Frequent Sailors...

[jamesv92]

8 hours ago, neverendingcruising said:

 

They listened, the pool on Resilient is larger. They reduced the shallow area on the forward side so the overall foot print is the same on deck but the pool itself is probably close to 50% larger. It's still not big enough, but so glad they did something! 

That's exciting to hear!!

[-The-True-North-]

Anyway to transfer TA associated to our booking?

 

We used a placeholder deposit, and only after we processed to hold the itinerary, did we realize the TA that sold the Placeholder MNVV is now listed as our TA, and this wasn't a Hold, but rather a confirmation.

[LibratPDX]

On 5/24/2023 at 6:32 AM, _tacocat_ said:

13th VV coming up this weekend!  I’d only been on one cruise before and thought it was terrible.  Still won’t step on any other lines, but virgin is great!

Dang, you're a 485C then, I'm envious!  Good for you and have a wonderful time!  

[lisabucsfan1]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:58 PM, -The-True-North- said:

I get... and am happy to pay, for a premium product, but this just seem extremely costly compared to others.

 

Doing the math...
I'm on RCL at the end of October for a 7-night Caribbean cruise...

$3200 balcony cabin (looking inside at central park, not at the ocean)

$1300 premium drink package for 2 because you can't buy for just 1 in the cabin (which would be $600 tops on VV because if I wanted to drink this much I'd buy 2x$300 and get $100 bonus)

$265 wifi for TWO devices (which would be included in VV)

$530 unlimited specialty dining (which would be included in VV)

-----

$5295 for a balcony room to the caribbean... all of a sudden VV doesn't seem so costly to me..

 

oh and i think i'll have to pay for tips once i'm on board.. again included with VV... you might ask why i'm doing this cruise... it's because we are sailing with friends who picked this for a milestone bday... otherwise...

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by lisabucsfan1
update

[-The-True-North-]

1 minute ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

 

Doing the math...
I'm on RCL at the end of October for a 7-night Caribbean cruise...

$3200 balcony cabin (looking inside at central park, not at the ocean)

$1300 premium drink package for 2 because you can't buy for just 1 in the cabin (which would be $600 tops on VV because if I wanted to drink this much I'd buy 2x$300 and get $100 bonus)

$265 wifi for TWO devices (which would be included in VV)

$530 unlimited specialty dining (which would be included in VV)

-----

$5295 for a balcony room to the caribbean... all of a sudden VV doesn't seem so costly to me..

 

Thank you for providing that context. You're right, I think I am having a hard time separating all the included perks.

 

I am also comparing things in my head to a last minute deal with a promotion vs just base fare with a promotion.

 

We booked and after September can truly compare.

 

Either way, super excited.

[AdoraBelle]

Five VV cruises down, and I think Tacocat has ended up answering questions for me ahead of every single one. 🙂 Two MNVV credits hanging around, pending some ongoing health issues. 

Fun trivia: I was originally booked on the two 'sneak peek' short trips that were supposed to happen in March 2020. That's how long I've been excited to sail on VV. I wish I would have resumed cruising a little earlier than I did (late summer 22), so I could have cruised more when it was super cheap, but I was still anxious about travel--covid didn't catch up with me until omicron, but it messed me up for a while. 

Anyway, despite the return to normal travel/normal travel prices, I'm excited about my future VV cruises, seeing the new ships/origin ports/etc. I have some old NCL credit that I can't imagine I'll ever use at this point. 

[cantgetin]

I looked yesterday at prices on a Celebrity cruise....I'm waiting for fall 2024 to come out on VV, but at least I know that if VV doesn't have what I'm expecting/want, I do have options.  The pricing on Celebrity with their "all included" package (it isn't really all, it is basic wifi, drinks, and tips--not specialty restaurants, etc.), was  $5K. So even if VV prices go up, I have wiggle room!  I've done similar cruises for under $3K on VV with more included than I'd have on Celebrity.

[_tacocat_]

1 hour ago, AdoraBelle said:

I think Tacocat has ended up answering questions for me ahead of every single one.

