notme2012

1 hour ago, FFMilesJunkie said:

Bookings are getting better in Europe as the season progresses due to increasing sales to Europeans who don't have to pay the crazy transatlantic air fares.  The Brilliant Lady SJ sailings are starting to fill up. There's still some good deals on the BL, so I'd book now at these low prices before they start to go up in the next couple of months.  Some sailings are down to only Central Sea Terraces left which is bad news for bargain shoppers.

 

 

1-More proof that VV may keep the Brilliant Lady in Europe. 2-I checked all the Brilliant Lady sailings from San Juan, none are sold out. With the exception of suites, I could find insides, outsides and terrace cabins on every sailing. 3-Using a maiden voyage of ship in April 2022, still under Covid rules, really? Bad example! Most cruise ships were not even sailing half full.

1 hour ago, aviators99 said:

If none of them are in final payment yet, couldn't they have saved more money by canceling the all? By your theory, every day they don't cancel the earlier ones they lose more money (as more people pay). 

The most that VV would compensate is determined by the fare, what is paid, etc. Those are finite amounts, even if compensated at 200%. But all are less than what VV is now charging for currently scheduled cruises. The suite cabins are over double from what VV was charging prior to 1/1/23. Besides, VV has cancelled cruises with very little notice before, why do you doubt that they would not cancel now?

Here's the issue with Virgin Voyages. They promote that they are not like any other cruise line. They are managed by people who are not from cruise industry backgrounds. Why do you think that they will honor the schedule they posted? For people already booked, we cannot cancel without losing our deposit. We are stuck with whatever they decide to do. According to the cruise contract, there is nothing we can do other than arbitration. 

38 minutes ago, aviators99 said:

If they canceled April because the ship will be delivered late, why wouldn't they cancel the earlier sailings? I don't understand the logic. Makes more sense that they are changing itineraries, and not delivery. I am actually less worried now about delivery than I was before these discoveries. 

Because not one Brilliant Lady sailing is in final payment yet. By removing the schedule after April 20th, VV doesn't have to pay compensation to more passengers whose cruise may be affected. It limits their costs (to compensate) only to sailings from Dec 24th to April 20th. The Resilient Lady was delayed purposely by Virgin Voyages because their bookings were not growing as fast as they thought they would. Also hiring crew was challenging. Now with these Amsterdam port visits with close together dates, which have the appearances of being fam cruises, adds to my doubts of the whole pre-April 20th schedule. Why would VV sail the ship from the shipyard (in Italy) to Miami, then San Juan, then do the T-ATL, of which NOT one sailing date is sold out? The 2 maiden voyages are not sold out. That is highly unusual for maiden voyages. If I were you, I would be worried about any Brilliant Lady sailing prior to April 20th.

Maybe delaying and paying booked passengers compensation is less costly, then the extra revenue VV may earn from new bookings after April 20th, because cruises are much more expensive than they were a year ago?

On 7/25/2023 at 2:18 PM, cantgetin said:

VV has been far more generous than most lines when cruises had to be canceled.

Past actions do not mean that VV will be as generous as they were in 2022. Travel was still under the cloud of Covid. Go back in this thread, and check VV's compensation when they cancelled a sailing for a charter.

7 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

As said earlier, with so many of us searching now, we'll probably have this figured out before Virgin makes an announcement.

I think the whole cruise calendar disappearing from April 20th is still very suspicious. Why, this late, with less than 9 months to April 20th, there is no schedule? I go back to what I posted months ago. VV is limiting its losses because the ship is being delivered late, and they haven't planned as to where the Brilliant Lady will be berthed, because of late ship delivery. While Europe is all the rage right now, VV is still doing promos to cover the high airfares. That also leads me to believe that VV has doubts about having 2 or 3 ships in Europe. All those port days in Amsterdam, many of which are close together, could be travel agent & media familiarization cruises. Look at the dates: May 8th, 13th, 17th, and then 10 days later May 27th. The Zeebrugge stop on May 7th, and then no stops until July 29th? With bated breath, I would not be surprised if everything before April 20th get cancelled. VV doesn't do things like other cruise lines, be prepared.

4 hours ago, jamesv92 said:

Also in Funchal 8th May 2025 10:00-19:00

But not in April 2024.

2 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

Me too. Was this on American?

Yup, we are going 3 days early. As we found an inexpensive AirBnB. But we decided that we will probably cancel this cruise anyways. I am tired of VV. They lost a customer....

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

The only port I can find the ship listed in for our sailing is San Juan on April 20th, which means nothing, because it's simply returning to port at the end of the previous cruise.

