Wildcatllamas

I have Starlink at home and absolutely love it. This is wonderful news.

I am sailing solo on Virgin next December - but I love Virgin and have sailed solo on other lines with no problems. But now I have a friend who wants to to one of their cruises and is afraid to do it because they may be out of place. They are a single male in their 30s who is a quiet kind of person, most of the time. I think he will enjoy it but thought I would toss it out there to see what the rest of you think. He is used to sailing Carnival and Princess.

21 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

 

  I may have to book another VV cruise because waiting until November to eat onboard again may be too long..... 

I am going in December and I know what you mean about the wait. I am going with a friend on a Princess cruise in April - not my favorite, and then spending 10 days in the Hawaiian islands in May so kind of tapped out until December for vacation time until December.

5 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

 

 

Celebrity is totally the vibe of VV, at least it was for us. If you enjoy Celebrity you'll most likely enjoy VV. Except for the pools, Celebrity totally has the better pools, as does Princess.  I have a full playlist on my YT channel from our Scarlet sailing, here's my overall review and food tour links.

https://youtu.be/-R0imB73ajg - Review

https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU - Food Tour

 

I love your video on the food. I hope you don't mind but I'm sharing it with some friends of mine who have been asking about my cruise and the food on Virgin. I shared photos but you make it all real about how good it is.

Thank you for starting this.

I am sailing on Scarlet Lady for 5 nights December 3 - 8, 2023

Here is my link: https://virg.in/JAqW

I love your review. I haven't cruised as many times as you have but I feel the same way about the Virgin product. I love their cruise options. I did a back to back last December and have another cruise booked with them in December of 2023. And I still have a future deposit to use. 

45 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

Wasn't Princess fined for illegial dumping into Glacier Bay - https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/01/articles/cruise-pollution/princess-cruises-fined-for-dumping-66000-gallons-of-chlorinated-water-into-glacier-bay-in-alaska/.  

 

Then fined $40,000,00 for a 2nd illigial dumping.

 

"Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. (Princess) has agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges stemming from its deliberate pollution of the seas and intentional acts to cover it up.  Princess will pay a $40 million penalty– the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution – and plead guilty to charges related to illegal dumping of oil contaminated waste from the Caribbean Princess cruise ship.  "

 

And then a 3d time

 

"Today, Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. (Princess) and its parent, Carnival Cruise Lines & plc (together “Carnival”) were ordered to pay a $20 million criminal penalty and will be subject to enhanced supervision after admitting to violations of probation attributable to senior Carnival management in a case in which Princess had already paid $40 million."

 

And yet another time

 

"Princess Cruise Lines Pleads Guilty to Second Probation Violation Stemming from Historic 2017 Criminal Conviction"

 

In another post Princess was tied for being the worse cruise line in terms of pollution violations

 

Does anyone see a pattern here?

 

DON

 

 

Carnival, who is the parent company, has had major violations for the same thing. At one time I judge threatened them with being restricted from docking in any US port.

Nothing on my cruise in October.

I booked into the promo since I had gotten a a "Lasting Glow Holiday Edition" certificate. When I sailed on Virgin a year ago the promo on board wasn't that good, $300 down and no onboard credit or discount. It was something like $50 added to Bar Tab.

So, since I had this certificate it made it feasible to book. I will be on the December 3, 5 night Scarlet Lady. My yearly escape from the casino I work at before the really holiday chaos hits.

I have cruised in suites on Norwegian, Celebrity and Princess and Princess is at the bottom of the list. Just not impressed with what they offer. Norwegian and Celebrity are just about tied. I sailed Discovery back in October, although not in a suite, and I wasn't really impressed with the ship. So I would look at the itinerary.

I had High Tea on the Royal back in April of 2019 but Discovery doesn't offer it.

On 12/3/2022 at 12:17 PM, cantgetin said:

Comment to the above post--you also had an 18 or 20% autogratuity added on Princess, but the price on VV includes the tip.  Our spa person turned down an additional tip saying it wasn't allowed...and no product sales..at least to us.

So very true. And then she asked, but in a round about way for an additional tip. Virgin does it so much better.

So this may be a little off topic but does relate to the spa. Last December, when I was on Scarlet, I had a facial that a friend had paid for. Now it was $199. But oh my, it was amazing. It was 90 minutes and included all the bells and whistles. I literally melted into the bed it was so relaxing. My skin glowed for several weeks after. No hard sell on anything at all. I would book one of Virgin's facials in a heart beat.

