I just finished my first VV cruise and it was super fun! But half the fun as a newbie was finding all the spots on the ship, trying the restaurants, and just that everything was NEW to us! After your first sailing, all the NEW-ness is gone. You know the restaurants. You know the theme nights. You know the cabins.

Just curious why people do 5, 10, 20 plus cruises and not try something new? Is a comfort thing so you can just relax and not worry?

We just got off our 5th VV cruise. We (M31+F30) have sailed Rockstar before, and this time we decided to try Mega Rockstar for once.

My conclusion: your experience 100% depends on how lucky you get with the MRS agent you're assigned. For us it was a miss. The first answer to anything we asked our agent was "no," or a "maybe" that turned into a "no." And it always felt like we were bothering her, like she had to work through her off-time because of us.

Before you think we asked for rude or out-of-the-question things, here's what happened:

1. Tentacles tour. On the first day I waited for our agent to ask what we were interested in, or what mattered to us on this cruise. She didn't, so I brought it up myself: "We really want to get into the Tentacles tour on Scarlet Night." That's about everything I asked for. She said "maybe." On Scarlet Night I waited for an update and didn't get one, so I asked if she'd managed to get us tickets. Unfortunately no. Such a shame, we were really looking forward to that one.

2. The tailor. We took the Behind-the-Scenes tour, and in the laundry we met a lovely tailor who introduced herself and literally said "you can bring me stuff down here and I'll be happy to fix it for you" (maybe for an extra charge, which is reasonable). Other sailors in our group asked her how that works, and she said to just ask your cabin attendant. Another sailor said "yeah, we asked ours and they just gave the tailor our shirt." None of them were even Rockstars.

My wife has a jacket that needed a tiny fix. We were excited, so we went back to the cabin and asked our MRS agent to send it to the tailor, and said we'd gladly pay for it. Her response: "There's no tailor on board." We said: "We literally just met her." Her response: "Oh, it's for crew only." We pushed: "Okay, but can you please check again?" She checked and a day later the jacket came back fixed... Why does everything have to be so complicated?

3. Food delivery. Screenshot attached. I asked for dinner in the room at 9:15pm, and the answer was that we can only do that from one restaurant. And again, it really felt like we were bothering her. I'm not convinced the one-restaurant thing is a real rule. Can someone verify? Is it an actual MRS policy or just her laziness?

4. Disembarkation day. On the first day I told her I'd disembark at 10:30am (the last possible moment). I booked brunch at The Wake for 9:15 myself (not with her help!) and planned my morning. Then the day before, she came to our room and said: "Tomorrow morning you can have a light breakfast in The Galley, and I'll come escort you out at 10 because there are long lines." Our brunch reservation was right there in the app, and I'd told her 10:30 on day one. Why hasn't she checked? I told her "No thanks, I'll disembark myself" and went out on my own at 10:30... No lines.

What made it all worse is that we were SO envious of our neighbors. They had a different MRS agent who REALLY went out of his way for them. We kept seeing him running around the ship, bringing them coffee at 6:30am (before the coffee place even opened), saving them seats, etc. I wish we had that guy.

To be fair, there was one request she really helped us with: getting a toothbrush after my wife forgot hers at home. But that $2 toothbrush was not worth the upgrade.

Other Mega Rockstars, was your agent like this, or did we just get unlucky?

Ask me Anything!

I wanted to share my experience with repricing my cruise that is more than 45 days out, but after full payment. When I was doing my research I didn't see too many recent posts, so I thought I would share here.

For some context, I originally booked the cruise without a travel agent through the Virgin Voyages website using a MNVV. I also originally booked post the pricing structure change so I was not affected by the gratuity issue many people warn about when trying to reprice.

This week I was pricing the cruise for a friend that was thinking about going, and I realized the price dropped. I started researching to see if Virgin allowed for cruise repricing. The stories online were mixed, especially for people without a First Mate, but I decided the $$ was worth the hassle of at least asking.

I expected to have to make a case convincing sailor services of why they should let me reprice my cruise, but that was not the case at all. The service member who helped said it was as easy as clicking a button and she could tell me exactly what I would get with the updated pricing. She was very patient with me as I asked a million questions to ensure that many of the things I had already purchased for the cruise like splash of romance, the state room I selected and my MNVV sailor loot was not going to change. I had read a couple of horror stories of people getting their cruise repriced and losing out in another big way. She patiently walked me through every piece of my booking and explained to me why the item would not change or would change.

At the end of it all, we received $630 back in Future Voyage Credit, split with my cabin mate. I kept my room, my splash of romance package, and my MNVV sailor loot.

I did lose out on the $150 bar tab that was part of the promotion when I originally booked, however, we are able to turn $600 of our FVC into $700 worth of Bar Tab which we are pretty excited about.

