Scarlet Lady Review 11/11-11/16/2022

[rebeccac]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:33 AM, Host Joe said:

For evening cocktails before dinner despite all the areas on the ship that at first seem amazing, there are only two lounges and they are relatively small. There is no centrum like most ships. It is overall very strange. 

 

I'm just curious which are the two lounges you found?  It seems to me there are more than that, although I will agree that all are small.  I remember the following:  Sip Champagne lounge, On the Rocks, The Dock bar (outside version and inside), The Loose Cannon and depending on how you define lounge, The Draught House and The Manor.  

[Host Joe]

1 hour ago, rebeccac said:

 

I'm just curious which are the two lounges you found?  It seems to me there are more than that, although I will agree that all are small.  I remember the following:  Sip Champagne lounge, On the Rocks, The Dock bar (outside version and inside), The Loose Cannon and depending on how you define lounge, The Draught House and The Manor.  

As I have stated several times already, Sip and On The Rocks are the only true cocktail lounges we found. The others are either outdoor or are not suitable for an evening cocktail in dressy clothes before and after dinner. 
 

 

[rebeccac]

5 minutes ago, Host Joe said:

As I have stated several times already, Sip and On The Rocks are the only true cocktail lounges we found. The others are either outdoor or are not suitable for an evening cocktail in dressy clothes before and after dinner. 
 

 

 

Sorry, I missed that.  

 

While I did not dislike VV as much as you and will sail them again, I do prefer other lines like Celebrity and Princess.  However, for me, the biggest problem is the pool situation and the very limited amount of outdoor areas with shade.  

Edited November 19, 2022 by rebeccac

[Roel94]

1 hour ago, rebeccac said:

 

Sorry, I missed that.  

 

While I did not dislike VV as much as you and will sail them again, I do prefer other lines like Celebrity and Princess.  However, for me, the biggest problem is the pool situation and the very limited amount of outdoor areas with shade.  

Totally agree.never used pool but used my balcony. Well, I did get in in Red night but decided to leave to listen to live music

[girlfortony]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:53 AM, cantgetin said:

Thanks for the in depth review.   I'm a little puzzled by some things because what you describe is very different from what we experienced on Valiant in October.

You mentioned you learned about dining reservations from a group, but many of your other discoveries, like rooms being cleaned once a day, could have been known in advance.  It should be noted that there is a team on call to service any later needs like fresh towels, bathroom supplies, or even a late cleaning should you decide to sleep till after 1pm.

 

Totally agree with Test Kitchen, especially the B menu.  We also went to dinner after that one.

I'm surprised that there were no walk in slots available for dinner on a half full ship.  We changed our reservations same day or did walk ins several times on our 14 night cruise. That included the night we did Test Kitchen--we went to a different restaurant at 9pm!  Pizza would have been another option.  

 

We liked The Galley much better than a buffet.  No one else is touching your food.  You can order things as you want them provided they have the ingredients.  For instance, tell them what  you  want in your omelet, salad, etc.  There are 9 or 10 stations, each serving a different type of food. There are many other lunch options--The Dock, Sun Cafe, etc. The Wake and Razzle Dazzle were also open for breakfast and brunch, with seating till about 1 each day.  Reservations for brunch are suggested, but we were able to do walk in with one exception (The Wake was full on one day, but made us a reservation for the next day).

I agree that the steak in Extra Virgin and the "secret" steak in Razzle Dazzle were better than what we had in The Wake.  Tomahawk is up to $125 now?  It was $75 in October.  We found that our favorite restaurants were some that we did not expect to be favorites.

 

Maybe prices went up all over.  Drinks on our cruise were $9-13, which included gratuities.  Some items were less.We did have a cocktail "forgotten" once in one of the restaurants--they were very apologetic.  Seems the waiter handed it off to the bar tender and the communication stopped at that point.

