Swells1

8 hours ago, realnice46 said:

I don’t think any cruise line has free sodas. You either get a drink package or pay as you go. It always irks me that regular coffee free, but not sodas. I neither drink coffee or alcohol. I believe milk, coffee, tea and juices are free.

Sodas are free on Virgin.

Canada/ New England is my favorite itinerary! I can't wait to sail it on VV!! 

I've only sailed NCL and VV, so I can't speak to other lines. In my mind, that whole "no upselling" thing cannot be stressed enough. It's so nice to go to a show and not spend the first 15-20 minutes listening to the CD selling raffle tickets. How refreshing it is to not have to dodge photographers during dinner.

On Valiant Lady, my partner had a question for sailor services, and I just kinda' wondered around the area waiting for him. A rep from "Get Lost" (MVNN) asked me if I needed anything, and I asked him a random question that popped in my head. (I think it was about how full our sailing was.) He actually answered my question without trying to sell me anything!

That, in turn, made this the first time I've ever bought a future cruise credit.

1 minute ago, Rogueperson said:

 

i didnt get the sauce thingie i think.

Aw. Sorry. 

On 4/22/2024 at 3:03 PM, Rogueperson said:

I missed my crepe cake.

Ooh!! I can help!

Mine took about five days. (Also NCL.)

17 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

The hardest part of the muster when we were on the Jade was finding and getting to our muster station with a gimpy Mrs. Schmoopie following her broken leg. Other than that, no problem.

Oh, I can (partially) sympathize. I broke my ankle in three places a few months before my last cruise. I was juuust weight-bearing when we sailed. Send her my best wishes. 

Just now, ggTexasGal said:

Pre-cruise watch the video (maybe endless emails to watch it)!  Once onboard the ship, go to your Assembly Station (as shown on your key-card), check-in with person in green cap and vest.

Done!

Nice! Thank you.

I've only cruised with NCL once since the shutdown, and that was 2022. Can you share with me what the current safety drill situation looks like? I'm bringing on a new cruiser, and I'm trying to give her an idea of what to expect.

(We're on the Jade if it matters.)

2 hours ago, wiltsw said:

Sorry, if this is covered, but I am struggling to get my head round how, if at all, this affects us. 

 

We have a cruise booked for late august. (Our first VV cruise) 

We have status matched in, and they have added extra bar credit. 

 

My questions are : 

 

• What happens for our August cruise? Do we keep the credit / perks we have, or do we get the new flavour ? 
  • Would the perks then become per person rather than per room?
• What happens should we make a new booking? Would we get DBE? or something else?

 

 

I realise, of course, I am not asking VV, but it would be nice to have an idea of what we should expect. 

 

TIA 

 

Will

I got answers by submitting my proof of status match again- like I was submitting it for the first time. Within a week, I got an email from VV telling me I had DBE through 2025. Now I have written documentation if there are any questions. 

I firmly believe you can't have too much paperwork. 

8 hours ago, Alegeeter said:

When has DBE been showing up in your add ons? In my chat with VV yesterday the representative said "your DBE will be added closer to sailing" but in the past I've had it show immediately upon booking.

DBE is on mine now, and my next sailing is well over a year away.

11 hours ago, gsutiger2 said:

I'm curious about this as well.

I just got an email from VV. Turns out I have full DBE. I’m not complaining! 

5 hours ago, jon81uk said:

I read it as if you had the deep blue benefits in 2023 you will keep getting them until the end of 2025. 
 

If you didn’t get the benefits in 2023 then you need to earn them and will start at the blue tier. 

Okay. I like this. 

Okay. Explain this to me like I'm a three-year-old. I have taken ONE cruise with Virgin Voyages. On that cruise, I had DBE from status match. When I take my second cruise, will I be in Tier One- Sailing Club- because this is my second cruise?

Or...

Will I be in Tier Two- Blue Extras- because I have status match?

Here you go...

https://profcruise.com/virgin-bar-menus-2024/

Yes, I'm that person who books her flights exactly 330 days from the departure date. I book my hotel reservations 365 days in advance. When dining opens up at 45 days, I'm counting the seconds. So...I'm booked for next year, and I'm not able to complete my on-line check-in on the app. Is there a certain time frame, or is it that I'm not PIF? I'd very much like to complete this ASAP to secure the best boarding time. 

TIA!!

My mother brings A1 sauce on every cruise.

And never fails to leave it in her cabin.

It's basically a fillable neck pillow. Let's see if this works...

2 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Like the look of certain things on Virgin, but not some of the other things

I just sailed with VV for the first time last month, and have booked a second. I'd say it ticks the boxes on your list. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2024/02/13/virgin-voyages-show-sea-to-land/72522950007/

14 hours ago, DavidOrawan said:

Big price difference between VV and NCL for same cruise.

VV 4842 no extras

NCL 3778 with drink, dining, wifi, excur, pkg

July cruise same dates and ports.

But... there are no gratuities on VV, so that's a savings of $560 for two.

On VV, specialty dining is included, so that's moot.

Unlimited WIFI is more than 150 minutes.

On my next VV cruise, I will have $900 in sailor loot (OBC) and a $300 bar tab. 

Watching the video right now...

👏

The bathroom situation was a real concern for me before we sailed as I prefer to leave a little to the imagination. I even bought some heavy-duty magnets to use to hang a make-shift door with a pool towel or blanket. I soon discovered:

a- my plan wouldn't work logistically

2- opening the shower door will cover a multitude of sins (or at least it will shield your nekkid body from that full-length mirror)

Ugh. I think I got it all straightened out. I did it wrong. Those MNVV certs HAVE to be applied at the time of booking. That my TA was out of office matters not. MNVV can't be applied to existing reservations, and even though it was only a few hours old, my reservation was existing. I have started the process of canceling and rebooking. Of course, the rate is $175 higher, but it's better than losing the $300 deposit. 

22 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

I stared at BDE for ages before realizing that was Deep Blue Extras.  I thought that was valid thru 2024....have they extended it thru 2025?  Hard to keep up as VV has extended it at least 4 times already.

1-transfer your reservation to a gold tier agent.  They can help you with all the crap that VV might pull between now and boarding the ship and might even wind up adding a perk (depends on how many bookings they have on a given cruise, etc which can change given how far out you are)

 

Crap. Sorry about the typo.

I asked someone in sailor services about it and they assured me that we wouldn't be losing our perks. Of course, she could have been telling me what I wanted to hear to get rid of me. I've done that many times when working in customer service.