HUGE Improvement in The Galley (The Flags really work?)

[CruisingWalter]

Ok, I've read about the flags be added in The Galley and I really didn't believe they would make any difference in the horrible experience we had back in July of last year. Full Galley, not being able to flag down a waiter, long wait times for food, etc...

 

Well we purposely came up to The Galley today on Scarlet Lady during our Cozumel port stop this morning, prime time for breakfast, The Galley was hopping, not much seating available anywhere. And I was utterly impressed. We were only sitting at our table about 3 minutes, didn't even put the flag up yet and a server was at the table. Within a few minutes of ordering from The Burger Bar, Hot off the Press and Let's Taco About It, all of our food arrived within a few minutes of each other. A complete 180 degree experience from our first time in a busy Galley. One thing that was evident was there were many more servers in the room and they had dedicated servers running the deliveries, waiting at the various food stations. Even folks from Razzle Dazzle were in The Galley this morning delivering the orders.

 

I was not expecting this at all, but someone has really done a good job reorganizing the process in The Galley. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[cantgetin]

Thanks for posting the good news.  Hope we experience the same on Valiant.

[Sherry84]

This  is great news, hope we have the same experience in a few months when we sail SL.

[moomoocow]

Hi Walter

 

Good to know. Just been showing my in-laws your VV food and drink YouTube (they’ve come to stay from Spain and they’re house sitting for us while we do the TA from next week) and they now want to know what’s in an Old Fashioned. 😉

[TYCruise]

I was on Valiant Feb25-March-5. I think it was the first cruise with the new system. If I wasn't greeted upon sitting down, someone was there almost instantly when raising the flag.  I didn't know that it wasn't always that way so I was surprised that people had had trouble on previous cruises.  

[AdoraBelle]

What are the 'flags'? 

[cantgetin]

36 minutes ago, AdoraBelle said:

What are the 'flags'? 

There is a little sign in a frame at each table.  At the top of the frame is a thing that looks like a flag which can be raised, indicating that you want service.  It is only about 5 inches high, not like waving around a large flag.  It is solid, so nothing moves.  When the server comes over and takes your order, they put the flag into the down position--the red part doesn't show and other servers won't come over.

THey use the same system in The Dock.

[CruisingWalter]

21 hours ago, moomoocow said:

Hi Walter

 

Good to know. Just been showing my in-laws your VV food and drink YouTube (they’ve come to stay from Spain and they’re house sitting for us while we do the TA from next week) and they now want to know what’s in an Old Fashioned. 😉

 

HA! That's awesome! Typically bourbon, some simple syrup or dissolved sugar, a few dashes of bitters. At home I add a few dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters. Have an AMAZING journey! 

[CruisingWalter]

As an update, the quality of the service has not gone down the entire week. Even when it's slow in the Galley and I might have typically gone to the food stations myself. I actually prefer to sit and wait for the server. They are on top of the game now and have fixed one of the very big issues we had onboard the ship. 

 

It's also really exciting to see the WIDE diversity of people onboard this time. Every age, race, color, creed, all mixing together. To put it politely, it was a very 'white' cruise back in July 2022. It's a much more diverse crowd on this journey. And I've met quite a few 'virgins' onboard as well who have been encouraged by the many vlogs out there that show there's more to VV than the marketing. 🙂 Some on their very first cruise and others on their first VV cruise looking for something different than 'everyone else.' 

[CruisingWalter]

4 hours ago, AdoraBelle said:

What are the 'flags'? 

 

They've had these flags in The Dock on deck 7 since they launched. Now they are in The Galley and actually other places on the ship well. Pop up your "Ahoy" and a server will be with you shortly. 🙂

 

[LOdragonmom]

Great to hear! We have been watching your VV YouTube videos in preparation for our Dominican Daze trip on the Scarlet Lady in May. We are taking another couple who are sceptical of cruising and only agreed to go because I told them how Virgin is committed to doing things differently. I'm super excited and happy to see all the accolades and good reviews. Thank you sharing your experiences and keep them coming! 

[singleflyer]

1 hour ago, LOdragonmom said:

Great to hear! We have been watching your VV YouTube videos in preparation for our Dominican Daze trip on the Scarlet Lady in May. We are taking another couple who are sceptical of cruising and only agreed to go because I told them how Virgin is committed to doing things differently. I'm super excited and happy to see all the accolades and good reviews. Thank you sharing your experiences and keep them coming! 

 

I did Dominican Daze March 31-April 5 on Scarlet Lady.  Had an amazing time.  Had zero problems at all (well my cabin didn't have a laundry form but that was quickly fixed... literally the only glitch at all if you can call it that).  I ate at the Galley twice and always had staff ready to take my order before I even had a chance to view the menu.  

