Just off Valiant Lady as Mega Rockstars and it was kind of disappointing.

[valandemmy]

As far as the trip itself went we had a great time, the happenings cast were very good and interacted with everyone very well.  Shows were fantastic and it seemed as if they had added a few more things to do during the day.  

 

We met our rockstar agent once onboard she came to the room, she read the list of things that were included as megas.  She knew i had requested woodford and said that she would bring that by later along with our diet coke.  the coke showed up but never got the woodford and it was not mentioned again.  I had also asked about having some in room dining from one of the restaurants because we would like to eat on our balcony one night and I was told we could order from the ship eats menu...umm OK, i guess.  on the 3rd day, I had asked through the APP about a possible tour of the bridge mentioning that I had read on CC that Mega's were some times allowed to take a tour.  she responded with its $200/pp for a 10 stop tour that included the bridge as well - well, thanks anyway!  the final straw was THE SHIP SHOW menu had a lot of tree nuts in it.  my wife has a tree nut allergy...so I had called early in the day to ask about and if she could have an alternate menu to be safe.  She told me she would check on it and get back to me.  we never heard back from her about it...so ended up having to no show and eat in the galley.  We had made friends with another couple that were staying as mega's and had the same RSA and they were having a very similar experience.. 

Anyway it didn't ruin the cruise, but will most likely not stay as a mega anytime in the future because of this.

 

 

[Bearsparents]

Am sorry to hear that and that we did not meet you.  We were also MRS.  Our Agent was fabulous.  Definitely kept our bar stocked. We are sailing as MRS again.  

[valandemmy]

23 minutes ago, Bearsparents said:

Am sorry to hear that and that we did not meet you.  We were also MRS.  Our Agent was fabulous.  Definitely kept our bar stocked. We are sailing as MRS again.  

 

did you guys go to the secret magic show?

[Eric&Pam]

We were Megas and requested Woodford Reserve instead of the Johnny Walker Black that was already in the room. She brought us a full 750ml, of Woodford, not the 375ml half bottle, like the others in the bar, and left the JWB as well.

 

As for the bridge tour, waiting until the 3rd day to ask may have been the problem, as they usually only offer bridge tour time for Megas, and it may have already occurred. It's best to ask on the first day,although some could argue that you shouldn't have to ask at all. It's also up to the captain if the tours are offered at all, and their decision could be based on any number of factors.

[jon81uk]

Did you raise your concerns with your agent not getting you what you asked for with the rockstar manager? Feels like both the getting food sent to the room and supplying the Woodford would have been easy fixes.

[Cloud9 Bob]

6 hours ago, valandemmy said:

Anyway it didn't ruin the cruise, but will most likely not stay as a mega anytime in the future because of this.

 

I applaud you for your attitude and flexibility! You are definitely "glass is half full" lovely people. That said, there is no excuse for the poor service you received at the MRS level. The things you asked for should have been absolutely no problem. The fault seems to fall directly on the shoulders of the agent, who frankly seems like they didn't do their job. I hope you made your bad service known or will in the questionnaire or an email. It may be a case of other "squeeky wheels" getting the grease or just lack of a competent  RSA. Either way, you are not doing them any favors if you don't let management know. Maybe they need retraining or a move to a different area. I'm truly sorry this happened to you. BTW, not only have MRS sailors had free bridge tours but sometimes they even get to blow the ships horn when leaving port! 🙂

[valandemmy]

4 hours ago, jon81uk said:

Did you raise your concerns with your agent not getting you what you asked for with the rockstar manager? Feels like both the getting food sent to the room and supplying the Woodford would have been easy fixes.

 

We didn't...I didn't even know there was a rockstar manager until the morning of debarkation when I had to call to get my ticket for the parking voucher and the manager was the one who called me and brought it by the suite.  We most likely would not have said anything anyway, I would hate to get someone in trouble.

[Bearsparents]

7 hours ago, valandemmy said:

 

did you guys go to the secret magic show?

No we did not.  Was it on Scarlet night? I managed to stay at the pool party till 11 and then had to call it a night. 

