PiperHolliday

47 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I have booked a hotel package with Princess as well as NCL...while true you will generally pay a bit of a premium it is certainly NOT 3x...and it includes your transfers to/from said hotel so be sure and factor that into your pricing comparisons.  There's something to be said for allowing your cruise line to be responsible for your entire vacation experience.  We do this for about 50% of our cruises.

I'm a travel agent that has booked hundreds of Princess cruises and can definitely tell you that it's often 2-3 times more than if I book my clients not via Princess for hotels and transfers. EZ Air, on the other hand, can be awesome and a great discount - so I utilize that quite often. But obviously each traveler should do what makes them feel comfortable. 

28 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have booked a few hotels with Princess and the price has been fair given that transfers were included from Heathrow and then to the ship. One just needs to do the math and figure out what is best. I don't want to haul my luggage on the trains.

I never said anything about a train. I always set up private direct transfers for my clients. Door to door, no big bus and usually half the cost of Princess. But again...if the big bus is what makes you comfortable, do that! 

10 hours ago, Koliver63 said:

Hi there! I am happy that me sharing my misunderstanding of EZ Air might help you make a good decision regarding flights! Although I have only been on 2 cruises…I used to travel extensively for work so tend to just make my own arrangements. I don’t book tours through Princess…we really love small group tours with 1-3 other couples max so I use private tour companies.  I usually find a hotel for us on my own.  Most hotels or even VRBO’s will make arrangements to take you to the port. I know there is someone else from our sailing staying at Hotel Smeraldo…it looked nice! We are staying at Hotel Barocco over near Trevi Fountain/Spanish Steps. They have stated they will arrange transfer for us from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the port. How does it work with the Princess hotel? How do you know which hotel they use and how to get transportation to the port? 

A travel agent can tell you what the hotels are. But a good travel agent will also tell you it's a total rip-off and will cost you 3x as much as it should. The hotels they work with are also not always the best (always nice, but there's better options out there). Be sure to find a travel agent that not only does cruises but has first-hand experience with land travel in your preferred destinations. You want someone with travel experience, not just booking from a screen experience. They're the ones that will get you in the best hotels for the best price in the best locations - and can set up private direct transfers for usually the same cost as the mass coach bus the cruise lines use where you end up waiting for others. The only thing is that you usually have to pay upfront for hotels booked independently. But I think that's worth saving hundreds of dollars. 

21 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You will LOVE Santorini!  Probably my most favorite port stop ANYWHERE!  But be prepared for a long line for the tram up the side of the ridge/mountain.

Take the boat from the port to Ammoudi Bay, where they'll then bus you up to Oia. On the way back, take the cable car and head back a bit earlier than the masses. There is a booth at the port where you can buy. 

31 minutes ago, anonymousegirl said:

They were Kamik Canucks. I bought them on Zappos and they still have a couple of sizes left (6,7, and11)

Thanks a million!

On 1/31/2022 at 5:45 PM, anonymousegirl said:

I am a plus size gal. I was on the 19 December sailing. I chose my normal sizing, and then went up a size during the fitting as my extra layers and down vest added too much to be comfortable in a 3x. I also brought my own boots as my calf size is too large for standard boots which measure 16.8 inches in circumference at the top of the calf. 

Can you please share exactly what kind of boots you bought? 

On 10/20/2022 at 7:32 PM, Laserjock said:

Hello fellow cruisers!

 

Received an email today indicating our upcoming cruise will be out of Terminal B versus E as on our documents.  Never embarked out of B as I thought was the NCL terminal.  
 

I am assuming they will have the YC tent setup there as normally done at E?

 

Just checking…no worries as we are cruising after all right?  
 

Life is good!

 

 

Our cruise tomorrow is departing from Terminal C and I have the same questions. 

3 minutes ago, Gonzowifey said:

oh thank you! That's what I was hoping to hear. I'm assuming it applies to both the onboard activities and off-board excursions. 

All available Shore Things are already available for booking. The ports you're visiting are very independent-focused ports and you won't find many tour companies that offer shore excursions.  Take yourself to the beach - it's very easy. Just do like any local would do and take a taxi or the bus. Honestly, ship-offered excursions are typically the worst way to see a port, in my opinion. You'll have a great time, just research what there is to do at each port and visit the port forums here. 

The lineup is not completely loaded into the app until embarkation day and you're connected to the ship wifi. 

It depends on the room you have. Some have a Pullman and some have a single ottoman that transforms into a bed. The ottoman replaces the chair in the room. 

