Mystery solved---boarding Valiant 4/22

[cantgetin]

On board now.  For anyone following, we were notified about 10 days ago that boarding would begin at 2:45 along with a request to not show up prior to our assigned times.  Rumors flowed as to why.  We arrived about 2:45 to find a zoo with no embarkation processing happening, we had priority boarding and processing began about 3.   We ultimately found a semi-explanative letter in our cabin....but the story rap The Roundabout stairs from 7 to 6 were roped off with such a notice. We were told that JLo had been/was (?) on board to film a commercial for VV.  Supposedly the ship had to be empty during the time she filming, meaning that all the crew were sent to the terminal for 2 hours, thus delaying their turnover preparations....and resulting in the late boarding.  

Sailaway party will be tomorrow with bubbly for 30 minutes. We departed Port of Miami today about 9pm.  Many of the usual embarkation afternoon/evening events were canceled with no notice; they just didn't appear in the app.  These included the singles meet up and dinner, which appear on other days.

Bottom line from my standpoint--priority boarding was a huge benefit.  The crew outside the terminal seemed stressed, and basically didn't know what they were doing.  For instance the people handing out the Sailor's Club wristbands only gave us one band, and specifically denied us a second.  When we got to check in desk 18, the woman asked why we didn't both have bands, gave us a "look" when we explained, and promptly handed over a second band.  My fellow cruiser requires wheelchair assistance for boarding and was pushing a walker, sitting whenever a spot could be found.  We asked at least 6 crew outside where to get the wheelchair assist--we got answers from "inside" to I'm trying to call someone" to "go get in that line." (inside)  which was the queue to the escalators (won't work for us).  While I again was seeking help, a crew member named Monica approached my cabin mate, and the boarding was totally smooth from there.   Our usual approach at that point is that I take the walker with the carry ons on the seat and someone pushes her in the chair.  A "chair pusher" showed up within minutes as did 3 other "helpers,"  2 of whom were sent away.  The third took the walker from me and took us to our room.    This was quite different from our boarding experience in Barcelona where the wheelchair went to the entrance of the ship....which was fine as she can walk short, level distances (the ramps and incline on the gangway as well as the size of the terminal present problems.  It all worked out....but the lines and lack of organization at the terminal were something we hadn't experienced before.

And for anyone concerned about carry on luggage size thru the scanners....she travels with a "medical bag" which we are reluctant to let out of our hands...it contains braces, etc. without which she would be severely limited on the ship and these items would be impossible to replace during a cruise.  The bag, a medium sized duffle, fit easily thru the scanner with no issues at all.  There are no size limits on  VV carry ons beyond "must fit thru the scanner."  

[raphael360]

Wow.. what a nightmare.  Sorry, this happened to you...

[sid_9169]

JLo strikes again... First time, she abandoned all of her fans who had paid good money for the chance to catch a glimpse of her, and now she delays another sailing for thousands of others, leaving them standing outside, and depriving them the first few hours of their long awaited for vacation...

[hoklun]

Disembarked yesterday (April 22) and they had everyone disembark early at 9:45 instead of 11am. You could see the film/camera crew running around, and eating in the galley at 8am. Kinda made it feel that the marketing of Virgin was more important than passenger experience at that point. 

 

 

[cantgetin]

According to my fellow traveler (masters in film production, works in LA in the field). this was all due to JLo's contract a (there were a few words about personality issues of "stars").  Statements about how the film crew did not need to inconvenience all the Sailors....then needed a space to serve as a "green room" (prep and snack area) and the actual areas to be used for filming to be closed off.  This appears to be primarily The Manor /most of deck 6 forward, and one restaurant.  Specific comments along the lines of "while they couldn't. have sailors interfering in the film areas, the only reason that they couldn't have been in other areas of the ship was the the star put it in her contract."  Feelings that it was totally wrong to inconvenience thousands of sailors across two sailing and that it had nothing to do with "the marketing department" and everything to do with what one individual demanded."  

 

[CineGraphic]

I was chatting with a crew member this morning.

They told me that JLo was on board yesterday and that a new promotional video is obviously forthcoming.

[raphael360]

You had to be inconvienced so VV and JLo could collaborate to pump up advertising for themselves.  How nice for them.  How awful for you.  Hope you at least got a free JLo gift bag.

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by raphael360

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, raphael360 said:

You had to be inconvienced so VV and JLo could collaborate to pump up advertising for themselves.  How nice for them.  How awful for you.  Hope you at least got a free JLo gift bag.

 

 

 

Yeah, right......didn't happen.

 

[happy cruzer]

Tell us more....

[cantgetin]

That's all I know of the JLo story.  Boarding was a mess.  Worst I've ever seen it.  Once on board, things were good other than the schedule being so off.  Sailaway party delayed till tonight, 30 minutes only.  Bimini today started off rainy and thunder, but cleared up around noon and was beautiful thereafter.  The ship still seems a little disorganized...???lots of new servers in restaurants.  They just seem a bit confused. Brunch in Razzle Dazzle this morning, my appetizer arrived before waffles as it should.  My table mate's arrived after we had completely finished our meal.  We thought they had forgotten and decided to not make a big deal about it, and then it scored a very late arrival.   They also messed up the food of the tables on either side of us.  But, the buttermilk waffles were excellent .   Good Happenings cast, other entertainment.  Good food, good people, etc.  Great room host and assistant.  So far wifi is good. Lots of nice Sailors on board; some we'd met thru on line channels before some not.

