cantgetin

yeah!

I would typically order a specialty tea with room service and save it till I wanted it...then get hot water from The Galley or Grounds Club. Anything with a charge gets free delivery of the entire order...so specialty coffee, tea, alcohol, cold pressed juice, hot chocolate......I don't know if they can do smoothies.

yes I don't know if there is a limit to how many cans you can order, but we got 4 one time. They have various mixers. I don't know about club soda.

Razzle Dazzle was our favorite for breakfast! LOVED the buttermilk waffles and bacon, but tried many of the other things. I wasn't a big fan of the "impossible" stuff. The watermelon berry thing was enough to serve 3 people. It was good but not great. The Wake breakfast/brunch was good, but it is "fancy food" like eggs benedict. The Galley also has good breakfast with lots of options. And if you just want a croissant or muffin, there are good pastries at Grounds Club (the drinks there have a charge, the food does not).

What is at the cold drink stations can vary widely. My travel buddy drinks Diet Coke--it was never available at the drink stations during our cruise but was available at other locations around the ship. The ice tea from the dispenser, IF they have it, is the awful stuff made from syrup. That's my drink of choice, so I made my own by brewing a strong cup and pouring it over a cup of ice in my drink mug. We never went without our chosen beverages, but we often couldn't get them at the drink stations in The Galley. We're hoping this has changed by our upcoming cruise and that "the standards" are readily available there as well as elsewhere on the ship. We usually played the game of keeping a couple cans of Diet Coke in our fridge since we knew it wouldn't be in The Galley. However, the servers would always get some for us.

The big thing is that if the beverage station doesn't have the soft drink you want, ask for it from any server. They can get it from a bar for you. You can also request cans at some bars--Sip, Sun, social Club, etc. usually have them, as well as from Ship Eats. If ordering room service, get a few of your favorite to keep in the fridge.

There are two full stations in THe Galley....one area is hot stuff and one is cold. The soda machines had different items at each station. No, I never had to queue. Occasionally there would be one other person at the station. You can also get soda from most bars (gun or can, all included), or help yourself to a few tea bags and get hot water from Grounds Club. There, I would often experience a short line, but the pastries are amazing. There is a soft drink machine, ice machine, and water machine at each cold station along with racks of glasses. Each soda/juice machine has 4 products. In the hot area, there is hot water, an assortment of tea bags, and, I think 3 coffee machines....regular, decaf, and ??? There were 2 places to place used spoons or other items and a rack for cups.

Look up the ports you'll be visiting using any info VV has up and other sites. There are lots places, including CC that have info on various ports and excursions. The ships will be basically the same, so we can fill you in on ship info, but stuff on your specific routing will have to wait till May.

You've addressed some of this in another post.

First, aboUT 35% of reservation slots are held back till after boarding. Next, THe Red Glove people have access to those and should be able to get you what you want. They should also be able to arrange your transportation from airport to ship or from home if you live within their range. This is a service ONLY for mega rockstars. I'm guessing you did't use a travel agent....they also have some "work arounds" that the sailors don't have access to. When I couldn't book dinner reservations, my TA was able to do it thru her portal. But bottom line, Red Glove should be able to take care of you, both before and after boarding. Enjoy mega.

As above, FVC cannot be used for an upgrade. If you get the bidding for upgrade email, it will list the minimum bid based on exactly what you booked and listing each cabin you can bid on. How much the upgrade is "selling" for has lots of variables including how many cabins are available to upgrade into. For instance, if they have 300 Sea Terraces available, they'll be upgrading for a lot less than if they only have 5 open! They will also accept bids on cabins that are not available. Specifically, they were listing bid prices for suites, when no suites had been available for at least 6 months (yes, I know about TA holds, but those do expire). Probably because that cruise was only half sold, many people were successful in upgrading to various levels of Sea Terrace for reasonable rates. The upgrade bid rates are per cabin, not per person. You already know the key figure--how much it would cost to go from your current cabin to the one you want now. From here, it is just a matter of how much you want to bid if you get the upgrade email. A reasonable guess based on the letters I've seen is about half of what it would have cost to book the better cabin originally, but there are so many variables that this becomes "just a guess." You can also ask about upgrades at the port on embarkation day. There will be a person with a clipboard who can tell you exactly what it will cost in dollars, based on your booking and what is available. At that point it is a flat fee, not a negotiation

Having made a rebooking on board is a great help when it is departure day....you know you'll be back!

