Starting to regret my oct booking.

[CruisingDaff]

We have booked a 7 day cruise in Oct, At the time of booking we were split between this Greek Spain itinerary, and a trip on the NCL Escape. Cost wise there was only about £500 difference,the escape was 9 day and was in the Haven, 

After a lot of debating we thought we would give Virgin a go. We have been on the Escape before and this is the 1st time our 17 year old has decided to stay home.

We liked Virgin as it advertises all these amazing restaurants , no main dining room so everyone has access to ALL these restaurants. 

Now I am panicking as we have a 4.30pm board time and all online bookings have gone, and we will be last on the ship so what chance do we have of actually getting some actual bookings. 

This has left me with a bit of a bitter taste to be honest, 

We have sailed Celebrity, Msc, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean so we are not 1st time cruisers, and I can see a real possibility of us have to eat in the non booking eateries for the duration, which is not what we signed up too. feeling quite deflated😒

 

[Eric&Pam]

There will be plenty of dining times when you board, and plenty of people to help you book your reservations. Go to Razzle Dazzle when you board, and they will have people to help you.

[Watchmen]

If you add the splash of romance package you can board earlier. Also, I was always able to walk-in to any restaurant. Might need to wait twenty minutes, but you’ll get in. 

[basenji56]

My pet peeve about VV is that you can only use your sailor loot for shore things after you get on the ship--at which time some excursions are fully booked.  

[basenji56]

Just now, Watchmen said:

If you add the splash of romance package you can board earlier. Also, I was always able to walk-in to any restaurant. Might need to wait twenty minutes, but you’ll get in. 

I had trouble booking Extra Virgin either before and after getting on the ship. Maybe things have improved since last Christmas when I sailed.

[jon81uk]

For a 4.30 time you could turn up at 3-3.30 and they will likely be running early. Then get booking dining as soon as onboard and you’ll be fine. Maybe plan to see shows at 8pm and then dinner at 9.15.

[CruisingDaff]

35 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

If you add the splash of romance package you can board earlier. Also, I was always able to walk-in to any restaurant. Might need to wait twenty minutes, but you’ll get in. 

its already sold out 😒

[CruisingDaff]

1 hour ago, Eric&Pam said:

There will be plenty of dining times when you board, and plenty of people to help you book your reservations. Go to Razzle Dazzle when you board, and they will have people to help you.

ooh i do hope so , we will get there early as we have been to Athens twice before , i dont mind getting on late just the reality of the booking system, seeing that you can book each restaurant a few times each , which then leaves the later boarders with not a lot. 

[CruisingDaff]

40 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

If you add the splash of romance package you can board earlier. Also, I was always able to walk-in to any restaurant. Might need to wait twenty minutes, but you’ll get in. 

I do hope so, dont mind waiting used to it on celebrity and princess , just seen so many comments on here that people are just turned away 

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, CruisingDaff said:

We have booked a 7 day cruise in Oct, At the time of booking we were split between this Greek Spain itinerary, and a trip on the NCL Escape. Cost wise there was only about £500 difference,the escape was 9 day and was in the Haven, 

After a lot of debating we thought we would give Virgin a go. We have been on the Escape before and this is the 1st time our 17 year old has decided to stay home.

We liked Virgin as it advertises all these amazing restaurants , no main dining room so everyone has access to ALL these restaurants. 

Now I am panicking as we have a 4.30pm board time and all online bookings have gone, and we will be last on the ship so what chance do we have of actually getting some actual bookings. 

This has left me with a bit of a bitter taste to be honest, 

We have sailed Celebrity, Msc, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean so we are not 1st time cruisers, and I can see a real possibility of us have to eat in the non booking eateries for the duration, which is not what we signed up too. feeling quite deflated😒

 

There are so many online resources that would tell you that most of the reservations for the specialty restaurants are held back (estimates range between 30-50% being made available prior to sailing, so roughly 50-70% will be available once you're on board). There is nothing to worry about. It truly saddens me when I see people (particularly experienced cruisers like yourself) who allow themselves to panic about something that a little research would alleviate. Take a little time and watch some YouTube videos of VV ships done by cruise influencers and regular folk. You'll see this topic covered very frequently. Once you're on the ship, you can go to Razzle Dazzle and speak with someone who will help you make dinner reservations so you're not stuck in The Galley every night. I am a first timer to VV and I learned this a while ago. You will be fine. Have a great cruise! BTW this is a good article on the subject from a really good website:

https://vvinsider.com/guides-and-faqs/guide/booking-restaurants/

An excerpt you might find helpful:

All Bookings Sold Out?

If you find that everything is fully booked before your cruise, there’s no need to panic! Virgin Voyages ensures significant onboard dining capacity by only allowing a third of bookings to be booked before boarding.

