Loot S01

[Jodee Bouman]

Insteadof changing nominal and min values and waiting a couple of days for the server to eventually (if at all) to despawn the extra massive amounts of loot, is there a faster way to specifically remove loot by force? Then update the nominal/min values with the desired lower values for desired amount of fresh spawned loot items on Chenarus?

Loot can be used for excursions booked ON BOARD. If you book in advance, you pay with credit card. Loot can be used for anything purchased on board except future cruise certificates/bookings.

Yes, the only reason to buy a bar tab is the bonus. If you don't have a bar tab, or if you spend all of your bar tab, any additional beverage purchases are applied first to loot and then to your credit card account. Only you can determine whether purchasing a bar tab is "worth it," as if you don't spend at least what you paid for it, you lose it. On the other hand, you now can get a $10 bonus on a $100 tab.....that might work for short cruises or people who will use it for specialty coffee, smoothies, etc. but not alcohol. Remember that on VV, the price on the menu is the price you pay. The gratuity is included; no additional 18% or 20% like on other lines. Yes, you can offer a dollar or two to a bartender; some will decline it!

On our first cruise, we had no bar tab.....no problem. Since then, we have received various amounts of "complimentary" bar tab thru various promotions...usually more than we could use!

Thanks for this helpful thread. I was particularly surprised (and happy!) to see that onboard prices are inclusive of gratuity. I like how Virgin does its bar tab concept, especially because they don't mind if you buy drinks for others (even crew members, apparently). ?

You can buy drinks for anyone you wish. Is you click the box in the app indicating that you are responsible for your shipmate's expenses, both bracelets will be able to access the bar tab. If you don't tick that button or when purchasing for someone else, just let the bartender or waiter scan your bracelet but indicate that the beverage is for the other person or group.Totally easy.

Many people complain about the lack of an unlimited beverage package, but the bar tab works much better for us and even if we paid for it, would cost a lot less. A benefit to everyone, unlike on some lines, you don't see anyone trying to max out the allotment on their drink package. Yes, there are people on VV who have had too much, but not in the numbers of some other lines.

Absolutely. Bar tab can be used for any beverage that has a cost--specialty coffee and tea, smoothies, cold pressed juices, mocktails, wine, alcohol of any sort. There are no limits on cost either....until the bar tab runs out.

A Bar tab is prepaid credit you have received through a promotion or purchased before the cruise. It is credit you can spend onboard toward the cost of alcohol, specialty coffees and teas, and fresh pressed juice.

Sailor Loot is what is typically called on board credit. This money can be spent on bar tab items but can also be spent on shore excursions (if you book them while on board), spa services, extra cost items in the restaurants such as a tomahawk steak, tattoos, onboard events that come with an extra charge, or to purchase items in the gift shops. Once you have spent your Bar Tab money, they will charge remaining drinks to your Sailor Loot. When that runs out they will charge your credit card.

Just a question since we are new to VV: Can sailor loot be loaded prior to the cruise by the sailor, or is it only available as the result of a promotion? I know with other lines, OBC is typically a perk offered either by the cruise line or a travel agent. Is that true of Sailor Loot, too?

Oh yes, I understand that. The 'benefit' to me is that I sometimes like to have money saved that I then put towards onboard expenses rather than spending that money on other stuff before the cruise and then having a massive credit card bill later. Same principle (to me, anyway) of paying down my cruise over time versus a big chunk to be paid at final payment time. That's all. Thanks.

And I assume you know about the value of buying a My Next Virgin Voyage (MNVV) certificate while on board if you are pretty sure you will sail with Virgin again within the next two years. It is so much more generous than most other line's programs.

Another note on MNVV--they are transferrable. That means that you can buy one for a friend or a TA can buy some and sell them to clients.....or if for some reason you can't use it in the 2 year window, you can give or sell it to someone else.

Since they can be transferred to another person once, many TAs buy as many as they can and transfer them to their clients who have never sailed Virgin. The client reimburses the TA the $300, then the TA books the client on the cruise, and the client gets all the perks.

I can see why. My TA cruises a lot, but I don't think he's done VV yet. When we sail with them next January, and the offer is still good (and assuming we have a good time, which I anticipate we will), I could easily see us opting for this.

I didn't have one on my virst cruise...I did book some on board, which I used for myself. I referred my sis to my TA, and TA had purchased a bunch...so she sold one to my sis for the $300 she'd paid.

We are embarking on a Virgin Mediterranean cruise this May as part of the My Next Virgin Voyage program. We had such as good time on our Virgin Greece/Croatia cruise last year, that we took advantage of the program. I'd like to touch on the aforementioned requirement that sailor loot can not be used for things that you book prior to your sailing, such as excursions.

The sales staff on ship did not make an effort to tell us this when encouraging us to sign up for the program. Instead, the salespeople hyped up all of the great things that you could use the sailor loot for, such as excursions. Virtually all excursions, at least the most commonly sought after ones, sell out before the boat sets sail. Which means, your sailor loot is pretty much worthless as far as excursions goes. We didn't know this when signing up for the offer.

As I write this, we are 2 days away from the app opening up to restaurant bookings and (gasp) the spa listing. If they now also take reservations for spa prior to the cruise, we will be extremely upset, in light of most desired times/services being booked up, such as sea days. It will become just another thing the loot can't actually be used for. Now if its simply a listing and not a reservation opening, then we should be OK. But we are nervous. Perhaps I can update this post in a few days once we see how spa appears on the app.

Anyway, the point of my post is that for promotions where sailor loot is offered, be mindful that if you were planning on using for any experiences that would require you to reserve prior to sailing, then don't. Because sailor loot can't be used that way. Makes no sense to me, but comes off as deceptive when you tell sailors you can use it for an activity, all the while knowing that the activity is usually booked up prior to sailing.

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