[MoonSurf]

Was getting off VL on the 22nd and we were required to leave earlier than typical.  The reason given was to allow the crew time for transatlantic cruise prep.  Interesting to hear the crew was not even on the ship to do this special work.  Seemed weird special prep needed but what would I know about that.

 

We were notified prior to our cruise all the shops would be closed for the entirity.  Only essential store and VV logo stores open.  Also seemed weird to eliminate an opportunity to sell things.  Does anyone know if this had anything to do with the filming too?

 

Sorry your boarding was a mess.  Week prior our boarding was ok once you got to the terminal.  Traffic getting to the terminal though was the worst have experienced over 2 hours from airport to terminal.  Hoping you didn't have that on top.

[_tacocat_]

9 minutes ago, MoonSurf said:

We were notified prior to our cruise all the shops would be closed for the entirity.  Only essential store and VV logo stores open.  Also seemed weird to eliminate an opportunity to sell things.  Does anyone know if this had anything to do with the filming too?

they're transitioning retail operators, so that's why the shops have been closed.

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

they're transitioning retail operators, so that's why the shops have been closed.

This was because VV changed merchandising companies.  THe shops are closed on our sailing for the first 4-5 days.  Nothing to do with the filming.

[cantgetin]

For those who read of my confusion in RD yesterday, we did brunch again today.  You would not have known it was the same place.  First, all of the crew was different (I think today's RD crew were the people at Bimini yesterday.). Service was prompt, efficient, and totally correct.  Good food. no complaints from us.

[genian_travels]

I think some of the comments about this situation are a little unfair, not to mention untrue and speculative, adding flames to the fire. 

 

Just because someone may have a masters in film production and works “in the field”, doesn’t mean they’re an expert about this. Sure, they may have some knowledge as to what they’ve experienced in their job - but with regards to this specific situation, unless they were working that day or hired by Virgin or the production company, they have no idea as to what was or wasn’t needed - nor what was in contracts, or what was “demanded”.

 

Yes, Jennifer Lopez was on board and there was a whole day of filming which started at 7am. I saw her around 6pm while filming in a cabin on deck 15 and she didn’t get off the ship until around 7:45pm - I watched her leave and get into her car from my balcony. 

 

It’s nonsense to speculate “the only reason that [sailors] couldn't have been in other areas of the ship was the star put it in her contract”. It’s a Herculean effort to try and film a commercial in less than 12hrs - let alone one on a massive ship with a lot of ground to cover to highlight it all. Factor in wardrobe/make-up changes for each location and you can see how time gets eaten away.

 

There were multiple crews simultaneously setting up and filming in different areas on board. This is the most efficient way of doing things, so the “talent” can just arrive and film what they need to with no delay. As this poses a safety risk with equipment, rigging, cables etc, those areas would need to be closed off to the public.  Having an empty ship (or as close to empty) to film on for as long as possible is the ideal scenario, so everyone can move about easily and you can get great shots of the ship without having random people in shot - and not least to avoid having people hanging around gawking.
 

Side note - the ship wasn’t completely cleared as suggested. The ship’s crew were still on board, as were B2B passengers who were initially led off in the morning for immigration and then led back on shortly after.

 

Of course Virgin was going to keep filming under wraps and not broadcast JLo’s attendance on board. That would have caused extra chaos and may have encouraged fans and media to turn up to the port in the hope they could catch her - adding more people and crews outside the terminal and cause unnecessary congestion. 

 

As for Virgin “putting their marketing before the passenger experience” - when else would you expect them to be able to film a commercial on a ship in service, other than turnaround day? And then be able to co-ordinate it with JLo’s availability too? 

 

So disembarkation of the previous cruise had to end an hour earlier than normal - and boarding of our sailing started 2hrs later… and people are quibbling that was a huge inconvenience…?!  A 2hr postponement to boarding, which we were informed about prior, for a 15-night cruise… that’s hardly delaying a sailing “for thousands of others, leaving them standing outside, and depriving them the first few hours of their long awaited for vacation”.

 

I’m not sure how much you can conflate the filming with specific passenger issues/needs experienced during the boarding process. Clearly a lot of passengers turned up at the port earlier than the advised 3pm, adding to the weight of people and slowing things down. I had priority boarding too and personally, arrived at 2:30pm. I saw previous comments that traffic had been bad, so I allowed for an hour from my hotel and it took half as long. The number of people already there suggested they had arrived much earlier. I waited a little under 25mins  in line and was on board by 3pm. It was certainly no worse than waits and lines I’ve experienced on Royal Caribbean, Princess or NCL.

 

The only actual “disruption” I experienced from the filming was that my muster station was moved from The Manor as they were filming in there. Otherwise, the filming crew and production team setting up/milling around the ship didn’t bother me. All things considered, there was pretty minimal disruption to passengers. Hardly an “inconvenience” at all on a 15-night cruise.

 

Extra side note - the filming was originally supposed to happen on embarkation day of the JLo cruise, but the ship was delayed getting back to port on turnaround day so the shoot was abandoned as there wasn’t enough time.

 

My sources of information for the above is from multiple Virgin staff directly involved with, and responsible for, making the promo, B2B passengers who shared the experience of their turnaround day and what I personally saw and experienced. No rumour, no speculation - just the facts to better inform people of what actually happened.

Edited April 25, 2023 by genian_travels