VV2022

I booked (and paid in full) two cruises when I was onboard Scarlet Lady last month, literally two days before the 'red hot booking season' started. I am literally like 3 nights away from Platinum on NCL which I could use to status match. Please send thoughts and prayers for my first world problems. 🙂

Solved. Somehow an outdated promotion from last year got added to my booking, which while it would have been cool in theory (free cruise except taxes and fees, although in a lesser room), was simply added in error and broke a few things. (No idea how it got tacked on.) All fixed up now, and all of my OBC from booking onboard appears correctly.

I'm the person who lost my no-solo-supplement deal on a paid in full booking and now allegedly owe $1400. (FWIW: I hadn't touched this reservation in any way, or done anything to trigger a change in their system. My best guess is that they were manually updating some of the onboard bookings made with the new $600 OBC. Which, I don't have that either.) Anyway, I sent them an email Friday but didn't hear back (through this morning), and this morning the booking still says I owe $1400, so I called in and am waiting for the callback system. Will report back ...

Looks like the email actually came in around 9pm eastern last night. (I hadn't touched the reservation, fwiw.)

There isn't a catch, right now--I would imagine they might have to make some changes or increase the cost in the future, but right now is definitely golden era Virgin Voyages. (Okay, the catch is that their IT department is just as bad as every other cruise line. But that's about it.)

This didn't seem worth making a whole new thread about, but my already paid in full, no solo supplement October sailing has decided that it's not paid in full, and I got a new invoice saying I owe another $1400. (In other words, it seems like it revoked the 'no solo supplement' deal.) Anyone else? I know it's probably not worth getting on the phone about and that they'll 'probably' fix it, but if it doesn't seem widespread I may need to give them a call.

I assume if we're talking straight up violent crime statistics per X population, it's New Orleans. And I love New Orleans. 😕

Just for laughs I just did some quick math on a typical Caribbean balcony cruise with 2 guests. (NCL Encore / Nov 2022.) Basic balcony, plus taxes and fees, plus drink package and dinner package gratuities, plus daily gratuity charge on two people = $3390 for 7 days, or about $484 / day. On Virgin, similar cruise in Oct 2022, balcony for two people = $2295 for 5 days, or $268 / day. That's leaving aside all the other stuff that's included on Virgin (wifi, soda, all gratuities, etc). So I guess it's a matter of whether you spend that $200+ extra per day on alcohol. Which I realize some people definitely do. (I don't drink so I'm not sure, but I think you can pre-pay your Virgin bar tab for like $300 and get an extra $100 off.)

As others have mentioned, Gunbae is a group table thing. I was on last week and solo (which I prefer), and my experience was: Extra Virgin = I was at my own small table, close enough that I could have chatted with a nearby table, but not claustrophobically so. Pink Agave = this was long communal benches but with separate tables. I was very close to the parties next to me, and did end up chatting with one party about their desserts. 🙂 The Wake = they put me in a small rounded booth, pretty secluded from other diners. (I think the booth would have made a nice romantic table for two.) Razzle Dazzle = I was at a long bench like Pink Agave, but I don't remember the tables being quite as close together.

Disclaimer: I know the ultimate answer is to call Virgin, I've just gotten conflicting info on another source (and from Virgin). Has anyone been able to use promotional OBC to pre-book an excursion? A friend of mine (who is new to cruising) has $300 OBC (which appears on her sailing/account) because I booked our upcoming cruises onboard and got the promo loot. She is worried about a particular excursion selling out and wants to pre-book it, using OBC. I was told elsewhere that this was possible if you call Virgin directly, but when my friend called they told her it wouldn't be possible, that OBC could only be used once you're literally onboard. I myself don't normally do ship excursions, and rarely have any OBC when I've sailed other lines, so I have no clue how it works for Virgin or anyone else. 🙂 Again, only posting here because people on another site told me they'd been able to do it. Just trying to decide between 'call and try another rep' or pay out of pocket. It's not the end of the world either way. Thanks!