On 7/5/2022 at 2:06 PM, andrcan said:

I took my antigen test a month ago at this pharmacy:

Farmàcia Torres, Carrer d'Aribau, 62, 08011 Barcelona, Spain. Online booking, 10 min wait for the results, electronic copy (can also be printed rhy away on request), 18 euro.

https://farmaciaabiertatorres24h.setmore.com/

P.S. Four blocks away from the pharmacy you may find fantastic Paco Meralgo restaurant, Catalan food, Michelin recommended!

Did VV not contact you prior to departure to help you arrange the pre-cruise proctored test they cover the cost of? 

On 7/4/2022 at 9:04 PM, cantgetin said:

I've also read that VV is now charging for tests at the port.  I believe it is on the VV web site under the wellness section.  https://www.virginvoyages.com/voyage-well#europe-health-wellness-todo  THe VV web site says testing at the terminal in Barcelona is $43 USD.

It does. However, you skipped the most important part. The website states they will provide the test free of charge and will contact you prior to departure with details. It is a proctored test you do online via webcam. This is for Barcelona only. Out of Miami, sailors must procure their own test. 

The need for testing may soon end from BCN anyway. 

On 7/7/2022 at 2:50 PM, TX-Cruiser said:

On the fly we booked on the Scarlet Lady yesterday for next Wednesday. We are Diamond on RCCL and Elite + on Celebrity but I have been intrigued by VV and thought...heck Columbus took a chance so why not. We are older than what seems to be the target crowd but that is okay too....it is just 4 days...just enough time to get the feel of the ship, find out if it is right for us, etc. 

 

I have done close to no research (very unlike me) but I did download the app, and seems to be zero left for dining reservations in the key restaurants. Do they have some availability on board or should we brace for pizza? Can anyone shed light on Scarlett night...I have read that there is Scarlett night but not sure the details. Any other "must brings" to not stick out like sore old thumbs?

 

Any other tips would be great. We will be on deck 13 in a balcony. 

 

Thanks in advance

 

TXC

Talk to Sailor Services as soon as you board and they'll get you set for all your meals. 

16 minutes ago, kendid said:

 

They require proof of booking, and proof of cancellation and proof of amount of refund (if any).  It's not as easy as I thought.  I used a company called MyTrip to book our flights and am not getting any communications with them about cancelling

I'm sorry you're going through that. I always advise people to avoid third party flight booking companies. MyTrip in particular is extremely bad and often will not respond to customers requesting refunds. In the event that you actually do get customer service to handle your request, they charge $24 per booking to even provide you with service and then $71 per person to request the refund from the airline. And you still pay that fee even if the airline won't give a refund. Just for future reference for everyone, this is all in their terms and conditions, which we all really need to be reading before we give anyone money. And always check reviews on sites like TrustPilot. I always find that booking directly with the airline is best or a trusted travel agent (not a mass online agency). The prices aren't going to be very different and often it's cheapest right from the airline. 

If you purchased travel insurance, talk to them about the situation. Or at this point, since MyTrips won't even respond, take it up with your credit card company. 

1 hour ago, _tacocat_ said:

yeah, our access keys to book after our first voyage automatically ended up in our accounts on the website. 

 

the odd thing there was that any time we started looking to book to compare prices or whatever, it would "use" the access key when we were searching. so if we came back to look later that day it would say it had already been used.  come back the next day, no problem.  so weird.

Clearing the cache and cookies in your browser might fix it. Or maybe an incognito window? I'll have to remember that for next time. I already knew what I would be booking so I didn't have to encounter that. 

1 hour ago, COMermaid said:

I called Virgin Sunday morning.  Was on hold 4 minutes before I got the option for a call back.  Got the call back 38 minutes later.  Spent 18 minutes on the phone adding the share the love code to my cruise successfully and then applying the expired credit to pay off the balance due and cash in the remaining $50 to sailor loot!  I'm worried about getting through again on Wednesday once they release the free cruise access keys.  Bring it on!

Free cruise access keys should be able to be redeemed online. I have done it before, three times. They emailed me the codes. Although, that was not for this situation.

17 hours ago, cmjars said:

If you booked through a NCL TA they can tell you. For our cruise my TA said it's a little over half full and he said their goal is 60% capacity.

17 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Really, most agents will claim they don't have access to that information. In reality, only NCL knows and will share that with you once you are onboard. I would expect at least 75% in June and July.