 

I'd read about lack of signs so was surprised that we had many signs...by each elevator and in other  spots.  We were told that they were newly added on Valiant. We found the crew lovely and helpful.  THey earn about 3 times as much on other lines, and most say they like it a lot better than the tipping system.  The app needs help.  I'm sorry to hear that the wifi was bad.  It was ok in the Med, but awful during the crossing...we kept hearing from past sailors how it was so much better in the Caribbean.

 

We found the entertainment to be "spotty."  Some was excellent, some not to our taste.  There were multiple options available each night in different locations.  It isn't the normal model where everyone goes to one big theatre for either an early or late show.  There would be one show in the Red Room with a couple presentations each night, another in The Manor, and often some in other locations.  Then, different shows would be available at 10 or 11pm.

 

Totally agree that VV isn't for everyone, but it is our new favorite cruise line.  We've done over 40 cruises on many of the major standard lines. We've booked 3 more sailings on VV.  I'd rank it far ahead of the others for food quality, crew attitude, and options.  But people like different things...that's why there are different lines.

We were also on the 14 day cruise in October.  Our cabin steward told us when he greeted us the afternoon we boarded that they only service the cabin once a day, but there were buttons on the pad you could use to order towels, ice, etc which we did they first night at 11:30pm, and were surprised at how quickly it came.  The schedule is also on the TV screen, so you can view it there and they provide paper copies at the Coffee House.  Personally I liked not having to "clean up" for someone to come back and clean our room again especially since everyone's dinner would be at different times (with no main dinning room) it seems it would be a bit more difficult. 

Dinning - we had our travel agent make reservations for us at the same time for the whole 14 days before we left, alternating each restaurant.  Once we tried them all, we would sometimes just show up and they would work us in different ones.  I think there was only one time we walked up and couldn't get brunch at the Wake, and waited till the next day.  I do agree that getting use to the different schedules of the Galley (the venue that is instead of the buffet) does take some getting use to, and a bit of preplanning, like getting some of the grab and go meals earlier in the day if you like evening snacks. 

We also have sailed a few different lines over the years, and I was never a fan of the main dinning room, but LOVED the feel of going to the speciality restaurants on Virgin with no extra charge like other lines.  And, the service from the staff was awesome (you think they would be sick of us after 14 days of the same people LOL) yes, some were more attentive than others, but I found more attentive on this ship than other ships.  There were so many little bars around, you could always find a drink and we were shocked that a Long Island Iced Tea and a Chocolate martini were only $10 each.  Flat rate, no extra fee or tip.   

Bottles of wine were affordable in the dinning room, while if you brought your own they would charge $25 to serve it, so we just drank the ones we brought in our room, our steward would set up the ice bucket and bring us glasses.  

We made reservations for shows, but many times in the big venue they were not checking your app, they were just letting you come in so just because you didn't make a reservation didn't mean you couldn't check availability at the door.  

in summary, you are correct, it isn't for every cruiser, but I will say "no children" is worth all the snags when you are looking for a cruise for yourself as an adult, a couple, or a group of adults, no matter your age.  

We have already booked a back to back in May!  

Edited November 19, 2022 by girlfortony

[Host Joe]

1 hour ago, rebeccac said:

 

Sorry, I missed that.  

 

While I did not dislike VV as much as you and will sail them again, I do prefer other lines like Celebrity and Princess.  However, for me, the biggest problem is the pool situation and the very limited amount of outdoor areas with shade.  

Yes I totally agree. We enjoyed our time, but in the end it’s not for us. 

[_tacocat_]

12 hours ago, Host Joe said:

No.. that is in their marketing but not in reality … in order to change that, you would need service twice daily, right? See now you are catching on to why I don’t get their plan for services. 

We had a sea bed in our XL terrace on the last voyage. We had it made up to a couch during the day and re-made into a bed in early evening some days.  You click a button in the app to switch either way, and someone comes and sets it up/makes the bed.  Yes, they only clean the room once a day, but they’re available for extra towels/bed setup/dish removal, etc. all the time.

