Beds by Balcony

[DAP2]

Hello,

 

My understanding is that the bed locations on the Reselient Lady alternate in every other cabin. I'm looking of a cabin with the bed by the balcony, not by the entrance door. How can I determine the bed location? The VV agent said he didn't have that information.

 

Thanks!

[cantgetin]

It isn't the door/balcony that alternates.  It is the forward/aft, thus keeping the bathroom plumbing next to each other in each pair.  The bed is basically mid way between the bathroom and balcony in all cabins.

 

[jon81uk]

9 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

It isn't the door/balcony that alternates.  It is the forward/aft, thus keeping the bathroom plumbing next to each other in each pair.  The bed is basically mid way between the bathroom and balcony in all cabins.

 

No, it does mix up, some cabins have the bed near the door with the desk near the balcony and some desk by the door and bed by the balcony. Then as you say they are also mirrors so the bathrooms are bath to back. I assume bed location does alternate but I’m not sure what the pattern is.

[tbmrt]

What I thought was odd is that in June we were in a cabin on the 12th deck, A side,  with the bed by the balcony.  So I chose a cabin for February with the same number on the Z side and the bed is by the bathroom.  Oh well, we'll make the best of it, but really prefer the bed by balcony arrangement since I like to lay in bed watching the ocean.

 

I wish there was better seating than the one not so comfortable looking chair in the Seaview cabins. 

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, tbmrt said:

I wish there was better seating than the one not so comfortable looking chair in the Seaview cabins

Can always ask for the bed to be converted to sofa. 

[FFMilesJunkie]

The cabins that are designed for 3 have the bed by the window to accommodate the Pullman bed in the middle of the room. If you look on a deck map you will see that those 3 person cabins are every other cabin since the cabins alternate between having the bed by the window or closer to the bathroom. 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

On 2/10/2024 at 2:16 PM, jon81uk said:

Can always ask for the bed to be converted to sofa. 

They will not do this, even if you ask. Our attendant flat out said no when we asked her to show us how t9 do it ourselves Then again, she was less than eager to do anything but bring us towels…she was awful. The third person bed is like sleeping on a hard rock. When we asked for some additional padding, we got a song and dance about why she couldn’t do it. So we contacted guest services- magicallly an extra thick pad showed up.  Do NOT recommend the three person xl terraces. . 

Edited February 12 by WatermelonSugarHigh

[cantgetin]

Wow, we've always had great stateroom hosts who did anything we asked.  Admittedly, we didn't ask for anything out of the ordinary, but to hear that one refused to convert the bed is really odd since VV made such a big deal out of that feature.  I get not doing it every day for every cabin as that is a lot of work and many people don't want it converted.  I understand not allowing guests to do it themselves.  But I've never heard of a host refusing to do it....unless this is something new since our Nov. cruise.

Our hosts have been more of the type who ask if we need anything any time we see them in the hall, in addition to doing the room most days (we sometimes have sleep late days and just tell them to ignore our room.)

 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

Wow, we've always had great stateroom hosts who did anything we asked.  Admittedly, we didn't ask for anything out of the ordinary, but to hear that one refused to convert the bed is really odd since VV made such a big deal out of that feature.  I get not doing it every day for every cabin as that is a lot of work and many people don't want it converted.  I understand not allowing guests to do it themselves.  But I've never heard of a host refusing to do it....unless this is something new since our Nov. cruise.

Our hosts have been more of the type who ask if we need anything any time we see them in the hall, in addition to doing the room most days (we sometimes have sleep late days and just tell them to ignore our room.)

 

We had two attendants, a guy and a woman.  The guy was super nice.  The girl was very odd, didn’t say hello, if we asked for towels, she’d drop them at the door and run. We really only wanted to see the bed made into a sofa once so we hit that choice on the tablet on the second day.
She came and spent 10 minutes explaining why she wouldn’t do it. It says something somewhere that you can do it yourself, she said no 😂 it does advertise converting it as a perk so we were kind of disappointed but just let it go. She did not like the xl terrace 3-person config and told us so at length, and I that if he didn’t like how hard the bedding was- we should have gotten a different cabin with a pull down. Oh, realllly?   Now  mind you, my son was NOT complaining, and not a child -  he’s 33. He just asked if they had any kind of extra cushion for underneath because it was literally as hard as a rock. 

We are extremely easy-going guests, we never want anything, don’t really even care if they clean the room, which twice they did not, just like clean towels twice a day. She was the worst cabin attendant we’ve had in 20 years of cruising. I did comment that on the survey we got post cruise. 