No, but it came after a long and jet lagged flight.

I live in a world where the longer a cruise is, the better. I won't do anything less than 7 days unless it is part of a B2B, and even then, there needs to be a good reason. So, does the 8th day matter---IMHO, yes.

No one knows. The Deep Blue Extras were to have ended Dec. 31, but were extended until March 31. No one knows what will happen as of April 1. What we do know--Sea Blazers (those who sailed in 2021) have some perks "for life" like the $125 bonus on a purchased bar tab. Sea Rovers (2 cruises in 2022) have the $100 bonus on $300 purchased bar tab for 2 years. There is a new "frequent cruiser" program being developed which will take into account both how much you have spent on booking VV and how much you spent after boarding. They took a lot of input from cruisers. This is all I've seen released, although others might know more. On April first, we can expect that either the new program will be announced or the Deep Blue Extras will be extended. If they count days, I'm good. If they count amount spent, probably not so good.

Just set up payment so you are responsible for the whole cabin. Anything charged on either bracelet will then bill to the cabin's account. That means that the first $600 of paid drinks will be covered by the bar tab. Anything else will go to whatever loot might be on the account, and after that will go to your credit card. You can do this on the app during your on line check in , at the check in counter, or at Sailor Services on board.

Well, that's another reason I won't be sailing with them any time soon. LOVED DCL for years....not so much any more.

It is.a way to fill the ship and collect extra fees. In general, I avoid cruises with special events, if for no other reason than a very full ship. My best guess is that you'll have her making a speech and waving to the crowd, for which she'll get a lovely fee. I prefer less crowded sailings.

It shows the times on the screen that you use to book the cruise. It does not show the times under "my account" after booking or on the confirmation emails after booking.

It was announced on Feb.15, right after the "loot" for referrals ended. I don't know if they talked about booking then or just gave the same details as above about the package. The package starts on sailings after April 2....again right after the Deep Blue is supposed to end on 3/31. Bottom line, you can get a special dinner with special desserts and a bottom less brunch....for a lot more money than t would cost to buy a fancy dinner at a restaurant in port and a bottomless brunch.

It is just one of the many goofy things about their IT and web postings.

I read today that NCL has gone back to e-muster, which is supposedly "more expensive." They had e-muster for a while, then went back to the mob scene....and now, it seems back to e-muster based on cruiser demand. Yes, you must report to your muster station and check in on VV...but you are there for less than 10 minutes and no mob scene. DCL had the most organized "in person" muster I've seen, but they, too, are now e-muster.

You can also do walk up for brunch....but we were turned away once at THe Wake as they were full; they made us a reservation for the next day. Always got in at RD, but that may have been luck.

Bloody Mary, Mimosa, and Beer

On some other lines, everyone has to go to the muster station at the same time and watch a long demo. On VV, you watch the video in your room on the TV or anywhere around the ship on the app. We did it while waiting for food in The Galley. At the end, it tells you where you muster station is. You click the button that says you have watched it. Then, about 4pm, they announce that that muster stations are open--you have about a 90 minute space where you have to appear. It is NOT everyone has to be there at 4 and you have to wait till everyone has checked in. It is more like 20 people check in and they do a 5 minute live demo of how to wear a lifejacket and tell you to come here if you get the emergency signal. We were able to be seated the whole time. When they finish, you get up and leave and they take the next group of however many have appeared while they were doing your group. About 5:15 they announce that there are still people who have not appeared and please get to your muster station so we can start sail away.......I don't know what they do to the lovely individuals who don't show up. Maybe toss them to the fishes?????