VV first-time booking impressions

[dgunthert]

We're long time RCI cruisers with Diamond status looking at giving Virgin a try.

 

We opted to get our booking done in time for the Red Hot Booking Months deal. Struck me as odd that you can't submit your status proof and get the matching status until after you've already booked. I say this because a booking reference is a required field on the submission form. That said, I submitted the proof last night at about 8pm and had the confirmation by 7:30 the next morning.

 

I'm not a fan of not being able to choose your cabin. Fine that they try to choose the best given my cabin selection (like concert tickets), but I should be able to choose what I want if I don't like their option and I saw no way to do that. We're cruising with friends and like to choose cabins near each other on the same deck. As it stands, we're on 10, they're on 14. Our travel agent is trying to fix that.

 

Cruise is booked and the confirmation shows $100 sailor loot due to a promo they have going. I created an account on the site and linked my cruise, but the loot doesn't show there. According to information I got later, "sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't". Growing pains, I guess.

 

I've had questions about sailor loot, bar tabs, status matching, etc. I was working and had various calls scheduled, so I decided to give the website chat a try.

 

The chatbot was useless for what I needed. It has a limited number of multiple choice options and none of those is chatting with an actual agent. I typed, "I need an agent" directly and got put in the queue. I was number 12. The number slowly started ticking down. After 82 minutes, I was 5 when I got, "I'm sorry, no agents are available right now." Chat session was closed and I got phone numbers to call or an option to email. It also asked for feedback about the chat session, I chose the "Hated it" option. The feedback form where they ask for a reason is then limited to 140-characters. Barely enough to describe the issue I had with the chat queue. I can't imagine trying to describe a poor interaction with an agent within that limit.

 

Okay, not going well so far. The chat gave options to call or email. I chose the email option which took me to the "Contact Us" page of the website. That helpfully let me know they'll get back to me within 72 hours. That seems to be a pretty lousy response time, but okay. Then the text box for "Your message" is ALSO limited to 140 characters! People are trying to contact the cruise line to get information or resolve issues and they're limited to a tweet? That practically guarantees they won't be able to fully explain their issues or questions which will potentially result in an additional 72-hour window before their problem even begins to get addressed.

 

Fine, Virgin seemed to be driving me to actually call the phone line, even though that's less efficient for all involved, so I did. That was a very different experience. Call was answered by an agent almost immediately. There was barely time for the, "An agent will be with you shortly," message. She was extremely pleasant and helpful, giving me information and commentary beyond what was required to answer my question. That was where I learned it can be hit or miss on whether sailor loot actually shows up in your account online, but she assured me it showed up on the reservation. She explained that they are  significantly ramping up support staffing and took my feedback about the problem with the chat and the seemingly arbitrary character limit when contacting them. Great example of how an  employee's attitude can turn a customer experience around.

[rebeccac]

By the way, you can pick your cabin.  You just have to call into Virgin or go through a TA.  

[angela12345]

Also, please submit feedback about the 140 character limit.  I also submitted that same feedback.  140 is all but useless.  I asked them to increase it to 3000.  Or 1000 at absolute bare minimum.  That chat window thing is odd ... so it appears to do this for me if you click in the message field during your wait.  When I clicked, it immediately changed to that same message you got.  But I left the window open and sometimes would even say "agent" again getting the same message every time.  Eventually an agent just popped in !!  I think in my same spot I was already in line ??  I don't know how many chat agents they have working, but yes it is a looooooong wait even when you're just #12 in line.  As stated above, you can get your cabin changed, they can do it by phone or by chat, or your travel agent can do it (they will do it for you even if you have a travel agent, unlike some other lines).  

[surfone]

We had no problem calling and choosing our own deck/cabin after booking. Only waited a minute for agent.  So nice and efficient.

[cantgetin]

Correct that you cannot choose your cabin with an on line booking.  You can choose if you make your booking on the phone or thru a travel agent.  Or you can book on line and then call and change the assigned cabin.

 

There is NO predicting when the "loot" will show up other than it will be there shortly after boarding.  My TA sends me photoshots of her documents (which do show it) so I have proof if I board and it isn't there.  However, in my case, it has always been correct after boarding even though the app showed one thing, the "my account" section of the web site showed something else, and they were both wrong!

 

Bottom line, their pre-cruise IT stinks.  It does improve at boarding.

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/17/2022 at 11:25 AM, dgunthert said:

I'm not a fan of not being able to choose your cabin.

 

Absolutely you can choose your cabin. Call into VV or use a Travel Agent which is the best route to go. We've always used a travel agent in our nearly 20 years of cruising and our TAs were awesome in helping us get through VV's system. 

 

I do agree that matching status after you book is interesting, but I guess they want to know you're going to be cruising on them. 

 

And for the employee attitudes, wait till you get on the ship. Easily the best crew we've ever had, you could genuinely tell they're happy. And they should be. They're among the highest paid crew in the industry, they get free WiFi, they have only one crew galley so officers and crew eat together, and every crew member is allowed to eat in the same restaurants we do. They have a rotational system that allows them to enjoy all the restaurants.  You can even ask crew members if they'd like to join your table for dinner. And they have some of the best uniforms that are both comfortable and allow them to express themselves.

 

We've sailed 8 cruise lines so far and while every single crew is awesome in their own way, Virgin's crew definitely is the most happy and free spirited. 

[HollyRF]

Another booking tip: We were booking a Cheeky Corner Suite and since there were only six rooms in the category we wanted, I would go through the booking process until a room was assigned, then opened another browser window and did the same thing until the exact room I wanted came up. Of course, this is not a super efficient process if your cabin category has many cabins, but thought I'd mention in case it helps anyone.