ceilidh1

It's 16 years old - you would need to have it booked by Princess agent or TA as the bookings would need to be correctly linked. One thing to note is that if you plan on using Princess Air, the minors must be on the same flight as the adults (sounds obvious but did cause an issue for us once as one of the teens was flying from school rather than from home).

No, I don't think that would be the right itinerary for them. I think Hawaii, Mexico, maybe Coastals...

Just like that it was all over. Got into my house at midnight Vancouver time, which was 3am Miami time. Thankfully no delays so all smooth and the train was right at the airport when I arrived. I’m now on my way to work as well as a full detox! Thanks for following along everyone. It was a blast. Already filled out the post cruise survey and waiting on new itineraries being released December 14. Praying for west coast sailings!

I only saw it the one time on mine between 4;30 and 5:30 but I hadn’t been at The Dock at that time on other days so it’s possible it was every day

The app said that guests wanting assistance with luggage could put it outside their room and disembark after 8:30am. But no mention of going to sailor services to get tags so that the terminal could sort them (bags were arranged by deck). Did your notification mention that? I only found out as I saw my neighbour putting tags on as he had been confused and asked about it.

Well that was nuts. I got in line for security at 2:55 and just made it through. Even TSA had to stand in the long line until it got the actual start of the security stanchions. The line snaked all the down past the check in counters, so it was half hour before even reaching security. Ugh. Now at Earl of Sandwich as it was the first place I saw that didn’t have a line…

Happy I chose the earlier shuttle to the airport. It’s nuts here. Over an hour wait for security. I still might not manage to get food at this rate! 😭

Excursions: I didn’t take any VV excursions as nothing jumped out at me and they were all pretty pricey! They seemed to book up very quickly so not sure if there was even anything available once on the ship. I was shocked that the cabanas in Bimini had doubled in price. I also booked an identical independent excursion in puerto plata (only 4 in our group) for half the price VV were charging.

First Solo Sailing: let’s just say I may be hooked on sailing solo now. I had a blast! I met so many people on the ship that I never actually felt alone. There was a great group from our other group who weren’t necessarily sailing solo that were also fun and welcoming. VV were great at organizing two solo meet ups and a solo dinner and from there we got to know one another VERY well! 🤣

The Food: Pretty much everything I ate was awesome. Even the Galley was decent - I’m not a fan of buffets, but I liked the bento box sushi and the pastries there. I will say that it wasn’t quite as blown away impressive as on Scarlet but I suspect that had more to with that being the first time experiencing it. Definitely no complaints. Except missing butter chicken. Oh and the weird times when they stop serving! Lol

Staff/Happenings Cast: I can’t say enough about the team on the ship. Outstanding. Sure, there were a few times when service was slow or orders got mixed up but overall everyone was fantastic. They all seem so happy in their jobs and really stood out as a team that gelled! The cast and dancers from the shows? Wow! Loved them all. I realized too late that I never managed to make it to comedy or the bands around the ship. No idea what I was doing during those times!

The Booking/Events: It frustrates me that you can book dining but there is no information about shows, etc when that opens. My first dining reservation I made was The Wake and it turned out that by the time I got on the ship I ended up not being able to do it as it clashed with a paid event I had. I wasn’t able to book another day/time and couldn’t get a walk in so ended up missing The Wake. All things considered, I’m glad that I booked all the things I 100% wanted to do the second I boarded as they filled FAST!

The Communication (or lack of): I feel like it gets to be a job to find out basic things. The app lists some stuff but not others. It was impossible to find opening/closing hours of stuff without the printed piece of paper. It was often unclear that some of the events weren’t actually events so when you showed up it was a non event (I’m looking at you Pink Agave After Dark). Zero info about disembarkation and luggage. No information until too late about bag storage, etc. I met a LOT of first time virgin cruisers and the number one frustration from them all seemed to be not knowing about having to book dining, shows, etc and by the time they found out everything was full. If you’ve sailed before you know to keep checking or try walk in but if you haven’t, you don’t know that. I feel like VV could definitely do better with this stuff!

