Live - Valiant Lady Dec 2-10

[blarko]

3 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

This is what’s waiting for me at home tomorrow 

Ugggg back to reality 😔

[ceilidh1]

So sad! I missed the butter chicken. Who knew that dinner in the Galley ends at 9pm. But I can get all day breakfast! What??? I settled for flat bread with salmon and a sausage roll. It was fine but it was no butter chicken! Again, where is the simple communication? Most people don’t even know about the dinner special and the times are most definitely not posted anywhere!

[ceilidh1]

I needed to spend $75 remaining in sailor loot so I hit the stores. It’s so hard (for me) to spend money on a ship. Just nothing I want to buy. Can’t do duty free as no room in my checked bag. Zero interest in perfume, jewelry, make up or watches. So that really only left the virgin store. Even when it’s not really my money, I have a tough taste me justifying $60 for a Virgin logo hoodie…I grabbed stuff that seemed ok for the price -magnet, keychain, tea towel, cloth bag, water bottle. Even then I had $30 left. I didn’t realize the tattoo place had clothes - great tshirts for $45 (yikes) and hoodies for $85 (double yikes). I ended up getting a shirt and went a little over my loot amount. Of course bar tab can no longer be used for anything other than bar so even though I now owed like $15, I also still had $36 bar tab.,,

[ceilidh1]

So my evening went something like this..,approach a bar, get greeted by sometime met on the ship “oh, let me get you a drink. I have bar tab to use.” Rinse and repeat the entire night!!!

 

After a drink or two at On The Rocks we headed to Circus Disco, which was a new-to-me show and advertised as a warm up for Studio 72. It had the cast of Dual Reality and, while there were a few mishaps like dropping the juggling things and missing the hula hops, it was still fabulous! The main guy and girl dancer in this group are simply outstanding!

[ceilidh1]

Studio 72 followed after the Circus Disco and it was not the same show I saw on Scarlet. It actually wasn’t a show at all - just a DJ playing 70s-and early 80s music. I think the Circus Disco replaced the “show” portion. It was still fun with drinks coming from every angle…

[ceilidh1]

I really didn’t want to leave - most days our little group has closed The Manor down. I knew that if I stayed it would just mean more drinks and that would not be great for tomorrow. So, at 1am I bid my people a goodnight and headed back to my room. I think of all my cruises this one will make me the saddest to leave. I met do many people (many I don’t even remember meeting, but they remember me), had so much fun, crew and cast outstanding!!!

[ceilidh1]

And after 8 days of pretty much non stop drinking, several added fee events, and shopping with reckless abandon, this is what I owe!

[tbmrt]

11 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

They started OPA hour on all ships when they started sailing Greek Island Glow. Nice addition. 

You must have been reading my mind...I was wondering if the OPA hour would take place on our upcoming cruise from San Juan on VL.  Is it daily 4:30 - 6:30?

[tbmrt]

3 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

And after 8 days of pretty much non stop drinking, several added fee events, and shopping with reckless abandon, this is what I owe!

 

[tbmrt]

Did you find the prices for similar drinks consistent at the various bars?  

 

 

[tbmrt]

Favorite bartenders and waiters?  

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, tbmrt said:

You must have been reading my mind...I was wondering if the OPA hour would take place on our upcoming cruise from San Juan on VL.  Is it daily 4:30 - 6:30?

Yes. 4:50-5:30 for Opa

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, tbmrt said:

Did you find the prices for similar drinks consistent at the various bars?  

 

 

I found the pricing for drinks about the same as on land or other lines. Some of the high end stuff was insane but I don’t drink that so not sure if that was normal. There was a $150 glass of scotch, for example. Beers between $6-$8, cocktail between $11-$18 and wines between $9-$15 average. It was tough to spend all the bar tab for sure!

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, tbmrt said:

Favorite bartenders and waiters?  

George at The Manor was our main man as that’s where we ended up most! There were also some good guys at On The Rocks but we never really stayed in one bar long enough to have faves. Plus, many of them rotated through the bars too. Same with waitstaff- I tried to eat everywhere so no huge standouts but all were great! The Happenings Cast were the bomb. They were everywhere and so much fun. I think of scarlet I only recall one or two of them that stood out but on this ship they seemed to really gel as a team!

[ceilidh1]

And just like that we were back to where it all began.

