cantgetin

As noted, there is no rule about how many times you can eat in the same restaurant. Based on the length of the cruise, you are limited to either 1 or 3 advance dinner reservations per restaurant. In the lowliest cabin on the ship, you can waitlist or do same day reservations. As a Mega, you can get just about anything you want concerning dining, including having meals from a given restaurant served in your suite. Just FYI, they are very good about allergies--it should be noted on their computers when you check in at any dining venue, and your servers will ask as well.

We weren't thrilled with the dining, but I thought it was just because we were tired of the same menus. The Razzle Dazze menu was changed about 9 months ago and our 3 favorite items were removed (dinner). We did enjoy some of the nightly specials in The Galley--they are listed in the daily program. The food on VV is better than the "normal" food on other lines, but not as good as most of the specialty dining on other lines. Some things were great, overall I'd give it a "quite good." There was supposed to be a new Test Kitchen "C" menu coming out--not yet on our last cruise. Of the lines we' ve cruised, I'd rank the normal food on Celebrity as next best. It gets hard to compare with the "ship within a ship" programs and such on other lines. The nice thing on VV is that you get the good food whether you are in a solo inside or a massive suite (although in the suite, you could have it sent to your room).

Princess just revamped their Princess Premier program to make it quite similar to Virgin. It adds $90 per day to your cruise cost and includes unlimited specialty dining, tips, unlimited use of their top internet package, and unlimited beverages including alcohol up to $20 per drink, soda, premium coffee and tea, smoothies, etc. Also fitness classes and reserved theatre seating as well as some other goodies. Obviously there are huge differences between VV and Princess in terms of ships and atmosphere, but it does imply that the more "all inclusive" concept is gaining traction in other lines.

McAlpin is no longer the CEO, and when he was, he was essentially worthless in responding to issues. I sent correspondence about a very significant issue with HA boarding, and 4 months later received a ink to a page on their web site which I'd seen prior to our cruise and didn't deal with the issue...sent by one of his minions. The new CEO is a younger man named Nirmal.

Depends hugely on how full your sailing is (and recently most sailings have been quite full). Set menu for the whole cruise, but and jon noted, there can be occasional special dishes, particularly on longer cruises. The Galley has a nightly special, and some of these are excellent. If you don't make reservations in advance, you can make them after boarding.

Also, the outdoor part at the back of THe Galley is often pleasant (weather permitting...it is covered, but 95 degrees is not so nice There are many great ideas on this thread, most of which would not require structural changes to the ships. I hope someone at VV is paying attention!

I think VV is still experimenting with pricing. THey obviously priced low with lots of perks early on to get people on board. Now that doesn't seem to be a problem, and prices have increased greatly.All other lines seem to have raised fares as well. As long as they can fill ships at these prices, they will stay high.If they aren't sellng, we'll see various short term "sale" prices or "deals" to keep them full.

All food outlets on VV have vegan and vegetarian options. Test Kitchen offers a vegan menu and a vegetarian menu (different nights) as well as A and B menus for omnivores. Razzle Dazzle is plant forward, but also has a "naughty menu" that includes meats and fish. Bottom line, each restaurant will have items that will meet your dietary desires, as will The Galley. Dining reservations start at midnight Eastern time 45 days before embarkation day; 60 days for suites. When the app crashes, you can contact your TA or shoreside sailor services at VV. MY TA will make reservations for me at midnight Eastern time. She asks me to send her a list of what I want on what nights and preferred times and will do her best. More reservations will open on embarkation day and after boarding there will be a place to go for dining assistance. It is usually in Razzle Dazzle, but on our most recent cruise, was at Pink Agave. THere will be plenty of crew on deck 7 to tell you where to go. Sailor Services does not make dining reservations....not on embarkation day or ever. Don't waste your time standing in their line. There are multiple drag shows--Around the World, THe Diva Sings her Secrets, Bingo with the Diva, Cabaret with the Diva, etc. As above, show up and line up 30 minutes in advance--no more reservations. If you are in a site, you will be escorted to the front of the line. Excursions book in advance. Other things that can be booked must wait till you are on board.

For a company that pretends to be so modern and sophisticated, they have some of the worst IT going.

You got good answers above. I carry my large mug so I can take my ice tea wherever I go. You can do the same with water or you can get a glass from any bar. Some people just find it easier to fill a water bottle or covered cup and carry it around. There are lots of water refill places around the ship, but again any bar can give you water. We got the premium wifi free and it made a big difference. If all you want to do is email type stuff, standard is fine. We have had quite a bit of variation from cruise to cruise with the standard, so having the premium was nice. I heard there was quite a price increase for it....sorry, don't know the current cost. Scarlet Night basically starts at 9pm and runs as late as you want....the preliminaries start earlier. PJ, differen tnight, different atmosphere, starts about 11pm....over by 1 but feel free to leave earlier. Lots of people are tired on the first night. If I had a 4pm terminal arrival time, I'd show up about 3. You will board as soon as everyone with an earlier time than you have is on board. The later times are usually moved up significantly. Lyft works great for us. Our last cruise out of Miami, the hotel offered a shuttle; I'd take a Lyft instead. The shuttle driver was a jerk. We usually ask for a late check out at the hotel, which gets us 1pm in most cases. My suggestion would be to get something to eat after that and then head to the port MIA airport area to terminal is about 20 minutes, FLL area is about 45 minutes depending on traffic. There is one small coffee shop in the terminal area, so not much to do there. Sold out suites does not equal a full ship. However, most of the ships are going out a lot more full than they used to be.

