Quacks the Cruiser

Alcohol, pressed juices, smoothies etc

The $5 charge is dropped if you buy an add on costing at least $5!
 

QTC

Recommend Cocktail Hour with the Hostess! It’s nice listening and “free” except for what you drink!

14 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Update: I just now tried again, and I was able to get reservations for all of the remaining nights... Still no email from Virgin Voyages, as promised... I'm just glad that I was able to secure the venues that I wanted, even if my preferred times weren't available...

 

 

 

 

When you get on board, visit the restaurants you want the times changed for - they have a lot more availability.

Don

49 minutes ago, kaykels said:

Is there a fee for the arcade games ? Asking for my overgrown man child. 🤣🤣

Nope - they're all free!!!

QTC

15 hours ago, barbiecruiser27 said:

Do you get to pick your bracelet color? I am sailing in <30 days so I know I most likely won’t have my name but curious on color. 

In the UK sailings bracelet colour was Black and Gold for "Rock Stars" booked in the suites and red for everyone else.

Most "sailors" had their personalised name on their bracelets but due to delivery issues a few didn't and these had generic messages such as "Ahoy Sailor" and "Nice to sea you" on them.

Mind you to get the best connection for using the bracelet as a key and paying bills etc it was best to wear the bracelets with the name side down!

Don

41 minutes ago, garymfreedman said:

Price for faster wifi, i hear the regular wifi can be iffy..?

We were told that in the UK sailings, the reason the Wi-Fi was "poor" was that it was set up for the Caribbean sailings out of Miami, so hopefully shouldn't be too bad unless you'll be looking to stream films, play games etc. Paying for faster Wi-Fi in the UK wasn't an option for this reason.

However on the UK sailing the Wi-Fi was fine for web browsing, mail, Facetime etc - never tried streaming films (no need with the up to date choices on the TV), but on websites with embedded videos, these took quite a while to open.

Don

7 hours ago, FranciscoFamily said:

Were masks required onboard?  If so, in what areas?  Do you know if they sailed "full" or with reduced capacity?  Did it seem crowded anywhere?

As Mentioned, wearing masks was optional. I am a regular mask wearer.

HOWEVER everyone was double jabbed and had tested negative, all the crew had been double jabbed and no Covid reports from the previous 7 cruises. Therefore this was about risk management and therefore from the moment I boarded Scarlet Lady till the moment I disembarked, I never wore a mask. I had one in my pocket in case I felt uneasy but the cruise never felt busy nor was I ever in a very crowded situation!

Heaven!

Don

I’m not sure it’s the app more Virgin’s organisational abilities! For our 23rd August sailing the app didn’t open for Rock Stars until about 40 days out. Although we did get a mail advising us that booking was open, I found out first from these forums and by logging in every day to check.

what we noticed that there were regular additions to the entertainment and regular releases to restaurant availability. What was frustrating is that once you have booked a restaurant, you can’t see any other availability as you are initially limited to one booking per restaurant. The only way to consider changing a booking is to cancel your existing booking, to see what else is available, but at the risk of someone booking your released slot. Also booking for lunch and brunch at the Wake and Razzle Dazzle were not available for pre-booking.

Having said this, once onboard, there was plenty of availability (at least initially), lunch and brunch options were free and many were able to obtain a walk up reservation! It did make for a stressful pre sailing period though.

Hopefully Virgin will in time, work this through!

Don

Probably tough to say what will be available when Scarlet Lady cruises out of the US. The summer sailings we’re only 2/3rds capacity so there likely wasn’t a full programme and what there was was geared to us Brits. There were quite a few bands all local to the UK and various musical styles - the theme was A Band of Brits.

As well as shows in the Manor and Poolside, there were “pop up” musical acts throughout the ship and a regular acoustic set in the Dock. On the last cruise, there was an outdoor concert around the pool played by a well known 1980’s UK group - ABC, which was excellent.

The summary for me would be, quite a bit of music, not sure there will be “cover style” groups. However I expect Virgin will have a completely new format for their Caribbean sailings - time will tell!

Don

20 minutes ago, redcruzer said:

So did all passengers have to be vaccinated or did you just have to have a negative covid test right before boarding?

Thanks

 

Everyone has to be fully jabbed at least two weeks before the cruise and then a Lateral Flow COVID test by Virgin immediately before boarding.

We are cruising tomorrow on our first ever cruise and mega exited. Our restaurants are all booked but ironically all the entertainment we had booked bar one has been cancelled!

what is the process for luggage at the end of the cruise? Do we have to put it out the night before or can we leave with it on the morning with it?! We are booked for 10.45 departure.

Thanks - Mrs Quacks is panicking!

I wouldn’t worry - we got on 40 days in advance solely because we found out via these forums! However having booked all our shows, we’ve now had 3 messages cancelling them all. The last two cancellations were yesterday and today and we leave tomorrow! Not good enough Virgin 🤬

Thanks David - another great video! We are now counting down the days - 10 according to the app!

Can't wait!

QTC

Wow - great video thanks!