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

 

I applaud you for your attitude and flexibility! You are definitely "glass is half full" lovely people. That said, there is no excuse for the poor service you received at the MRS level. The things you asked for should have been absolutely no problem. The fault seems to fall directly on the shoulders of the agent, who frankly seems like they didn't do their job. I hope you made your bad service known or will in the questionnaire or an email. It may be a case of other "squeeky wheels" getting the grease or just lack of a competent  RSA. Either way, you are not doing them any favors if you don't let management know. Maybe they need retraining or a move to a different area. I'm truly sorry this happened to you. BTW, not only have MRS sailors had free bridge tours but sometimes they even get to blow the ships horn when leaving port! 🙂

 

My wife had mentioned that maybe she had some really demanding people so we would've felt bad for saying anything at the time.  I will most likely fill out the survey however.  

[cantgetin]

Interesting...it does sound like the issue was your agent.

 

We were on Valiant in an accessible cabin and had a broken feature that presented a safety issue.  I reported it to our stateroom host who insisted it was as it should be. Reported it to Sailor Services who sent the same host again, same result.  Our TA happened to be on the cruise and came to see the cabin--she agreed with our assessment and said she'd  report it to the correct people; no result.  Within the last couple of days, we got one of those 10 second surveys that asked about the cabin, and I noted the problem there, stressing the safety portion.  Suddenly, they got excited.  On the last day, a manager called and asked if she could come up--she inspected and agreed that it was broken and unsafe in the current state.  We said that we'd been dealing with it for 13 days and at that point would prefer that they wait till we were off the ship to do the repair.  

My point is that had the stateroom host escalated it on day 1......no, it didn't ruin our cruise or any such silliness, but it should have been taken care of.......much like your Woodford.

[seeyouinthesun]

On other lines, this is the normal situation, you have to fight for what they promised you. But on my VV cruse, having everything go right and mentioning something once got it fixed right away, was my I loved the cruise. But I really appreciate you posting this as it gives me a full picture of what can happen. 

[CruisingWalter]

21 hours ago, valandemmy said:

I had also asked about having some in room dining from one of the restaurants because we would like to eat on our balcony one night and I was told we could order from the ship eats menu

That's not offered for any of the suites on VV. You might get that on other lines, but not VV. If you want the restaurant menu, you go to the restaurant. 

 

The Mega experience totally depends on your rockstar agent. Our favorite suite on the ship is the Rockstar Cheeky Corner Suite. Our Agent was spot on and if they weren't, no big deal. The suite and the balcony are my favorite at sea so far across 11 cruise lines. Anytime we can book the Cheeky Corner on 11, 12 or 13 that is my happiest of happy places at sea. 

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

That's not offered for any of the suites on VV. You might get that on other lines, but not VV. If you want the restaurant menu, you go to the restaurant. 

 

The Mega experience totally depends on your rockstar agent. Our favorite suite on the ship is the Rockstar Cheeky Corner Suite. Our Agent was spot on and if they weren't, no big deal. The suite and the balcony are my favorite at sea so far across 11 cruise lines. Anytime we can book the Cheeky Corner on 11, 12 or 13 that is my happiest of happy places at sea. 

 

That is odd because I have read multiple reviews from sailor's as well as other travel agents who say that getting dining delivered from any restaurant to your stateroom is one of the perks of being a Mega.   

 

I find it a little crappy that my experience depends on the agent that gets assigned to me.  With the amount of money we are paying the level of service should be superior from every RSA.  Even if they could not do the in room dining, there should be no reason for her not to have called me back to let me know about the tree nut issue for The Ship Show.  

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

That's not offered for any of the suites on VV. You might get that on other lines, but not VV. If you want the restaurant menu, you go to the restaurant. 

 

Although not strictly listed as a defined benefit, multiple people report that mega rockstar means your agent will fetch food from any restaurant. It’s reliably happened enough for VV Insider to show it as a mega benefit https://vvinsider.com/guides-and-faqs/guide/mega-rockstar-suites/

 

The official website does state “Mega RockStar Agent

You’ll have a RockStar Agent personally dedicated to you and your needs. So no matter the ask, you’ve got an agent at your (RockStar) service.” 
so they should be doing any reasonable request for you. 
 