[ceilidh1]

I popped up to the Galley to grab my last VV food. I went for small, fast, and simple. Let me tell you, I wish I had discovered this chocolate brioche before my last morning!

[ceilidh1]

Originally I planned on staying on the ship until around 10 but since I was up and ready I figured I would avoid the rush and get to my hotel day room and take advantage of it. I headed off around 8:45am and it was a breeze getting off, finding my bag, and going through facial recognition for customs. That’s when things started going south. I wanted a Lyft to take me to the hotel and, while there were signs telling you ride share pick up was lot E1, there was no actual sign that showed lot E1. One port employee sent us across the street to the parking lot. Another sent us back and told us we should wait at the stop sign at the end of the terminal. Thankfully I’m a fan girl and I spotted two of the Dual Reality dancers and Keith from Miss Behave waiting at this stop sign so I figured that must be the right spot.

 

i fan girled and told them (again) how amazing they had been. They were so appreciative and so humble. They confirmed that this was the spot to wait but also said that many Uber and Lyft drivers don’t actually know it so they often miss it and then have to circle back. The other issue with that spot was that port of Miami wifi doesn’t reach there. So I had to keep ducking back and forth to get signal and track my driver. Sure enough, she had no idea where to pick me up and drove right past. Ugh. She circled back and finally found the spot but then said her trunk was full so had no room for my suitcase!?! Huh? Wouldn’t you assume someone coming off a ship and heading to the airport would have bags? I managed to cram it into the back seat but what if I hadn’t been travelling alone?

[ceilidh1]

Easy process to check in at the hotel. Seems decent enough. I plan on napping, maybe going to Dolphin Mall, or just hanging at the pool. Then I can get showered and grab the free airport shuttle at 3:30.

 

Cambria hotel and suites Miami airport 

[ceilidh1]

I booked the room through DayUse and it was $75 for 9am to 4pm. Full use of pool, wifi, and an actual hotel room for napping, etc! Free shuttle to the airport goes every hour on the half hour. 

[ceilidh1]

The mall lost! Chilling at the pool!

[fethiyeden]

Enjoy your final afternoon at the pool.

Thanks for a fun packed live review.

[ceilidh1]

There is a restaurant at the hotel that I meant to be open 12-2 for lunch. Front desk said it won’t open until 5. Apparently nowhere to eat within walking distance. The shuttle will drop you anywhere within a 3 mile radius but it runs once an hour so I would have to wait another hour. So now my choice is Lyft there/back, order Uber eats to deliver, or just leave at 2:30 instead of 3:30 and eat at the airport. Now I’m regretting not eating a big breakfast on the ship!

[ceilidh1]

More from the hotel 

[ceilidh1]

Final thoughts: you can probably tell from reading that there were way more HITS than misses on this cruise. Were there one or two things that could have been better? Of course. Were they worth complaining about or did they ruin my trip? Absolutely not. Here are the hits and misses for me:

 

The Room: I was in central sea terrace 14150A. When I booked, I allowed VV to select it and thought nothing else of it. This is the way VV does it, but you CAN call in and request a room or go through an agent who can select a room. Had I thought about it more carefully, I would have changed it. The location was 100% perfect- right next to the stairs/elevator at mid ship and an easy walk up one flight to the Galley. For the most part it was quiet except that it was below the gym. If there were classes or folks lifting weights, it got LOUD. Usually early in the morning. I also had a lot of door slammers around me. Please people, it’s not hard to just hold onto the door and let it close slowly and quietly. Other than that, the room was great and I loved that the balcony had some cover/shade as it was partially built into the hull. I think lower floors don’t have that.

[ceilidh1]

The Communication (or lack of): I feel like it gets to be a job to find out basic things. The app lists some stuff but not others. It was impossible to find opening/closing hours of stuff without the printed piece of paper. It was often unclear that some of the events weren’t actually events so when you showed up it was a non event (I’m looking at you Pink Agave After Dark). Zero info about disembarkation and luggage. No information until too late about bag storage, etc. I met a LOT of first time virgin cruisers and the number one frustration from them all seemed to be not knowing about having to book dining, shows, etc and by the time they found out everything was full. If you’ve sailed before you know to keep checking or try walk in but if you haven’t, you don’t know that. I feel like VV could definitely do better with this stuff!