CruisingWalter

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Yes this is normal. You will be able to select any Sea Terrace when the time comes. This was a note I received from VV. It's the same for Rockstars and Mega Rockstars, it shows the based level of the category. Note that you, or your TA will have to call VV to convert the deposit to a booking. The booking will note that this is a Limited View Sea Terrace Lock it-in Rate. Please ignore this. When the time comes to book a real voyage, and for example, the Sailor picked a Sea Terrace deposit, at that point, the Sailor can choose which type of Sea Terrace category for their voyage.

It's still available this morning as an option on the form.

My Sailors on the Scarlet Transatlantic said they were told that Scarlet is going to get some new indoor Suite lounges and possibly a restaurant. That's the number one complaint I get from Rockstars and Mega Rockstars. Richard's Rooftop is near useless when it's windy and besides that there's not a whole lot of incentive for Rockstars. Especially if you're not going to Bimini. The included Bar is nice, the Rockstar Agent is nice, but there is no indoor lounge or restaurant specific to the Suite guests. Folks are used to The Retreat, The Haven, The Yacht Club and soon The Sanctuary on Princess. So much is included with VV, there's not much to distinguish the "Suite Experience" from the rest of the Sailors. Now if those crewmembers were correct, it looks like VV will be making a distinction. And since Brilliant is a year away from launch, we have to expect that the same changes would be made to her as well. But this is all rumor until Scarlet comes out of drydock in October.

One - this would have been a great reason to use a travel advisor, especially a Top 100 or Gold Certified First Mate. Many of them were up at 3am booking Brilliant cruises when the inventory came online. Everything was available for the first hour or so. The Panama Canal suites went first. Sadly there are travel agents and agencies who go in and put down deposits on as many suites as they can to block them out from everyone else. Then they can offer them 'exclusively.' If they don't sell them by final payment date, they will be released back into inventory. I've complained about this to VV multiple times because there are VERY limited suites on the Ladyships. Allowing agents to simply grab and prevent people who actually want to book these cabins is wrong. But as of now, they continue to allow agents to do this. It's especially prevalent in the Caribbean where you'll see a standard sailing with all of the Cheeky Corner Suites gone because those are the most popular. For the most part they're just being held by TAs to resell them. To be fair, all cruise lines allow agents to put down deposits on pretty much any cabin on any cruise ship to hold them until final payment, but with the Ladyships there is such limited inventory because there are only 3, soon to be 4 of them. On the flip side of that, there are approx. 100k agents in North America alone who sell VV. So it is entirely possible that those suites were actually sold because there's only 2 LA voyages. Mexican Riviera and California Coastal. 3 counting the reposition up to Vancouver. I would keep an eye on a future itinerary release because I would expect Brilliant Lady to come back to LA for about 4 weeks in Sept/Oct 2026 before she goes back through the Canal for the winter season in Miami. I'm hoping they have 1 Hawaii run. That would be a fun ship for the LA to Hawaii cruise.

Actually that's normal although most cruise lines have automatic triggers that change the rates on the fly. Not sure why VV had to make it so obvious by taking down the website. But normally when inventory hits a certain threshold on a specific category, the rate adjusts automatically so it's a seamless thing. No need to 'close the store and reopen.'

I have a friend who booked 30 minutes before they took it offline. Saved about $1500. 🙂

You don't need lunch when you eat one of these. 🙂 I'll get it sort of early and then go for the salad bar or the poke bowl around 2pm ish.

They took the sailing down for an hour to reprice it. It's back with limited availability.

The biggest negative coming from Celebrity / Princess is the pool. It's not really a pool, more of a lounging water feature. Celebrity and Princess both have really nice pools and Celebrity has the stunning Solarium pools. VV decided their clientele doesn't care much for a pool but would rather have more sundecks. VV's food will generally compare with the specialty dining on Princess/Celebrity. But you have to be quick with your dining reservations if you want to score your reservations. VV's dining problem is that there isn't enough seating for everyone who wants to dine at restaurants each evening. They are working on some pop up concepts now to alleviate the crush on the main restaurants. A great reason to use a TA for VV they can score your dining reservations much easier than you will through the app. Love the retro arcade, it's free. Private Karaoke is hilarious, you need to give that try in The Groupie. Pizza is on par with and sometimes better than Princess. Celebrity's crew is super outgoing, Princess' cruise is a little bit more reserved while the VV crew is incredibly laid back. Their not fishing for tips so their service is not 'over the top.' It's really good service and mostly friendly service, but not over the top because nobody is trying to stand out and get your tips. @cantgetin shared my food review and it's still pretty accurate though we don't go to The Wake for dinner any longer. I have found better steaks at Extra Virgin and Pink Agave the last few times we've been on Scarlet and Valiant. The Wake can sometimes be an unnecessarily long meal as well. If you like Celebrity / Princess you should really enjoy yourself on VV. 🙂

The pricing for the MerMaidens is high and they were expected to be high. The rest of the pricing is about what I would expect. It was amazing to watch the Rockstar inventory disappear on the Panama Canal sailing. That was quick. People are EXCITED!

It's in the Burger Bar each breakfast, you honestly can't miss it if you walk by, SUPER thick toast and yummy burger. The syrup really makes it for me. 🙂

Royal Caribbean is the one cruise line we recommend set time dining. They really don't do "my time dining" well at all. I've seen massive lines on multiple ships for the my time experience. I honestly don't understand why it's so hard. Carnival actually does it best with their Hub app. You simply tell the dining room you're ready for dinner and the app will notify you when your table is ready. No need to wait in line, we were usually enjoying a lounge or some music while waiting for our table. I've never understood why Royal hasn't incorporated something like this into their app.

Most amazing burger on the ship. I get one each cruise. You can't do more than one. 🙂

For this year's three cruises it looks like he'll only be there for a day if that. The three Celebration Cruises overlap this year and he's scheduled to be on each ship for the first day. I would say "no it's not worth the extra cost" for this year's Celebration cruises. Last year had a lot more going on, this time it looks like just a photo op with Richard if you're lucky to spot him. I'd spend the money on a longer itinerary if you're looking at VV. The new Valiant Lady Winter 2025-2026 itineraries from San Juan are awesome.