Valiant - March 11-19 - SHIP COMPLETELY BOOKED! Any hope for (finer) dining?

[GhettoCruiser]

So.... I booked in December and didn't know about booking dining 60 days out, etc. because I've just been too busy to read the boards here.  *sigh*  Started to look further into the process, downloaded the app and...... NOTHING.  Reached out to a recommended travel agent to see if I could get some of the perks upgraded from the better deals I've seen offered since I booked (after calling VV directly didn't help) and they said the ship is completely full.

 

SO, for the Virgin Experienced cruisers amongst us (does that make you non-virgins?) what are my chances at walk-up dining with the entire boat full?  There's literally nothing available in the app to book.  

 

Also, trying to set our agenda through the app and some things I can't add - like you CAN add to shop the duty free shops, but you can't add the "Salty Trivia" right above it.  I'd really like to get a better handle on my trip and pre-plan at least some things.  Any advice or calming influence is greatly appreciated.  😉

[jon81uk]

More reservations open up once onboard. You’ll be fine. 
 

shows and activities can only be booked once on the ship. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by jon81uk

[Alg63]

It’s not necessarily 60 days. Right now for the Transatlantic cruise which is in 57 days - restaurant bookings open on 8 March. 
and they ALWAYS hold back tables and release slowly as it gets closer - and people cancel, don’t show up .. and there are plenty of locations to choose from 

[cantgetin]

First, I'm guessing that you mean that there are no restaurant reservations showing up on the app, NOT that the ship has every cabin booked (which I believe has never happened).  If we are referring to restaurant reservations being booked, no worried.  More will open up on the app as soon as you board and log onto the ship's wifi.  As to walk ins, the longest we ever waited was 10 minutes.  You will also note people changing reservations after boarding which is another way that things will open up.

Your best shot at walk ins is early or late; most people shoot for reservations about 8.

 

Most activities can't be booked until you board.  This does not mean that you sit around forever on the app.  We boarded, dropped our stuff in our cabin, and went to The Galley for lunch. While we waited for the food to be served, we got on the app and booked various events, and also watched the safety video.  Granted there were 2 of us doing bookings, but total time doing bookings was under 15 minutes.  Since you mentioned 60 days for dining reservations, that likely means you are in a suite, since regular cabins can't reserve dining till 45 days.  If you are in a suite, you will go to The Manor after boarding and your Rockstar Agent will do all of this for you after talking to you about what you want.

[neverendingcruising]

The March 11 sailing on Valiant does appear to be missing from the website, not sure if that's a glitch or if they just remove the sailing entirely when it's sold out?

[GhettoCruiser]

On 2/25/2023 at 12:11 AM, cantgetin said:

First, I'm guessing that you mean that there are no restaurant reservations showing up on the app, NOT that the ship has every cabin booked (which I believe has never happened).  

I was actually referring to both. The TA I spoke to said VV told her the cruise is completely booked, AND I can’t find available dining reservations in the app. 😉

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, GhettoCruiser said:

I was actually referring to both. The TA I spoke to said VV told her the cruise is completely booked, AND I can’t find available dining reservations in the app. 😉

Something is weird and I can't wait to find out what.  My best guess is a large corporate group or something similar that didn't charter the whole ship but did a deal to stop any further booking.  We had this happen once on a B2B cruise on Princess.  The corporate group specifically wanted balcony cabins so Princess called me and offered the cruise "free" if we would move to an inside cabin.  It wasn't a bad situation at all.  They did take over one of the public decks most mornings as there would be signs posted with their group activities for the day and that was usually their meeting place.  But when they left, the rest of us had the whole ship to ourselves.

[garycarla]

On 2/24/2023 at 5:35 PM, jon81uk said:

More reservations open up once onboard. You’ll be fine. 
 

shows and activities can only be booked once on the ship. 

 

As to restaurant, we sail April 8th and almost no restaurants available to book.  We were able to book everything in advance on Nov cruise last year.

[_tacocat_]

6 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Something is weird and I can't wait to find out what.  My best guess is a large corporate group or something similar that didn't charter the whole ship but did a deal to stop any further booking.  We had this happen once on a B2B cruise on Princess.  The corporate group specifically wanted balcony cabins so Princess called me and offered the cruise "free" if we would move to an inside cabin.  It wasn't a bad situation at all.  They did take over one of the public decks most mornings as there would be signs posted with their group activities for the day and that was usually their meeting place.  But when they left, the rest of us had the whole ship to ourselves.

Now that I think about it, the sailing I just got off of that they had stopped selling DID have a very large virtuoso TA group onboard.  Maybe they had a similar capacity restriction.

 

It was kind of annoying, as the conference attendees were always clumping things up on the ship in large groups, always dressed in business casual or straight up business attire, and felt the need to wear their conference lanyards 99% of the day, so it was like we were third-wheeling at a conference for half the cruise.  I really love my vacations to NOT feel like work 🤪

[cantgetin]

Yeah, but those groups usually hang out together...and have meetings and stuff while on "vacation."  If you go where they are not, life is good!

