VS073 MAN-MCO 5 APR 11 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Well here goes my first TR.But firstly, not stictly TR material but some background. I first flew with Virgin in 1998, in PE when the PE cabin was where the UC now is. Since then we have used PE and UC on 12 flights to MCO and JFK. Over the past couple of months since joining VFlyer I have read with interest members' comments. There seems to be a common thread that service standards are not what they were with particular reference to cabin crew, IFE, food and general cleanliness. I am generally in agreement with most contributors and in my opinion as with most companies everything is Top Down driven. SRB was so enthusiastic in the early years of VA but over time, since selling off 49% to Singapore Airlines he has tended to concentrate on his 'latest baby', eg balloons, space, and now I see he is talking about sub-ocean travel! This approach I believe has been adopted, albeit subconciously by the VA employees resulting in a fall off of the original enthusiasm and high standards.
So, opinion done with now onto the TR.
Did OLCI exactly 24 before the flight and managed the prestigious position of seq6!. This was our first flight at the new time of 13.45 (all previous flts have been at 10.25) so we were not up at the creack of dawn. Arrived at T2 after a 45 min taxi ride and were at check in with only 2 people in front of us, both for PE. The terminal was quiet and we were soon through securuty and into the Escape Lounge, not exactly the Clubhouse but at least it's quiet. Flight was called and as we passed through check-in we were asked to undergo an
additional security check, not a problem abd we soon found ourselves settling into 8A and K and offered (and of course accepted) a glass of fizz. We were soon on our way and GVast Ladybird took off on time. When first drinks were offered It became apparent that our FSM, lets call her R did not really want to be at work today. She was polite but rather 'cold' and it was noticeable that her approach to customer service was adopted by her colleagues. But this was not going to spoil the fact that here was I sitting in a comfortable seat with my latest gadget a Kindle and a Gin & Tonic having been told we had a full aircraft resulting in 430 passengers 'behind' me! I did not want to score the IFE as I never use it, however as you cannot submit the TR without scoring each sector I have had to score it Poor. I cannot get enthusiastic about watching a film on a 10" screen with headphones, hence my IFE is a good book and the occasional G&T. The food, smoked salmon then the cod was perfectly acceptable and I was soon dozing! What a great way to spend 9 hours! We landed at MCO only to find that the Gatwick flight was in front of us so there were another 400+ in front of us waiting to pass through immigration resulting in a wait of 45 mins.
On previous MCO trips we had utilised Mears Transport as provided by VH but this time due to previous problems with Mears we had arranged transport to our hotel on Disney's Magical Express, which, if you are staying at a Disney Resort is free and is highly recommended. I had booked it by email the previous September and wondered if it would work. Of course it did, its Disney! So we were on the bus and looking forward to 2 weeks at the Grand Floridian
I know this TR is a little late, my apologies. I will now get on with the return trip
Thanks to all VFlyers, I've learnt so much from you
Best wishes,
Jack Sparrow

[mitchja]

Excellent TR Thanks for posting.

How was the Grand Floridian?

Interesting that you chose the Magical Express over "Mears". If I were staying at a WDW hotel, I'd do the same to save on costs - but it's interesting because the Magical Express is operated for Disney by.......... Mears!

Thanks for the TR- excellent.

Happy days, I stayed at the Grand Floridian in 2003 and thought it was very lovely!!

Jon

What a nice clean,real TR. It is only through all these good reports, that new travellers to Florida, can judge for themselves,If they want econ/prem econ/upper or can afford it. We do need to talk more about VH hotels, and car hire and if they really do help when you go to any substanderd hotels, or get a bad car. This did happen to me, and my florida rep went through hoops to change my unhappy choice of venue. I know some will say why Florida. Most newbys go there first. Most of you are weekly flyers, but lots who read these reports are first timers. Thanks and happy travelling.

Thanks for the TR, if I were to ever sway away from staying in a villa, I think I'd like some time at the grand Floridian!

Luke

How was the Grand Floridian?

Hi Tinkerbelle, firstly I'm biased! This was our 6th visit to the Grand Flo, so it's good when you walk in for breakfast on your first day and staff (or cast members!) say "hi, welcome back". The overall service standards, food and rooms are excellent. Highly recommended.

Interesting that you chose the Magical Express over "Mears". If I were staying at a WDW hotel, I'd do the same to save on costs - but it's interesting because the Magical Express is operated for Disney by.......... Mears!

I didn't know this. All I can go by are my own experiences, eg on two occasions the Mears transport did not turn up at The GF on our departure,. Following complaints to VH, they said they did turn up but we were not there! On the first occasion Grand Floridian, at their expense paid for a taxi to the airport and on the second occasion they arranged with the DME.

Thank you for the TR.