GhettoCruiser

Nope! Not yet. Thanks for the defense, it's appreciated, since we did absolutely everything we could and followed the government's guidelines as you kindly pointed out. It absolutely is a dumb move to cruise without a passport - who knows if you have to dock someplace due to weather that wasn't originally on the itinerary? We get it. We aren't trying to flaunt the rules but we're past the point of cancellation / refund and we have jumped through all the hoops the government gave us to clear since we paid for expedited service and shipping that was supposed to deliver our passports within 3-5 weeks. The information on the state department website says that if you have travel within 14 days to call and make an agency appointment but after you hold for over two hours to speak to a human and make that appointment, they tell you that the website information is incorrect and they won't let you book an appointment until it's FIVE days from travel. Well, that means that the earliest I can call for an appointment is this Friday, the 3rd of March for travel that is going to occur (initial flight to Miami) on Friday the 10th of March. And, one of the agents said when I called them on February 24 that the earliest Chicago (our closest agency office) was booking was Friday, March 10. The day we are to board the plane at the crack of dawn from Indianapolis. Thankfully the advice above by FFMilesJunkie, neverendingcruising, Fogcityca13 and you, cantgetin, seems to be our saving grace and for that we are incredibly appreciative!!! We've been in touch with Virgin, they're giving us consideration since we can prove this fault doesn't lie with us and we're taking birth certificates, our marriage license, their correspondence accepting of our situation, our expired passports, and our state issued IDs. *sigh* 😝

Thanks! I called VV and gave them every tidbit of knowledge I had and they said they'd open a case and get back to me. Here's hoping, because I'm sick of worrying about this and sitting on the phone with the State Dept for hours on end only for them to tell me they can't tell me anything or do anything for me. So frustrating!!

This is becoming a trip from hell for my husband and me. We ordered our passports online on January 19. Paid for expediting which was 3-5 weeks. We're both still in "received" status with the State Department and our flight leaves for Miami on March 10 for a VV Eastern Caribbean cruise departing on March 11. We aren't even allowed to make an passport agency appointment unless our passports aren't here by Friday the 3rd (hahahaha - right) and then we were told that the first open appointments in Chicago aren't until March 10 anyway which, as I mentioned, is the day that we fly to Miami. I am just sick over this. I went above and beyond to be early and pay more for speedier service and I think we're going to both be screwed out of our vacation because of this requirement. Any thoughts?

I was actually referring to both. The TA I spoke to said VV told her the cruise is completely booked, AND I can’t find available dining reservations in the app. 😉

So.... I booked in December and didn't know about booking dining 60 days out, etc. because I've just been too busy to read the boards here. *sigh* Started to look further into the process, downloaded the app and...... NOTHING. Reached out to a recommended travel agent to see if I could get some of the perks upgraded from the better deals I've seen offered since I booked (after calling VV directly didn't help) and they said the ship is completely full. SO, for the Virgin Experienced cruisers amongst us (does that make you non-virgins?) what are my chances at walk-up dining with the entire boat full? There's literally nothing available in the app to book. Also, trying to set our agenda through the app and some things I can't add - like you CAN add to shop the duty free shops, but you can't add the "Salty Trivia" right above it. I'd really like to get a better handle on my trip and pre-plan at least some things. Any advice or calming influence is greatly appreciated. 😉