Janthere

On 3/23/2023 at 7:18 AM, rebeccac said:

Interesting that this quiz did not have an option for "I never intended to go".  I did not feel comfortable with the idea of wearing any of the pjs I already owned in public (very comfy and super lightweight, but not enough coverage for me to feel comfortable in public) and I certainly wasn't about to go out and buy any just for this.  

I was the total opposite - i searched and found the perfect pair of PJ's ( I don't usually wear PJ's) for the event but ended up falling in love with how comfy they are and now wear them all the time and intend to wear them on all future VV PJ nights. There were also many people at the party that were in regular clothes and that was cool too so maybe next time for you? 🙂

We just sailed on Valiant 8 night Eastern Caribbean. We have done lots of 7 nights on other lines and 2 5 nights on VV. I thought the 8 night was perfect! We both remarked how much more relaxed we were knowing we had so much time to enjoy everything the ship had to offer. 

On 2/28/2023 at 9:19 AM, shadow 123 said:

Going solo July 29, 2023 Holland America  25 days Boston to Boston. I have been traveling solo for about 6 years now. I really enjoy it, didn't think I would but I do. My husband doesn't like to travel and doesn't mind me going so I do. 

I am in the same situation - he likes to travel but not nearly as often as I do. Thank goodness he is cool with my solo trips! I am not sure I could be away for 25 days at a time though. 

3 hours ago, Ekposh said:

Can anyone confirm the Rockstar bit? 

I can confirm that if you are in a suite (Rockstar or Mega) you are NOT charged the 7% fee ( sailed 3x as recently as a few weeks ago and each time have confirmed this is the case)

You won't have any issues at all. Each time we have been on we bring bags of snack foods etc with zero problems. They are looking for booze not food. 

9 minutes ago, SCruiseFam said:

Let’s start with the cabin. It just doesn’t get cleaned? No seriously, I’ll leave my cabin for hours and hours in the morning or at night with the light on indicating I’d like my cabin cleaned and no one stops by to clean it. Day 2 and I don’t know what stateroom attendant looks like or if I have one. Im

 

Wow that is absolutely not the norm and I am sorry to hear that has been happening - I am actually shocked that your cabin steward hasn't introduced themselves to you by now! Is there any chance you are using the red button instead of the blue one? I would definitely press the button on the tablet in the room for cabin service ASAP so this can get rectified going forward. You shouldn't have to be chasing them down to get this done that is for sure. 

As for the galley, do you see staffers standing around or is everyone just busy? Sometimes I think they mistake a single person as waiting for their partner and so don't approach. Also, I thought I saw that there are now signs on the tables with a little red flag that you can raise to alert the staff that you would like to order? 

I hope your cruise gets better soon! 

2 hours ago, schildiams said:

My booking shows that I have deep blue extras (matched status) BUT there is no indication anywhere in my booking that I have the priority boarding or any specific perks. It's still saying if I buy a bar tab I only get $50 not 100. I tired to chat but they are "swamped" and don't answer. Any guidance? Thanks 🙂

The chat is pretty much useless but I have found calling them has been much better lately and is the very quickest first thing in the morning. 

Just to give another data point for disembarkation times. I left the Valiant Lady on Feb 19 at 9:20 am and there was no line at all in customs. Can confirm there is still no facial recognition cameras or Global entry line and there were 2 customs officers working at the time. 

2 hours ago, Mysecretelixir said:

Do Megas still go straight to the suite when embarking? 
 

Any cannot miss experiences or requests?

 

Super excited to be sailing soon!!!

If you are a Mega I would recommend not going to the Manor - go directly to your suite and contact your RS agent - he or she likely has a note by your phone with their contact info. They will come to you and review all your reservations, answer questions, make any bookings etc you may require. 

I am on the Beyond now too 11196 on the magic carpet side. The creaking, popping etc is pretty much continuous. My sound machine allows me to block most of it out for sleeping but I would definitely avoid this cabin if you have any noise sensitivities.

On 2/16/2023 at 2:03 PM, garycarla said:

Yea, I guess that makes some sense. (no gambling).  We gambled plenty but liked to sit at the bar and share a few drinks sometimes.  If they had Video Poker at the bar, we would love doing that, but they don't.

 

I find drink service on the floor sketchy.  Since Virgin is so "no tipping" - I wonder if tipping the servers would increase service levels?

I SO wish they had VP at the bar but it would be so frustrating when people sit there and didn't gamble. the only cruise line I have seen this on is the Celebrity Edge. 

On 2/11/2023 at 3:55 PM, mebruch67 said:

 

Does this mean you won't get turned away if you show up at a restaurant for dinner wearing shorts?  Will be the Scarlet Lady in April and am counting down the days!

I haven't seen anyone turned away at any restaurant. Like others have said - as long as you are wearing clothes you will be fine. Its just sooo nice to not have to worry about what to wear. 

14 minutes ago, Jessetfan said:

I'm honestly glad to hear that paper copies of the events are available. I spend almost all my time dealing with a screen, and my goal on my cruise next month is to put my phone in the safe after we get our events booked and not take it out until we disembark. I don't want the temptation to check my email or my voicemail, and I don't want anyone to be able to get ahold of me. I'm in my 30s, so it's not about what I'm used to it's about my preference to disconnect my vacation from technology (I know the app is a selling point with VV). It's so much easier to do that on a cruise, because I don't have to deal with navigation or checking the hours of operation of a destination. I realize this means that things might change and I miss them, but that's a price I'm willing to pay to be truly disconnected.

I totally get and appreciate that need to be disconnected. My husband has never been able to get the app to work on his phone and has given up trying. He is quite content to be offline and just ask me what he needs to know and where he needs to be haha! Its impossible to please everyone all of the time - I just love that VV seems to be listening to their clients and taking steps to come as close as they can to pleasing the most number of people. 