[jon81uk]

23 hours ago, conandrob240 said:

Seriously? They won’t change the bed? The whole point of the rooms is couch all day, bed at night!

If you want the bed converted you push the option on the tablet in the room or on the app and the host/attendant is notified to come and do it. 
They only clean the room once a day but if there is anything else you need you just need to ask. Same as a hotel really. 
We had the bed converted to sofa and back a few days just by tapping the option in the app. One day we forgot to tap for it to be converted back to bed and it was done anyway.

[JoshuaLifter]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:33 AM, Host Joe said:

An honest review of Virgin Cruises from an avid cruiser. 

 

We did a 5-day on Scarlet Lady out of Miami going to Puerto Plata and Bimini. I have been posting amazing and fun pics and videos highlighting things we have found exciting the last few days thanks to those posting here on Cruise Critic. The ship is very visual and photographs well. We have had a wonderful trip, we always enjoy our travels. That being said, Virgin is trying so hard to be different that they are making vacation hard work in a lot of ways and losing out on some expectations that many have grown to love about cruises. I have always loved cruises because I don’t have to think. We love a lot of what Virgin offers, and will possibly consider it in the future keeping in mind all of the pitfalls, however they are pretty hard stops.  

 

The ship is super cool, modern and hip. It is a gorgeous design and thoughtfully designed to make you feel special. Similar to walking around a high end department store. It is extremely hard to navigate and signage is minimal and hard to figure out. There are no ship diagrams posted in elevator areas like all of the other lines. People wandered around lost all week. The staircase areas are brightly lit and sterile, constantly making me feel like we wandered into an employee area. 

 

Everything is on the app. When it works. It crashes constantly. 

 

Dining must be reserved. There is no buffet or main dining. I am on top of it and reserved dinner each night at a different restaurant. I did this 30 days prior at 3am when it opened after reading about it in a Facebook group. Thank god I did. We witnessed two women all dressed for dinner while we were in line for our dinner reservation unable to find a spot for dinner. The hostess told them all the restaurants were booked. They could get burgers upstairs or pizza after 9. We saw this repeatedly throughout the week, people turned away for not having a reservation. You do not spend thousands on a cruise to be turned away from having dinner.. Not okay. This ship is only half full. Design flaw. There is no buffet or main restaurant. So if you don’t know to plan you are stuck. 

 

Shows must be reserved. The showroom is tiny (200-ish, and there are 2800 people or so max capacity). Shows are bookable only after you board. We were in group 1, but suites, “rockstars”, board first. We got into one show (that’s all we could find) and it was quite good. That’s all we could get, very disappointed. 

 

Let’s talk air conditioning. This ship is supposed to be eco-friendly. The rooms get cool after some time (if you open your balcony door, give it two hours to cool back down), however most public areas are stuffy. I mean sticky warm. Hallways, staircases and some of the lounge areas are just not comfortable. In the Caribbean this is not welcome after hanging out in the sun all day. 

 

Breakfast in your room is booked through the app. Cool, but we learned the hard way it books up and sells out! Our first morning our choice was 5:30am or 10:30am. Now I watch all morning for booking to open for the next day. You should not have to work so hard for vacation. 

 

Room attendant… we learned the hard way that they service your room once daily. One of my favorite luxuries is coming back after dinner and our bed is all turned down and there are fresh towels and the room is tidy. Not on Virgin. I was quickly scolded by Sailor Services that’s not how they do it. Once daily service. 

 

Dinner in Test Kitchen was a series of 5 tablespoon sized bites. We went for burgers after. 

 

The Wake was super fancy, beautiful dining room and food very good but the server was inefficient and rude. She was only focused on a table of four that upgraded to $125 tomahawk steaks. 

 

Dinner at Extra Virgin (Italian) was off the charts good. Service and all was excellent, and the steak was much better than the Wake. 

