CruisingWalter

We're on MSC Seashore at the moment and we've noticed some things are going missing from the buffet each night. It's either suppliers are low or they're just all cutting back on the amount of product they used to order. It's the way of the cruise industry right now. HAL has been a great cruise line that we've sailed in the past and may be on a Panama Canal cruise in 2025. With such limited itineraries from VV, you either go on other cruise lines or you do the same old, same old every cruise. That would be too boring for me. I love VV and it's great to 'come home' to the cruise line, but there are way too many ships and itineraries out there I want to try. We just manage our expectations for each cruise and cruise line. 

That being said if any of y'all are going to be on the January 6 Scarlet Lady sailing, I'll see you onboard! 

17 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

It's going to be interesting if their claims of "sailing full" actually become true. The vast majority of their European offerings were less than half full this last summer.

The Caribbean has continued to sell well. Our Thanksgiving on Valiant was sold out months earlier. But you're right that many ships are not even close to selling out even as we get close to sail dates. Raising the prices this much while also holding back the Brilliant Lady, which by some accounts is ready to go, is an interesting move. Essentially lowering the inventory and trying to make it up by raising the pricing. 

Are the prices too high? That's up to the market to decide. Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas recently opened their booking and interiors for some sailings start at over $6000 for 2. That princely sum gets you a cabin. Nothing more. 🙂

This can happen if you have two Sailor IDs which many people have. An ID is created when you book your first cruise but some people don't realize that and create a second one. Or they created one before their first cruise and don't tell their TA or Sailor Services agent. That can and does create problems logging in sometimes.  You can ask your TA or Sailor Services if you do have two IDs and ask for them to be merged.  Usually takes 24 - 48 hours. 

On 12/13/2023 at 1:35 PM, jinpasco said:

Could we get more insight on the Kaito Sushi experience. You said it was a blast. 

Sorry for the delay in getting back on here. It's been a working trip for me and it's been busier than expected. 🙂 

Kaito Sushi works in two ways, you can pay $39 for all you can eat in 45 minutes. The servers made it clear that 45 minute limit doesn't apply, we could have sat there for 2 hours according to them. 

Or you pay ala carte per dish. Each dish is color coded and the colors correspond to an individual price. At the end of the meal the servers just tally up the dishes and that's your cost. 

We did the $39 flat charge and spent a little less than an hour there. The concept is simple, the dishes go by on a conveyor system and when you see something, you just grab it. There was a combination of rolls, nigiri and other items in the dishes. It was fun to interact with the servers and just grab whatever we wanted off the line. Some ship's officers were dining on the other side of our conveyor and we interacted with them a little as well.

Overall a fun concept to grab whatever you feel like eating. The dishes are very small and I want to say we had maybe 8 or 10 dishes each over the hour. I'll have a new food review going up on YouTube hopefully in a week after we're home, the Sushi will definitely be in there! 

On 12/14/2023 at 9:10 PM, singleflyer said:

Wow, is this correct?

 

So by doing MNVV, you actually get NO discount off the fare?  

 

I'm paid $300 while on board for my MNVV.  So I don't get any discount on the cruise fare?  It is just a $300 deposit with $600 Sailor Loot?

 

So the only benefit of MNVV is $600 Sailor Loot?

Completely incorrect.

$300 down on the ship goes towards your 20% deposit. You will still have the pay the balance of your deposit when you book the cruise.

$300 off the cruise fare

$600 Sailor Loot.

BUT the MNVV is going to change by the end of January. No clue what the changes will be but we expect the $600 Sailor Loot is going to be reduced. 

7 hours ago, KennyFla said:

What is you general feeling of how things are going:   Positive or negative?

We came onboard on the 10th for 7 nights in a deluxe balcony. I have to say compared to our Seaside sailing in May, the crew is less responsive, totally avoids eye contact at all times unless absolutely necessary. 🙂 The buffet is better on Seashore though the chokepoints are terrible. Large ships from other cruise lines have much more wide open buffets to help mitigate those lines that cut off the flow of traffic. Seaside had similar chokepoints, but these seem worse, possibly because there are more people on this ship. 

Our Deluxe Balcony cabin with the extended cabin and extended balcony is amazing. Reminds me of a Junior Suite on Royal Caribbean but without even near the Royal price tag. 

Venchi was much better on Seaside, especially the Affogato. Cocktails were better on Seaside. Ship is lovely though and while it was blustery at Ocean Cay for a day and a half, it's still my favorite cruise private island. 