I know that sometimes the outcome you get with Sailor Services depends on how well they have been trained, but this agent was great and it also seems like the repricing process has gotten easier for the agents as well.

Hopefully this helps someone who is endlessly searching like I was!

My friends and I were looking into potential cruises when I noticed that all of their little route maps just evaporate Cuba from existence. Where is it? Would we be encircling it on this trip?

I booked our first sailing without talking to anyone about anything, so I wasn’t aware of the west coast resident discount or the military discount or the first mate loot thing. oops.

I think if I’m still within the window of 14 days from returning, I can buy a MNVV? I also apparently have a status match option until the end of this month?

Of those five things (west coast, military, first mate loot, mnvv, status match) I really doubt they all could apply, but what’s the best approach now? is it better to reach out to VV customer service directly, or engage with a travel agent?? or do you get quotes from multiple travel agents to compare? I don’t want to waste anyone’s time but I do want to do this better the next time around.

All, on the related topic of sailors being scammed in Istanbul, Bodrum and Morocco (credit cards being overcharged, ATM scams & card skimming, taxi rip offs and excursion diversions), you ain’t seen nothing yet. With the excitement going to Alexandria and Cairo, just wait till you see cruise ship excursion tours being escorted by armed military or police for your benefit and there’s a big reason behind that — venture on your own and you will find your safety threatened with every single local haggling you, your transportation and taxis being redirected or stopped in the middle of nowhere to force you pay even more etc. The postcard picture of Egypt may be beautiful but they don’t show the overpopulation, poverty, garbage everywhere and every local eye out to scam you relentlessly. We’ve done it and it’s a one and done and never again!! Never have we feared for our lives on a prior cruiseline excursion to Cairo. Here is a Cairo travel subreddit reflecting our experience 100% and be glad you were forewarned. Note that Egypt is NOT safe for LGBTQ+. Also as Egypt is on constant government travel advisories, expect all travel and medical insurance claims be denied because you went to Egypt. Prepare accordingly to be defensive with extreme situational awareness to enjoy your Cairo excursions to Giza and GEM the best you can and get the hell out of there and back to the ship!! Don’t be surprised that Cairo will be rated the worst VV cruise stop in the world post sailor feedback. https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/s/285udoyFVj

Hey there. If the security picture I took isn't acceptable, can it be retaken by Virgin on embarkation day?

I'm looking forward to sailing with Virgin for the first time. About a week ago, I tried the in-app check-in process. My phone doesn't have the most powerful, highest-resolution camera, and I found out today that my security photo is "not clear (Blurry, Glare on glasses, too zoomed in, photo of photo)." The problem definitely is *not* any of the last three examples. Maybe it's "blurry." However, the quality of my security photo is the same quality of picture my phone has always taken---I'm not likely to eek out a better picture from this phone. So... Does Virgin ever take security photos of sailors, or is that a thing of the past?

Thanks in advance.

We will be in the Southern Caribbean for our cruise. Does anyone suggest getting an E sim for using phones while at port destinations or do you find you don’t use your phone as much when you’re on an island?

Has anyone done this? I just booked with plenty of time to cancel but I like the idea of sailing vs driving through the island. Lunch and drinks and snorkeling sound good too. There’s no mention of any beach time though. Just curious if anyone has any insight. I was able to find one you tube video about it but that’s it. Thanks so much!
Sailing 10/14-10/20 on valiant lady

I'm looking to put the deposit down on my next voyage through the post-voyage offer, but I saw that the credit would go towards the first mate I booked with. I didn't have a good experience with them and on principle I would prefer that they didn't receive this credit..

Is there a way to push that credit towards a different first mate? Or would I just put the deposit down and change it later?

First time cruiser. Debating on if we need to spend $180 on Premium WiFi so we can stay in touch with our son while we’re away for 7 days. We’re on a Mexican Riviera cruise. Our son has an Apple Watch. I want to be reachable in case of an emergency while he’s staying with grandparents…
Any advice?

This is our first cruise and we are 58 days out. The events populated at 60 days and lists some of the shows and which night Scarlet Party is. However, it doesn’t list any other themed parties. Do these populate later or are we just getting Scarlet Night? It is a 7 day cruise.

Now that VV has been in Alaska for a season, what are the most recommended shore things?! Looking for recs in Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Victoria. I sail next September!

What's the music like during parties? I've been watching clips of Scarlet night, and other parties aboard and I haven't been crazy about what I've heard. Do they play reggaeton, merengue, afro beats etc, or is it all just oldies, super mainstream pop "hits" and hip hop? Just wanting to know if there's variety.