As an agent, I can confirm that NCL does not disclose loads to us. No cruise lines do. They do frequently talk to us about capacity goals and limits but there's no way to actually know loads for a cruise unless you ask onboard. And yes, this includes internal agents employed by the company. Booking systems do not show total cabins available above a certain number and end up listing '10+ or 20+' on categories with a lot of availability. So you can't math your way to a conclusion, either. Agents that know crewmembers, other agents or friends onboard can often ask via those people but numbers are typically only available for the current cruise and the following. 

Loads for cruise ships, flights, etc are very famously not available to the public and employees that have access to that information can be terminated if they share it. I have personal experience being a former employee with access. Of course people will still break the rules but the majority won't. So take any capacity numbers that don't come from onboard with a grain of salt. 

OP can try asking cruisers that are onboard the sailing prior to his/hers. That's the closest answer you'll get. 

On 6/16/2022 at 7:03 AM, dippyblond said:

Anyone here booked on the cancelled Greek cruise (for 2022) from Barcelona and booked a package from an agent (imagine cruises in our case).

have you been contacted yet?

I’m curious to know how / if the 200% FVC will be allocated as we have booked a package including flights and hotel?

have tried to contact said travel agent only to be advised we will be contacted by 30th June and NOT to contact Virgin Voyages!

any advice appreciated

Thank you

 

The 200% FVC is on the cruise fare only. If the package was actually completely booked with VV by your travel agency, then the flights and hotel are easily refundable or changeable. But I get the feeling this travel agency may have booked you via another supplier for flights and hotel since VV only just recently got those up and running. That means if those weren't booked with a flexible policy or you don't have travel insurance, that could be a sticky situation. VV is however offering reimbursement for those expenses up to a certain amount but most likely will not cover it all. It's extremely odd to me that your travel agent is refusing to give you information and will take that long to get back to you. I would advise not using them again and possibly requesting they release your booking so you can find an agent that is actually willing to do their job or just handle it yourself. As a travel agent myself, I would be ashamed. 

By the way, I looked up your agency and their reviews are terrible. Definitely get them to release your booking. 

45 minutes ago, EvilCocoBean said:

Virgin: If you are listening:

 

If you do not be "my Mom's cruise line" then act like it and be different. I have no problem with you cancelling, but have a corporate strategy for doing so. You did not decide to cancel thousands of reservations 15 minutes before you announced it. So have extra phone and on-line "chat" agents and/or extended your business hours).  I laughed when someone said use your travel agent - that;s what my Mom would do - your target audience uses phones & apps (just like on your ships), not travel agents.

 

For god's sake give us an option to pick an option on-line - click a button and we can electing our choice (or just give us the Code linking our VCC to our sailor account and we can just re-book ourselves). (See a website like Southwest Airlines- easy to cancel/change. I get in normal times you do not want people cancelling on-line (make it hard= they may not do it and you want a chance to "sell" me on not cancelling but re-booking.) That is OK in normal times, but when YOU cancel vacation plans for people who have had their trips booked for months and paid in full, you should make it easy for us. 

I absolutely, positively agree that Virgin needs to quickly address everything you have said (I really, really wish more suppliers would get onboard with self-automation), but I don't think you need to find my suggestion laughable. The user I directed my post to said he used a travel agent and I was letting him know that was probably the best course of action to get his refund taken care of since I had an easy time.

Of course, I totally understand wanting to be in control and have a handle on everything yourself because I can be that way, too! Travel agents definitely aren't for everyone. But I am not your mom's travel agent and perhaps you only have experience with less-than-mediocre agents that only know how to game the booking systems looking for the highest commission and never visit the places they sell. I am mid-thirties, I do not care for traditional cruising. I don't do mega ships. I do not care for large all-inclusive resorts in all the common Caribbean and Mexican destinations. I have experience travelling independently to nearly 100 countries. I do not book Disney, theme parks, etc. I would never consider letting any of my clients set foot on a tour coach. The majority of my clients are my age or younger and enjoy detailed, authentic, custom trips in Europe and Asia. They want the expertise of someone that has been where they are going without paying extra. And someone to take care of issues like this when they arise - faster than they could on their own (I take calls 24/7). There are great agents out there that can be a fantastic tool if you are willing to forget what you think you know about travel agents. Don't write us ALL off just yet. I promise some good ones do exist! 😊

(admin: not trying to break rules - this is not an ad, I do not want more clients)

10 hours ago, EvilCocoBean said:

Does anyone know:

(1) if we bought travel insurance, do we get that back?

 

(2) if we got JLo "Booty" on board credit, will that transfer to a new cruise we book?

