Entertainment Schedule

[wjmano]

This will be our first Virgin cruise.  We're about ready to book our dinner reservations and wonder if we should consider any on-board entertainment when selecting our preferred timing.  We're just over 45 days out from departure and have not been able to find any specific information on any entertainment.  Does anyone have any advice for timing dinners on Virgin?  We normally plan dinners later in the evening if at port and earlier if at sea for the day.

[cantgetin]

Make day 1 dinner 7:30 or later.  You won't be eating lunch on board till 2pm or later, and the sailaway party is 6-7.  Our cruise was just about half full, and we had no difficulty moving around dinner reservations when they didn't fit with the show schedule.  Shows are at all different times, and some are repeated multiple times depending on the length of the cruise.  After boarding, you'll be able to see all the entertainment times as well as openings for dinner.

We booked something each night at the recommendation of Sailor Services Shoreside,  Some nights we stuck to our reservations, other nights we shuffled things around, and at least twice we did a "walk up" (it was a 14 night cruise). The longest we waited for a walkup was about 10 minutes.

Also, if on a short cruise, remember that Razzle Dazzle and the Wake serve breakfast and brunch.  You could choose to try the other places for dinner and still get to eat at each of the main restaurants.  We were surprised that some places we expected to be favorites were "good, not great" while other places we thought would not be favorites turned out to be amazing.

 

[neverendingcruising]

Razzle Dazzle is typically closed for dinner when in Bimini as well. 

[tbmrt]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:33 PM, cantgetin said:

Make day 1 dinner 7:30 or later.  You won't be eating lunch on board till 2pm or later, and the sailaway party is 6-7.  Our cruise was just about half full, and we had no difficulty moving around dinner reservations when they didn't fit with the show schedule.  Shows are at all different times, and some are repeated multiple times depending on the length of the cruise.  After boarding, you'll be able to see all the entertainment times as well as openings for dinner.

We booked something each night at the recommendation of Sailor Services Shoreside,  Some nights we stuck to our reservations, other nights we shuffled things around, and at least twice we did a "walk up" (it was a 14 night cruise). The longest we waited for a walkup was about 10 minutes.

Also, if on a short cruise, remember that Razzle Dazzle and the Wake serve breakfast and brunch.  You could choose to try the other places for dinner and still get to eat at each of the main restaurants.  We were surprised that some places we expected to be favorites were "good, not great" while other places we thought would not be favorites turned out to be amazing.

 

Where can we find the times the various restaurants and bars are open?

[jon81uk]

39 minutes ago, tbmrt said:

Where can we find the times the various restaurants and bars are open?

It should be in the app about 45 days before your trip. 
but as a general rule the waited service restaurants are 6pm to 10pm, with the Wake and Razzle Dazzle also doing brunch to 1pm. 
Most Galley stations do breakfast 6am to 10.30am then lunch 11.30 to 3pm and dinner 5pm to 10pm. 
pizza is around 12 to 5 then 9pm to 1am

The Dock is afternoons and social club late afternoon to 10pm.

[cantgetin]

8 hours ago, tbmrt said:

Where can we find the times the various restaurants and bars are open?

I was going to be ugly and say "on the daily sheets from my last cruise."  I did post one of those on a different thread, but the approximation above is accurate. Dinner reservations open on the app and by calling VV 45 days before embarkation.  You call when the app doesn't work!

[raphael360]

On 1/30/2023 at 9:46 PM, neverendingcruising said:

Razzle Dazzle is typically closed for dinner when in Bimini as well. 

It wasn't closed in Bimini on my last 3 cruises...  We left Bimini at 5-5:30 and  Restaurants open at 6PM...

[raphael360]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:22 PM, wjmano said:

This will be our first Virgin cruise.  We're about ready to book our dinner reservations and wonder if we should consider any on-board entertainment when selecting our preferred timing.  We're just over 45 days out from departure and have not been able to find any specific information on any entertainment.  Does anyone have any advice for timing dinners on Virgin?  We normally plan dinners later in the evening if at port and earlier if at sea for the day.

The restaurants are the slowest early in the evening so I take advantage of this opportunity and book for 6 - 6:30 whenever possible.  I will make an exception if a show I fancy is scheduled at 6:30 (say Duel Reality for example).

[cantgetin]

You can see the timing of your port days on the website.  That should help you plan those days.  The entertainment times seem to vary.  My suggestion--book dinners prior to 7.  After boarding, you'll be able to see the entire entertainment schedule for your trip, and you can then move your dinners to any available times that work for you.  I had planned to only book the first few nights, but a shoreside rep encouraged me to book something for each night at the 45 day point, so we did.  We had NO problem moving things around after boarding.