r/VirginVoyages

I have been having the most frustrating time trying to book my MNVV sailing. It seams that because I booked it while the ship was chartered the regular VV sailor services cannot help me, they just pass me off to emails that do not exist and phone numbers that go straight to VM and do not get answered. I am beyond frustrated that they are just making this my problem to solve as opposed to actually helping me.

I paid the deposit onboard ship, it shows in my account but I cannot make a booking and I am getting no help at all.

Rant over

We are just wrapping up the 15 day Fire and Ice cruise aboard the Valiant Lady. This is my first VV cruise having not cruised in many years and only with Princess in the past. Overall very positive experience.

Pros

Adults only made this very relaxing

The food was very good to decent for the most part. I did not enjoy Pink Agave. Ariyah was by far our favorite. We will be thinking about meals there for a long time. Our steaks in The Wake were good and cooked to order, seared and juicy. Pizza was good, Cesar salad was one of my favorites. If you have jalapeno frozen yogurt in the ice cream shop on your cruise, you must try it. Delicious with a scoop of key lime.

Crew was exceptional. So friendly, smiling, saying hello and good day. Any crew we saw in The Galley from a previous restaurant meal remembered us and said hello. Our cabin attendant was very good.

We really enjoyed one of the bands, The White Room. Bingo with The Diva was an entertaining way to kill an hour on sea day. I had a few other things I was interested in on My Planner but really we didn't end up doing many of them. We did Paint and Sip and it was also nice for a sea day. We mostly enjoyed reading or hanging out with our friends and some drinks/nibbles.

We got a topper for our bed and found we slept well.

Not having a hundred announcements over the PA per day was nice.

I have a food allergy and I felt like it was taken seriously and respected on Virgin. I even had the kitchen manager advise me food is made with fish sauce at Gunbae.

Cons/Not So Great

The tender process aboard this ship has been a hot buttered mess. Our FM told us this many tenders is highly unusual. Virgin has a lot of work to do if they do this route and this many tenders again. So disorganized. It did get slightly better by the last tender in Scotland but still not great. Having busses return to port at essentially the same time and deposit hundreds of passengers on the dock waiting for a tender is not good customer service. We also had people in line to get on a tender boat with us at 8:30 that said they signed up for 10:00 but just decided to cue up and hop on. We did not personally miss any shore excursions but a friend did (booked with 3rd party).

The hot tubs were nowhere near hot enough. I understand not having it at 103 degrees for a Caribbean or Mexico route but it needed to be warmer to enjoy on this route. Really disappointing.

Pink Agave-yuck. I found it to be mid quality at best. The chicken enchilada was so underwhelming. The Test Kitchen was just ok as well. We didn't know the menu rotates there. The Study in Chicken was awful imo. No taste.

The room service menu could use a few more options.

The panini grill, taco bar and noodle place closed too early on port days. It would have been nice to get back on board and have those extra food options open for dinner if we didn't have dinner reservations.

Overall we have enjoyed this cruise and have booked VV again for Norway in 2028.

*We did not use the casino, spa or tattoo shop. We did consider booking spa treatments but just never did. The prices in Squid Ink seemed high, even for "the experience."

Hi, everyone. I have a question about dining. I'm confused as to whether there are restaurants that require reservations and whether they cost extra. According to the app, there are restaurants (or eateries) where you can walk in any time. Are reservations accepted/recommended for those as well? I like flexibility, but my husband is the opposite. We will probably make a few reservations (but not if those restaurants cost extra), but if you miss your reservation, can you just go to an eatery where you are supposed to be able to walk in anytime?

We have cruised on Celebrity, Disney, and Carnival one time each. Please feel free to share any other tips you may have for first time VV cruisers. Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Hi guys, looking for some advice on which currency to take on the Italy and riviera cruise coming up? I know most of it will be cashless but looking for some cash for hopefully casino and to tip

We were thinking euros but see everything else is in dollars so was looking for some advice as it’s our first cruise

Background: I've been on 20+ cruises over 30 years, across all major cruise lines. First time on VV, thought I would share what we liked and what was less successful:

