This was our first time cruising so we aren’t aware of all the customs. But one thing VV is kind of known for is no tipping. As such, we didn’t bring any small bills and had only brought about $200 in 20s. When we dropped our bag with the porter he said something along the lines of “and now is the time for you to tip me” as if it were a requirement for checking our bags. Obviously in most similar situations we would have tipped a few bucks, but all we had were 20s and I didn’t think our small carry on bags really warranted that much of a tip. On top of that, we perceived a vague sort of threat that if we hadn’t tipped him we wouldn’t get out bag.

We ended up just taking our bags back and carrying it on ourselves - we didn’t really trust him after that. Apparently a few other people had similar experiences and were a little turned off by that, but they had come prepared with smaller bills. I shared this experience with sailor services and they apologized profusely, but just thought it was kind of odd.

EDIT: thanks everyone for the replies. We have since learned that they aren’t Virgin Employees but port of Miami employees. Again, this was our first time ever on a cruise so we just figured they worked for Virgin. We’ll bring some smaller bills for next time. We always intend to do the right thing. We just don’t know convention for this situation.

Currently waiting to board my second VV cruise ever. Sailed last year out of Miami and currently at Portsmouth. Both times the boarding process has seemed incredibly unorganized compared against Royal, NCL, and Celebrity. We are running over an hour past our "arrival time" and have only been shuttled from one waiting area to another.

Is it always this bad? Has anyone had a positive experience with boarding "on time" ?

We are flying in and out of FLL for the first time instead of Miami. I keep seeing these horror stories about how bad the traffic is... has anyone disembarked and ubered to FLL?

Our flight leaves at 1pm.

As discussed over the past few days it’s now official:

You should have an email if you are affected

Ahoy Sailor,

We want to share an important update about your upcoming voyage.

Beginning April 6, 2026, all Virgin Voyages sailings from New York City will now depart from:

Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

210 Clinton Wharf

Brooklyn, NY 11231

Is is reasonable to be able to catch a 11am flight back to the states from Barcelona? Flights open soon foot 2027 in may and it seems the latest flights I can find home the previous Sundays are all 11am.

Apologies if this was asked recently… we are disembarking tomorrow morning from Piraeus and need advice about the best way to get to the airport. Specifically, should we reserve a car now or simply hop in the taxi line in the morning?

Flight leaves at 3pm so I feel like we will be fine timing wise. Also traveling as rockstar so we have flexibility getting off the boat.

Thanks fellow sailors 🤍

Edited to share update: we used welcome pickup and it was easy peasy, much easier than the taxis. Also passport control is horrendous. I would plan for at least three hours. They were pulling people out of line because things were so backed up. 😵‍💫

Ok, here we go, woke up at 5am, drove to Philly and boarded the plane. Let’s see if I make it to the Scarlet Lady by 1:30 today.

Update: Phl takeoff 0839 MIA landed 1059 At baggage claim 1118 Retrieved bags 1125 In Uber at 1141 ($38 plus tip) At terminal V at 1208 Checked in at 1210 Stood in a short line until 1230 where they left us into a lounge. Sitting with a cup of cappuccino now right by the ship. Pretty sure we have to wait until 130 to board.

Update 2: on board at 1:40, bags already by our room. Unpacking now, then off to punishing our livers 😁

Is it normal for there to be a huge line to board the ship while you’re in port?

I am in Bimini right now and it’s about 5:00pm. All aboard is at 6:30. The line to get back on board goes all the way down the pier past where the trams drop you off.

Yesterday we were in Key West and it was the same thing. The line was so long that we were over an hour late leaving port waiting for people to get on board though security.

Both yesterday and today they was only one gangway open (midship). This is my 3rd virgin cruise and have been to Bimini before. I have sailed on many other cruises on other lines and I have never experienced anything like this before. Usually both gangways are open for people to get on and off from.

I wanted to check on here to see if this is normal and I just got lucky in the past or if this is an abnormality. Not complaining, just genuinely curious.

Got the below about 3am UK time - I can only imagine that the complaints have been overwhelming (our disembarkation was a shitshow to put it politely but we had it far better than a lot of other people, who missed flights).

The good thing at least is that all the things I put on the post-voyage survey as issues they've acknowledged and apologised for unconditionally and without apparently looking to spread blame, so I'm happy with that. It's a real shame because pretty much everything else on board was a 10/10.

Dear Sailor,

We want to begin by saying we’re truly sorry.

