cantgetin

We got the Waygu once on our last cruise--I agree, not impressed. The normal marinated beef was a lot better. So live and learn. Yes, tablemates do influence the meal. We had a party of 4 who spoke no English (one of the 4 spoke limited English with the server and translated for the others). Not the best. The next time one of the others shared a hobby with one of us, and they chatted all night. The other two visits were polite, decent people....most people know that there are certain topics that don't belong at a dinner table with strangers. We've met great and neutral people on VV....no problems with anyone seated near us for meals, some occasional stressed, rude people in other settings. (rare)

On board now....our server specifically asked if we wanted another order of the marinated beef, and promptly appeared with it. We've been in similar situations on our previous sailings; again, more food quickly appeared and was cooked. When we've had Korean BBQ in Asia, there was no question...we cooked it ourselves, but we were also at tables for 2. Gumbae is different, but you can have the food cooked the way you like it and have as much as you want.

OK, bottom line, it wasn't what I ordered. This morning Galley was "off" again. My omelet and 24 hour oats came out very quickly. THe other person ordered a toasted bagel which also came quickly, but the French Toast hadn't come by the time we had finished all the other food. We did flag down the server at one point who checked on t and said it would be a few more minutes. My other concern in THe Galley is that I wish they had a uniform standard for the changeover from breakfast to lunch. Today, at 11:30 the fruit, yogurt, cereal station was completely cleaned and closed at 11:35. The past 2 days, the salad station did not start to break down breakfast until noon, which meant it was not set up to make salads until after 12:15. I know...first world whining. I'm reflecting back about a million years when I earned college money working in food service. "Turnover" was 10:45 and there was a 15 minute period where if we still had some left from breakfast, we could serve it....and we'd have lunch up as quickly as possible, but we could also point out that we'd enter their order but lunch items wouldn't be available till 11. I don't care what the timing is, but consistency among stations and from one day to the next would be helpful. Yesterday afternoon was interesting. We reported someone smoking pot on their balcony which was so dense that we went inside and closed the door. Security arrived 10-12 minutes later, by which time the smell was gone. We later learned that it has been an issue in several areas of the ship with multiple reports daily. One person had a go-pro on a stick and posted a poorly lit photo of the supposed offender in the balcony next to theirs. Wish they would at least take it to the smoking area.... Again, overall the cruise is very good.

The token thing was happening in October 2022 and I used it for a booking. But then VV repriced the cruises and gave better loot/bar tab. I had to give up my $200 from "tokens," but I got $374 off the fare and added $600 in free bar tab (in addition to the $600 loot that carried over). Let's think....$200 in loot vs. $374 in cash....seemed like a no brainer to me.

One that gets you sent to CC jail if you mention them....I've been told to mind my manners twice.

Loot can be used for any purchase on the ship including but not limited to spa, shore excursions, shopping, alcohol, etc. Bar tab can be used on any beverage that has a cost and is purchased outside of a store (does not include items bought in duty free shop). Many VV special offers include some amount of loot and/or complimentary bar tab.

October 2022, 1400 Sailors boarded the ship, and I agree, about 200+ Sailing Club. This TA, 1813 sailors boarded the ship, ballpark 300 Sailing Club. Once the status match is gone, I expect fewer people to qualify....but I do know people who have done more than 10 VV cruises already! The nice thing is that the extension thru April 30 qualified us as Sea Rovers....and the only known benefit for that is $100 bonus on bar tabs purchased for sailings thru 2024. I expect other benefits will be announced when DBE ends.

The app, in my experience, has always been wrong prior to boarding. For me, it was showing $350 when I knew I had $750. The website and my travel agent's info had it correct. It took about 24 hours after embarkation to straighten out this time. On our previous cruise, the app got it right within an hour or so after boarding. I don't know what their problems are, but the app is totally wonky. I've been notified today that I've missed 3 fitness classes and am being charged $0. OK, so no charge, but I only signed up for one class on Monday and one class today. I attended and swiped in on both of them/. Sailor Services said the app was messed up due to the time changes.

