cantgetin

Yes--big red desk on deck 7 on embarkation day or sailor services on deck 5 after that. The good thing is that if you book after boarding, you can pay for your excursions with loot.

Why would you get a rebate? I've never seen VV do that. Contact your travel agent to see whether you can cancel and rebook to get the lower rate. That I have done prior to the PIF date.

I don't know what's going on--we had a port canceled on the Miami to Barcelona crossing as well...and we are getting our port charges refunded as loot. I realize that the amount is very small, but we paid in cash and should be refunded as cash, not ship funny money that we already have a ton of......

Technically, they have the right to remove or change ports for any reason....obviously we all understand things like political unrest or bad weather, but one does wonder about some other changes. Are they even refunding your $11? On our cruise they changed a port and said we would each get $5 port charge put on our account as loot. We already have a ton of loot, so that might not be useful at all....and yes, I paid in real US dollars; it should be refunded the same way.

Normally, the ship ports about 6:30 and the earliest you can get off is between 7 and 7:30....the ship must be cleared by port authorities before anyone gets off. It is about an hour from the cruise port to the Athens airport by car. You might want to spend a day in Athens rather than risk missing your flight,

The fact that the ship arrives by 6:30 does not mean you can disembark at 6:30. Disembarkation normally starts between 7 and 7:30 after the port authorities have cleared the ship. It is about an hour by car from the cruise terminal to the airport. I think you are cutting it way too close. Spend a day in Athens, get a hotel for the night (maybe near the airport) and leave the next day.....or take one of the "suboptimal" flights. VV is different than other cruise lines in that they don't give a firm "DO NOT book flights before 12:00" the way some other cruise lines do, but this is way too tight for me,

Exactly--perfect location, beautiful hotel, but well beyond what I wish to spend for a clean, safe bed,

Mocktails, coffees, specialty tea, smoothies/shakes, "boxed juices" (they call them cold pressed, but they come out of boxes!), sharing with others.....I certainly wouldn't go thru $300 personally, but I'd use some. And I don't know why it is relevant that specialty coffees are in line with local coffee shops. That is true, but if I can get them on a complimentary bar tab on board, why pay for them? (except to avoid the room service fee).

Interesting....there is the large drawer available when the beds are in the double configuration; it is under one bed in the L configuration...but had nothing to do with 3 pax. The arrangement for 3 is usually a fold out ottoman (at least in some cabins). In my limited experience, the beds in XL are the same as in Sea Terrace and can do the L.

VV calls the TAs who have taken their training, etc. "First Mates." I would STRONGLY recommend using one; the one I use was ranked as one of the top 10 in 2023. People with the rank of "Gold Tier" have completed extensive training on VV and met a bunch of requirements--again look for that. Yes, TAs can sometimes offer some perks. I don't think they are allowed to refund you a bit of their commission as OBC the way some other lines allow, but there are times they can get you some OBC for booking within a certain time period of an on line thing, get a bottle of wine or some bar tab because they have a certain number of cabins booked on your cruise dates, etc. Some buy up future cruise certificates on VV because they are transferrable--they can sell one to you at their cost and you can collect the discounts and perks associated with that even if it is your first cruise. There is A LOT to learn about VV that is different than other lines...for that, check out YouTube. I like a channel called "Where's Walter Travels." He has a couple of excellent videos on VV...one general, one on food, etc. The ships are basically the same. Here is one of his videos. We are not allowed to recommend TAs on Cruise Critic. I would suggest that you look at other social media sites where it is allowed.

the showers are plenty tall enough. THe "small" issue is space around the toilet and sink....not a lot of room to move around. I think the issue is that the bathrooms in the XL are significantly larger. The standard are not big, but they are enough.

Early April. They were well within the reservation period. On my upcoming cruise, the entire reservation system went down including the TA portal and sailor services....I guess stuff happens, but yuk.

You nailed it. There are occasional changes....on one cruise I rebooked to save $135 but had to give up a bottle of Moet (TA rebooked but said VV asked 3 times if she was sure I wanted to do that). However, on another cruise a new deal came out that got me a cash savings of $400 plus a bar tab of a lot (I think $600). But mostly it is a matter of how they shuffle the deal.

Completely unpredictable. All you know for sure is that the free bar tab is going away. VV prices go up and down with sometimes no seeming logic.

I screenshot everything so if the app and website crash, I still have proof of what I've booked or what perks I should have. THen, if I board and something isn't right, I let VV sort it out there.

