AndyUK

Hi Knowledgable folk! 

Has anyone had experience of Athens Embarkation day, for Mega Rockstars ? What was the setup like?  We have only done VV via Miami and the setup there is great,  MRS are grouped together and taken on and  'escorted' to your suite.. is that the same thing that happens in Athens? 

Thanks !  

yes, they open a bottle, and then cap with a bottle closure. They appear to sell many by the glass

This is exactly my plan.!! 

Hi all,

I booked a few shore things for our cruise later in the year ( Greek island Glow) , I booked early, as part of MRS priority…. I booked three excursions , and all of them the same thing happened, they are all booked but no money taken and says ‘Deducted from pending refund’.  
 

I checked the app and the shore things are booked and scheduled within my app. I didn’t get an email confirmation, should I have?! 
 

I assume it’s a VV glitch, and I’m reluctant to call them… worst case I lose the booking , but I’m happy to make alternative arrangements. 
 

Thanks

Andy 

Thank you!

Will they be chargeable events? 

11 hours ago, Lauren-esq said:

I think maybe around 10? It was about a 25-30 minute drive from the port. I think we stayed until 3? Nothing was mentioned about spa offerings but again this was the last week or so of the season (it was not available for booking until I got onboard I guess because they realized how good the weather still was) and the property was somewhat of a ghost town that day. 

Thank you! Very helpful!! 

38 minutes ago, Lauren-esq said:

I did, I absolutely loved it. Beautiful property, grounds were so lush, pools stunning with a view, beach was lovely, towels, chairs, bathrooms etc all top notch, staff was eager to please. I did go in early October so the season was over and the hotel was pretty dead so I can’t speak to what it would be like with a full house but my favorite day of my Greek cruise even if I can’t say I took in any real Turkish culture

Thank you. Do you recall what time you got to the hotel, as we hope to book some massages also. 

Has anyone done the Mandarin Oriental beach club day in Bodrum ? Was thinking of going to the hotel for a spa day so interested to hear if anyone did the shore thing excursion there. 

5 minutes ago, tbmrt said:

Does one need to book fitness classes at time of embarkation? 

Yes you do. They will be available in the app on embarkation. Note on the last cruise we went on they were not available immediately in the app... they held them back while more sailors got onboard. We were MRS so first on and they were not available for the first 45 mins or so. I asked why and was told they hold them back if the boat is busy. 

usually 8am, 10am and sometimes 3pm. but they not every day. 

Looking forward to seeing them again on the greek island glow in July! 

1 minute ago, WhyWeCruise said:

I was on the Valiant over Christmas too -- trying to work -- and can confirm that the premium internet was garbage. I am assuming it was because the ship was full and it was being heavily utilized. Port days were fine.

How odd we had different experiences, wonder if had to do with access points on the ship or something. I certainly was able to work fine throughout , both port and sea days. 

2 hours ago, katef529 said:

Great review and I learned a few things about Virgin so thank you!  One question:  How does VV do the muster drill?  The last cruise we were on in 2023 on RCL, we watched a video on the app, reported to our muster station, and we were good to go. I think I read somewhere that VV does the one where everyone goes at the same time and listens or watches a video together.  I hope that's not true because I'm still having nightmares from a few years before Covid when we stood outside in the sun, shoulder-to- shoulder while people slowly meandered up to check in for muster drill while we waited for them  😉

No , you watch video in your cabin, and then the muster drill is just show up at your station and they give a 2 mins overview of a life jacket and that’s it, you are free to go. They wait for a group of people and do a session, that group goes and they repeat. 

We were MRS and had premium on Valiant on their holiday cruise over Christmas and thought the WiFi was good. Examples… I was able to use zoom for zoom video calls( work), many WhatsApp video calls, emails and surfing the net all fine, streaming music from Apple and videos from YouTube all perfect. Maybe I was lucky, but it seemed to work well certainly within the cabin anyhow. 

