cantgetin

Expedited boarding means you can show up at 1:00 and board starting about 1:30. You can ignore your assigned time. You will get a ribbon bracelet for Sailing Club (status match) and for Romance. Hint--you can't loosen the bracelets, only tighten them. You can cut them off and carry them when needed. Sailing club is only needed at embarkation for priority boarding and for entry to the cocktail party.

At check in, the agent will have a tablet that will say 402/2023, meaning that 402 out of 2023 expected check ins are completed. You can ask any guest interacting crew--they were told at their pre-board meeting. THey may give you an exact figure, or say something like "a bit over 1800" when our number was 1813. They know and. care because that number influences their work schedule and what they are allowed to do in guest areas on off duty hours (eating in restaurant, for instance)

email in less than a day.

As above....and anything you can't get on the app, put your rockstar agent on. A lot depends on how crowded the ship is, I also totally agree with getting anything you can on the app now. It is easier to change a reservation than to start from scratch at the restaurant in person if it comes to that. They will do whatever they can to give you what you want. We went in several times with "we are booked for 7, but can we get anything later?" and they always managed it. If you are linked with your friends, you can make reservations for all 3 of you at any time.

Nothing appeared on the menu. The servers rarely knew what the specials were (in fairness, there were 6 or more each day!). In The Galley, you had to walk around and look before sitting to order. The dinner specials were posted in the paper guide each day, and the servers knew those.

Reservations start at 12:00am. With the romance package, you can show up at the terminal at 1:00. Boarding will start about 1;30 with suite guests first, then Sea Rangers/Rovers, then Romance purchasers.

It depends on your cruise. On the April 2023 TA, there were daily specials in Burgers, salads, tacos, NOODLE AROUND, sandwiches, deserts, and casserole type things in the bread place, This was at lunch...and sometimes places had more than one special. It was not unusual to find 2 salad specials and 2 soup specials at the salad place--these were things that were different, requiring ingredients not normally available. At dinner each night there was another meal special. In addition, many of the restaurants had nightly specials of entrees, deserts, or both, Noodle around had 3 standard options + one special most days,

I don't think the people machine is an x-ray. I think (but could be wrong) that it is a metal detector,

Water's posts, as usual, reflect our experience accurately. There are ways that VV could improve the experience, but after 29 nights on VV, in both the US and Europe, I've never experienced anything like leisuretraveler223's complaints. If you want to party, it is there, particularly late in the evenings. If you don't want to party, there are lovely venues with music or other activities. I will note that food quality in some restaurants was not as good on our most recent cruise as previously.

If there is a problem at The Dock, it is the lack of seating for those with physical problems...essentially "normal" chairs. There are the large beds, the funky chairs that are barely inches off the ground, and a few bar stools around tables...and a very few chairs of a more standard height. As an older person with a traveling companion who has a physical issue, we were unable to attend two events at The Dock on our last cruise as there were no available chairs that we would have been able to get out of--only the very near the ground chairs were remaining. Accessible seating (that does not require walking stairs) has also been a problem in the Red Room. There is no way on the app to note that accessible seating will be required when you make a reservation for an event, and even when arriving 30 minutes early, the floor level seats may all be taken. The solution at the Red Room is that after checking in, you can take the elevator one floor up and there may be balcony seating still open. Most other lines have seating reserved for those needing to use mobility aids or unable to walk stairs.

If what you see is what you expected, great. If not, it is usually corrected within 24 hours of boarding.

Same at Barcelona

I obviously said something that is unclear. You don't get a $200 bonus for every $100 purchased. Your status match gives you a $100 bar tab. One time, no purchase necessary. Then, if you purchase a $300 tab, you get a $100 bonus as a "Sea Rover." SO....if you buy one $300 tab, you get a $100 bonus on it....total $400 + the $100 in the Deep Blue Extras. If you buy 2 bar tabs at $300 each (total $600,) you get 2 bonuses of $100....so $800 there PLUS the $100 freebie as part of Deep Blue Extras for a total of $900 Bottom line---ONE Deep Blue Extras bar tab of $100 Bonus of $100 for each purchased $300

On the 14 and 15 night transAtlantic sailings there have been multiple lunch specials daily in The Galley, a dinner special in The Galley which is announced in the paper schedule, and often one or more entree and/or desert specials in the sit down restaurants. If your server doesn't mention specials, ask!

29 nights on VV ships so far....no issues with "party atmosphere." Yes, there are late night parties if that's what you are looking for, but we were in bed before they started. There was plenty to do...and we certainly never found it to be a "sex ship." The average age on VV cruises as of 12/31/22 was 47 with. a range of 18-90s. VV seems to keep most of them happy.

