70KToM

Hard to imagine a worse cruise experience than paying twice as much to be surrounded by screaming children and people in weird fur suits. Hard pass.

Virgin Voyages or RCL all the way.

We're looking at two cruise options leaving from Tokyo in August, and we were hoping to get advice on which of these is the better option for us, since we're not familiar with either cruise line. Itineraries are comparable.

Diamond Princess vs MSC Bellissima

About us:

• 40s
• Will cruise in a suite this time (honeymoon) so we'll have access to some suite benefits if those are particularly interesting
• Prefer mega ships over small ships (we prefer some anonymity over running into the same people repeatedly)
• Decent Wifi is important (don't need streaming, but we need to so some work for our business)
• Favorite line is Virgin Voyages (amazing food, younger, more adult themed), second favorite is RCL (reliable, and we're Diamond so some nice benefits).
• Our favorite ships have been Spectrum of the Seas and Scarlet Lady.
• We've sailed HAL (bit geriatric and boring at night but good food), Norwegian (felt very low budget), and Celebrity (comparable to RCL, little more middle aged, good food, enjoyable enough)
• Activities we typically prioritize include stuff like trivia, game shows, excursions, food, playing board games, escape room, skydiving simulator. We also enjoy specialty coffees, adult oriented entertainment like on Virgin, tiki bars.
• Activities we don't typically care about include pool, spa, sun deck, dance shows, stand up comedians whose jokes are mainly about colonoscopies.

Our preconceptions about MSC (may be totally off base) is that it's low end with not very good food. Does MSC rank below Norwegian in being more on the low end?

Our preconceptions about Princess (again possibly totally wrong) is that it's super geriatric, even more than HAL, and this ship is somewhat small (2500) and might be totally dead after 8pm like our HAL cruise was. Is Princess better or worse than HAL in terms of being too quiet/geriatric?

Neither may be an ideal fit for our preferences, but options are very limited post-covid, and we've already done the Spectrum from Singapore voyage, so this is about it for Asia, other than a Cambodia/Vietnam river cruise. What would you recommend, and what are your experiences with either or both of these? Thank you in advance for your advice!

Chef's Choice for me last week, first cruise as Diamond, was the exact same plate of cookies I got as Emerald. Pretty disappointing.

44 minutes ago, Mikew0805 said:

Yes this has been ongoing for some time. I used to purchase this, and got around their non sense each and every sailing.

 

Pointing out the terms, conditions, and wording in the advertised item to the F&B mgr/Hotel Director worked every time for me. They would write on my card, and ask me not to say anything to other guests onboard. This was not a problem, as it is not my job to make sure other people are not being taken for a ride.

 

I do not have to worry about it anymore, since I use my loyalty vouchers for coffee now. 

Precisely what we did, we took the terms and conditions along and pointed that out. They said it's unwritten. I asked again, is it in writing anywhere at all? They said no, but it was the policy and they would not relent.

That is absolutely false advertising, and it's sure sounds like enough people have run into this problem and enough people could be found for a class action suit. Not sure that's the kind of trouble I want to go through for some dumb coffee card, but it's clearly false advertising that has misled many people.

So we purchased the Royal Caribbean coffee card which on the website clearly states that you can use it for any coffee at their lattetudes cafe. It lists no restrictions or other limitations. Yet once we purchased it and arrived, and ordered a grande coffee, we discovered that they took two punches out of our card for the coffee. We asked why, and they explained that each size is a punch. Despite the fact that the website says nothing about only being allowed to get the smallest size. It just says any coffee.

The site also specifically says that you can get iced coffee. Except iced coffees are only available in a grande or larger. So when we tried to get a tall iced coffee the next day we discovered that that would also be TWO punches because they can't make it any smaller. What the....

This is very clear and illegal false advertising. Some things are actually more expensive if you were to use the card for a grande than if you paid!! We clarified this with the ship's coffee manager and he acknowledged this but said that's still their policy. We asked if he could show us these limitations in writing and he said that it is not in writing anywhere...

Has anyone had this same experience on other ships or is something wrong with this one's policies? We're on Enchantment.

Have you checked your email? I read this one was canceled also.

I feel terrible for the people whose vacation got canceled, and it's absolutely shameless that this was done with so little notice.

However, I'm definitely also excited about seeing a Bachelorette season on a cruise ship. I've only seen one season of The Bachelorette, but the setting would make me more likely to watch. I can also understand that Virgin is desperate to get some media exposure to get bookings going again after the extremely rough start. How many people will they alienate with these cancellations though??

You likely have a year to make your booking, but that booking can be farther out, so you could probably book by March 2023 for 2024 if that works better for you. Or of course get a refund, but by now it will be difficult to get refunds on other things like travel, unless you have insurance. 

Ridiculous that Virgin is canceling for a private charter with just weeks notices. That's bad business, even with 150% FVC.

