cantgetin

Likely this was the earliest arrival time available when you booked. You can change it to a later time if you wish. (right...no one wants a later time......)

Here is a print out from our October cruise. I grabbed a random day, but all eating hours were the same! Obviously shops and casino were different on port vs. sea days.

You will be able to choose a TERMINAL ARRIVAL TIME on the app, the earliest time is 1:30 with the window every 15 minutes until 4:00. This is correct as of October 2022, and I have a 1:30 for my next cruise. THis is officially an arrival time, not a boarding time and you are asked to not show up more than 30 minutes before your assigned time. If you do, you'll be asked to take their complimentary shuttle to a shopping area near the Miami terminal or to visit the plaza or coffee shop that is walking distance from the Barcelona terminal and return at the appointed time or later. We arrived a few minutes after 1 for our previous cruise and were able to check in (get bands) immediately. We were then seated for about 20 minutes. There was a separate seating area for people in suites. At 1:30, the woman in charge of our area excused herself to make a phone call, stating that she normally gets that boarding OK right at 1:30. She came back and we were in a rapidly moving boarding line where they scanned our bracelets, said they needed a better ID photo for me (took about 10 seconds for them to do that), and we were in our cabin by 1:40. Our cabin host introduced himself immediately. We dropped our carry ons, did a quick look around, and when we opened the door to head to lunch, our luggage was outside the door! This is probably more info than you wanted....but hopefully you'll get the idea of how fast it went. There is no point in arriving earlier than 30 minutes before your time unless you have a really late time. If you show up after 1 but more than 30 minutes before your time and you don't want to leave, there is a lovely area where you get to stand in line with all the others who have your time slot. Obviously, once the terminal is cleared, they don't care if people are early....so a 4:00 person could show up at 3.

I have the paper info from my last cruise. It lists "Hot off the Press (sandwiches) 8am-3pm. Taco 8a,-1030am and 12 noon -3pm.

I've never seen Scarlet Night on the first night. PJ party is usually on the first night, sometimes repeated on long cruises.

Each station in The Galley seemed to have its own hours in October, 2022. All were open until 3, then some closed. There was food available at other locations around the ship--The Social Club, The Dock/Dock House, etc. Several of The Galley stations opened in the evening until 10:30 or 11. For instance, the salad place was serving until 10:30, as was the Ramen place. I can confirm those places because we used them....others may have been open as well. Pizza is open from 9pm - 1 am, ice cream closes at 10. Ship Eats was open each time we wanted them, but I can't quote hours. Remember that if you order any item with a charge with Ship Eats (alcohol, specialty tea, hot chocolate, etc), the delivery charge is waived.

Ditto. I've never considered Princess to be a "premium line" although I've seen it categorized that way. It has always been essentially the lowest we wanted to go in terms of food quality, etc. We cruised them for the itineraries mainly--Japan, Alaska from Vancouver and some others just for dates/HA cabin availability. There was nothing wrong with Princess, but nothing outstanding. Food, entertainment, decor was better on other lines. We were much happier on VV. I honestly didn't expect VV to suit us, and it was great. The perks were an unplanned but lovely addition. I had some suggestions for VV, but overall we were very pleased.

They are in the process of developing their own loyalty program; the status match is a temporary way of getting people on board while waiting for their program to be announced. You've paid a lot of money for those perks on Royal over many years. I enjoyed my "Deep Blue Extras" on our VV cruise, and really hope they extend it so I can take advantage of it on my next cruise. In addition to the above, I got $200 in extra Loot on my onboard booking...I don't know if that program is still available, but it required a rebooking on board , new, with no previously purchased next voyage credit and then layered the $200 on top of all the normal rebooking perks. No, they don't match your current top loyalty status item for item. You either qualify for the match or you don't. If you qualify, you get Deep Blue Extras. There are a few small things missing from the list above, but the big ones are there.

