whitsmom

There was a lady in front of us when we were disembarking and she said that she was on the POA several years ago and it was great but she wasn't impressed this go round. 

They no longer have an actually happy hour with those free drinks. They now give you 4 vouchers for drinks each day of the cruise to be used anywhere. The new happy hour is just snacks. 

This was exactly why I like to cruise - same room/unpack once.  No complaints with the excursions as those were all excellent.  It was just not having clean towels before 4:00-5:00 pm daily!  We were on excursions every day so we were out of our cabin for most all day so there was no excuse.  I always make my bed anyway so all I require is clean towels and empty the trash.

This was exactly why I like to cruise - same room/unpack once.  No complaints with the excursions as those were all excellent.  It was just not having clean towels before 4:00-5:00 pm daily!  We were on excursions every day so we were out of our cabin for most all day so there was no excuse.  I always make my bed anyway so all I require is clean towels and empty the trash.

There was a lady in front of us when we were disembarking and she said that she was on the POA several years ago and it was great but she wasn't impressed this go round. 

The food on Virgin is fantastic, and nothing is considered specialty, it's all included. I loved sailing on them. They aren't for everyone, that's for sure, but in some ways they really blow everyone else away. 

This was exactly why I like to cruise - same room/unpack once.  No complaints with the excursions as those were all excellent.  It was just not having clean towels before 4:00-5:00 pm daily!  We were on excursions every day so we were out of our cabin for most all day so there was no excuse.  I always make my bed anyway so all I require is clean towels and empty the trash.

This was exactly why I like to cruise - same room/unpack once.  No complaints with the excursions as those were all excellent.  It was just not having clean towels before 4:00-5:00 pm daily!  We were on excursions every day so we were out of our cabin for most all day so there was no excuse.  I always make my bed anyway so all I require is clean towels and empty the trash.

RCI has been our go to with only 3 exceptions:  Disney once (it was a meeting/business cruise), NCL (Getaway-Family Reunion), and NCL (Hawaii - Pride of America) just this past week.  The ONLY reason I booked the POA was due to time factor and being able to fly to and from Honolulu.
We never laid eyes on our cabin steward once!!! They would show up while we were on an excursion or while at dinner.  Once we had to ask for towels so we could shower before dinner.  We don't like My Time Dining and that is all you get on NCL.  I know RCI has my time dining also but you at least get the option to have a set time, set table, and set servers (which is why we like traditional dining).  The food was okay for the most part but the selections weren't great in our opinion.
We talked to a travel agent we met at one of the bars.  She told us that she brought 40 people on the POA and that she felt the same we did!  She and her group experienced the same issues as us and she wouldn't be doing another group cruise on that ship.  The bartender told us that some of the cabin stewards had as many as 25 cabins to clean and some only had 10!  I guess ours must have been the only of the ones that had 25 to clean. 
Thankfully, our next three cruises booked are Royal Caribbean - lesson learned! 

All the ports were great and the food was good.  We never found our cabin steward at all to even get extra towels.  I always make my bed anyway, it was just the inconvenience of not getting towels in a timely manner.  We went on an excursion that was all day basically and we still had no clean towels.  Hubby walked way down the hall and finally found someone and they gave him towels.  They didn't even ask what cabin we were in.
The ship is older but still pretty. 

Here's the info for ya!  😀
https://www.virginvoyages.com/sites/sailing-club

That's interesting.  I did not know that.  I may have to check this out.  Thanks !!

Virgin Voyages looks interesting to try at least once. And they're matching loyalty status from Diamond and upwards until March 31st, 2023.

All the ports were great and the food was good.  We never found our cabin steward at all to even get extra towels.  I always make my bed anyway, it was just the inconvenience of not getting towels in a timely manner.  We went on an excursion that was all day basically and we still had no clean towels.  Hubby walked way down the hall and finally found someone and they gave him towels.  They didn't even ask what cabin we were in.
The ship is older but still pretty. 

The Diamond threshold was our target before starting to look elsewhere based on itinerary.  We do not care if we hit Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle will never be a thing for us, so we are content with Diamond.  We are happy with the perks at this level.
We will certainly continue to cruise with Royal as we have no complaints and like that we know what to expect.  That being said, we have booked a northern Europe cruise with another line for the fall of 2024 because it's going to places we haven't seen Royal go. 
We still have some Royal itineraries on our bucket list....Panama Canal, Alaska, and Norway to name a few, and we will always take a "get out of the cold weather" cruise in Jan/Feb on a Royal ship.
 
 

We are ... well Norwegian changed their levels. We were Platinum Plus with Norwegian, now i think we're well into their Sapphire tier (Royal's Diamond equivalent) with only a few points to go to reach the next level (Royals D+equivalent). But we are waning on them for several reasons, like cutbacks icw DSC hikes and now their return to a standard muster. 
Don't get me wrong. There are some things i prefer about Norwegian over Royal, which I'm hesitant to say here. But I'll try to say it delicately, i guess.  We do like the Haven experience better in that no matter your loyalty status, you're not getting Haven privileges without staying in the Haven. I know Royal tries to curb this, but the Haven is never crowded and we're never fighting over dinner reservations in the Haven, need standing reservations, etc. 
For us, we'll go by itinerary and price, but i have to say, all things being equal, we're leaning more Royal now. 

It sank financially and considering our US Congress backed the loan they desperately wanted to save face like only politicians can, so they waived requirements and granted special status so it could be towed overseas and completed outside of the US.

We have a 7 night this summer on Carnival panorama out out LA for a  western Mexican cruise. We would go royal but most are shorter out of LA . Also both our kids wanted to try a different line for something different. We did carnival years ago, it was ok, but nothing special. A lot of drinking and partying, not us.

Congratulations on Diamond!  

We just turned Diamond after our August cruise.

Sometimes it itinerary and port location. I will do MSC because their European offers are great. 

Curious what biggest decision of crossing over to sail another cruise line if Royal standards are there and you are happy sailing Royal because it seems those bells and whistles on the other lines doesn't make the cut in certain important factors after the fact.  Of course any cruise is better than no cruise but still ....

The fact that it sank before it was even finished being built makes for a good story, too.

Funny you mentioned it....   I was on the phone today with my concierge for a b2b I'm doing on another line. She was amazing, so sweet. Being very personable she asked did we ever sail before? Well, 10 minutes telling her about Royal and how it was more fiscally prudent etc. etc. 
I just thought it was funny how I wanted to try a new/different ship/line and I'm telling this representative how she must try Royal!  I Crack myself up sometimes!!!

POA has to use mostly Americans for crew.  They seem to always struggle getting Americans to work for the wages they offer relative to the demanding hours required of cruise ship crew.
I wouldn't judge the rest of NCL based on the POA.  
POA is now the only ship that is exempt from the PVSA in Hawaii so it can have an itinerary that has only US ports of call.  No other ship in the world qualifies.  The story how the POA ended up in this position is an interesting story to say the least.   Nonetheless, while the ship is allowed to offer a cruise with only US ports, the crew has to be mostly American due to immigrations laws.
It is a one-off unique situation for the mass market cruise industry.