cantgetin

If you are a no show for a paid event, you are still charged.  I believe you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no charge.

I've has a suite on Princess  as well as balcony cabins, and I'll take a Sea Terrace on VV over a suite on Princess.  People have listed a lot of what they like or don't like about the lines.  My big suggestion would be to go into it looking at it as a new experience.  If you compare each thing to your experience on your favorite line, you're not going to enjoy it for what it is.

One thing I LOVE is the bar tab.  On other lines, each of us would have to spend $80-$130 per day for a drinks package.  On VV, I can pay an amount in advance and get a "bonus" added based on how much I pay. Bonus ranges from 10% to 33%.  That is mine to spend on any charged beverage on the ship.  I can share it with anyone.  I can use it any way I choose.  For me, as a light drinker, this is great. Also, for about the last year, there has been a free bar tab included with most bookings.

If you want everyone to be dressed up, go to Princess.  VV is a "you do you" atmosphere.  You can go to the fanciest restaurant on the ship in jeans and a t-shirt if you want to.....or you can wear a tux/ball gown or anything in between,  I would suggest you look at some VV info on YouTube,  THe ones by Where's Walter Travels are detailed, accurate, and informative (not "look at me" or "I'm on my 12th drink today).

VV is different.  If you are looking for Princess with a different color scheme, this isn't the line for you.  If you are OK with more of an "almost anything goes" atmosphere, this is it,

57 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Where do you get the bands from? During check in? We have the deep blue extras if that matters or are they for everyone?

When you get to the terminal you will see a desk outside labeled "Sailing Club."  That's where you get the ribbon bracelet that lets you go right into the terminal when it opens.  One time, the crazy woman insisted that I wasn't on the list but my cruise buddy was.....when we got to the registration desk, the woman there asked why I didn't have one and promptly gave it to me.  We both had Deep Blue and I had the confirmation email on my phone and the person outside still insisted that I didn't,  Based on the above, it looks like San Juan may be different than Miami or Barcelona.

You missed $10 per day credit in Grounds Club (specialty coffee and tea), a couple of items dry cleaned or pressed, premium wifi (unlimited).  That's about it.  BUT until 2024, you could get this on your first cruise thru status match or after only 2 cruises without status match.  Yes, VV uses starlink.

You spent a ton of money becoming eligible for all those perks on Royal.  ALL food is included in the cruise fare on VV except for a few upcharge items in restaurants, so your food perks on Royal is an automatic on VV.  
No, $100 bar tab may not cover you.....but I also have a $600 bonus on my next cruise since I booked during that promotion and $600 in loot for a rebooking while on board (in addition to a $300 discount on the cruise fare) 

I've done over 50 cruises on multiple lines.  For people just getting started on the line, VV has great benefits.  I have 30 cruises on DCL, and get better perks on VV.  They are better than Princess and Celebrity where I have something like 10 credits  each.  If I'd spent 25 years cruising Royal, I guess I'd get better loyalty perks...but  again, I'm really happy with what I get on VV for just a few sailings.

You will get a notice in your cabin as to the time and location of the cocktail party.  We've done 3 VV cruises and had it in 3 locations!
The dedicated line at SS is next to the regular line.  Sometimes there are no people in line so no special line.  If there is a line, the dedicated desk is to the right of the other desks as you are looking at them
"Where available" means that 2 years ago, premium wasn't available in the Med at all....not free, not paid, not at all.  If the ship is sailing in a place where they can't get a good enough signal, it is "not available,"

There is a walk up line for all restaurants.  If you want to change a time, you can go to the restaurant at 6 and ask if they can work you in  later,,,,they will put in a same night reservation if possible.  That means you skip the walk up line.  No penalty for not showing up, but if you know you are planning to not go to your scheduled time, you can go to the app and cancel so someone else can get a reservation.

Wifi...sign up on the device.  No code.  It required something obvious like cabin number and birthdate or something like that.  I'm a computer idiot and I could do it with no problem

You have the choice of doing it either way.  You can be seated and flip up the flag when you are ready for a server to come over OR you can go to the station, place your order, and get one of those flashy things that tells you when your order is ready,  Places like the salad bar, you can stand in line and wait or again order thru the server,  OR you can do a combination.  I typically do a quick walk around to see what the specials are while my cruise partner finds a table,  I find the table and report on the specials.  We order, then I get the drinks.  You can also order drinks thru the server, but we just get them ourselves,

No reservations needed for the Diva shows.  Depending on the Diva, they sometimes fill quickly.  Around the world is in The Manor, Bingo with is in the red room, the caberet show is in the roundabout area.  I'd show up 30 minutes early for each.  You do not need to buy cards for bingo with....you can sit and watch the show.

My experience has been that cruises either have self serve laundry or a large charge to do it laundry.  On VV, you get a HUGE laundry bag compared to other lines, for a cost of $30 (accurate as of Nov 2023) with next day return. This is VERY reasonable.  THey do a nice job and things come back folded better than I do it at home.   One bag per cruise is included in the DBE perks.  My suggestion would be to send it out just after you board for the second leg.  If you try to do it across the transition, you increase the cost of a mix up, especially if you are changing rooms.

