KKB

2 hours ago, room with a view said:

The difference between Standard and Princess Plus is £600 per person ..not sure of the rate US dollar to £ but the cost would be £1200 for 12 days .

Is this a 10 day cruise? 

I know that PPlus is $60pp/day.

Is it 60 pounds pp/day for you?(which does make it a bit more...)

It is possible my numbers vary slightly with the conversion.

My advice:

Whatever the cost is pp/day, deduct gratuities (which you will pay anyway) & Internet (if you are getting it) & look at the difference. That should help.

Will you drink specialty coffees? Sodas? 

How many drinks/day?

Factor in those things & you will know if it is worth it to you.

39 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Have things changed since my last cruise?  Gelato is now included in the premium desserts along with those silly sundaes?  That would be an improvement.  Those things with the cake and ice cream and whatnot (including fake "melting ice cream" plastic on the sides of the dish) were just plain silly.  Even my grandchildren didn't like them.

Yep we were on the Regal last month & gelato was included.

On 5/22/2024 at 10:05 AM, room with a view said:

We are considering Regal princess but the only cabin available for our preferred sailing is D220 .

 

Would have preferred midships ...also the drinks package plus benefits is expensive for us moderate drinkers .

 

How are the gratuities paid for this category of cabin , and how much per person per day .....thanks

The advantage of D220 is that it is near the fwd elevators/stairs--and it is an easy 2 flights down to deck 7 (decks 5-7 have all the lower public areas)

If you plan to get internet, then Princess Plus VERY much pays for itself.

Gratuities: $16pp/day

Internet $25pp/day (THOUGH this could be shared, one device at a time, if you did not go PPlus)

That leaves $20pp/day for drinks: specialty coffees, sodas, bottled water as well as alcoholic drinks (and mocktails). Even moderate drinkers will get to $20/day easily--2 cocktails or glasses of wine & it's worth it.

PPlus also includes 2 free casual dining meals/cruise. 

Now on the Regal this only includes Alfredos, sushi & Vines (essentially just a charcuterie board there). But those are nice alternatives to have.

Also free room service.

A few other less valuable perks--2 free fitness classes, 2 free "Premium" desserts DAILY (the gelato was the only one worth it, imo. The crazy sundaes were insane!)

We traveled w/ family who are also moderate drinkers & we convinced them to get PPlus & they agreed it was worth it, even at a break even point.

Enjoyed your entertaining review!

Just now looking at 54 days RT from LA to S Pacific, Australia & NZ in 2026.

Just got DH to try 28 days TA & UK in April...can I get him to do 54?

Especially since he will miss the 1st week of golf leagues??!!

Only time will tell!!!!

I just noticed we have a free cruise offer on the Magic next year.

Love Aruba & Curacao.

Read the latest reviews--not very good....

I try to read those with a grain of salt but a lot of complaints.

We have done most mainstream lines, small & large, older & newer ships--we always have a good time! 

I do find that CC folk are less likely to gripe as those who write reviews.

Looking for your thoughts...

Does one seem to work better than the other?

14 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

That would be great!

 

The 4/9/2023 Beyond had us, @GenerationX. @Mrs_Tiki. @Silkroad, @KKB, and @Irishredhead21. Let's get the group together in 2026!!!

 

 

mac_tlc

Hmmmm...it could happen!!

On 5/16/2024 at 9:58 AM, Hogladyrider said:

@mkcurran...WOW that was some adventure!

 

I have never been able to convince my other half to cruise out of Long Beach and now I know it will definitely not be happening!  Very sad indeed.

 

I read on CC about the embarkation and debarkation issues that Firenza has been having in Long Beach as well.

 

At least you got to spend time with friends and had some fun time in the casino! 

 

We have moved away from Carnival and are trying other lines.

We sailed out of Long Beach Jan. 2023 & thought it was great...tho we flew in, so did not need parking. No bottledneck coming in (and we arrive early...probably 10AM or so)

16 hours ago, jon81uk said:

Given earliest non-rockstar boarding is 1.45pm, 3pm is only halfway, it’s not that late overall.

 

LOL we are typically on ships by 11AM.

Sit around my hotel, or get onboard the shp??!! EASY choice.

My 1st day of vacation--let's get this party started!!!

Nothing around our hotel...we may need to consider another option...

