CruisingWalter

Me too! I do my best to attend the Captain's or First Officer presentation on each ship. Especially since the ship tours have become so ridiculously expensive. I'm planning to sail Ascent when Captain D is in charge just to see what he's presenting now. And he participated in multiple evening events, simply the funniest captain we've ever sailed with. We happened to be sailing with him about a year or two after the Costa Concordia disaster and he did not mince words at all. It was the one point in his Captain's presentation where he almost became visibly angry with the captain of that ship. It honestly made me feel better about sailing with him. I really do wish VV would offer some Captain's presentation, meet and greet or something like that beyond the pay to play ship tour. 🙂

It's super easy to rent a scooter for cruises and they are delivered either to the cruise terminal or directly to your cabin during embarkation. I'm not sure what the rentals are in New York, but here in Florida it's about $125 - $150 for the week. At the end of your cruise you either leave it in your stateroom or in the terminal. Could be a lot easier than driving down a scooter and then loading it back up at the end of your cruise. One thing I'll add is that Ocean Cay Marine Reserve is super friendly for scooters. Wide concrete paths allow you to go most anywhere on the island easily. I think it's the most scooter friendly private island I've seen from any cruise line.

Actually I would recommend Celebrity and Princess before those two cruise lines in Europe. Some amazing itineraries. 🙂

That is one of the things about MSC that really intrigues me and it seems like it creates more headaches than it needs to for the crews. But as other folks have attested to here in this thread, it seems the MSC experience in the Med is a whole other level than the Caribbean experience. We enjoyed our first cruise on MSC Seaside a few weeks ago, but it would not rank up there as one of the best cruises from the 9 lines we've sailed so far. It was a good cruise, but not to the level folks are describing from their Med experiences. I am intrigued to try MSC in the Med when we get over there. My first choices for Med sailings are Celebrity and Princess, but now I might have to add MSC to the list.

Cruise Mapper is the way to go for this as VV has eschewed all traditional maritime things that go with cruising like the Bridge Cam, Navigation Maps and a presentation from the Captain. I too enjoy those captain presentation and to this day still remember Captain Dimitri's hilarious 1 hour "How the Ship Works" while on Celebrity Sihouette. He's one of the two brothers that will be launching the new Ascent, still my favorite captain to date. Cruise Mapper literally shows you every ship out there and you can simply search for your ship. It shows where the ships are and the routes in real time. At home use the website, onboard use the app. On our cruise a few weeks ago on MSC Seaside I noticed we made a HUGE turn in the morning. The sun went from the back of the ship to the front in minutes. I knew something was up with our itinerary and cruise mapper showed that we veered off course towards Key West. A passenger had cardiac emergency and we altered course to drop him off in Key West. Here's two images from just now. Valiant Lady is docked in Cannes and in the second image, that's the Marella Discovery. That's where she is and the route that she is on from her homeport in Port Canaveral. Once you know the color codes for the cruise lines, it's fun to just start clicking on the ships to see who they are and where they're going. 🙂

That's a shame because we consider the Bimini Beach Club to be the best cruise resort out there of the 9 cruise lines we've sailed. Softest sand, beautiful pools and just stunning. The lack of good food shouldn't stop you from going to the resort for the morning, enjoying a lovely time at the beach and then head back to the ship for lunch. That's what we did on our first visit to the island, we only stayed at the Beach Club till about 1. Headed back to the ship for lunch in The Galley and stayed onboard and enjoyed the empty pool for the afternoon.

I will agree with that. Our first time at Bimini in 2022 it was awful. This past April it was improved but still not nearly as good as what they serve onboard.