Everything I'm seeing is at least double what we paid for our last cruise and not nearly as many perks.......not booking at this time.

You can get soda from the person who takes your pizza order.

Call your TA or Virgin Voyages shoreside sailor services.

Personal choice...choc chip, macadamia nut. I don't care for the oatmeal. Peanut butter is OK. THey had different choices on different days.

We go to Grounds Club during the afternoon to see which cookies they have and get some for the night if they have the good ones.

Yes, there is a shuttle to the main transportation area by the Columbus statue. On our cruises, cost has ranged from free to $5; I'm guessing that when it was free, the cruise line had paid for it. The terminal arrival time that people showed you above is for when your departure port is Barcelona. If I understood, you are boarding in Rome and BCN is a port of call.

As above, check in does not start till 1:30, with boarding minutes after. Baggage can be dropped off any time after 10, but there is nothing to do in the terminal area other than a small coffee shop. We fly in the night before and request a late check out from our hotel--they will usually offer 12 or 1. Boarding is initially rockstars, then loyalty (deep blue extras) and splash of romance purchasers. Then it goes by time. With a 3pm terminal arrival time, my suggestion would be that you show up in the range of 2:15-2:30. You will drop luggage, then line up outside the terminal in roped off areas based on your assigned time. Unless there is some sort of weird event, you will likely be checking in about 2:30 or just a bit later. Check in and boarding go really fast, and those with later times almost alway get in significantly earlier than their times.

As above, the only benefit of a "bar tab" in advance is the bonus that you get. The down side is that it is "use it or lose it." You have the basic prices above. We would each have a glass or 2 of wine at dinner and didn't use anywhere near to our free bar tab. If you don't have a bar tab, the cost goes to any "loot" you have and then to your folio (credit card charged at end of cruise). Remember that VV prices already include the tip, so that $8 glass of wine really costs $8.THe prices above really are correct....the most expensive we got of anything was no more than $2 above what is listed....cocktails were $11-16, $14 is a good average. So....buy a small tab to get the bonus or decide that it isn't worth the risk of not using all the "paid" amount, your call.

We've been on VV in Barcelona 4 times. For us, it has been 2 of each and they have not been sequential. I think VV prefers WTC--it is closer to town, cheaper for us, and VV made a big deal f being one of the few ships that can use it. Reality is that they are about 2 miles apart, but taxis, etc. have an added fee to enter the Moll area and it is too far to walk to pubic transportation or into town.

If you are in a suite, you get the benefits of that suite regardless of whether you booked it initially, got it on a bid, of upgraded to it at the terminal. THe perks are basically a much bigger space and lots of alcohol. You'll have a stocked bar. Depending on your agent, you may be allowed to trade out the contents for what you want. You can attend the nightly reception on Richard's Rooftop which includes alcohol and snacks (mostly sushi and poki bowls). Lots of other little things.

Completely agree. These cabins should also be noted to not have a hammock during the booking process. Yes, there is a list where we can find them, but we shouldn't need to verify. VV should make it obvious. It sounds stupid, but the hammock is one of the things that makes VV better than other lines.

There are a small number of cabins there the attachments are not available to support the balcony. This is due to the curvature of the hull.

It is going to be interesting to see how these points translate in real life. There were TA cruises listed as available on points ranging from 280K to 320K points. Those same cruises for 2 in a Sea Terrace are $3600 - $4500. Various activities were available for 20K-30K points. And yet they say here that 40K points can get me 2 round trip flights. This looks like about a 10 fold "disconnect" to me. Of course, I'm thinking US to Europe flights, while they may be talking about 2 flights from London to Barcelona. It all looks very interesting, and I'm guessing that more info will be forthcoming. We currently have DBE, originally by status match but later qualified thru number of cruises. Obviously no one knows how long that program will last, but if they remove our status, we will be seriously unhappy cruisers.

I couldn't really see the perks (if any). I could see where I can earn points and some ways I can spend them. Mu current "travel" card has no exchange fee, so this would need to be very good for me to switch.

You can find almost any info or mis-information you want on the internet. I'm sure they offered the "no single supplement" because the ships were not full. Even with the sail, there were only 1400 passengers on the cruise I was on where that sale was applicable and there were a lot of solos. Bottom line, a cabin with one person is better than an empty cabin. As the ships are filling more, it is less likely that it will be offered again. But never say never. The ultimate goal is to maximize revenue on each sailing. I'm sure they are strategically looking at each sailing and offering to see what is best--bids for upgrades, "kids free," second passenger discounts, no single supplement, etc. It may be that it is cost effective to offer "no single supplement" for "last minute" bookings on certain sailings only; maybe open that option 60-85 days in advance of sailing. For now, the best deal I can find for a solo is to book a solo cabin and then attempt to upgrade. Or invite a friend to cruise with you (I understand this isn't always possible or desirable.)