 

Dinners in Pink Agave and Razzle Dazzle were both quite good. 

 

There is only one small pool up on top. Also, the area is to lay out and enjoy is small and congested… and no shade to move to. 

 

For evening cocktails before dinner despite all the areas on the ship that at first seem amazing, there are only two lounges and they are relatively small. There is no centrum like most ships. It is overall very strange. 

 

The staff are hit and miss nice or don’t give a darn. Super weird! Since there is no tipping, there is no motivation for the staff to service you. I cannot count how many times we had to seek out our own drinks while staff mill around and are chatting with each other. That is not okay. 

 

The food everywhere is mostly good. And during the day it is everywhere, although it gets stale with no changes or variety. There are lots of fun and quirky places to hang out. 

 

Drinks are good but expensive. $13-$17 each. There are no drink packages. We found that vodka sodas are $7 so that’s better. We loved the shake for champagne where you shake your phone and a few minutes later they show up with a bottle of Moët on ice! For $100. We had a credit for a bottle and enjoyed it thoroughly. 

 

The wifi is very unreliable. We upgraded to the Premium and I was unable to make consistent wifi calls at any point on the cruise. They were all broken up when I could get through. On all other lines this is never an issue. This is a deal breaker for me as I have to work while traveling. 

 

Information, including signage and availability of what is going on is limited. There is no cruise director, no cruise director staff and no daily paper. Info on the app is very limited and it feels like a secret club where people bump around and find their way. There is no daily paper either digital or printed either. 

 

Breakfast… on the last day you cannot order room service, which is fine. So we went to the galley for breakfast (only option). Picture a buffet area where you sit down and wait for a server to get you your food from one of the surrounding buffet areas (you cannot walk up and get your own). We ordered omelettes and they were rubbery and had clearly been sitting on a steam table for a long time. Not a yummy breakfast. This is also your lunch area. It’s not a buffet, it is worse. You have a few options, which don’t change, and while you can see the food sitting out you have to wait for a server to bring it to you. 

 

Ports… 

 

in Puerto Plata they have a nice built area with swimming pools, bars and a restaurant that were all very overpriced. We headed back to the ship after walking around the small town and taking some pics and buying local art. The taxi drivers are very aggressive about taking you to the beach. We finally relented and went for an hour with another couple, it was $20 per couple and a ten minute drive. Very few services at the beach, except for very expensive beach food ($20-$40 sandwiches etc). We took a dip in the ocean and went back to the port and onto the ship to enjoy lunch etc there. 

 

In Bimini they have a private club. Very little to no information… as always with Virgin. They were pushing expensive shore excursions. We took the tram to their beach club and had a lovely day. We swam, ate, and did a Long Beach walk collecting shells. They then took our shells and threw them in the trash upon boarding, saying they “could” have live animals in them. 

 

In summary, the ship is very “trendy”, and we believe it is aimed at people who have not cruised before. They do not know what you should typically expect, so it’s an easy target. Most of those we met onboard who have cruised on other lines seemed to feel like us, not too impressed overall (other than the ship is beautiful) and full of question marks. Those who had not cruised before were mixed, some were impressed and thought this is just how it is, others decided cruising is not for them them, which makes me sad. 

 

This cruise was a lot of “work” and low on the enjoyment and relaxation factor. 

 

We will be sailing on with our favorites… Celebrity and Royal. 

The pool, and area around it was a deal breaker for me, I love doing laps, and I have been on several new ships that have amazing pools, so no future cruises for me on Virgin until this is addressed.

[_tacocat_]

48 minutes ago, JoshuaLifter said:

The pool, and area around it was a deal breaker for me, I love doing laps, and I have been on several new ships that have amazing pools, so no future cruises for me on Virgin until this is addressed.

Even if they do make the pool bigger or add a pool, I highly doubt they’ll add a lap-sized pool.  They’ve designed the whole ship to encourage social interaction, so taking up a pretty decent chunk of real estate for a somewhat single-purpose solo activity doesn’t seem to jibe with what they’ve gone for so far.