18 hours ago, jcarter4551 said:

It does seem terrible to board at 3 pm or so but...

 

I think one of the best things about VV compared to other cruise lines is the trade off of embarking after 1 pm but not being rushed off the ship or out of your room at 8 am on disembarkation day. There is no anxiety about staying up late the last night of the cruise because you can sleep in and get off at a slower pace. I know on RC they bang on your doors at 745 am or so. It is annoying. 

I'm no morning owl...but it's usually just travel day, so other than sleeping in a bit, I don't get much benefit

7 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Age is just a number, it’s all about attitude.

Virgin is very much aimed at the young at heart, unlike certain lines which can feel like floating nursing homes with activities to match.

 

If you like good food, slightly risqué entertainment and an upbeat vibe you’ll love it.

 

OK...we are 58 & 61, have been cruising for 20 years. We have sailed Celebrity, Princess, Carnival, Disney, RCCL, NCL, & MSC.

Have NEVER felt any felt like a nursing home--we are active cruisers & like to be busy while at sea. Nice to have many activity options...but also the option to dial it down if we choose.

Alaska was also the most "chill" itinerary we have sailed...things quieted down early on both Princess & RCCL.

Super excited for our 1st VV!

Now, there IS one line we haven't sailed...have heard it might be a bit "slow" for our tastes.😉

We did not find cabs at all in the port area, so therefore took the train.

(It does appear they might have been further from the pier, but did not see where that would be)

It is a quick walk across the street from the pier, inexpensive & quick. 

Get off at Pearse Street--you are directly across from Trinity College campus, and easy to walk to Temple Bar area.

Since we got off early, lots not open yet, so we opted for a HOHO bus tour to get our bearings a bit. 

Guiness stew for lunch in the Temple Bar area.

The Irish Rock-n-Roll Museum was the highlight for me!!

Embarkation starts at 2PM. (SOOOO much later than other lines!!)

Our time when we checked in says 345.

If we come at 2 will we be asked to come back at 345?

Thanks!

Midnight EST?

Thanks!

1 minute ago, Xandar said:

Do you know which email address you used to contact them? We tried one email and they responded with instructions to clear cache and cookies, well that did not fix it. Thanks

sailorservices@virginvoyages.com

@Norwaylady Love your Mykonos photos--so so many of those are places I recognize tho we have only been there once! Pretty sure I have photos of some of those same cats from August...🤪

Just hear from them.

Since this is a comped cruise,I do not get Blue Perks, but will on future "full fare" sailings.

Oh, well, worth a try.

22 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

Thinking of doing a 7 night on Apex in two years.  This would be our first Apex cruise and trying to get a real verandah without getting an expensive suite.  This leaves the Sunset Verandah.

Our last aft cruise was a pre-covid on HAL in a Neptune aft corner.  You could smell the fumes in the stateroom, it was noisy from the engines, and the room vibrated all night.  The room was beautiful, but it scared us from aft rooms.  It was very nice to be able to see both sides of the ship from behind.

How are the Apex aft rooms?

Cannot comment on the Apex but we did sail SV on the Edge (same class).

Did not noticed the fumes.

DID notice soot on the outdoor furniture--we were cautious to lie a towel on the chair before sitting down to avoid stains on our clothing.

On 5/12/2024 at 12:48 PM, Gilliganluvsmaryann said:

 

As promised in a previous post here is a synopsis of our current sailing. A little background. My wife and I are not 68 years old. This was our fifth cruise. 3 day RCL 2003, 7 day NCL 2018, 5 day Celebrity Constellation 2022, 5 day Caribbean Princess 2023, and this 7 Beyond 2024. I am not going to make any comparisons to other cruises or cruise lines as our sample size is too small. This is going to be our subjective experience of this cruise. I understand what you experienced will be your subjective opinion. Please don’t beat me up if I say something negative but by all means please state you own experience whether it be positive or negative. If you have questions I will do my best to answer them for you.

 Embarkation rated A+, we arrived at the port around 10:15 am proceeded into the terminal. They did not check embarkation times. Sat people in sections by order if arrival. We were at our stateroom door by 11:15 picking up our sea pass cards.

