Quick review of TA so far

[cantgetin]

This is our 4th TA on VV, first time on Scarlet.  There are some things different than 6 months ago that might be worth mentioning.
There were BIG signs up in the terminal stating that upgrades were available and to ask any check in agent.  We weren't interested, so I didn't price them.  2350 sailors on board according to the terminal check in person and an on board crew member.  It wasn't our worst embarkation experience...it was our second worse on VV.  There seemed to be a lot of confusion at the terminal.  There were also at least 2 groups that missed the cruise due to flight delays or lost passports!

We've encountered at least 3 crew that we recognized from Valiant, so that was nice.  Had a couple cabin issues on check in which have been repaired. In The Galley, they did not put up the signs indicating the lunch specials the way Valiant did; you had to get close enough to see the specials.  However, the dinner specials are now coming thru as notifications on the app as well as being printed on the daily info sheet.  Many activities have changed times or are available at multiple times throughout the cruise rather than always being at 10am or whatever.  There are 3 book clubs...not sure how that is going to work..We had book pick up for the first one today.  Most of the menus (The Galley, Pink Agave) are unchanged....there have been a few more grab and go options than we'd seen before.  Location changes were common--help with reservations was at a desk on 7 at embarkation rather than in RD, and there are some daytime hours in Pink Agave today for dining reservation assistance.  Spa had an area at the big red desk on 7, but then sent us to the spa to confirm.  Nothing big...just different than previously, so if you read that something was in RD, it doesn't mean the poster was wrong....just that it changed.  Muster drill we literally checked in and left.  NO demo of any kind.  No need to even sit down.

That's it for now....

[tompeter]

Thanks for the update.

[CineGraphic]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Muster drill we literally checked in and left.  NO demo of any kind.  No need to even sit down.

 

That's because they tacked on the life jacket demo onto the end of the safety vid.

[We_like_to_cruise]

We thought embarkation was a disorganized mess.  Lines everywhere and even the people in charge didn't seem to know what was going on.  Then more lines onboard to get our dining reservations sorted after the app deleted them all.

 

Fortunately once onboard and settled we are having a very good time.  Enjoying the food and meeting new friends.

[Cloud9 Bob]

How's the ocean today as you push deeper east? 

[CruisingWalter]

@cantgetin we have a bunch of guests onboard your sailing!  If you meet Bethany, Bill & Jill and Barbara and Don, say hello for us!  Also Paul Thornton from Joy of Cruising Podcast is on your sailing too. He's a super cool guy, I was a featured guest on the podcast last month.  

 

Have an amazing voyage! 

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

@cantgetin 

 

Have an amazing voyage! 

Thanks!   

[cantgetin]

A few more updates...
There is definitely a new B menu in Test Kitchen.  The A menu remains the same. We are rotating every 3-4 days.  Also, we witnessed a bit of a discussion between a crew member and a guest....bottom line, they have a vegetarian menu and a vegan menu and don't like people to insist that there are 2 vegetarian menus. The vegan and vegetarian rotate the same way as the A and B.
RD still features the menu changes that were made more than 6 months ago (where they removed the "secret" items).

[Cloud9 Bob]

6 hours ago, cantgetin said:

RD still features the menu changes that were made more than 6 months ago (where they removed the "secret" items).

I heard the candied bacon in RD is peppery as blazes now....true?

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

I heard the candied bacon in RD is peppery as blazes now....true?

I think it might depend on who the chef on duty is.  We had it once where it was inedible due to the amount of pepper and once that it was great.....and I am not a big pepper person.  The breakfast/brunch menu is the same, and that is basically good.  The scones would be better slightly warmed and with a pat of butter or some clotted cream, but that never was.  The rest of that menu is unchanged.

Dinner at Extra Virgin tonight was good...no menu changes, we each liked our choices.

 

[Cloud9 Bob]

Is it a nice smooth ride so far?

[jon81uk]

6 minutes ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Is it a nice smooth ride so far?

Bit rocky today but not terrible 

[kwokpot]

Thank you for your post. We'll be on the return TA on SL in November. Has there been any mention of any specific updates/renovations for SL or is it just the required 5 year maintenance drydock?

[jcarter4551]

For those that have done TA, what is the weather like on the cruise days at sea? I imagine its not warm right now and I need the pool to keep me out of the casino during the day. What do you do all day for 7 straight sea days? I am curious because want to look into one sometime.

