V-Flyer

The week flew by and soon our first holiday to Orlando was coming to an end.
Spent a fortune on the internet every day checking to see if the available seats had been released but to no avail.
Check-in opened exactly 24 hours before departure and I was in, fighting my way through the prehistoric Virgin check-in pages and managed to get sequence numbers 3 and 5 so failed yet again.
Totally unable to choose any seats but were allocated 70 A and C which we were very pleased with.
The next day was a bit of an anti-climax having checked out of the resort and then spending the rest of the day enjoying the last of the sun while waiting to get the shuttle to the airport.
Checking in at MCO was quick and efficient but no chance of buying an upgrade as the flight was full.
As has been said a number of times on this forum, Orlando International is absolute rubbish if you need to spend any time there but we did manage to spend a bit more money buying a new watch for the missus before making our way through security (no fast track though). We were soon through and into the so-called duty free area. What a waste of space that is. Had a last drink in the Aussie-themed restaurant. Very clever that lot, no prices for drinks on their menu and for a glass of white wine and a beer, the bill came to over $23. Even London prices cannot match that.
We made our way down to gate 85 for the published boarding time but they only started a bit late as the crew had been delayed en-route in the traffic. Still, the boarding was handled very efficiently and we were soon upstairs in the front row.
Ruby Tuesday was filled to the brim with 457 pax and 17 crew but we were ready to leave and pushed back absolutely spot on the scheduled time. We had had our pre-flight sparkling and were soon airborne, heading southwards and then left out over the Atlantic. Strangely enough, after turning the lights off for the takeoff, they were never put on again at all until we had landed at Gatwick.
There were 2 Senior Cabin Supervisors on board but I am not sure that that was a good idea. After takeoff, we never saw a crew member until about an hour and a half into the flight when they came around with dinner. There was no pre-dinner drinks round which was a bit odd.
Anyway, the food was excellent with my wife choosing the roast beef while I had the chicken korma. Dessert was a crème caramel concoction which looked ok but had a strange combination of tastes. Not sure about that one at all. I decided to have white wine with my dinner as it was a South African Chenin Blanc which I usually enjoy. It tasted ok but why oh why can you not get a cold wine on Virgin? I really should have stuck to the red.
We were left with our empty trays for about an hour until they were eventually cleared away.
There was a minor problem with the IFE but after a reboot, it worked fine for the rest of the flight.
While the crew had skipped the drinks round before dinner and never did a Duty Free run either, they did come around every hour through the night with glasses of cold water.
Most of the flight was conducted with the seat belt signs on and in places it got quite rough which did not make the wife happy at all.
Breakfast was served (a choice of full English or vegie omelette) about 90 minutes from Gatwick and was a darn sight better than what was available on the resort.
Approach into Gatwick was direct with no stacking and we pulled up at the gate 2 minutes early. The landing itself was much more comfortable than at MCO where the aircraft floated down the runway for ages before actually touching down which resulted in some really heavy braking. We were thrown right forward in our seats which was a bit scary for my wife who is terrified of flying at the best of times.
This time around, the Economy pax were held back while the bubble was cleared. We were also given instructions to look for a special queue at immigration which had been set up especially for Virgin passengers but it was nowhere to be seen and we all trooped through the normal UK and Euro passport holder gates. As usual, this was efficient and we were soon at the belt waiting for our luggage to appear. Needless to say, there was no priority unloading in effect and everything just came through together. Still, our cases soon appeared and we were out of the terminal waiting for our lift in a little under 30 minutes which I thought was really good.
Mu thought s on the overall experience then..... ground crew at MCO, friendly and efficient; flying crew, friendly in a vague sort of way but why no bar service? Aircraft interior a bit tired but not too bad; entertainment system, well we all know about the LGW-bases 74’s; seats were good but even if I did sleep on a plane, it would have been difficult with the constant stream of people using the loos. Thank goodness for the turbulence although a lot of the pax ignored the signs and still used the toilets. Next time, I will rather go for the seats a couple of rows back.

Hi Welsheagle - it was as per the service flow that there was no bar service as this flight is an overnight flight classed as a "supper" service.

In the old service days it would also have been a combined service as it was a night flight leaving after 7pm.

Strange there was no duty free offered as it should be offered to all passengers.