The MDR was a mixed bag tonight, but they usually are. Kaito Sushi was a blast.  Very interesting Italian Magician last night but he was doing a lot of close-up magic with no video support. The entire back wall of the theater is a video wall, but they never put a camera on him so we could clearly see what he was doing. 

For what we paid, the cruise is still an excellent value. If MSC put as much thought into customer service and crew training as they do in building ships, they could be a really strong North American contender. They build amazing ships and you can't argue with the price, but micromanaging from Italy and providing less than attentive customer service does stand out next to comparable cruise lines. Supposedly in the coming year the North American operation is going to have more control and management of the "American product" to be more responsive.  Here's hoping that happens, we'll be back to try the YC for the next sailing. 

As others have mentioned, Deck 7 on either side of the Roundabout is a lovely spot to hang out during the day, the ship itself will provide shade to one side.

Up next to the pool there are triangular padded seats that have full shade, though they are not the most comfortable thing to sit on. 

You could also rent the overpriced cabanas on the side of the ship which will give you shade for the most part until the sun comes in that side of the ship. 

15 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There have been some titneraries posted on social media--# of nights, list of ports posted by travel professionals without prices or dates.

Dates are known, prices will not be released until Dec 14th according to our TA. 

19 hours ago, heatherbelle said:

The port schedule for Amsterdam is showing both Brilliant Lady and Scarlet Lady there in August 25. Brilliant Lady is showing from May 25 as being in Amsterdam.  Scarlet first appears in August, on different dates.

 

According to elsewhere, their ships are also going to Iceland, Istanbul, Norway to name but a few of their destinations and longer cruises too.  We will see on the 14th.

Would not be surprising since port slots are purchased years in advance. The Brilliant Lady was also on port schedules for 2024, and she still may appear on some schedules.  Just because you see something on a port schedule in 2025 doesn't necessarily mean anything. When you see it posted for sale, then it's probably going to happen. Though with VV you never know.....

On 12/11/2023 at 5:58 AM, CruiseLoverFromNorCal said:

Thanks so much for the heads up on this, Walter. I surely hope west coast itineraries will happen!

Early indications are Brilliant Lady is pushed back to 2025. No West Coast itineraries in what has been released by TAs. Apparently VV released the schedules to TAs today so they could start alerting their sailors. 

Thanks for the great insight from this sailing. We're on Seashore for 7 nights starting this Sunday Dec 10. That interior was quite spacious, reminded us a bit of our Sky Princess interior that was equally large. 

That Single Device WiFi plan is maddening. Every other cruise line allows us to switch devices by signing out, wish MSC would do the same. I always have to purchase the 2 device high speed plan to have my laptop and phone online. 

MDR looks even better than our Seaside experience earlier this year, looking forward to trying that out. Thanks again for all your great insight! 

On 12/3/2023 at 11:21 AM, dream2cruise said:

Folks using onsite parking were in a long line as garage opened at 11 for those boarding today.

We always park at the port at Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and Port Miami. But we roll up about 2pm in Port Canaveral. There are usually about 3 or 4 other cars with us at that time. By the time we park and board the ship it's about 15 minutes. While we do enjoy getting on a ship early and we typically park at Everglades and Miami around 11, at Port Canaveral we prefer to come in later after the crowds have died down. 

14 hours ago, olemissreb said:

I'm looking at possibly booking a VV cruise for 2025. Can you change the room they assign you or choose your own?

Work with a travel agent or call VV directly. That's the only way to select a specific cabin. 

16 hours ago, raphael360 said:

Is it fried turkey or roasted turkey?  I'm on Scarlett next week.

It was a mix of the two. Each restaurant had their own take and fortunately they served it all week so we all had the opportunity to try them. I had the Test Kitchen and Razzle Dazzle versions, both were great.  They're only for Thanksgiving, they won't be out again until next year. I'm sure they'll have something for the Christmas and New Year's weeks as well. 

On 12/3/2023 at 10:44 PM, cantgetin said:

The food in most restaurants on VL in October/Nov 2023 was greatly improved from April/May 2023.  Servers told us that recipes had changed.  The only place we were less happy with was Razzle Dazzle with their new evening menu and no "secret steak."  No longer our favorite evening restaurant.

