Just Booked a Rockstar Suite - A Brilliant Suite on the Valiant Lady for Sept..What should we expect?

[valandemmy]

1st cruise being a rock star....very excited about it...but not sure what all to expect.

Any hits/tips/tricks to getting the most out of being a rock star?

[cantgetin]

Surely you have read on the website what is included, so are just looking for hints.  Be at the port at 1, check in thru the rockstar entrance (if in Miami).  BCN did not have a separate entrance but did have a separate waiting area.  

You only get the one bar set up, but you can request all the mixers, cans of soft drinks, etc. that you want.  Rooftop every night will have a happy hour with drink choices. You basically shouldn't have to wait in any lines.  You an be escorted off the ship at all ports and at the end of the cruise.  Shows that don't have reservations, your rockstar agent will move you to the front of the line.  Let them know of anything you want; worst they can do is say No>

 

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

Surely you have read on the website what is included, so are just looking for hints.  Be at the port at 1, check in thru the rockstar entrance (if in Miami).  BCN did not have a separate entrance but did have a separate waiting area.  

You only get the one bar set up, but you can request all the mixers, cans of soft drinks, etc. that you want.  Rooftop every night will have a happy hour with drink choices. You basically shouldn't have to wait in any lines.  You an be escorted off the ship at all ports and at the end of the cruise.  Shows that don't have reservations, your rockstar agent will move you to the front of the line.  Let them know of anything you want; worst they can do is say No>

 

 

 

So are the rockstar agents like butlers on other cruise ships?  Also, do you know what all we can choose when it comes to the one-time bar set up?

[jon81uk]

20 minutes ago, valandemmy said:

 

 

So are the rockstar agents like butlers on other cruise ships?  Also, do you know what all we can choose when it comes to the one-time bar set up?

Regular Rockstar (not mega) is more like concierge, they can make bookings and fetch some stuff, but they won’t wait on you butler style. 
 

The bar as default is half bottles of vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and tequila. Half bottles red, white, rose wine plus Moët champagne. Four beers, two red bull, two premium tonic and two premium ginger beer. You can ask the agent to swap some of the stuff you don’t like, so ask for vodka instead of tequila or similar.

 

biggest perk now of rockstar is queue jumping. Most shows are now first come but they rope off the front of the line for rockstars. Arrive before doors open (15 minutes before at Manor and 30 minute for red room) and you go to the front of the line.

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, jon81uk said:

The bar as default is half bottles of vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and tequila. Half bottles red, white, rose wine plus Moët champagne. Four beers, two red bull, two premium tonic and two premium ginger beer. You can ask the agent to swap some of the stuff you don’t like, so ask for vodka instead of tequila or similar.

 I hope they can provide some MINT for my wife's Mojitos. 🤣.

biggest perk now of rockstar is queue jumping. Most shows are now first come but they rope off the front of the line for rockstars. Arrive before doors open (15 minutes before at Manor and 30 minute for red room) and you go to the front of the line

 

This is good to know because it was not like this on my last /1st cruise...it was a a book and show up thing.  so thanks for the info.

 

[Eric&Pam]

Which sailing will you be on?

[jon81uk]

8 hours ago, valandemmy said:

biggest perk now of rockstar is queue jumping. Most shows are now first come but they rope off the front of the line for rockstars. Arrive before doors open (15 minutes before at Manor and 30 minute for red room) and you go to the front of the line

 

This is good to know because it was not like this on my last /1st cruise...it was a a book and show up thing.  so thanks for the info.

 

do check with your rockstar agent once onboard though in case things have changed since my trip, also the doors open time might vary.

[valandemmy]

9 hours ago, Eric&Pam said:

Which sailing will you be on?

Sept 8th -13th Valiant Lady.  Very excited haha

[Tralfaz1138]

A couple of things to note.

 

One is that, in general, during embarkation Rockstar/Mega Rockstar passengers will be directed to someplace on the ship where you will meet up with the Rockstar agent assigned to your cabin.  In our case the meeting place was in the Sip lounge.  So that's when you ask to schedule anything you've not scheduled up to that point, ask for bottle swaps on the bar, etc.  They will also add themself to the Virgin app messenger list and give you their number on the ship.  So if you need something, you just contact them directly.  Our agent also magically found us every day in various random places we might be and checked in to see how things were going.  It is worth noting that they do have "work hours", so you probably will not get an immediate response if you message them at midnight.