LIKES

• Food: very creative, tasty, upscale presentations. Liked the Galley as most food is served to you, take away options great, room service was some of the best. Really liked Test Kitchen, Razzle Dazzle (both for dinner). Wine pairing at Test Kitchen was quite good, decently priced. Wake was a little more challenging due to an allergy and waitstaff not knowing what menu items could be an issue, and we thought the tables were too close together for comfort. I did find many vegan, gluten free and other options available on most menus.
• Water service: great feature, not to have to order cans or bottles of water, very smart, and every time we needed our cabin water refilled it happened promptly.
• Cabin: we had a standard Sea Terrace. Loved the hammock and many power outlets. Storage was just fine (might not appear so from videos and photos if you've never sailed VV). The in room tablet works well for ordering food, requesting service, towels, water, etc.
• Cabin service: attendants were super helpful, friendly, and enhanced our trip.
• Entertainment: very creative, engaging, fun overall.
• Wrist band tech: generally positive experience, paperless with no receipts for anything and quick updates to our onboard account in the app were useful and convenient.
• Dress code: come as you are... no suits/ties, gowns, etc. Easy and modern. We did dress up a bit for Scarlet Night.
• Priority boarding - good if you can get it. We didn't have all of our dining set up prior to embarkation, and I was pleasantly surprised to see dining reservations offered in the embarkation area just before boarding the ship. We were able to book our remaining dinners which were sold out in the app.
• Late disembarkation: a first on any cruise, this was quite nice as we had use of our room until after 10 a.m. With a later flight, it meant we had a relaxing final day before heading to the airport.

LESS-THAN-LIKES (none of these are complaints)

• Food: regarding the allergy noted, the waitstaff stated the one item I wanted to order could potentially be cross-contaminated. That turned out not to be the case after we switched tables and had a more experienced server. All fine in the end.
• Cabin: walls between cabins seem quite thin, and I could hear coughing/sneezing from our neighbors, along with much door slamming and thundering footsteps. Maybe the ships are designed with less sound insulation. Bathrooms in standard cabins a little on the smaller side but good for us, if you need a lot of bathroom space you may want to upgrade to something larger.
• Entertainment: I'm unusual in that I like nearly every genre of music. I was craving something different by the end of the trip, as most of the performances and DJ sounds skew high energy/pop/electronic, etc. I just wanted to sit in a quiet bar with classical or jazz, not happening on VV so just be aware of that.
• Wrist band: a few glitches - at embarkation, couldn't board the ship and had to go back a few steps because something didn't sync at the initial checkin step. It got worked out in the end, maybe a 5 minute delay. Sailing VV again soon so will see if this was just a one off error. Also, the cord on my band broke, had it replaced, then my cabin mate's device quit working so had to go get that one replaced. All worked out in the end.
• Wifi: purchased the work from Sea option. Not a good value - very slow speed for working... although this option lets you use VPN. SS staff wasn't sure who the provider was. They did offer me a 50% discount and I thought that was fair. By slow, I'm talking about download speeds of under 10 mbps, and upload of less than that. My advice, just take your holiday and forget work lol.

Back aboard another ship in a few months and will post some updated reflections. Happy cruising!

Hi guys - never done a cruise before but myself and my partner have always wanted to try a Virgin voyage and really want to go for the eclipse sailing in August 2027 so really hoping you wonderful people might be able to help me with a few questions!

- Currently, I can’t see any sea terrace cabins on their website - does anyone know if these tend to pop up again over time? Or is that them usually sold out?

- What is the best way to book? I’m assuming direct on the VV website is that right?

- There seem to be a lot of ‘sales’ on the website but are there any regular sales/promotions I should look out for over any others?

- Is the gratuity add-on worth adding if you’re also buying a drinks credit?

- If anyone has ANY tips for a couple of first timers when it comes to price searching, booking, or the cruise itself then please feel free to share :)

Cheers! 🛳️

I put a bid on a Seriously Suite to upgrade from a center terrace, I’m just curious if anyone has successfully gotten an upgrade bidding the lowest starting bid of $450. I know there are 20 seriously suite cabins that have not been booked on this particular cruise and 140+ empty central terraces as of today 8/18 and my cruise is 9/28.

https://preview.redd.it/cd05kbjbz9kh1.jpg?width=610&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39ddb9528eef0c48da06762f4a16f932ba90854d

Check your email. There should be a note from Virgin regarding the embarkation/disembarkation issues.

I have a fully booked XL SeaTerrace in Jan. and am thinking of trying to upgrade to RS or MRS instead of gambling on bidding.

In my current booking, I went through the site as I didn't know about First Mates. Is it possible to get a FM to help with the possible upgrade?

Just a general FYI for anyone booking. It appears VV have changed their onboard policy for providing distilled water for CPAP Equipment.