No idea...we have booked summer 2024

The $10 PER CABIN per day credit at The Grounds Club can be used for anything at The Grounds Club that has a cost.....tea, coffee, coffee with alcohol in it, hot chocolate (made from powder). There is no cost for the food there, so just drinks. You will see a charge on the app and it will then "fall off" supposedly overnight. As above, if it doesn't, make a trip or app chat with Sailor Services. No, your coffee will not be deducted from your bar tab if you have the Deep Blue Extras, unless you exceed the $10 per cabin per day. If by some mistake it is, again contact Sailor Services.

Glad to hear that they are no longer insisting on serving that stuff. I've also read that the quality has improved. That's why I listed our specific sailing.

Valiant Lady October 2022....the show was borderline ok. The variety acts were good, the audience participation stuff was just stupid. I shouldn't be overly critical because the host was brand new--we knew that the other person's contract was over at the end of our cruise, so they were working together for the first week and then the new person was handling it for the second week. The experienced person was better...but that's likely just a matter of being comfortable in the position. The food was awful. We had heard in advance that it was bad, so asked to not be served. We informed that they "Had to" bring us the food. The steak tartare smelled like dog food and tasted worse. The chicken was so firm (hard) that I couldn't cut it with the knife provided. Fortunately the show was early and we did a "walk up" at a restaurant after leaving. It was the only bad food that we were served on the entire cruise, and frankly made no sense to me. Everything else on the ship ranged from "pretty good" (Galley stuff sometimes) to "great" in the restaurants.

Technically the status match is supposed to expire on 3/31/2023. It has already been extended once. IF it is extended to 2024, you can always apply later. Supposedly VV is starting their own loyalty program, but we don't know when that will start.

First, call VV to see whether they have reservations available. The app didn't show any for our cruise on the first day we could book them...but the agent on the phone booked them all for us. We were on a 14 night cruise and changed a lot of the reservations after boarding or canceled and did walk ups if the app showed nothing available. The longest we waited was about 10 minutes when dong a walk up. And yes, the app is horrible prior to boarding. A lot of it magically fixes it self once you switch to the ship's wifi.

Prices of drinks on VV include grats. Mixed drinks were $9-13, most wines were in the $10-11 range (although obviously you can go much higher). You can also use your bar tab for smoothies, special coffees/teas. If you are on the last evening of the cruise and have money left on the tab, you can buy a round for your new best friends, or purchase a bottle of wine or other stuff AT A BAR to take home. If you purchase at the duty free shop, it is applied to "loot" or your credit card. But purchased at a bar gets it applied to your bar tab! If you are getting the "free" bar tab promotion, it hasn't cost you anything, but I understand the concept of not wanting to leave anything unused. If you purchased the bar tab, you did get a "bonus" amount added, which would have ranged from $50-125 depending on what promo you purchased during. So, if you spend the $300 you paid, you are "even." If you use the bonus, so much to the good.. We never found a drink package "worth it" on any other cruise line because we are light drinkers. The bar tab concept works much better...again, based on length of cruise. The $300 tab can be shared between the two of you, so on a 5 night cruise that is basically $30 per person per day. That's a whole lot cheaper than any alcohol package I've seen on any other ship!

We were able to make reservations in advance (can be done either on the app or by calling VV), but we changed a lot of them after we were on the ship. I hadn't planned to make a reservation for each night, but the sailor services rep highly recommended it, "so I'd have something guaranteed." Bottom line, we did standby a couple of times, and MANY times changed our times and restaurants (we were on a 14 night cruise). One night, we went to two restaurants...because we wanted the desert from a different one--no problem. Our cruise was only about half full with 1400 people on a ship that at full capacity holds 2770. It might be different if your ship is more crowded. I'd go with what we did (and we plan to do the same for our next cruise). Look at the restaurants and menus and make some dinner reservations in advance. Remember that The Wake and Razzle Dazzle also serve brunch, so you could try all 6 of the main restaurants in one cruise. If you want to change them after boarding, you can always check the app to see what has openings and at what time OR you can do the standby line. Our longest wait without a reservation was under 10 minutes. I would suggest that if you have a reservation and decide to not use it, cancel it so someone else can use it. If you do standby and get in, they will automatically cancel any reservation for that night, but that might be too late for someone else to take advantage of it. I don't like the idea of just not showing up because they are holding a spot for you if you have a reservation. Brunch and entertainment, as well as spa, tattoo, etc. have to be booked after boarding. Again, most of the shows have a standby line if the reservations are full when you decide you want to do it. One hint--if you plan to see Dual Reality, book it as early in the cruise as possible. This is a gymnastic type show and it has to be canceled if the ship is too rough or if one of the main performers is ill or injured. By scheduling it early in the cruise, you increase your chances of getting a later booking if the first is canceled or seeing it the first night if it happens. We saw it without a problem, but we know that one of the repeat nights it was canceled due to rough seas. FWIW, a fellow cruiser defined VV as the line where nobody makes you stand in line or tells you what to do and when to do it.

