I was obsessed with these from season 2. We did an Amalfi Coast cruise and buying a head vase was #1 priority in Sicily. I searched several stores before I found this beauty!
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Just finished an 8 day, Amalfi Coast cruise on the Scarlett Lady. We decided to branch out since our chances of reaching Diamond were dashed. We haven't been on another cruise line in 15 years.
Here are the things that Virgin does better:
Food: the quality and variety were hands down better than Carnival. At first, I was apprehensive about booking reservations before we set sail in the restaurants but it was easy to change reservations or do walk ins. I actually liked having a reservation because the table was ready with no waiting. I taught I'd miss the main room dining but I loved all the specialty restaurants.
Sign and sail card: it's a bracelet that has a chip. It's much more convenient than wearing a lanyard around your neck.
Cabin: Bigger cabin controlled by an IPAD. You could set different lighting depending on your mood (hangover, zen, photo shoot...), open and close the curtains, play music. (It was missing the night light that's motion activated to guide you to the bathroom at night)
Adults only: Carnival is now having offering selected sailing that are adult only which is smart. I don't mind kids at all but it was a very nice vacation without kids.
Here are things Carnival does better:
Service: Staff calls you by your name and you get to know staff on a more personal level. We only saw our room attendance twice. We pushed a button when we wanted our cabin serviced. We missed the towel animals
Excursions: Carnival offers a variety of excursions compared to Virgin but we did a catamaran excursion and it wasn't packed on Virgin compared to the catamaran excursion on Carnival. Carnival offers more immersive experiences like atv, zip lining, cooking classes, etc
On board shops: More variety and lots of price points. Virgin had very few and they were more high end and expensive
Photos: love the photos opps at ports and elegant night. Virgin had a photo booth on Scarlett night that you could email the photo. It was complementary but I missed getting our photos taken.
Entertainment: Carnival offers early and late shows. Virgin seemed to have their shows really late. A lot of the activities were an extra charge on Virgin like painting and mixology.
Fun!: the overall vibe on Carnival is fun! They really have that dialed in.
Overall, still a fan of Carnival but I'm now more motivated to see what other lines have to offer. I still plan on sailing with Carnival (have 2 cruises booked in July) but I'm excited to explore more options.
Visiting Barcelona. 8 out of 9 of us had seafood paella. The guy that didn't have Paella had a steak. We had 3 bottles of wine, 5 desserts, and an Irish coffee. Our bill was just over $300 US dollars.
Just an update: my psycho boss fired me on March 11th. It wasn't for cause, it's because she's truly unhinged and some days, I was her bestie and other days, I couldn't do anything right. I no longer need to take sleeping aids and sleep through the night. I went to my hair dresser who I haven't seen since I was fired and she said I looked fantastic and asked me what I was doing different. I said getting good sleep and not being stressed. My hair dresser replied "so you're no longer working for that nut job?"
New job lined up to start soon but I've really been enjoying my down time.
I have a Spirit Airlines CC with 22K line of credit. It's paid off but if the cc gets canceled it will effect my length of credit history, available credit, and utilization. It's issued by BOA so do you think they'll just re-issue the card?