Virgin curious? Celebrity sailor tries a new cruise line

[JackE]

Apologies for a rather long review! Read at your own risk!🤪

 

As a frequent Celebrity sailor (Edge, Apex, Ascent and Solstice ships in the last few years), I thought I would share my basic thoughts of sailing on Virgin Voyages last week with my DH. We sailed on the Valiant Lady out of San Juan through the Eastern Caribbean on a 7 day voyage. We had a basic Sea Terrace room (balcony), with the famous red hammock. And a huge selling point for the cruise line is that there is no one under the age of 18 (we saw lots of risqué t-shirts on Day One pointing that out).

 

Pre-cruise

Virgin allows the general cruiser (non Rock Star suite guest) to reserve dining 45 days out from the sailing (Rock Stars are given 60 days out). As you have probably heard by now, the app is very glitchy and not at all user friendly. I stayed up until midnight the day before the reservations were opened up to book the restaurant reservations, but alas, I could not get the app to cooperate. I wound up making the dinner reservations early the next morning. I tried to anticipate show times, but as it turns out, I was able to at least book the restaurants we wanted for the corresponding nights.

 

Virgin does not have specialty restaurants (all dining options are free to all guests), but you need a reservation to be accommodated.  Based on research, I heard that we would be able to modify times once we got on board, so at least that lessened the anxiety! 🙏

 

We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan the day before the cruise, which was a 4 minute walk to the Muelle 4, the pier terminal for Virgin. It was a little pricey, but we splurged as it was my birthday! We arrived in the afternoon, had dinner in Old San Juan (don’t ask), and the next morning walked to the famous fort (El Morro) which offered great views of the city and our ship at the pier. As we had a noon checkout, we went back to the hotel, and dragged our bags across the street to the luggage drop off.

 

Embarkation

We had selected 2:15 pm as a boarding time (the earliest we could get once boarding times were made available). Those with Deep Blue Extras, Splash of Romance, and Rock Star status could board earlier. We were told that there was a chance that we could get on board earlier, so we decided to get to the port around noon. We waited in line to check our luggage (they don’t provide tags in advance, they tag your bags at that time with your cabin number). We tipped the porter, and then tried to board the ship. No luck – we wound up waiting 1 hour 45 minutes on the sidewalk outside the makeshift terminal (luckily with a wall to lean on, and out of the sun!). We had some snacks that we had bought from Walgreens, which is in the same building as the Sheraton, so we didn’t go hungry or thirsty. There were a few of us waiting, so we weren’t alone. They finally let us in around 2 pm.

 

We walked through the pier building, up an escalator, and waited in line to check in and receive our wrist bracelets. These bracelets act like a sea pass card – it opens your cabin door, and with it you can purchase drinks and check in to your shows and excursions. After check in, we were led to security, passed our bags through the electronic surveillance, and boarded the ship!

 

All rooms are ready when the passengers are allowed to board, so we could have gone straight to our cabin. Instead, we headed to Razzle Dazzle, one of the restaurants on board so we could modify some dinner reservations. While in line, we accessed the ship’s WiFi (with the help of one of the crew as it wasn't easy), and booked our shows. We booked dining for 6 of the 7 nights, and left the one open night for a casual pizza/Galley evening.

After settling the dining reservations, we headed out to find our cabin.

 

This entire experience (booking dinner reservations, booking shows, trying to get on the ship’s WiFi) was a complete departure from the Celebrity way of cruising. We like to have things scheduled and settled before we get on board, so it was a little hard for me to relax until all these things were done (Type A controlling much???). I could see that having a suite and sailing as a Rock Star would be much easier (much like being a Retreat guest), but we made it work.

 

The ship is quite beautiful and modern, with 2700 passengers (about a Solstice class size??). It’s a little tricky to navigate, with dead ends on almost every non-passenger cabin deck. We may have finally gotten the hang of it by the last day, but we’ll never know…🤷‍♂️

 

Cabin

The cabin was smallish, especially the bathroom, but we were able to put everything away (2 checked bags and carry-ons each), and then store the bags under the bed. Like Celebrity suites, the room was electronically controlled, this time by a tablet that sat on the desk. You could control the lights, curtains, TV, A/C, etc. We never could figure out how to darken the tablet for sleeping, so we just took it out of its charging dock, and put it face down on the desk.  

