wintrev

A poster on the AUS/NZ boards has said that Princess is promising them a similar itinerary on a replacement ship - details to be revealed by the end of the month. Hope it works out for all concerned.

Someone just posted on the Princess boards that their cruise in March 2026 on the Sun has been cancelled due to redeployment - looks like they are moving ships all over the place - won’t be making any plans - will have to wait and see what the final shuffle looks like.

Well what has Australia done to be treated so poorly????

https://www.travelgossip.co.uk/product-news/grand-princess-to-homeport-in-san-juan-for-winter-2025-6/

Feel sorry for all those people who booked a cruise.

Now Australia only gets Crown and Discovery. But Discovery is listed as being in two ports at the same time - being Los Angeles and Australia/New Zealand in Feb 2026 - so who is fibbing to us?

Beginning to think that if you book a cruise don’t count on it going!!!!!!

https://artifacts.portsamerica.com//wbct/pdf/2026-la-calendar.pdf

Well I am beginning to wonder if Princess is going to pull Discovery altogether. The above link (hope it works) was posted on the Virgin Voyages boards. 
 

The link shows the Los Angeles port schedule for 2026 when Discovery is supposed to be here in Australia. Discovery is slotted in on Feb 19th and 23rd - so who are we going to believe?

6 minutes ago, dog said:

Listen all, I posted posing a question, as I have never had a comp cruise, only a few casino discounts.

Happy for those who felt they could take the RISK with a Nonrefundable deposit.

Sorry for those who are not happy.

I understand that comp cruises were given to Many Media for the Sun’s first few cruises- bloggers, agents- many who had their photos posted here from their fb pages.  I had no problem with that.

This offer may not be valid, but to me worth a try.

If joining us on Oct 15/25, I welcome you to further chat in the Star roll call.I

will request thread be closed to keep things positive.

dog

Dog

Good luck to those who have gotten in on this special deal. Australians are always given the short end of the stick by ALL cruise lines whether it be pricing or the oldest ships in the fleet being sent here. Didn’t mean to cause you stress but we are just fed up with the unfairness of the whole situation.

54 minutes ago, boeckli said:

Same here 🙁

 

Starting to get really annoyed with cruise lines. First Virgin abandoning Australia and now Princess favouring the Americans!

Do they think we can’t fly to Europe??????

Why am I not given the same equal opportunities???

Come on Princess lift your game - looks like cruising altogether is dropping done my list of things to do - will go spend my hard earned dollars with companies that treat everyone equally and keep it here in Australia!

Well this is typical - Aussies get nothing!!!

When I search the cruise mentioned it definitely doesn’t show $0.

Suites are sold out and mini’s start at $4,149. There are prices for every cabin 

On 4/27/2024 at 4:52 AM, Oren said:

Check out the Port of Los Angeles Starting March/April 2026 Calendar for the possible secret answer to this mystery:

https://artifacts.portsamerica.com//wbct/pdf/2026-la-calendar.pdf

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!

2 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Just lucky I guess.

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.

20 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

No, unfortunately if you booked the cruise in Australia with a Plus fare it's not an error. The system sees you have a Plus fare on a non-Australian cruise so gives you the default US description of the Plus package. But even though you paid the fare in AUD it isn't an Australian fare so does not include gratuities. Remember the US package costs US$60 (AU$93.50 at the current XE rate) and you paid AU$65 for the package. The US daily gratuities at $17 work out to AU $26.50 (but may work out a bit less if you prepay). Add that to $65 and you end up paying a couple of dollars ($AU$91.50) less than you would if you'd bought the US package.

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?

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

For those having given-up their 24/25 Oz cruises, and wearing any out of pocket expenses, ain't it nice to know that the replacement cruises from San Juan are being given away already.

From VV socials early this morning:

 

Imagine hearing this on your flight:

 

*ding-dong*

 

"Good afternoon Delta flight DL1946 with service from Atlanta to San Juan. In addition to today's in-flight entertainment, you're also being gifted a cruise by Virgin Voyages."

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. 

2 hours ago, colourbird said:

How many ships do they need in the Caribbean?

 

That market must be a huge money-spinner for the cruise lines, since they keep adding more and more large ships.

 

More and more American's must be getting the cruise bug and many of them don't want to travel far.

 

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.

13 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Is that why they keep winning so many awards?

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

7 hours ago, windsor08 said:

I had to look. Could I find a substitute for my 6 night Fremantle to Melbourne cruise on Resilient Lady? A long way to fly, and very few 6 night itineraries. One out of  Portsmouth had possibilities, but there were no suites in my category available.

The email from VV talks of new Itinerary releases for the entire fleet very soon. Presumably this will happen before 27 March, when the will automatic refund occurs,  and maybe the new itineraries will have a touch of the Brilliant.

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!!!!!!

22 minutes ago, 1Rosco1 said:

To say I am gutted is an understatement.

 

This is the third cruise they have cancelled on me now.

First one we should have been on right now from Melbourne to NZ and back.

Second one in Sept this year around Greece.

Third one today for next November from SIngapore to Perth.

 

I know they say once bitten..... but this is just ridiculous.

I have paid in full for two rock star suites on this cruise, booked flights from the UK for three of us, hotel in Singapore for two nights prior and all they have offered us is a refund, nothing more.

 

They certainly don't seem too worried about building their brand or reputation I have to say.

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???

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.