We are in a Brilliant Suite - how does the "Rock Star Suite" room bar work and how do we choose what we want and let them know? Also what mixers do they make available? - I love a Black Label and Ginger Ale (not ginger beer!) and SWMBO is a Bacardi and Coke girl!

I asked Sailor Services if there was  topless sunbathing area.

The answer is that there is a sun deck on deck 17 called The Perch where you can sunbathe topless!

Hope that helps!

Don

13 hours ago, Chamoretta said:

Can you tell me where in the app you are finding these things?  Mine isn’t open yet.

In the app it’s under “Discover”, then “Line “up”. When this opens there’s a series of numbers across the top equating to your days on the ship with one being the day of boarding.

Clicking on each number gives you a full daily schedule in time order of what”s on and where. When  you click on certain events a new page opens up giving you full details. The screenshots above are from this page.

We’ve got roughly 4 weeks to go and this information opened up 4/5 weeks ago so about 8 weeks before departure.

Hope this helps.

Don

7 hours ago, garymfreedman said:

Wow-I can't wait...:).. Website does not show it anymore, but it initially said there was a tops optional area......

There’s also a late night “sexy Cabaret” which is free, followed by an after show party! The audience area is split into 2 - one for “players” who may be called up on stage and one for “voyeurs” who just want to watch!
 

The 2 lectures are payable in the UK at £18.57 which I suspect equates to a US $25!

7 hours ago, garymfreedman said:

What the ?? You saying they have bondage and erotic chat on the ship?...

Doesn't sound like the virgin way

Yep!

Two sessions called “50 Shades of Play” and  “Pillow Talk”. Screenshots attached!

We’re on 23rd August sailing and were able to book The Wake, Agave, Extra Virgin and Test Kitchen - seems we got in before all availability went. 
 

I saw elsewhere that there will be more restaurant availability on the ship so maybe an early visit to Sailor Services to secure your steak may be needed!

some of the pay events look “edgy” - BDSM and erotic chat?!

Looking forward to our first “holiday” in two years though.

Don

To book restaurants, I clicked on the bottom tab that said “Discover” and on the Discover page, click “Ship”, then click “Eateries”. This will take you to the restaurant page. you then have two options (1) In the red box, put in the time you would like to eat and it will show you what restaurants are available (2) ignore the red box and click on one of the bookable restaurants which will take you to the restaurant page and you can browse avaiblity from there.

For the “what’s on”, Again on the discover page click “Line Up” and this will take you to page 1 which is the first day of your cruise. You will see numbers 1-4 or 1-5 across the top depending whether you are on a 3 or 4 day cruise. If you scroll down you will see what’s on at what time and where - some shows let you guarantee a booked slot ; some say book but it’s really just a reminder.

Anything you’ve booked appears under the “Me” tab on the home page.

It’s clunky, but hope that helps!

Don

Well the app is now working for restaurant bookings but only dinner and only once per each restaurant. Some shows/events are bookable but others you can only note when it is but it’s first come/first served.

The app still has a few glitches though. It says cabanas are pre bookable on the app but sailor services say “no”. I sent them copies of the app pages and they said this was a “mistake” and they would contact the app developers to change it. They did confirm that the cost to reserve a cabana for the day is $300-$500 but could not say what that would get you except the cabana for the day!

Equally suddenly in the app, disembarkation times have appeared but are all shown as sold out. I phoned Sailor Services again and the girl said she had lots of calls about this today. After a short hold, she returned to say it was again a mistake and we should book disembarkation when we board.

I’m a first time cruiser and looking forward to this. However first impressions of Virgin are not positive. I hope the experience on board exceeds the pre-departure experience!

Don

On 7/6/2021 at 11:05 PM, wendyam76 said:

I have a feeling they aren’t doing the Drag Brunch - I’m sure I saw that on a Facebook post somewhere. Like you we are planning Razzle Dazzle for lunch rather than dinner. 
no didn’t get a cabana booked - they never responded when I pointed out I wasn’t meaning the Bimini Beach ones!! Would love to know the cost too.

Wendy

Hi Wendyam76

here is the response from the “Rock Star Agents” re cabana bookings :-

4 minutes ago, wendyam76 said:

We were looking forward to it too! Booked the same as you but Gumbae instead of the Italian - booked The Wave later so that we can have starters at the Italian when it opens! 
We are the 9th - been on many cruises but this will be different and very much looking forward to it!

Wendy 

Make sure you post what everything is like for us tail end Charlie’s!!, we booked one of the Dr A late night cabarets but will only sit in the “voyeurs” section ;o)

1 minute ago, wendyam76 said:

I have a feeling they aren’t doing the Drag Brunch - I’m sure I saw that on a Facebook post somewhere. Like you we are planning Razzle Dazzle for lunch rather than dinner. 
no didn’t get a cabana booked - they never responded when I pointed out I wasn’t meaning the Bimini Beach ones!! Would love to know the cost too.

Wendy

Shame about the Drag Brunch - Julie was looking forward to that!= we opted for Agave, Italian, Test Kitchen and Wake for our 4 nights.

If I hear back about the cabana, I’ll post here! When’s your cruise? We’re the 23rd and 1st time cruisers who just need a holiday!

QTC