chillyw

On 4/29/2024 at 8:14 AM, neverendingcruising said:

That guy is super annoying, ended up asking YouTube to not show me his videos anymore. There has always been speculation that VV will go public or sell so I don't think this would be earth shattering if true. Maybe something will be announced on the 1st that he knows about or maybe he's just hedging his bets in case they announce a sale this week? 

Seriously... saying a private company is looking for an exit for their investors is not news, it's reality for every privately owned company with significant investment money.

I thought the follow up they just did was pretty good.  Nice way to take responsibility and laugh at yourself.  ***** like this happens.

33 minutes ago, Aunt-Sue said:

I'd like to know what I got for the $25 fee too! The cruise rate was the exact same as I found on VV website myself with the same Bar Tab and no additional On Board Credits!! Like I said I used AA to get the bonus miles and I did shop around for that deal first.

I haven't booked through AA's cruise portal, but they're giving you loyalty points and miles. They probably charge a fee when booking over the phone but their system doesn't allow you to book online with Virgin so that's annoying.

Do two sub-par margaritas make a par margarita?

1 minute ago, Freelancer3 said:

Isnt the Four Seasons San Juan still closed?

Ack!  Wrong fancy F hotel - meant Fairmont 😆

Love Brickell and I've stayed at the Hampton inn many times before cruises. Not a bad spot and solid price.

I also really like Waterboy's even though they're more expensive. The other more expensive brand I like is LMNT, but it's a delicious salt bomb.

VV had a really good deal on the Four Seasons in San Juan so worth checking. I wouldn't do flights through them.

11 minutes ago, BeasleysMom66 said:

 

A great idea except I had a Rock Star Aft suite and none are available.  This is the 2nd time Virgin has cancelled on me.  I am done booking and wasting time with it.  I have a small window that I can do a cruise in due to my job demands and I need a more reliable line.  Sorry Virgin you just aren't getting it done.  Maybe when I retire one day.....

I'm also in an MRS and now am annoyed I'll have to figure this out with work schedules.

10 hours ago, raphael360 said:

The cabins I was looking at were single solo directly above The Manor. Can you imagine?  

Maybe the constant thump, thump, thump is gonna help them sleep lol

Honestly, love this code of conduct and that they spell it out. 

57 minutes ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

1 day back from Europe and I'm already searching for the next cruise. lol.  Still haven't even had to go back to work yet. 

I'm back at work today and am so jealous of you!!

20 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

You can't leave us hanging! What's the right stuff? We're planning two meals at Food Republic to use up our Free at Sea/2 dining package. Thanks 🙂 

 

Our favorites are the dumplings (multiple kinds too), Korean fried chicken, elotes, firecracker shrimp, pork belly bao buns, and can't go wrong with Edamame. The chocolate dessert is really good too.

The broth based dishes (like Ramen), the fried rice, and the chicken teriyaki were misses for us. Those just don't quite have the flavor you'd expect.

19 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

Always use Google Flights. You can set an email alert when prices change - on a specific flight or date - for any route. Even if you’ve already booked, price drops often result on money or credit back from the airline. 

Love this tip. TripIt pro also has similar functionality.

Google flights is great, the one thing to be aware of is some flights won't show up on Google flights if it's complicated routing.

3 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

We are actually flying home to Philadelphia in a few hours from LHR.  We connect in Montreal and our friends connect in Toronto on air Canada.

It's a good thing you didn't get the direct flight on BA to Philly today - it's one of the ones that was cancelled!

5 hours ago, LadyZolt said:

I had a similar experience back in 2015 -- we were scheduled to go to China, and we had to cancel the trip because I was in the hospital -- for about a month!  They really don't want to operate unless they absolutely have to.  In my case, they did.  We had travel insurance, so we got back our money.

 

However, as someone else posted -- having medical evacuation insurance for things like this buys great peace of mind.  We use MedJet Assist.  If I should end up needing this kind of medical care and I'm overseas, as soon as I'm able to be transported, MeJet will take me to my hospital near my home.  I highly recommend that all travelers do the research to figure out what they would want to happen in the most unfortunate of circumstances and obtain insurance accordingly.  

Agreed with this

I believe MediJet only kicks in after you are admitted to a hospital, which didn't happen until they were back in the US in this case. Other travel medical also includes evacuation provisions, obviously varies, but I personally would rather have full coverage with that as a backup if needed.

Sorry to hear this! Best of luck to you.

On 8/26/2023 at 4:58 PM, PhillyTravelBug said:

Our last evening on this fabulous vacation is here. This cruise was just the right amount of time. We do have a transfer via train for tomorrow in London before we fly out Monday.  I must say, I absolutely loved our balcony cabin. The cabins are perfect. From the deck with the comfy chairs, design, lighting, function of the bathroom, closet space, and more than enough charging outlets.  
 

Simon has been the best and most memorable captain we have experienced. Great style and just the right amount of cheer! Jaharmine at Starbucks has been my stand out employee. Not only did she remember my order and name daily, I noticed she remembered so many others. Love that touch. 
 

Thermal spa was an absolute delight. I don’t feel like I took advantage of it like I did in the bliss, and would put this one below the spa on the bliss and getaway. Like the design a bit better.

 

I really wish our sea days were not so rainy so we could utilize deck 8 more. We did get to enjoy indulge food hall out there one night and loved walking around on it.