 

When it comes to swapping things in the bar, your mileage may vary.  In our case, we were told we could swap 3 bottles of liquor for something else, and they swapped the cans of Heinkein for a different beer for me.  I've seen other reports that vary regarding how much they were able to swap out.  Do make sure to ask for any substitutions on the first day since they will not swap anything out after that.

 

[valandemmy]

27 minutes ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

When it comes to swapping things in the bar, your mileage may vary.  In our case, we were told we could swap 3 bottles of liquor for something else, and they swapped the cans of Heinkein for a different beer for me.  I've seen other reports that vary regarding how much they were able to swap out.  Do make sure to ask for any substitutions on the first day since they will not swap anything out after that.

 

 

Awesome to know.  I have sent a message to them to ask about substitutions, I thought it needed to be done before we leave so that makes it less urgent at least. haha.

 

[cantgetin]

On 7/3/2024 at 12:24 PM, valandemmy said:

 

Awesome to know.  I have sent a message to them to ask about substitutions, I thought it needed to be done before we leave so that makes it less urgent at least. haha.

 

A lot seems to depend on who your agent is.

[Bill Miller]

You should expect a fabulous cruise and I believe the crew of the Valiant Lady will deliver.

[jame_g]

On 7/2/2024 at 6:38 PM, jon81uk said:

 

The bar as default is half bottles of vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and tequila. Half bottles red, white, rose wine plus Moët champagne. Four beers, two red bull, two premium tonic and two premium ginger beer. You can ask the agent to swap some of the stuff you don’t like, so ask for vodka instead of tequila or similar.

 

The brands available seem to vary by sailing. I prefer whiskey (blend) or bourbon, and hate scotch. The first sailing we were on they kept trying to give me scotch. I ended up with buffalo trace. My spouse had titos for vodka. On the next sailing two weeks later, I think we ended up with Jack Daniels and Absolute. We're also not wine drinkers, so they let us substitute the 3 half bottles of wine for 1 half bottle of liquor. But this could vary by ship, sailing, rockstar agent or whoever is in charge of the rockstar suites - we'd been told prior to sailing that we wouldn't be allowed to substitute, but so far it hasn't been an issue once on board.

[valandemmy]

6 hours ago, jame_g said:

The brands available seem to vary by sailing. I prefer whiskey (blend) or bourbon, and hate scotch. The first sailing we were on they kept trying to give me scotch. I ended up with buffalo trace. My spouse had titos for vodka. On the next sailing two weeks later, I think we ended up with Jack Daniels and Absolute. We're also not wine drinkers, so they let us substitute the 3 half bottles of wine for 1 half bottle of liquor. But this could vary by ship, sailing, rockstar agent or whoever is in charge of the rockstar suites - we'd been told prior to sailing that we wouldn't be allowed to substitute, but so far it hasn't been an issue once on board.

 

Yeah, I had messaged through the APP asking about options and was told "bar setup is not customizable".   I was hoping that I would be able to once on the ship.  My wife has a tree nut allergy so the Bombay Gin would kill her...so I really would like that one out of the room...but it would be very nice to be able to change over and get some additional bourbon and rum/vodka.

[PACrew]

Just got off Valiant two weeks ago as a rockstar. Be prepared to drink a lot of free champagne! Our agent was fantastic but unfortunately he left with us for vacation. All the others we met were great. 
 

On embarkation day, you will meet at sips to meet your agent. You can change booze, change records in your room etc. plus tons of free champagne. Our agent was great at making plans, changing plans, getting us last minute reservations, etc. 

 

don’t miss the daily happy hour too. Great drinks! 

 

 

 

[jon81uk]

7 hours ago, valandemmy said:

 

Yeah, I had messaged through the APP asking about options and was told "bar setup is not customizable".   I was hoping that I would be able to once on the ship.  My wife has a tree nut allergy so the Bombay Gin would kill her...so I really would like that one out of the room...but it would be very nice to be able to change over and get some additional bourbon and rum/vodka.

You can definitely male swaps of the bar, when you meet one of the agents in Sip shortly after embarking they will often ask if you will need to. 2-3 swaps is generally fine. We got the gin and tequila removed for more vodka.

 

As someone else said, the availability of half bottles and the brands can vary, we initially had Grey Goose vodka but the extra two bottles supplied were Tito’s. On one cruise we had scotch (Johnnie Walker) but on the other only bourbon (Buffalo Trace).