Instead of focusing on the nature of a typical sea day on this ship, I will start out by talking about Virgin Voyages' RFID wristlets. I figured that most of my readers would like to see something different for a change.
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Three cruise lines I've cruised on have similar technology in place on their ships:
- MSC
- Princess
- Virgin
Of these, I find Princess' use of technology to be the most user friendly, with Virgin coming in a close second. Why does Princess rank a little higher than Virgin, when Virgin integrates modern technology into every possible touch point with its cruisers? The answer is simple - Virgin has taken away options that older people might want by forcing people to use its app for everything.
When I booked this cruise, I expected that most of my sign-in process could be done with a PC interface. This was far from the case. I had to use the cell phone app to capture information from my driver's license and my passport - even when I had scanned copies of the same documents I could upload from my PC. And then, their scans of my driver's license and passport had to be redone just before our cruise, as some glitch in their back office systems rejected what I had previously submitted.
Although I am comfortable with modern technology (though I don't use many of the apps my niece might use), I still prefer a "belt and suspenders" approach where more humans are involved in processes.
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Today, we woke up early (due to RQS receiving a call she had to take), but wandered down for brunch around 11 am. We waited on a queue for 45 minutes before sitting down to eat. At this point, I was starving, as my blood sugar level was likely too low for comfort. Luckily, we were seated by noon, and a nice couple from Canada sat down next to us. We had a nice conversation on current affairs (including the insanity of our Orange Monster) while eating lunch. As part of the conversation, I made my TG nature known, and they were curious about it. I answered a few questions, and it was back to normal. I hope we see them again before the end of the cruise.
Later on, it was time for dinner. And tonight, we went to the ship's Korean BBQ. This was a disappointment for reasons not related to the quality of the place. Instead, it was a loud and lively environment for dinner at a time I really wanted a quiet, relaxing environment to savor some food. The people around us were nice, and we enjoyed the conversations over dinner But the main courses were muddy in flavor, with me not being able to taste much of a difference between beef, pork belly, and octopus served at the table due to the marinade used in its preparation. At least, we'll remember not to choose this restaurant if on a Virgin ship again.