Disembarkation rated F. We walked off with our luggage and were told to meet in Eden by 7:30 am. We arrive in Eden at 6:45 am and they lined up our luggage as we arrive in Eden. I should note we enbarked terminal 25 and disembarked terminal 18 more on that later. It was approximately 7:15 when the line started moving to leave the ship. They had buses lined up to take us to the Palm parking garage at terminal 25. We were on the third bus. The bus driver then proceeded to the Palm parking garage. He stopped behind another bus and waited for that bus to unload. He then pulled up about 10 feet and we got off our bus. We were in our vehicle at 8:15am. A full hour from when the line started walikibg off the ship. This is unacceptable and hence the F rating. There was no other ship arriving or departing Port Everglades using terminal 25 on our arrival day May 12th. I am not placing blame for this on any entity in particular. But just stating our experience.

 

Stateroom 10149 delux inside rating A. I am a very light sleeper so I prefer the darkness of an inside cabin. Also I would rather spend my money on other amenities as really only in the cabin to sleep, change clothes, and the three sss’s.

Storage was adequate albeit a little clunky. The nightstands were doll house size, between the phone and lamp not much room for eyeglasses, drinking glass etc. The closet was right next to the bed so only one person at a time. Also it would have been nice to have a light in the closet. There was only room for one person to walk between the bed and the wall opposite. None of these things are deal breakers. But if you are building a billion dollars ship maybe the architect could design a better layout. The bathroom was excellent nice shower with a bowed out shower door. Plenty of room and storage.
Our stateroom attendant Selveen did an outstanding job. He was so very busy we didn’t have much chance to converse. I rate him an A+.

 

Shows we saw.

Ralph Harris comedian rating A+. Very funny, humble nice gentleman. He also did an adult show which was more pg-13 which was indicative of his character.

Elements A+ Outstanding visuals, music, singing, acrobatics.

Stage Door I would rate a C my wife rated it higher. We sat center stage approximately 12 rows back fro the stage. It seemed to me that they were screeching the songs rather than singing. 
Magician Matt Henson or Hanson(I apologize for forgetting) Rating him a B. Only so much magic you can do in an hour.

Sean O’Shea singer, comedian, impressionist I would rate him a B. I think he needs to tighten up his act and concentrate on the talent he does best.

Celebrity enrichment lecturer Dr. Sperro Lappas rated A++ our favorite thing of the entire cruise. His 5 part lecture was entitled The CSI effect(tv show) our real life forensics. If you are interested in forensics or criminal justice do not miss his lectures.

 

Food. Probably the most subjective thing of all so I am not going into detail. Buffet rating a B. Plenty of options food was tasty but cold. I also thought the layout was quirky. Only had two dinners in MDR one in the Normandie rated A+ food was excellent.  Our waiter Made and assistant waiter Mohammed were excellent rate them both A+. Mohammed had such a great simile and he we thankful and happy to be doing his job.

Other MDR was Cyprus I would also rate A+ void was excellent and our waiter Miguel, and assistant waiter Dennis were good rated them A-. Our first night we had dinner at the Rooftop Garden Grill. There aren’t enough adjectives in the English language for me to tell you how good it was. I will just say you need to eat dinner here. You won’t regret it. Finally Le Petit Chef I w would rate a B+ food was good but I was particularly impressed with the menu. The show was cute, no reason to do it again though. Desserts throughout the ship looked better than they tasted. Desserts were lacking in sweetness. Apparently no buttercream used by the pastry chef. Cakes were very dry. Best desserts were the macaroons and cookies in Cafe Al Baccio.

 

Plenty of areas to sit and relax away from the hustle and commotion of the main pool. As far as pools go I would recommend the plunge pools on deck 15 and the spa pool.

Eden what an amazing space. It truly was “Eden” both in decor and tranquillity.

Port of call Nassau stayed on ship.

 

 

Port of call St Thomas: we went to Magen beach, it was nice. Water was calm, with pure sand bottom. We were supposed to do the sky ride but it was cancelled due to a thunderstorm knocking out power.

Port of call St Thomas we did not have an excursion planned but we did get off the ship to explore the port area. My opinion don’t bother!

 

Maybe this was too long, I apologize. I still may have missed something. I will answer any questions you may have to the best of my ability. I will monitor this pst for a couple of days then I am signing off from cruise critic. No need to ask why because I won’t say anything. Hope you all have safe, happy, and fun cruises in your future.