The ship doesn't simply vaporize after that....it has to sail somewhere, and ports need to be scheduled way in advance.

 

One has to wonder what sort of offer they'll make for those willing to sail wherever it ends up going versus cancelling.

I just booked tickets to SJU, as the award prices were so low. Only 10K each to fly into SJU, which I can cancel. But I am tired of this dragging on, and not being honest with us.

My FB Messenger convo with VV:

Virgin Voyages

 

Please send us your booking number and full name, as we'd love to take a deeper dive into this for you.

Virgin Voyages

 

Thanks so much for confirming your booking info. After chatting this over with our Crew behind the scenes, there have been no talks of any cancellation for your voyage embarking April 20, 2024 (Brilliant Lady) from San Juan

 

So the lies continue....

On 6/7/2023 at 11:52 AM, CanadianCruiser21 said:

IMHO, people should get at least an equivalent/similar cruise for what they originally paid. 

They should be doing what Royal Caribbean did, "Lift and Shift". That preserves the pricing and the payments made so far. But VV, does not do anything logical...more wishful thinking on my part. At this point, I think we should be happy we get our deposits back. As far as any special compensation, yeah, I won't hold my breath. 

6 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

 

Someone on FB just posted that Virgin chartered their cruise for World Poker Tour. This gives a sense of what they are offering for cancellations a year out. 

 

I found this online “WPT Voyage onboard Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady March 31st to April 6th 2024 - Full Ship TAKEOVER!”

 

The FB poster said  “Virgin Voyages offered either a 100% refund of what you've paid OR 150% of what you've paid towards a future voyage”.

 

I really hope this Brilliant Lady TA doesn’t get cancelled because that’s totally shitty considering how much prices have gone up since people initially booked the Brilliant TA. 
Even 200% would be shitty since prices have more than doubled. I don’t think VV will ever have fares as low as they were in 2022. 

Personally, I’ve spent way too many hours planning travel around this cruise and stressing about it being cancelled. The reward flight ticket I was going to book is now sold out too. Overall, pretty disappointed. Even a 100% refund would be shitty because I paid in a different currency (used a TA for MNVV and the deposit was in USD), so I’ve fully paid and I’ll definitely take a hit on the conversion rate. 

Does anyone know how the MNVV works in the case of a refund without rebooking? Will I also get that $300 deposit back? 
 

Thank you! I am happy that someone else gets my drift... This isn't meant to be hurtful to anyone, but I am not happy with the VV experience pre-cruise. This is a cruise line that was developed by non-cruisers and venture capitalists. What could go wrong? Well everything!

If I get 150% of what I paid, that is less than $1500. Why should I even bother staying with VV? If this is what transpires, I am done with Virgin Voyages!  

19 hours ago, jon81uk said:

When they cancelled Valiant Lady for the Bachelor charter a year ago they were very generous, I think it was 200% credit plus a refund. They have also been generous recently with refunds such as when the ship turned around after a passenger had an accident. I would expect anyone who gets a cancellation for 2024 to get at least another free cruise and a full refund based on past performance.

Not one Brilliant Lady cruise is in final payment. Most people have less than $1000 paid. If I get 200%, I get $1000. That is nothing for the efforts that I have go thru, to cancel all the other arrangements that I have made for this trip. Again, I am not holding my breath. It would be nice, but I sincerely doubt that VV will be as liberal as they were in the past.

11 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Here's another shot of the back of the ship

 

 

 

https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3486734?

 

 

It does appear that the area, in question, is flatter than on her sister ships.

19 hours ago, TYCruise said:

The link below has an actual pic of the Brilliant Lady at the ship yard.  It looks like they may have eliminated the aft overhang on the sides of the ship as well as the mid-ship overhangs that are just outside the roundabout on deck 7 ( I liked that area but it seemed to be rarely used).

 

https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3500062?page=1&navList=homePhotoFooter&list=latest&timestamp=1669732500

The pic you posted looks just like the 3rd one I posted. Nothing sticks out over the edges of the ship.

14 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

Hmmmm that would mean no wake restaurant in here!  Guess we’ll find out soon enough later this year when she launches!!!

There still seems to be tables in the graphic. The overhang is how that back deck sticks out on the sides. The lifeboats also do not stick out at all.

