New JLo commercial

[cantgetin]

This is so bad that it is almost enough to make me not want to cruise VV again.  In fairness, we were two of the 4000 passengers who were "inconvenienced" when she changed her filming dates to a date that interfered with our cruise, causing me to not have warm feelings toward her.   I understand that there was quite a bit of negativity reported to VV about that and am somewhat surprised that VV has been reported to have renewed her contract.  The concept of an AI phone call to invite someone to cruise is really no different than the Mickey Mouse calls that DCL has done for years.  So much for VV being different.  

[_tacocat_]

yeah i don't get it.  invest the money into the hard and soft product, not some gimmicky partnership with an absolute diva (and not the good kind like carlos or titi kaka 😜)

 

that limitless voyage was such a turnoff, and i would have been so peeved if i were on it with a bunch of self-proclaimed "girl bosses" and women's empowerment panels.  for reference, i'm a youngish but senior-level woman in a very male dominated field haha.  that cute little addition minimizes women's accomplishments.  i could go on for hours about this...

[cantgetin]

I totally agree, tacocat.  I am an older woman who spent my career in what was then a heavily male dominated field (although that is changing). Only 15% of my grad school class was female but a post-doc fellowship slotted me into a top position almost from the beginning.  I can't see what JLo adds to VV at all, unless Tom and Richard just like having a meal with her.  And she must be in trouble as I've recently seen her dong ads for other companies as well.   However, the last time I was in LA, there was a huge billboard with her name on it. 

Not sure I want to see the 4th quarter 2024 schedule prices that are rumored to be coming out tomorrow.  Dump her and take $100 off the cruise fare!

[TYCruise]

Supposedly she's an investor in Virgin Voyages, so I doubt she'll be going anywhere anytime soon.  I actually find her likeable in the spot, but understand that it won't appeal to everyone.

[lisabucsfan1]

2 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

 

that limitless voyage was such a turnoff, and i would have been so peeved if i were on it with a bunch of self-proclaimed "girl bosses" and women's empowerment panels.  for reference, i'm a youngish but senior-level woman in a very male dominated field haha.  that cute little addition minimizes women's accomplishments.  i could go on for hours about this...

 

 

I was on the limitless cruise and it was not a turnoff for me at all. I'm in a historically male-dominated industry as well (IT/software) and at a senior level. (that is still not common for most women in the workplace). The cruisers did not have to participate in any of the activities and those that did were met with women uplifting women - something that is most definitely lacking everywhere, not just the workplace.

 

While it was a shame that JLo herself wound up not attending the sail away party (she was never planned for anything else), I am still not sure how 4000 passengers were inconvenienced when the ship itself only holds ~2800 or so? 

[jon81uk]

25 minutes ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

am still not sure how 4000 passengers were inconvenienced when the ship itself only holds ~2800 or so? 

That had nothing to do with the limitless voyage. The filming for the AI commercial was done just before Valiant Lady left for the transatlantic in April. The affected people were those who had to get off the ship early on changeover day and those who had to get onboard later, hence the 4K as it affected two sailings worth of guests. 

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

 

 

 

While it was a shame that JLo herself wound up not attending the sail away party (she was never planned for anything else), I am still not sure how 4000 passengers were inconvenienced when the ship itself only holds ~2800 or so? 

There were 2000 passengers on the sailing before ours who were required to disembark early and another 2000 on my cruise who had their embarkation times changed from 1:30 to 2:45 or later depending on what their original time was.  We were given less than 2 weeks notice on this.  There was a huge mess at the terminal and the worst embarkation we've seen.  We got an incredible run around at the terminal as the VV employees didn't seem to know what they were supposed to be doing.  All was fine when we finally got to the second floor.  After boarding, sections of the ship were closed off; that was not an issue.

In addition, we were told that crew was required to disembark that morning and be off the ship for a few hours, meaning they were not able to get ready for the new cruisers.

Is it the end of the world?  No.  Was it a pain trying to arrange late check out from hotel, re-arrange transportation to the terminal, etc and then deal with the absolute mess at the terminal--yes.

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by cantgetin

[lisabucsfan1]

12 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There were 2000 passengers on the sailing before ours who were required to disembark early and another 2000 on my cruise who had their embarkation times changed from 1:30 to 2:45 or later depending on what their original time was.  We were given less than 2 weeks notice on this.  There was a huge mess at the terminal and the worst embarkation we've seen.  We got an incredible run around at the terminal as the VV employees didn't seem to know what they were supposed to be doing.  All was fine when we finally got to the second floor.  After boarding, sections of the ship were closed off; that was not an issue.

