CruisingWalter

The CDC declared the national emergency over as of May 11, 2023. There is no legal requirement for social distancing or any other protective measures beyond what the cruise lines already do. You're sailing with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers along with those who have not kept up with their boosters. You're right back to where cruising was before the pandemic. What you're describing is not shocking or different in any way to our almost 20 years of cruising. If you cruise you accept that there is a risk you may get sick due to crowding or unsanitary practices of any number of guests. It's no different than flying or taking a land based vacation. We took 6 cruises over 3 months to end 2023 into 2024. The only thing we got was a cold on our very last cruise in January. We stay up to date on the boosters, we do the best we can with sanitizers and such on board. But cruising is back to normal and has been for some time.

It's YUGE compared to the pools and vibe at the Bimini Beach Club. It's more of a destination than Bimini with all the food stalls, multiple bars and that massive, massive pool. That dual level bar is 'next level' if you will. If you really enjoy good music and a party vibe, you should like the pool. No floaties like Bimini, but it's a great pool. We were not there long enough to see if the DJ gets any sort of a party vibe going but it would not surprise me. The beach is fully man made with a private lagoon so it's a very protected water area. The cabanas are MUCH better at Hideaway than those twigs at Bimini. 🙂 The standard cabanas are close to the main pool while the swim up cabanas are further away. Two completely different spaces, you're going to like Hideaway more for some things but you'll like Bimini Beach more more for other things. I would definitely give Hideaway a shot and see what you think. Thanks for the kind words!

Independent travel agents should be able to book most any cruise. If you're talking about one of those vacation specialists from the actual cruise line, no they will not be able to book Royal Caribbean cruises.

Whether it's 'lit' or not is up to you. The setting is there, the DJ is there. It's up to you whether you want to be chill or party. When we were there the pool was heated which was great on a very chilly day.

That has been typical of many of my friends and colleagues from the UK. I personally really enjoy following his exploits and he was the reason we booked a VV cruise the very first week they went on sale. I've thought about booking one of the Celebration cruises because some friends were on last year's cruise and said it was an absolute blast.

As noted above, it will be like Miami because you are going through U.S. Customs just like Miami. Your letter in the cabin will tell you where to meet and you'll be escorted off the ship as a group and when the ship is ready, you'll be the first to board the ship. If you have the same cabin, you'll leave everything in your room.

We were disappointed by shore excursions group in the past. We started using venture ashore recently and we book independently. In four cruises with VV so far we have yet to book a Shore Thing because they are rather limited. Anything we have booked on a VV cruise has been independent.

I will say that on our Scarlet Lady cruise in January (our 4th on VV) there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the crew throughout the ship. We spent 8 nights on the Valiant Lady in November and that crew was your normal VV, attentive and outgoing crew. The Scarlet crew was less responsive and less engaging at many of the public facing locations like The Galley and The Grounds Club. Our room attendant was pleasant, but the service throughout the ship was not as 'elevated' as we had received on our first 3 sailings. Maybe because it was a 4 day sailing, but the crew was noticeably on their phones much more, looking up to do the minimum and right back to their phones. Gathering in groups to chat around The Grounds Club, Social Club Diner and food stations in The Galley giving minimal attention to the guests. It was very noticeable and different from our previous experiences on VV. VV used to have some of the best crew in the industry because they were among the highest paid. I don't know if that pay scale has remained, but it used to be well known that VV's crews were among the highest paid in the mainstream cruise industry. At least on that Scarlet 4 nighter, they didn't deliver the usual VV service. I'll be curious to see what it's like on Valiant in June with our very large group for 4 nights.

Nope, no perks. People have been posting "Live From" across every cruise line since I joined CC.

According to VV Rep Tamika on our YouTube live last week, a new loyalty program will be announced soon. I know we've all heard that before, but it seemed from the conversation that the plan is already set, it just needs to be rolled out. We honestly didn't discuss if that included Status Match, but some sort of a permanent loyalty program will be coming soon. I would not be surprised to see the Status Match go away since MSC is the only other mainstream cruise line that does it, if you want to build loyalty in your brand, you want people to sail your own ships. Of course when you raise your cruise fares by 2 - 4x that can a bit a tough. If you already have DBEs you should maintain those through the end of 2024.