Edited February 12 by WatermelonSugarHigh

[cantgetin]

We've always had 2 as well; I thought it was a supervisor and an assistant as the one introduced herself on the first day and we basically didn't see her after that.  The other one did all the work from what we could tell.  It doesn't matter to me what their system is; we had good care on each of our cruises.  

There's no excuse for what you described....I know they work hard, but it is a customer service position.

 

 

Edited February 12 by cantgetin

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

10 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

We've always had 2 as well; I thought it was a supervisor and an assistant as the one introduced herself on the first day and we basically didn't see her after that.  The other one did all the work from what we could tell.  It doesn't matter to me what their system is; we had good care on each of our cruises.  

There's no excuse for what you described....I know they work hard, but it is a customer service position.

 

 

They never came by and introduced themselves. Usually they do. That was a first so I thought it was just a VV thing.  I think she was the floor supervisor and he was the attendant. We had no idea what their names were and really didn’t care,  we were hardly ever in the room and 5 of the 7/days we were off the ship from 8 am until late. 
You know how they leave the two water carafes and tray of four glasses on the desk? We moved them to under the bathroom sink because with three people we needed the space for stuff, not water and glasses we weren’t using, She actually made a comment that she thought that was “weird” 😂 which I thought was an unnecessary comment. Now I’m fired up. 😂

[CruisingWalter]

5 hours ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

We are extremely easy-going guests, we never want anything, don’t really even care if they clean the room, which twice they did not, just like clean towels twice a day. She was the worst cabin attendant we’ve had in 20 years of cruising. I did comment that on the survey we got post cruise. 

 

I will say that on our Scarlet Lady cruise in January (our 4th on VV) there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the crew throughout the ship. We spent 8 nights on the Valiant Lady in November and that crew was your normal VV, attentive and outgoing crew. The Scarlet crew was less responsive and less engaging at many of the public facing locations like The Galley and The Grounds Club. Our room attendant was pleasant, but the service throughout the ship was not as 'elevated' as we had received on our first 3 sailings.

 

Maybe because it was a 4 day sailing, but the crew was noticeably on their phones much more, looking up to do the minimum and right back to their phones. Gathering in groups to chat around The Grounds Club, Social Club Diner and food stations in The Galley giving minimal attention to the guests.

 

It was very noticeable and different from our previous experiences on VV. VV used to have some of the best crew in the industry because they were among the highest paid. I don't know if that pay scale has remained, but it used to be well known that VV's crews were among the highest paid in the mainstream cruise industry. At least on that Scarlet 4 nighter, they didn't deliver the usual VV service.  I'll be curious to see what it's like on Valiant in June with our very large group for 4 nights. 

[jon81uk]

5 hours ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

You know how they leave the two water carafes and tray of four glasses on the desk? We moved them to under the bathroom sink because with three people we needed the space for stuff, not water and glasses we weren’t using, She actually made a comment that she thought that was “weird” 😂

Sorry, not drinking water is weird 😂

how else do you avoid the hangover 🤣

[cantgetin]

All very interesting comments, Walter.  I don't know if I should be concerned about the 14 night TA on Scarlet in April.  On our first cruise on Valiant, the crew in The Galley was sometimes standing in clusters; I took it that they didn't know what to do or didn't have the idea that if your area didn't need you, perhaps you should help out elsewhere.  There were some wonderful crew, but there were more of the type that seemed a little hesitant than normal.  This was the cruise where a dining server commented that she earned three times as much on VV without tips as she had on her previous line with tips.  The only other place we encountered crew issues was The Wake where they had 4 "suits" standing around looking officious while dinner service took 2 1/2 hours--a total contrast with RD where the managers would jump in and clear a table or whatever else to keep things moving. 

I did hear that VV is having trouble keeping bartenders because while their salary is better than salary + share of official tips, it is far less common on VV for them to be handed a dollar or two "off the economy" with each drink purchase...and repeated enough times, that meant that they were seeing less money.  I do know that VV increased the cost of one spa service by 30% between our first and second cruise.  First time, I was pleased to see it was the same price as other lines but on VV included the tip; hence, a bargain.  THe second time the price increase added basically the 18% auto grat on the other line as well as the extra we'd typically add.  

Oh well, will be interesting to see how it is on Scarlet.

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

3 hours ago, jon81uk said:

Sorry, not drinking water is weird 😂

how else do you avoid the hangover 🤣

We moved it. I didn’t say we didn’t drink it. 

