Nightrythm

Virgin said they were going to be different. Everything I've seen jibes with Richard Branson's whole image. Their target audience isn't the regular cruising public. I don't know if it'll fail, but it'll be interesting to watch develop. I'm still interested. It really comes down to $$.

I'm not a megaship fan, I don't think. The idea puts me off. I'm going to wait and watch and see how the reviews go. I'm enough of a Carnival fan, that I'm considering checking it out, anyway.

Here's a couple of things to think about. My husband and I don't have children. We went with a couple of friends and their kids. We were both Disneyland season pass holders and love Disney.

When on vacation, we are also late risers and tend to close down bars. That's where the rub was for us. When we got up at 10am and wandered up at 10:30 to eat, they were shutting down the buffets. The first several days we had to go get pizza or burgers because the buffet was closed. Their pizza and burgers are really bad. 

The other thing was, the bars closed early. I think it was maybe 11:30/Midnight? We were ready to continue drinking and chatting and they were rolling up the side-walks. So, while we enjoyed the cruise, the timelines didn't really work for us. 

We may cruise Disney again, with the right itinerary and group of friends, but sadly, it's not the top of my list. Which is a shame, I liked everything else about that trip.

On 1/28/2019 at 8:07 AM, pacruise804 said:

I recently took my daughter formal dress shopping and they are starting to put pockets in ball gown style/full skirt dresses.

That's how it should be!

It looks like Serenity gets a pool. Sadly, it looks like while there's a "Havana Area" they just get a hot tub. 

It also looks like the Spa is in the basement, as it were. Which is a better use of space IMHO.

11 hours ago, AF-1 said:

From what I have read on these threads.  The medallion has all your personal info stored in it; to include a photo of you.  

Apologies. Asked and answered.

On 11/24/2018 at 6:48 AM, Hlitner said:

Now you are treading on sensitive territory :).  DW has plenty of evening purses but prefers not to carry anything when on a ship.  She loves the freedom of going "purse free."   One of her friends thinks that is very weird as she will not go anywhere without a purse.  I guess DW figures a good reason to have a husband it because he has pockets :).  When the day comes that we need to carry Medallions you can be sure I will have one in each front pocket :). 

LOL. I get fancy dresses with pockets! They're magic. :-)

My spouse and I took these on are last cruise. They were great. https://finalstraw.com/products/finalstraw 

21 hours ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

From our own Cruse Critic site is a good article in the new section about the VV Suites with the number of suites and sizes.

 

 

Some of those suites are bigger than my house. I bet it'll cost more than my mortgage to get one. 

Thank you for a well written review.

Usually I know the rough time period when we want to vacation.

Step 1: I list the itineraries as a whole. On a spreadsheet, with pricing, sea day notes, all kinds of data.

Step 2: I take anything off the list that is too pricey.

Step 3: I highlight the ports that are new to us.

Step 4: Discuss the options/pros/cons with my spouse. (Local departure ports is always a pro.) 

Step 5: Get specific prices on the narrowed down list from my Travel Agent.

Step 6: Book a cabin!

Other times, a friend sends an email inviting us to join them on a cruise they've got booked. Which is how we're sailing on the Panorama much sooner than I would normally book.

8 hours ago, San10s said:

*  Last one - in this age where I carry credit cards in a RFID case, when walking around in ports, is my information on the Medallion safe?  Is my credit card # accessible on the Medallion?

Hi Judy - I can answer your last question, based on the reading I've done. I've been following this all pretty closely. I work in tech and love living in the future.

Your credit card number is not recorded on the medallion. The only thing the medallion broadcasts is a number/code. The computers on the ship use that number/code to access your information on the database.

On 12/31/2018 at 4:03 PM, Shocker4 said:

What needs fixed:

 

1)  The group chat function doesn't work. You can set up the group chat but not everyone gets it.  It has no forward function so I did a lot of cutting and pasting to say the same thing to many people.

 

2)  The app needs a "check-in" function.  Where each person could choose to check-in (or not if down time is needed).  Then others could find me if they want without texting "where are you?"

 

3)  The app is not consistent.  We proved over and over that what one person can see and do is not the same as what another person in our group can see and do with the app.  Even when using the same platforms such as apple or android.

💯% Yes, yes, and yes. We had 14 of us on the Splendor at the beginning of December. Same problems. But it still really useful. Even if my best friend had to message the group to have them pass on messages to her husband. 

1 hour ago, NovCruisin said:

Gross and Gross!! Self serving food that is not meant to have your nasty hands in it and shaving your legs in a public shower...What is wrong with people! .....

 

Can we not all just be civilized adults...🤮

While I agree about the food, I disagree about the shower. There's nothing wrong with shaving your legs in a public shower, as long as you clean up after yourself. No one wants to see hairs all over the shower.

On the safety issue. I feel like having a protocol in place could solve these concerns. 

For example, if I were to go and report my missing OM, the person at the desk would check and say, "where did you last use it?" If I tell them in the bar and it was used to access my room, then I stay put and they send security. They should even have the information showing someone accessed the kiosk to figure out where the room was.

I don't have any of my own, but I'm taking notes. Keep 'em coming! *Root Beer Float *Guava juice cocktails

I think I can work with this. 

I'm having trouble getting used to the new set-up.

Just got off the Caribbean Princess. ...

Thanks for the update.

Royal came up with a method that if you so choose you were assigned to a specific table group with a specific group of dining staff. Your group and it's waiters rotated to the different dining rooms each night - maintaining the concept of sharing dinner with the same group of passengers and same staff.

Disney does this same thing. I really enjoyed it. It gave you a chance to check out different venues, but the comfort of the same team.

Not following, get YTD and go to dinner at 8:30, we like the flexibility and lack of kiddos eating later

I enjoy the traditional dining experience. I like eating at the same table, with the same servers and the same set of "new friends." I can eat at a restaurant at whatever hour I want on land. I want a different experience when I cruise.

I love late seating. I don't think I'd enjoy if it was all YTD.

Are the 7 day couple thermal suite and thalassotherapy passes worth it?

On long cruises with 4 or 5 sea days, yes. I love hanging out in the thermal suites. But on a regular cruise, I wouldn't bother.

Cloud services are not a simple answer. The ship would really need to wait to get into port to upload photos. Satellite is just not a good answer for that. It will also take lots of bandwidth to do that. Not to mention, the cost of maintaining servers. Then there's the question of server security.

As well as the thing they may be getting stuck on now, which is having a human available to review photo sets to make sure the facial recognition didn't botch something and put the wrong pictures in with the wrong Folio #.

There is no scientific link between violent acts and violence in video games, music or movies.