Rogueperson's **Live** Scarlet Lady 4/21/2024 Transatlantic

[Rogueperson]

Hello everyone.

 

I'm not a frequent visitor on this board until recently.  However, I'm in the habit of posting these live threads.  I hope you enjoy my trip as I enjoy writing about it.  This is a couple of firsts for me.  First and foremost (ha, made a joke), this is my absolute first Virgin cruise, so i'm a bit anxious.  I'm normally a Royal Caribbean cruiser, but am very open to other cruise lines as I've done Princess, Celebrity, Carnival and NCL in the past.

 

On this trip, we're leaving Miami and going all the way to Barcelona.  14 Nights!!!

 

This is also my first transatlantic cruise.  I'm a bit anxious because this is the first cruise with the most sea days, as well as the most sea days in a row.  The record was my Panama canal cruise with 8 sea days total, but they were not concurrent.  The most sea days in a row was my last cruise to Greenland where we had 4 in a row.  Here, we have I believe 8 sea days.

 

This will also be my first time in Europe, though my wife has been to England and Ireland.  But not with me.  It will also be my first long haul flight since I was a kid when i flew to Hong Kong.  I have not had a flight longer than 4 hours total since then.  Its about 40 years now, as when i went to Hong Kong, it was still under British rule.

 

Also tagging @FionaMG as I always do.  Hey look, i'm coming to your neck of the woods!!!!

 

My trip actually starts on Friday as I fly out to Orlando.  Yes, Orlando, because I'm also taking advantage of the fact that I will be in Florida to check out Galaxy's Edge as I have not done that and have been wanting to since it opened.  We had planned on a Disney Trip in 2020, but that died with Covid and was never reinstated.

 

So, I hope you enjoy my trip with me.

[FionaMG]

11 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

Also tagging @FionaMG as I always do.  Hey look, i'm coming to your neck of the woods!!!!

 

Rogue! How are you doing? What an amazing trip! 😁

Can't wait to see how you get on. 🤩

[CineGraphic]

I'll be disembarking the ship the same day you board.

We did the transatlantic sailing from Barcelona to Miami last October, and had a wonderful time.

It was our first crossing too.

You'll have a great time. The only thing you have to worry about is losing an hour each day on the way over.

[Janthere]

Hello! I will be on this same cruise as well and will be following your thoughts as a first timer on VV (it is my 9th VV but first transatlantic). From everything I've read the 8 sea days will be a relaxing time with lots of activities onboard! Look forward to all of your comments!

[Rogueperson]

6 minutes ago, Janthere said:

Hello! I will be on this same cruise as well and will be following your thoughts as a first timer on VV (it is my 9th VV but first transatlantic). From everything I've read the 8 sea days will be a relaxing time with lots of activities onboard! Look forward to all of your comments!

One of the things I noticed is that Virgin seems to cater more to the short 4-5 day cruise as opposed to the longer ones.  There are way more of the 4-5 night ones as oppose to 7-8, much less a 14 nighters like this one.  I feel like with what Virgin has to offer, 4-5 seems very rushed.  Kind of like seeing how Royal Caribbean is scheduling 3-4 nighters on Allure of the Seas.  It feels way too much for the kind of stuff they offer.

 

I'm excited.  I got such a deal on this.

[Janthere]

Just now, Rogueperson said:

One of the things I noticed is that Virgin seems to cater more to the short 4-5 day cruise as opposed to the longer ones.  There are way more of the 4-5 night ones as oppose to 7-8, much less a 14 nighters like this one.  I feel like with what Virgin has to offer, 4-5 seems very rushed.  Kind of like seeing how Royal Caribbean is scheduling 3-4 nighters on Allure of the Seas.  It feels way too much for the kind of stuff they offer.

 

I'm excited.  I got such a deal on this.

Yeah they really needed another ship in the Caribbean to do the longer itineraries - its great that Resilient will be doing those in the fall. We were lucky enough to sail on RL for 14 nights from Singapore to Sydney and we really loved having all that time to enjoy the ship.

I got a great deal as well for a RS suite! If anyone wants to still do this cruise I saw a couple postings since yesterday of people that can't make it and the prices were excellent!

[jon81uk]

Will be onboard this time too, our seventh Virgin voyage and

second transatlantic as did the westbound in October 2022

[Tralfaz1138]

I've been somewhat chasing deals on RS suites, so my wife and I will be on the RL transatlantic next year.  First transatlantic for us both, but we did the Singapore to Sydney cruise last year.  So same # of nights and just one more day at sea.  I'll look forward to reading the updates from this cruise.

Edited April 15 by Tralfaz1138

[Rogueperson]

I've never splurged on a suite before.  But getting my cabin for $1,850 is amazing.  My 14 night to Greenland on Royal was $500.00 more and that did not include gratuities.  Plus, the $600.00 bar tab on top of that, and $100-$200 additional with DBE because we were able to carry our status over from Royal.  Well, maybe, because I screwed up and only applied for myself thinking it was for the whole cabin.  I have already submitted it for my wife, so she should theoretically get it because I booked this before the cut off date. Way before.  We shall see on that front.

[Janthere]

22 minutes ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

I've been somewhat chasing deals on RS suites, so my wife and I will be on the RL transatlantic next year.  First transatlantic for us both, but we did the Singapore to Sydney cruise last year.  So same # of nights and just one more day at sea.  I'll look forward to reading the updates from this cruise.