Here to serve, lol

[CruisingWalter]

On 5/24/2023 at 7:36 AM, Lustate said:

How many VV have you been on or booked? and what keeps you coming back?

 

We've been on two Scarlet Lady so far and have an 8 night Valiant sailing over thanksgiving coming up.  I'll say the food has been inconsistent on the two Scarlet sailings. The Wake was far better in July 2022 than it was this past April. This past April Razzle Dazzle was the star of the entire cruise for us. 

 

I would sail VV a lot more if they extended the itineraries for Scarlet. For the same price as a 4 or 5 night on Scarlet I can sail 7 nights or longer on other cruise lines. After cruising for 20 years, 4 and 5 nighters honestly don't appeal to me that much and creating a 9 night back-to-back on Scarlet can often equal a 14 night or longer cruise on another cruise line like Princess or Celebrity. Even with all the included food, etc.. I prefer being on a ship no less than 7 days and really like 10 to 14 day itineraries. As much as I love VV, I'm not going to continue to pay the premium prices for the shorter cruises, that's why we booked Valiant for 8 nights.

 

Having just sailed the MSC Seaside out of Port Canaveral I like what they are doing with that ship. She sails continuous 3, 4 and 7 night itineraries. So you can sail 3, 4, 7, 10 or 11 nights depending on how you book it. And you can book the 10 and 11's as a single cruise, not back to back. I have given feedback to VV that I wish they would rotate in some longer itineraries from time to time for Scarlet to give us some fresher and longer options besides just when we have two ships in Miami.

 

I honestly don't know how much more I'll sail Scarlet since it's the same itineraries over and over. I do want to fly down to San Juan and sail those itineraries either on Brilliant Lady or Jewel of the Seas. 

 

Overall we have over 20 cruises over 20 years on 9 different cruise lines. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[cantgetin]

Walter, I think you are my cruising soulmate.  We have 48 cruises over 28 years on at least 5 lines (I think I'm forgetting gone, but....) and I won't book anything less than a 7 night cruise and feel that longer is better.  My logic is that I spend essentially the same amount of time and hassle getting to the port for a 14 night as for a 4 night, so have no interest in the shorter cruise.  

At this point, we have 29 nights on Valiant and none on Scarlet.  We have the Scarlet TA booked in 2024 as well as another cruise on Valiant.  I'm glad I'm not the only one who experienced variations in food quality on the same ship, different cruises, and in April found Razzle Dazzle to be the absolute star in terms of both service and food quality.  We had great service in most of the other restaurants, but the food quality was not as good as previously.  We found the food at The Wake had improved, but the service was awful.  The service at The Galley was also greatly improved.

So, where we are with VV....we'd like to explore the other ships, but will not be booking anything until our next Valiant cruise.  From there, it will likely depend on the experience on that cruise.

We've experienced changes in food quality over time on other lines, basically in a roller coaster fashion.  However, nothing we've seen elsewhere has been quite as rapid as on VV.  Maybe we just caught changes in head chefs or something else to explain it.

[lisabucsfan1]

19 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

I honestly don't know how much more I'll sail Scarlet since it's the same itineraries over and over. I do want to fly down to San Juan and sail those itineraries either on Brilliant Lady or Jewel of the Seas.

 

I am in the same state of mind. I have a second Fire & Sunset Soiree booked because it's with girlfriends who have never sailed VV and then the Scarlet New Years cruise which is to 2 new ports, but beyond that I may be done with SL for a while. 

[CruisingWalter]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Walter, I think you are my cruising soulmate.  We have 48 cruises over 28 years on at least 5 lines (I think I'm forgetting gone, but....) and I won't book anything less than a 7 night cruise and feel that longer is better.  My logic is that I spend essentially the same amount of time and hassle getting to the port for a 14 night as for a 4 night, so have no interest in the shorter cruise.  