 

Dining

This is where Virgin shines. In our opinion (and food is completely subjective as we all know), the food was amazingly good. Instead of a buffet, they have The Galley on Deck 15. There are about a dozen food stalls/areas that specialize in various genres: all day breakfast, salads, breads, pastries, Bento boxes/sushi, desserts, noodles, tacos, burgers, specialty coffees, fresh fruit, etc. The food is all freshly made to order, so nothing is getting stale. Even the free drip coffee (Intelligentsia) was fantastic, and better than the coffee served on Celebrity.

 

Other free options included made to order pizza (not slices that have been sitting for a while), ice cream, and other treats. For example, there were lots of food in other areas of the ship: mezze plates in the Dock, wings, pretzels and popcorn at the Social Club, frozen pop bars at the Galley (frozen chocolate banana pops!).

 

There were also a few stations of “grab and go” offerings that you could eat now or take to your cabin for later (every cabin has an empty refrigerator). These items included Caesar or roast chicken salads, charcuterie boxes, desserts, trail mix, veggie or smoked turkey sandwiches with chips, etc. You could honestly never go hungry on a Virgin cruise.

 

Also, every cabin has two carafes of water, that gets filled every day by your steward. We brought a water bottle from home for excursions and gym workouts, that we filled in lots of different places on the ship. There are no plastic bottles of water on the ship - it's a Virgin thing.

 

The dining establishments we enjoyed on board included Extra Virgin, the Italian restaurant. I had the most amazing spaghetti Carbonara with freshly made pasta. I got the half order, because we started with the romaine salad, meatballs and charcuterie plate. Then for dessert I ordered the Affigato, which was prepared tableside. Delish!

 

The Wake is a steak restaurant, where we splurged on a Tomahawk steak that we split (it had an upcharge). Razzle Dazzle is a vegan-forward restaurant, but we ordered from the “naughty” side: lamb shank and fried chicken. And Pink Agave is a Mexican-inspired restaurant that has homemade guacamole and Mexican street corn, along with lots of great entrees.

 

We passed on two of the restaurants, mostly because of our palates and our culinary preferences (Test Kitchen and the Korean-inspired Gumbae).  

 

Honestly, all of these restaurants are as good as Eden, Fine Cut, Rooftop Garden Grill and Raw on Five, and at no extra charge.

 

Everyone has a bar tab, so there are no drink packages (and no one trying to upsell you on board!). The drinks are reasonably priced (I live in NYC so I don’t have a great perspective on this). And there are lots of bars, with specialty drinks aplenty. There’s even a Champagne bar, that also serves high tea in the afternoons (for an extra charge).

 

Activities and Entertainment

There are a multitude of activities for folks that enjoy that kind of entertainment: trivia, bingo, tastings, etc. And the fitness/exercise offerings are great – lots of cardio and weight machines, classes of yoga, roller exercises, stretching, bungee workouts, 90s boy band dance workouts, and a track at the top of the ship for walking/running. The wellness offerings can keep you occupied without ever leaving the ship. We did spend a couple of hours one day in the Redemption Spa – dry sauna, plunge pools, heated marble slabs, steam sauna, Himalayan salt room, and a mud treatment for your entire body. And only $49 during a port day. Good value.

 

The shows are ok – a little naughty and full of double entendres. The resident drag queen has a show (the fabulous diva Carlos), which was a lot of fun. There’s an acrobatic show called Duel Reality, a Cirque take on Romeo and Juliet. The Red Room, the major entertainment venue, can magically change from a proscenium traditional theatre, to a performance space with moveable platforms and a dance floor, to two facing sets of seating. And there’s live music all around the ship. The casino, while small, offers table games, live craps and roulette, as well as lots of slot machines. Overall, we had fun while on the ship, and the only sea day was chock-full of things to do.

 

The shows can’t compare with the production shows on the Edge class series, nor does it try to. It’s a very successful niche style of entertainment on board the Valiant Lady.

