CruisingWalter

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! 

On 11/28/2023 at 10:28 AM, 20165 said:

When i read reviews from others that were on the same cruise we were on in the yacht club, it was night and day different than what we experienced.  

thoughts?

Having sailed MSC once (will be twice in a few weeks) and Celebrity 4 times so far, I would honestly take the Apex.

Food experience throughout the ship will be better. MDR and Buffet are both superior on Celebrity. Service will be more responsive on Celebrity because they don't have to reach out to Italy for all customer service issues. While the staff on MSC are good and pleasant, the Celebrity staff has been outstanding and over the top with their service and friendliness on all our cruises.

We have not done YC and are not doing it on our upcoming Seashore cruise because we find the rest of the ship to be just fine. Especially the pools. Those huge, deep pools on MSC are lovely. We go into MSC knowing what we're getting. It's a good value for the dollar, but not the best service or food. The ships are lovely but the overall management of them leaves much to be desired.

However when putting any MSC ship against the Celebrity Apex (or really any Celebrity ship) you'll find that the overall experience, service and food will be better on Celebrity most times. And if Virgin Voyages has a similar itinerary at the same timeframe, and everyone in your party is 18+, I would add that cruise line to the mix. That's basically like having the Suite experience throughout the ship. We just came off a sold-out, 8-night sailing on Valiant Lady and it never once felt like the ship was sold out. Being nearly all-inclusive, it's one of the most relaxing and stress-free cruise lines out there. 

1 hour ago, babalooo said:

Unfortunately, the BF/Cyber deal is only for cruises in 2024 and I plan to book one in 2025.

And we're still stuck waiting on the rest of 2025 until the Brilliant Lady is announced. That's getting a little frustrating while other cruise lines are posted into 2026 already.

We just heard from our TA that from Dec 1 - 13 the offer from VV is going to be 20% off and up to $600 Bar Tab for 2024 sailings. After that, the Bar Tab offer is expected to be reduced as the cruise industry rolls into WAVE season. They didn't know what the bar tab offer was going to change to.  Looks like today is the last day to score the 30% savings.

On 11/25/2023 at 12:22 PM, nielgirl said:

Is that the norm you’ve experienced travelling on MSC (not Yacht Club)?

Not even close. We sailed Seaside with a nearly full ship and it was more or less the same as sailing every other line. As someone who spent over 30 years in video, film and marketing, creative editing can tell any story you want the video to tell. And with YouTube, negativity drives clicks, views and ultimately money to the content creators. 

We're booked on Seashore in two weeks and I expect a busy ship. MSC is not as organized and tightly run as Royal Caribbean, NCL or some of the other lines, but it's not chaotic either. Every ship and every cruise line has their own vibe and some sailings are smoother than others. But I would not hesitate to recommend MSC to folks with the caveat that MSC is its own cruise line. You're spending less so don't expect the same caliber of service and entertainment as other cruise lines. But they are lovely ships with a pretty darn good crew and awesome pools. 

21 hours ago, rj59 said:

I just booked a couple of back-to-back ones for the Cyber Monday deals, and it wasn't offered--maybe because it's already considered a deal?

Again, the Pay In Full Promotion is dead. It ended on November 22. All bookings made after November 22 do not have that option any longer. The Bar Tab offer will be the next thing to change somewhere around Mid December or January. 

42 minutes ago, bbelle59 said:

We just booked 4 cabins back to back sailings for July 2024 and our travel agent said the 10% PIF discount promo ended.   Are you saying that it is still valid?   We booked on 11/26.   Should I have our TA call back?   Obviously this would be a substantial savings that we were actually expecting when we booked and were somewhat mad that the promo disappeared. 

The PIF discount is ONLY available to bookings made on or before November 22, 2023. Anything booked after that, the promo is currently dead. 

20 hours ago, little britain said:

You get 10% discount on existing bookings, if you pay in full by 180 days out. In writing.

Yep and the only difference is, if you're working with a TA, they can no longer apply the promotion directly. They will have to call in to VV to have the promotion applied. 