On 5/23/2023 at 3:31 PM, HBCcruiser said:

That is what the Prima's Captain was referring to. I guess the Aft Overhang (whatever that is) prevents the Prima from transiting the canal. I am glad to hear that the VV ships do not have that issue. Thanks for the article! 🤗

See that deck that sticks out?!   That is the overhang!  The first is a pic from the VV website of the Brilliant Lady!  I am guessing that VV web bozos picked the wrong pic, because the 2nd pic is the Scarlet Lady. The ships look the same. The 3rd pic is supposedly the Brilliant Lady. Do you see the difference?

The new locks in the Panama Canal, do not use electric mules to pull the ships thru the locks. Instead they use tug boats to push and pull the ships into and out of the locks.

On 5/23/2023 at 7:18 AM, jon81uk said:

I would expect anyone currently booked would get a free rebooking anyway. Issue might be that the XL rooms and suites are sold out currently for Scarlets TA.

Don't count on any rebooking help. VV's customer service standards, plain out suck! The agents are clueless! I will predict that service recovery for this cancelation will be measly! Don't count on getting a cruise credit and an extra cruise.

On 5/23/2023 at 7:05 AM, jamesv92 said:

I've noticed this as well, they might be preparing to announce the cancellation and preempting that people will want to move to the other transatlantic. Looks dodgy!

I suspect you are right. I know a group of people, who all booked suites on Brilliant Lady 4/20/2024 sailing. Everyone of them booked a "cheeky corner suites" for about $1200 person, or $2400 per suite. All of the suites have been sold out since last Sept. 2022.

On 5/23/2023 at 6:15 AM, FFMilesJunkie said:

The Scarlet Lady TA doubled in price a couple days ago. This past weekend was looking at prices in the $2,400 range and now they are close to $5,000 😭

The promos they had have ended. I suspect there will be a new promo. 

2 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

No, that's not what I'm booked on.  I'm departing from Miami on April 21 to Barcelona.

 

Sorry! This thread is about the disappearance of Brilliant Lady sailings after April 20th, 2024.

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

My calendar says April 21, 2024

The ship sails at 10PM on April 20th, 2024, from San Juan, PR. Taken from my confirmation email from VV.

13 hours ago, cantgetin said:

We were able to cancel and rebook for April 2024 at a substantially lower price and better "deal" than we had.

For the April 20th, 2024 TransAtlantic sailing? 

19 hours ago, jon81uk said:

The current discounts only run through to April 2024 so yes some cruises after then might be higher prices, but almost every industry constantly changes their promotions. And yes they are a new line so they are trying to work out the correct pricing for certain itineraries.

"We've seen this 40% gap to land-based vacation [this year]. It used to be about 20%," Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty lamented Thursday in a conference call with Wall Street analysts. "We're not happy about that gap."

"Liberty's estimate of a 40% differential in pricing isn't hyperbole. Several Wall Street analysts that track pricing at travel brands in recent months have pegged the current difference between the cost of land and cruise vacations, when comparing like-for-like products, at around 30% to 50% — higher than they have ever seen."

This was taken from a few different sources. With the exception of Disney Cruise Line, none of the other cruise lines have been able to succeed in pushing prices up. Until occupancies on sailings approach 80% of capacity on all sailings, there will be heavy discounting.

35 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

All transatlantic cruises are relatively cheap compared to standard itineraries, you basically get the week at sea for free on a TA.

Very true, but the Med cruise on May 1st was almost double TATL. I will not spend over $4k for a 7 night cruise in a Sea Terrace XL. As I posted before, Virgin Voyages has pricing that is constantly changing. It appears VV throws whatever out there and see if it sticks.

On 5/6/2023 at 4:01 AM, cantgetin said:

It seems a little early to be worried about what the compensation might be for different sorts of bookings on a cruise that hasn't beeb canceled yet.  I suspect that info till be forthcoming when VV decides exactly what is happening with these cruises.

People are concerned about alternative plans. My suspicion is this: since not one Brilliant Lady cruise is in the final payment period, compensation is going to be less than what was offered with the Resilient Lady.

I sold travel for 30 years. I closed my own cruise only travel agency in 2002. From my experience, this total black out on any info on this ship is giving me bad vibes. From my contacts, Virgin Voyages is still a hard sell. Many sailings are not selling out despite what people state here. VV targeted millennials as their main demographic. The uptake in that group hasn't happened. What has happened is word of mouth referrals. Using that as a soul motivator for gaining market share is a poor strategy. And, VV has not helped themselves to penetrate the market. Examples of this are the pitiful website and the constant, rapidly changing pricing. Besides the competition is fierce in the cruise industry. Most people commenting here, have already taken a Virgin Voyage. Imagine yourself as previous cruiser on Celebrity, why would you switch?