgetin

[Fogcityca13]

5 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

We had the same experience of Deep Blue charges never showing up on our wallet at all on Valiant in October 2023.  Yes, it was a nicer way to do things!

Interesting that that tattoo shop on Valiant was over by the hair salon.  Valiant used to have 2 logo shops, but one turned into a Louis Vuitton purse shop. Overall, I wasn't thrilled with the new company that is running the shops; there was very little we'd even consider!  Several of us on board had a chat about things we would have purchased had it been available!

Interesting info on the shops. I saw that Lucy from cruising as crew, ended her contract early and will be leaving Virgin.

 

I’m interested to hear how the embarkation and disembarkation process is. Debating on getting a cab form the ship to our hotel or arranging a car with welcome pickups.

[singleflyer]

On 5/27/2023 at 9:38 AM, Fogcityca13 said:

I’m interested to hear how the embarkation and disembarkation process is. Debating on getting a cab form the ship to our hotel or arranging a car with welcome pickups.

 

I'm very interested in this, and can't find any info on here about embarkation at Piraeus.  I have Deep Blue Extras.  But clearly this is a very different port than Terminal V in Miami.  

 

I think I read somewhere that it uses Terminal A in Piraeus. 

 

@alpencoolcruiser @MeganGC1983 @_tacocat_ Hopefully will report back!

[_tacocat_]

13 minutes ago, singleflyer said:

 

I'm very interested in this, and can't find any info on here about embarkation at Piraeus.  I have Deep Blue Extras.  But clearly this is a very different port than Terminal V in Miami.  

 

I think I read somewhere that it uses Terminal A in Piraeus. 

 

@alpencoolcruiser @MeganGC1983 @_tacocat_ Hopefully will report back!

We left from c the other day, but there were 2 other ships loading that day.

 

For folks that got there early, they had tents set up (enclosed ones with AC, like you might see at a summer “outdoor” wedding).  You checked your bags with a porter, verbally checked in with someone at the desk there, and they directed you to one of the tents.  I believe one was for rockstars and other VIPs, and I think deep blue.

 

you sit there for a while and wait for someone to come check you in (that was the most stressful part! They’d come around and you’d think you were next, then someone would sit between you and the checker-inner.) at some point, they called everyone into the actual terminal.  If you had your wristband, you just went to security, then immediately to the ship.  It boards on 4 with pretty minimal fanfare, so it’s a little less anticlimactic than Miami.

[singleflyer]

20 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

We left from c the other day, but there were 2 other ships loading that day.

 

For folks that got there early, they had tents set up (enclosed ones with AC, like you might see at a summer “outdoor” wedding).  You checked your bags with a porter, verbally checked in with someone at the desk there, and they directed you to one of the tents.  I believe one was for rockstars and other VIPs, and I think deep blue.

 

you sit there for a while and wait for someone to come check you in (that was the most stressful part! They’d come around and you’d think you were next, then someone would sit between you and the checker-inner.) at some point, they called everyone into the actual terminal.  If you had your wristband, you just went to security, then immediately to the ship.  It boards on 4 with pretty minimal fanfare, so it’s a little less anticlimactic than Miami.

 

Thanks!  So as a Deep Blue Extra, what time would you think it would be reasonable to arrive?  1:00?  1:15?  And if you want to carry on your own luggage, is that allowed at this port?  

[_tacocat_]

They didn’t really start checking people in with bands until about 1:40 (I think?), so after 1 is probably a good time.  I did see some folks bringing their own bags, but we just opted to keep backpacks and give the porters our roller bags.

[alpencoolcruiser]

13 hours ago, singleflyer said:

 

I'm very interested in this, and can't find any info on here about embarkation at Piraeus.  I have Deep Blue Extras.  But clearly this is a very different port than Terminal V in Miami.  

 

I think I read somewhere that it uses Terminal A in Piraeus. 

 

@alpencoolcruiser @MeganGC1983 @_tacocat_ Hopefully will report back!

As what @_tacocat_ mentioned we boarded from Terminal C. They were pretty much sticking to the boarding times assigned while waiting at the tent. Anyway was pleasantly surprised our luggage were waiting for us when we went to the cabin after embarkation.      

 

We took a cab for a 3km ride and one taxi driver wanted 10 Euros while another charged 7 Euros. I would advise to use either Uber or FreeNow app for getting around with taxis. I use it to reference how much the cost would be. 

 

[neverendingcruising]

Yes, the taxis were crazy! We asked a taxi at the hotel we stayed at and he said it would be 30 Euros to the port. Went through Uber app (which just orders a taxi) and it was 16 Euros!