You can make the upgrade bid direclty. There is not a way that I am aware of to make sure both cabins are upgraded. No guaranty at all that either or both of you would be. If you upgrade into a suite yes you do get all the benefits of that suite. 

With regards to the paper agendas I think large video boards in strategic places would be super helpful as an alternative. I do think people are creatures of habit so I can see why some prefer to copy to hold in their hands and review. I think it's dumb that you although you can scroll through events on your phone/app you can only Heart or favorite some of them. To me it would be super helpful if I could just shortlist ALL of what I wanted to go to or have interest in but that doesn't seem to have that functionality. 

We board tomorrow - our last cruise on VV was beginning of October. I will try to be more aware of any changes since then. I absolutely love VV and really hope any changes are for the better. They are such a standout in the cruising world and really hope they stay that way!

We may not have as much experience on VV as some people here (we have done 2 and leave tomorrow on our 3rd) but we absolutely love the VV experience. We have done over 30 cruises on other lines and to me the biggest difference with VV is the overall vibe on the ship. My husband doesn't have to worry if he is wearing the correct collared shirt or closed toe shoes for dinner and I don't feel like I have to dress up to avoid awkward glances from other passengers. NO ONE CARES! Picture being on a desert island where everyone is relaxed, calm and just immersing themselves in an overall wonderful experience. It is a fabulous way to vacation in our opinion. 

3 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

dear god i hope not.  that's one more tick off a mainstream cruise line checklist. 

 

i've been an ardent supporter of VV since day 1 (for reference - i booked in 2019 for a 2020 scarlet sailing, then a 2021 valiant sailing that both got covid-ed, rebooked scarlet for dec 2021 and have been on the 2 ships 10 times since then with 3 more booked), but i think i'm done with VV at this point after my 3 upcoming voyages.

 

i was a "never-cruiser" before VV - i went on one NCL cruise about a decade ago, and it was hands down the worst vacation of my life.  it was absolutely disgusting, the food was inedible around the ship, and the nickel and diming for literally everything was obnoxious even then - i'm surprised they didn't charge for toilet paper in the bathroom haha.  every stereotype of a cruise was onboard, and i couldn't wait to get off the ship.

 

VV came along and it looked so different and refreshing, so i figured i'd give it a try.  i clearly loved it enough to keep coming back, but over time, they've started catering more to two groups: the "typical" cruisers and the casino comps.  shows and activities are being cut to conform to things that you'd find more on mainstream cruise lines, they seem to be hanging onto the bar tab inclusion package as their answer to not having a drinks package, etc.

 

i'm glad i got to experience the "good old days" of VV, but it's apparent that bain and blackrock are now putting the focus on near term profitability vs. the long term brand vision.

We are boarding tomorrow for our 3rd VV cruise and have 4 more booked over the next year. We love the experience however i can see how doing 10 cruises over a relatively short period can get old. I would think that would happen no matter which line you were on?  I am curious as to what would make you less "done with VV"? 

10 hours ago, kwokpot said:

That's what we sailed on. The host is Dex. He's very nice. Are you on a comped cruise? Or an casino invited guest cruise?

The host now is Alina - we met her on Scarlet last year - she is also very nice 🙂 Actually on Virgin cruises we don't play a whole ton in the casino as there is so much other fun stuff to do. We paid for our Mega Rockstar suite.

Just now, kwokpot said:

Which ship?

Valiant 

27 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

You don't even have to ask, it's loaded to your card.

No I meant free play at the end of the cruise as a comp.

24 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

My husband is the gambler so that's his call. I'm just here for whatever bennies he gives me, lol. I have asked if he want to go to a specialty restaurant but we're both fine with the included restaurants. I think the main issue is the payback on cruiseship slots verses land-based casinos. We actually wear all the clothes we get and use the mugs every day. Our last cruise was on Virgin and on an 8 night cruise he won over 14 jackpots and we had $700 worth of onboard spend. I had spa charges wiped and we bought over $600 worth of stuff. The Virgin host comped a bottle of wine every night, bottles that were $60-$100 each. 

Haha you are his groupie 🙂 We are headed out on Virgin this weekend and can only hope for half the luck he had - wow 14 jackpots is crazy!! Good job! 

35 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

My husband always tries to engender a good relationship with each host. With our cruising style we don't have onboard charges of any substance so on the last day of each cruise he makes sure to meet up with the host to figure out how much onboard comps he earned so we can go to the gift shops and spend up to what the host will absorb. He has had a host complain to him that they don't like this whole onboard comp rebate and wished they didn't have to do it. That's your job! We now have whole set of Edge, Apex, and Beyond matching coffee mugs in addition to logo and non casual clothing of every type; hoodies, long sleeve pullovers, gymwear, polo shirts. 

Why dont you just ask for freeplay instead of all the unwanted x gear?

1 hour ago, SLOTheta said:

All the free gimmicks just draw people in who wouldn’t typically spend a lot of time or money in the casino. 

You hit the nail on the head with that one. I may be in the minority here but I can't stand slot pulls - participating in them or listening to them happen (but that is just me - obviously many people enjoy them so more power to them!) 

3 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We had a conversation with the host on the Solstice in December. He stated that he was new and had turned down an offer from Carnival to take the Celebrity job. I found that statement odd and him useless. 

I absolutely LOL'd at that last sentence. I cruised on Solstice in November and was not impressed with the host either. He seemed more interested in being the joker and center of attention than being useful at anything to players but maybe that was just my experience. 

Last time we were in Mazatlan we hired a guy to drive us around and show us the points of interest. So its nice to know there is another option with Stone Island. Thank you for posting the pics - looks nice - we will check it out!