cantgetin

45 days for Sailors in regular cabins, 60 days for Rockstars. I've seen various numbers (35%, 50% ) as to reservations held back for after boarding. I boarded yesterday, and can tell you that things that were "fully booked" in advance have definitely opened up for booking now. 1813 on board.

Let's all pretend that we haven't heard that before....maybe it will happen this time.

Onboard activities, other than restaurant dinner reservations are booked after boarding. FWIW, we boarded Valiant yesterday, went to our cabin after boarding, and got every reservation we were hoping for without difficulty. There are 1813 on board, many experienced Sailors.

On board now. For anyone following, we were notified about 10 days ago that boarding would begin at 2:45 along with a request to not show up prior to our assigned times. Rumors flowed as to why. We arrived about 2:45 to find a zoo with no embarkation processing happening, we had priority boarding and processing began about 3. We ultimately found a semi-explanative letter in our cabin....but the story rap The Roundabout stairs from 7 to 6 were roped off with such a notice. We were told that JLo had been/was (?) on board to film a commercial for VV. Supposedly the ship had to be empty during the time she filming, meaning that all the crew were sent to the terminal for 2 hours, thus delaying their turnover preparations....and resulting in the late boarding. Sailaway party will be tomorrow with bubbly for 30 minutes. We departed Port of Miami today about 9pm. Many of the usual embarkation afternoon/evening events were canceled with no notice; they just didn't appear in the app. These included the singles meet up and dinner, which appear on other days. Bottom line from my standpoint--priority boarding was a huge benefit. The crew outside the terminal seemed stressed, and basically didn't know what they were doing. For instance the people handing out the Sailor's Club wristbands only gave us one band, and specifically denied us a second. When we got to check in desk 18, the woman asked why we didn't both have bands, gave us a "look" when we explained, and promptly handed over a second band. My fellow cruiser requires wheelchair assistance for boarding and was pushing a walker, sitting whenever a spot could be found. We asked at least 6 crew outside where to get the wheelchair assist--we got answers from "inside" to I'm trying to call someone" to "go get in that line." (inside) which was the queue to the escalators (won't work for us). While I again was seeking help, a crew member named Monica approached my cabin mate, and the boarding was totally smooth from there. Our usual approach at that point is that I take the walker with the carry ons on the seat and someone pushes her in the chair. A "chair pusher" showed up within minutes as did 3 other "helpers," 2 of whom were sent away. The third took the walker from me and took us to our room. This was quite different from our boarding experience in Barcelona where the wheelchair went to the entrance of the ship....which was fine as she can walk short, level distances (the ramps and incline on the gangway as well as the size of the terminal present problems. It all worked out....but the lines and lack of organization at the terminal were something we hadn't experienced before. And for anyone concerned about carry on luggage size thru the scanners....she travels with a "medical bag" which we are reluctant to let out of our hands...it contains braces, etc. without which she would be severely limited on the ship and these items would be impossible to replace during a cruise. The bag, a medium sized duffle, fit easily thru the scanner with no issues at all. There are no size limits on VV carry ons beyond "must fit thru the scanner."

People did it last fall....it seemed VV was easier to deal with in this regard than some other lines.

Agree, a photo helps. Not having bags destroyed or missing is better.

VV lists a sea terrace cabin (balcony) at 225 sq. ft, and a sea view (porthole) at 197...but they are essentially the same cabin except for the balcony. We can't recommend TAs on this site, but I would highly suggest you use one. To sell VV, the agent must do their training; that's why some agents don't deal with them. However, those that do often have special offers available to you, even with a first booking. They can offer a zillion little helpful hints and services. I booked our first cruise on my own and my next 3 with an agent. Shoreside sailor services can be a pain...agents have their own portals and can avoid the crap! I'm not an agent or any sort of travel professional. Tootles!

Depends on the time and the night. You do a walk up and ask if you can eat at the bar. Pink Agave has a pre-dinner event at the bar--appetizers and drinks start at 5. It used to be walk up, now need reservations (as an activity) on the app.

You can contact SS thru the app or the tablet about any issue.

Those are cute....they are also not necessary. If they make you feel more secure, go for it. I'm a firm believer in multiple tags before I hand my luggage to the airport people. Many things about VV are different than other lines. There are many good You Tube videos about how things work on VV. I particularly like the ones by "Cruisin' Walter" because he is very factual with not much opinion and he is an active participant on CC. Unlike many other videos, I've never seen anything inaccurate in Walter's stuff.