 

Ports

The ports were typical for the Eastern Caribbean: Tortola, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Antigua. It seemed like most of the guests were interested in the beaches: sunning, swimming, snorkeling and partying. As we don’t like to spend too much time in the sun (due to past occurrences of skin cancer), we opted for some different kinds of excursions. We did an amazing aerial tram through the rain forest in St. Lucia, as well as a guided tour of the island of Barbados. Very fun.

 

For the excursions, there are no printed tickets. It says on your app what time to report to the shore excursion desk, and once you have checked in with your bracelet, you receive a laminated card with your group number. Then you wait until your group number is called in the main atrium area (the Roundabout). Easy as pie.

 

Disembarkation

The day before our cruise ended, we got a notice in the app to sign up for a disembarkation time. We chose the latest that was offered for a regular guest, which was 9:45 am (our flight home was 1:10 pm, so we had plenty of time to collect our bags and get to the airport). We went to the Galley for a leisurely breakfast, and had our coffee and the typical great food once again. After breakfast, we went back to the room, got our carry on bags, and left the ship. The bags, which we left in the hallway the night before, were organized by deck numbers. As everyone had a scheduled time to disembark, there were no announcements, no numbers being called, a very civilized way of leaving the ship. In fact, after day one and the call for everyone to take care of their muster drill, there weren’t any announcements at all. No cruise director, no captain, nothing about the ship being cleared in port.

 

Would we go again? Probably. Would be nice to be in a suite next time, and have Rock Star status, but as I said, we made it work being a regular punter. Would be fun to just spend one cruise indulging in the Wellness track. And eat and drink all night. 🤪

 

Let me know if you have any questions, happy to answer any and all.

 

[xraymomma]

Appreciate this review. My husband and I are considering giving VV a try. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Thank you for this review!  Interesting, to say the least.  I think I would have been disappointed with a 2 pm embarkation.  For the most part, I've sort of dismissed Virgin because the itins are very limited, IMO and I like the idea of a drinks package.  And having the drinks package is really just a mental thing...we sailed for years without one!  Bottom line, I'm afraid that Virgin is maybe a little too progressive for my traditional taste but I really appreciate reading about your experience...

[hcat]

Thanks for a very well written, organized and informative review.. what was Guadaloupe like? Can you post a few pics?

 

While  we know this line/ ship is not a good fit  for us..it is fun to hear how things  are done on other lines!

[Tyler414]

I also went on a VV cruise in the Med. last year and really enjoyed everything.  I like Celebrity E-class ships and cruise them most often (3 currently booked on E-class).

I would do another VV cruise in a heartbeat if the ports were to my liking. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

I would do another VV cruise in a heartbeat if the ports were to my liking. 

Wow!  That's really interesting. Is it the over all vibe of the ship, or something else?

[PTC DAWG]

No drink package, no go for me, I know my habits while cruising…tiny bathrooms are a thing on VV for sure unless you upgrade.YouTube is your friend here..

 

Choices are good. 

Edited March 18 by PTC DAWG

[NutsAboutGolf]

34 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

No drink package, no go for me, I know my habits while cruising…tiny bathrooms are a thing on VV for sure unless you upgrade.YouTube is your friend here..

 

Choices are good. 

 

The drinks on VV used to be a bit cheaper, they currently are:

 

All tax and gratuities included

Beer: Heineken, Amstel Light, Kalik, and Corona, $6–$7
Basic cocktail: Absolut, Buffalo Trace, Bacardi Superior, and Beefeater, $10
Wine by the glass: 40% of wines by the glass are under $11

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, Tyler414 said:

I also went on a VV cruise in the Med. last year and really enjoyed everything.  I like Celebrity E-class ships and cruise them most often (3 currently booked on E-class).

I would do another VV cruise in a heartbeat if the ports were to my liking. 

 

We feel the exact same as we don't like the itineraries and are very limited with vacation time off

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, JackE said:

Apologies for a rather long review! Read at your own risk!🤪

 

As a frequent Celebrity sailor (Edge, Apex, Ascent and Solstice ships in the last few years), I thought I would share my basic thoughts of sailing on Virgin Voyages last week with my DH. We sailed on the Valiant Lady out of San Juan through the Eastern Caribbean on a 7 day voyage. We had a basic Sea Terrace room (balcony), with the famous red hammock. And a huge selling point for the cruise line is that there is no one under the age of 18 (we saw lots of risqué t-shirts on Day One pointing that out).