[Tralfaz1138]

10 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

It was very noticeable and different from our previous experiences on VV. VV used to have some of the best crew in the industry because they were among the highest paid. I don't know if that pay scale has remained, but it used to be well known that VV's crews were among the highest paid in the mainstream cruise industry. At least on that Scarlet 4 nighter, they didn't deliver the usual VV service.  I'll be curious to see what it's like on Valiant in June with our very large group for 4 nights. 

We were on the Resilient Lady repositioning and my wife went on a Sydney harbor boat tour after we disembarked.  She ended up talking to a woman on there that worked on the ship.  She swore it was the best cruise job she had and she hoped her contract would be renewed when it came up.  She was "off the clock" at that point and it was just a couple of months ago so it "seems" like it's still an attractive cruise line to work for.

 

Our interactions with the staff were almost universally quite positive, but there might be a different demographic for the crew on a ship that strictly sailed in the Mediterranean and South Pacific.

[DCGuy64]

On 2/10/2024 at 2:16 PM, jon81uk said:

Can always ask for the bed to be converted to sofa. 

Notwithstanding what @WatermelonSugarHigh said (sounds like it's a case of a bad cabin steward), are they *supposed* to do that for you, upon request? Or has VV discontinued this service altogether? We would like to have the sofa bed to use during the daytime, if possible. Thanks.

[jon81uk]

49 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Notwithstanding what @WatermelonSugarHigh said (sounds like it's a case of a bad cabin steward), are they *supposed* to do that for you, upon request? Or has VV discontinued this service altogether? We would like to have the sofa bed to use during the daytime, if possible. Thanks.

Yes you tap the button on the tablet or app and they will do it for you, they won’t do it without asking.

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Yes you tap the button on the tablet or app and they will do it for you, they won’t do it without asking.

Thanks, I'm glad to know that. I appreciate your response.

[Wildcatllamas]

On my cruise in December of 2021 our steward asked if we wanted him to make up the couch daily since we had it in the two bed configuration. We told him that wasn't necessary but he showed us where we could stow the blankets and sheets if we changed our minds.

 

Then in December of 2023 my steward asked if I wanted the bed made into a couch during the day and I told him I was fine the way it was. But he then showed me how to separate and pivot the beds if I wanted the couch just in case I couldn't get ahold of him.

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

On 3/26/2024 at 2:57 PM, DCGuy64 said:

Notwithstanding what @WatermelonSugarHigh said (sounds like it's a case of a bad cabin steward), are they *supposed* to do that for you, upon request? Or has VV discontinued this service altogether? We would like to have the sofa bed to use during the daytime, if possible. Thanks.

🎯 our steward was lazy and she was absentee the entire voyage. 

[shepherd really]

On 3/27/2024 at 11:49 PM, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

🎯 our steward was lazy and she was absentee the entire voyage. 

And did you say anything to anyone in management during the cruise?

[Gretchendz]

On 2/10/2024 at 11:22 AM, jon81uk said:

No, it does mix up, some cabins have the bed near the door with the desk near the balcony and some desk by the door and bed by the balcony. Then as you say they are also mirrors so the bathrooms are bath to back. I assume bed location does alternate but I’m not sure what the pattern is.

 

Back to the original question. This is true. I have stayed in Sea Terraces where the bed came into the room closer to the door, and others where it was nearer the balcony. I prefered the latter as ther was even more open space, or so it felt.  Unfortunately, I have not yet found a source of discovering ahead of time which room is which way.  Even Virgin does not seem to have this notated anywhere. Here are pictures to illustrate.

Closer to the door: https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/slideshow-cabin-members.php?ship=Scarlet-Lady&cabin=8158A

Closer to the balcony: https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/slideshow-cabin-members.php?ship=Scarlet-Lady&cabin=8122A

Supposedly they alternate, but I cannot confirm that.

 

Edited March 31 by Gretchendz

[monn_a]

I don't know if this is the pattern (it's like this on other ships) every other cabin has bed by the balcony (they are modular drop ins of a sort). I had 8158A (Valiant Lady) which is pictured in the links above (by Gretchendz), I had 8146A (Scarlet Lady) bed was by the balcony and I had 8126A (Resilient Lady) bed was by the door. My next sailing I will be on deck 10 in 130A (Resilient Lady) by my figuring it should be by the balcony...time will tell...

 

Edited April 1 by monn_a

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

On 3/31/2024 at 2:31 PM, shepherd really said:

And did you say anything to anyone in management during the cruise?

No. I was too busy enjoying myself to waste time complaining.

Edited April 3 by WatermelonSugarHigh