The Med

7 hours ago, Lisa353 said:

It would be good to know what your TA thinks.  My TA is still waiting to hear back from Virgin's Privacy team.  It is weird that we are both from the UK and both having issues.  There must be some sort of glitch with Virgin's app.

I phoned my TA, he was appalled, he said that was a bad data breach and there was obviously a glitch in the system. He gave me a phone number to ring, he said it was better if I made the call as I knew all the details.

We were just on our way out so I left it until I came back but oddly before I phoned them I opened the app again and it’s reverted back to me again.

Strange. 

3 hours ago, cantgetin said:

I wonder if this person has a phone number very close to yours or if VV somehow switched the phone numbers.....just a thought.

I can’t see how American and British numbers would be similar.

Also, when I deleted the app and reinstalled it I had to log in with my email address and password which should have brought up me, but it brought up her details.

My TA isn’t available until tomorrow but I will fill him in on this.

What I can’t understand is why the app is thinking that I am someone else who wasn’t on the same cruise as me, was in a different cabin to me and lives in a different country to me.

I’d say this is serious considering I can view her private information including her next of kin, her e mail address, her passport details.

I can’t see the payment information thankfully.

I did delete the app and reinstall it, it still thinks I’m her.

We got off The Scarlet Lady last Thursday and since then my phone has popped up with various messages from Virgin which I didn’t take too much notice off saying to my husband “the app thinks I’m still on the ship”

However I then got a notice about “you’ve booked a shore thing” so I opened the app to take a closer look.

Oh my goodness….the app thinks I’m someone called Cassidy from Louisiana (not giving full name for obvious reasons) and I have nearly all her privacy information including what she’s spent since she embarked, who her emergency contact is including a phone number, I’ve even got all her passport details.

She wasn’t even staying in the same cabin as us so goodness knows how this has happened.
 

This is a serious data breach.

We got off Virgin Scarlet Lady yesterday.

So after booking late and no restaurant bookings we had an embarkation time of 4.00, although we did go earlier at 3.00 and got straight on.

Before we went to our cabin we went straight to Razzle Dazzle and joined the very long queue to make our bookings.

Not what you want when you first get on board but the queue went down quite quickly and we did get the restaurants that we wanted at the times we wanted.

Thank goodness we joined that queue, we spoke to someone the next day who hadn’t been able to book anything, and the ship wasn’t even full.

I only really enjoyed  The Wake. Best meal of the cruise.

Razzle dazzle is just like a diner and we didn’t enjoy the food.

We enjoyed the food at Pink Agave but it all felt a bit manic.

Extra Virgin was ok, 

That was all we did. It was all very different and casual, which is fine, but I did rather miss a white tablecloth and a special experience. I do accept however that I’m not their target market.

I did enjoy breakfast and lunch in The Galley, that’s something they do better than other cruise lines, along with the grab and go bento boxes.

I’d book again, knowing what I know, I’d just pack differently. 

Thanks, so I can pack the body lotion and leave the hair conditioner at home. That helps. 

I’ve done a quick search to see which toiletries will be available in our balcony cabin.
 

Can anyone confirm that there will be shower gel, shampoo, and hair conditioner but not body lotion.

Is that correct?

Just debating whether to pack the hair conditioner and body lotion.

Many thanks. 

Thanks for the replies and help, we shall follow the advice given by firstly ringing our TA and if we get no joy then we shall try again once on board.

It’s my husband’s birthday on the second night onboard and it would be lovely to know beforehand if we can actually be in a nice restaurant.

I do agree with the comments that the stress of faffing about beforehand trying to book tables does take away some of the pleasure of the actual holiday.

I wasn’t previously a fan of the old regime of fixed dining times but at least you knew that you would be in a certain restaurant at a certain time. I’m starting to feel nostalgic for the good ole days.

So we booked a last minute 5 night cruise which is less than 2 weeks away so of course, as expected, there is no availability for restaurants online. Actually, we’ve managed to book one.

I understand that once onboard it’s possible to book, but with a boarding time of 4.00pm will everything be booked up by the time we get on board?
 

Thanks Pete. 
After I’d posted I did look on Southampton VTS (which incidentally I’d never heard of before) and it does show arrival at 03.15 on the 30th.

We are also on this cruise but we haven’t heard anything about a delay.
 

If it’s weather related does this mean that the arrival into to Southampton tomorrow morning has also been impacted?

I’m just wondering if our embarkation time is still the same on the 30th (tomorrow). I’m assuming so otherwise we would presumably been contacted by now.

I’m not fussy about toiletry brands so I’ll be happy with whatever is provided. I don’t want to take stuff if it’s already there..

So obviously shower gel and shampoo will be there but will they have body lotion and hair conditioner?

Did you go to the cinema at all? 
 

I wondered what films are showing at the moment.

We will be on Iona in a few weeks and I’m wondering what to take for black tie nights.

