cantgetin

The web site says a week. Mine took about 3 days. Take a screen shot of your "add ons" just in case they don't "have you on the list" when you get to the terminal. They can be really wierd depending on who is working!

The two ships are basically identical. THere are some changes between the first 2 ships and the later two, but Valiant and Scarlet are identical twins

We've done 3 VV cruises, where the ship did not depart during the party. Party was either on time or close (or close to it...one time a delay of the party was announced), while the ship always started moving later.

To can choose your own room from the beginning if you use a travel agent or call VV to book. If you book on line, your cabin will be assigned but you can change it by calling VV, There are other advantages to using a Gold Tier agent--I'd highly recommend one.

The Wake filet had greatly improved in November 2023. It had been quite dry on previous cruises.

You can't book shows till you are on board the ship. You can usually change your dinner bookigs without problems.

You can't book shows until you are on board the ship. You can't book dinners "the night before the widow opens" unilss you are referring to being in a different time zone than the midnight opening, (Eastern time) A large percentage of dinner reservations are held back until after boarding as well....so no dinner reservations in advance doesn't mean you can't get what you want after boarding, We have always found it easier to change after boarding than to start with nothing, Can you get reservations a day after the window opens? Sometimes. My agent has me send her an email of what I want in advance, I tryto make my own on the app, but if that doesb't work, I send her a pm in the middle of the night and she takes over!

The app is crap most of the time. Call Sailor Services shoreside and tell them what you want booked (you sometimes need to be a little pushy about them doing it as their standard answer is that you can do it on the app!). As above, as a mega, your "rockstar agent" will get anything you want, even if it waits till after boarding. And, if you used a "First Mate," (travel agent), they are able to do your reservations thru their portal as well.

Exactly as above--you should get an email that your status match has been approved. THen go to your on line account and you should see "Deep Blue Extras" and a $100 additional bar tab added to your "add ons." DBE used to include a bottle of bubbly, but due to customer feedback, it was changed to a $100 bar tab (in addition to any bar tab you already have). Also, if you purchase any additional bar tab, you should get a $100 bonus rather than the standard $50 bonus. You do not get bonus on a bar tab that is a perk as part of your booking, only on one that you pay for.

Interesting--Disney ships have an outlet i their bathrooms that only works for electric razors.

There are no outlets in bathrooms until you get to the suite level. You'll need something that it battery operated and/or rechargeable if you need to use it in the bathroom. My rechargeable water-pic is not as strong as the plug in, but gets the job done. FWIW, we were told that outlets in the bathrooms presented a "safety issue."

If you want a glass at dinner, open the bottle in your room and carry a glass of wine into a restaurant. You can carry a glass from anywhere on the ship to anywhere else. If you bring a bottle that was not purchased on board to a restaurant, you will be charged the corkage fee. Your stateroom host or any bartender can supply you with glasses.

The food in most restaurants on VL in October/Nov 2023 was greatly improved from April/May 2023. Servers told us that recipes had changed. The only place we were less happy with was Razzle Dazzle with their new evening menu and no "secret steak." No longer our favorite evening restaurant.

Yes, if..... The problem is that there is a long list of "ifs." First, if there is a medical or legal issue on board that will be disembarked before anyone else can get off. You are assuming the ship will dock on time--not usually a problem if Bimini is the stop before, but there can be delays due to things like rescue operations on the way in. Then there is Customs--not usually an issue, but one never knows with them. And finally traffic. On our last cruise, we were basically at a standstill for about 10 minutes, then the problem cleared and it was an under 30 minute ride. My question would be what happens IF you miss your flight? Are you on SW with the level that allows you to move to a later flight at no additional fee? Or are you going to be charged some outrageous change fee by another airline? Or have to buy a new flight totally and hope for a refund later? Or are there no later flights that will get you to your destination that day?

Glad you were ultimately OK. Our experience is that they are MUCH more careful about allergies than about "requests." It shouldn't be that way, but again, just my experience.

Our experience was that the dior had to be locked. We came back from an all day excursion to a hot room and couldn't cool it down. THe balcony had been closed tightly and the drapes closed. We eventually called Sailor Services....they sent our stateroom host to show us that the door was not locked, thus no AC. Interestingly, on our most recent cruise, there was a sticker on the door saying it must be locked. This sticker wasn't there in the cabin where we had the problem. Not trying to argue, just stating our exerence.