You can seek assistance with booking by heading to Razzle Dazzle typically between 2 & 4:30pm on the first day of your cruise , or you can utilize the VV app for reservation options once on board.

Edited September 11 by DCGuy64

[The_Big_M]

3 hours ago, Eric&Pam said:

There will be plenty of dining times when you board, and plenty of people to help you book your reservations. Go to Razzle Dazzle when you board, and they will have people to help you.

 

IF they're still open. 

 

I was lucky enough to organise bookings before I got on. But then when I got on, the app told me I had no reservation! And it stupidly doesn't send you a confirmation or give any other form of record. And you have to go at the right time, but because you can only take what's available, times are all over the place. And if you're 15 min late you lose your reservation.

 

So I rush down to guest services just to get the record. After queuing a while they tell me they can't help and to go to Razzle Dazzle. By then it was 4:20, so I got in 10 min before they closed. But when I arrived they were closing laptops, even though they said 4:30 closing. So I asked one and he just said "we're closed" - even though it wasn't closing time. And unhelpfully just said to try the restaurant at the time I thought I had. Their failure, my problem.

 

So after wasting a lot of time, and being stressed by the situation, I went down at the time I believed to the restaurant I was sure I'd booked. My memory hadn't failed me and it turned out the right time, the maitre d' explained they'd had some technical problem so bookings weren't showing on the app. Great... And they don't have any backup.

 

It's a woeful system. And there were quite a number of people I spoke to on my cruise who hadn't been able to get reservations at any restaurant once they got onboard., so just went to the buffet each night.

[DCGuy64]

39 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

And there were quite a number of people I spoke to on my cruise who hadn't been able to get reservations at any restaurant once they got onboard., so just went to the buffet each night.

With respect, The Galley is NOT a buffet. It's more of a food court, and a very nice looking one, at that (from all of the pictures I've seen). I don't think it's fair to characterize it as just like every other food trough on every other line. Many, if not most of the reviews I've seen have been extremely complimentary of The Galley. And BTW in addition to it, there are other venues on board that don't require reservations, such as The Social Club, Dock House, and the Pizza Place. And there's always Ship Eats. They *do* seem to have a nice variety of options.

[Travel-and-See]

4 hours ago, CruisingDaff said:

We have sailed Celebrity, Msc, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean so we are not 1st time cruisers, and I can see a real possibility of us have to eat in the non booking eateries for the duration, which is not what we signed up too. feeling quite deflated😒

I've been on Virgin a couple of times and I would say your frustration is understandable, and it is one of my major complaints about Virgin.  However, you don't need to worry about missing out on all of the restaurants.

 

Razzle Dazzle, Test Kitchen, and Gunbae will have availability throughout your cruise.  The hardest reservations to get, in my experience, are the Wake, Extra Virgin, and Pink Agave (in that order).  

 

Are you good with apps / technology? You can check the app yourself throughout the cruise and make new reservations as people cancel - that's why I did.  It was a little bit like playing dinner roulette but worked for me!

 

Also, what time do you like to eat dinner? Getting a walk-up can be easier early on when they are just opening for dinner.

 

I did end up eating at Razzle Dazzle multiple times on each cruise - I would have preferred getting into the Wake, etc. but it's certainly better than Pizza... and the Pizza on Virgin is really good haha.

[cantgetin]

First, if you have a 4:30 arrival time, show up at about 3.  Things are very crowded at 1:30 when all the priority people are there, but the process moves quickly.....and the later times are often on board well before their scheduled time.

Next, there will be a location for dining assistance--usually Razzle Dazzle, but on one of our sailings it was at Pink Agave.  There will be crew to direct you and both of these locations are on deck 5.  You can start working things on the app while standing in line for the assistance. Many more reservations open after boarding.  You can also drive yourself crazy checking the app in advance to see whether there are any cancelations.

On our last cruise, there was a dining assist desk outside of Pink Agave each morning.  I don't know if that is standard or a "one off." thing.  You can check the app throughout the cruise as people do cancel and choose other options.

You can also do a walk up or wait list at any of the restaurants. To do so, show up at the restaurant as early as possible and let them know what you'd like.  In 57 nights on board, we'e only been turned away twice--once brunch and once dinner at The Wake.  In each case, they offered us a reservation for the next night. Of course the more flexible you can be, the better your chances.  Walk up means you stand there and wait for a table, wait list means you leave and they message you when something opens up.

[mawsmaw]

6 hours ago, CruisingDaff said:

We have booked a 7 day cruise in Oct, At the time of booking we were split between this Greek Spain itinerary, and a trip on the NCL Escape. Cost wise there was only about £500 difference,the escape was 9 day and was in the Haven, 

After a lot of debating we thought we would give Virgin a go. We have been on the Escape before and this is the 1st time our 17 year old has decided to stay home.

