cantgetin

Right--on VV, no papers in your room each night advertising junk. Things work differently on other lines. Most of that 18% autograt goes to the company that runs the spa, not to the person who served you. In contrast, most of any extra tip and commission on any products they sell you goes to that individual. I once saw the paycheck documentation of a spa employee on another line. It suddenly made total sense why the hard sell and the "additional tip" as they were paid very little on the basic service. On VV, they are paid by the line/company without any add on for tips, etc. In fact, at our first spa experience I attempted to tip the woman and she explained that it was already included in the price and was not appropriate on VV! A server on VV told me that she earns three times as much on VV as she did on a previous line where she was tipped (and she was good; I can't imagine her not earning good tips). The only people I've heard of being unhappy with the VV system is are some of the bar tenders. It seems that in addition to getting the included tips on other lines, they are very used to getting an extra dollar or two on each drink. VV pays them more, but perhaps not enough to make up for those "extra" tips they were getting.

Based simply on numbers, if you are in an inside cabin, there are a lot more cabins for you to potentially upgrade into than if you are in an XL And the ultimate goal is to get as many people as possible to enjoy a cabin higher than what they initially bought because statistically most will not want to go back to their more basic initial purchase next time. That's where the cascade of moving as many people up as possible comes in, as well as generating the most money for te line. If you are in an inside cabin, and there are oceanview (window) cabins open after all the computer bids were finished, you may well find yourself with a free upgrade--we have always booked a Sea Terrace, but I was surprised on our first VV sailing how many people received complimentary upgrades. Same idea--book more costly room next time. VV is a little different than some lines in that most of their cabins are balconies of some description. There are relatively few XLs, so the only likely way or that upgrade to happen is if the person in the XL was upgraded to a suite. It costs a fair amount in advertising, etc. to get a first time customer; much less to get an existing customer to move up next time....and for the vast majority, there is a "next time."

Married does't matter, sharing expenses does. You can use your bracelet for all bar charges for both of you or you can tick the box that says you are paying for everything. You can also keep separate accounts, then go to sailor services to have their bar charges moved to your account.

Spa sales are more gentle than on other lines...just tell them you are not interested and you are done. Cruise selling only if you go to the future cruise desk

NO, so do not bid unless you would be OK with any cabin in the new category. However, at least on some cruises, they do sell upgrades at the terminal. In that case, you do know exactly which cabin you are purchasing. You will not bid at this time; they have a table where they will look up the price based on what category you currently have and what you are considering moving to. THey quote you a price and you take it or leave it. There can be a huge range of how much it takes to win a bid. People who bid amounts listed as "poor" bids have won upgrades while others with "good" have not. It depends on how full the ship is, how many cabins are available for upgrade, how much you paid for your booking, etc. as well as your bid.

As long as you check the box to give him charging, you will be "sharing" the bar tab. If you are "sharing" with someone in another room, you can go to guest services and request that the drinks charged to their room be transferred to your bar tab. I learned that on my last cruise-not sure how long it may continue as it is some effort for the sailor services people. The easiest way to buy a drink for someone not in your cabin when they are with you is to let them order and then charge it to your bracelet. You can buy a round for a dinner table, treat a crew member, or anything else this way.

I understand the purpose of trying to attract younger cruisers--the type who were in their early ads. But this is enough to make me avoid these sailings. True, they aren't the tweens that I avoid on Disney. but they are not my demographic either. I think VV has had a nice blend of ages on most of the sailings I've been on...but if they attract the 20 year olds, they may be customers for the next 50 years, whereas my age group won't be around that long. Sorry, I view these cruises as more drinking, more partying.

There is a refrigerator on the left as you walk in the door. It will normally have caesar and one or two additional salads along with squirt bottles of dressing. Open your salad, apply dressing of choice, close the container and you are good to go. Similar to the "Grab and go" in The Galley, slightly different set up and only salads, not the other items that are sometimes in The Galley.

This! VV set out to be different, not the same. Agree with avoiding RD breakfast on Bimini day. The Galley has many good breakfast choices. If anyone is going hungry on VV, that was their choice. There are plenty of food options at all standard meal times and many in between. The only question is whether you are getting what you want in the setting and at the time you want. We got into a bad habit of going to the salad place about 10 (they close at 10:30) and getting a "to go" for middle of the night snacks. You can also get more limited salad choices at The Pizza Place.

Blue Extras will give each person with that status one free beverage daily at The Grounds Club.

We ended up with $900 free bar tab on 14 night cruise, and only used about half of it. Everyone is different.

I'm not an agent and I can't swear that I remember all the rules, but I believe you have 30 days after the deposit is paid to transfer to an agent. Look for a gold tier agent. Wish we could recommend, but site rule here prohibit it.

Sorry you couldn't get a travel agent who had some of the MNVV with the $600 loot tab left. Your Sky Suite would have been larger, but you wouldn't have the hammock (which I love) If you haven't already done so, sign up for the status match. You'll get the Blue Extras package which isn't much, but every little bit helps, right? And on the 15 nights, you'll definitely appreciate the laundry. The match and the benefits are per person, not per cabin....so be sure that both of you sign up.