Now fast forward to my cruise on Discovery Princess in October. I decided to treat myself to a facial there. No discount on port days unless it was one of their "specials". So I went on the first port day and nada for specials. The facial was the same price as on Virgin but there was where the similarities ended. No real analysis of my skin. The facial was so basic that my skin care routine at home has more steps it seemed like. The whole thing from the time I laid down on the bed till I was out the door was less then 50 minutes. And the whole time, any announcement on the PA system, were being blasted in the treatment rooms. And then the pitches on the products. I definitely won't be wasting my money on a spa treatment on Princess ever again.

On 11/5/2022 at 5:05 AM, SargassoPirate said:

Most likely because a promenade doesn't produce much, if any revenue, per square foot like extra cabins, shops, or restaurants do.  At least on the Island Princess they left most of the promenade intact.  Bigger ships with no promenade keep people inside and the money flowing.

I managed to make my walks on the inside by walking laps on decks 5 and 6. Never once set foot in any of the shops while doing it. Although once I was done I did stop and get either a coffee or tea at the IC. On the days that it wasn't a scorcher I did the track. And on the day I lost my sunglasses I logged over 11,000 trying to find them. Alas - never did - so walked inside the remaining days.

I am allergic to black pepper and gluten intolerant. They did a wonderful job of adapting and advising on what would and wouldn't work.

I do have to say the the best cruise line for gluten free has been Celebrity so far.  Although that was pre-Covid by a month.

So glad you had a good time!!!

I posted on the "other" page a comparison of my recent cruise on the Discovery versus Scarlet. Some folks were receptive and some not so much. Folks over there keep asking if you are coming back with your review. Some do really want to hear about it. The others - well just ignore them.

I have also posted on the post here "Will Princess ever come to the West Coast". I have so many clients who are located west of the Missouri river who just can't justify spending more on airfare then they do on their cruise. So they won't even look a Virgin even though they think they will really like it. 

Thanks for sharing the Red Book. It brought back such fond memories.

Hopefully we will some day meet on Scarlet or one of her sisters.

On 10/14/2022 at 6:25 AM, chisoxfan said:

Did not mean to come off 'on the attack' as I know you were just trying to be helpful but wanted to expand upon our impressions whether popular or not.

I like to drink a lot of water too. I have a light weight insulated metal back packing bottle that I would fill with ice and water to keep with me when I was out wandering around. It has a nice clip that I could attach to my belt loop. And the carafes in the cabin easily fit into the little frig to keep it cold. I can't stand tepid water.  So maybe not plastic bottles but believe me I didn't miss them on my trip.

I have shared my comparison of Discovery Princess with my cruise on Scarlet under the heading "Will Virgin Ever Come to the West Coast". The only thing I didn't cover on that one was the Spa facial I had. On both Princess and Virgin it was $199. But that was the only common factor. The facial on Princess was as basic as you could get. Total time including intake info was a little less then 60 minutes on Princess and then the push for a tip. On Scarlet the facial was over 90 minutes with all the bells and whistles. I have never felt so pampered during a facial as I was on that one. And absolutely no mention of a tip. When I asked if she could accept one she replied that she couldn't but she was glad I felt it was that good.

I am a TA and have completed all of their training for Virgin and I can understand why they won't allow agents who haven't trained with them to sale their product. It is different but for the right clientele it can be very enjoyable.

On 9/25/2022 at 5:18 PM, cantgetin said:

 The other thing is that we want to try Waygu beef, which is the "treat yourself" at Gumbae....maybe I'm cheap, but I don't like the idea of paying for it to share with the table, but not sure how to make it for "just us." That's especially a problem as we want to have the server cook it so that it is done correctly.
 

The friend and I ate at Gumbae and we had some OBC to blow through so we ordered the Waygu beef. The server cooked it specifically for us and to our desired temperature. Mine warm and still kicking and my friend's was dead. I will be honest I didn't feel it was anything to write home about but with OBC to spend on the last night it made it a treat.

I had someone tell me last night that posts that seem to stay on top of headings are the ones that catch the eye of the folks looking for feedback for corporate. So maybe we need to find other folks that we know who would love to see Virgin come to the West coast to hop on and post to this thread.