 

Pre-cruise

Virgin allows the general cruiser (non Rock Star suite guest) to reserve dining 45 days out from the sailing (Rock Stars are given 60 days out). As you have probably heard by now, the app is very glitchy and not at all user friendly. I stayed up until midnight the day before the reservations were opened up to book the restaurant reservations, but alas, I could not get the app to cooperate. I wound up making the dinner reservations early the next morning. I tried to anticipate show times, but as it turns out, I was able to at least book the restaurants we wanted for the corresponding nights.

 

Virgin does not have specialty restaurants (all dining options are free to all guests), but you need a reservation to be accommodated.  Based on research, I heard that we would be able to modify times once we got on board, so at least that lessened the anxiety! 🙏

 

We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan the day before the cruise, which was a 4 minute walk to the Muelle 4, the pier terminal for Virgin. It was a little pricey, but we splurged as it was my birthday! We arrived in the afternoon, had dinner in Old San Juan (don’t ask), and the next morning walked to the famous fort (El Morro) which offered great views of the city and our ship at the pier. As we had a noon checkout, we went back to the hotel, and dragged our bags across the street to the luggage drop off.

 

Embarkation

We had selected 2:15 pm as a boarding time (the earliest we could get once boarding times were made available). Those with Deep Blue Extras, Splash of Romance, and Rock Star status could board earlier. We were told that there was a chance that we could get on board earlier, so we decided to get to the port around noon. We waited in line to check our luggage (they don’t provide tags in advance, they tag your bags at that time with your cabin number). We tipped the porter, and then tried to board the ship. No luck – we wound up waiting 1 hour 45 minutes on the sidewalk outside the makeshift terminal (luckily with a wall to lean on, and out of the sun!). We had some snacks that we had bought from Walgreens, which is in the same building as the Sheraton, so we didn’t go hungry or thirsty. There were a few of us waiting, so we weren’t alone. They finally let us in around 2 pm.

 

We walked through the pier building, up an escalator, and waited in line to check in and receive our wrist bracelets. These bracelets act like a sea pass card – it opens your cabin door, and with it you can purchase drinks and check in to your shows and excursions. After check in, we were led to security, passed our bags through the electronic surveillance, and boarded the ship!

 

All rooms are ready when the passengers are allowed to board, so we could have gone straight to our cabin. Instead, we headed to Razzle Dazzle, one of the restaurants on board so we could modify some dinner reservations. While in line, we accessed the ship’s WiFi (with the help of one of the crew as it wasn't easy), and booked our shows. We booked dining for 6 of the 7 nights, and left the one open night for a casual pizza/Galley evening.

After settling the dining reservations, we headed out to find our cabin.

 

This entire experience (booking dinner reservations, booking shows, trying to get on the ship’s WiFi) was a complete departure from the Celebrity way of cruising. We like to have things scheduled and settled before we get on board, so it was a little hard for me to relax until all these things were done (Type A controlling much???). I could see that having a suite and sailing as a Rock Star would be much easier (much like being a Retreat guest), but we made it work.

 

The ship is quite beautiful and modern, with 2700 passengers (about a Solstice class size??). It’s a little tricky to navigate, with dead ends on almost every non-passenger cabin deck. We may have finally gotten the hang of it by the last day, but we’ll never know…🤷‍♂️

 

Cabin

The cabin was smallish, especially the bathroom, but we were able to put everything away (2 checked bags and carry-ons each), and then store the bags under the bed. Like Celebrity suites, the room was electronically controlled, this time by a tablet that sat on the desk. You could control the lights, curtains, TV, A/C, etc. We never could figure out how to darken the tablet for sleeping, so we just took it out of its charging dock, and put it face down on the desk.  

 

Dining

This is where Virgin shines. In our opinion (and food is completely subjective as we all know), the food was amazingly good. Instead of a buffet, they have The Galley on Deck 15. There are about a dozen food stalls/areas that specialize in various genres: all day breakfast, salads, breads, pastries, Bento boxes/sushi, desserts, noodles, tacos, burgers, specialty coffees, fresh fruit, etc. The food is all freshly made to order, so nothing is getting stale. Even the free drip coffee (Intelligentsia) was fantastic, and better than the coffee served on Celebrity.

