I chose this VV cruise for my 60th birthday celebration with 2 long-time friends because it is an adults only cruise. The ship was impeccably clean, the staff were almost all absolutely amazing and our Brilliant Suite was very large and fit all three of us comfortably. The only negative experience was on the morning we arrived. Our flight arrive in Barcelona at 6:30 am so we were at the port by 8:00 to drop off our bags. The VV crew member that helped us put bag tags on our bags wrote the wrong cabin number on the tags. We told him immediately that was not the cabin number that had been in all the emails that were sent to us prior to the cruise. He insisted that was our cabin because that was the cabin number next to my name on the sheet of paper he had. We told him again that we were on deck 14, not deck 10 and in a suite. He said he didn't know if it was a suite cabin or not. He tagged ALL of our bags, including our carry-ons with our medicines and phone chargers, to the wrong cabin. He told us we could work it out when we came back at 1:30 for check-in. We came back at 12:30 to see what could be done. We talked to a different crew member who eventually handed us off to the same guy who had done us wrong at 8 am but he did tell him to go inside and check on it. Of course when he checked on it he realized we were right and he was wrong. He said he would send a message to the porters to remove our suitcases from the deck 10 cabin but also told us if we didn't have our bags by the time we started sailing to find someone and ask about our bags. Departure time was 7 pm! The whole thing could have been easily solved if he had just listened to us, gone inside and looked it up, and tagged our bags to the correct cabin. Since everyone still seemed to think we were not in a suite, we had to stand in the line for the 1:30 arrival slot, as opposed to a Rock Star line (if there was one; we didn't see it). Once inside the terminal we could not easily locate the Rock Star line-had to wander around and ask for it. Once we got in it it wasn't too difficult to get through and get on the ship. Of course, we had no bags in our room. We had no phone chargers, we had no clothes to change into (and at this point we'd been travelling since 8:30 am EST). Two of us went up to the pool bar for drinks. I had booked the cruise so I had $400 in sailor loot that we planned to use for drinks. When the bartender scanned by bracelet, I didn't come up. My two friend did but not me. This happened all of the first day-I couldn't get internet, I couldn't get on the app, I couldn't order a drink. And literally all of this is because of one employee who refused to double check and see if VV had the wrong cabin number, not me.

Now, for the good stuff. VV bent over backwards to make this right for us. Kwan, our cabin steward, located our bags and, had them in the room in less than 20 minutes. Our rock star agent, Gugu, had the IT guys in to look at my band and phone and try to work out the problem. Kwan also added a third chair to our balcony (we're in our 60's-the hammock was ok for a while but not long term-plus if you tried to swing in it you ended up hitting the back of the balcony). Gugu took away the bottles of liquor and cans of beer and Red Bull that we didn't want and brought us juices for mixers and 10-yes 10!-bottles of white and red wine. She checked in with us daily, looked into the cost of getting a car service to Ushauia to see Calvin Harris (way too much) and booked us into the thermal suite at no charge. If there was any issue at all Gugu and Kwan would fix it in minutes. The cabin is much larger than it looks in videos and pictures so there's no point attaching another one; it won't be representative. It was a huge room and a huge bathroom. We never ran into each other at all. Lots and lots of drawer space and Kwan brought us tons of extra hangers. Every crew member after the first one was super friendly and helpful. We didn't participate in much of the entertainment; we went to the drag show (very good if you like drag but get there early or you'll be standing in the back) and stayed to try to dance after it ended but by 12:30 it still hadn't cranked up so we left. Saw several excellent acts around the ship-the cabaret singer is great, the house guitarist is amazing-such great background music as you sail away from Gibraltar at sunset! We did not participate in any classes-too early in the morning for us. They always showed up on the app at sold out but one of us was out walking early on the track and saw a yoga class going on with only 4 people so I'd say it's worth going up to see if you can get in even if it shows up as sold out. The main pool deep part is very small. We had two days at sea and it was hot for the first. You could barely get in and get yourself entirely wet. The smaller pool (wellness pool) was somewhat less crowded but it is also a small pool. We visited Richard's Rooftop almost every day. Only whirlpools up there and they were HOT. The do have two big showers and that's what I used to cool off. We enjoyed the free champagne up there from 4:30-6:30 several days. The drink prices were reasonable-mostly because they don't add on a service charge and a gratuity. So a $9 drink is a $9 drink. We ate at the Wake, Extra Virgin, Razzle Dazzle and Pink Agave as well as getting tapas several times at the Dock. All of it was excellent. We booked two excursions through the ship: the bike ride in Palma, which was very nice, and the Ultimate Rock Tour. It was hazy over Africa the day we were there so we only had glimpses of it later in the day and couldn't see it at all from the tour. It was a nice, quick tour. If you want to ride the cable car go on a tour. The line for that was easily 2 hours long at 2:30 in the afternoon. If I could do it again I'd book the cable car tour and then do the Rock Tour in a taxi-van as the taxi van was cheaper in town. I highly recommend a not-through-Virgin excursion in Ibiza: The Lady Virginia boat excursion at jet ski beach in Sant Antoni. They take no more than 35 people, anchor in a sheltered spot with paddleboards and snorkeling gear and serve an excellent choice of drinks (cava, sangria, wine, soft drinks, water) and some lovely tapas. They left promptly at 1:00 and returned promptly at 4:30 and the taxi stand was right across the street. We were back on the ship by 5 pm. It was 89 euro pp.

One last bit of info I wish I could have found out about in advance. If you go to the clubs in Platja d'en Bossa you are not going to be able to get a cab back to the port from 11:30 on. We left the club at 11:50 and the cab line was already 2 blocks long. Then traffic on the side street with the cab stop AND the main street through the clubs turned into gridlock. We waited an hour, moved maybe 20 feet and then started walking (it's a 57 minute walk). We did not go by another taxi stop at all. Finally some enterprising guys with a car next to the sidewalk asked it we wanted a taxi-we said sure (with a little trepidation but hey-it was 1:30 and we still had a 40 minute walk in front of us) and paid him the 50 euros he asked for. Got back to the ship by 2. They dropped us in a side street near the shuttle bus stop to the ship. There is a "discobus" that stops at the clubs but it only goes to Sant Antoni, according to the guy out front directing people to it. He said to get to the port we had to take a taxi. Live and learn! Read more