It used to be supplied free of charge by the cabin steward but they are now advising there is a $5 usd for distilled water but you are welcome to bring your own, however it must be unopened.

Kinda pissed me off. VV are only charging $5 usd per jug, so probably like $15 usd in total for the whole cruise.

But it’s kinda silly that they suggest guests bring their own unopened water.

For me, that will mean flying to the US from the UK. Going to the shop to buy say four bottles of distilled water. Only use about 300ml out of one for the night in the hotel before the voyage, tossing a 3/4 full bottle in the trash, lugging three bottles of it from the hotel to onboard.

IDK. Seems petty on VV part and is just encouraging more single use plastic onboard.

The enshitification of VV continues.

Rant over.

Just to update this post, as I’ve gotten a lot of hate for it. I couldn’t give a toss about the $15. But having done some research it appears it is a contravention of the ADA: Under 28 C.F.R. § 36.301(c) of the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations:

“A public accommodation may not impose a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability… to cover the costs of… reasonable modifications… that are required to provide… nondiscriminatory treatment.”

The US Supreme Court also confirmed in Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., 545 U.S. 119 (2005), that Title III of the ADA can apply to foreign-flagged cruise ships.

Which likely explains why no other cruise ship currently charges for this.

So go ahead, downvote, call me unreasonable. But I don’t decide what the law states 🤷‍♂️.

My mother and I will be taking a VV cruise on Valiant Lady this November through the Caribbean. I've never cruised before and it's her first time in more than 20 years. I'm a bit concerned about booking shore excursions and whether or not my mother is going to be comfortable.

While she is only 65, she has been through several rounds of chemo and other cancer treatments in recent years that have considerably decreased her stamina and balance. At the same time, she loves the beach, water activities, snorkeling, and just generally being adventurous - she is not one to sit on the beach and drink or sleep all day despite what treatment has done to her.

That said, I want her to have a great time but still be mindful of her comfort level during the trip.

I'd love to hear from you...

- How would you rate the level of intensity of the average snorkeling excursion on VV? I realize that they provide an 'energy level' rating or similar, but how would you describe it yourself?

- What are the best excursions you did in places like St. Marteen, Fort-de-France Martinique , and Castries Saint Lucia where you were out having fun but were not physically difficult.

- Just generally if you can relate at all.

I realize this is very nuanced and will likely differ based on individual experiences, but still I'd love to hear from you!

There is a very specific sailing I am interested in booking (2 first time sailors) that leaves in less than 120 days and I will have no flexibility on these dates. Going direct with VV seems fine but reading this sub makes me wonder if getting a FM would be worth considering.

I guess I'll outline what I'm looking for and you guys can tell me if this is possible with a First Mate?

• Reserve a very specific cabin (but open to alternatives based on experience)
• Place a large down payment (~$1000) and finance the rest via Flex
• Reprice if cost drops (I know unlikely)
• Take advantage of unadvertised promos and/or sailor loot
• Book dining reservations as soon as available
• Still be able to control or at least see certain aspects of my reservation

I think my trip should be relatively straightforward but appreciate if anyone can let me know the benefits or limitations. I've never used a travel agent before.

bookings open tonight for restaurants for our mexican riviera cruise in october! it’s a 7 day so i think i want to try and get into every restaurant.

i gotta say looking at the menus im not super impressed but im happy to be wrong about this.

BEST places to eat and FAVORITE things on the menu?

gonna try to get gunbae on night 1!

We are taking a cruise out of Brooklyn NY in October. Our plan was to take Amtrak from Baltimore to Penn Station and then taxi to the terminal. Boarding starts at 2:15.

What time should we plan to arrive in NY?

I’m nervous about delays and traffic but not sure it’s possible for our group to come the day before/stay in hotel.

Thank you!

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do/see around the port area the day before we leave? I will be renting a car for the day. #firsttimeonvv #touristtips

We have cruised many times, a couple on VV a few years ago. Now we are planning a milestone cruise. The sailing would be March 2027 for either a 7 or 8 night sailing.

Hoping to find FM with either a circle, a mnvv or both.

But also be able to handle the little things as I no longer have the time to mange this myself.

I have already looked on the board with the TA listings,
but it was too much info to parse through.

Ahoy! Anyone that got the season pass, how was the process? Did you have to pay the $25k up front? If so, did you just throw down a credit card?

We are now in room 8322z on Scarlet Lady. Says it’s close to noisy operations.. how bad is it? We were in 14062z.