jon81uk

VHS usually led by The Balancer with The Spark and The Hype. the role of The Bounce might have been eliminated or renamed?

There were quite a few early on when Valiant Lady was new, they cancelled some of the UK cruises with short notice in favour of The Bachelor filming for a month or so. Also Resiliant Lady’s launch was delayed and some cruises got cancelled but that had more notice. Now I don’t see it happening. Maybe the launch of Brilliant Lady will also get delayed but I don’t see anything changing on the other three ships.

Nobody is getting deep blue extras for April onwards so it’s not that you can’t seem to get it added, those benefits do not exist for 1st April onwards. There will be a new loyalty programme. Once that is announced you may get those new benefits.

And if you don’t pre-purchase bar tab then your credit card just gets charged on the last night with whatever you’ve spent onboard. But for many people over a five night cruise $400 of bar tab will get spent.

What class of cabin did you pay for? If you paid for a standard sea terrace then being moved to another sea terrace room definitely isn’t an upgrade. But from sea view or inside this would still be an upgrade as you gain the balcony.

There is no status for April onwards as the current loyalty program ends 31st of March. The website states the deep blue extras are only through to March 31st https://www.virginvoyages.com/sites/sailing-club there will be a new loyalty programme but no one knows what that is or what the perks will be, I’m expecting an announcement during March.

I’d be very surprised if there is no Duel Reality. also both shows are still listed on the main website and this has been updated recently to add Miss Behave’s Gameshow. https://www.virginvoyages.com/onboard/events-and-gigs

There are no meet ups, but many of the sailors and crew are LGBT and I had no trouble finding other LGBT people to chat to around the ship.

Personally for longer than four nights I want an XL to get the full size bathroom.

There are very few upcharges. There is two or three different trivia and game shows included. The bigger production shows are all included. Some arts and crafts are included like summer camp crafts of making friendship bracelets and similar. Upcharge entertainment generally includes alcohol. Grog Walk is a bar crawl including multiple drinks. Painting and boozy bevvies is just that, painting a canvas with drinks. There are several upcharge spirit tastings but I think the cost of those can be off set against purchasing a bottle. There are also several upcharge events in Test Kitchen during the day such as shot for shot, where you make cocktails and take Instagram-worthy photos of them, there is also a food plating and sushi making class. I’ve done four cruises with Virgin and never paid for any of those activities and had plenty to do. Watch out for the posture alignment and skin workshops these are just sales pitches for insoles or vitamin tablets.

I think the wording of activate your band is just confusing. The original plan was to send out the bands in the post, so by doing the pre-boarding tasks (photo of passport, contract, health declaration, embarkation slot) you would “activate” the band ready to check in while boarding. Those tasks still need to be done but you don’t receive the band until you get to the check in at the terminal.

You need to go into the app and upload a photo of your passport and select your embarkation slot.

I was confirming that on the night it’s on (usually night 2) Heartbeat will always be the last thing in the Manor as it’s a club night. It’s a lot of fun though, arrive for the beginning as it opens with a dance number by the ships dance crew. There won’t be anything after, although On the Rocks may have a live band as an alternative to the club music.

There was a documentary shown on UK TV filmed on Virgins ships late 2021 and they stated all food was done on the ship. It might be that the roast pork was brought on the ship raw and cooked at the beach club but wasn’t show. I don’t recall seeing it when we were at Bimini August 2022. But I had the curry not the pork sandwich so don’t know whether it tasted good or not!

Heartbeat is a dance club night so there won’t be a caberet show after that starts, hence why it’s listed as 11.15-late. Usually on a seven night cruise Heartbeat Scarlet Night, Circus Disco and the Pajama party are the main dance events.

The food is prepared on the ship and just reheated, they don’t have full kitchen at the Beach Club. Also all the food service staff normally work Razzle Dazzle which is why that’s closed in the evenings on Bimini days. I found the curry good, the corn on the cob fine and the rum cake was great. really wouldn’t want standard burgers (and the ones on the ship aren’t great) and fries. BBQ grill might be better but there wouldn’t be the time to do slow smoked BBQ I expect.

Ah I didn’t see that in the text as thought it was talking about what is served more than when. I expect that web copy was written three years ago by a marketing person and they’ve not talked to operations since. The Taco and sandwich stations have never done dinner service in the whole 2.5 years the line has been going and there isn’t the demand for it as 99% of guests have a waited service meal for dinner.

And it makes it easier to get your fill of free sparkling wine at the sail away if you have dinner after 7pm

I don’t think the afternoon tea is worth paying for really when there is plenty of other good food included in the cruise anyway.

It will be listed in the app for your particular cruise. Or you can pick up a paper line up. I’ve not seen any information on hours on the website, just very general introductory stuff? The taco and sandwich places meals are lunch sized portions really too.

Hours have changed recently, but even back last November some of the Galley would have been open in the evening. Most stations stop lunch service around 3pm and then start dinner service around 5pm. But the hot sandwiches and tacos don’t offer dinner at all. Burgers, salads and all-day breakfast will be available in the evening as well a steak sandwich which is dinner only. The Dock also offers mezze and grilled meats all afternoon and the social club has hot dogs and chicken wings. Pizza closes late afternoon and opens at 9pm to 1am for late night food. ramen noodles also closes for lunch at 3pm but opens for late night dinner at 9pm (or later maybe). but generally they don’t expect you to fo to the galley for dinner, it’s mainly a breakfast and lunch venue. But if you want a quick dinner after a port stop there is the steak sandwich, burgers or later night pizza.

You think four drinks a day is binge drinking? One by the pool in the afternoon, one with dinner, one with a show and one in the Manor at 11pm. That’s almost nothing really for many people on vacation, four drinks over eight hours. Also realistically many drinks are under $10 so more likely to be five per person per day if having beer or wine with dinner. Some people will have a bottle of wine between them over dinner, that will be $70 alone. on a sea day I might have one drink by the pool (more at Bimini), beer/wine with dinner, a drink while watching a show and then two in the Manor or watching the band through past midnight.

It’s a variety show, live band with a host and a couple of audience participation games then around four variety acts, circus, dance magic that sort of thing do 5-10 mins each. Food at the show on Valiant Lady wasn’t great. A salad appetiser was okay, then a steak tartare appetiser that was just a weird choice as it’s a love/hate type of dish. Breaded chicken or sea bass as a main, the chicken was fine but needed more veggies. Then an overset chocolate mousse dessert. We ate most of the food except the steak tartare but still got late night pizza. the show is good though, fun and the right amount of cheesy.

Call up and check, it might be that sailor services can see something different. Otherwise book once onboard as they hold back some they can only be booked onboard. Generally they don’t hold it back for walk ups but most of the time the ship is quiet enough that you can get a walk up at 6pm or 9pm. 7-8pm is busiest.

Plan V is the new name for the house band. The other ship it’s SPF5.