librarylady19

9 minutes ago, little britain said:

I had better not tell DH!! 

Can confirm. They actually advertise this in the daily newsletter. 

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

That was on HAL? Never had an issue on any of their ships. What did they say?

Honestly, I don't remember if this was HAL or Celebrity but didn't complain as I figured I shouldn't have sent something I don't put in the dryer at home.

On 3/24/2024 at 4:51 PM, rwethereyet1969 said:

SO......a question for the ladies....

 

When sending your laundry in the HAL bag, do you put your bra in loose or do you bring a lingerie bag for your bra?  Just wondering if I should bring a lingerie bag to keep my bras from getting too twisted or snagged on other items or do the laundry staff automatically put bras in a lingerie bag when washing?

I hand wash bras as whatever you tell them in my experience bras are too delicate for their laundries. I forgot one time and the bra came back with the underwire broken.  Easy enough to bring along some hand wash (like Soak which doesn't require rinsing) and do the smalls in the sink!!

We are seriously considering booking our first Windstar cruise (looking at Venice/Adriatic for next August). I have searched online and this forum, but I can’t find a specific period when the announced updates to Wind Spirit are scheduled in 2025. Looking at the cruise schedule, there seems to be a few weeks gap after the TA in spring 2025 so I’m hoping this is when the ship will be refurbed. 
any further info. would be much appreciated. 

Yes, it does seem like a long time to hold back the ship - unless they are money issues perhaps?

When do included specialty dining reservations become available for booking online? We have 2 included for the Baltics cruise on NS May 5 sailing but not able to book yet. 

Oh no, we are doing NS for a Baltics cruise in May, picked strictly for the amazing itinerary. I’ll keep my expectations down. We did Rotterdam earlier this year and thought food was good but service was so slooow.  

8 hours ago, cantgetin said:

You can sell your MNVV to anyone who wants to buy it--that is one benefit of the deal.  Let your TA know that you will not be using it (if that is the case) and perhaps he/she can sell it to a client.  There is no reason for you to lose the $300 that you paid for it.

oh I’m sure I’ll use it - will just wait and see if prices come down at all. I loved the product and the fact that everything - except for drinks is included. I actually prefer paying for drinks a La carte as I always feel the need to “get my money’s worth” when I purchase the premium package on Celebrity 😀

Another Celebrity cruiser here. I just took my first Virgin cruise on Scarlet Lady and was so impressed with the service, food and ship overall that I purchased a MNVV certificate and hoped to book another soon,….then the new prices came out - yikes! 
I do have the 11 night Barcelona to Rome 11/2024 cruise that Virgin allowed me to select after Brilliant Lady TA was cancelled so that might be to suffice for a while.

10 minutes ago, sting1st said:

Is there an active discount code for this river cruise? I’m interested in booking it as well. TY. 

$25 deposit and some reduced airfares 

Booked Main & Moselle Xmas Markets (Paris to Prague) for Dec. 2026 - looks like an amazing itinerary!! Thanks for the heads up that these were on Viking website.

Link doesn’t work 

On 10/17/2023 at 9:06 AM, txtechmk said:

We board next Tuesday, the 24th, for our 12 night southern Japan cruise on the Millennium!  I'll try and post a report when I'm back.  This cruise will be very port intensive.  We have a few ship excursions (using OBC), and others through Tripadvisor and toursbylocals.  Only two sea days.  We are leaving Friday and spend a couple of days in Tokyo.  It will be our first trip to Japan.

Looking forward to hearing more....we booked for April 2025 right when the itinerary came out and hopefully will be able to secure business class flights with points otherwise airfare cost is prohibitive.

7 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

We sailed on Zaandam in May and Zuiderdam in September because we love the itinerary out of Quebec/Montreal.  We don't have the gluten problem and we found the food to be superior to that offered by Celebrity.  The theatre entertainment is pitiful on HAL but frequent cruisers don't bother with the shows produced by Celebrity.  The choice between HAL and X is difficult because we like both products and itinerary and $$ will influence our choice.  Our recent experience with Zuiderdam will get us back to Celebrity because, unless you like the Rolling Stones, there was no place to dance for those who still like to clutch their partner.

Agree about HAL entertainment (and we don't really dance). On Rotterdam the rock band was fantastic but we weren't fans of the BB Kings band and the piano duo was painfully bad. Same sax player 2 nights (on a 7 day cruise) and dance troupe other nights. One thing that stood out was the CD's presentations that were fantastic - she spoke about nordic spirit of innovation and history of HAL (missed that one but friends raved about it). Ship had far less ocean-facing area and was cramped compared to Apex imo.  We are sailing HAL again for the Baltics next May, because the itinerary is fantastic and the Have it All plus promo was a great deal. 

