wintrev

Sorry but don’t think this list is right. Discovery Princess will not in in LA in Feb 2026 as it will be in Australia/New Zealand. Mind you after Virgin pulling all Australian cruises for 2024/2025 you can’t trust anything that is published!

This is a first believe me. I am not at all lucky in most things. The difference is $1,680.00 for a MB mini suite so I am happy to take it. In 19 cruises with them have never seen that message ever.

Thanks OzKiwiJJ and Arxcards for your replies. I had already presumed that we had to pay the crew appreciation on top of the cruise fare so don’t have problem with it but find it interesting that the app can’t distinguish the difference. As a point of interest we booked this cruise and then 2 days later noticed a significant increase in the cost. When I logged into the cruise personalizer on my laptop I got an obscure message stating that because it recognised me as a loyal customer we had been charged a lower price than the new revised one - have never seen that before? Nothing has changed in the payment due but unsure what to make of it all.

I have a question regarding the crew appreciation. I understand the difference between Australian cruises and the rest of the world. i have booked a Japan cruise for August next year. When I log on via the web page on my laptop the crew appreciation box comes up - they have kindly changed the dollar value from the $17USD to the full total for the cruise in AUD - was a bit confusing at first until I figured out that they had done the conversion. However my question is why does it say in the review packages app on my mobile (we purchased plus) that crew appreciation is included?? I am presuming that this is an oversight and glitch with the app?

Sir Richard’s usual trick - how many Aussies have missed out on their free cruises when he did the same performance here? He will have to give away more than a free cruise to get half of the annoyed people who have lost money back on his ships - this little black duck will never bite no matter how much they throw free at me.

No it is not about travelling far it is the drinks. One only has to scroll through the blogs on this site and see that most Americans using Virgin are only interested in drinking and partying. Doing a daily count of how many drinks they consume is ridiculous. Virgin needs to stop wasting money on giving away free champagne at every sailaway - some bloggers even documented how many they could get whilst it was flowing - not everyone goes on a cruise to get drunk.

Yep they have certainly won the award for pi...... off some many people!

If you want a refund you need to contact them. i got two emails today - one saying that as I cancelled my cruise and it was after the 7 day window I would not be getting a refund - idiots!!!! !! The second email was to say my refund had been processed (I rang them to cancel yesterday on receipt of the email from them confirming that THEY were cancelling the cruise) and would take between 7-10 business days. Seems to me that Virgin are totally useless in all departments - NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

I am so sorry to hear your story. We also booked flights and accomodation prior to our cruise in December but have managed to change some things to still have a holiday. I don’t think Virgin really cares about their customers or the problems this decision has caused. They will care if they ever decide to return - I for one will be telling anyone who will listen to avoid them at all costs - I will NEVER book a cruise on them again.

On phone with Sailor Services here in Australia and the girl has come back and told me that she has to speak to her manager to cancel my cruise - obviously they have been caught out!!!

Hey CrusingWalter When are you having a Virgin Voyages rep on again? - have a few questions for her - some very annoyed Aussies down here - obviusly she gets fed the usual BS from Virgin to promote!!!

Just got my email - have to contact Sailor services to get my refund - what a pain!

Countess Cookie You have summed it up beautifully. These boards give more information than the cruise lines do and I am grateful also that we can share any information to prevent other cruisers being caught out. Love how we have to wait till end of March (got this date on Virgin boards) while the UK get their refund earlier. Yet again we are short changed!

Dear CEO What a joke!!!! Are you going to pay for me to fly halfway around the world just to use your product???? Why did you keep selling cruises when you knew this was going to be the end result???

Ahoy First Mate, I just wanted to reach out and thank you for making our inaugural season in Australia such a huge success. In no uncertain terms, the warm welcome we received from Aussies was because of how deeply you championed us. This made for an incredibly brilliant season — with rave reviews and record bookings. And the love is very much mutual. With the safety of our Sailors and Crew remaining our #1 priority, and on the heels of our recent changes to Resilient Lady’s Spring ‘24 repositioning voyages, we’ve conducted a full safety and security review of future repositioning voyages through the Red Sea with a range of experts. Given the circumstances, unfortunately, she will instead be sailing in her temporary home of the Caribbean starting next October. We love Australia and have every intention of traveling back in the future when we can safely do so. While we’re sad to have had to make this choice for now, we are very much looking forward to getting back there as soon as possible. But in the best interest of your Sailors, we’re making these adjustments now in order to avoid disruptions in the future — giving them more time to think through alternatives. Thank you again for making our first season so unbelievably outstanding — we’re deeply grateful for that and your continued love and partnership. In the meantime, we want to make sure we can still get your Sailors who loved us in Australia escaping the winter and sailing the gorgeous waters of the Mediterranean aboard that very same award-winning ship that made such a splash. It’s safe to say the experiences at sea are even better when Aussies are on board. Gratefully, Nirmal Saverimuttu CEO, Virgin Voyages

