Gretchendz

30 minutes ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Probably another hour and an alternate way back to port researched and in my phone if possible. I go by the NASA  credo “Two is one, one is none” 😆

Great quote, I'm going to steal it 🙂

2 hours ago, kaysha2004 said:

Upon arrival at the terminal for my assigned priority boarding time (Deep Blue Extras) at 1:45 p.m., it was a mass mob of people clustered together at the bottom of the stairs shoulder to shoulder screaming at the two Virgin reps to get a boarding card.  They were handing out laminated and numbered boarding cards.  Never had this experience previously. 

 

There were no delineated lines whatsoever.  There was no priority boarding at all and no one checking boarding times.  It was a free-for-all.

 

Once the rope dropped, it was chaotic, with pushing and shoving and luggage wheels running over feet.  It reminded me of the days of Black Friday when you would arrive hours before a department store would open, then the floodgates opened and the madness begins to be first.

 

This was an epic fail for Virgin and another reason to add to my list for not booking future cruises. 

Not making excuses at all here for them. I do find that the first few times they do boarding at a "new" port, there are what one might charitably call growing pains.  Last year, I departed on the second sailing from San Juan and while, it was not as bad as you describe, it was barely controlled confusion.  Clearly there were mainy new, untrained staff (I think they are port staff not Virgin, but I could be wrong about that.). A few weeks later, people were saying boarding was smooth in San Juan.

Not saying Portsmouth is new, but they have not sailed out of there recently.

1 hour ago, macusr said:

Thanks for the tip!  I was just able to change our boarding time from 3:15 to 2:00!  We aren't Rockstars or SOR.

That's as fast as you can possibly get without being a rockstar or Splash--congrats!

If you have a later boarding time than you would like, keep checking the app each day. It is quite common for earlier times to pop up that you can switch to.  And as others have noted, if you arrive earlier, you may get on earlier any way (just don't expect it for sure).

As usual @cantgetin is right. I don't care for bingo and I love Bingo with the Diva. No reason you can't walk in and buy no cards and enjoy the show.

As @Giraffes mentions, it can be hard to keep up with too many cards. Sometimes when I go and don't buy cards I end up keeping track of cards for someone sitting near me because they are getting overwhelmed.

On 9/12/2024 at 6:13 PM, Kordy said:

Scones with Whipped Cream instead of Clotted Cream ... JUST NOT THE SAME 😛

If you want a proper tea you don't pay extra for with CLOTTED cream, sail Cunard 🙂

P.S. I'm American and I agree with you completetly about clotted cream.

It is rare for someone to pay more than the $300 you paid for it.

As to any additional value, not much. I don't know if you consider it additional value but I have sometimes swapped some for clients. Meaning that theirs is expiring so I use it for another client sailing sooner and then let the person with the orignal certificate use one of mine with a later expiration date.

They have been adding them slowly.

Scarlet has some sailings up until early October 2026.

Eclipse cruises are up for August.

Yes. You can go to the Wake or Razzle Dazzle for brunch as many times as you like. 

And follow up to what @cantgetin said. If your TA can't use them ask them to post in the private TA Virgin  Facebook groups.  Many of us buy them there for our clients. 

There are Facebook and Reddit groups where people do that.  If they are the kind with $600 obc you should have no trouble getting  your money back. Not sure how specific I can be here. TAs will often buy them to use with clients.

Good luck!

12 minutes ago, Sherry84 said:

Oh no, I'm going to miss them by 2 weeks 😞 

Sorry! Maybe your faves will stay on for the next contract 🙂

On 9/3/2024 at 11:19 AM, Sherry84 said:

Awesome, Michie, Alejandro and Faith are some of my favorites, hope they are still aboard early next year for my next Valiant Lady sailing!

They are under contract until February 14, 2025. Hope you sail before then 🙂

I will try it when I sail in a couple of weeks and bring you a full, documented report because it sounds good 🙂

Ah,then he is (or perhaps was) a direct employee of Virgin, not an independent travel advisor. If he quit or left, you should have been transferred to another. Emailing as @TripsYouMustDo suggested is your best bet.  But prepare for a wait for a response. They have been slow lately.

