Jumping Cruiser

Definitely! I hope it doesn’t give them any ideas! 😩

Amsterdam, Netherlands - Port Schedule (Correct as of 01/08/23) The latest monthly update for Amsterdam! A few new bookings have now appeared for Brilliance, as the port authority release bookings exactly 2 years before the proposed call. 17th May 2025 - Brilliance OTS 26th May 2025 - Brilliance OTS 7th June 2025 - Brilliance OTS 19th June 2025 - Brilliance OTS 27th June 2025 - Independence OTS 1st July 2025 - Brilliance OTS 13th July 2025 - Brilliance OTS 23rd July 2025 - Independence OTS 25th July 2025 - Brilliance OTS 6th August 2025 - Brilliance OTS. *NEW* 18th August 2025 - Brilliance OTS. *NEW* 30th August 2025 - Brilliance OTS. *NEW*

Leixoes, Portugal - Port Bookings (Correct as of 06/09/23) An additional port call has been made for Brilliance OTS. 27th April 2025 - Brilliance OTS 16th May 2025 - Brilliance OTS. *NEW*

This would explain why the TA port call for Brilliant Lady in Madeira has been removed.

Ponta Delgada, Azores - Port Bookings (Correct as of 06/09/23) A couple of new bookings added recently for Voyager and Explorer, likely to be TA calls. The most interesting one to me is an additional call that has been made for Independence in August, but also how Explorer’s destination is classed as Lisbon. 24th April 2025 - Brilliance OTS 27th April 2025 - Jewel OTS 6th May 2025 - Independence OTS 7th May 2025 - Explorer OTS. *NEW* 10th May 2025 - Voyager OTS. *NEW* 8th August 2025 - Independence OTS. *NEW* 29th October 2025 - Odyssey OTS

I was on Anthem for a 14-night Mediterranean Cities cruise back in June and also received this survey recently. As you say, lots of questions were opinion based and it appeared to me that they were trying to see what exactly UK guests want from the company and if they would be willing to travel for the ‘latest and greatest’ ships. I hope people give their honest opinions and Royal take note of this.

Looks to be Odyssey again, after a TA from Civitavecchia in October.

Scarlet was booked into Reykjavik, Iceland for 2024, which could have potentially been placeholders for Brilliant initially. This may be where she has seen this information. I get the impression that they were initially planning to visit more ‘new’ destinations like Scotland, Iceland and Norway next year, as part of the Northern Europe deployment, but pushed this back to 2025. In my opinion, I think ‘Portsmouth Shorts’ in 2024 is to basically test the waters and see if there really is demand for a full UK deployment, before committing to any of these other itineraries in future years.

I agree, but it has happened before and will potentially happen again! I suppose if they do decide to do this then they could give people the option to disembark in Portugal. Why wont they just tell us, it’s so frustrating! 😤

I also was expecting an Amsterdam overnight, as this would line up with what VV have offered in the past. With the first call scheduled for 7th May, should we say that the first cruise will depart Portsmouth on 6th? That would leave 5 days between the proposed end of BL’s TA in Lisbon and her first scheduled cruise from UK. It takes 2 days to get to Portsmouth direct from Lisbon, so let’s just say that they extend the TA until 4th, that would leave 2-nights before the first cruise. They would have enough time to do a quick 2-night press event to possibly build hype for the season, which they usually like to do. HOWEVER, the first thing to be confirmed is whether the TA will actually happen or will she just launch from UK?

Correct! Although, only BL is booked into Amsterdam, so likely to be the ship based in Portsmouth. Also, the fact that it says ‘Brilliant For You’ at the bottom of the advert is probably quite a big hint!

Wasn’t this cruise supposed to call in Funchal, Madeira on 29th April? If so, the port booking for BL has been removed from their port schedule. The only one which remains is for SL’s transatlantic on 30th April. Just to point out, there is a chance that this could be incorrect, but Madeira port authority are usually very accurate with their schedule.