I only included the airline as didn’t he give away cruises on a plane trip? Once again Aussies get the short end of the stick. They will put the ship in the Caribbean because they make tons of money on them as Americans treat them as party boats not cruise destinations. The whole drama with Brilliant Lady failing to start leaves a big question mark over their entire business dealings.

Thank you for the article. Virgin have lost my business. Will NEVER book a cruise with them again. Can’t believe how many Aussies will be annoyed about this. Has been an absolute joke how they have handled this.

Don’t care who it is really - he was the face promoting the brand and seeing he has been getting on the other ships whilst in the Caribbean his head is the first people are going to attack. It is disgusting that they continued to sell these cruises for weeks when they knew they were going to cancel. They claim to be different but in reality they are no different to all money grabbing companies. I for one will be telling people to never book with them if they ever decide to return to Australia.

URGENT There has been a post on the Virgin Voyages page that all 2024/2025 Australian cruises are cancelled. The poster put up a link to a vvinsider article. i have not received an email from Virgin to confirm. If this is true Virgin is about to be sunk - will never consider a cruise or flight with them again! Bad move Richard!

Steelers0854 thanks for your honest review. We are loyal Princess cruisers also and tried Virgin over Christmas last year from Australia. Will never do a Christmas cruise on any other line as they are completely overrun with children and their parents who seem to not care what they are doing. Hubby and I boarded with no expectations so that we would not be disappointed. We were very happy with some things and disappointed with others. The crew were nothing but totally professional and happy to make our cruise a memorable one. Virgin are NOT a mainstream cruise in any way and you need to forget how things are done on any other line. However we did complain about the barista coffee club being shut down at 8.00 pm each night. The bar staff were woeful in making a coffee. We explained that after coming out of the shows it would be nice to grab a coffee to which we were directed to The Galley to drink the brewed coffee - yuk! Obviously they didn’t research how much barista coffee Australians drink! We enjoyed the food but as we are not people who dine out found ourselves looking for some plain food with more hot vegetables not covered in different sauces. Overall would we book again - yes we did but are now regretting that! There is currently so much uncertainty about Resilient Lady coming back for the 2024/2025 season especially as she is booked into St Maarten at the same time as here in Sydney. We understand the world is a mess but if Virgin think we are going to fly to America to use a cruise credit they are about to see how much you don’t want to deal with some grumpy Aussies. It was wonderful to sail on a newer ship - something we don’t get in Australia.

Correct but they were still on sail at the beginning of this week - That is why we are complaining. They would have known this was in the pipeline so sales should have been suspended immediately. We won’t get coverage with travel insurance as it is now an act of war as per CruisingWalter’s comment and that is the problem. I am not going to fork out thousand of dollars in airfares to fly to America/South America to catch a ship to use my cruise credit!

Exactly. Yet Virgin has continued to sell the Australian 2024/2025 itineraries knowing that they may not go ahead as per discussions on these boards. Surely under consumer laws this is illegal? Regardless Virgin is doing itself no favours by treating Australian customers this way.- has left a sour taste in my mouth and will definitely not book ever again with Virgin regardless of their decision.

Agree but if that is the case then Australia would not be getting any cruise lines visiting us for a very long time. There are other ways to get to Australia - yet again we miss out just like getting the oldest ships always sent to us. It was nice to go on Resilient and experience a new ship.

Whilst it is important for all those people travelling in the next few months to know what is happening it is also just as important for us Australians who were what now looks as stupid enough to purchase a cruise for our summer later this year and start of 2025. To take down all the cruises doesn’t give me much confidence that they will now go ahead especially as Resilient Lady is marked down to be in St Maarten for December 2024. I will not be accepting any cruise credit if they cancel and expect a full refund along with other travel expenses I have outlaid already. Most Australians will not travel halfway around the world to use a credit and perhaps Virgin is hoping for just that!

Just checked the VV app and my cruise is still listed but I can’t accept the Voyage contract. Says it has hit a snag and try again later. It has been this way for the last month. Get no ticks when filling in any other information such as payment, pregnancy, photo etc. I wonder if they are blocking this until the decision is made??