Rogueperson

Dinner was back in Gumbae.  No repeat pictures.  It definite depends on your tablemates.  Last night, we were in fire.  Tonight, not so much.  Not bad, but last time was way better.

 

At least I was able to finally catch a sunset.

 

Hmm, didn’t notice the fingerprints on the window until just now.

 

 

I think we’re running out of steam.  The first time Pop Rebel was in the Manor, it was packed and energetic.  Tonight, not so much.

 

 

3 hours ago, soccersharon said:

According to the new loyalty scheme, anyone who applied for a status match after the change should receive Deep Blue, regardless of when you booked.

 

But in true VV fashion, some folks were awarded DBE, my husband was one of them.  An error, to be sure, and I’m half expecting to take it back!  Another friend of mine was correctly awarded Deep Blue.  Go figure.

 

Someone on board told me that prior to April, the DBE was cabin effective and my wife should have been included.  Maybe that’s why she was eligible.

49 minutes ago, soccersharon said:

According to the new loyalty scheme, anyone who applied for a status match after the change should receive Deep Blue, regardless of when you booked.

 

But in true VV fashion, some folks were awarded DBE, my husband was one of them.  An error, to be sure, and I’m half expecting to take it back!  Another friend of mine was correctly awarded Deep Blue.  Go figure.

I think in my case, I applied in time and because it was a spouse, they gave it to her.  They did not intend to do so at first, but they changed their mind later.  🤷‍♂️

8 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Valencia tomorrow will be our fourth port day in a row (we had Cádiz, Málaga, and then Alicante today). 
 

I’m feeling rough for sure tonight. Hopefully I’ll be so exhausted by the time I get to the airport in Barcelona that I’ll sleep the whole way back home. 

yeah, we had a day at sea between Funchal which was a day before your call to Cadiz and Malaga.  Today at sea and tomorrow Valencia

Best picture of Resilient Lady as she raced past us.

 

I’m on Scarlet Lady right now.  This is my first one.  My primary cruise line *was* Royal Caribbean 😂

 

This is anecdotal to my point of view.  Virgin is definitely a party ship.  It is close to Carnival in energy but its not exactly the same kind of energy.

 

The music and energy on Carnival I feel leans towards hip hop.  Not exactly my kind of energy.

 

The music on Virgin leans more towards house music.  It IS my kind of energy.

 

Here’s another example of my perception.

 

On other cruise lines i’ve been on (Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, NCL and Royal Caribbean), the longer the cruise, the more sedate and older the population.  On my longer Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises, there really wasnt much of a party scene outside the 70s night.  Parties were lukewarm at best.

 

Virgin.  The first night was the PJ party and it was slamming.  I was like “is this normal?”. Next night was the 70s party and again, same thing.  The energy has been consistently high to a point I have not seen in almost 10 years since my Carnival cruise in 2015.  And even then, it wasn’t THIS high since that was a 7 night.  I’m told by Virgin Veterans that this IS sedate for Virgin.  I’m a little afraid how the shorter cruises are.  

I’m on Scarlet Lady right now.  There’s a recent change.  I’m not sure when the deadline passed, but status match only gives you Blue Extras, not Deep Blue Extras.

 

Also, each person must submit an application.  I submitted mine last year but did not know i needed to do it for my wife.  I submitted the monday before boarding and when I boarded 6 days later, it had not come through.  When it did, they gave her only Blue Extras because the deadline passed, but later amended it to say my wife was indeed eligible for Deep Blue Extras so I am thinking its when you booked the cruise is when that deadline applies.  I booked this cruise over a year ago.

 

We are Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean.

Resilient Lady is coming at us behind the sun.  Thats why there’s a shadow

 

Are you in Valencia tomorrow?  I didn’t know you had a port today.  Seems like a lot if you have 3 port days in a row before disembarking in Barcelona.  I feel like its gonna be rough doing Valencia before Barcelona.

5 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

You seem to be going slower so thinking is a chance we'll bump in to you soon, not literally hopefully 

 

Hello Resilient Lady

 

 

Its still pretty far out

SCORE!!!!

 

They released extra Lolz Supper clubs.  Got a reservation!!!

I lucked out with back to back shows.

 

First one.

 

 

 

Out of the 3 comedians I’ve seen, he was by far the best.  The other two gave me a little chuckle, but this guy had me rolling.

 

Second show.

 

 

 

 

Most magicians center their show on their magic, but she had a whole package act.  It was fun.  Not the magician I’ve seen, but the show in its entirety was great.

More observations.

 

Surprise finding.  

 

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love popcorn.  However, like coffee, I’m finicky.  Movie theater popcorn rubs me the wrong way.  Not only you pay as much as admission for popcorn, its generally not good popcorn.  Many theater popcorn leaves like a film in your mouth.  Its a product of mass popcorn preparation.  I can say here, this popcorn is fresh and clean.  Good popcorn here.

4 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

You seem to be going slower so thinking is a chance we'll bump in to you soon, not literally hopefully 

 

Got a notification.  Resilient will pass us.

 

 

12 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

The "pools" are more of a water feature. 😂

 

You must have missed my post on Scarlet Night.  Thats exactly what my friend said to me when I said people went into the pool during the party.  My response to her was “They still went in!!!”

Observation.

 

My Initial thought on the Red Room which is Scarlet Lady’s theater was that it was too small to accommodate to population of passengers on this ship.  

 

Thinking about it, I still think that but at the same time, this is coming from my experience on Royal where they have two shows a night and it accommodates most of the ship.  The reality is that it is rarely filled 100% to capacity.  So the smaller venue makes sense for space efficiency even though its bad for lines as people compete for better seats.