17 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

Thank you for this, we are heading to the Rotterdam.  So the package that comes with the Have it all is the Signature package?  Would you have been to upgrade to Elite before you boarded if wanted? 

You can only upgrade before boarding I found out when I tried to purchase the upgrade onboard but honestly it wasn’t necessary as most of the drinks are included.
 

@Spif Barwunkelwell said - we started our cruising journey with Celebrity and have always liked the vibe, food and service. Will stick with them (while also dabbling in other cruise lines definitely) until I personally experience a downturn. On the Apex TA soon so I guess I’ll find out!!
 I do take issue with your characterization of the “ladies” not being professional enough. This was a video for captains club members, not a board or shareholders meeting and I think the tone was fine. They were obviously trying to diffuse some of the criticisms with humor. 

 No, bit the ever knowledgeable and thorough Gary Bembridge (Tips for Travellers) was recently and did video and posts on it. bottom line, it was decent but the ship as a whole is super crowded and hard to avoid noise, etc. 

I hope there are changed on the Apex TA in early November. The menus have disappeared from the app so hopefully that’s a good sign!

I chuckled at that email. I have 2 cruises booked on Virgin - the specialty dining w/ no added cost and the no kids policy really appeal to me!

I know some people didn’t make out so well, but when my Virgin TA on Brilliant Lady was cancelled recently they allowed me to pick ANY sailing in same category (of any length) and gave me additional $600 bar tab and $600 sailor loot (OBC). never came close to that w/ either Royal or celebrity that’s for sure. Plus I get deep blue extras die to Celebrity elite  status match. 

3 hours ago, red lobster said:

I got my new itinerary on the 8th day, the email states 600.00 bar tab and 600.00 loot. On my original reservation it showed my 600.00 bar tab, why can't I see the new bar tab and loot? I may not be looking at the correct place, if one of you could let me know it would be appreciated. 

Check on the web version of your VV account click on  “Manage booking” then  “addons” - for many,  myself included, the app isn’t updated properly. I would call and have them email you your folio which also shows your new booking and perks 

21 hours ago, greenenvy said:

Spain to Greece 10/11/24. I put in the form early Monday morning when it was first released and there was plenty of availability but it was priced so low word got out and the itinerary sold out. So definitely not pleased because I would have bought a cabin on Monday if I thought there was any chance I wouldn’t get it. I’m just hoping some cancellations happen and I can still figure out a way. 

That’s a bummer. It did sound like a good itinerary but I wanted to maximize my cancellation benefit and went w/ the 11 nt. Barcelona to Rome as that was a more appealing route to me and much pricier. No chance of that selling out at 5k for xl sea terrace 🙂

23 minutes ago, lesters said:

@librarylady19 we went to a third party website.  You. are   comped

 

They work with cruise lines to offer you deals based on your play in other casinos - land & ship based. 
 

this will be our first Virgin Voyage!  

Cool, thanks. I have been reading about how to get cruises through credit card/casino status but it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through especially of you don’t live near Vegas or AC!

I hope VV offers another Virgin points deal soon. 

On 9/14/2023 at 9:11 AM, jon81uk said:

others have said there was IT changes, it’s not just the bookings. Most of those with cancellations wouldn’t now be using the app to book dining or anything. 

No, but there are a lot of people who rebooked and are finding discrepancies between the add-ons given (as listed in email and Virgin website) and the app. I know I have been checking the app to no avail. 

8 hours ago, lesters said:

We are rebooked!!!  French Daze & Ibiza nights in May!!!  So excited.  Not only were we able to move our casino booking to this sailing, we are getting back over $200 due to the changes in port fees/taxes AND I was able to scoop up a Splash of Romance, which was sold out on our original sailing.

 

I am so excited.  Its a longer wait but will be so worth it!!!!

 

It was 7 days from our submission last Monday as well.

 

Fantastic; well done! I see several people here mention casino bookings....how does one get those? 

1 hour ago, norlor32 said:

Just got rebooked to the BARCELONA TO CIVITAVECCHIA November 2024 cruise after a seven day wait. VV did say it would be a week when I submitted our form last Sunday. Good luck to everyone who is waiting!

Cool - I'm on that one too. Join the Roll Call!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2963773-scarlet-lady-november-3-14-2024-barcelona-to-rome/