I think the OP would have been right to complain whilst onboard and got a different agent or an improvement in service.

 

Edited Sunday at 03:28 PM by jon81uk

[Tralfaz1138]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:07 PM, Bearsparents said:

No we did not.  Was it on Scarlet night? I managed to stay at the pool party till 11 and then had to call it a night. 

The secret magic show is something that anyone might get an invite to if they catch The Charmer (magician) doing one of their pop-up acts around the ship.  We also got an invite left in our cabin by our Rockstar agent, so I think that's why someone was asking if you'd gone to the secret magic show.

 

Definitely sounds like you're mega-Rockstar agent wasn't quite on top of things.  We were just Rockstars and our agent found us probably twice a day asking if everything was alright and if we needed something.  We didn't have a lot of requests, but he pretty quickly addressed any we did have.

 

I know they are supposed to have a free bridge tour for mega-Rockstars, but that aside I thought there was "just a bridge tour" for $100 rather than having to do the ship tour for $200, so odd they only brought up the ship tour as the way to do that.

[CruisingWalter]

On 9/15/2024 at 11:26 AM, jon81uk said:

Although not strictly listed as a defined benefit, multiple people report that mega rockstar means your agent will fetch food from any restaurant

That's up to the agent, but it's not a defined benefit so there's no requirement for the agent to do so, nor is there a reason to complain if the agent doesn't do it.  If VV has it listed as a specific benefit, then the agent will be required to do so. What VV Insider has to say has nothing to do with official policies. Until VV adds "Order in your suite from any restaurant" to the Mega Rockstar Perks, it's not included. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 9/15/2024 at 10:43 AM, valandemmy said:

That is odd because I have read multiple reviews from sailor's as well as other travel agents who say that getting dining delivered from any restaurant to your stateroom is one of the perks of being a Mega. 

VV simply says "no matter the ask, you have your agent." They do not list restaurant delivery as a specific perk. It's up to the individual agent to interpret whether they can deliver food from a restaurant to your suite.  Until they specifically add it to the list of perks, its going to be up to the agent to decide if they are going to honor the request. 

https://www.virginvoyages.com/cabins/suites

[jon81uk]

2 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

That's up to the agent, but it's not a defined benefit so there's no requirement for the agent to do so, nor is there a reason to complain if the agent doesn't do it.  If VV has it listed as a specific benefit, then the agent will be required to do so. What VV Insider has to say has nothing to do with official policies. Until VV adds "Order in your suite from any restaurant" to the Mega Rockstar Perks, it's not included. 

But it’s also about consistency of service, when many reviews of mega rockstar mention being able to get food to your room from any restaurant you would also expect the same service the bloggers and vloggers talk about as well as other posters on this forum. In my opinion the level of service the OP describes on here is not the standard I’d expect for mega rockstar.

 

The dinner on your balcony is discussed in this video at 24 minutes in.

 

[CruisingWalter]

8 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

In my opinion the level of service the OP describes on here is not the standard I’d expect for mega rockstar.

 

What happens on blogs and vlogs, your opinion or my opinion don't matter. What matters is the official policy from VV. Other cruise lines specifically mention "Order from any/select restaurants and have your dinner in your suite." In those cases the guest would be right to be upset if their butler did not bring the food to the room.

 

Virgin Voyages leaves that vague as 'no matter the ask.' Until they make it a specific perk for the suite, it's up to the agent on what they will do. 

[CruisingWalter]

And as a follow-up to the Vlogs and Blogs, there are multiple that mention the ability to "upgrade to a black sea band as a regular Sailor." I have to deal with those ALL the time.  "But this vlogger says I can do it!"  They were given the black band as part of the invite to the ship so they could show Richard's Rooftop but regular sailors cannot upgrade.  It's not possible even though a vlogger said you could do it. Take all vloggers with a grain of salt. 🙂

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

And as a follow-up to the Vlogs and Blogs, there are multiple that mention the ability to "upgrade to a black sea band as a regular Sailor." I have to deal with those ALL the time.  "But this vlogger says I can do it!"  They were given the black band as part of the invite to the ship so they could show Richard's Rooftop but regular sailors cannot upgrade.  It's not possible even though a vlogger said you could do it. Take all vloggers with a grain of salt. 🙂

Very well said. I love having YouTube as a pre-cruise resource in order to find out more about a particular ship and/or cruise line. But the downside is that (as you point out) some people think that because a particular influencer got some extra perk (and we usually have no idea why), others assume that will apply to them, too, and then get mad at the cruise line because "we were promised, they did it for them, why not me" etc. Taking all vloggers with a grain of salt is an excellent idea.