You are right that The Galley won't feel upscale, but in the same way that Princess took a section of the buffet seating and made it a seafood location on a couple nights, VV has taken a section of The Galley, printed up a decent menu listing the specials and on site alcohol available, and reserved it for people who wanted sit down service. The on table condiments and flag things are gone and there are some placemats. OK, not a lot of fancy, but it is an attempt. And on Princess, that seafood thing had a fee; on VV of course, it is included. On our cruise, there were usually 2 main dish specials each night served with the trimmings typical for those dishes. Of course, the other areas of The Galley were also available, as were some of the lunch specials like the burger of the day. And, of course, The Galley specials were available on a serve yourself walk up or sit in the other areas. No, not a huge improvement, but definitely making an effort. And it was appreciated on our 14 night sailing when we were rather getting tired of the three restaurants we liked. We've become difficult, I guess. The new RD menu was a "one and done," Gunbae was a one time during the cruise, and Test Kitchen was one trip for A menu only.

The nightly dinner specials in THe Galley started a bit over a year ago. They have always had sit down service available. They also began listing the dinner special in the daily activities. There is a seating section in the evening with a bit more upscale decor and service. They have added a dinner show; depending on the ship, this may be included or have a cost. On our last cruise it was full each night except when the ship was staying late in port. I have no way to obtain any numbers on how many this might remove from the other restaurants each night, OK, I don't like the new Razzle Dazzle dinner menu, but others feel it is a great improvement. They removed my 3 favorite mains. The aim of the new menu was supposedly to make it more upscale. Test Kitchen has supposedly added a new third menu; will have to see how that works and whether it is permanent. I can think of several things that might be done with Gunbae. One idea might be a different type of Asian cuisine each night or some sort of a rotation of three or 4 menus. For us, it is good for one time on each sailing and only if we are into noise. Actually, I'm with Jon on the improvements. Having Pink Agave available each morning as a place to change or make reservations was helpful. We had good luck with the waitlist system as well; only one night did it not work, and we were advised in advance that it likely wouldn't, Especially on log cruises, we tend to change plans despite having booked in advance. As to people who book their cruise less than 45 days in advance and find all reservations filled until boarding, that's a downside to late booking, While they might not get their preferred restaurant each night, they will be able to get seating and won't go hungry. Yes, it is a pain to have to deal with that right after boarding. Our last cruise was the most full VV sailing we've been on. I don't think I want to see one where the ship is totally full although my family member who was on one booked another VV sailing while on board, so it couldn't have been too awful. As the airlines say, "We know that you have many choices when you travel." If you don't like VV, try another line.

The Beef Wellington in The Galley was excellent as well.

We attended an event thrown on that suite blacony.....the rockstar agent had supplied a ton of soft drinks and some munchies at no charge. In fact, the invitation said that if you wanted alcohol, please get it on the way, but there would be plenty of soft drinks, water and snacks. The person in the suite was a regular person, not a VV employee, travel agent, or anything.

I've done a total of 6 lines with significant loyalty on 3. Celebrity is the closest to VV of any that I've seen but I haven't been on the ship you are considering. Virgin is different, and in many ways is better. It used to be a lot cheaper than similar cruises on other lines, but 2024 and 2025 prices reflect the popularity of the line, I guess. I absolutely love the hammock on Virgin. I dob't like that they don't have a library or lending bookshelf, but we have dealt with that thru book swap groups on FB. There are many good features and food options on VV. I don't think Virgin is the line that the creators envisioned. It is not the clientele that was shown in the early ads (I called them 20 somethings spending daddy's money). The average age on most sailings is 40s-50s with shorter sailings skewing younger. We were told on our last transatlantic that the average on the ship was 53. That is a bit younger than we found on Celebrity, but not much. We like VV better, but I can't say it is a total apples to apples comparison. As you noted, we are comparing an older Celebrity ship and a sailing a few years ago to brand new Virgin ships with multiple sailings over the last 20 months. I guess the best thing I can say is that we got off our first VV sailing with 3 more booked.

When we were on the Scarlet in May, they were using C and D to refer to the vegetarian and vegan menus. And yes, A and B were 4 nights on one and 3 on the other. C and D also rotated the same way. The only way we found to know for sure is to ask at the desk at Test Kitchen. When we found that we had 2 bookings for B, they were able to change us to A for the second one. DO NOT believe what shoreside sailor services might tell you--they are the ones who hooked us up for the same menu twice.

As noted, the bulk are available as soon as you can log onto the ship's wifi. This normally required you to be on the ship, but some people have reported being able to access it from the terminal Additional reservations may become available at any time during the cruise as people do cancel. You can also "wait list" at the individual restaurants by going to the check in desk and asking to wait list. If the restaurant has a cancelation or no show, they will send you a notification.

Medium is fine. My parents believed that that only way to cook a steak was well done....I was shocked when I learned that there were nicer ways to serve the meat. 🙂

They will prepare your steak per your instructions. I think medium well is ruined anywhere, so can't address that it would be any different at Pink Agave.

Provided the restaurant has the ingredients needed for the substitution, yes. Most of the food is cooked to order, so unless it involves something like a sauce that is made in advance, no problem. In that case, you can skip the sauce or possibly substitute a different sort of sauce. Another hint--you can swap pastas and sauces in Extra Virgin. For example, the sauce on te gnocchi is exceptional while the pasta is often overcooked and mushy. Just choose a different pasta and ask for the sauce from the gnocchi. It is odd as the gnocchi at The Galley is usually quite good. You can almost always leave something off. Adding or substituting is usually possible.

We've had great and not good steaks at The Wake. Our fav used to be the secret steak at Razzle Dazzle, but that doesn't exist any more (boo hiss). Now....Pink Agave or Extra Virgin. Both are consistently good, so it becomes a matter of personal taste. The Wake on a good night or good cruise is excellent. On an off night, you'll get a better steak at Texas Roadhouse.

I gave up. I have a great TA, and it is her job to know all the current regs. I used to know them all, but no way now. I know what I have booked and if something looks like it might give me a better deal, I shoot her a text.