All promos will transfer over to your new cruise booking. 

3 minutes ago, Island Dog said:

Link in email doesn't work. Had to use the one early in this thread. Requested refund through link and loading icon spins into infinity. Gonna try getting the refund through my TA. If that doesn't work, I'm disputing the charge through my cc. Way too fishy for me. Something doesn't add up.

 

BTW where did the guy go responding directly from Virgin on here?????????🤣

Should have had your travel agent handle it from the get-go. I've taken care of three bookings already and had a hold time of less than 15 minutes via the exclusive First Mate line. 

15 minutes ago, MTAK said:

For those who had sailings out of San Juan, you may want to check Celebrity.  The have a nearly identical itinerary to ours that departs and arrives on the same dates as our VV, so in our case we wouldn''t need to change travel plans - just change ships.

Good catch! 

It appears the whole launch season for Resilient has been axed. 

-

We know how excited you are to join us on board our third lady ship, so it is with a heavy heart that we’ve made the decision to delay the launch of Resilient Lady — which means that your voyage* below is no longer taking place.

We are committed to delivering exceptional experiences, however, some of the global challenges still impacting the travel industry like supply chain, crew staffing, and regional issues — meant we couldn’t guarantee the epic vacation you deserve on Resilient Lady. And we don’t want to fall short with your valuable time off, so while this decision was difficult, it was necessary.

We understand how disappointing this is, and we apologize wholeheartedly for that. We want to do right by you, so within the next two weeks, we'll place a 200% Future Voyage Credit in your account for any fare paid to double your value. But if you'd prefer, we will provide a full refund to all eligible Sailors, and you have until July 31st, 2022 to get in touch with us to request one. Just follow the link below and head to our dedicated website where you can find all of our offer and reimbursement details and how to access them.

While Resilient Lady’s inaugural sailing season is delayed, we can help you come aboard an alternative sailing on either Valiant Lady out of Barcelona or Miami, or Scarlet Lady out of Miami; they’re both getting rave reviews and sailing to some of the most stunning destinations in the world. 

Thank you again for supporting us, and we hope to sea you onboard one of our ships very soon.

I posted to genuinely offer another viewpoint but all I got was childish attitude. I even stated that it's not an issue if testing is widely available where you are located. Thank you for reminding me why I take long breaks from CC. 

17 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Inconvenience, just the opposite, we always are in town before cruises so we just stopped by got the test and drove back home with our groceries, no worries, by the time we got home they had already emailed us with result.  Not a problem at all for us.  And it was Walgreens.  You do you.  Oh, did I mention that was free!  Our Emed tests were not! So they sit in the drawer a waste of $$.  We done 2 cruises after Covid, no problem at all.

13 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Done about 10 times all free. Well, to me at least 😉

 

So that's around $400 in my pocket😁

Everyone has their own preferences and I'm not trying to say you're wrong at all, but just would like to share a viewpoint I do not see here very often. I do not do free testing for travel, as I realize I'm choosing to travel and I'm spending thousands already, what is the extra $35 (or $400 over a span of a year or two) for a proctored test? I just expect it at this time. In many areas during the pandemic, free testing has been hard to come by. Appointments fill up fast. Not to mention, it's just not ethically responsible for me to take one of those slots from someone that actually needs it because they're sick and can't afford to pay for a test. This has been a reality in a lot of places, although may be better now that things have calmed down. If you don't have to think or worry about there not being enough free tests in your area, then of course this is not a problem. Just try to remember, even if you don't think there is, there's someone in your community that cannot afford to pay for a test. Whether anyone chooses to take that into consideration is their own prerogative. 

19 hours ago, kateg said:

…so from that point forward we made sure to wiggle mouse around every few minutes and we had no further issues with the video feed.  

That is a simple setting on your son's computer that he could have changed instead of requiring babysitting and wriggling the mouse. Next time! 

We did self-walk this morning at 7:00 and getting off the ship was quick, simple and easy. CBP (per usual for cruises) was almost non-existent, which is very convenient for us. 

This was my only time sailing from Bayonne, so I'm not sure if it's usually like this, but it seems best to arrange your transportation ahead of time if you didn't drive yourself. Taxis charge $65 plus tolls just to go to EWR, which is comical. We arranged a Lyft XL for $30, tolls included. You can do this ahead of time in the app. When we arrived, we checked availability for Lyft and Uber and neither had drivers readily available. 

We got to EWR quickly and are now seated on our 10AM flight home.