We liked Virgin as it advertises all these amazing restaurants , no main dining room so everyone has access to ALL these restaurants. 

Now I am panicking as we have a 4.30pm board time and all online bookings have gone, and we will be last on the ship so what chance do we have of actually getting some actual bookings. 

This has left me with a bit of a bitter taste to be honest, 

We have sailed Celebrity, Msc, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean so we are not 1st time cruisers, and I can see a real possibility of us have to eat in the non booking eateries for the duration, which is not what we signed up too. feeling quite deflated😒

 

Think we may be on the same cruise CD. Out of Athens on the 20th ?

We only booked 4 weeks ago and forgot to get an embarkation time right away.  As we were on Virgin last year we knew to set the alarm for 5am to get our choice of restaurant (last year we were up to 1am Uk time to book, to realise it was 5am). So got our choices this time. 
 

Unfortunately our embarkation time was 4.30, but I saw someone on here say to keep checking the app as earlier slots appear. Well, on Monday this week, a 2pm appeared so I grabbed it. I let our friends know, who were on a different booking and they managed to get a 2.30 arrival. So, I’d say keep checking the app during the day to try for an earlier time - you’ve nothing to lose, and it only takes a few seconds. 
Good luck. 

[flyerbrp]

Just got off the Valiant Lady on Sunday. We went to Razzle Dazzle on boarding day to add and change dinner times and restaurants. Absolutely no issues. The line was about 10 minutes max to see a sailor who changed and created our dining schedule exactly how we wanted it. They had about 12 sailors there help us all. Don't sweat this issue. VIrgin is the best for sailor services. We sail again on Resilient Lady on Sept 23 out of Portsmouth. By the way we boarded Valiant in Miami at 330pm. We had a 4:15 boarding time. This was our 4th Virgin and we cruise a lot on Celebrity.

Edited September 11 by flyerbrp

[cantgetin]

Remember that you want to arrive about 30 minutes prior to your scheduled time.

[kaysha2004]

On 9/11/2024 at 1:40 PM, CruisingDaff said:

We have booked a 7 day cruise in Oct, At the time of booking we were split between this Greek Spain itinerary, and a trip on the NCL Escape. Cost wise there was only about £500 difference,the escape was 9 day and was in the Haven, 

After a lot of debating we thought we would give Virgin a go. We have been on the Escape before and this is the 1st time our 17 year old has decided to stay home.

We liked Virgin as it advertises all these amazing restaurants , no main dining room so everyone has access to ALL these restaurants. 

Now I am panicking as we have a 4.30pm board time and all online bookings have gone, and we will be last on the ship so what chance do we have of actually getting some actual bookings. 

This has left me with a bit of a bitter taste to be honest, 

We have sailed Celebrity, Msc, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean so we are not 1st time cruisers, and I can see a real possibility of us have to eat in the non booking eateries for the duration, which is not what we signed up too. feeling quite deflated😒

 

I'm on the Resilient right now, departed from Portsmouth, U.K, on September 8th.  You should be concerned.  I had priority boarding and was aboard by 2 p.m.  I went straight to Razzle Dazzle.  I was fourth in line and it was a 10-minute wait, only to be led to sit at some tables to wait for a staff member to be free up.  That took another 8 minutes.  There were only 4 staff doing the bookings for 2500 guests.  The whole process took about 40 minutes.  I got what I wanted, but I feel bad for those boarding later and not getting what they want.  This is an epic failure by Virgin.

 

It didn't used to be like this. When I last cruised in February 2024, all my dining reservations were available and booked on the app pre-cruise.  My personal theory is that Virgin is now sailing at capacity and hasn't adjusted their procedures for the increased volume of guests.  They really need to refine their systems.

[The_Big_M]

I sailed in Feb 2024, and it was a full cruise then, hence the problems with availability.

 

It may be some of the people here talking about experiences have sailed on non full cruises, which there have been a lot mentioned, and which will obviously mean it will be easier to get a slot. But you can't expect that to be the case.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

I'm on the Resilient right now, departed from Portsmouth, U.K, on September 8th.  You should be concerned.  I had priority boarding and was aboard by 2 p.m.  I went straight to Razzle Dazzle.  I was fourth in line and it was a 10-minute wait, only to be led to sit at some tables to wait for a staff member to be free up.  That took another 8 minutes.  There were only 4 staff doing the bookings for 2500 guests.  The whole process took about 40 minutes.  I got what I wanted, but I feel bad for those boarding later and not getting what they want.  This is an epic failure by Virgin.