15 minutes ago, raphael360 said:

@cruisingwalter - I got so excited to eat in Extra Virgin after reading your review that I immediately jumped onto the VV app and tried to book it for my upcoming cruise in December. But sadly, Extra Virgin has no availability left for my 4-day cruise.  I will have to put my begging knee pads on when I board and try to bag 'at least a seat at the bar' seat. Maybe a noisy seat in the kitchen. I admit there are a few things in this world worth begging for and a good steak is one of them.

 

I love your new picture by the way 🙂

 

On our cruise, it was no problem getting walk up service at any of the restaurants a little later in the evening. And keep in mind that there is always at least about 40% availability held back from the early reservations. So check in on reservations as soon as you get onboard. And as always, remember that your meal will wholly depend on the culinary team that evening.  We had a pattern of the burger and fries coming out cold in Razzle Dazzle throughout the week, but send it back and get a new order and all was well. So hopefully your culinary team will be as on point as ours was that evening. 

And thanks for the kind comments. I was floating in Bimini with the Scarlet Lady over my left shoulder, way off in the background. 🙂 

21 hours ago, kasey68 said:

Thanks for that info. To be clear, I don’t care about my phone. I actually want to be able to sit at my work computer and put in a few hours of work each day. If I can’t do that with a VPN then it won’t be possible. The phone thing doesn’t matter to me. 

With the WiFi, download was fine, upload was really slow and we think that's why the voice did not work on outgoing. Even trying to use audio only apps from the computer. Keep in mind this was a Caribbean cruise where the WiFi is the best coverage for ships at the moment. The speeds really slowed down when we were in port as well. At sea the speeds were better. 

21 hours ago, kasey68 said:

Thanks for that info. To be clear, I don’t care about my phone. I actually want to be able to sit at my work computer and put in a few hours of work each day. If I can’t do that with a VPN then it won’t be possible. The phone thing doesn’t matter to me. 

With the WiFi, download was fine, upload was really slow and we think that's why the voice did not work on outgoing. Even trying to use audio only apps from the computer. Keep in mind this was a Caribbean cruise where the WiFi is the best coverage for ships at the moment. The speeds really slowed down when we were in port as well. At sea the speeds were better. 

9 hours ago, cantgetin said:

He said that he will not be on Scarlet in April...I asked.  He also said that you can see his schedule if you look him up under "A Woman Named Carlos: (or it might have been "called" rather than "named,:

And if you want to be able to spot his alter ego on the ship, follow him on TikTok. Such an amazing performer and so gracious. He remembered us during the Cabaret show and our amazing dinner we all had together the last time we sailed Scarlet. 

18 hours ago, warmwinds said:

We have a lot of loot to use up and were thinking of getting the Tomahawk in the Wake - ribeye is our favorite.  Any comments?

On our first VV cruise it was amazing in the Wake. We have the footage of it in our food review. 🙂

6 minutes ago, Swells1 said:

My alarm is set for tomorrow (Tuesday) night to make my reservations. I'm getting so excited for this trip!!

YAAAAASSSSSS!!!!  Must eats are Pink Agave and Razzle Dazzle and now I have to add Extra Virgin to that list.  The Wake for Brunch is still excellent.  I think my favorite part of the week was that each restaurant had their own spin on Thanksgiving Dinner and they served it all week so you had a chance to try the different versions if you wanted to. I had the Thanksgiving Dinner in Razzle Dazzle and Test Kitchen. I really enjoyed both versions. 

If you're working with a TA they can go in to your booking and make the reservations for you. Can often be faster and less painful for you to let them do it. The app can be..... challenging.... when the reservations open. 🙂 

2 minutes ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

I did ask him about the PIF discount being discontinued.  He said he only found out about it about the same time the public found out, so the higher ups apparently kept that change very close to the vest.

Yes, TA's were given 6 hours notice and the Sailor Services were notified at the same time. It was a terrible way to roll that out giving TAs really no chance to reach out to their clients to give them one last chance to take advantage of the PIF discount.

My hope is that it returns, but you will have to actually Pay In Full at the time of booking which is how the plan was originally intended. But VV allowed TAs and Sailor Service to apply the discount at any time so long as we were 180 days out.  But bringing it back with PIF at the time of booking would be reasonable and would eliminate some of the accounting nightmares on the back end that apparently made the system a problem. 

On 11/21/2023 at 3:17 AM, happy cruzer said:

What about getting reservations for shows or classes?