I would bet BL as that appears in more schedules than SL, some of which have been updated recently, but they could just be placeholders. In my opinion, it looks like they were playing around with the idea of doing longer Northern Europe cruises (Iceland and Norway) in 2024, but their Portsmouth teaser suggests that it will just be ‘short’ sailings now with the exception of a repositioning to Barcelona. There is more variety in 2025 port bookings for BL with calls in Scotland, Norway, Iceland, The Netherlands, Belgium and more! So to me it looks like the more destination-focused itineraries have been pushed to 2025 from 2024. Are they just trying to test out demand in 2024, in preparation for a full deployment in 2025? Let’s watch this space! 👀

In the Music Hall they usually rotate between the Caribbean band, Latin group and ‘house’ band.. The current house band are known as ‘The Ultimate Party Band UK’ and are onboard until October.

I think the ‘epic news’ will refer to October 24 - October 25 cruises going on sale, or at least those sailings until April 25. I could very well be wrong though!

The announcement says: ‘The itineraries feature short breaks to Amsterdam and Zeebrugge for Bruges and a longer cruise between Portsmouth and Barcelona via La Coruna, Lisbon, Casablanca, Malaga and Ibiza.’ This suggests to me that the cruise to Barcelona will be a one-way repositioning voyage. It does create a few questions though: When will this be? What will the ship do once she has reached the Med? Is it actually BL or another ship? So many questions and very few answers. 😅

At least we now have a date - September 7th!

Cruise Mapper can be very inaccurate at times. The itineraries and port bookings shown are pulled from whatever is on sale or has been on sale in the past. The data is far from ‘live’ and it can sometimes take months before it is updated to show any changes that have been made. It is port agencies websites that will have accurate information.

It would definitely be more convenient with Southern Europe and Mediterranean, but port bookings indicate that there will be a large presence in Northern Europe, specifically with short sailings between 3 and 5-nights. Whenever VV have home-ported in the UK, the majority of sailings have been shorter. These short sailings seem to be where they make the most revenue and as you say also keep fuel costs lower, which would make them greater profit overall. I actually seen this advertisement and posted it in another thread, but I read it differently. I understood it as the offer included Mediterranean sailings, but not specifically from Portsmouth. “From deep dives into history to island hops across the Med- this is your chance to get 30% off all European voyages and secure next year's summer plans. With $600 in free drinks across our ship and brand-new itineraries out of your backyard in Portsmouth.” In my opinion, if VV come to the UK, there’s no point in them sailing to the Med as they already have a ship based there which would be suitable for fly-cruises. The whole idea of them sailing from the UK is so that they can visit destinations not currently visited, including Iceland, Norway, The Netherlands, Scotland and the occasional visit to the Canary Islands and Madeira. As much as I would love a ship to homeport in Liverpool (closer to me! ☺️), I just don’t think it’s suitable for Virgin over the long-term. The port is also currently not well-equipped for handling full turnarounds of large ships. Liverpool are currently looking at building a new large cruise terminal, which would be capable of handling turnarounds of much bigger ships than those currently based there, but the last I heard was that they wanted a commitment from a line that they would regularly home-port in the city. Until this happens at least, I think chances are very slim.

The only problem with Liverpool is its location within the UK. The fact that it is on the west-coast of the country means that every itinerary heading towards mainland Europe, such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands, would require 2 additional sea days (One-day to English Channel and One-day from English Channel) compared to if the ship left from the South coast. I would imagine that the only cruises that would actually be sustainable from Liverpool would be Iceland, as this would remove 2 days due to the port’s closer proximity to Iceland.

Check this out! A new offer seems to point at a ship being based in Portsmouth, UK. I’m guessing this will be Brilliant Lady.

Agreed! They also seem to like showcasing their ships to the UK trade and press, as both SL and VL did some type of launch there. By process of elimination, I presume that this will be BL. This would mean the only ship not to do a UK visit yet would be RL.

VV have just launched a new offer on the UK site, which has mentions of a ship being deployed from Portsmouth, UK in Summer 2024. We must be very close to the itinerary release now.

Given that Ovation already has a TP scheduled in April 2025 and Quantum has nothing currently up for sale, I would say that it would be Ovation to Alaska alongside Anthem. I would presume that as Anthem is leaving Asia, she would be replaced by Quantum, which already has some adaptations for this market.

Liberty would have sent them the one of (if not) the oldest ships in the fleet and charged them a horrendous amount for the privilege! Does this thought remind you of something? I’ll give you a hint… SOUTHAMPTON! 😂