Apparently even the cruise just 12 days out from now is cancelled!!

Apparently Customer Service has told several people that it's been chartered for a month to film a TV show. One person suggested The Bachelorette but I haven't seen that confirmed. 

So here is something I wish I'd known. My friend and I researched our cabin, but while booking on the phone were offered a good deal on an upgrade to an XL Sea Terrace, so we upgraded assuming it was the same, just bigger. Much to our surprise, after we boarded, we discovered that there is NO BATHROOM DOOR. And we're a man and a woman, platonic friends, traveling together. So super awkward not to have a bathroom door.

There is a narrow shower stall with a frosted glass door, and a narrow toilet stall with a frosted glass door (though thanks to shiny mirrored door frames, you can stand in front of them, look up, and look right at the person on the toilet). The main area of the bathroom, including the sinks, does not have a door. And since there is no place to hang a towel or clothing in the shower stall, and it's too small and wet to dry off and change, you basically will find yourself standing naked in a doorless bathroom for anyone to see, for example if your roommate wanders towards the bathroom or needs to leave, or if an attendant decides to come in and you don't hear the knock. Yikes.

As much as we enjoyed Virgin, we would never, ever book that cabin again, and we wish they had told us, especially since I mentioned I was booking with a friend. Terrible, terrible design for anyone traveling with friends/family/kids instead of a romantic partner.

When we were doing research, we found it hard to get exact information, so I wanted to share this for people to read/find in the future.

Lots of golf carts available on Bimini, so you could just walk off the boat and get one. At the roundabout, go left and walk about one block. Several companies there. From the reviews I've read, many have carts in poor condition that could leave you stranded. Best reviews that we found were for BMB Rentals. We went with them, and our cart was in great shape. You can make reservations here:

https://rentbmb.com/

The rudimentary map on the bottom of the page is NOT accurate. There are no golf carts in that spot. Also, the address given is for their office, which is ALSO not where you get the carts. Furthermore, after booking they STILL don't give you clear information. Took us a while to find it, we ended up spotting it halfway between the website map and the cruise port, while driving by on the trolley. From the boat, walk or take the free trolley down the pier to the roundabout. Turn left at the roundabout, walk about a block, and you'll see the carts on your right. BMB is among those. This is the exact pickup location for their carts:

https://goo.gl/maps/M4S24Qi8h1Y9ncpW6

What is there to see on Bimini?

- Dolphin House Museum

- The Bimini historical museum is closed indefinitely

- Two bakeries currently open: Nate's Bimini Breads (they had one type of pastry and one rotating flavor of bread, ours was coconut but it just tasted like plain bread) and a bakery along the main road on the right if you're driving south. I don't think it's called LB's Pastries, but I think it was around there on the map.

- Tourist shopping area (ten or so shops) with clothing, souvenirs, etc. across from the old historical museum. Lot of interesting signs around here about Bimini. 

- A few local shops, small grocery stores, etc.

- A beach at the southern end, you can see South Bimini from here.

- Stuart's Conch Stand and Joe's Conch Stand. Stuart's has really nice seating with a view of the water. Joe's has a huge pile of gorgeous conch shells out back that you can pick up and take home. (Warning: they stink. Bring a LARGE ziploc bag to put them in.)

- You cannot currently drive North to get to the beach you see on the map. The road on Google Maps no longer exists (dug out, now it's water), and the new road goes through a gated community that is under construction, with a security booth that won't let you through. We tried every possible access point, there is simply no longer a road to that part of the island. I have no idea why the residents of this (thus far small) gated community should get private access to the whole rest of the island.

- We did drive through the employee villages just North of the Virgin Beach Club. Not meant for tourists obviously but we found them interesting to see. 

Note that Virgin does not let people park their golf carts in front of the club. They made us park in a public lot a little south of the club, and then walk a few minutes to the club across the beach. Annoying, since there's plenty of space in front of the club and very few people bringing carts.

If you have any other questions, just let me know. I simply wanted to get this written up in case someone finds themselves looking for this information.

I'm on the Liberty right now, and all the drink packages advertise Coca-Cola freestyle. I bought the package because I like the sugar-free lemonade and limeade. I don't drink soda. Imagine my surprise when I went to look for a freestyle machine and didn't find a single one. Bizarre since all of the advertising suggests that they have it. It's the main thing the soda package consists of. They have soda from bottles, but obviously it's nowhere near the options you have with freestyle, and they don't have any sugar-free lemonade or limeade so it's useless to me.

They seemed really annoyed when I asked for a refund, insisting that you can get any drink at the bar, when that's clearly not remotely true. You can't get any of the flavorings either, which is the whole point of "freestyle". When I asked when they are getting the machines back, they told me they've never had them?!? So why advertise them everywhere??