 

Thanks for the review...generally I agree with your ratings.

Eclass ships are our favorite at sea--we have sailed Apex. Edge 2x, Beyond 2x & will be sailing Ascent in December. Can't wait!

Your comment regarding Celebrity desserts is exactly what I have been saying for years...they look better than they taste! Luckily we aren't big dessert people!

23 hours ago, Xandar said:

Yes I have, and different computers.

I emailed them & they had me send them the info via that email a few days ago.

No response yet tho.

18 minutes ago, Daruma said:

 

Thank you. 

 

I have looked at VV, NCL, Carnival, and Royal. 

 

I'm now considering going from two shorter cruises per year to an annual 6/7/8 day cruise. 

 

I have 2x VV cruises, (a 6 day on 11/15/24 and a 5 day on 4/10/26)... I really like the idea of a cruise sans kids, lol. 

 

I also have a 7 day NCL on the Encore on 11/8/25.

 

Carnival and Royal have a HUGE advantage for me in that I can sail out of Tampa rather than Miami. 

 

Royal's offerings seem to be very much the same, (itinerary, ship size, time of year), as Carnival's, but for a chunk more money... so I probably won't go Royal 🤷

 

So, I'll likely try a 6/7/8 day Carnival out of Tampa in 2027.

 

The more I read about shorter cruises, (the Booze Cruise aspect not withstanding... because most people say that the partiers/drunks can be mostly avoided) ... the more I think I just might enjoy one longer cruise per year than two shorter ones... plus I may than splurge more on amenities 🤷

Yes, I'd rather do a longer one...heck 7 days is too short anymore!\

BUT ANY cruise is better than NO cruise!

But we got a comped 4 day VV (Casino match) in July...we shall see how that goes!

23 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 

-MSC....ahhhh....MSC...sailed them twice, both times before the COVID shutdown.  Both cruises were fine.  But, recently, I can't even get their WEB site to work.  So, that does not bode well.  Skipped over them as a result

 

Don't misunderstand, NCL's WEB site isn't exactly the poster child of usability (would you stop with the pop ups already asking for my contact info that interrupt my research?)  Just trying to see what's available.  But, if you can't even see MSC's ships and dates for Bermuda, how can you research?

 

OK, went right over to MSC & found no Bermuda cruises in June but found them in later months, so that was probably the issue.

Now you know I am NOT an MSC fan...but thought I'd put my librarian skills to the test!!!

Have a GREAT trip...we are contemplating this on the Breakaway (Syd's, ya know) in Nov since I found a 3 week window between home football games! So looking forward to your TR--we have never been to Bermuda. (and dealing with departing from NYC again isn't appealing...)

On 5/11/2024 at 3:23 PM, Daruma said:

Hello, folks. 

 

Being a Neophyte cruiser I'm torn between 2 cruises. 

 

Ship not really withstanding, what are your thoughts on Sea Days? 

 

I know that there will be differing opinions, but I'm hoping to gather information in order to decide. 

 

I can book a 3 day to the Bahamas on NCL Getaway for $856, ($285/day):

Depart

Port

Port 

Disembark 

 

Or a 5 day on Carnival Paradise for $1138, ($281 more, but 2 more days, so $228/day... $57 less per day) :

Depart 

Sea Day

Port 

Port

Sea Day

Disembark 

 

Same number of ports, just that the Carnival one has 2x Sea Days... so I'm hoping to get thoughts and opinions on Sea Days. 

 

Thank you. 

Well this isn't just about sea days...this is about SHORT CRUISES.

I LOVE sea days.

And I love a good deal.

BUT we cruised Carnival for the 1st time last January--14 days to Hawaii. 

Everyone said we would hate it after sailing most other mainstream lines.

They were wrong--we LOVED it.

Mentioned this to bartender & he said the key to Carnival is to avoid the booze cruises (re: SHORT cruises, basically anything under 7 days has potential, and even 7 days do as well).

NOW I have never sailed a 3 day cruise on any line...so I cannot comment if NCL is the same.

I will say, those prices seem VERY high. We like to stay under $200/day pp WITH drinks/tips/wifi.

