CanadianCruiser21

Was this all MDR? where did you get the chocolate covered strawberries?

Yes. From some videos I’ve seen, they sometimes serve Kirkland spring water.

Yes, it doesn’t cost you anything. And even if you are perfectly competent to book your own stuff, you get free on board credit. For example, if you book a sea terrace (not lock it in), you get $700 sailor loot (OBC). In addition, if there are any issues, they are the ones who deal with the customer service wait times, not you. Plus, it’s not like anything is out of your control if you use a TA. I’m still able to log into my account, make payments, changes, add ons, etc. Lastly, they can help deal with any issues you may have while on board too. Just make sure you find a good TA.

I paid more to pick a caribe deck balcony just for the footstools! I’m on Crown in October. I hope they have them!

Woah. I thought it would be 1 year from the original sail date.

Did they give you an expiry date to use the FVC?

Question for those who have used MNVV and opted for the full refund option: how did that work? Did you get the MNVV deposit back as well?

Please take screenshots from the app and post them here.

That’s a good data point!

For the Crown Grill, will they pack my dessert to go? I tend to get full easily but hungry again an hour later. I’ve heard of others doing this, but not sure if it was an exception or ship specific. I’ll be on the Crown Princess.

I think what this tells us is that VV is still adjusting their 2024 itineraries to maximize profit, and are willing to just cancel on people who are already booked. Another theme is that their compensation model does not make things “right” in that people can’t just book a similar sailing on a different date, since prices have doubled for the people who booked in Fall 2022. IMHO, people should get at least an equivalent/similar cruise for what they originally paid.

To be a bit fair to VV, it only sucks so much because the fares have increased so much in the past few months. Otherwise, 150% would have been fine. Cunard cancelled a transatlantic cruise the morning they were supposed to depart (engine issues). All they offered was a full refund and 20% FCC. Now THAT is truly awful.

Someone on FB just posted that Virgin chartered their cruise for World Poker Tour. This gives a sense of what they are offering for cancellations a year out. I found this online “WPT Voyage onboard Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady March 31st to April 6th 2024 - Full Ship TAKEOVER!” The FB poster said “Virgin Voyages offered either a 100% refund of what you've paid OR 150% of what you've paid towards a future voyage”. I really hope this Brilliant Lady TA doesn’t get cancelled because that’s totally shitty considering how much prices have gone up since people initially booked the Brilliant TA. Even 200% would be shitty since prices have more than doubled. I don’t think VV will ever have fares as low as they were in 2022. Personally, I’ve spent way too many hours planning travel around this cruise and stressing about it being cancelled. The reward flight ticket I was going to book is now sold out too. Overall, pretty disappointed. Even a 100% refund would be shitty because I paid in a different currency (used a TA for MNVV and the deposit was in USD), so I’ve fully paid and I’ll definitely take a hit on the conversion rate. Does anyone know how the MNVV works in the case of a refund without rebooking? Will I also get that $300 deposit back?

Do you have status with any hotels? Hilton gold?

Thank you for the tip! I would have thought that booking it through the app would have been enough since it shows the charge to your credit card. In my case, it was 0 since I had the dining credits. But when I tried to make another reservation, it did show as $39.99. From other posts I’ve seen all over FB, people mentioned their credit cards were charged well before the cruise. I will mention it to them though! Always better to be proactive.

I guess I heard it was open for breakfast so I wasn’t sure if it was open for lunch or if they had staff there in the afternoon for room service.

For ships where sabbatinis is only open for dinner (Crown Princess), are you able to order from Sabbatinis for room service in the afternoon?

Do they really give those mini bottles of liquor? They are so cute. I am tempted to order the sundae just to get the little bottle. I assume they are unopened.

I just bit the bullet and added Princess Premier. Then I booked a dinner for me and my friend at Sabatinis (who I added as a travel companion earlier for booking dinners), and the dining credit was applied for both! hoping it sticks and there are no surprises.

Thanks! I ended up getting the premier package and was able to book for both of us, seemingly using the credit. hopefully there aren’t any billing issues later.

Also curious about this. I’ll be solo in my cabin and was hoping to use one of the credits on a friend in a different cabin. Looking online, the rules say it can be used for others in the same cabin.

I don’t want to order the Princess Premier package until I can confirm I can use both credits the same night. I’ve also seen a screenshot from someone else where it shows as 2 x $50 dining credits. Since the crown grill is $39pp, I wonder if I can use the remaining amount on extra entrees.

The premier package includes 2 speciality dining meals. I only plan to go once and I would like to invite a passenger from a different cabin (who does not have the package). Can I use my 2nd specialty dining credit for them? All I could find in the Princess FAQ was that it could be shared with the 3rd or 4th passenger in the same cabin.

Hopefully you, or whoever finds it listed again first, will update us here. I’ll book my flights as soon as it’s listed again. Still have my heart set on going to Lisbon so this has been just really annoying.

Lol of course they would let us know. The question is really why it’s no longer for sale online. But it’s too late to book the alternative TA anyway, even if they gave us 200% FCC. And based on based cancellations where they cancelled much closer to the date (for the bachelor charter), it was only 150% FCC, though they threw in a free cruise on a limited number of itineraries when people complained.