Unless they run out of something. We couldn't get a couple cocktails toward the end of the 15 night TA because one of the ingredients was unavailable. They did suggest alternatives. The above listed cocktails at $15. We found them generally a the $11-13 range with a few higher. Bar tabs are sold in $300 increments and each one you purchase will have $50-125 bonus added depending on your loyalty status. Bonuses are not applied to free bar tabs. You can also carry on 2 bottles of wine per cabin, The loyalty status match has been extended thru 2023, so if you have loyalty on any other line, go to vv.com and see if you qualify for a match. This will get you an additional $100 free bar tab as well as the $100 bonus on purchased tabs, You will be charged tax where local laws require it (example, purchases while in port or less than 12 miles out to sea). Gratuities are included in prices.

Got off the ship today....😂. 20.80 Euros for cab from terminal to BCN for 2 people and lots of luggage. We could have put 2 more in the large cab easily. The folio was in my email before we were checked in at the airport. The wait from the time we got outside till we had a cab was about 5 minutes. VV had awnings set up so we could wait out of the sun. Interestingly, we left the terminal about 11 and there were already LOTS of embarking passengers lined up despite terminal arrival times not starting till 1:30. Guess the coffee shop will be doing lots of business while they wait. We had to cut thru their lines to get to the taxi area. For those who don't know, there is a plaza next to the VV terminal and a coffee shop on the other side of the plaza. Our experience was that there is no waiting inside the terminal prior to 30 minutes before your terminal arrival time. You can drop luggage early, either with VV personnel or with curbside porters. Did breakfast as Razzle Dazzle today as we weren't in a hurry. Service was slower than usual. Sam commented that they were "short" 5 servers; I don't know if that was due to end of contract disembarkations or if they had been reassigned to The Galley for disembarkation day. Still, well worth the time for a nice breakfast. It would be lovely if people would read the instructions for VV disembarkation rather than assuming what they'd done on other lines, but their issues didn't really affect me. The terminal people in Barcelona were absolutely lovely at disembarkation, same as when we embarked from this port. They were far better than the mess at Miami (which we have also encountered each time we've been there). Immigration had multiple desks open, barely glanced at passports. No Customs. To put travel to BCN in perspective....there was a group on our cruise who had early flights. They originally booked a 6 person/6 suitcase van for 8am departure/ 55 Euros (plan was self disembarkation, van pick up at 7:45, will leave at 8 regardless of whether or not all were there). They had a lot of interest, so were able to increase to a 13 person van for 80 odd Euros. That's the best deal I've heard of for transportation. Seems the VV transfers were rather disorganized and ran late...and cost $25 per person. I may do a trip report later (think I'll get home first), but I'm open to any questions.

I don't even know what pickleball is, but it was on the daily schedule.

VV's policy is that for cruises of 6 nights or less, you can make one reservation per restaurant (so a total of 6 reservations) starting at 45 days before your cruise. On cruises more than 6 nights, you can book up to 3 reservations at each restaurant, for a total of 18 reservations, again, starting 45 days before embarkation. This is current info as I had 15 advance reservations for our 15 night cruise. VV holds back about 35% of the reservations until after boarding to handle people who didn't know about advance reservations, couldn't make the app work, or whatever. Depending on length of cruise and number of sailors, these can fill fairly quickly after booking. The idea of walk ins is that IF a restaurant isn't full and has sufficient staff, they are happy to take extra people. This may be people who want to dine at that restaurant another time or had a change of plans for whatever reason. Sure, there is room for improvement in terms of food choices, but it is not nearly as limited as some posts sound.

It can't hurt to try using your highest match on any line. If it isn't high enough, you'll find out. If the drop down doesn't show your status, it likely won't be accepted,

It seems a little early to be worried about what the compensation might be for different sorts of bookings on a cruise that hasn't beeb canceled yet. I suspect that info till be forthcoming when VV decides exactly what is happening with these cruises.

On Valiant now...The Galley has a dinner special each evening as well as a burger special. The bread station has a couple of casserole type dishes as well. THe pizza place is open during dinner hours as is social club. We have 1813 sailors on board and no trouble doing walk ins at the main restaurants.

We had dinner at The Galley tonight. The Beef Wellington special was delicious and there was plenty of seating with rapid service.

200%. Yes, do mean twice what you paid as a future cruise credit. Many people used that to get suites....or multiple. cruises.

A FCC on this level would not be consistent with VV's previous compensations when voyages were canceled, but of course there is no way to predict what they would do this time.