Oh man we had two great meals in Razzle Dazzle over Thanksgiving. I tried their "secret menu" blue cheese burger the first night and enjoyed that. Especially the absolutely ridiculously best dessert ever, the Pecan Toffee Roll. I've never had anything so delicious for dessert.  Then we did Thanksgiving Dinner in there and that was awesome. 

On 5/5/2023 at 9:01 PM, AdoraBelle said:

Is the port traffic jam/construction still happening at PoM? We had friends drop us off at terminal V on a Sunday in February, and it took us half an hour to travel the last half mile. I’d never seen anything like it in years of sailing out of Miami. 

When we sailed Scarlet Lady earlier in 2023 it literally took 90 minutes once we entered Port Miami to park our car next to Terminal V. We went the entire length of Port Miami 3 times in a serpentine pattern. It was awful.  Two weeks ago the traffic is still there, though not quite as bad. 

If you have an 11:35 am flight I would be off the ship at 7:30a or whenever they open up disembarkation to get out of the port before the traffic starts up. 

20 hours ago, greenenvy said:

Ooh! I’ll be on board Dec 14 - hoping for some good itineraries and prices! 

SWEET!  Get right down to the Get Lost Desk as soon as they open. I love those folks, if you're on Valiant Lady, I honestly can't remember the name of the female associate, but she likes a flat white with oat milk. I started dropping off coffees in the morning for everyone to try to use up our Bar Tab. 🤣

3 hours ago, tbmrt said:

Not a rockstar unfortunately....I get calling Sailor Services to help or your TA...Question is if we don't book shows, dinners the night before the window opens, will we usually be able to get Sailor Services to get us close to what we want the morning the window opens?

On our sold-out Valiant Lady cruise two weeks ago, there seemed to be little issue walking up to most any restaurant except The Wake after 8pm. And as noted above, there are a percentage of restaurant bookings held back until you board the ship. Once you're on Ship WiFi you can try again.  But honestly reaching out to your TA is the easiest way to get your restaurants booked. 

17 hours ago, Raiders4Life32 said:

Any ideas of what I could be doing wrong or is this par for the course for the Virgin Voyages app

The app is amazingly glitchy off the ship. It's slightly better on the ship.  If you're working with a TA just send them your list of restaurants and they can jump into your booking to make the reservations. One of the benefits of working with a good TA. 🙂 

17 hours ago, Cathy in Boston said:

Thanks for this info Walter.  I suspect my husband will set the alarm for 12:01am!

Might I suggest Intelligentsia Black Cat coffee beans? Man ever since I started having that on the ships, now I need to get some for the home. That is some good good coffee to keep you awake.  Though you may not see the new itineraries until closer to 8 or 9am ET, that's been their pattern in the past. But staying up from 12:01a to 9a looking at cruises is a good use of insomnia. 😄

Enjoy the cruise! We just did that itinerary for Thanksgiving last week. Was really nice to spend 8 nights on the ship instead of 5. The biggest surprise last week was the steak in Extra Virgin, the best on the ship and possibly the best steak I've had at sea.  Was disappointed to find that Bingo with the Diva was replaced with Bingo with the Happenings Cast. But we still got to see plenty of Carlos around the ship at other events. In San Juan there is an awesome food tour called Flavors of San Juan that's not only full of great food, but is a good tour of Old San Juan. Enjoy! 

4 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

I wonder if they will release details of the sailings that day, or put them on sale that day. Or both.

Supposedly going on sale that day. Dec 13 is the end of the current promotion and Dec 14 will be the start of the next promotion. My TA said they were told to be ready because some itineraries may go fast. 🙂

6 hours ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I'm keep hoping for 2025 to pop up.

I just posted a new topic. Summer 2025 coming Dec 14. Happy Holidays to us! 🙂

1 hour ago, babalooo said:

Thanks for this! I wouldn't have considered the steak at an Italian place but now I am definitely ordering this. I was told the steak at Pink Agave was a must eat and IT WAS. So I will now try this at Extra Virgin and get my fish at the steakhouse! 😄 

I hope it's as good for you as it was for us. 🙂

Hey all, just heard from my TA that VV will be releasing the new Summer 2025 Itineraries on Dec. 14 along with whatever the new offer is going to be. They were told there are some brand new itineraries with new destinations coming as well, so hopefully this means we'll know more about Brilliant Lady on that date too. My biggest question, will they send Brilliant Lady through the Panama Canal in 2025 or wait till 2026?  Gonna be an interesting morning on Dec 14!