Have you looked at other lines? 7 day cruises? (perhaps that doesn't work with your schedule)

1 minute ago, RNRcruisers said:

 

We were on Regal this February. Totally agree about the Vista Lounge. Such a nice large space and was hardly ever used. We were a group of 6 and found the best place to meet up before dinner was Good Spirits. 

 

We also try to avoid the elevators (or I do and DH grudgingly goes along), but on our last cruise I was using a knee scooter (broken foot) so obviously had to. My DH wasn't mad about that 😆

 

We take the stairs most of the time but when we moved to Deck 15...I wasn't doing Deck 5 to Deck 15 via the stairs! But we nearly always take the stairs down or up a few flights.

HOPING they redo Princess Live during drydock...I know there have been LOTS of complaints about it (ALL the things mentioned here. 

There is some SERIOUS micromanaging gong on on the Regal. (I've been on the staff end of that crap in a job). Seems management has their ideas of how things should be & passenger or crew preferences (or what logically makes sense!) doesn't' matter. 
I saw how some crew stayed in their same venues while others were moved around after the 1st leg...Strange directives on Regal (regarding door decorations, poker tournaments, etc)--that they CLAIM come from corporate, but those of us who have recently sailed other Princess ships & know these same directives didn't exist. Bizarre.

On 5/8/2024 at 10:25 AM, ajtaylor29 said:

Hubby and i love cruising, have enjoyed every cruise and cruiseline (some more than others, of course!) and in recent years we've been pretty loyal to Royal. We started on Carnival years ago, then shifted to Royal, with 1 on HAL and 1 on Crystal sprinkled in. However, I've been wanting to branch out and try some new lines, particularly Celebrity (i know, sister co. to Royal) and eventually NCL, maybe Virgin, maybe MSC, etc. Hopefully we'll get to spend our golden years cruising all over the world! (we're 60-something now).

So, we started looking at cruises for next year in Northern Europe, and came across a B2B opportunity on the Eclipse: Best of Scandanavia (13 nights), then Iceland, Ireland and Scotland (13 nights). They both sounded so amazing that we couldn't pick so we decided to do both!  It's may/June 2025. We've never booked that far out either so the waiting will be something new for us.

I'm a little nervous as we've never sailed this long, and it's a new ship/new cruiseline for us so i hope we like it!!!

I know it's an older ship, and we're fine with that. But, for those who have sailed on Eclipse recently please let me know your thoughts! I believe i read that Eclipse will be in dry-dock next March, so when we board in May we'll hopefully have some new carpet!

40+ cruises under my belt over 20 years(DH about 30)...Celebrity is our fav line, followed closely by Princess, but RCCL/NCL/Carnival are all right there. (we are 58 & 61)

After 2 B2B MSC cruises (one Caribbean/one Europe), won't do them again--though I have heard that Yacht Club, particularly on the older ships is amazing. (we did Retreat on Beyond...got a wonderful price. Enjoyed it, but don't feel it was worth the extra $ for us)

Celebrity certainly cannot compare to Crystal, but we find mainstream lines to be more alike than different.

Honestly we find more differences from ship to ship than line to line. If we could just get our favorite things from each ship on one ship--well, we would never leave that ship!

That itinerary looks AMAZING. We did northern Europe in October & loved it more than we anticipated; I did UK last May & fell in love; took DH this year & he was equally enthralled. 

Glancing at those itineraries--we LOVED Copenhagen (did a Segway tour; our friends who are in their late 60s talked us into it & it was a BRILLIANT way to see the city!), Amsterdam (do spend some time there if before/after or at least on turnaround day), Belfast, Inverness (Love the Highlands). Many ports we have not been to--wish we could do this one!!

Have a WONDERFUL time!!

8 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

 

As I mentioned earlier, we reported a tiny bug in our stateroom…. 

The night light on our bathroom is all out. 

So it’s either full daylight or black out. 

 

This is what happens when you have the light on during the night…. 

 

If you are a person that won’t sleep well in just a few tones of light, you need completely dark mode…. 

Bring a sleeping mask😝

Because the bathroom light is bright and shiny, same goes for the door to the hallway😉 

 

The electrician has visited according to guest relations. But it wasn’t a quick fix. Aka just not a broken lightbulb🙄

They needed to change something else… so they are on it😇 fingers crossed for the future😁 

This why we now always sail with an LED tealight--I turn it on in the bathroom at night for JUST enough light if needed.