 

the specialty restaurants Onda, Hasuki, and Los Lobos were all on point! Our best meals. Did one dinner in the MDR and that was more than enough. This was the best Local so far, indulge was a big hit and only had trouble finding seats once or twice.
 

overall, Prima is a fantastic ship and can’t wait to see how the changes progress as this class of ship develops.  The modern design and colors impressed me every time I left my room. However, the smaller public space has big drawbacks. Just be warned if booking a future cruise. 
 

Can’t wait to explore London tomorrow!

Hello from LHR 🙂 I suspect you might be here too 😂

Agree with a lot of this. Ship is beautiful, Simon was energetic, Canal tour in Bruges was great.

We did Stonehenge yesterday and that was awesome. Definitely a must do if you get back to London! You did an awesome London tour though from the photos.

I will say though I did notice the cuts. While I love the potential of the ship, the entertainment was mostly boring to us. Ex: using the Improv to do lame trivia games instead of comedy. I don't buy the excuse about comedians, I watch European comments from the Edinburgh fringe every BA flight and they are funny to a US audience too!

We spent more time in our room on this cruise then I ever have on a port-intensive one. We did like price is right live though.

Specialty dining was hit and miss, and ranged from decent to great to me. Agree with your Los Lobos and Onda, both great, and I live in Austin and get good Mexican food from the Mom and Pop taco stand across the street 😂. Palomar was really good, but not quite great, and Food Republic remains one of our favorites, but you have to order the right stuff there or it can be medicore.

Hasuki I don't think was as good as in the past, I noticed the steak quality cut and the fried rice wasn't as good for some reason the past two times I've been.

Loved following along with you, and sad I didn't run into you on the ship to say hi. We did a lot of the same excursions!

Staff was overall great.

I'd definitely sail NCL again but I'm looking for something a little different after the changes, so I'm going to branch out personally. Virgin time next. Plus, I avoided the next certificate successfully.😂

Think the Prima in the Caribbean will be fun, and a ship people really like there, it just feels different from old NCL for me in a few ways and I want something new.

Last comment on Prima: my least favorite slot machine selection in the fleet.

On 8/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, travellingguy said:

Writing here a review as a new Virgin sailor and who uses these boards for lots of research and answers and hope to help others if possible.

 

I'm a long time NCL cruiser who this year decided to take a break from the megaship model of NCL after an unsatisfactory cruise on NCL and looked to the adults only model of Virgin.

 

 

I just got off the Prima and cant wait for our Virgin Cruise.

Honestly, NCL is borrrrrring now, full of crowds, and you can notice the cuts everywhere.

On 8/22/2023 at 12:06 AM, poohterp said:

We just booked SWA RT NonStop for $417 pp, but arriving the night before.  Gone are the days when you could fly in the same day.  Airlines are too unreliable now.  We haven’t had a flight leave on-time in over 18 months, or worse - get changed once or twice after booking.

Airlines don't finalize schedules until around 90-days before, until then it's a placeholder schedule. That's why you see the headlines like "American airlines cancels 20,000 flights" when they're really just adjusting schedules.

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

This was our 3rd time in Amsterdam, though first on a cruise. So, I guess we have a different opinion of whether Amsterdam is worth seeing more than once.

I love Amsterdam. Was my second time, but so much to see and do. Last time I was there was during the festival of lights and was incredible.

1 minute ago, skatie said:

darn on the rainy sea days, but so glad your land days looked like good weather!  Is today the day they do the Immigration clearance on board?  Hopefully that's quick!    We did Celebrity Apex last year and really enjoyed it, but it definitely has a more quiet and older crowd vibe.  I first sailed Prima in April with a friend and agree that it just gets too cramped on poor weather days and the upper decks just aren't set up right with poor sight lines - the karts track really takes up too much space and viewing opportunities.   I picked this ship for the itinerary but told hubby that I probably want to try another bigger ship with more space and activities (RCI?) in future.  

Agree with all this. Prima has been beautiful, and better then people have said, but it's definitely an outdoor ship.

We did the onboard immigration this morning at 7:30 AM and promptly went back to sleep lol.

@PhillyTravelBug I told myself I wasn't going to buy the certs this time, but I'm similar, Africa or South America next for me. Would love to do Galapagos on Celebrity at some point but it's $$$$

14 minutes ago, JandC_Cruising said:

The Pommery Rose was everywhere that we asked for it, including the Vibe.  Didn't go to the main pool bar.  It was at all the bars on decks 6,7,8 as we could tell (Sunset, Prime Meridian, Mixx, Bar 21, etc.) and on every restaurant wine list.

Same here on Prima, Pommery available everywhere, drank a lot of Veuve in Le Bistro

17 hours ago, brookie848 said:

We were on the Epic in February -- the third time. It is still my favorite Haven (we've also been on the Escape and Getaway). We LOVE the huge restaurant and lounge area. Posh is always nice, but our cruise was really windy and we didn't use it as much as we thought we would this time.

 

We also like the private gym and the open-air eating area for afternoon snacks.

 

We're doing the Viva next, so I'll be curious to see what we think of that. We haven't done Breakaway-plus yet, but we hated the Haven on the Getaway. The Escape was better.

 

Prima class has the best lounge and restaurant area, but no private gym. Only thing that's really missing.

1 minute ago, Girr said:

Posh, also sometimes referred to as Vibe, is adult only.  On our cruise this summer it had very few people using it. 

Ah that sucks! We had a great time there last year, and had many shot o'clocks lol

6 minutes ago, Yinster said:

We thought the haven in the Epic is the nicest from the three we have been on. The other two were Breakaway and Getaway. 

 

If you book a haven spa cabin you will also have access to one of the largest spa areas on a ship too.

 

 

Epic was my favorite until Prima.