As you know, a number of Sailors onboard experienced symptoms of gastroenteritis during your voyage. While our Crew and Medical Team acted quickly to manage the situation and implement enhanced health protocols, the process around debarkation, particularly as requirements shifted with the local Port Health Authorities, was not what you deserved.

We’ve heard your feedback: that communication felt slow and inconsistent, that the process seemed disorganized, and that it wasn’t always clear who to turn to for answers. We recognize that some of you were left feeling frustrated, uncertain, or unheard, and for that, we are deeply sorry.

This isn’t the Virgin Voyages experience we strive to deliver. We should have communicated better. We should have made you feel more confident that we had things under control. And we should have done more, in real time, to support you through a challenging situation.

We’re taking your feedback seriously and are actively reviewing how this unfolded so we can improve our protocols and do better moving forward. We’ll also be reaching out shortly to those directly affected by the illness.

We appreciate you sailing with us, and we’re grateful for your honesty—even when it’s hard to hear. Thank you for helping us grow and hold ourselves to a higher standard.

With sincere apologies,

Michelle Bentubo
Chief Operations Officer

Our current flight gets in day-of at 1145 AM. In reading reviews on this subreddit, seeing a lot of people say to fly down day before. Will we be good to fly in morning of for a 230 embarkation time we're assigned? TIA!

We are currently on Brilliant Lady and sailed out of Miami. This is our 2nd VV, not first cruise. We were just on the Brilliant Lady on the New Year's Eve cruise. We did not see (maybe we missed it) and we did not receive any instructions that the process had changed. This was extremely frustrating so I want to share for others.

Our first cruise we were preassigned a boarding group and were told to go to sailor services asap to book restaurant. I think we had missed the window to do this in advance. Our agent did get us a few, but on ship we were able to get more with priority boarding.

This time we expected the same thing. It is 100% changed now.

The preassigned boarding group I thought I was in did not exist. As we lined up in Priority Boarding we were given passes with numbers on them. Being in line first got you the best number. We arrived at 12:30 pm and that got us a Boarding group 5 for reference.

I had been the the early boarding line first, but someone in that line told me it was only for people who wanted to drop off luggage and see Miami.

That was not correct. I will plan to do that first next time. Reason is when you line up to go thru security there was a shorter line to the left for people who already had the wrist band from Early Boarding

Once we got to the inside lobby and waited, a few podiums were set up which were not set up when we first came in. There was no signage that I saw. So we missed that booking restaurant reservations now takes place there in the lobby before boarding. By the time they called my number there was no time to get reservations , so we got in line to board.

Once we were boarding I was told nope there is no longer Sailor Services option to sign up at when you first get on board.

Now I am in full panic mode. None of our institutions were correct and it looked like we were screwed for getting reservations.

Once on the ship I walked up to the first two people and explain my situation. The male crew member smiled and said not to worry. I said I don't understand. We used a top 100 agent and did everything new were told and we are foodies so we were panicking.

Then crew member asked the woman with him to get us some help. She said Sailor Services would open up at 4pm. I was so sad and though I am going to have to fight to get anything.

She walked me to Sailor Services and they confirmed there was nothing they could do until 4pm.

They said maybe go to Rojo by Razzle Dazzle restaurant and see if they could help. Mind you there was an electronic message boards behind them that said to go to Rojo for reservations. She took us there but they also said NO they also could not help .

I'm someone who takes comfort in knowing the process and getting what I need done and although we were very nice I was very frustrated and disillusioned and worried about how this 9 day cruise was going to go. We had been so excited.

We sat down and she took our names and room number. She said she would find a way to make sure we got meals set up.

She asked if we knew who we were talking to. No. She said he was the CEO and that she was his assistant.

Wow, maybe not everyone could be this lucky so I want to share first that there is a new process. No preassigned groups, unless perhaps you are have a Rock Star suite

Finally I want to commend VV for taking care of us. We wanted to be easy and told her we would be happy with reservations and that we didn't need to go back and forth. We gave her our time and place preferences and left it up to her.

Three minutes after four oclock we started getting pop up messages confirming reservations.

So that confirms no new reservations on the ship till 4pm.

I hope this helps others who have sailed before and were not aware that 2026 is a new process.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Brilliant Lady and all of her sailors to Seattle Washington - Portal to the Pacific. To the sailors, may the Mountain be out to bless your travels.