My friend and I both were able to make "wifi only" phone calls with the basic wifi last December. I have Verizon and he has Xfinity. Phone was in airplane mode with wifi calling turned on. There were lags when we were moving but in ports it worked great.

When I was on in December one day my friend and I stopped at the soda fountain. He had a hot dog and I had the pretzel as well as a couple of the "adult" floats. For the last two days he raved about the hot dog but they were closed because something was broken.

Below is my comparison of the Princess Discovery to Scarlet that I shared on a thread on Princess. Some were receptive and then a couple found the worst reviews on Virgin and posted links to them. I spoke with quite a few folks on the ship about Virgin and many were interested until they found out that they were only sailing out of Miami. I was thinking that if you wanted to do some place that isn't the tried and infamous cruise stops on the West coast there is La Paz or Loreto. Some of the other lines stop there but only on longer trips. My parents used to live in San Carlos which is part of Guaymas on the mainland on the Sea of Cortez. After they moved back to the states there was talk of starting to bring in cruise ships. I think they are actually doing it with a Mexican based cruise line. So some options that are totally out there for someone like Richard Branson to take on make totally unique.

I was on the Discovery last week and Virgin back in December. On the Discovery I was in a mini-suite and on Virgin a terrace (aka balcony). 

So first off the bathroom - in reality they are both the same size. I measured the area where the toilet and basin are and the tub/shower versus large shower with the rain shower head. But on Virgin it does seem smaller. Optical illusion. 

I am in my late 60s and loved Virgin. Now I only caught part of the "Never go to bed alone" show. Not my cup of tea so I left. Don't go if you don't like that kind of stuff.  But the Dual Reality show and the pop up performers were really different, edgy and with Dual Reality it was great. Plus Virgin has a huge selection of movies available to view in your cabin. Many were recent releases versus a couple of years or more on Princess.

Both Princess and Virgin stink on their beds. Way to firm for me and my joints that at times hate me. The layout of the bed and bed/couch is definitely doable. The steward will gladly strip the beds down so you can use it as a couch during the day and remake them into beds at night. We just had him leave them as beds.  

Attire - I was on a B2B on Virgin and everyone was very respectful of dressing nicely to eat in the restaurants. And on Scarlet night talk about dressing up - it was so much fun to see all the beautiful dresses and suits in red. Now a couple of the nights I did wear shorts to dinner but that was because I got back late from being ashore and was pushing my dinner reservation time.

Food - hands down Virgin all the way. Even in the Galley (aka buffet). Now here is the plus on the Galley - wander around and see what you like. Then go and sit down. One of the Galley attendants will come and take your order for your food and beverages and they will be brought over to you. Want something more - just let them know. No need to sit at a table in shifts while others grab food. The Wake steakhouse was way better then Crown Grill. Extra Virgin Italian makes Sabatines  look pathetic. Pink Agave is just an amazing take on Mexican. And don't miss out on the Test Kitchen. Gumbae is fun and good food. Razzle Dazzle has some wonderful dishes. Their breakfast pizza is a round slab of watermelon with a vegan whipped cream topping and lots of other fresh fruits. The pizza place on Virgin is comparable to Gigi's but Virgin Ice Cream (free) is way better then Gelatos. We would order a pizza and while waiting have a scoop of ice cream. Then we would take the pizza over to the one bar to watch the football game and eat pizza. There is the soda/candy shop. Free hot dogs, pretzels and all sorts of candy. The alcoholic floats are yummy and run about $9. The Dock is a tapas bar on the back of the ship. The food is all free and no one pressures you to order a drink. Although the Blackberry Sangria isn't bad.

Wifi - Virgin definitely. Even their slow free wifi was better then what I paid for on Princess. I was always able to log in and do anything I needed to do on my laptop on Virgin. It took me 6 times to log on while on Princess just to do my payroll for 7 employees. Lots of dead zones and marginal areas on Princess.  

With gratuities, wifi, all non-alcoholic beverages and no upcharge restaurants included it does make a difference.

And Richard Branson has a staff that follows many social media sites looking for complaints and they start working those issues out. Folks complained about not having a sports bar and they were in the process of changing out one of their bars to be a sports bar. Folks complained about more storage places and they have made changes. I don't see Princess doing that. NCL used to.

So to each his own on cruises. This Princess cruise wasn't as nice as my one in 2019 - but then Covid happened. If flights weren't so expensive to get from where I live to Miami it would be Virgin hands down.