We did Valiant Lady over Christmas. Cruise was sold out, 2700 passengers. We didn’t face long queues for anything. All dinner reservations there was no queues to get your table. No long queue for events, people queued up for many none tickets events like bingo 30 mins or so before, which causes a long line, but our experience was wait till later, and there be no queue and still get a seat. Unless you really wanted a specific front row seat. On sea days yes the pool can get busy, especially if the weather is good, though didn’t feel overcrowded at all. The longest we had to wait for a drink in any bar was probably 10 mins and that was at the dock house on day one where the is limited other places to get a drink before sail away. The service though-out the ship was fantastic, staff providing amazing service as quick as possible. I honestly say don’t worry about it, relax and enjoy it, even with a full ship there is a lot of space in our view, and we’ll organised .

1 hour ago, Petco said:

But only on my iPhone not on my computer!

I don’t see that on either my phone or PC! How strange ! 

The Valiant Lady – Cast 6 – contract is October 22nd 2023 to Mid March 2024

Just now, cantgetin said:

Sorry, but we are not permitted to name TAs or their companies on the site,  Yes, I always use a TA to book VV.  Sometimes there are extra perks, sometimes not,,,but I know I've gotten the best possible deal.

Oh sorry, I wasn’t aware. If the moderator wishes to delete the thread then no problem. Thanks for the note. 

Sorry if this is already asked, I did a quick search but couldn’t see anything… in the past my VV have been booked via Virgin Holidays, due to all of them being via Miami and bundled flights into the deal ( ATOL protected) , and it also gives additional Virgin Atlantic tier points etc. Now that I’m looking at Europe sailings I wonder what the best way to book is, direct with VV or via TA? I see many comments that a TA has secured additional OBC etc that VV doesn’t appear to offer on bookings. We usually go MRS so the additional OBC is not a massive deal breaker, but if there are some recommendations on good TAs that are UK / Europe based that be interesting to hear. 
 

Thank you! 

27 minutes ago, Raiders4Life32 said:

We are doing MRS in a month on Scarlet Lady. My best friend is celebrating his 50th Birthday and he reserved the Massive MRS Suite. My wife and I are just down the hall in the Fab Suite. We sailed in the same exact cabin about 2 years ago and loved the experience. I didn't do a bridge tour last time and would be highly interested in doing this. I'll make sure to request it when we get on board....thanks for the insight!

I think the bridge tour is dependent on the Captain approval... we did scarlet last year in a MRS suite and asked for a badge tour, and was told no... noting that they were trying to push the the paid for tour. 

Enjoy the 50th celebration and the massive suite! 

5 hours ago, ssteinerman said:

Question- did you request the bridge tour or did they offer it? Did it cost anything or complementary?

No, we didn't request it, our MRS agent just pinged me saying she booked us on a tour. it didn't cost anything. The tour was just the MRS suite guests. 

23 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The are VIP1 and VIP2 designations on the restaurant laptops.

I believe VIP1 is for MRS, but I can't remember for sure.

Ah yes, thats what I saw VIP1 ... I thought it meant there was two of us in cabin! 

Just back from the 7 night Christmas cruise on Valiant lady in a Gorgeous suite and thought I share our experience of our MRS agent. This was our second VV cruise in a MR suite... the service was fantastic. 

Things we received, priority rockstar line skipped, line had a queue but as MRS we were chaperoned passed that line and taken direct to our cabins, this was via Miami. Coffee every morning via our MRS agent, constant bottles of champagne and wine left in the room ( full bottles) , treats in the room most evenings, bridge tour, last minute restaurant switches on a fully sold out cruise. We were due to go to Gunbae, we were at the entrance to the restaurant, but we were both not feeling it and we didn't want to spoil the other dinners experience given its a very social event. Messaged our MRS agent who said everywhere was very busy but give her 2 mins. She got back to me in 2 mins and says they opened a spot in the wake. She picked us up and 5 mins later we in the wake sat having dinner, great experience. I noted on the restaurant checkin computer we were labelled as VIP, though I assume all rockstar and MRS are classified as VIP on their sailor system. On a day where our MRS agent had not seen us, shore day, she came to our restaurant in the evening to check in. There are 4 MRS agents I believe, 3 working days, 1 working nights for deck 15. So 5 rooms per MRS agent... however every time we asked for something it felt if they were there for us only. It did feel that the more crew the agent knew, the more they could do, though nothing seemed to be too much of a problem.

1 minute ago, Lustate said:

 

Neither am I. lol
I think a boo boo happened. 

yep!!! we love a boo boo!!