Have Questions about Resilient? I'm on Board Now

[kaysha2004]

I'm currently on the back end of a B2B on Resilient from Portsmouth.  The first cruise was September 8-14 and the second ends September 19th.  Ports of call are A Coruna and Bilbao in Spain, Le Verdon, France, overnight in Amsterdam and, finally, Bruges, Belgium. 

 

The first sailing had about 2500 passengers.  The second cruise is full with 2,623 guests with a max capacity of 2770, I think.  In 50 cruises, this is the first time I've been on a sailing that's at or near capacity.  Lines are long for the shows and they've added folding chairs to the Manor and Red Room.  

 

About my cruise experience, this is my 10th Virgin cruise and 50th lifetime cruise.  I've sailed on all 3 of Virgin's ships.  I'm a solo cruiser.

 

I'm staying in a central sea terrace, so I can answer questions about that cabin category.  On previous cruises, I've stayed in a solo insider and insider.

 

A few thoughts I'll put out there.

 

At the overnight stop in Amsterdam, the exterior balcony lights were never turned off all night and the light switch has been disabled.  Even with the dark curtains drawn, blue light still shines into the cabin.  If this keeps you from restful sleep, as it did for me, bring a sleep mask.

 

The crew is the usual happy and friendly, and the food is over-the-top fantastic.  The ship is kept impeccably clean.  My two cabin hosts have been the best.  Virgin does one daily housekeeping visit, and you can request items at anytime through the tablet or app on your phone. 

 

I had difficulty getting the dining reservations of my choosing pre-cruise, so I had to waste time upon embarkation to get in line at Razzle Dazzle to sort it out.  This wasn't my experience on my cruise in February 2024.  Dining reservations were easily bookable on the app for that cruise.  IMO, Virgin needs to get rid of reservations and make it freestyle to walk up and dine when you want.

 

I'll add to this post soon with more observations.  If you have any questions, fire away!

[KnotForSail]

Hi! Did Virgin offer a complimentary shuttle service at Le Verdon or Bilbao? La Coruna looks as though it's an easy walk from the port, but it would be really useful to know if they're offering any kind of transport at the other two for those not booked on excursions. Thanks!

[iancb]

Hi! Apart from the shows does it feel like it's at capacity, is it difficult to find seats in the Galley and bars?  Our last sailing in June was 2/3's full and never felt crowded, our next on the 29th of this month looks like it will be around capacity so a bit worried.

[beardedladies]

We’re getting on for a similar trip tomorrow - also a B2B first Amsterdam then down to Spain. 
 

How was getting in to Amsterdam port? Any protestors?

 

Also what’s the B2B process like? Nice and easy or a bit of a pain?

 

While these are our first virgin cruises, the second leg will also be my 50th cruise ever. I think I may have a problem 😄

Edited Wednesday at 07:51 AM by beardedladies

[kaysha2004]

2 hours ago, KnotForSail said:

Hi! Did Virgin offer a complimentary shuttle service at Le Verdon or Bilbao? La Coruna looks as though it's an easy walk from the port, but it would be really useful to know if they're offering any kind of transport at the other two for those not booked on excursions. Thanks!

There were no free ship shuttles into those towns.  The paid shuttle through Virgin to Bordeaux was $110 and was a 2-hour drive each way.  It was sold out almost as soon as it was released.  There were no other options to get to Bordeaux.  As an alternative, the ship did offer a free shuttle to a nearby seaside town called Soulac de Mur.  Its a 15-minute ride.  Many people went there instead of doing a long-haul into Bordeaux.  

 

I booked a ship excursion, and A Coruna is walkable from the port.  Bilbao is not so easy to walk to from the port.  The ship offered a free shuttle to some station, but then you're on your own.  I had a ship tour called Bilbao and Pintxos and was a comprehensive walking and food tour.

[kaysha2004]

1 hour ago, iancb said:

Hi! Apart from the shows does it feel like it's at capacity, is it difficult to find seats in the Galley and bars?  Our last sailing in June was 2/3's full and never felt crowded, our next on the 29th of this month looks like it will be around capacity so a bit worried.

The galley is very busy at breakfast, and seats are scarce whether a port or sea day.  Throughout the rest of the day, there's plenty of seating.  As for the bars, it depends on if you are wanting a seat to listen to a musical artist. It will fill up, so arrive early to secure your spot.

[kaysha2004]

44 minutes ago, beardedladies said:

We’re getting on for a similar trip tomorrow - also a B2B first Amsterdam then down to Spain. 
 

How was getting in to Amsterdam port? Any protestors?

 

Also what’s the B2B process like? Nice and easy or a bit of a pain?

 

While these are our first virgin cruises, the second leg will also be my 50th cruise ever. I think I may have a problem 😄

Happy 50th!

 

Getting to the Amsterdam port was not a problem because Virgin published a time other than the real time of arrival so the protesters arrived at a time the ship wasn't there.  I would highly recommend watching the ship go through the locks on the departure day.  If you have a balcony, it's a fascinating thing to see.