 

Other free options included made to order pizza (not slices that have been sitting for a while), ice cream, and other treats. For example, there were lots of food in other areas of the ship: mezze plates in the Dock, wings, pretzels and popcorn at the Social Club, frozen pop bars at the Galley (frozen chocolate banana pops!).

 

There were also a few stations of “grab and go” offerings that you could eat now or take to your cabin for later (every cabin has an empty refrigerator). These items included Caesar or roast chicken salads, charcuterie boxes, desserts, trail mix, veggie or smoked turkey sandwiches with chips, etc. You could honestly never go hungry on a Virgin cruise.

 

Also, every cabin has two carafes of water, that gets filled every day by your steward. We brought a water bottle from home for excursions and gym workouts, that we filled in lots of different places on the ship. There are no plastic bottles of water on the ship - it's a Virgin thing.

 

The dining establishments we enjoyed on board included Extra Virgin, the Italian restaurant. I had the most amazing spaghetti Carbonara with freshly made pasta. I got the half order, because we started with the romaine salad, meatballs and charcuterie plate. Then for dessert I ordered the Affigato, which was prepared tableside. Delish!

 

The Wake is a steak restaurant, where we splurged on a Tomahawk steak that we split (it had an upcharge). Razzle Dazzle is a vegan-forward restaurant, but we ordered from the “naughty” side: lamb shank and fried chicken. And Pink Agave is a Mexican-inspired restaurant that has homemade guacamole and Mexican street corn, along with lots of great entrees.

 

We passed on two of the restaurants, mostly because of our palates and our culinary preferences (Test Kitchen and the Korean-inspired Gumbae).  

 

Honestly, all of these restaurants are as good as Eden, Fine Cut, Rooftop Garden Grill and Raw on Five, and at no extra charge.

 

Everyone has a bar tab, so there are no drink packages (and no one trying to upsell you on board!). The drinks are reasonably priced (I live in NYC so I don’t have a great perspective on this). And there are lots of bars, with specialty drinks aplenty. There’s even a Champagne bar, that also serves high tea in the afternoons (for an extra charge).

 

Activities and Entertainment

There are a multitude of activities for folks that enjoy that kind of entertainment: trivia, bingo, tastings, etc. And the fitness/exercise offerings are great – lots of cardio and weight machines, classes of yoga, roller exercises, stretching, bungee workouts, 90s boy band dance workouts, and a track at the top of the ship for walking/running. The wellness offerings can keep you occupied without ever leaving the ship. We did spend a couple of hours one day in the Redemption Spa – dry sauna, plunge pools, heated marble slabs, steam sauna, Himalayan salt room, and a mud treatment for your entire body. And only $49 during a port day. Good value.

 

The shows are ok – a little naughty and full of double entendres. The resident drag queen has a show (the fabulous diva Carlos), which was a lot of fun. There’s an acrobatic show called Duel Reality, a Cirque take on Romeo and Juliet. The Red Room, the major entertainment venue, can magically change from a proscenium traditional theatre, to a performance space with moveable platforms and a dance floor, to two facing sets of seating. And there’s live music all around the ship. The casino, while small, offers table games, live craps and roulette, as well as lots of slot machines. Overall, we had fun while on the ship, and the only sea day was chock-full of things to do.

 

The shows can’t compare with the production shows on the Edge class series, nor does it try to. It’s a very successful niche style of entertainment on board the Valiant Lady.

 

Ports

The ports were typical for the Eastern Caribbean: Tortola, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Antigua. It seemed like most of the guests were interested in the beaches: sunning, swimming, snorkeling and partying. As we don’t like to spend too much time in the sun (due to past occurrences of skin cancer), we opted for some different kinds of excursions. We did an amazing aerial tram through the rain forest in St. Lucia, as well as a guided tour of the island of Barbados. Very fun.

 

For the excursions, there are no printed tickets. It says on your app what time to report to the shore excursion desk, and once you have checked in with your bracelet, you receive a laminated card with your group number. Then you wait until your group number is called in the main atrium area (the Roundabout). Easy as pie.