Just to be clear, DBE does NOT include a $300 bar tab. The $300 or $600 bar tab is a booking bonus (for booking while that promotion is happening). DBE does include a $100 bar tab (it replaced a bottle of bubbly that was originally included). DBE also gives you a $100 bar tab bonus, rather than the standard $50 bonus, for each $300 bar tab you purchase. The bonus does not apply to any free bar tabs. Thus, in the example above, the $300 tab is the booking bonus for the current promotion, the $100 is the freebie that is part of DBE, and the DBE package is all the other DBE benefits (priority boarding, laundry, Grounds Club credit, premium wifi, etc). Separating out the $100 bar tab has something to do with their accounting. As I noted earlier, I've always found the "my account" section of the website to be more accurate than the app prior to boarding. But somehow it clears up within the first 18 hours of the cruise, and if not, Sailor Services can fix it. Take your screen shots!

Did your server not ask about allergies? Ours always have, whether in the sit down restaurants or in The Galley. I totally understand you wanting to watch the final stages of the preparation. Too bad you can't see the total prep in any of the restaurants!

As long as you are using the same credit card to guarantee the onboard spending, you won't need to do anything in order for you to use the same "loot" and "bar tab" pools of funds. I take screen shots of the correct "add ons" from the website and my TA sends me a copy of her page. Somehow though, everything seems to straighten out during the first night on the ship.

It depends on whether the vendors working with VV can add additional transportation/guides/whatever as well as whether people cancel their advance reservations. Can you book excursions while on board? Sometimes. However, if you can find reputable third party providers, I'd probably do that so you know you have what you want.

There is no $200 Loot from DBE. Don't know where you got that. There is $100 bar tab. This is supposedly per cabin, but on our last cruise it was applied per person. If you used an agent, they can see what has been applied to your booking and can screenshot it to you. My experience has been that what they see does not necessarily agree with either the app or the account on the web site and the app is rarely accurate until the first night on board when it somehow magically gets fixed. As to the $200 on next voyage--some people fought for that and got it. I can't address your specific situation. Also, some people got loot added when they had a cruise cancel and had to rebook...again, don't know if this applied to you. If you used an agent who has at least 10 cabins booked on a sailing and is a Gold Tier agent, you might see and extra $100 loot based on that.

There are no tips charged on ANYTHING on VV ships--not on drinks, spa, etc. ALL gratuities are included in the cruise fare (not just the daily fee that some other cruise lines include in add on packages). You are right that there are no drink packages on VV, but the bar tab system makes a lot more sense for may passengers. A drink package never made sense to us as one of us doesn't drink and the other drinks minimally. The need to buy 2 packages at $70-140 + tips each was crazy. However, on VV we get anywhere from $100-$700 bar tab at no charge, and although we'd never need more, could pay $300 for $400 in credit with the bonus from VV. If we didn't get the current free offer, purchasing a single tab would give us a 25% discount AND there would be no tips. The only time VV adds taxes or fees to drinks is when it is mandated by the location of the ship--when the ship is not in international waters or on Med cruises that don't visit a non-EU country. Then, yes, those pesky taxes that are charged by all cruise lines add about $2 USD to the drink price.

There have been several different offers over the past 2 years....the current MNVV and $600 bar tab and DBE is the best I've seen, BUT cruise fares have gone up astronomically. We have an upcoming cruise that to book today would cost 4 times what we paid for it. Our first cruise was about $500 more and included only $200 in "JoLo loot." And with all that was included, even that was a great deal. Yes, at this point it looks like the days of amazing fares are over.

This is a BIG reason for travel insurance. Many policies cover death or serious illness in family members and if you purchased early enough to have "pre-existing condition" coverage, that applies to those family members as well. You do need to read the fine print on each policy, but there are at least a couple of on line sites that allow you to compare coverages and prices. And a reminder that coverage purchased thru the cruise line will cover only those items bought thru the line, while private insurance can cover air fare, hotels, etc. as well as the cruise fare.

Yes. We've also done multiple crossings on other lines, but I figured only those on VV were relevant to this group.