 

For the B2B process, you will receive a letter in your cabin the night before disembarkation with instructions. The customs process takes place in the Sip Lounge. The letter says to be there at 10:00 a.m., but make no rush about it. We had 94 B2Bs. The staff didn't arrive until 9:55 to start setting up the lounge for the process.  It was a bit disorganized, typical for some virgin processes, and there was no signage or direction for what to do as a passenger.  Since I've been through it before, I knew what to expect, so I left and got a coffee and came back.  Eventually, everybody lined up in the queue and once the process got started, it ran quickly.  You can arrive at 10:30, go to the back of the line, and you'll be done in 10 or so minutes.

[kaysha2004]

The app is still not functional at times.  Don't be surprised if you have to open it and close it multiple times before it works.

 

There have been quite a few no-shows for the restaurant reservations.  You might have a good chance of doing a walk up. Apparently, as the hostess told me, people don't cancel their reservations on the app and just don't show up.  If you're not going to keep your reservation, please be kind to others and cancel it.

 

They do the crew drills on a port day.  If you happen to be on board at 10:00 a.m. on a crew drill day, note the elevators won't be working for about 15 minutes.  Plan accordingly.

[DCGuy64]

Thanks for the helpful advice and information. I am interested in having the bed converted to a sofa during the day. Must this be requested every day, or will the steward just do it every day? Thanks so much and have a great rest of your cruise!

[kaysha2004]

4 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks for the helpful advice and information. I am interested in having the bed converted to a sofa during the day. Must this be requested every day, or will the steward just do it every day? Thanks so much and have a great rest of your cruise!

It is not done automatically, so you'll need to request it each day.  The cabin hosts used to ask your preference at the start of the cruise.  It's a bit of effort to transform, so now the default choice is keep it as a bed unless requested otherwise.

[DCGuy64]

22 minutes ago, kaysha2004 said:

It is not done automatically, so you'll need to request it each day.  The cabin hosts used to ask your preference at the start of the cruise.  It's a bit of effort to transform, so now the default choice is keep it as a bed unless requested otherwise.

OK thanks, that's helpful. Maybe some days we'll prefer to keep it as a bed all day, so it makes sense we'd need to request it each time. Another thread on here talked about being able to select your disembarkation time via the app sometime during the cruise. By any chance have you tried that out?

[kaysha2004]

For anyone new to Virgin, to connect to the wifi once on board, turn off your VPN, turn on wifi, and stay in airplane mode.  Leave Bluetooth off unless you intend to shake for champagne.  Bluetooth is only used to track your movements on the ship.  I prefer not to be tracked.

 

Leave your cruise bag tag on till the end of the sailing.  They sort baggage by deck number in the pickup hall.  It's so much more efficient than the traditional way other cruise lines use.

 

You can stay on the ship until 10:30 a.m., which is nice if you don't have to rush to the airport.

[kaysha2004]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

OK thanks, that's helpful. Maybe some days we'll prefer to keep it as a bed all day, so it makes sense we'd need to request it each time. Another thread on here talked about being able to select your disembarkation time via the app sometime during the cruise. By any chance have you tried that out?

I have used the app to do that.  They prefer that you select a time to manage the flow of guests leaving the ship.  However, if you're running late, you can leave later.  It's not high pressure. 

[jon81uk]

18 minutes ago, kaysha2004 said:

I have used the app to do that.  They prefer that you select a time to manage the flow of guests leaving the ship.  However, if you're running late, you can leave later.  It's not high pressure. 

I would add that although disembarkation times are not enforced we’ve had two cruises now where a significant number of people tried to leave after 10am leading to them having to turn the lifts off as there was no space for people to exit the lifts. I’d strongly suggest if you do want to get off promptly to disembark before 10am.

[cantgetin]

One of the nicer things on VV is that you do not need to take your carry on bags to breakfast on the last day.  Leave them in your cabin.  After breakfast, return to the cabin for a quick freshen up before grabbing the bags and heading for the disembarkation line.  As noted, the closer it gets to 10:30, the longer the line seems to get.  There is a bit of a rush about 7-7:30, then a lull and a long line toward "all ashore" time.  As noted, there is no enforcement of the selected times and no priority given to people who do appear at their selected time.

[kaysha2004]

The embarkation experience: Upon arrival at the terminal for my assigned priority boarding time (Deep Blue Extras) at 1:45 p.m., it was a mass mob of people clustered together at the bottom of the stairs shoulder to shoulder screaming at the two Virgin reps to get a boarding card.  They were handing out laminated and numbered boarding cards.  Never had this experience previously. 

 

There were no delineated lines whatsoever.  There was no priority boarding at all and no one checking boarding times.  It was a free-for-all.

 

Once the rope dropped, it was chaotic, with pushing and shoving and luggage wheels running over feet.  It reminded me of the days of Black Friday when you would arrive hours before a department store would open, then the floodgates opened and the madness begins to be first.

 

This was an epic fail for Virgin.

[beardedladies]

Currently en-route to the ship, have DBE but have heard this about embarkation before so aiming for arriving around 2.30 - hopefully it will have calmed down by then!

[beardedladies]

I think leaving it until 2.30 was the right call. No queue to check in as DBE, whizzed past the huge queue for everyone else and on the ship in about 10 minutes. Very easy!