We did get a diet Dr Pepper and it was disgusting. Tasted like very bland muddied water, no way is that genuine Dr. Pepper from a bottle. Refilled from a fountain, off-brand, not sure, but not remotely closer to Diet Dr. Pepper 

Our hop-on hop-off trolley in Bimini ticket got canceled, and now I don't see that offered at all in the excursions. Is it currently available to you? I'm wondering if perhaps they are still offering it but made it free? I'm trying to figure out how to get around the island if we want to see more but not book the historical tour. That trolley seemed ideal.

Had anyone checked out the Tattoo Parlor yet, or was it not open for UK sailings? Mainly we're interested in hearing about cost (can OBC be used?), and what tattoo choices are. Are you required to pick from their selection? Do they do their own original designs based on your suggestions? Will they do a design you bring in? And how much time can you book for, only small 1-2 hour tattoos?

Congrats! I won the cruise for my friends as well, and we have decided to join them. We were pleasantly surprised that you actually get a balcony room and could pick a 5-day not just a 4-day. Great competition; it has certainly increased our sense of loyalty to Virgin and if all goes well on this cruise, I can see us sticking with Virgin for most of our future cruises as long as the itineraries are interesting.

I was due to go in May, and had no problem using the app for that, until it was canceled. Then I rebooked for October, and it immediately showed up again in my app. I've been able to make reservations for excursions and all that, no issues with the app at all.

Can we earn rewards with Virgin for these cruises? I'm going on one in October, but I haven't signed up for any kind of frequent traveler program with Virgin.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/03/16/virgin-voyages-require-covid-19-vaccine-all-passengers-crew/4712072001/

I'm not really a pool person, but I do agree that it seems a pool would be useful. I wonder if there are somehow leaving the possibility for one of those on the future ship if people don't like the shallow ones on the first ship.

The tattoo shop seems fun, I don't have any tattoos yet but I was considering getting my first one on the ship, and my partner has a lot of tattoos and wanted to add a small one while on the ship. The downside is that direct sunlight, or immersing yourself in water, two things that cruises tend to involve, are bad for tattoos.

The storage feels like a big one. I tend to travel pretty lightly because I travel a lot and learned to pare down and select carefully, but I would still like to have a good amount of storage space and I'm sure most people want more than I do.

Some of the little things like the cabanas in the shower doors do seem like bad decisions, but perhaps those are easily fixed?

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24481-virgin-voyages-delays-start-to-july-1.html

I would definitely be down for that!

At current rates, we can have 70% of the population vaccinated within 4.5 months. Since a good number won't want vaccines, and children are not currently approved, and some may refuse because they've already had covid, I think 70% is a realistic estimate of how many vaccines we need. Since vaccine production is actually ramping up and additional vaccines are being approved, there's a good chance we'll reach 70% by late April. So I fully support re-opening cruises in May and requiring vaccines. However, easy 'home tests' are due to be available by then as well, so cruise lines could conduct tests on the spot quite easily with immediate results. That might be a perfectly good alternative for those who can't/won't be vaccinated, if not even better, since there may still be some chance of transmission with a vaccine.

Hotrod, I started up a roll call, hope to see you there! I was also hoping to hear from others cruising around this date in this thread, so I wanted to get a discussion going here.

Chloe, we are looking to book the Chocolate, Rum, and Rancho Don Fernando Tour, which is 6 hours and only $55/person. There's also stuff like horseback riding and kayaking (combined) for 7 hours for $85, and a "boat party at sea" when you go on a powerboat and can swim and snorkel for 4 hours for $65. All seems much more affordable than RCL for example. We normally never book cruise line excursions, we just arrange our own independently, but at these prices, I will actually do the cruise excursions.

As being_there pointed out, stuff like the drag brunch and tattoo appointments are not yet showing up for booking. Not sure about diner reservations, but they may be sailing at reduced capacity, which should make all that stuff super easy.

Being_there, our cruise will be directly after yours, but it would certainly be wonderful to hear updates from yours, assuming any of these cruises will in fact set sail.

So we both got vaccinated and decided we'd like to roll the dice on one of the mid May journeys. Anyone else who's booked for May 14-19? 

The Scarlet Lady is unexpectedly sailing back to Europe. With a spike in coronavirus cases in Florida, Europe banning American travelers, and Europeans not likely to travel to the United States, has Virgin Voyages given up on sailing from Florida in the Fall?

Gary, call and stay on hold instead.

I have news!

1. I never received a call back (it's been 6.5 hours), so don't press 1, even if it worked earlier for Janess (glad you got the call though!).

2. However, I re-joined the line and actually waited on hold on a different phone, and after 4 hours, they picked up. I had fallen asleep but luckily the sound of her voice woke me up. The lady was super nice.

3. They were able to honor their deal, even though I canceled on Tuesday evening. I will be getting 200% credit!

I've been on hold for 4 hours and 45 minutes now. Nothing. Got a response on social media but no answers. I canceled 36 hours before the new policy was announced and would like to know if they will refund me after all.