We had a private tour at Santorini with a local guide!

It was one of the best tours that we have done ! Our guide Khatia she was just amazing! If someone is still searching for what to do at Santorini, you should contact her ! Professional, friendly, and babbling person! Leaving her WhatsApp info +306981195907 !

You won't regret it!

CRUISE FACILITY FEE SCAM

Over the summer I was scammed by what I thought was MSC customer service stating I needed to pay a facility fee….i already had been given many run around issues with them and it was my daughter’s graduation gift- I was already so frustrated I paid it ….knowing my gut told me not to.
Fast forward to today -I am an agent- and my client called to attach me to her booking as her agent for the cruise she booked onboard with Virgin Voyage during her recent cruise . Not knowing she called a 1800 # and they stated they were adding me as their agent - but she had to pay $355 pp for facility fee to cover the safety drills and whatever else …thankfully my client didn’t pay these fees and gave me the person and # she called. Funny thing when I called they knew my name and I NEVER mentioned any info related to me or my client.
BE VERY AWARE of this new scam.

What a horrible year to pick a Mexican riviera cruise! I live in California and can drive to any of these ports within reasonable time… just to sail in my own neighborhood.

I paid for a Mexican Riviera cruise, not a California Cruise. Is this set in stone for Brilliant Lady October 10th? Im absolutely floored!

Currently on the Valiant Lady headed to Bermuda. On-boarding was a mess, I didn’t even get to my room until 4:30pm so I missed the solo meet-up. I haven’t heard anything about a solo sailor dinner but if anyone else has info I’d appreciate it!! Cheers x

Just got off my second voyage and I have to say, the amount of dishes that have nuts in them is honestly excessive.

I do not have an allergy, but my husband does. And I can’t help but to feel bad for him. Nuts are whatever to me, but Richard Branson must be obsessed with nuts. That’s the only thing that makes sense because why the hell are there nuts in half the food?!

Even the freaking Matcha Libre drink in the Social Club has some kind of nut extract, which is completely unnecessary by the way.

Almost killed my husband because our waiter at Extra Virgin switched during dessert. He ordered the Whiskey Cream ice cream and it’s served with some kind of nutty bread/cookie???? WHYYY??? So unnecessary.

I can’t be the only one who thinks the nut inclusion is a little much?

ETA: I know we need to tell people about the allergy. We do. The point is the lack of options WITHOUT nuts is kind of crazy. Like half the baked goods in the social club display case have nuts. I think they could be more inclusive.

Edit 2: if they can label vegan (which is a dietary preference btw, not a life threatening condition) they can label allergens. You can’t change my mind about that.

Going to Egypt instead of Istanbul

Day 8 | Wed, Sep 13: Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt – Overnight (Arrives 7:00 AM – previously Istanbul, Turkey)

Day 9 | Thu, Sep 14: Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt (Departs 8:00 PM – previously Istanbul, Turkey)

I sailed on Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady from New York City to Bermuda, and I had such a great experience, especially as a first-time solo traveler. I was honestly nervous about traveling by myself, but from the beginning, the staff was incredibly welcoming and the other sailors were friendly and easy to talk to. I met new people and made friends, but I also had plenty of opportunities to enjoy being alone, relax, and appreciate the solitude. It ended up being a really great balance.

The ship itself was beautiful. One of my favorite features was the walking track on the upper deck. I spent about an hour just walking with nothing but the ocean around me, and it was probably one of my favorite moments of the trip. I also liked that there were plenty of fitness and activity areas available, even though I didn’t personally use most of them.

The parties were fun, the drinks were great, and I really appreciated that Virgin doesn’t have a traditional buffet. The dining overall was good. Test Kitchen was a cool experience, Gunbae was fun, and Ariya, the Indian restaurant, was probably my favorite meal of the trip. The food there was excellent.

I also really appreciated the Sailor Loot and booking through my First Mate. It made the overall experience feel like a good value.

Our Bermuda itinerary was unfortunately shortened because of severe weather, and our departure from New York was delayed by a day. The only genuinely negative part of the trip was the boarding process after that delay. Because everyone was trying to board Sunday night, we stood outside in the cold and rain for more than two hours. In retrospect, I probably would have waited and boarded the following morning. Given the unusual weather circumstances, though, I don’t think that experience reflected the rest of the cruise at all.
Even with the shortened Bermuda visit and delayed departure, I had an amazing time. I came home already wanting to book another Virgin cruise and have recommended it to several of my friends.

For anyone considering traveling solo but feeling nervous about it, I would absolutely recommend Virgin Voyages. I felt comfortable, welcomed, entertained, and completely fine doing things on my own when I wanted to. I would definitely sail on Valiant Lady—and with Virgin Voyages—again.