Just wanted to add/clarify one part.

If you have IRA or similar accounts, you can ask your financial advisor to purchase the shares within your existing account so you spend no extra money out of pocket.  As long as the shares show on your financial statement, you will get it. As others have said, black out your account number before sending it in.

On 9/1/2024 at 12:32 PM, Jim Avery said:

  Same thing for Drivers Ed classes.....😱

Great line. I really did LOL

They are very scarce but you can still find TAs or other people that have them avalable. Check Reddit and Facebook.

Your best bet is if you are booking a longer sailing or expensive cabin as they are being rare and people don't want to "waste" them on a four night cruise.

If you find one, know that you must book a sea terrace or better (no lock-it-in rate). Also, only a very few other promotions combine with it. The new 5% paid in full discount does combine. Some TAs have a bit of OBC that will combine on certain sailings.

7 hours ago, little britain said:

I booked a MNVV when on board and it has been automatically allocated to the agent at VV USA who booked me on my cruise. 
The problem is he has now left I think, all mails get bounced back so I have no way of communication with him. I would have thought another agent would have been allocated his client base but no one has contacted me. 
Is there a customer service email I can use to ask who my new contact is ; and ask how up transfer the MNVV to my USA TA? 
thanks 🙏 

I’ve tried the generic form

on the website but no response to that!

Yeah that website form is commonly known as where requests go to die.

They are transitioning to a form for changing your First Mate. Sometimes if you call Sailor Services they will do it for you. If not, they will send you a Google form.  Just have the name of your new TA, their email they are registered under and their company name as registered with Virgin and it should be easy.

1 hour ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

Before our cruise last November I got the Covid, Flu, Tetanus and shingles shots all at once.  Fun times there.

 

I have a friend that came back from a cruise to Alaska a couple of weeks ago that picked up Covid (for the first time).  Luckily it seems like it didn't hit him until he got home so it didn't mess up any part of the trip.

All at once! You are very brave. The shingles shots were the ones that knocked me out 🙂

8 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I have a sore left arm after Tuesday’s latest Covid and senior flu shots.  EM

Me too!

I did the rail as well. Enjoyed it throughly. @Essiesmom is very accurate about it.  It is fun, open air, informative and the drinks (punch really) flowed freely. However, it is bumpy. A person with mobility issues would want to sit on the lower level.

I love Virgin, but I hope they will someday make their excursion descriptions more detailed. Princess, for example, will tell you how many steps and how bumpy right down to a very fine point.

51 minutes ago, TripsYouMustDo said:

Thank you!

 

I did ask Guest Services on the ship to escalate just now (since I couldn't talk to the CEO Nirmal yesterday), and also emailed "landside" sailor services email with all documentation (screenshot, closed Lost Returns report, etc.) attached asking to escalate as well. Guest Services on the ship told me they escalated to the upper management, but wouldn't confirm that either Michelle or Nirmal are actually aware of the issue. 

 

No, I didn't use a travel agent - the cruise was purchased on points directly through the cruise line. Also no travel insurance unfortunately. It probably would've been too late to file a claim by now I would guess since the original incident was 3/30/2023, well over a year ago. Since VV have been winning all the "best in service" awards on every site and travel magazine, I didn't expect (back in 2023, after my first cruise with them, lol) for the service to actually be as bad as it is, and waited too long to start escalating.

Gotcha. Best of luck! 

On 8/17/2024 at 3:48 PM, valandemmy said:

I am pretty easy -  I love a good Old Fashion with Woodford Reserve or Buffalo Trace -  Best I found on VV was at On The Rocks

What do you love and Where do you get it on the ship?

I am with you on Old-fashioned or Manhattans. I find it is somewhat bar-tender dependent but I have an excellent ones at the Dock House and the Wake.

I have seen it in many locations, depending on weather and size of the group. Drinks have been thoroughly described. I don't drink bubbly but I find the sangria to be fine. On a par with what is served at cocktail parties like this on other cruise lines. One should always have tempered expectations about "free" cocktail parties on any cruise line.