[JoshuaLifter]

4 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

Even if they do make the pool bigger or add a pool, I highly doubt they’ll add a lap-sized pool.  They’ve designed the whole ship to encourage social interaction, so taking up a pretty decent chunk of real estate for a somewhat single-purpose solo activity doesn’t seem to jibe with what they’ve gone for so far.

I just do not feel that a design just for something new should not take over common sense. You have X number of passengers, in a hot environment, so you should have X amount of space for swimming, and lounging. I felt the same way about the Norwegian Epic's cabin design.

One of my favorite pools!

[_tacocat_]

5 hours ago, JoshuaLifter said:

I just do not feel that a design just for something new should not take over common sense. You have X number of passengers, in a hot environment, so you should have X amount of space for swimming, and lounging. I felt the same way about the Norwegian Epic's cabin design.

One of my favorite pools!

Yeah I think part of the “socialization” aspect is also not having to dodge lap swimmers while trying to have a conversation.  there’s always that ONE guy sans goggles who nearly bonks into everyone in a packed resort pool… happy VV doesn’t have that!

[yarramar]

21 hours ago, JoshuaLifter said:

The pool, and area around it was a deal breaker for me, I love doing laps, and I have been on several new ships that have amazing pools, so no future cruises for me on Virgin until this is addressed.

I have never been on a cruise for the pool. For me it is about the ports and being well fed and comfortable between them. If I want a pool on vacation I will go to a resort.

[JoshuaLifter]

23 minutes ago, yarramar said:

I have never been on a cruise for the pool. For me it is about the ports and being well fed and comfortable between them. If I want a pool on vacation I will go to a resort.

I think it depends on what you enjoy doing, I enjoy swimming, so for me not to swim that would not be a vacation that would be an annoyance, I enjoy running everyday, I would also never go on a ship without a running track, but it is a personal decision.

Take Disney for example, there are people who love to gamble on vacation, but you cannot on a Disney ship, so those people can choose to go on another cruise line. The amazing thing about cruising is choice, we are free to choose our ideal vacation parameters. And some cruisers view a ship like a floating resort.

We are very fortunate that we live in an era that there are so many choices of ships available to us, catering to all our needs and desires.

[rebeccac]

1 hour ago, yarramar said:

I have never been on a cruise for the pool. For me it is about the ports and being well fed and comfortable between them. If I want a pool on vacation I will go to a resort.

 

I will agree food is more important and I wouldn't say I go on a cruise for the pool, but it is something I enjoy and the lack of a decent sized pool is just one ding on VV for me.  I'll sail with them again, this just keeps them from being a first choice for me.  

[Luminelle]

Thank you for posting this and dealing with the flak you’re getting for voicing your opinion. I’m an over-researcher when it comes to any vacation (but cruises especially) and I’m glad that’s the case because my group would’ve been caught off guard by all of the surprises. I’m not even on the boat yet and I feel like this has been a lot of work.

 

 I’ve joined multiple Facebook groups and obviously I’m on this site; I had not seen that they only do service once a day so I completely understand how you did your research and didn’t know about it. I just hope I’ve got all of the surprises covered now.

 

 I’m excited for the cruise because I know it’ll be fun but we’re trying out all of the cruise lines to find our favorite and we’re thinking VV might not be for us. At least until we can regularly afford rockstar status since it seems like they have a different experience entirely.

[cantgetin]

12 hours ago, Luminelle said:

 

 

 I’m excited for the cruise because I know it’ll be fun but we’re trying out all of the cruise lines to find our favorite and we’re thinking VV might not be for us. At least until we can regularly afford rockstar status since it seems like they have a different experience entirely.