Sorta, kinda, but not too bad. I hated the idea of having to carry my phone around, but in retrospect, it wasn't bad. You used to need it at The Galley, but with the flag system, if you know the menu, it is no longer needed. You give your order to the server. There are paper menus everywhere else. You need the app to make reservations when you first board and to change them later....and you can watch the safety film on the app or on your TV. And the app is convenient for messaging your cabin mate. It really didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.

You can drop off luggage early if you wish, and VV provides a shuttle bus to Bayside. That's helpful if you have a late "terminal arrival" time but need to be out of a hotel early. What happens is you give your luggage to the porter and tell him your room number. He prints a luggage tag, which you can verify before you walk away. Luggage shows up at your cabin within about 30 minutes of boarding. There have been instances of luggage not arriving...few and far between, but it happens. If your luggage isn't there 30 minutes after you board, contact Sailor services so it can be located before the ship departs. We also use air tags on checked bags. Alternatively, provided that your luggage fits thru the scanner, you can choose to take it on board yourself. Many people do short cruises with relatively little luggage. If you are placing your luggage outside on the last night, you leave the same luggage tags attached. If you remove them, you make more work for your cabin steward as he will have to print new ones. They will be arranged in the terminal by floor. If you are doing self disembarkation, you can take them off.

If you order from the menu, it is easy to point it out and have it corrected. If you do a special mix, they can do interesting charges.

When they do an overnight, you are totally on your own. The ports and gangways are open all night long....

Limited appetizer menu (no charge), limited drink menu (regular prices)

As above, supposedly you can arrive within 15 minutes of a restaurant reservation; you might have to wait a few minutes if a table is not immediately ready. Most of the time, we were seated immediately on walk ins! The policy on not leaving the main floor seating during Dual Reality is strict in order to prevent injury to the performers. If you need to leave, sit on the upper level. We have walked out on other shows, not because we had reservations, but because the show was just not good/we were not enjoying it. You aren't required to remain seated anywhere else. I do agree with the above--after a show, people rush to form lines at restaurants, so this is not a good way to organize your schedule. In fact, you can look at a show and if not attending, schedule dinner 15 minutes before it is scheduled to end. You'll be seated immediately and can chuckle at the line you avoided. I've never been rudely treated over seating at any restaurant; not saying it doesn't happen, only that it didn't happen to us. We were treated poorly when we did as we were told and entered THe Wake on the lower level. The first time, no problem. There were crew on the lower level communicating with the upper check in by walkie talkie. The second time, we were informed that we "had to" check in upstairs, but my cruise partner can't walk stairs. They then wanted me to go up, check in, and come back down (68, with chemo fuzz on my head at that time rather than any real hair). After that, we started having me get off the elevator on the top floor and my partner riding down an additional floor...and we'd meet at the bottom.

I've seen posts of menus indicating that prices have done up $1-2 since our October cruise. That doesn't seem like much till you consider how many times you might make a purchase in the course of a cruise. On the other hand, VV is less costly than many other cruise lines, particularly when you consider that the prices on the menu do not have that pesky 18% added to them later!

I've seen posts of menus indicating that prices have done up $1-2 since our October cruise. That doesn't seem like much till you consider how many times you might make a purchase in the course of a cruise. On the other hand, VV is less costly than many other cruise lines, particularly when you consider that the prices on the menu do not have that pesky 18% added to them later!

That's my understanding as well on MNVV--one change after you apply it to a date.

Alternatively, you could book the Scarlet Lady TA now. Then, when/if the TA to Lisbon becomes available, you can cancel your TA to Barcelona and move to the one to Lisbon. That way, you have locked in a price on Scarlet (which is amazing), and can re-evaluate the situation when the cruise you really want is available.

I've read that Scarlet will be due for dry dock in 2024 and that is the reason for her doing the April TA that year. I know nothing about when the dry dock is scheduled.

Yup, as long as they aren't cleaning it....

In October 2022, it was hosted by the Foodie.

I don't believe they announced the extension of the 3/31 expiration of DBE until 4/1. I was waiting with fingers crossed that it would be extended thru my April cruise. They "tweaked" the benefits as of 1/1/2023; I don't know if there will be more tweaking if DBE is further extended. I'm just happy to have in one my sailing in a few days.

I saw Dual Reality with a friend who is a trained actor and holds several certifications in stage combat. While I thought it was a good show with a few glitches, I kept hearing that the "actors" are well trained gymnasts, but could have benefited from training in stage combat and an acting coach. Yeah, after it was mentioned, I could see that was where the issues were. IMHO, that was one difference between Dual Reality and Cirque de Soleil.