[nimbex1970]

Best news!  Thanks for sharing.  

[babalooo]

I think we were oblivious that they added those Dock House flags at The Galley. We were wondering why we weren't getting served on the morning of departure since it was so empty at 6:30am -- until the server came over and explained the flags. Doh! 🤦‍♀️

[karmamule]

We just got off our Valiant Lady 8 day this morning and had a great experience in the Galley every time we went there, even when crowded. (Our ship was also very close to full)

[CruisingWalter]

On 4/12/2023 at 6:36 PM, LOdragonmom said:

Great to hear! We have been watching your VV YouTube videos in preparation for our Dominican Daze trip on the Scarlet Lady in May. We are taking another couple who are sceptical of cruising and only agreed to go because I told them how Virgin is committed to doing things differently. I'm super excited and happy to see all the accolades and good reviews. Thank you sharing your experiences and keep them coming! 

 

Thank you so much for all the kind words! And YAY! for getting new folks to try out cruising!!

[moomoocow]

On 4/12/2023 at 3:36 PM, CruisingWalter said:

 

HA! That's awesome! Typically bourbon, some simple syrup or dissolved sugar, a few dashes of bitters. At home I add a few dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters. Have an AMAZING journey! 

 

On 4/12/2023 at 3:36 PM, CruisingWalter said:

 

HA! That's awesome! Typically bourbon, some simple syrup or dissolved sugar, a few dashes of bitters. At home I add a few dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters. Have an AMAZING journey! 

Hey Walter! Look - currently in Test Kitchen and we have the cocktail pairing. 

[cantgetin]

On board now....the flag  system is working great.  Very minimal time between seating/order/food arrival.

[chefchick]

On 4/12/2023 at 12:36 PM, CruisingWalter said:

 

HA! That's awesome! Typically bourbon, some simple syrup or dissolved sugar, a few dashes of bitters. At home I add a few dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters. Have an AMAZING journey! 

Aztec bitters!  I hope to share a drink with you someday…I think a rum old fashion with said bitters would be delicious!

[CruisingWalter]

7 hours ago, chefchick said:

Aztec bitters!  I hope to share a drink with you someday…I think a rum old fashion with said bitters would be delicious!

 

I love Rum Old Fashioned too. My rum of choice is Mt. Gay Rum, Black Barrel. We had a chance to visit them on a cruise two years ago, the oldest continuously running distillery, and it was absolutely lovely. Despite the fact that I was served an Old Fashioned with about 4-5 oz of Rum. It was so good, but I was pretty much asleep on the bus ride back to the ship! 😅

[leisuretraveler223]

The flags worked okay last week. It was hit or miss. One time, we had someone on us in about 20 seconds, then next time it took a good 7-8 minutes.  

 

I have tow big gripes with The Galley. First, is that if you order multiple things, they come at different times. Not really a big deal, but if they're really spread out, it kinda sucks.  Two of us ordered four items.  The first item came in about four minutes, the last one took close to 25. Kind of a disjointed way to have a meal.

 

The second issue is that it really doesn't offer much variety.  It looks impressive when you first walk through with all the different stations. But then when you look at the menu and realize they all have only two or three offerings it's just not as wide a selection as you expect. Couple that with the fact that nothing changes on the menu form day to day and it's really a boring and limited option (sadly, this is the same with their other dining venues).

[YXU AC*SE]

1 hour ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

But then when you look at the menu and realize they all have only two or three offerings it's just not as wide a selection as you expect. 

 

The Galley's printed menu is a bit limiting compared to what you see at the actual stations -- but we have no problem working w/ our server in mixing / matching things though.     If I have one universal comment, is nothing anywhere (the Galley or the main restos) is seemingly served hot.  Warm would even be nice.     Scott. 

[jon81uk]

37 minutes ago, YXU AC*SE said:

 

The Galley's printed menu is a bit limiting compared to what you see at the actual stations -- but we have no problem working w/ our server in mixing / matching things though.     If I have one universal comment, is nothing anywhere (the Galley or the main restos) is seemingly served hot.  Warm would even be nice.     Scott. 

I think part of the hot food issue is because there are no heat lamps on the stations so when food is waiting to be bussed to tables it can get cold. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:45 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

First, is that if you order multiple things, they come at different times. Not really a big deal, but if they're really spread out, it kinda sucks.

That's the nature of any food hall style eatery. They're not preparing food from a central kitchen. Each food station has its own set of orders so depending on where your order is in the stack, and how long your dish takes to prepare, that determines when your food will actually be delivered. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 4/23/2023 at 7:44 PM, moomoocow said:

Hey Walter! Look - currently in Test Kitchen and we have the cocktail pairing. 

 

YAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!  That will be me again in November. 🙂