 

BUT

 

 

 

 

All three of these pictures are from Red Room.  It is modular and can be reconfigured, apparently pretty easily.  Shoot, the stage moved at the Untitled Dance Party.  I think this absolutely makes up for the lack of efficiency of accommodating large crowds.

 

 

 

 

I should note that I just walked in here for lunch.  No reservations.  It was a whim.

 

Additional food pictures.

 

Salmon Bowl.  This was simple and light.  Salmon could be better seasoned, but overall, it was decent.

 

 

Fried chicken sandwich.  This is a solid fried chicken sandwich.  It won’t win any awards, but it is good.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m going to start posting some observations as I remember them as with this cruise, being our first (and definitely not last), there are a lot.  Mostly good.

 

First one.  Minor minor issue.  I predominately drink iced tea.  I kind of feel like the waitstaff forget to give me this when i ask.  And even when they don’t it takes a while to get it.  I think its because they have to go elsewhere to get it.

 

24 minutes ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I think we're getting close behind on resilient lady based on that view 😂

 

yeah, I heard that.

Good morning from.

 

 

We are actually visual range of Spain!  

 

Last sea day.  Not sure what i want to do.   Normally with a cruise this long, at this point, I would be feeling listless and homesick.  I normally cross over from relaxed and worry free to feeling like i’m wasting away because i haven’t made a meaningful decision in 13 days now. 

 

Today’s Glance.

 

 

 

I made it to Razzle Dazzle for lunch.  I prefer this place over Wake for Lunch.  This one is the 3rd time i’m here for Brunch.  

 

 

6 hours ago, laurieal said:

I do wish the guide had had a microphone, because it was hard to hear her sometimes. 
 

 

 

My tour was genius.  They gave is all a transmitter and earphones.  He spoke into a mic but it came to my ear.  It helped a lot as the accent in both Malaga and Funchal was a little difficult for me to understand.

11 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Yay! Hope you found it a fun show/party. And don’t lick your friends face

Yes!!!!!!

 

Luck put us in a solo table in Test Kitchen. That sped our service up.  We were a little late by about 5 minutes.  However, I was a little confused at first.

 

So this was the Untitled Dance Party in the Red Room.

 

 

 

The show is confusing at first but then things moved!!!  Thats low key genius on getting people to dance.  You move them!!!  Its also the most effective way get people to do the electric slide 🤣

 

Also, this lady KILLED Celine Dion’s My love will go on.  I don’t even like that song.

 

 

It ended up being a lot of fun.  Loved it.

 

I did not end up going back into Malaga.  I just chilled until dinner.

 

Dinner was Test Kitchen.  

 

Menu
 

 

I decided to do the non-alcoholic pairinf and wife got the cocktail pairing.  I may not remember the drinks.  It was verbally described.  They were complex.

 

This was a cashew tonic, which is the best description for it.

 

 

Wife got this.  I think it was some kind of spritzer?

 

 

Corn Bread

 

 

Corn.  This was a corn custard or mousse.  Similar to mushroom.

 

 

This was essentially green tea and honey.  It was a little bitter.

 

 

Can’t remember.  They were complex.

 

Salmon.  Same presentation as Egg.

 

 

 

 

 

Can’t remember

 

This was a ginger beer mixture

 

Beetroot

 

Wife couldn’t have beetroot so she had this.  Mixture of tomatoes, olives, sugar and other things.  She said it was amazing.  I hate olives so yeah, i’ll take her word for it.

 

This was her drink.  Again, drawing a blank

 

Looked similar to mine.  mine was a chamomile drink.  Tea.

 

Shrimp

 

Lamb

 

 

 

strawberry something

 

Ginger Uzu soju

 

Asparagus.  This was complex.  Asparagus dessert?

 

Coconut Spritz

 

Berry something?

 

“Strawberry” I put this in quotes because although there are strawberries in this, the absolute star is the cream here.  WASABI CREAM!!!  I would never think to add wasabi to a dessert.  And it slayed.

 

 

I LOVE this menu way better than the Egg menu.  The Egg Menu is not bad.  This one was just that good.  Do both.  But this one is better.

 

On 4/28/2024 at 8:25 PM, jon81uk said:

As it’s a standing show if you are a little late it’s fine, but test kitchen should be possible in 90 minutes.

 

We did it!!!

 

On 5/1/2024 at 2:02 PM, FionaMG said:

 

Note that there can sometimes be a long line to get through passport control and there is also document screening at the gate prior to boarding your flght back to the US, so give yourselves plenty of time to do that.

 

Passport control.  Is that customs?  Do I go through US customs in Barcelona, do you know?

36 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Enjoy your last sea day! 😊 

 

I enjoyed 50s Prime Time. I approve of anyone who puts fried Boursin cheese on their menu. 
 

How much food did you get at Roundup Rodeo BBQ? My friends were there last summer and the people working there said they bring the same amount of food for 2 or 4 people. They needed a three days nap after their meal there. 

Holy crap there was a lot of food.  But then again, my view is kind of jaded considering the amount of food i’m going through on this cruise.

 

The major thing that 50s Diner cafe has that is amazing is Gluten free fried chicken?  Not only is it gluten free, it’s indistinguishable from the normal ones.

 

I did not plan our meals at Disney.  I left it to my friend who is the pro.  So our original plan was brunch at 50s cafe at 10:45.  Lunch at rodeo round up at 3:30 and Olga’s at 6.

 

After 50s, I asked what rodeo bbq roundup was and she tells me and I’m like “I’m waddling out of 50s cafe at noon and we have a full meal at 3:30 waiting for us?

 

Fortunately, that was pushed to 9:30 which was still hard because brunch was heavy and olga’s snacks, though light, added to the heavy brunch.