 

[_tacocat_]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Yeah, but those groups usually hang out together...and have meetings and stuff while on "vacation."  If you go where they are not, life is good!

 

It seemed like they were everrrryyywhere during the day though!

 

I seem to be a magnet for this type of stuff- got the chili’s management offsite in Maui one year, oracle top sales incentive trip another time in Maui (but that one was cool bc we got to creep on a free rob Thomas show!), and a southeastern regional bank offsite that bought out 75+% of a very very small resort in Big Sur with 1 restaurant- we had to sit through their sales hoorahh and congrats dinners 😖 

[mrak]

On 2/26/2023 at 12:29 PM, cantgetin said:

Something is weird and I can't wait to find out what.  My best guess is a large corporate group or something similar that didn't charter the whole ship but did a deal to stop any further booking.  We had this happen once on a B2B cruise on Princess.  The corporate group specifically wanted balcony cabins so Princess called me and offered the cruise "free" if we would move to an inside cabin.  It wasn't a bad situation at all.  They did take over one of the public decks most mornings as there would be signs posted with their group activities for the day and that was usually their meeting place.  But when they left, the rest of us had the whole ship to ourselves.

Interesting. We are in this sailing too, and just assumed because its spring break in Florida that the sailing sold out. Other recent sailings have also been pretty full apparently. However, this would make sense...will be interesting to find out. I did see someone was hosting a "Digital Nomad" conference on our sailing, but it seemed like it might only consist of a couple dozen people, so I can't see that being the driver.

[mrak]

Come to think of it, about two weeks before it disappeared from the site, I went on a travel agents site that appeared to show how many rooms were available, and at that time it only showed about 200ish rooms available. So, the ship might truly just be sold out.

[FFMilesJunkie]

March is going to be a challenging month for VV.  The good news, the ships are almost full on all sailings, the bad news, the ships are almost full on all sailings and that will expose some stress points for VV.  Don't want people to end up having to eat pizza or breakfast at the diner every night because the restaurants are overwhelmed.  If they can pull this off and maintain the excellent customer service and keep raking in those placeholder on board bookings, then that's a great sign for VV moving forward.   

[RNPJN]

On 2/24/2023 at 6:21 PM, GhettoCruiser said:

So.... I booked in December and didn't know about booking dining 60 days out, etc. because I've just been too busy to read the boards here.  *sigh*  Started to look further into the process, downloaded the app and...... NOTHING.  Reached out to a recommended travel agent to see if I could get some of the perks upgraded from the better deals I've seen offered since I booked (after calling VV directly didn't help) and they said the ship is completely full.

 

SO, for the Virgin Experienced cruisers amongst us (does that make you non-virgins?) what are my chances at walk-up dining with the entire boat full?  There's literally nothing available in the app to book.  

 

Also, trying to set our agenda through the app and some things I can't add - like you CAN add to shop the duty free shops, but you can't add the "Salty Trivia" right above it.  I'd really like to get a better handle on my trip and pre-plan at least some things.  Any advice or calming influence is greatly appreciated.  😉

did you call virgin to book dining? try that it worked for me

Edited March 1, 2023 by RNPJN

[RNPJN]

On 2/27/2023 at 6:33 PM, FFMilesJunkie said:

March is going to be a challenging month for VV.  The good news, the ships are almost full on all sailings, the bad news, the ships are almost full on all sailings and that will expose some stress points for VV.  Don't want people to end up having to eat pizza or breakfast at the diner every night because the restaurants are overwhelmed.  If they can pull this off and maintain the excellent customer service and keep raking in those placeholder on board bookings, then that's a great sign for VV moving forward.   

Still  lots of food places in the Galley   

[cantgetin]

There are good places in The Galley, but I would not be happy if I couldn't get real dinner reservations.  I plan to try on line on my first day and if that doesn't work, I'll be on the phone to VV.

 

[jon81uk]

6 hours ago, RNPJN said:

Still  lots of food places in the Galley   

Not for dinner really. Some of the counters (tacos and sandwiches) don’t offer dinner service and others (Raman noodles, pizza place) only open late. 
It’s okay as a back up, or a quick option (the steak sandwich is good) after a port day, but I would be trying to get into a restaurant for dinner. 
I think the OP should be able to get something reserved once onboard.

[neverendingcruising]

The beef sando available at Diner and Dash after 5 is one of my favorite dishes on the ship!

[RNPJN]

On 2/28/2023 at 11:22 PM, cantgetin said:

There are good places in The Galley, but I would not be happy if I couldn't get real dinner reservations.  I plan to try on line on my first day and if that doesn't work, I'll be on the phone to VV.

 

call   the agents can book  they did the ones I couldnt

 

[cantgetin]

Correct--both VV shoreside phone reps and your travel agent MAY have options available that don't show up on the app.  Their availability can also fill, leaving only on call reservations available, but it is another possibility.

[CanadianCruiser21]

On 2/27/2023 at 6:03 PM, mrak said:

Come to think of it, about two weeks before it disappeared from the site, I went on a travel agents site that appeared to show how many rooms were available, and at that time it only showed about 200ish rooms available. So, the ship might truly just be sold out.

Which site shows you how many rooms are available?