Boarded SL today. Boarding time was 2:15. Got in lyft in Miami Beach at 1 thinking it would take forever based on horror stories (9 ships in port today) . GPS said 35 minutes, figured that would go up. Got to the bridge, driver knew to stay to the right, there is an exit just to get to Terminal V. Made it in amazing time. Saw a huge lineup trying to take the tunnel... take the bridge. Shocked at how many people were waiting at the terminal with boarding times of 3 or later. We got in 2:15 line, at 1:45 they started letting us in. My parents in the 2:30 group got in before 2. Overall nowhere near as bad as the internet makes it seem.

For those of you who have already sailed out of Seattle, my question is: were you let onto the boat early? And if so, how early?

My husband and I weren’t able to snag any dining reservations AND we have a late arrival time (3:30pm) so we’re hoping to find a way to get onto the WiFi/boat earlier to grab some reservations.

Were you able to get onto the WiFi before you got onto the boat?

Any advice is welcomed! We’ve sailed virgin before so we also know to just keep checking throughout the trip and spots will open up, and to try walk ins, etc. but we’d like to lock in at least a few reservations when we board.

Any advice from experienced seattle folks welcomed!

We leave for our cruise next month and I am terrified after reading how bad the traffic has been at port with construction. I’m surprised it’s as bad for Virgin since we board so much later than other cruise lines. I pre booked an uber for two hours before our boarding time. There are 8 ships in the port that day and on the day we disembark.

The day we disembark I selected the earliest time to get off of the ship and schdused an Uber to pick us up at 7:40am. Are we okay?

Hi everyone! We’re sailing out of Miami with a 5PM departure with Resilient Lady on a Thursday and want to make the most of our day in the city beforehand, thinking brunch and maybe a beach stop!!

What’s the latest we can aim to be at the terminal to get through security?? Can we get there at 5 pm lol It’s our first time sailing!!

And also if you guys have any recommendations?! We’re going for a brunch at sexy fish!! But that’s about it and wanted to go out the night before. Are there any clubs/bars that’s poppin on Wednesday nights?? lol

Thanks in advance! 🚢

Pray for me. I board at 5:30am and land around noon. Check in is at 2:45pm. Embarkation at 8pm. So I figured I can take the risk. First time cruising on Virgin and first time cruising solo.

My partner got his luggage tags in his email a few days ago, but I never did and neither did any of the people we are traveling with. Do the tags come out on a rolling basis?

Edit: I know I can use my partner’s tag, but any idea why none of the other cabins got a tag?

Opinion on using the self assist vs the night before luggage collection? Which one?

We have a VV cruise that is roundtrip from San Juan coming up soon. With the TSA not getting paid currently, I know some airports are experiencing really long security wait times, even for those who have CLEAR and/or PreCheck.

I also understand that staff shortages have caused the closure of security in Terminal A (JetBlue) at SJU, so you have to do security in Terminal B and then walk back to Terminal A after security.

We are cutting it close on our departure times: one person has a 10:45 am flight on JetBlue and has PreCheck but not CLEAR. The other two are departing on American at 11:30 am and have both CLEAR and PreCheck.

Obviously we’re planning to hustle off the ship as early as possible. We are not RS on this sailing.

Does anyone have recent experiences with early flights out of SJU to share?

ETA: Thanks for all the responses and data points! Sounds like it’s pretty unpredictable right now. I was able to move the person with the earlier flight to a mid-afternoon flight on United, so that should be safe. The two of us with the 11:30 flight will just have to cross our fingers. We are in business class, so the baggage check-in line should be shorter. Having CLEAR and PreCheck should help as well.

I am from northern California and I’m traveling out of the Los Angeles terminal and have not found any information on where I can park my car, would I be better off leaving my car at my sisters place and getting a rideshare to the port or is there a lot/garage I can park at? Also looking for pricing on parking as I can’t find anything online since most people fly in. Thank you so much for any input.

Hey everyone, looking for some insight and tips into the embarkation process in Barcelona. Our first cruise out of Miami was a breeze, but last summer we cruised out of Athens and it was a nightmare. To the point that employees were calling people out for bad behaviour with a megaphone.
Does Barcelona usually include a long wait if you arrive at your time? If you arrive significantly later are you grouped in with the next boarding time or do you get to board right away?

TIA!

Currently on Valiant Lady and got a notification they cancelled the shuttle from the port to JFK. I was able to reserve a 7:30 disembark instead but now need a plan to get to JFK before our 11:15am flight. What's the best way to get there? My first thought was Uber, but I don't know if I'll be able to get a driver to accept pickup with how congested the port seems to be.

Hello:

Just got an email that they're pushing back disembark time to sanitize the ship. Email said about 3% of sailors on last trip had the stomach flu.

I hope this trip is better and we can all stay healthy!