cantgetin

Average age on VV is now pushing 50, with 50% of "sailors" being married couples. The longer the cruise, the older the mix tends to be. Age range has been 18-90s. At least OP stated that they had never cruised VV.

They started sailing in October 2021. As to this guy....he'd put up a couple of scary videos...hope he is wrong. Bookings on VV cruises are gradually increasing and most passengers are now paying the rates available to all on line (as opposed to casino or travel agent rates). True, these are not the "book rates" but most lines have constant sales and other than the really high end lines, very few passengers pay the "full fare." True that VV started out cruising at 1/3 capacity, but most current cruises are going out at 50% -80% of capacity. VV will essentially never hit the 101+% of lines that focus on 4 person cabins as most VV cabins hold 2 people.

Correct....sorry if I confused the issue by giving examples of things with charges. One problem with room service if you are not a coffee drinker--if you order soup or tea, it comes as the solids/tea leaves in one container and the hot broth/water in a thermos type container. They do not separate those that are used for coffee from those that are used for other things, so the tea water or soup broth smells and tastes like coffee. I couldn't come up with a solution for the soup broth, so ended up placing that in the containers to return, but sprinkled the veges on my salad! The premium tea that I ordered (in lieu of delivery charge), I saved till I could get a cup of fresh, hot water from the Grounds Club the next day. Hot water is also available at The Galley.

That's why we always fly in at least a day ahead and purchase travel insurance. Flying in a day (or even 2 when we are going to Europe) ahead can eliminate a lot of the potential flight issues. Nothing takes care of the disappointment, but at least travel insurance can make another trip financially possible. We have friends in the UK who come to Florida regularly, but they don't just do a 4 or 5 night cruise. They will combine a cruise with theme park or other locations, and typically stay in the US about 3 weeks. No, I can't see flying to the US for a 4 night cruise, especially when Valiant Lady was in Europe until a month ago.

We got the ribbon band for the Deep Blue Extras....it was a real pain. We were told that the only purpose after boarding was admission to the cocktail party, so we cut then off and carried them to the party. The ribbon tails tended to get into food, were just nasty when wet from pool or shower, etc.

my favorite site for checking the menus has pdfs. Eat Sleep Cruise has the 2021 menus but the only real change is that the B menu for Test Kitchen is not included (you don't want to eat that anyhow!) A menu at Test Kitchen was OK, and we also had a couple items from the vegetarian menu which were OK...but the B menu was basically awful. Other people will have different opinions. There is another site that lists all the bar menus in pdf, sorry, I don't remember that one.

If you google VirginVoyages menus, there are many sites that show the menus and some restaurant reviews. I don't want to get in trouble for posting a link here. The current ads tend to say "most food included." Some restaurants have one or two items with an upcharge--you won't go hungry if you don't order those items! There is a $5 DELIVERY charge on room service which is waived if you order anything with a charge (like a beer, cocktail, coffee, tea, fresh squeezed juice) as part of your room service order.

Belief is that it never opened. Yes, it is on deck plans and early mock up photos.

As I was reading the first post, my thought was that they had never cruised VV....so thanks for making that clear. Tom McAlpin has stated in a public speech that "there are no good ports on the west coast," implying that they have no intention of basing there. There are direct flights from LA to MIA--booked far enough ahead on AA, they are only $150 each way! That's also about the same as terminal parking in Miami. Razzle Dazzle is NOT a vegan/vege restaurant. It is oriented in that direction, but there are vegan/vege choices all over the ship, and there are meat and fish based dished in Razzle Dazzle. Gumbae is not a REAL Korean BBQ, as in what you would get in Korea or Tokyo. It is a nod to that, but I don't think my Korean friends would feel it was authentic. (and yes, I've had Korean BBQ at real and tourist placed in Asia.) The comments about the population in LA vs FL....yes, the overall population in FL is older than the current average on VV. But there are plenty of young people, LGBT people, exercise centered people, and wealthy people on the East coast as well. And there are people in other parts of the country who are willing to fly in to MIA for a cruise. Disney has based a ship in LA or SD for a few months each year since 2005 (there are lots of kids in LA!). Why not more time? Because they don't fill their smallest ship and often discount those cruises. West coast cruises are just not that popular. Their ships out of FL fill! OK, some do the WDW tie in, but could do Disneyland as well. We'll see what happens as the line grows; the current plan is that the next ship will be based in Australia.

Folks with red wristbands may be in the top number of cruises or have done 2 or more cruises in 2021. My friend had 3 different wristbands on our last cruise--the red one for this cruise, a black one because she'd cruised so many times that they decided to let her into Richard's Rooftop, and a purple one for being in the elite 2021 group.. And yes, she got invited to the bridge tour despite being in an inside cabin.

The app stinks. When our booking window on the 14 night TA opened, the app would only allow me to book the first night. I called Sailor Services and booked the entire cruise. In fairness, we changed several of the reservations during the cruise, but Sailor Services encouraged me to book something for each night as they "might" fill up.

