This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We checked into the Marriott at EWR quite late the night before the flight. The taxi driver had no idea where to go, despite me handing him the destination on an iPhone map. This meant that he screeched to a halt in the middle of the ring-road around the airport (which is basically a motorway) in order to call across to another cabbie to ask for directions. He then tried to drive into the drop-off area the wrong way... it adds to the excitement of the journey.
The hotel is OK -- the rooms are old-fashioned, but the place was quiet (and that's the most important thing). At 5 am we checked out and headed onto the shuttle bus. This was quite a surreal experience because a group of loud Americans girls who had completely deafened us whilst we were checking in to the hotel were already aboard the bus -- somehow they had managed to sleep, wake, apply their make up, and recharge their vocal batteries. It was very irritating -- at 5.30 am, you really don't want to hear 15-year old girls screeching about their upcoming flight.
Eventually we got to terminal B, where we diligently queued in the UC line. A VS agent took us aside to process us (excellent), and asked if we would like to downgrade to PE for 40k miles. This wasn't a surprise, because I knew the flight was packed, but we decided not to accept VS's generous offer. More about that later!
So off we went to the Clubhouse, which was quiet initially. The breakfast buffet was excellent -- a lovely fruit plate, and nice hot food. Service was good. After this we retired to the 'library' area, and the space became more busy. It is a nice lounge, but the lack of natural light (or a nice view) is a significant drawback. The wifi was OK, but not great. As the flight time approached, more and more people piled in, until it was quite busy.
Maybe it is just me, but there always seems to be someone in any clubhouse or lounge who casts snooty glances around, as if implying that no one else deserves to be there. It was pleasing when, on boarding, she traipsed through the UC cabin without stopping. :-)
Security was terrible. The priority lane was out of action, and there was quite a wait in to go through the machines. This was made rather worse by the fire alarms, which sounded for about 10 minutes. No one paid any attention to them, naturally -- even though they were unbearably deafening.
Eventually we got onto the flight. The premium boarding experience is compromised a little by the fact that the entire plane walks through the UC cabin. (The plane was very very full, which added to the length of this.) The champagne was both flat and warm -- I'm not that bothered at 8 am, but that's not really a good excuse. We got away reasonably promptly and breakfast was served -- a bacon roll, which was OK. I kept trying not to fall asleep, because this is fatal on a day flight where you lose time, but didn't entirely succeed. For distraction purposes, I dragged myself to the bar with my colleague. She had a G&T, and I had a Bucks Fizz -- all served by our charming crew-member, who was a credit to VS and faultless.
The time seemed to race by and soon the crew were offering drinks and then "lunch". The choice was between a chicken dish and some braised beef. I chose the chicken but was later asked to change because they had run out of chicken. I didn't really mind... until I was given the beef, which was as dry as a desert, and had hardly any sauce to go with it. I can't remember what wine I had, but it was OK. Skipped pudding as I was not feeling very hungry, but the cheese trolley did the rounds and I am a sucker for that chutney.
Soon after lunch we began our descent and ended up arriving about 15 minutes early onto stand. Unfortunately we disembarked just after the Dehli flight had arrived, which meant that there was a huge mass of people moving towards the border control point -- but the queue for EU passengers only had about 5 people in it, so we were through in minutes and down to the baggage hall where the UC bags were already trundling around on the belt. From plane to airport exit in 15 minutes is pretty good in my experience.
All in all, it was a solid flight, but I must confess that even during it I started to wish I'd accepted the offer of miles and downgraded to PE -- and that can't really be a good thing, can it?!? Nothing was terrible onboard and in fact the FA looking after me was excellent, but somehow the flight felt a bit lacklustre, and I was quite surprised because I thought it would be great fun. Having a distinctly below-average second-choice meal didn't help -- the food ex-USA always seems to be worse than ex-LHR (in my opinion). Still, on the bright side, the relative lack of jet-lag was good, and for this reason I will be taking the VS18 again shortly.
As for your flight, it is a shame that you were served average food at best 
It is, however, VS's saving grace that your FA was ace 
I might be tempted by that if ever faced with the offer. Would have to be a window seat in PE though 
. In this way they serve two purposes: (1) you can show your fellow passengers that you don't normally have to put up with travelling towards the back of the bus with their sort (2) you can wave them at the cabin crew when attempting to gain access to the UC toilets....