[jon81uk]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

What happens on blogs and vlogs, your opinion or my opinion don't matter. What matters is the official policy from VV. Other cruise lines specifically mention "Order from any/select restaurants and have your dinner in your suite." In those cases the guest would be right to be upset if their butler did not bring the food to the room.

 

Virgin Voyages leaves that vague as 'no matter the ask.' Until they make it a specific perk for the suite, it's up to the agent on what they will do. 

But I’m sure you can see why the OP was disappointed that the service they received did not match what multiple other people have got?

 

Yes blogs/vlogs can create unrealistic expectations when they do get preferential treatment (like you say about some getting rooftop access when staying in sea terrace cabin) but I do think the OP had poor service compared to other experiences that have been reported in reviews including on this forum. 
As I said there should be some consistency of service and even if the thing can’t be offered the way it was dealt with for the OP sounds poor.

Edited Tuesday at 02:09 PM by jon81uk

[AndyUK]

I agree with the above this is all about service levels. I been on 5 VV, all in mega rockstars cabins, and it really depends on the agent. If you can build a rapport with them you get more, the less you interact the less you appear to get. On our last 2 VV, nothing was a problem... specific champagne provided, restaurant food in room, even afternoon tea in the room, we already had the bubbles! We find talking to them just about their day and building a rapport really helps, they only human end of the day, missing friends, family etc. . That said, on one VV we did have to complain about the service of the agent, which got immediate attention and fixed overnight! The agent was like a best friend the next day, sure, initially we felt awaked, but the agent told us, they didn't realise how they made us feel, and so appreciated the honestly... regional/ culture differences impact how things are delivered and perceived.  

[DCGuy64]

6 minutes ago, AndyUK said:

I agree with the above this is all about service levels. I been on 5 VV, all in mega rockstars cabins, and it really depends on the agent. If you can build a rapport with them you get more, the less you interact the less you appear to get. On our last 2 VV, nothing was a problem... specific champagne provided, restaurant food in room, even afternoon tea in the room, we already had the bubbles! We find talking to them just about their day and building a rapport really helps, they only human end of the day, missing friends, family etc. . That said, on one VV we did have to complain about the service of the agent, which got immediate attention and fixed overnight! The agent was like a best friend the next day, sure, initially we felt awaked, but the agent told us, they didn't realise how they made us feel, and so appreciated the honestly... regional/ culture differences impact how things are delivered and perceived.  

This is so true, not just on VV but on any cruise line. You said it very eloquently, if you build a rapport, you're likely to get better service. So true. My wife and I make it a habit of bringing chocolates or other sweets when we fly, and give them to the flight attendants as we board. Not only do we always get a smile and a "thank you," we very often get free drinks!

[jon81uk]

4 hours ago, AndyUK said:

I agree with the above this is all about service levels. I been on 5 VV, all in mega rockstars cabins, and it really depends on the agent. If you can build a rapport with them you get more, the less you interact the less you appear to get. On our last 2 VV, nothing was a problem... specific champagne provided, restaurant food in room, even afternoon tea in the room, we already had the bubbles! We find talking to them just about their day and building a rapport really helps, they only human end of the day, missing friends, family etc. . That said, on one VV we did have to complain about the service of the agent, which got immediate attention and fixed overnight! The agent was like a best friend the next day, sure, initially we felt awaked, but the agent told us, they didn't realise how they made us feel, and so appreciated the honestly... regional/ culture differences impact how things are delivered and perceived.  

Yep and if you’d told a friend about those more recent amazing experiences and then they went on to get the not so great service the OP had and you had on the other trip the. I’d expect them to be disappointed.

 

There needs to be more consistency so that most people get closer to those amazing experiences.