The bed could be considered a "pull out" by some. It really isn't. One bed is anchored to the frame work that forms the couch form. The other bed is on a pivot. It can be pivoted over to pair up with the anchored bed to make a queen bed or left on the frame work if two separate folks are traveling. So during the day if folks want it to actually be a couch the steward will remove the bedding and it becomes a couch. Adding the bedding and they are now beds. 

Now don't get me wrong others love the beds on both Virgin and Princess. I know my bed on Princess back in 2019 was absolutely comfy. Supposedly they upgraded all the bedding during the shut down. Did the beds change or maybe my joints have just gotten more temperamental?  In both instances the stewards did what they could to make them more comfortable by adding extra comforters on the bed under the sheet. Think "Princess and the Pea". Those helped but not by a whole lot.

On 10/18/2022 at 1:30 PM, Ombud said:

@Wildcatllamas what about music? Specifically wind / strings / classical?

Not so much. But things constantly change. I know one day near The Dock there was a duo, one on guitar and the other on a violin. There were pretty good.

I was on the Discovery last week and Virgin back in December. On the Discovery I was in a mini-suite and on Virgin a terrace (aka balcony). 

So first off the bathroom - in reality they are both the same size. I measured the area where the toilet and basin are and the tub/shower versus large shower with the rain shower head. But on Virgin it does seem smaller. Optical illusion. 

I am in my late 60s and loved Virgin. Now I only caught part of the "Never go to bed alone" show. Not my cup of tea so I left. Don't go if you don't like that kind of stuff.  But the Dual Reality show and the pop up performers were really different, edgy and with Dual Reality it was great. Plus Virgin has a huge selection of movies available to view in your cabin. Many were recent releases versus a couple of years or more on Princess.

Both Princess and Virgin stink on their beds. Way to firm for me and my joints that at times hate me. The layout of the bed and bed/couch is definitely doable. The steward will gladly strip the beds down so you can use it as a couch during the day and remake them into beds at night. We just had him leave them as beds.  

Attire - I was on a B2B on Virgin and everyone was very respectful of dressing nicely to eat in the restaurants. And on Scarlet night talk about dressing up - it was so much fun to see all the beautiful dresses and suits in red. Now a couple of the nights I did wear shorts to dinner but that was because I got back late from being ashore and was pushing my dinner reservation time.

Food - hands down Virgin all the way. Even in the Galley (aka buffet). Now here is the plus on the Galley - wander around and see what you like. Then go and sit down. One of the Galley attendants will come and take your order for your food and beverages and they will be brought over to you. Want something more - just let them know. No need to sit at a table in shifts while others grab food. The Wake steakhouse was way better then Crown Grill. Extra Virgin Italian makes Sabatines  look pathetic. Pink Agave is just an amazing take on Mexican. And don't miss out on the Test Kitchen. Gumbae is fun and good food. Razzle Dazzle has some wonderful dishes. Their breakfast pizza is a round slab of watermelon with a vegan whipped cream topping and lots of other fresh fruits. The pizza place on Virgin is comparable to Gigi's but Virgin Ice Cream (free) is way better then Gelatos. We would order a pizza and while waiting have a scoop of ice cream. Then we would take the pizza over to the one bar to watch the football game and eat pizza. There is the soda/candy shop. Free hot dogs, pretzels and all sorts of candy. The alcoholic floats are yummy and run about $9. The Dock is a tapas bar on the back of the ship. The food is all free and no one pressures you to order a drink. Although the Blackberry Sangria isn't bad.

Wifi - Virgin definitely. Even their slow free wifi was better then what I paid for on Princess. I was always able to log in and do anything I needed to do on my laptop on Virgin. It took me 6 times to log on while on Princess just to do my payroll for 7 employees. Lots of dead zones and marginal areas on Princess.  

With gratuities, wifi, all non-alcoholic beverages and no upcharge restaurants included it does make a difference.

And Richard Branson has a staff that follows many social media sites looking for complaints and they start working those issues out. Folks complained about not having a sports bar and they were in the process of changing out one of their bars to be a sports bar. Folks complained about more storage places and they have made changes. I don't see Princess doing that. NCL used to.

So to each his own on cruises. This Princess cruise wasn't as nice as my one in 2019 - but then Covid happened. If flights weren't so expensive to get from where I live to Miami it would be Virgin hands down.