 

Not getting into events/dining would be a substantial difference IMHO.

 

Thanks for the reports.

It was honestly no different than any other sailing. Popular classes fill up fast, many people are no-shows so you can just show up and probably get in. Dining reservations were not much different. No problem being a walk-up if you were willing to eat later in the evening. 

We were in a group of about 30 with many first time Virgins. Everyone remarked how it didn't feel like a sold out ship. The ship is much larger than it needs to be for 2770 passengers so you have a lot of public space to move around. And when you don't have 2000 people queuing up for one big dining room, the dining crowds are spread out throughout the ship. 

The most popular location on our 8 night sailing was the Social Club. That place was hopping all day and night with folks playing games, game challenges, Karaoke and more. It was incredible how many folks were just relaxing playing games and making new friends. 

On 11/22/2023 at 8:27 AM, JustinLexapro said:

Happy to report we finally got through to someone helpful. It wasnt the multiple phonecalls, emails, or tweets. It was Facebook messenger! We're now in 14326A which seems like it'll be alot quieter! Next time definitely using a travel agent! Thanks all for the feedback.

 

 

I'm always really cautious about Deck 14 due to the the pool and gyms being directly above on Deck 15. But it looks like you have the Fab Suite above you so your only concern will be if they have any late night parties happening in that suite. Massive and Fab Suites are definitely the 'party suites' onboard the Ladyships. As they should be with that much room, unlimited alcohol, and the amount of money you pay to be in them. 🙂 

For future reference, I go no higher than Deck 13 for our cabins just because of the gyms, pools and the fact that those big suites on Deck 15 can be loud into the wee hours of the morning on some sailings.  

If you are concerned about motion, stay on Decks 9 or 10. I prefer starting on Deck 10 so you're one more deck above the lifeboats giving a cleaner view out. But Deck 9 will also work and be as close to the midship elevators as possible. 

We had some really good 'motion of the ocean' for the first 2 days of our just completed 8 night Eastern Caribbean Antilles on Valiant Lady. It's the most motion I've felt on a Ladyship. 

Many of you know me from my food reviews on the various social channels and I was excited to have 8 whole nights on Valiant Lady to try everything. Our third VV cruise and first on VL.

The biggest surprise of the week, the steak in Extra Virgin. Like hands down, knock me off my chair surprised. We cruised with a dear friend of ours, whom many of you also know, with both of us being floored. It might be the best steak I've had at sea, it didn't even need the chili butter on top, but that took it to a whole other level. We also had the steak in Pink Agave and as expected it was a great. But this was even better. So if you're in the mood for a good steak, consider Extra Virgin and I would recommend the meatballs with their crispy bits of pancetta and the Oxtail pasta as your accompaniments. And of course finish with the Affogato. 🙂 

I'll be honest, we skipped The Wake for dinner because it was disappointing on our second Scarlet Lady cruise, but we did hear from friends onboard that it was a good experience on VL. 

Ditto to what is said above. PIF discount is gone for all new bookings, But you can still pay in full up to 180 days out from your sailing if you booked before November 22, 2023. VV is re-evaluating all pricing to come more in line with the nearly all-inclusive nature of sailing, MNVV might be changed to $300 Sailor Loot only or the same $300/$600 split as the Bar Tab. 

We just returned from 8 nights on the Valiant Lady.  AC was never turned off even when my wife was sleeping outside on the hammock. She was out there for hours at a time during the cruse and the A/C never turned off which was good since we were in the Caribbean for 8 nights. 🙂  She likes the room quite cold and it remained cold the entire time. Just be sure to close the door all the way tight so the A/C doesn't turn off. 

Just off VL and found the ship comfortable throughout except of course near areas where outer doors are opened often. There it can be a little warm and humid the Caribbean. Cabin temperatures can be like a icebox if you'd like it to be. 

15 hours ago, babalooo said:

What do people predict as far as Cyber Monday? Think it’s a (no) surprise “we are extending our Black Friday” deal? I am torn about booking by midnight tonight or if I have some more breathing room this week OR waiting until Wave season for whatever may be better than this meh deal considering they just raised all the prices last month over 30% before BF.

No surprise, Cyber Monday is the same deal as Black Friday. There are rarely any changes. It goes through November 30 according to the VV home page.