[kwokpot]

11 minutes ago, jcarter4551 said:

For those that have done TA, what is the weather like on the cruise days at sea? I imagine its not warm right now and I need the pool to keep me out of the casino during the day. What do you do all day for 7 straight sea days? I am curious because want to look into one sometime.

Any cruise with multiple seadays are really meant  just to chill and relax. If you can't do that I would advise not doing any cruise itinerary with many seadays.

Last year we did a 30 day repositioning cruise on Carnival from Seattle to Brisbane, Australia. The original itinerary was 9 ports of call out of 30 days. Due to weather and other issues we had multiple port cancellations and alterations. Our first port of call after debarking from Seattle was in Japan 12 days later! People were going stir crazy. 

On our last port of call in Japan, Okinawa,there were multiple guests doing unplanned debarkations even though there were still about 10 more days until Brisbane, Australia. People couldn't handle that many seadays.

That cruise was offered free to lots of Carnival casino players. I'm sure the thought of getting a $5,000 cruise for free and seeing Japan and Australia were very enticing to many inexperienced cruisers. 

So the point of this post is if you're easily bored don't do long cruise with many seadays. 

Edited April 24 by kwokpot

[Jamesv281117]

1 hour ago, jcarter4551 said:

For those that have done TA, what is the weather like on the cruise days at sea? I imagine its not warm right now and I need the pool to keep me out of the casino during the day. What do you do all day for 7 straight sea days? I am curious because want to look into one sometime.

On resilient lady at the moment and doing a 9 sea day stretch and a virgin ship is a great place to be in my opinion if you're doing lots of sea days. There's loads to do and the food is all amazing and it makes it even better that everything is included for a long journey. Is baking hot on our itinerary at the moment past Africa so don't know how it is on transatlantic but the outdoor areas are cool to hang around at.

[cantgetin]

32 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Thank you for your post. We'll be on the return TA on SL in November. Has there been any mention of any specific updates/renovations for SL or is it just the required 5 year maintenance drydock?

The weather has been lovely...warm and sunny.  Not totally mirror smooth seas, but very gentle rocking.  I'm sleeping great.  No mention of anything other than required maintenance, but that doesn't mean that VV doesn't have plans.  There is plenty to do--they always bring on extra entertainers and such on the long cruises.

[jon81uk]

Sea is definitely more rocky this evening 

[CineGraphic]

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Thank you for your post. We'll be on the return TA on SL in November. Has there been any mention of any specific updates/renovations for SL or is it just the required 5 year maintenance drydock?

 

I've heard of a certain change to the fleet that will begin with Scarlet, but I'm not sure if it's been officially announced yet, so I'll bite my tongue for now.

[We_like_to_cruise]

Honestly not a fan of the lines everywhere.  Lines for embarkation, lines for dining reservations, lines for every show (at least 30 minutes for each). Did not go on vacation to wait on line.

 

 

[jon81uk]

Although I do think with the no reservations for shows they are getting every single seat filled, whereas before the Red Room often had a lot of empty seats despite the app saying it was “sold out”.

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

Honestly not a fan of the lines everywhere.  Lines for embarkation, lines for dining reservations, lines for every show (at least 30 minutes for each). Did not go on vacation to wait on line.

 

 

This is the most full sailing I've been on.  Between that and the "first come first serve" policy for shows, some large fitness classes. etc. there is definitely more standing in line than previously.  Lines for dinner have not been bad, but for shows people are lining up 30 minutes in advance.

[CineGraphic]

3 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

This is the most full sailing I've been on. 

I was on the sailing before this, and had several hundred more passengers than you currently have. I saw the long lines for a few shows/events and passed. One of the joys of our previous sailings was never waiting in line, and I stated so in my post-cruise survey.

[Wildcatllamas]

12 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

I've heard of a certain change to the fleet that will begin with Scarlet, but I'm not sure if it's been officially announced yet, so I'll bite my tongue for now.

I sure hope they do something with the beds in the non-suite cabins. I finally figured out that if you have the beds laid out in the couch format that the one on the solid wall portion loses all of its cushioning from the "bedsprings" because it is resting on a solid platform. So better bedding is about the only option rather then swapping over to a traditional cruise cabin style bed.

[Cloud9 Bob]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:30 PM, CineGraphic said:

I've heard of a certain change to the fleet that will begin with Scarlet, but I'm not sure if it's been officially announced yet, so I'll bite my tongue for now.

If it's letting children on, I'm outta here. 😆