 

Disembarkation

The day before our cruise ended, we got a notice in the app to sign up for a disembarkation time. We chose the latest that was offered for a regular guest, which was 9:45 am (our flight home was 1:10 pm, so we had plenty of time to collect our bags and get to the airport). We went to the Galley for a leisurely breakfast, and had our coffee and the typical great food once again. After breakfast, we went back to the room, got our carry on bags, and left the ship. The bags, which we left in the hallway the night before, were organized by deck numbers. As everyone had a scheduled time to disembark, there were no announcements, no numbers being called, a very civilized way of leaving the ship. In fact, after day one and the call for everyone to take care of their muster drill, there weren’t any announcements at all. No cruise director, no captain, nothing about the ship being cleared in port.

 

Would we go again? Probably. Would be nice to be in a suite next time, and have Rock Star status, but as I said, we made it work being a regular punter. Would be fun to just spend one cruise indulging in the Wellness track. And eat and drink all night. 🤪

 

Let me know if you have any questions, happy to answer any and all.

 

The buffet replacement, the food hall, is a sit-down wait service, what was your experience with the wait times?  Food hall wait time and various stateroom dislikes are the two main complaints I've heard.  Yet hear VV's food is the best of all the mass-market lines and there's a lot more to do

 

Thanks for the detailed review.  We haven't been on VV yet but really want to, we just aren't huge fans of the itineraries.  We are the most excited with the food, while food is subjective, odds are you'd find very few who would claim X's complimentary dining offerings are better than X's

[Purplsmurf]

We looked at Virgin, but since we can’t pick the cabin we wanted we knew it wasn’t for us. I like choosing where we will be, not being assigned a cabin by Virgin 

[TYCruise]

2 hours ago, Purplsmurf said:

We looked at Virgin, but since we can’t pick the cabin we wanted we knew it wasn’t for us. I like choosing where we will be, not being assigned a cabin by Virgin 

You can select your cabin if you call Virgin to book, or book through a travel agent.

[Tigerfnan23]

Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong locations but the VV cruises I've priced for a standard balcony are a good deal more expensive than the Celebrity equivalent.   I do realize you get better food with that price but even adding in specialty dining several nights on Celebrity it's still more on VV and thats with a premium drink package included in the Celebrity price.  Until that gap narrows I'm afraid we'll stick with Celebrity although I'll admit the VV experience is quite intriguing.  I've only priced VV on their website however so maybe there are deals to be had elsewhere out there.  

Edited March 19 by Tigerfnan23

[JackE]

13 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

The buffet replacement, the food hall, is a sit-down wait service, what was your experience with the wait times?  Food hall wait time and various stateroom dislikes are the two main complaints I've heard.  Yet hear VV's food is the best of all the mass-market lines and there's a lot more to do

 

Thanks for the detailed review.  We haven't been on VV yet but really want to, we just aren't huge fans of the itineraries.  We are the most excited with the food, while food is subjective, odds are you'd find very few who would claim X's complimentary dining offerings are better than X's

We experienced excellent wait times - breakfast dishes took at the most 5 minutes, and the bespoke pizza was about 10 minutes. Of course, maybe we weren't there at the crush of humanity! But we were pleasantly surprised at how quick and efficient the service was.

 

They have some interesting 7 day Med itineraries coming up this summer, but nothing out of the ordinary for sure. 

[JackE]

1 hour ago, Tigerfnan23 said:

Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong locations but the VV cruises I've priced for a standard balcony are a good deal more expensive than the Celebrity equivalent.   I do realize you get better food with that price but even adding in specialty dining several nights on Celebrity it's still more on VV and thats with a premium drink package included in the Celebrity price.  Until that gap narrows I'm afraid we'll stick with Celebrity although I'll admit the VV experience is quite intriguing.  I've only priced VV on their website however so maybe there are deals to be had elsewhere out there.  

I was looking at their summer sailings and they seem to be quite competitive in pricing to X. They are running some promotions now. And I think a TA (they call them First Mates) can also get you a deal. Good luck!

[Tyler414]

15 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!  That's really interesting. Is it the over all vibe of the ship, or something else?