That's the best plan for any dining experience on a ship. Try what they're offering and if it doesn't work out, you have The Galley and the Pizza Place as very good alternatives on VV. 🙂

Just to add to what others have said, You can do walkup at the restaurants, but if you try to do that during 'prime time' you could have a long wait. Getting the reservation ensures you'll have a table waiting for you around a specific time. The $300 included bar tab should be enough for you for a shorter cruise on Scarlet. Prices are very reasonable and all pricing includes the gratuities, so there's no additional markup when you buy a drink. Unless you really plan to drink a lot while onboard you may or may not get value out of an additional $300 bar tab for your cabin. Most folks will make out better letting the bar tab run out and then pay ala carte for any additional drinks, vs. the extra $300 bar tab purchase. Another tip for when you first get on board is to reserve any shows you definitely want to see. You can do that as soon as you get onboard via the app. We've sailed Scarlet twice so far and will be sailing Valiant for Thanksgiving. Our 'go-to' spot as soon as we drop our luggage in the cabin is The Dock on Deck 7 for some tapas. And if there are any meat and cheese platters in the "Grab N Go" cooler to the left as you walk out to the Dock I'll grab one of those too. Great way to start the cruise. The pool area is quite small for a ship this large and the loungers will fill up quickly. A great alternative to sitting out on the upper decks all day are the 'porches' on either side of Deck 7 mid-ship. I have no idea what they're actually called, but I call them porches. They are big open deck areas between the lifeboats mid-ship and you can walk directly out there from the Roundabout. They're usually pretty quiet during the day and you have the option to sit out in the sun or shade depending on which side of the ship you go out on. The best part (for me) is that you're just steps away from Lick Me Till Ice Scream and the Grounds Club. 🙂

You can book your new cruise with the credit, that's what it's used for. Not onboard. We received a 200% FVC when our original cruise was cancelled due to the pandemic. We upgraded from a Sea Terrace to a Cheeky Corner Suite. 🙂

Absolutely they do and you need to add those in. But even with with add-ons, it's rare the drinks package still works in the guest's favor and that's what the cruise lines are banking on. Why do you think they are so popular? The cruise lines know that on average, far more people are giving away money than the cruise line giving away extra drinks. I've heard so many people say "I don't want to have to think about it on a cruise so I'd rather pay for the drinks in advance." To which my reply is "what is there to think about? You order a drink, you take the drink and enjoy." It's not like you have to do the math, add the taxes and make the drinks. The only difference between pre-paid and paid is that you're paying for the drinks as you go. Unscientifically from those whom we've met or sailed with on cruises, there are less than 10% that I've met where the drinks work in their favor unless they're on NCL. At $153/week pp with the "Free at Sea" program, most everyone is going to come out ahead on that deal.

This is true of every cruise line. The drinks package rarely works out well for anyone unless they drink quite a few cocktails, wine and coffees per day. I always tell folks to 'do the math' because we saved over $500 on the Carnival Mardi Gras going without a drinks package and in the neighborhood of $400+ on MSC Seaside by going without a drinks package. Most folks are just giving away money to the cruise lines with drinks packages. Cool calculator, I'll have to look for that. 🙂

Yep that's me, glad the videos were helpful. So many people have mentioned the menus since the first video I make sure to keep doing them now. 🙂 What's really ironic is the coffee they brought to our cabin as part of room service was fantastic. Maybe that's brewed in small batches but that coffee was very good. And yes that buffet coffee is terrible.

On Princess you order from the app and they bring it to you. They can locate us anywhere on the ship to deliver drinks or food with the Ocean Medallion wearables. I LOVE it. 🙂

Brand new ship with a better system in place from the get-go I would imagine. I'm still at a loss as to why they don't simply put the menus on the app and just have us order from there. Just enter your table number, enter the items and wait for delivery. Would cut down on the need for so many staff just to take orders.

We've only had Carlos both times on Scarlet Lady and LOVE LOVE LOVE. We even inadvertently had dinner with Carlos in Gunbae and didn't realize it. It was when she started to sing the next night I recognized the voice. I think it was cooler we didn't know who we were eating with.

