beardedladies

We're also pinnacles trying out new lines and are on the last day of the same type of 4 day Amsterdam trip, and wanted to give a counterpoint to Little Britain's posts - we've not had such a great time. In fact we've booked a B2B but have no desire to do the second leg! Embarkation day was great - I'd heard that it's chaotic if you have early embarkation and get there for things opening up, so left it to 2.30 and was checked in instantly and on the ship in 10 mins. Fantastic! Loved having the room ready as soon as you board - but we're not big fans of the room. We don't like the lack of desk space as if you're anything like us it quickly loses any spare room with all the junk we bring with us. As Brits we really miss a kettle - we need our tea in the morning! And to add insult to injury there if you order tea on room services it can come with sugar, lemon.... but NOT milk! What were they thinking?! The deal breaker though is the bed. It's got an awful mattress, like a futon sofa bed mattress that is very hard. We don't sleep well and usually wake with back pain. First day food was great, loved Razzle Dazzle for dinner and service was good. But things fell apart day two as we got to Amsterdam. We booked Pink Agave for 6.30 and it was rammed. Waited 30 mins for starters which were OK but nothing to write home about. Then another 30 mins for mains. I ordered duck, the other half fish. His was cold. Mine was raw. I know duck can be pink but this was not that - it was raw and not just a little. I tried to make the best of it, and ate the end pieces that seemed OK. The waitress was upset and called her manager who tried to gaslight me into thinking I should have requested it be ordered well done - it's described as roasted duck, why would I think I needed to?! It was a big mistake to eat some of it as I got food poisoning.... threw up that night, then the next day had the other end. Meant I had to miss scarlet night. Service has been highly hit and miss on the ship. Sometimes it's great, other times awful. We had to leave Razzle Dazzle for breakfast today as after 15 mins they still hadn't even given us some water, let alone take orders and there were many others still waiting to do so that came in before us! Food is odd. It's like they have a need to be different, it's actually hard to find something 'normal' to eat and I'm relatvely adventurous, but sometimes you just want something ordinary that you'd find in most normal restaurants and if you didn't book somewhere that does that kind of food like the Wake, you're likely stuck. The ship layout is also odd. It's so damn hard to find anywhere! Deadends abound and there's a real lack of a central area. Overall the brand just isn't for us, and so it's not something I want to waste more holiday on. Good to have tried, but now we know what we don't want and Virgin has too much of that. Definitely would have prefered a Royal cruise instead of this, but we will continue testing the waters with some other lines but ones a little closer to the Royal/Celebrity vibe we like.

I think leaving it until 2.30 was the right call. No queue to check in as DBE, whizzed past the huge queue for everyone else and on the ship in about 10 minutes. Very easy!

Currently en-route to the ship, have DBE but have heard this about embarkation before so aiming for arriving around 2.30 - hopefully it will have calmed down by then!

We’re getting on for a similar trip tomorrow - also a B2B first Amsterdam then down to Spain. How was getting in to Amsterdam port? Any protestors? Also what’s the B2B process like? Nice and easy or a bit of a pain? While these are our first virgin cruises, the second leg will also be my 50th cruise ever. I think I may have a problem 😄

They essentially suffer from Goodheart's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law As soon as the metric becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. People will game the system to get the desired result. So customer feedback becomes meaningless. Other fun examples include people left on trolleys in hospital corridors so they don't contribute to long wait times once admitted, and shop sales staff avoiding serving customers who they know won't want an upsell because they have a target percentage they need to maintain.

Good grief! I think I’d record the theme tune to the one show and play that as a counterpoint.

ER aren't exactly the brghtest of protestors, but they sure are annoying! We're doing this itinerary on 19th September, so fingers crossed they will have got bored by then and we can get through.

I agree the scheduling is weird. A sea day on eclipse day would let you chase a cloud free spot, take advantage of that mobility! This cruise smacks of a previously put together standard cruise they suddenly realised would be somewhere relatively close to the eclipse.

This trip is a disaster waiting to happen. Looking at the main page detailing it (https://www.virginvoyages.com/itinerary/europe/specialized-solar-eclipse-cruise-from-uk-to-iceland#itinerary-overview) there is no mention of you only seeing 98.5% totality - presumably because on the 12th August you’re in Akureyri and not the west side of the island where you would. Yet the description also says “and before you know it, you’ll be walking the streets of Reykjavik under the surreal glow of the celestial phenomenon.”. Except you won’t. Forking out £8k+ to find out that seeing the total eclipse is not what you’re getting would make me rather upset.

It sadly doesn't surprise me. Royal promises a lot, but so often fails to deliver. If they think that I'm going to be paying out the undoubtably extortionate price they'll try charging for what will be a 17 year old ship doing the same old itineraties we always have then they are going to be disappointed.

Looking forward to the next it's coming to Southampton first, oh no it's not saga 🙂

Sounds more like the Limited Dining Package to me!

It should have been emailed to you - and when we did one on our last cruise we got it later that day. Check your spam folder just in case it's been filtered in there. Otherwise contacting their support is your only option I'm afraid.

Phew! Am getting on tomorrow so was a bit worried!

Currently waiting with baited breath.... either the ship has sunk so new new updates, or the bar proved more interesting 🙂

We've cruised several times during eurovision and as we do like to watch it have had similar concerns! On european cruises one of the european channels on the in-cabin TV often has it on - you may have to put up with non-English voice over but otherwise it's pretty much the full Eurovision experience. We watched this year's broadcast this way. Otherwise the only other way to watch it is to stream - there's usually a youtube stream or similar, but as others have alluded to even with the better internet package this can be VERY hit and miss, especially with the more northerly trips.

Whem I saw that I could book a suite on Royal Caribbean's Anthem for less than the price of an inside cabin on Celebrity Apex (October Canaries trips for both - and the Anthem one was a day longer as wel) my decision on who to cruise with in 2024 was pretty much made. Apex looks to be a lovely ship, but it's not worth that price.

Almost.... currently planning on Jewel from Amsterdam and to avoid flying we'll take the overnight ferry 🙂 But the point is very valid - we're rather tired of Anthem too, so much so that we've booked our first MSC cruise ever!

I think the key thing is "at the moment" in little britain's response - I very much expect Royal to add in extra sailings before then as things get finalised. So if being on the first trip is important to you, expect that to change. This may of course be different to what Royal annoints as the "true inaugural" - I've seen that happen before with "pre-inaugural" cruises added in. Short answer - no official inaugural as yet, and expect the first cruise date to change to avoid disappointment.

Depends on the ship. Just did 12 nights on Anthem and even with 69 pinaccles on board our JS got us access any night we wanted it (which was around 9 nights). Some flexibility on time may be required. Your experience is likely to be different on an Oasis class - smaller CK and more guests.

Well that was an anti-climax with The Pearl 😞

Just need my points to register from my last cruise in time so I can apply the slightly better pinnacle balcony discount 🙂

Looks like the main reveal site is now live: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/icon-of-the-seas/site/ Lots to digest in there. They are really pushing the "from 2024" thing though. Oh and booking opens on 25th October!

The one thing that really intrigues me is "The Pearl" - this is the sphere-like object and it appears to be sitting over several floors in the promenade. I do wonder what it will actually do.... some sort of entertainment experience?

But in other news.... separate coastal kitchen and suite lounge?