Really fun vibe on the cruise I was on.  The food hall is a bit different and there can be a wait, but the food is good.  Their pizza is great, 6-8 inch pies cooked to order.

[CruisingWalter]

17 hours ago, JackE said:

As you have probably heard by now, the app is very glitchy and not at all user friendly. I stayed up until midnight the day before the reservations were opened up to book the restaurant reservations, but alas, I could not get the app to cooperate.

 

A great reason to use a TA. They can book the dinners for you so you don't have to deal with the app. 🙂  

 

17 hours ago, JackE said:

we wound up waiting 1 hour 45 minutes on the sidewalk outside the makeshift terminal

Hopefully within a year or so the new pier and terminal will be built making that process much better.  

 

17 hours ago, JackE said:

The resident drag queen has a show (the fabulous diva Carlos), which was a lot of fun.

 

YAAAAAAAAASSSSS!!!  Carlos is THE BEST!  We've sailed with her three times now and even had dinner with her one night in Gunbae.  Just THE BEST!  I hope you saw her one woman caberet show on the final night in On The Rocks (if she did it)  That's our favorite show onboard. 

 

17 hours ago, JackE said:

Would we go again? Probably. Would be nice to be in a suite next time, and have Rock Star status,

In my opinion the Cheeky Corner Suites are the best cabins on the entire ship. Hands down. 

 

Excellent review, thanks for sharing. I find a lot of Celebrity Cruisers enjoy Virgin Voyages and vice versa. Celebrity certainly wins in the pool department, but overall the rest of the experiences can be quite similar.  

[JackE]

17 hours ago, hcat said:

Thanks for a very well written, organized and informative review.. what was Guadaloupe like? Can you post a few pics?

 

While  we know this line/ ship is not a good fit  for us..it is fun to hear how things  are done on other lines!

Here are some photos from Guadeloupe, a volcanic island that's in the shape of a butterfly. They have the largest National Park in the Lesser Antilles, which has beautiful waterfalls. We also visited their historic fort, Fort Fleur d'Epee, and stopped by Sainte-Anne, a cute seaside town. This was through the ship's excursion. 

[JackE]

17 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

No drink package, no go for me, I know my habits while cruising…tiny bathrooms are a thing on VV for sure unless you upgrade.YouTube is your friend here..

 

Choices are good. 

While there is no drink package per se, they offer a bar tab that you pre-purchase (we received an extra $50 for a purchased $300 - I think that promotion may be going away). You can track the bar tab through their app. 

[jon81uk]

52 minutes ago, JackE said:

While there is no drink package per se, they offer a bar tab that you pre-purchase (we received an extra $50 for a purchased $300 - I think that promotion may be going away). You can track the bar tab through their app. 

That promo isn’t going anywhere, you’ll still get a bonus with purchased bar tab. What is ending this month is the completely free bar tab with a booking.

[JackE]

1 hour ago, jon81uk said:

That promo isn’t going anywhere, you’ll still get a bonus with purchased bar tab. What is ending this month is the completely free bar tab with a booking.

Got it, thanks for the clarification! 👍

[JackE]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

A great reason to use a TA. They can book the dinners for you so you don't have to deal with the app. 🙂  

 

Hopefully within a year or so the new pier and terminal will be built making that process much better.  

 

 

YAAAAAAAAASSSSS!!!  Carlos is THE BEST!  We've sailed with her three times now and even had dinner with her one night in Gunbae.  Just THE BEST!  I hope you saw her one woman caberet show on the final night in On The Rocks (if she did it)  That's our favorite show onboard. 

 

In my opinion the Cheeky Corner Suites are the best cabins on the entire ship. Hands down. 

 

Excellent review, thanks for sharing. I find a lot of Celebrity Cruisers enjoy Virgin Voyages and vice versa. Celebrity certainly wins in the pool department, but overall the rest of the experiences can be quite similar.  

Walter, I shared with Carlos that you and I had spoken about her, and she raved about you as well!

 

If anyone has any questions about sailing on VV, I would advise you to search for videos online by those who have experienced the ships first hand, including @CruisingWalter. So informative!  