Actually it was always intended for server style, it was in the original marketing. The tableside service was another way Virgin was 'elevating' the old buffet so guests would not have to stand in line and wait for their food. Where they got it wrong was the ordering process. They fully expected a single person to take orders from a group of tables and then deliver those orders. The servers were overwhelmed during peak times and the system completely fell apart to where we were waiting over 15 minutes just to flag down a server and then another 30 to get the food. If you look at the Indulge Food Hall on NCL Prima / Viva they got it right from the start. Touch pad ordering from your table and the servers simply bring you the food. Now The Galley (at least on Scarlet) has the service problem mostly fixed. Dedicated servers take the order then expediters bring your order from the stations. We had speedy service during our April sailing on Scarlet.

You got a better duck than I did. I avoided that dish on our second sailing and had a much better meal. 🙂 Do dinner on your next sailing and get the Butter Chicken. That was easily the best meal of our second sailing on Scarlet. I'm looking forward to that restaurant again for our November Valiant sailing. The Wake was much better in July 22 than it was this past April. Not sure what has happened to that restaurant, but consistently we're seeing lower ratings for that restaurant this year than we did in 2022. We did not enjoy it nearly as much this year and honestly would not do dinner again, maybe just brunch. That's because you ordered the wrong burger, 🙂 next time try the French Toast Breakfast Burger. It's ridiculous. Especially if you add some syrup. It does a lot of damage, but it's awesome. But I totally agree, the burgers are too bland to eat by themselves. On The Galley service, we were completely impressed this past April by the remarkable change from our horrible service back in July 2022. Our orders were taken promptly both times we did breakfast. Food arrived within 10 minutes of ordering. On that coffee, sheesh it is terrible. Only Princess syrup coffee on their older ships is worse. I was actually shocked on the MSC Seaside last week that they had decent buffet coffee. Overall your assessment is pretty spot on. Though I give the pizza an A and put it only behind Princess for the best pizza at sea. MSC's was good and had the best red sauce, but I find the Princess pizza better overall with Pizza Place right behind. Glad you had a great time.

Not a fan of hot tubs in that area or anywhere on deck 7. It's great the way it is. Where a new water feature should go is to replace the net and surrounding areas. That's a complete waste of space up there, literally a ghost town all week other than the PJ party. The NCL Haven on the Prima / Viva have the blueprint for how to change that space. The net sounded cool when it was first designed but it's the most uncomfortable thing ever to sit on other than to take a selfie. Replace that with a pool and that will completely spread out people across Deck 16 instead of jammed into two mini pools during sea days.

The building on the port side is used for preparing the grilled tapas. Both times I've been on Scarlet there has been a chef out there cooking up the skewered meats. The building on the starboard side I never saw in use other than a guitar player from time to time.

Just do what I did, walk down the center on that steel support beam. 😄

We tried but the line was usually far too long so we skipped it. The cookies were out from time to time at the dessert station too.

That would have been nice except Biscayne Bay was only open for breakfast on our sailing. 8a - 12noon. Maybe 7a on some days. I could not figure out why it wasn't open for lunch. Again, an annoyance, not a deal breaker. 🙂

Please let me know if they fixed it. You may not have noticed it in the photo I posted, but the shattered floor panel is in that photo of the Infinity Bridge on the Starboard side. I noticed it when I was taking pictures of the Allure of the Seas next to us in Costa Maya. Have an amazing cruise!!

I have to say the ride up on Deck 15 was incredibly smooth much smoother than I expected. Very little movement or sway evident up there. We were 15070 more forward than mid on the starboard side. Yes being higher is an asset on debarkation morning since there's only one passenger deck above you. One thing I'll say about debarkation, the schedule listed 8am as the start of debarkation. When we took the elevator down to Deck 6 at 7:10am to wait for Express Walk Off, they were already debarking passengers. No announcement was made over the ship's systems. Our guess is they were trying to 'quietly' get the Express Walk Off process started before the hoards showed up. If you plan to Express Walk Off expect that process will start somewhere around 7am and most likely without an announcement. It was glorious walking off the ship at 7:10 and getting home to Orlando at 8:35 even with a grocery stop thrown in on the way. 🙂