Janthere

Hi everyone - I just booked what looks to be an AMAZING 7 night cruise on Valiant Lady - French Daze and Ibiza Nights - June 25 to July 2/23. Please use my link below if you would like $50 Sailor Loot. https://virg.in/JKP3

I am enjoying following along on your Live from Solstice. It's interesting to read about X from someone with fresh eyes so to speak. I cruised on Solstice from LA in November and am doing so again in April (both comped - first one in Sky Suite and second one in Aqua). Thanks for posting the pics of video poker etc. I hope you find Lady Luck soon! I have read some reports that they have recently replaced some of the old slots with new ones. When I was on in Nov many were broken especially the Video poker triple play machines. It looked like they were in the middle of upgrading some of the touchscreens for accessing your points etc as well. Are you able to get cash on your room through the machines yet or do you know if you still have to go to the cashier to do so? So far do you think you have a preference between Holland and X?

Seriously VV would make so many people happy with just burgers and fries on Bimini. Its not complicated 🙂

No not at all - so strange. No wonder i have no sailor loot haha

I enjoyed reading your review and all the photos. We board Valiant on Feb 11 for 8 nights and are even more excited now after seeing how much you enjoyed it all. When is your next cruise? Safe travels home 🙂

That is so sad to hear especially since that storm hit in 2017! Thank you for your thoughts on the island - we will look at Christiansted instead of Frederiksted. Enjoy your sea day!

Looks like you have an amazing sea day! Quick question - what was your overall impression of St Croix? would you book another cruise with it on the itinerary?

We are doing this same cruise next month so I will be following along. Thanks for doing this! Hope your group has an amazing time!

The video is great - definitely makes me want to go back on Virgin! Did anyone notice that comfortable looking red lounge chair on the balcony in the first scene? I wish they would replace the hard metal grey chairs with those!

Sadly no Global Entry line on disembarkation for Virgin the last time i sailed with them (october)

Yes my husband actually left with the very first walk offs the ship on that sailing and there was no wait at all. Me and our friends sailing with us got off the latest you could but I will definitely rethink that for next time. Its too bad as I really do love not having to be out of your room super early. Travel day is such a downer day to begin with and Virgin's offer to let u stay on to enjoy the ship for a little longer was very enticing.

All that is true - I am just surprised that a brand new terminal would not have the latest technology for immigration clearance

Our last cruise on Virgin was in early October. We elected to stay on as late as possible on disembarkation day along with a ton of other people who had the same idea. As such, there were really long lines to get through customs/immigration in Virgin's terminal V (almost an hour wait). I was surprised that in a brand new terminal they didn't have the new facial recognition systems for clearance. Does anyone know if this has changed and they do have them now? I am wondering if we should leave earlier if that would make any difference in the line/processing time. Waiting in line for an hour after a great cruise was a crappy "back to reality" moment thats for sure!

Hi @lakegirl16I think we may have bid on the same royal suite for Sunday's cruise? I got an email today that our bid was unsuccessful. I bid pretty low ($900 total for the 2 of us) from a sky suite so I am not surprised and are cool with our existing sky suite. Mine was showing pending for awhile too. See you on the ship!

Pretty sure after all the money Ive spent gambling at Stations Casinos over the years I own a portion of that yacht LOL! That thing is huge!!

@helen haywoodThe Bose sleepbuds for sale now are Version 2. I believe the problem with Version 1s was with recharging them and Bose actually took them off the market and refunded those who had purchased. So far everything I've read says V2 has addressed that issue.

@MamaFejThanks for that info - I actually had the previous version of the sleep buds and was fine with those ones comfort wise (until they stopped working). I have a white noise machine that we always use but hubby snores at times which makes the sleep buds a necessity.

Are you able to find out what the anticipated guest number will be for next week? Just curious 🙂 I like the thought of being able to amble up to the Martini bar and easily get a spot!

I just asked my husband to buy myself a pair of these for Christmas! Thank you for the recommendation. I think we might have been booked in the same cabin coming up on Sunday but i managed to switch it to one on the next deck below thankfully.

Hello! I have just finished reading all responses to your initial post and I must say I am impressed this thread is already on page 10 and the cruise doesn't start for 2 more days! I have read many of your past posts and but am also mostly a lurker rather than a poster 🙂 My husband Michael (never reads CC) and I will be on the second leg Dec 11. We are also really happy not to have to fly to the east coast to board the ship! I will be following along this week - hope you have a fabulous time and look forward to hopefully running into you in Michael's club or on the ship somewhere 🙂

We are on Beyond at Port Everglades and we didn't make it out either. The weather doesn't even look that bad!

It's best to just call in to Blue Chip to ask what offers they might have for you. Good luck!

It is likely cheaper because Blue Chip is subsidizing the cost and is expecting you to gamble/spend as compensation for this. Different cruise line (Princess) but I did disembark early on a comped cruise and in order to get off I had to pay a certain amount to compensate for the lost revenue. I did in fact pay what they asked as I hated the ship and was miserable. (my last princess cruise ever free or not)

Very much looking forward to your review of Beyond! Myself and a friend are also sailing semi-solo in (me in Aqua Class and her in a solo IV cabin) on Beyond over Thanksgiving week so your detailed and funny reviews are of particular interest! Safe travels and I can't wait to read all about your adventure! Thank you for live blogging!