Suite guests and/or those who have cruised the most get invited to the bridge tour. Those who have qualified for Deep Blue Extras (loyalty program) get invited to a cocktail party which amounted to a guy playing guitar and some free drinks. Suite guests are invited to a champagne "party" from 6-7:30 nightly at Richard's Rooftop.

Full size bottle

Go to the VV web site and click on loyalty. There you will find three ways to get "Deep blue extras," so you click on status match. That will take you to a page where you submit proof of your status on another cruise line or even some airlines--there is a list of what you can use. I did a screen shot of my dashboard from the other line's loyalty program and uploaded it to the VV site. If you have a cruise booked with VV, you also enter the reservation number. In a few days, you'll get an email that either says your Deep Blue Extras have been added to your reservation or that you qualify for the match and encouraging you to make a reservation. Totally simple, and we did enjoy the perks on our recent cruise.

Great review. We were on the 14 night TA. and I totally agree with your summary review. For the rest, obviously we had different ports, different food preferences, different activities. One thing I will take issue with--at Razzle Dazzle, I'm guessing that you did not go to the "secret" or the "naughty" menu. We found the "secret steak" to be the best steak on the ship...better than The Wake! This item doesn't appear anywhere on the menu; your server must tell you about it or you ask for it. The salmon there was also very good. THe Wake has a more upscale vibe with great views, but the steak at Razzle was better!

I was on the 14 night TA, so things for us might have been "different." THere was free champagne on decks 15 and 16 for sail away (unlimited and easy to obtain.) If you qualify for Deep Blue Extras, there is a crowded cocktail party on deck 16 with a couple of drink choices, again unlimited. If you are in a suite, there is nightly champagne on Richard's Rooftop (90 minute "party.") Also, if you qualify for deep blue, you have $10 per day credit in The Grounds Club good on any beverage served there (coffee, tea, hot chocolate with or without alcohol added) There are many promotions that include a bottle of Moet, but no matter how many promos you qualify for, you are limited to one free bottle. You can also bring 2 bottles of wine on board. Each of the sit down restaurants had a small "welcome" drink each night of our cruise. It varied by night and by restaurant. Gumbae had this in addition to that provided for the drinking game. When I say "small," I am talking about an ounce or less. This is what I don't know whether it was special for our cruise or if it happens routinely. My travel partner tried to order one of these the next night in a "regular" size (one she'd had the night before), and after they checked, was told they had used up one of the ingredients; they offered to make her something similar. You don't need a bar tab to purchase drinks. THe advantage to the bar tab is the "bonus," which is currently $100...that's a 25% discount on drinks if you use the whole tab. You can buy drinks with Sailor's Loot or with the credit card you put down at the beginning of the cruise. They are priced cheaper than some other lines AND the price includes the gratuity. We figured that the best way to purchase anything was to use all the"prepaid" or free stuff we had, and go a little over. The obvious disadvantage to the bar tab comes into play if you don't spend at least the $300; if you don't spend the entire bonus, you aren't really out anything as it was a freebie. BUT you can always find a way to max out the bar tab. Buy a round for your new friends or buy a bottle of wine from a bar to take back to your cabin during the cruise or take home. This will cost more than buying it at the duty free shop (where you can't use your bar tab), but the point is to not waste the tab!

In our case, the accounts were tied to the cabin. When I did the on line check in, I agreed to be responsible for all charges to the cabin. That way, anything charged to the bar tab or the "loot" could be done with either bracelet, and we did use them both. THe app has the ability to separate who mades the charges, but in our case it didn't matter as we had the same pay source. If you are buying drinks for someone not in your cabin, your bracelet needs to be present. I guess the easy way to explain it is that the "tab" didn't belong to me, it belonged to the cabin.

Absolutely no upsell on the October Valiant Lady TA. And the spa personnel turn down offered tips by politely saying that their tip is already included in the cost of the service. Yes, we've had the upsell on other cruise lines, not of VV so far.

Exactly! And VV drinks a la carte are cheaper than many other lines. Prices posted include grats.

They ask when you show up if you have VIP status. If you say that you don't know, they look it up in their computer. On our cruise, the app on board was accurate. Neither the app or the website "account" prior to boarding was right!

Unfortunately, storms affect any cruise ship that has been cruising very long. You seem to have a great attitude toward the changes. I've seen some ugliness on another ship when the cruise couldn't go as scheduled. Enjoy Key West.

We found the movie options to be quite good, very similar to the Amazon Prime free offerings.

I agree that one bar tab will likely be enough for you to share. After the current special expires on 11/15, there will be another special. This is the second $100 bar tab bonus I've seen this year, each lasting a few months. Between those, the bonus was $50. While there are no guarantees, I think the chances of another $100 bonus between now and 2024 are very high. Another consideration is that some people have been told that if they cancel a cruise, their bar tab pre-payment will be refunded as "future cruise credit," not as a refund to their credit card.

yes

On an 8 night, you can book up to 3 dinners in each restaurant in advance of boarding. The Wake dinners can be booked in advance, brunch cannot be booked until you arrive at the terminal.