Final thoughts: you can probably tell from reading that there were way more HITS than misses on this cruise. Were there one or two things that could have been better? Of course. Were they worth complaining about or did they ruin my trip? Absolutely not. Here are the hits and misses for me: The Room: I was in central sea terrace 14150A. When I booked, I allowed VV to select it and thought nothing else of it. This is the way VV does it, but you CAN call in and request a room or go through an agent who can select a room. Had I thought about it more carefully, I would have changed it. The location was 100% perfect- right next to the stairs/elevator at mid ship and an easy walk up one flight to the Galley. For the most part it was quiet except that it was below the gym. If there were classes or folks lifting weights, it got LOUD. Usually early in the morning. I also had a lot of door slammers around me. Please people, it’s not hard to just hold onto the door and let it close slowly and quietly. Other than that, the room was great and I loved that the balcony had some cover/shade as it was partially built into the hull. I think lower floors don’t have that.

More from the hotel

There is a restaurant at the hotel that I meant to be open 12-2 for lunch. Front desk said it won’t open until 5. Apparently nowhere to eat within walking distance. The shuttle will drop you anywhere within a 3 mile radius but it runs once an hour so I would have to wait another hour. So now my choice is Lyft there/back, order Uber eats to deliver, or just leave at 2:30 instead of 3:30 and eat at the airport. Now I’m regretting not eating a big breakfast on the ship!

The mall lost! Chilling at the pool!

I booked the room through DayUse and it was $75 for 9am to 4pm. Full use of pool, wifi, and an actual hotel room for napping, etc! Free shuttle to the airport goes every hour on the half hour.

Easy process to check in at the hotel. Seems decent enough. I plan on napping, maybe going to Dolphin Mall, or just hanging at the pool. Then I can get showered and grab the free airport shuttle at 3:30. Cambria hotel and suites Miami airport

Originally I planned on staying on the ship until around 10 but since I was up and ready I figured I would avoid the rush and get to my hotel day room and take advantage of it. I headed off around 8:45am and it was a breeze getting off, finding my bag, and going through facial recognition for customs. That’s when things started going south. I wanted a Lyft to take me to the hotel and, while there were signs telling you ride share pick up was lot E1, there was no actual sign that showed lot E1. One port employee sent us across the street to the parking lot. Another sent us back and told us we should wait at the stop sign at the end of the terminal. Thankfully I’m a fan girl and I spotted two of the Dual Reality dancers and Keith from Miss Behave waiting at this stop sign so I figured that must be the right spot. i fan girled and told them (again) how amazing they had been. They were so appreciative and so humble. They confirmed that this was the spot to wait but also said that many Uber and Lyft drivers don’t actually know it so they often miss it and then have to circle back. The other issue with that spot was that port of Miami wifi doesn’t reach there. So I had to keep ducking back and forth to get signal and track my driver. Sure enough, she had no idea where to pick me up and drove right past. Ugh. She circled back and finally found the spot but then said her trunk was full so had no room for my suitcase!?! Huh? Wouldn’t you assume someone coming off a ship and heading to the airport would have bags? I managed to cram it into the back seat but what if I hadn’t been travelling alone?

I popped up to the Galley to grab my last VV food. I went for small, fast, and simple. Let me tell you, I wish I had discovered this chocolate brioche before my last morning!

And just like that we were back to where it all began.

George at The Manor was our main man as that’s where we ended up most! There were also some good guys at On The Rocks but we never really stayed in one bar long enough to have faves. Plus, many of them rotated through the bars too. Same with waitstaff- I tried to eat everywhere so no huge standouts but all were great! The Happenings Cast were the bomb. They were everywhere and so much fun. I think of scarlet I only recall one or two of them that stood out but on this ship they seemed to really gel as a team!

I found the pricing for drinks about the same as on land or other lines. Some of the high end stuff was insane but I don’t drink that so not sure if that was normal. There was a $150 glass of scotch, for example. Beers between $6-$8, cocktail between $11-$18 and wines between $9-$15 average. It was tough to spend all the bar tab for sure!

Yes. 4:50-5:30 for Opa