Getting Ready for Your First Virgin Cruise
Pre-Cruise Planning- As soon as you book your cruise, you can go into the app and begin looking at what is available for your cruise. You can choose a check-in time (the earlier the better), you can put in all of your information such as your passport number, you can add a photo and connect with other friends who will be in your stateroom or in other staterooms. There are also a few other things you can go ahead and add like Bar Loot and the Splash of Romance package (might have to call to have it added). Once you have made your final payment, you will be able to book excursions. And, when you get to be 45 days out, you can book your restaurants reservations. While you can arrange for some of the reservations on board, the really popular restaurants like Pink Agave (the Mexican restaurant) and The Wake (the Steak House) book up quickly.
Our Deep Blue Sea Bands- This allowed us to board early
The Splash of Romance Package Bands- These also allowed you to get on the ship early
Embarkation- Embarkation was pretty simple for us. As you arrive at the port, be sure to put the 2 bottles of wine that you brought with you in your carry-on so as to ensure that they aren’t confiscated. Just as with most ports, there were guys there ready to load our luggage onto carts and they put a tag with our stateroom number onto our bags. We discovered that Virgin would match our status from Royal Caribbean so we enjoyed the Deep Blue Sea Perks, which included being able to board early & in the 3rd group. We noticed that if you are in one of the Rock Star suites then you have an entire separate entrance as well as a separate waiting area with some drinks and light snacks. The suite guests were able to board the ship at 1:30. The next group was the group with the Splash of Romance package (aside from priority boarding, this package comes with a bottle of champagne, daily fresh juices, 3 hours in the spa’s thermal suite, snacks and a cocktail hour). This is a perk that sells out quickly as there are only something like 75 on sale. They boarded at 1:45. Our group went through check-in third, which took about 20 minutes and we waited in a large area where we could lounge on couches and even plug in our devices to charge. We boarded the ship at 1:55.
The Waiting Area Before Boarding
Once on board, we could go straight to our room as they were all already ready. Our bags were delivered to our stateroom by 3:30. Once on board, we could finalize our dinner plans (while every restaurant was complimentary, you do need a reservation) and book any shows that we wanted to see. Some of the shows sold out so being able to board on the earlier side allowed us to be able to book whatever shows we wanted. It was a really easy process, which was made even more pleasant by the fact that we didn’t have our kids with us.