 

I'm sure we'll cross paths at some point if you're cruising that much. At the moment our Nov. 18 on Valiant is our next cruise booked but I fully expect we'll hop on another ship or two between now and then. We really want to try out the Yacht Club on MSC and trying to decide between the Seashore out of Canaveral or Seascape out of Miami. Canaveral is only an hour away but Seascape is the newest ship. Decisions, decisions.... 🙂

 

[CruisingWalter]

On 6/1/2023 at 1:27 PM, AdoraBelle said:

Fun trivia: I was originally booked on the two 'sneak peek' short trips that were supposed to happen in March 2020. That's how long I've been excited to sail on VV.

 

We had the original Havana Nights cruise booked back in 2019. I was so looking forward to finally cruising to Cuba. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 6/1/2023 at 12:39 PM, lisabucsfan1 said:

Doing the math...
I'm on RCL at the end of October for a 7-night Caribbean cruise...

$3200 balcony cabin (looking inside at central park, not at the ocean)

$1300 premium drink package for 2 because you can't buy for just 1 in the cabin (which would be $600 tops on VV because if I wanted to drink this much I'd buy 2x$300 and get $100 bonus)

$265 wifi for TWO devices (which would be included in VV)

$530 unlimited specialty dining (which would be included in VV)

 

I would eliminate that drinks package. You'll be hard pressed to drink $750 worth of alcohol/coffee and paid drinks over a 7 night cruise. I tell all of my friends, you do not need the drinks package, especially on RCCL where it's the most expensive of any cruise line. On NCL it's a no brainer because it's only $153/week for a 7 night cruise, but RCCL and even Carnival, it's too much. I don't know many people who actually make that drink package work in their favor and not just giving away money to RCCL. On Carnival we did the math and saved over $500 on our Mardi Gras cruise paying ala carte vs. the drinks package. For RCCL it was more $900 in savings for our Symphony OTS sailing

 

I would not do the unlimited specialty dining either, we might do two dinners on any cruise, we did three on our most recent on the MSC Seaside because they had a three dinner package for $109 each or $218. 

 

So using your math, for the two of us it would be

$3200 for that cabin (I would not choose Central Park either, I would choose the ocean or take an interior cabin to be honest.)

$150 for one WiFi Package, 2 devices (yes that is an option for two people in the cabin, we did that in December on Symphony, both people sign in under the same account)

$225 Estimate for specialty dining.

$3575 total + $350 for cocktails and coffee or $3925.

 

The Mayan Sol sailing on Oct 22, 2023 is $2204 for a Sea Terrace (5 nights) so if we extend that out two more nights it would be $3085 if that was a 7 night cruise.

 

Yes you can say "there's more value in VV because of everything included" but there are also a lot of things RCCL provides that VV doesn't. Oasis class ships have a LOT of activities, shows and things to do that VV doesn't. I loved sailing on Symphony OTS and especially enjoyed relaxing in Central Park.

 

They're two completely different experiences and it's hard to say one is providing more value than the other. Especially an Oasis class RCCL vs. VV.  A Celebrity Solstice Class ship would be a closer comparison, I think Celebrity and VV match up pretty well. 

 

 

[lisabucsfan1]

I guess it all depends upon what you put value on. I was only offering a different point of view regarding cost of items. tata

[CruisingWalter]

3 minutes ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

I guess it all depends upon what you put value on. I was only offering a different point of view regarding cost of items. tata

 

Absolutely, value is different things for different people. Some people feel $98,000 for one week in the "Ultimate Family Townhouse" for 7 nights on Icon of the Seas is a good value. I don't, but some people do. 🙂 

 

I hope you didn't misconstrue my response, I wasn't trying to be snarky, just pointing out how your numbers would translate over to us. And I'm serious about that drinks package, you might want to re-evaluate whether it's really worth what you're paying vs. just paying for all your drinks ala carte. My guess is you're going to save a minimum $400 on that cruise. 🙂 

[lisabucsfan1]

22 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

you might want to re-evaluate whether it's really worth what you're paying vs. just paying for all your drinks ala carte. My guess is you're going to save a minimum $400 on that cruise. 🙂 

 

You may be right, but I do prefer the whole part of not having to pay another dime after I'm on board... of course that is shot out the window (port hole?) because I'll have to pay for the tips (which I forgot to mention in the prior listing).