Today might cancel the good things I've said about The Galley. I ordered the turkey and swiss panini straight from the menu, no alterations. They brought my friend's lunch and brought me something I couldn't even recognize, so they server took off trying to figure out who that was for....then they brought me a ham and roast beef panini. By the time I got what I had ordered, my friend had finished her lunch. Not a stellar performance today.

True, but then I have to look at my phone....if I leave the phone on the desk, in my tote bag, or wherever, the alarm will alert me.

The bottom line is that no one knows. Last time, they didn't announce the extension of DBE until the day it supposedly expired. Premium wifi is available for $10 per day if you don't get it free, regular wifi is free. Priority boarding exists for suites, Romance at Sea package, and a few other deals, not sure about DBE (again) Boarding at Miami is normally a piece of cake provided JLo isn't around. Show up 30 minutes before your assigned time and you'll be on board within a few minutes of your time. Laundry is available for $30 per huge bag if not on DBE......so nothing is going away; it is just a matter of whether you pay or not.

We didn't on Saturday.

he Dock has lots of seating, but I'm a 70 year old with bad knees. If I get down on those chair things that are 9 inches or so off the ground, I can't get back up without something to grab onto, etc.....so that limits me to the bar type stools or the seats which are more like normal chair height.....and those are often full. I've been to The Dock twice now when the only seats remaining were those low ones. I'm not blaming the ship....it isn't their fault that my body isn't 20 or 40 years old. I have not had trouble finding seating in other areas. The Galley is almost a different place than it was in 2022! Quick, good service, the grab and go stations have items in them, etc. Today's plans...did VHS workout (I do what I can and don't do the floor stuff), book club in a few minutes. Bingo with the Diva this afternoon, The Hostess sings herSecrets tonight. There are trivia events this afternoon and evenings....might do one or not...might hang out at the pool deck/hot tubs. I've taken to setting alarms for things I've booked so I get the warning to "look at the schedule."

Wifi has been quite good. We have premium at no charge on 2 devices as part of Deep Blue Extras. It is infinitely better than it was in October 2022. We are on Starlink and I'm testing at 8 Mbps download and 7 upload. We had slow service and mixed up items in Razzle Dazzle on Bimini day, but the past 2 days it has been a different crew in there and it has been good. That first brunch left us looking at each other and hoping it wouldn't be 2 weeks of that! Self done entertainment...thru a social media group, we have organized dance classes in Latin, bellydancing, and ??, a book swap which will meet a couple of times, several events for solo cruisers (in addition to those provided by VV), a football coach doing lectures on "American football," etc. From VV, we have book club, several game/card tournaments (today was Uno, yesterday was Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart), day camp crafts, various musical events, Bingo with Diva, Seahorse auction, a comedian....our plans for tonight are stargazing and a musical act. I'll try to give more on events tomorrow. I do know that they brought on at least 6 entertainers in addition to the VV crew to keep us occupied. On October 2022, they only had 3.