Do any of the women wear long dresses? I’d love a chance to wear mine but I won’t pack any if people don’t really bother.

Thanks for the quick reply. 

Is it just the theatre that you can book or other entertainment.

Oh, and what happens in the 710 Club?

4 hours ago, sddsddean said:

With that said, we are on the Iona on the 16th for Xmas and all theatres are booked...though we might not go to them all!!

 

Simon

Ah, I was under the impression that you could only book entertainment once on board.

How many days out of your cruise did theatre booking become available? 

On 12/7/2023 at 12:51 PM, sandancer said:

Not sure about booking the other entertainment. I do know that they were turning people away who had not booked. There were a few very cross people outside the theatre. 

This is what is concerning me about this huge ship, certainly more than double the amount of passengers on any ship that we have booked on previously.

If you have to book everything in advance, it does take away the relaxation of a holiday and the spontaneity.

We quite often like to decide on a whim what we want to do, where we want to eat and what we want to see.

I’m not sure that all this forward planning and trying to decide in advance what we might feel like doing on a certain point in the future in conducive to a relaxing holiday.

Well it’s booked now so it is what it is. 

Thanks for all the info, really helpful.

Can you pre book entertainment or only once on board?
 

Also, any idea who will be performing in The Limelight Club?

On 10/4/2023 at 2:53 PM, paulatsea said:

You may use multiple devices on one package but can only use a single device at any one time. If you wish to use multiple devices simultaneously, you will need to buy additional packages that are available at a discounted rate. 

 

from P&O site .

So, I’m confused about this because when I try and buy the package at £134.40 and click on 2 devices under my husband’s name (but zero device under my own name) it’s doubling the cost to £255.

So, am I correct that if I click one device only, my husband and I can both use our phones and I pads as long as we are not logged on at the same time?

Thanks everyone for the replies.

We've made a decision not to fly to The States for New Year and have now booked a cruise out of Southampton leaving on 30th Dec with P&O.

So we’re away for New Year which was what we wanted.

The ship is much larger than we are used to but at least there will be plenty to do. We’re going with an open mind in terms of service and expectations so we shall see. 
 

6 minutes ago, GSPG said:

My concern, if you like is in your very first sentence, just getting off the Seven Seas Splendor, and boarding this ship.

 

Polar opposites?

 

 

 

Yes they are absolutely polar opposites.

However, as much as I enjoyed the Regent experience, there are things about small ship sailing that we don’t enjoy….mainly lack of entertainment.

So we’re going with an open mind, we know what we’re getting into. 
Our biggest ship so far is Celebrity Beyond.

Yes for NYE we have our dining time at 8.30pm but I’ve not yet seen the menu (only menu examples).

I wasn’t sure if we would get 1 more posh night or 2 on this cruise and was wondering at what point they let you know when the formal nights are?
 

We do like speciality restaurants but prefer main dining venues on formal nights…for the people watching. I like to admire all the outfits. 
 

Thank you so much for the helpful replies, it’s much appreciated.

It was a bit of an impulse booking really, we wanted to be away over New Year, and having recently done long haul travel and also in addition small ship sailing we wanted something with no flights and lots going on.

I’m worried that the ship might be too big… I’m concerned about the queuing and waiting but on the upside we’re excited about all the choices of food and entertainment.

Our itinerary isn’t showing the gala/celebration nights yet but I expect that will happen nearer to departure date. 
We depart Southampton on 30th Dec, so obviously one will be NYE.

Oh, another quick question. On another thread someone said that they booked main dining room for 6.30pm every night of the cruise so that they always had a table.

On our itinerary it’s saying no booking required for main restaurants?
 

Can you book nearer the time? I don’t fancy an hours wait as some have reported.

We’ve just got off a Regent Seven Seas Splendor cruise, so to go from that to a massive ship will be different!
We are however looking forward to the entertainment on board and having lots of choices.

We haven’t sailed with P&O for quite a while and we know that things have changed.
So, help needed please from you lovely experts.

1) When can we book the speciality restaurants? Is it 2 weeks before? Will we be given a date so that I can wait up until midnight to book?

2) Which speciality restaurants would you recommend?

3) Do we need to pre book entertainment, and if so, when is the earliest we can do that?
We are used to just walking into a venue as and when we feel like it. So, can you still be spontaneous or do the theatre/cinema/comedians/game shows have to be pre booked?

4) Who might be on in The Limelight club on In early January? When can we book in for that?
 

5) How many Gala/Celebration nights on a 2 week cruise and do we find out which days before departure?
 

6) Do people still dress up in black tie/ long dresses for Celebration nights? I hope so, I want to really dress up but don’t want to look out of place.

Thanks in advance 😀🥂

We’re off to Athens in 11 days, and we had no idea of the refurbishment/security delays.

I read your post and immediately booked fast track.

Thank you for the heads up, much appreciated.