librarylady19

Can confirm. They actually advertise this in the daily newsletter.

Honestly, I don't remember if this was HAL or Celebrity but didn't complain as I figured I shouldn't have sent something I don't put in the dryer at home.

I hand wash bras as whatever you tell them in my experience bras are too delicate for their laundries. I forgot one time and the bra came back with the underwire broken. Easy enough to bring along some hand wash (like Soak which doesn't require rinsing) and do the smalls in the sink!!

We are seriously considering booking our first Windstar cruise (looking at Venice/Adriatic for next August). I have searched online and this forum, but I can’t find a specific period when the announced updates to Wind Spirit are scheduled in 2025. Looking at the cruise schedule, there seems to be a few weeks gap after the TA in spring 2025 so I’m hoping this is when the ship will be refurbed. any further info. would be much appreciated.

Yes, it does seem like a long time to hold back the ship - unless they are money issues perhaps?

When do included specialty dining reservations become available for booking online? We have 2 included for the Baltics cruise on NS May 5 sailing but not able to book yet.

Oh no, we are doing NS for a Baltics cruise in May, picked strictly for the amazing itinerary. I’ll keep my expectations down. We did Rotterdam earlier this year and thought food was good but service was so slooow.

oh I’m sure I’ll use it - will just wait and see if prices come down at all. I loved the product and the fact that everything - except for drinks is included. I actually prefer paying for drinks a La carte as I always feel the need to “get my money’s worth” when I purchase the premium package on Celebrity 😀

Another Celebrity cruiser here. I just took my first Virgin cruise on Scarlet Lady and was so impressed with the service, food and ship overall that I purchased a MNVV certificate and hoped to book another soon,….then the new prices came out - yikes! I do have the 11 night Barcelona to Rome 11/2024 cruise that Virgin allowed me to select after Brilliant Lady TA was cancelled so that might be to suffice for a while.

$25 deposit and some reduced airfares

Booked Main & Moselle Xmas Markets (Paris to Prague) for Dec. 2026 - looks like an amazing itinerary!! Thanks for the heads up that these were on Viking website.

Link doesn’t work

Looking forward to hearing more....we booked for April 2025 right when the itinerary came out and hopefully will be able to secure business class flights with points otherwise airfare cost is prohibitive.

Agree about HAL entertainment (and we don't really dance). On Rotterdam the rock band was fantastic but we weren't fans of the BB Kings band and the piano duo was painfully bad. Same sax player 2 nights (on a 7 day cruise) and dance troupe other nights. One thing that stood out was the CD's presentations that were fantastic - she spoke about nordic spirit of innovation and history of HAL (missed that one but friends raved about it). Ship had far less ocean-facing area and was cramped compared to Apex imo. We are sailing HAL again for the Baltics next May, because the itinerary is fantastic and the Have it All plus promo was a great deal.

You can only upgrade before boarding I found out when I tried to purchase the upgrade onboard but honestly it wasn’t necessary as most of the drinks are included.

@Spif Barwunkelwell said - we started our cruising journey with Celebrity and have always liked the vibe, food and service. Will stick with them (while also dabbling in other cruise lines definitely) until I personally experience a downturn. On the Apex TA soon so I guess I’ll find out!! I do take issue with your characterization of the “ladies” not being professional enough. This was a video for captains club members, not a board or shareholders meeting and I think the tone was fine. They were obviously trying to diffuse some of the criticisms with humor.

No, bit the ever knowledgeable and thorough Gary Bembridge (Tips for Travellers) was recently and did video and posts on it. bottom line, it was decent but the ship as a whole is super crowded and hard to avoid noise, etc.

I hope there are changed on the Apex TA in early November. The menus have disappeared from the app so hopefully that’s a good sign!

I chuckled at that email. I have 2 cruises booked on Virgin - the specialty dining w/ no added cost and the no kids policy really appeal to me! I know some people didn’t make out so well, but when my Virgin TA on Brilliant Lady was cancelled recently they allowed me to pick ANY sailing in same category (of any length) and gave me additional $600 bar tab and $600 sailor loot (OBC). never came close to that w/ either Royal or celebrity that’s for sure. Plus I get deep blue extras die to Celebrity elite status match.

Check on the web version of your VV account click on “Manage booking” then “addons” - for many, myself included, the app isn’t updated properly. I would call and have them email you your folio which also shows your new booking and perks

That’s a bummer. It did sound like a good itinerary but I wanted to maximize my cancellation benefit and went w/ the 11 nt. Barcelona to Rome as that was a more appealing route to me and much pricier. No chance of that selling out at 5k for xl sea terrace 🙂

Cool, thanks. I have been reading about how to get cruises through credit card/casino status but it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through especially of you don’t live near Vegas or AC! I hope VV offers another Virgin points deal soon.

No, but there are a lot of people who rebooked and are finding discrepancies between the add-ons given (as listed in email and Virgin website) and the app. I know I have been checking the app to no avail.

Fantastic; well done! I see several people here mention casino bookings....how does one get those?

Cool - I'm on that one too. Join the Roll Call! https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2963773-scarlet-lady-november-3-14-2024-barcelona-to-rome/