I've written a few posts already about what's happening on the current TA, but as I keep getting questions, it might help to keep everything under one heading. Overall, things are great. We have 1813 Sailors on board per the tablet at check in, "slightly under 2000" from a person who works in Sailor Services. There are people on board insisting that the ship can't be that full; I believe that this perception is because VV has gotten better at spreading out guest activities as well as that since this is a long cruise, sailors have formed their own activity groups. Cabin host service is outstanding. On day 1, we made a couple simple requests--that we have an extra roll of toilet paper (there were two almost empty rolls in the cabin at check in), and that we might tend to sleep late in the mornings, but would put the light on for service. Each time we've seen our team in the hall, they've asked if everything is OK, and it has been. The long lines at Sailor Services have disappeared. Again, we haven't needed anything. All the accounts that were a mess in the app prior to boarding were corrected within 24 hours. But prior to this morning, there were long lines any time we were in the area. The shops are still closed; we were notified of the supplier switch prior to our sailing and that the shops would open April 26 or 27. The sundries (necessary stuff you might have forgotten) shop has had limited hours. It will be interesting to see what has been unloaded from all those boxes being moved about. Dinner last night was in The Wake. Service was SLOW. We had been seated at our table for more than 30 minutes before our order was taken. I guess that if you wanted to spend this time on a fancy date, this might be OK. For us, it was very slow. Dinner, from entering the restaurant to exiting, was almost 2 1/2 hours, and none of the delay was due to us. That said, the food was excellent quality, better than on our previous cruise. The filet was no longer dry. The Hanger steak had good flavor. THe other menu items were excellent, as is typical. We've had a few restaurant issues in other locations; fortunately none of those happened last evening. We had evening activities planned, but ended up going back to our cabin and sleeping. Service in The Galley has been a huge improvement over our previous cruises. It is a matter of a minute or so from the time we raise that flag until orders are taken. The food has been served promptly and accurately. There is a special of the day each evening from 5-10 which is listed on the daily info sheet but not on the app, as well as a burger special during lunch. There is also a soup and a salad special each lunch, and sometimes a taco special. Probably because this is a long cruise, there are more entertainers on board than usual. The events we've attended have been good; the biggest issue yesterday was that The Dock had no seating remaining. I'm up for questions....and I'll add comments throughout the cruise.

That's probably the max, if it is filled to the absolute brim...which is isn't. The water in the pool gets splashed out, evaporated, etc. so is typically an inch or two less than the max.

You can view what is available without canceling, but you will need to cancel your existing reservation before you can make a new one. It won't let you make two dinner reservations on the same night IN ADVANCE. After boarding, you can eat at two restaurants in the same night but one needs to be a walk up. Our last night, previous cruise, we did appetizers at one and entree/dessert at another.

For those who read of my confusion in RD yesterday, we did brunch again today. You would not have known it was the same place. First, all of the crew was different (I think today's RD crew were the people at Bimini yesterday.). Service was prompt, efficient, and totally correct. Good food. no complaints from us.

This was because VV changed merchandising companies. THe shops are closed on our sailing for the first 4-5 days. Nothing to do with the filming.

That's all I know of the JLo story. Boarding was a mess. Worst I've ever seen it. Once on board, things were good other than the schedule being so off. Sailaway party delayed till tonight, 30 minutes only. Bimini today started off rainy and thunder, but cleared up around noon and was beautiful thereafter. The ship still seems a little disorganized...???lots of new servers in restaurants. They just seem a bit confused. Brunch in Razzle Dazzle this morning, my appetizer arrived before waffles as it should. My table mate's arrived after we had completely finished our meal. We thought they had forgotten and decided to not make a big deal about it, and then it scored a very late arrival. They also messed up the food of the tables on either side of us. But, the buttermilk waffles were excellent . Good Happenings cast, other entertainment. Good food, good people, etc. Great room host and assistant. So far wifi is good. Lots of nice Sailors on board; some we'd met thru on line channels before some not.

yup

On board now....the flag system is working great. Very minimal time between seating/order/food arrival.

Yeah, right......didn't happen.

General rule....if you want to attend something that is listed as full, go to the standby line. MANY people don't cancel reservations but don't bother to show up.

According to my fellow traveler (masters in film production, works in LA in the field). this was all due to JLo's contract a (there were a few words about personality issues of "stars"). Statements about how the film crew did not need to inconvenience all the Sailors....then needed a space to serve as a "green room" (prep and snack area) and the actual areas to be used for filming to be closed off. This appears to be primarily The Manor /most of deck 6 forward, and one restaurant. Specific comments along the lines of "while they couldn't. have sailors interfering in the film areas, the only reason that they couldn't have been in other areas of the ship was the the star put it in her contract." Feelings that it was totally wrong to inconvenience thousands of sailors across two sailing and that it had nothing to do with "the marketing department" and everything to do with what one individual demanded."