You can buy drinks for anyone you wish. Is you click the box in the app indicating that you are responsible for your shipmate's expenses, both bracelets will be able to access the bar tab. If you don't tick that button or when purchasing for someone else, just let the bartender or waiter scan your bracelet but indicate that the beverage is for the other person or group.Totally easy. Many people complain about the lack of an unlimited beverage package, but the bar tab works much better for us and even if we paid for it, would cost a lot less. A benefit to everyone, unlike on some lines, you don't see anyone trying to max out the allotment on their drink package. Yes, there are people on VV who have had too much, but not in the numbers of some other lines.

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

Be aware the Civita...is NOT anywhere near Rome. It is about an hour away by train, about 90 minutes or more by bus. So, if you do that as a one day stop, you will have very little time to see the city. THere is easily enough to do there to spend a week....so I like that better as a start or end port rather than a port of call (same with Florence, but that isn't on any of your lists) Naples is good for either the city or to do Vesuvius/Pompeii or Herculaneum. However...when we did Pompeii, we were told that "all the good stuff is at the museum." The people who did the museum were told it was all at the excavation site. Seems that many of the treasures were raided by various governments (per a couple of documentaries.). Don't get me wrong--it was worth doing and they are doing more excavation all the time. Cannes is great. You are near many little places that you can choose to visit, There is a train that will take you to Nice, you can visit Eze, etc. or stay in Cannes (or choose different places each time you visit). Funniest photo ever--a total junker VW Beatle at a stop light next to a spotless, new looking Ferrari. So....I would not do 2 because Rome would just not be enough time there. Any of the others have good ports. One thought--there IS such a thing as visiting too many ruins. On one cruise (not VV) we did Ephesus, some of the Greek islands, and Pompeii. Should have skipped the ruins at the islands. And remember that ports in Turkey may sometimes be canceled for political unrest (can happen anywhere, but that is the most likely on your list) If I was concerned about the starting and ending cities, I'd go with number 1. Both Rome and Barcelona are good for as many days as you wish to spend and well worth your time.....for ports, I sort of like 3, but seriously, you can't go wrong.

OP's original post of seeing another person's booking info was serious. Normally, what you see is a photo of someone and they can then mess with your free dinner and show reservations. Not a huge data breach, but still a problem.

Loot can be used for excursions booked ON BOARD. If you book in advance, you pay with credit card. Loot can be used for anything purchased on board except future cruise certificates/bookings. Yes, the only reason to buy a bar tab is the bonus. If you don't have a bar tab, or if you spend all of your bar tab, any additional beverage purchases are applied first to loot and then to your credit card account. Only you can determine whether purchasing a bar tab is "worth it," as if you don't spend at least what you paid for it, you lose it. On the other hand, you now can get a $10 bonus on a $100 tab.....that might work for short cruises or people who will use it for specialty coffee, smoothies, etc. but not alcohol. Remember that on VV, the price on the menu is the price you pay. The gratuity is included; no additional 18% or 20% like on other lines. Yes, you can offer a dollar or two to a bartender; some will decline it! On our first cruise, we had no bar tab.....no problem. Since then, we have received various amounts of "complimentary" bar tab thru various promotions...usually more than we could use!

I was in a social media group for our sailing; my guess was that people from the group added me....again, just remove them. It didn't bother me until I saw that a dinner reservation had disappeared. Fortunately I was able to add it back. The problem is that if people are linked, they can "accidentally" mess with your non-pay reservations.

The problem is that when this happens, those people can change you dining reservations, etc. Delete everyone you don't know/didn't add

No more status matches--that ended 12/31/2023. They are supposedly coming out with their own new loyalty program "soon," but we've heard that for at least 18 months. And yes, for OP, the "Tips included" means ALL tips, not just the $15-18 per day on other lines. It means the tips in the spa, the tips at the bar, etc. You will never sign a slip for anything and there is no way to add a tip other than to offer cash. As noted, we've had it refused. One crew member told us that she was earning 3 times as much on VV as she had been on her previous line where she had been in a tipped position. In addition, crew has free internet (probably the most popular perk as they pay a lot for it on other lines) and depending on how full the ship is, can eat in guest areas, attend shows, etc. THey have a very cheap crew bar and specialty coffee location, but if they order alcohol or specialty coffee/tea in guest areas, they pay what we do. However, especially the coffee/tea is sometimes much easier for them to grab at Grounds Club on a break than to go all the way back to crew areas. That brings up another nice way to show appreciation to crew--if they are in line in front of or behind you at Grounds Club, have the people working charge the crew member's coffee to you.If you have DBE and don't use your entire $10 per day, it will go on that first. Also, if you see a table of crew in a restaurant, offer to pay for a round of drinks or a bottle of wine.

$50 bar tab is nothing....looks like a way to get you to book. Disney used to send out all sorts of surveys. Some of the items from surveys were incorporated into the cruises....but as much as 10 years later! Obviously they are looking for info, but probably not as important as they'd like you to believe.