[cantgetin]

Well done review.  Sorry you had some mis-information about embarkation.  There is no reason for anyone to show up at the VV terminal prior to 1pm.  Boarding does not start until 1:30.  SO if you have priority status, showing up at 1 is plenty of time to get checked in and be ready to board at 1:30.  We have always been in a normal Sea Terrace with priority boarding as Sea Rovers (the lowest designation of priority) and been in our cabin between 1:45 and 1:50 except one trip where boarding times were changed do to JLo.  If you have a later terminal arrival time, you may well get in before your time, but not ever before 1pm.  VV recommends no more than 30 minutes before your assigned time.  Otherwise, as you noted, you'll get to stand in line outside with no place to sit.

Carlos is by far the best Diva.

True, no beverage packages...we like the bar tab structure better for many reasons including lower cost.

Trip cost Celebrity vs. VV depends a lot on when you booked and what cruise you are on.  Our VV cruises have been MUCH lower in cost than our Celebrity and we had lots of perks.  But VV costs have increased a lot recently, so you won't see the great deals any more.

Edited March 19 by cantgetin

[tbmrt]

On 3/19/2024 at 4:36 PM, cantgetin said:

Well done review.  Sorry you had some mis-information about embarkation.  There is no reason for anyone to show up at the VV terminal prior to 1pm.  Boarding does not start until 1:30.  SO if you have priority status, showing up at 1 is plenty of time to get checked in and be ready to board at 1:30.  We have always been in a normal Sea Terrace with priority boarding as Sea Rovers (the lowest designation of priority) and been in our cabin between 1:45 and 1:50 except one trip where boarding times were changed do to JLo.  If you have a later terminal arrival time, you may well get in before your time, but not ever before 1pm.  VV recommends no more than 30 minutes before your assigned time.  Otherwise, as you noted, you'll get to stand in line outside with no place to sit.

Carlos is by far the best Diva.

True, no beverage packages...we like the bar tab structure better for many reasons including lower cost.

Trip cost Celebrity vs. VV depends a lot on when you booked and what cruise you are on.  Our VV cruises have been MUCH lower in cost than our Celebrity and we had lots of perks.  But VV costs have increased a lot recently, so you won't see the great deals any more.

Hi Cantgetin!

Recognized your name from the VV CC board from all the help you gave me.  Check there for my VV reviews if you haven't already.  We enjoyed our 2 cruises in the past year on Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady, but definitely will wait a few years before doing VV again due to the same restaurants, many of the same shows, etc.  (Plus the cost have risen considerably and the perks lessened...We had $1,050 in loot and a $600 bar tab.

 

In the meantime, we chose a totally different, easy, relaxing cruise in 12/24 from our home port of Tampa.  We've cruised on Celebrity many times in the past and know the vibe is totally different. 

[Flafun888]

On 3/19/2024 at 4:36 PM, cantgetin said:

Well done review.  Sorry you had some mis-information about embarkation.  There is no reason for anyone to show up at the VV terminal prior to 1pm.  Boarding does not start until 1:30.  SO if you have priority status, showing up at 1 is plenty of time to get checked in and be ready to board at 1:30.  We have always been in a normal Sea Terrace with priority boarding as Sea Rovers (the lowest designation of priority) and been in our cabin between 1:45 and 1:50 except one trip where boarding times were changed do to JLo.  If you have a later terminal arrival time, you may well get in before your time, but not ever before 1pm.  VV recommends no more than 30 minutes before your assigned time.  Otherwise, as you noted, you'll get to stand in line outside with no place to sit.

Carlos is by far the best Diva.

True, no beverage packages...we like the bar tab structure better for many reasons including lower cost.

Trip cost Celebrity vs. VV depends a lot on when you booked and what cruise you are on.  Our VV cruises have been MUCH lower in cost than our Celebrity and we had lots of perks.  But VV costs have increased a lot recently, so you won't see the great deals any more.

yeah - almost pulled the trigger and booked VV, but decided to wait until the next recession - whether that's a few months or a few years from now. Hoping VV may lower prices a bit on their shorter MIA cruises as the newness wears off and the economy gets tighter. $2800-3k for a standard balcony on a 5 day bahamas/mexican cruise is a bit much for me. Would like to try them one day though.  

Edited March 25 by Flafun888