Fact from a VV rep.

That depends on the travel insurance policy and when the policy was purchased. For example Allianz Travel recognized the Israel-Hamas Armed Conflict as of October 7, 2023. Polices that became effective after that date do not cover any changes due to that conflict. At the moment, there is nothing on their website regarding the Red Sea tensions so something like this diversion should be covered. But you would have to check with the individual policy and individual insurance carrier to confirm.

Nice job. It's really hard to compare VV with just about everyone else because it's so different, but you did a great job laying out your experience and the contrasts. I love VV, but then I also love cruising. We've been on 10 cruise lines (so far) and have yet to have a bad cruise. We're really excited about our NCL Aqua cruise next springs, looking forward to the AquaCoaster! Glad you enjoyed your sailing on VV and happy cruising! 🙂

You can get an assigned balcony as a solo unless all of the categories are closed for solos. Did you work with a TA or just booked it yourself? Working with a TA, they have ways around the 'no solo cabins' available issues. 🙂

That's pretty standard across the entire industry. The difference between GTY and a true guaranteed stateroom is usually a few hundred to $500 or more. You're not going to find it much better on other cruise lines. I never ever ever purchase GTY nor do I recommend it to my friends. I want to know where my cabin is going to be, not leave it up to the luck of the draw or possibly not even have a cabin on the ship.

Don't expect VV to cover any other travel expenses unless you purchased their Voyage Protection and your other travel expenses were booked through VV. That's what independent Travel Insurance is for. The cruise has been altered due to unsafe conditions for travel in a select area which all cruise lines have the right to do per the cruise contract. The cruise is not cancelled entirely.

If you were impacted by the changes, then you should have the email. It was sent to all Sailors on the impacted sailings.

It should also be noted that none of those three new itineraries will be offered to the general public. Only those impacted by the changes can rebook on one of those. Some of those ports are not well equipped to handle big ships so a less than sold out ship is apparently preferred.

YAAAAAASSSS! I made the Surf and Turf burger when we were on the Sirena for the Holidays. I much prefered it to the original version. Maybe someone was watching when I did it. Love this new menu!

It's all due to Brilliant Lady and a potential itinerary shakeup coming as a result of the new ship. We just finished a long YouTube live with Tamika from VV and she confirmed that VV is taking delivery of Brilliant very soon, as in the next few months. But we will not see any itineraries from her until later in 2025. We'll most likely learn the fate of those AUS sailings in the next few months, maybe not till summer.

Definitely in the Social Club. They had all the Thanksgiving games on Valiant when we were on last November. Possibly the Red Room since it's a major sporting event.

This morning on our YouTube Live, VV rep Tamika said a new loyalty program is rolling out soon. Possibly within the next few months. That's why the Status Match has been paused for the time being. No word on what it will entail, but her answer was in response to a question posed by a viewer, so that's cool. Looking forward to a proper loyalty program and very curious to see what it entails.

I really don't see any problem with that. We've sailed 10 different cruise lines (so far) and we pick the cruise ship based on our vacation needs for that particular cruise. All of cruising is white hot right now so complaining about the high costs of any cruise line today is moot because until the demand cools off, pricing is going to be fixed for a while. If the current slate of Royal Caribbean pricing is too high for you look at Carnival and NCL, especially their newer ships. Beautiful ships, great service and fun. If you're looking for more overall value for your dollar, look at Oceania. Nearly all-inclusive with amazing cuisine and service. We sailed them for the first time over the holidays and are already signed up for a group cruise to Alaska in 2025. 650 to 1250 passengers onboard, a totally different way of cruising. Or look at Princess. Their Princess Plus/Premier packages are the best add-on values in cruising today. So may cruise lines, over 300 cruise ships to choose from. Work with a good TA and find a good cruise vacation that works best for you. Whether that's Royal or any other cruise line.

Nope, he was everywhere on the ship. No clue why they pulled him from the Bingo, but he pretty much did everything but.

In our case it was a lot of events with Carlos the Diva. They dropped Bingo with the Diva, kept moving the times around for the rest of the week. Games and events at the Social Club kept popping up and disappearing. I kind of gave up planning anything in advance until the day of to see what the schedule was actually going to be.