In addition, we were told that crew was required to disembark that morning and be off the ship for a few hours, meaning they were not able to get ready for the new cruisers.

Is it the end of the world?  No.  Was it a pain trying to arrange late check out from hotel, re-arrange transportation to the terminal, etc and then deal with the absolute mess at the terminal--yes.

 

Oh!!! Yeah totally misread the original comment. My apologies 

[CrazyTrain2]

Gimmicky and off-brand.

 

No thank you, Jenny down the dock.

[cantgetin]

I know some people were not pleased with the "no kids" commercials' I found them cute.  I liked the "Now We're Voyaging" as it hit the demographic that VV is attracting right at their current average sailor age of 43 while showing some who appeared to be younger; I thought some of the early ads were too youthful and made it look like a ship full of 20 somethings.  This latest one just doesn't cut it.

[Cloud9 Bob]

I found it overly complicated and busy to the eye. Millions spent and the message missed. I'd rather see a pretty skating pro glide backwards.

[CruisingWalter]

The actual Jen AI is horrendous. I tried it out just to see how it works. The scenes are bad, she sounds like the microphone is on the floor 30 feet from her in the manor entrance and the stitching is incredibly poor and clunky.  As someone who spent 30 years in video/film production and marketing and has created projects that include video stitching, this is just horrible. The commercial is 1000% better than the actual application. 

[CrazyTrain2]

Time to put Jenny down in the box.

[Cloud9 Bob]

On 7/2/2023 at 7:47 AM, CruisingWalter said:

The actual Jen AI is horrendous.  

After reading this Walter, I decided to try it too. You were spot on. The names only seem to work if they are common. I tried some unusual, but not totally far out derivations and Jenny reverts to calling you sailor. The program runs choppy and frequently stalls. So funny because IT has never been a VV strong suit. They have enough trouble keeping their sailing app running smoothly. So what do they do? "Hey guys and gals...lets create something that taxes even a well managed IT system. " LOL.

[CastleCritic]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

After reading this Walter, I decided to try it too. You were spot on. The names only seem to work if they are common. I tried some unusual, but not totally far out derivations and Jenny reverts to calling you sailor. The program runs choppy and frequently stalls. So funny because IT has never been a VV strong suit. They have enough trouble keeping their sailing app running smoothly. So what do they do? "Hey guys and gals...lets create something that taxes even a well managed IT system. " LOL.

I wondered about that, I gave it unusual but perfectly appropriate prompts and didnt hear any of it, just sounded like a generic commercial.

[CruisingWalter]

17 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

So what do they do? "Hey guys and gals...lets create something that taxes even a well managed IT system. " LOL.

 

To me it almost makes the brand look desperate. Like they're having trouble filling the ships so let's launch a gimmick to get people to notice us. It's really bad. The commercial is fabulous, a lot of fun, but the actual AI feature, meh. 🙂  

[CrazyTrain2]

I'm surprised they released it.  Good companies learn to fail fast.  VV tried something new - great, innovative, but when it fails you kill it quick.  And you certainly kill it before it adversely affect the Brand.  VV has gotten a reputation for a completely glitchy website (pre-boarding).  Instead of putting resources into fixing their obvious shortcoming they go for this insanity.  It's a very poor judgement call by management.

[cantgetin]

Yeah.....overall, I'm  impressed with the product on board, but far less with upper management and their tech/shoreside efforts.  And the entire JLo thing strikes me as someone  in management wanting to have dinner with her.....I see no benefit to the brand and her most recent filming on Valiant was a pain to everyone she inconvenienced.  She adds nothing and I'm sure they are paying her a small fortune.

[shubsens]

Just watched it and it was funny and done well.

[LibratPDX]

I haven't seen the commercial but find the idea cringey at best.  She's known for being a high-maintenance diva.  I work in a heavily male-dominated field (longshore) and don't feel that her representation is in any way empowering.  She is clearly buddies with Branson because there's really no point.  

 

And it is peculiar that as high tech as VV likes to be (LOVE the tablet and options for cabin service at the door), you would think their website AND app would work better.  But they have STILL not updated the website to show loyalty information, and there are constant complaints about the app.  And why is it that very little detail is visible on the website and most must be done on the app?  Even CCL lets you do a lot on the website.  