Actually there is very little difference between the experience in a Rockstar suite and what you get in a regular cabin on VV.  That's what leads to the "is the suite worth it" posts.  MegaRockstars, at the top level get a lot of perks.  Otherwise, our experience in a sea terrace (not central, not XL, just plain sea terrace) was that we could get anything we needed or wanted with a push of a button on the app or tablet or by picking up the phone.  VV is absolutely not for everyone, but neither is any other line.  That's why we have lots of choices.  But there are many really good things about VV.  If you have status on any other line, you can qualify for "Deep Blue Extras" on VV, at least thru 2022.  Just go to their web site and click on "Loyalty programs" to sign up. This, in itself, will eliminate many of the complaints I've seen on social media sites like "I get free latte on Royal but had to pay for it on VV."  

When we did our first Princess cruise, I suggested to my travel companion that we not compare it to our favorite cruise line, but rather see what the good and less good about this line were.  And while we never rated Princess as our favorite line, we did find many good things about it and have sailed on several of their ships.

 

No, VV isn't perfect...for us, it was very good. 

[Host Joe]

13 hours ago, Luminelle said:

Thank you for posting this and dealing with the flak you’re getting for voicing your opinion. I’m an over-researcher when it comes to any vacation (but cruises especially) and I’m glad that’s the case because my group would’ve been caught off guard by all of the surprises. I’m not even on the boat yet and I feel like this has been a lot of work.

 

 I’ve joined multiple Facebook groups and obviously I’m on this site; I had not seen that they only do service once a day so I completely understand how you did your research and didn’t know about it. I just hope I’ve got all of the surprises covered now.

 

 I’m excited for the cruise because I know it’ll be fun but we’re trying out all of the cruise lines to find our favorite and we’re thinking VV might not be for us. At least until we can regularly afford rockstar status since it seems like they have a different experience entirely.

Thank you so much, this made my day. You will have a great cruise, we did too, it just is not for us in the end. 

[conandrob240]

On 11/20/2022 at 9:04 AM, JoshuaLifter said:

The pool, and area around it was a deal breaker for me, I love doing laps, and I have been on several new ships that have amazing pools, so no future cruises for me on Virgin until this is addressed.

What time of day would one find a pool on a cruise ship empty enough to do laps?

[conandrob240]

On 11/19/2022 at 9:36 PM, jon81uk said:

If you want the bed converted you push the option on the tablet in the room or on the app and the host/attendant is notified to come and do it. 
They only clean the room once a day but if there is anything else you need you just need to ask. Same as a hotel really. 
We had the bed converted to sofa and back a few days just by tapping the option in the app. One day we forgot to tap for it to be converted back to bed and it was done anyway.

But that’s not what the OP said.

[Roel94]

8 minutes ago, conandrob240 said:

What time of day would one find a pool on a cruise ship empty enough to do laps?

Morning or before dinner..on a port day yiu did not go off. I manage to swim around people if needed.

[rebeccac]

8 hours ago, conandrob240 said:

What time of day would one find a pool on a cruise ship empty enough to do laps?

 

Most cruise ship pools are fairly empty before 9 or 10 in the morning.  

[JoshuaLifter]

10 hours ago, conandrob240 said:

What time of day would one find a pool on a cruise ship empty enough to do laps?

I have never had an issue, I mean I have always found time on several ships to do laps.

[jon81uk]

13 hours ago, conandrob240 said:

But that’s not what the OP said.

Yep they OP was surprised you couldn’t get housekeeping twice a day. Whereas you were asking about changing between bed and sofa. I was clarifying that they will enter the room multiple times a day if needed to change the bed configuration.
The room attendant will change between bed and sofa if you ask by pushing the button on the tablet. 
But they won’t do normal housekeeping tasks twice a day unless asked.

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, jon81uk said:

 
But they won’t do normal housekeeping tasks twice a day unless asked.

Exactly.....if you ask for fresh towels, they will often do a bathroom refresh, but I think that depends more on who the evening on call person is than the policy.  They won't empty trash or fix beds if the request was for towels.