Same here - doing the RL t/a next year, did the Singapore to Sydney and first t/a too! See you on the Rooftop 🙂 

[bdever]

My first VV transatlantic too. Did a Princess TA last year. Looking forward to your live.

[Cloud9 Bob]

5 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

The only thing you have to worry about is losing an hour each day on the way over.

Interesting...are there any ill effects from that with sleep, mood etc? How was the weather....any rough sea days??

[CineGraphic]

Just now, Cloud9 Bob said:

Interesting...are there any ill effects from that with sleep, mood etc? How was the weather....any rough sea days??

 

The only rough sea day we experienced was after we passed the Rock of Gibraltar.

They said the seas had 10-15 foot swells that day, but I think they were smaller than that.

This was our first crossing and we had no problems with the motion.

As for the time changes, we were headed West, so we kept gaining an extra hour, instead of losing one. I know of at least one cruise vlogger who doesn't reccomend Eastbound transit sailings because of the lost hours. You'll know soon enough how your body handles it.

You'll have a great cruise....the food is wonderful, and the crew will be thrilled that they are done with the 4-5 day sailings they've been dealing with for a while.

[Rogueperson]

My gut says that the hour change will be mitigated by the sea days itself.  Unless you NEED to be up early, the fact that we don’t have anything pressed to be at least in the morning other then breakfast.

[cantgetin]

4th TA on VV, probably 12th total (can you tell we like them?). You will not lose an hour each day--there is a 6 hour time difference between Miami and Barcelona which will be spread across 14 days.  As we cross, it really doesn't matter when the changes occur (no worry about "local" time) so the ship will change time about every other day.  THey won't ever put 2 days of time change in a row.  Admittedly, I like the other direction, with long days better.

[CineGraphic]

3 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

My gut says that the hour change will be mitigated by the sea days itself.  Unless you NEED to be up early, the fact that we don’t have anything pressed to be at least in the morning other then breakfast.

 

I just noticed where you are from. My first childhood home was in 20902...just off of Arcola Ave.

[Rogueperson]

10 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

I just noticed where you are from. My first childhood home was in 20902...just off of Arcola Ave.

About 10 minutes from my house.  I've lived in this area all my life.

[CineGraphic]

24 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

About 10 minutes from my house.  I've lived in this area all my life.

We moved to Rockville in '71

[Rogueperson]

2 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

We moved to Rockville in '71

 

I'm in that area of Silver Spring where Rockville zip code is across the street from me.  I moved from Rockville in 2012 to my own place in Silver Spring.  It was a 2 minute drive.

[laurieal]

Oh, hello there! Fancy meeting you here. 
 

I’d love to sail on Virgin one day and a transatlantic seems like a good way to do it and really experience what the ship has to offer. Maybe one day, if the price is right. 
 

Safe travels and may the Force be with you. 

[Rogueperson]

8 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Oh, hello there! Fancy meeting you here. 
 

I’d love to sail on Virgin one day and a transatlantic seems like a good way to do it and really experience what the ship has to offer. Maybe one day, if the price is right. 
 

Safe travels and may the Force be with you. 

You can guess I'm going to try and tag you with a picture of the Oasis from the Scarlet Lady.  However, you guys leave at 4:30pm, so you're getting a head start in our race across the Atlantic.  I don't think we leave until 6:00pm

 

Not quite what we're doing, but I'm picturing it in my head.

Edited April 16 by Rogueperson

[Rogueperson]

T minus 2 days until departure.  4 days until boarding.

 

Slight snag.  I didn’t know I had to email Virgin to get my DBE for each of us.  I did it for only me thinking it was per cabin, not per person.  So if this works, that’s an additional $100 bar tab for my wife as well making the grand total $800.00!!!  Considering I don’t drink and I was hard pressed to get my 5 drinks/day on Royal due to my Status, my wife will be pretty happy.  I called this morning and they say they received the request and its in progress.  Here’s hoping.

 

We started packing.  Someone keeps getting in our way.  

 

She is appropriately named Punk.  She is a recent addition to our family only arriving in January.  She has the flower of shame because she was recently spayed last week.  Can I tell you that keeping her from jumping is impossible!!!!

 

[Cloud9 Bob]

Punk wants to know if DBE will also extend to her? Fresh salmon filets on her pillow maybe? Tour of the minnow fisheries? Priority entrance to the Tuna Lounge?  The possibilities are endless.

[NCTribeFan]

I fly to FLL tomorrow, meet up with friends, then we'll take a shuttle to Miami on Sunday.  It's my first VV sailing (friends have sailed Virgin before), but not my first TA.  I got DBE via the status match.  I have lots of cruise experience and generally feel most mass-market lines have more similarities than differences, but I think VV will be different enough to feel like something new.  Many Carnival cruises, but mostly HAL over the past few years (love their ships).

 

I'm solo but have several cruise friends on the sailing.  Six of us (we're seniors) are staying in Barca for 3 days, then flying to Athens where we'll board Resilient Lady for 10 days.  It's going to be epic!

[Rogueperson]

Good Morning from Maryland.  T - 2 days until boarding.  12 hours until flight time.

 

As of now, on-time departure.  Its a 737-800.  Hmmmm. Wish me luck…

 

We’re packed and ready to go.  I still have to go to work, but i’m leaving early.

 

Dobby is now suspicious.