Or, if you have DBE, send it so that it comes back before the turn around day....then send it again toward the end of the second leg so you will be taking home clean clothes!

It is like a dorm room with 4 twin size beds.  Saw it on a cabin tour.

We have used both shoreexcursionsgroup and viator.  Both were detailed and excellent and shore excursions group responded to a question by email.

My experience is that each cruise is different, even when it has been the same cruise line, same port.  The only totally consistent thing has been that there will be a letter in the cabin with instructions,
The above posts are typical, but nothing is for sure till you get the letter. 

I haven't done Tortola with VV, but the Baths at at Virgin Gorda is a wonderful way to spend the day.  There are independent tours available, or you can organize your own transportation.

So many deals are only available for sea terrace and above that it often makes sense to pay the difference to get one....besides, I like the hammock.

Whether or not The Galley becomes a zoo depends on the cruise (length, how fully booked, land vs. sea day).  How early is early?  They open at 7, but I've never been there that early.  I've also found 10-11 to be not crowded.  Again, that might be because people opted for RD and The Wake for brunch at that time, it was "too late" for most, or whatever.  

34 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Would have been nice to see some new food items as well.

Definitely....but when they did that at RD, they also eliminated some of our favorites.

VIRGIN ANNOUNCES NEW SIP & SAVOR CURATED FOOD AND BEVERAGE PAIRING MENUS.

If they have the necessary ingredients, special orders are usually available in the restaurants as well as in The Galley.  This might be particularly important to those who want a plain steak or grilled chicken breast without al the "stuff" that the normal menu adds.

1 hour ago, garycarla said:

 

If you drink $400 worth of drinks on the cruise, the bar tab is of GREAT BENEFIT.

Exactly!  If you use what you paid for a bar tab, it is a "break even."  If you use ANY of the bonus, you came out ahead.  Bonus can be $10 (on $100 tab) up to $125 (on $300 tab with max loyalty). $50 and $100 on $300 is common.
We have never lost money on a bar tab, but most of our bookings have included a generous "free" tab and we have not always spent all of that.

35 minutes ago, tnbigal said:

I had the same issue on a cruise in late January.  Went to sailor services and they were no help.  At only 100, didn't really matter, but I'm going to try again on our cruise in a couple of weeks.

The bar tab stuff is handled by shoreside and must be completed prior to the cruise.  If you think something is missing, contact your First Mate or Shoreside Sailor Services prior to the cruise to attempt to fix things!

Usually missing dates indicate a charter.  If a cruise is sold out, it typically is shown but noted as sold out so that people may check back for cancelations.

2 hours ago, basenji56 said:

Next next cruise is scheduled for February 2025. Prices are getting too high. Product is good but I found much of the food to be mediocre--especially the beef dishes.  Tastes vary.

Yup, we're cruising what we have booked for 2024, but no plans to book anything else.  I know the previous rates were a bargain, but the new rates are far too high.  We've found food quality to be inconsistent; some sailings were good, others less so.

All very interesting comments, Walter.  I don't know if I should be concerned about the 14 night TA on Scarlet in April.  On our first cruise on Valiant, the crew in The Galley was sometimes standing in clusters; I took it that they didn't know what to do or didn't have the idea that if your area didn't need you, perhaps you should help out elsewhere.  There were some wonderful crew, but there were more of the type that seemed a little hesitant than normal.  This was the cruise where a dining server commented that she earned three times as much on VV without tips as she had on her previous line with tips.  The only other place we encountered crew issues was The Wake where they had 4 "suits" standing around looking officious while dinner service took 2 1/2 hours--a total contrast with RD where the managers would jump in and clear a table or whatever else to keep things moving. 

I did hear that VV is having trouble keeping bartenders because while their salary is better than salary + share of official tips, it is far less common on VV for them to be handed a dollar or two "off the economy" with each drink purchase...and repeated enough times, that meant that they were seeing less money.  I do know that VV increased the cost of one spa service by 30% between our first and second cruise.  First time, I was pleased to see it was the same price as other lines but on VV included the tip; hence, a bargain.  THe second time the price increase added basically the 18% auto grat on the other line as well as the extra we'd typically add.  

Oh well, will be interesting to see how it is on Scarlet.

We've always had 2 as well; I thought it was a supervisor and an assistant as the one introduced herself on the first day and we basically didn't see her after that.  The other one did all the work from what we could tell.  It doesn't matter to me what their system is; we had good care on each of our cruises.  

There's no excuse for what you described....I know they work hard, but it is a customer service position.

Wow, we've always had great stateroom hosts who did anything we asked.  Admittedly, we didn't ask for anything out of the ordinary, but to hear that one refused to convert the bed is really odd since VV made such a big deal out of that feature.  I get not doing it every day for every cabin as that is a lot of work and many people don't want it converted.  I understand not allowing guests to do it themselves.  But I've never heard of a host refusing to do it....unless this is something new since our Nov. cruise.

Our hosts have been more of the type who ask if we need anything any time we see them in the hall, in addition to doing the room most days (we sometimes have sleep late days and just tell them to ignore our room.)

Some items come in slim cans.  Sodas are in the standard cans or fountain.