 

It didn't used to be like this. When I last cruised in February 2024, all my dining reservations were available and booked on the app pre-cruise.  My personal theory is that Virgin is now sailing at capacity and hasn't adjusted their procedures for the increased volume of guests.  They really need to refine their systems.

Wow. 😲

[genian_travels]

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

I'm on the Resilient right now, departed from Portsmouth, U.K, on September 8th.  You should be concerned.  I had priority boarding and was aboard by 2 p.m.  I went straight to Razzle Dazzle.  I was fourth in line and it was a 10-minute wait, only to be led to sit at some tables to wait for a staff member to be free up.  That took another 8 minutes.  There were only 4 staff doing the bookings for 2500 guests.  The whole process took about 40 minutes.  I got what I wanted, but I feel bad for those boarding later and not getting what they want.  This is an epic failure by Virgin.

 

It didn't used to be like this. When I last cruised in February 2024, all my dining reservations were available and booked on the app pre-cruise.  My personal theory is that Virgin is now sailing at capacity and hasn't adjusted their procedures for the increased volume of guests.  They really need to refine their systems.

@kaysha2004 Your post is contradictory and unnecessarily scaring the OP. You say the OP should be concerned and it’s an “epic failure” on Virgin’s part - and yet you got everything you wanted.

 

You waited a total of 18 minutes to be seen. If the whole process took 40 minutes, then that means you spent 22 minutes with the crew member rearranging your own reservations for a 6 night cruise. What knock-on effect did that have for everyone in the queue behind you?

It’s disingenuous to say there was “only 4 staff doing the bookings for 2500 guests”. There clearly wasn’t a line of 2500 people behind you trying to make dinner reservations and a significant number of people would already have made them online.

 

You say you feel bad for those that boarded later and didn’t get the dining reservations they wanted. How many people was that? Do you have the numbers?

 

@CruisingDaff There is enough dining capacity for everyone onboard. Don’t worry about it 🙂 As every restaurant on board is a specialty restaurant, they should be treated as such, in terms of availability, like on other lines. The key is being flexible. If you always eat at 7pm without fail, then you may be disappointed. But have some flexibility and you’ll always get a table. Enjoy your cruise 🙂

 

[Travel-and-See]

22 minutes ago, genian_travels said:

There is enough dining capacity for everyone onboard.

I would not agree with that statement 100%

[kaysha2004]

1 hour ago, genian_travels said:

@kaysha2004 Your post is contradictory and unnecessarily scaring the OP. You say the OP should be concerned and it’s an “epic failure” on Virgin’s part - and yet you got everything you wanted.

I don't sugarcoat my real-life experience on any cruise line. The reader needs to know what is really going on.  Yes, I did get everything I wanted because I'm a Sea Blazer with Deep Blue Extras and priority boarding.  Not everyone has that.

1 hour ago, genian_travels said:

You waited a total of 18 minutes to be seen. If the whole process took 40 minutes, then that means you spent 22 minutes with the crew member rearranging your own reservations for a 6 night cruise. What knock-on effect did that have for everyone in the queue behind you?

I was not rearranging anything. I was unable to book on the app for some dining times before 9:00 p.m.  And, IMO, I'd rather be doing other things when I board than standing in a line for dining reservations that should have been secured precruise.

1 hour ago, genian_travels said:

It’s disingenuous to say there was “only 4 staff doing the bookings for 2500 guests”. There clearly wasn’t a line of 2500 people behind you trying to make dinner reservations and a significant number of people would already have made them online.

 

You say you feel bad for those that boarded later and didn’t get the dining reservations they wanted. How many people was that? Do you have the numbers?

 

@CruisingDaff There is enough dining capacity for everyone onboard. Don’t worry about it 🙂 As every restaurant on board is a specialty restaurant, they should be treated as such, in terms of availability, like on other lines. The key is being flexible. If you always eat at 7pm without fail, then you may be disappointed. But have some flexibility and you’ll always get a table. Enjoy your cruise 🙂

 

Since Virgin doesn't have a main dining room, like other cruise lines, specialty restaurants are the only choice for a full service dining experience.  On other cruise lines, you can go to the MDR or pay extra money to go to specialty dining.  This spreads out the guest count over a larger number of restaurants.  Everyone should be able to dine in all of the restaurants at a time of their choosing.

 

To the OP:  Keep checking the app for an earlier boarding time and monitor the dining times.  People cancel and rearrange their plans.  If you have a TA, they may have better access to book your dining precruise.

[mawsmaw]

OP, if you are on the Athens sailing on the 20th - there have been early slots available to embark (2.00, 2.15 and 2.30) for the last few hours. 

[genian_travels]

4 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

I would not agree with that statement 100%

There is enough dining capacity during the dining period. There isn’t capacity if everyone wants to eat at 7pm - as there isn’t on any cruise line - hence me saying flexibility is key.