[Cloud9 Bob]

16 hours ago, LibratPDX said:

 

And it is peculiar that as high tech as VV likes to be (LOVE the tablet and options for cabin service at the door), you would think their website AND app would work better.

l have wondered that so many days. I first sailed TSL in June of 2022 with a 1200 passenger load. I purposely chose the basic Wi-Fi onboard. With the occasional phone reboot, I got along pretty well and even made successful Face Time calls home. Fast forward to June of 2023 with a 2800 passenger load and ship basic Wi-Fi was choppy, bogged down, stalled and was barely usable. Obviously they made zero improvements and also were having difficulty handling a full ships IT requirements. All this should have been worked out before the ship was christened. The tech is there. VV for some reason didn’t use it. They also began their journey into the cruise industry hawking the line to Millennials and what’s the first thing Millennials require? Reliable fast Internet! 😀

[cantgetin]

What is really not fun is when the crew apps go down so they can't be used to order in the Galley, etc.  We've had crew in restaurants and Galley taking orders on paper and not really knowing how to do it.  Fortunately, it doesn't seem to last long.

The stupid website is still a mess; fortunately IT talked me thru the usual problem, so I can fix things from my end at least some of the time.  

[LibratPDX]

On 6/30/2023 at 3:13 PM, cantgetin said:

I know some people were not pleased with the "no kids" commercials' I found them cute.  I liked the "Now We're Voyaging" as it hit the demographic that VV is attracting right at their current average sailor age of 43 while showing some who appeared to be younger; I thought some of the early ads were too youthful and made it look like a ship full of 20 somethings.  This latest one just doesn't cut it.

Haha, I LOVE the "no kids" commercials, especially the ones with kids pissed off they have to wait until they're 18 to cruise VV 😛   So many people are put off by the vibe of the commercials making it look like the passengers are 20-30 somethings when most are 40-50 plus, but it varies so much.  I am a solo senior (62) not looking to hook up, IDGAF about the ages of my fellow sailors, haha!

[cantgetin]

I thought the "no kids" was cute, and liked the "now we're voyaging" specifically because it showed a much wider age range.  I probably would have tried VV much sooner than I did if their early on ads hadn't made it look like a party ship for 20 somethings cruising on daddy's money.  The real age range works great for me (I don't care as long as there aren't kids), and the behavior is certainly not all "party animals."  That option exists, but so do many others.  

Now if we could just get rid of the few who smoke on balconies.....

[genian_travels]

Good grief, where to begin….?

 

Firstly, I was on the transatlantic this was filmed on in April. I’m so tired of hearing people banging on about how JLo “inconvenienced 4000” people. I’ve posted at length already on the relevant thread about what actually happened and why, so won’t repeat it all - but the reality is sailors on the previous cruise were required to disembark an hour earlier than usual - ie by 9am instead of 10am - and boarding for the transatlantic began at 3pm instead of 2pm.  The sense of entitlement that this hour change massively inconvenienced people at the start of their 15-night cruise is staggering. Two weeks’ notice was ample.

 

The “mess” people complained of at the port was because people ignored the advisory to not arrive before 3pm, and just turned up anyway whenever they wanted - causing huge numbers of people everywhere to deal with. Not Virgin or JLo’s fault at all. Some negative experiences mentioned on CC were related to specific needs and not representative of the general experience.

 

So onto the commercial and the AI tool. Given they only had 12hrs to film everything in all the various locations, with filming set ups and hair/make-up/costume changes - at least 7 I could see - I wouldn’t expect anything more than what was delivered and impressed they managed what they did.

 

My name isn’t in the database - but then it’s never on mugs or keychains or other souvenirs. Others in my situation have likely accepted it by now and this instance isn’t going to spark any rage that will turn them off the brand.

 

Yes it’s a gimmick - they’re jumping on a popular trend that young people enjoy - but if you think it’s off-brand and not aimed at the right people, you probably don’t understand the brand or target market - and you’re probably not the target market either. In terms of trying to be different and unique… well, no other cruise line is doing it…

 

People who complain Virgin should be spending money on fixing tech rather than marketing campaigns… there isn’t only one pot of money across the whole company. It’s split across multiple departments and marketing can do as they wish with theirs - as can tech dev. They likely won’t have a clue what the other is doing. And for all you know, the latter is working on fixing on tech.

 

I think a lot of comments about JLo are clearly clouded by personal opinion - but her role with Virgin is akin to celebrity godmothers on other lines. They serve no real purpose other than a photo and marketing opportunity - but at least JLo has more skin in the game.