There is a lot of entertainment. There is only one show that is a bit risque...I've heard that it is being replaced by another show. Dual Reality is a Cirque du Soleil type show--excellent. Never sleep alone is not for someone very conservative. There is music all around, the Happenings team has all sorts of stuff going on...Our cruise had a magician, a memory act, and something else that were not on all cruises. There is a house band and several other musicians....different styles . There is a dinner show; again, I understand that what is on Scarlet is different than what we had on Valiant--similar concept, different show. If you go comparing everything to Carnival or Royal, you'll be disappointed. If you take it that this is different.....well, we loved it.

We loved it. If you want to party, (we don't) it is there. If you want great food--no problem. Free exercise classes, wifi, tips (not free, but included in cruise fare). No drink packages, so if you are serious, I'd book now while they are running a $300 bar tab free with booking prior to Jan 1. No dress code other than basic decency. You can go to the fanciest restaurant on the ship wearing shorts and a T or formal dress....your choice. THere are lots of great YouTube videos to give you ideas of what it is like. Bottom line..we did our first cruise and booked 3 more on board to get the rebooking deal

We also did a solo group chat as part of our FB group for the cruise. It really is a good idea.

Yes, but part of what I like about VV is that they generally are not "hard sell." When you go to the spa, they are not pushing products at you the way most other lines do. The people in the shops are helpful but not pushy. From what a few have said, they are salaried and not needing to earn commissions or meet quotas....other than the inserts guy!

My daughter has a medical condition that required custom made insoles fitted by a physical therapist trained in her condition (not a general PT). We've joked that she should go to one of these to see what the untrained people said. They do not know what they are doing.

You've cited both extremes. I got off a cruise once in Port Canaveral and was at the airport by 9am, but that was once out of many cruises. Your ship can be late getting into port for any number of reasons. I've personally experienced fog, medical, and picking up/stopping to help a migrant vessel in distress as well as a situation where one engine "went out" so the ship was slowed (they needed to be in port to fix it per the announcement) NONE of these were on Virgin. I also had an experience in San Juan where the Customs line took MANY hours. We had a 3 something flight and I was getting worried. On the other hand, I looked up flight prices a future cruise. I inadvertently looked up Saturday first, then correctly Sunday. THe difference between morning and afternoon is unreal. We may stay overnight and fly out early the next day..Checked both FLL and MIA

Sea Rovers get a $100 bonus on each PURCHASED bar tab. I don't think they get the extra on a free bar tab. In October, there was also a rebooking on board offer where status match sea rovers who were not using a future cruise credit got an extra $200 in Loot on a cruise booked during that interval.

The early morning yoga is called "Sun Salutes" or something similar. Rise and shine on our cruise was at 10:00 in the Roundabout and was a talk about what was scheduled around the ship that day. There were usually two people bouncing info off each other. For instance, one I heard was with the foodie, and she talked about many food related activities around the ship, not just those on that day. It is a lot like the "cruise director live and on tv" program on other lines. Anything run by the spa or the exercise trainers (other than the free workout classes) is a sales pitch for their "nutritional products," shoe inserts, availability of personal training sessions, etc. I have never heard of some of the things you mentioned and I can't find them on the schedule from my last cruise.

The bar tab deal is $300 for short cruises, $600 for 8 days or longer....I THINK 7 days gets $600 but I could be wrong on that. Yeah, my cruise was going to cost me $642 more to get a $600 bar tab.....I passed. That was the report from my First Mate