What happened to Brilliant Lady

[jon81uk]

20 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

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.

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.

[cantgetin]

The current promotion is listed as available thru May 24, 2023.  On May 25, we'll see what the new promotion is.  VV seems to come out with one every month or two--the "reason" for the discounts changes, but the total price we pay for two in a cabin remains relatively stable most of the time.  We were able to cancel and rebook for April 2024 at a substantially lower price and better "deal" than we had.

[notme2012]

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.

[notme2012]

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? 

Edited May 13, 2023 by notme2012

[cantgetin]

11 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

For the April 20th, 2024 TransAtlantic sailing?   

My calendar says April 21, 2024,  We knocked $374 off the fare and added a free $600 bar tab,  In addition, we are now Sea Rovers, so whatever loyalty is in effect in 2024 should be applied as well.

Edited May 13, 2023 by cantgetin

[notme2012]

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.

[cantgetin]

4 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

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

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

 

[notme2012]

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.

[FlyingAnchor]

We booked this TA on Brilliant Lady right away when it was released. It would be our very first VV cruise. This thread is making us very nervous, along with some comments we've heard from friends on other sailings about VV as a whole. Portugal is the goal for our TA next year, so we are considering booking a TA on a different line that is one day longer and has one more port in Portugal than this VV sailing. Especially with all of the uncertainty we're reading in this post, we're not confident in sailing in VV. 

[librarylady19]

1 hour ago, FlyingAnchor said:

We booked this TA on Brilliant Lady right away when it was released. It would be our very first VV cruise. This thread is making us very nervous, along with some comments we've heard from friends on other sailings about VV as a whole. Portugal is the goal for our TA next year, so we are considering booking a TA on a different line that is one day longer and has one more port in Portugal than this VV sailing. Especially with all of the uncertainty we're reading in this post, we're not confident in sailing in VV. 

My first VV also and agree there is good reason to look at alternate plans. What is the ta you reference? 

[FlyingAnchor]

6 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

What is the ta you reference? 

Celebrity Equinox on 11APR24. FLL to LIS. 

[Wildcatllamas]

I just got back from vacation and see that we are still in limbo over this cruise. When I saw the mention of a TA on Celebrity I thought I would check in out. Nope - 3 different browser and it says access in denied. I cleared cookies and still no luck. I will try again on Monday to see if anyone know what is going on with this cruise.

 

What is so strange is there is nothing for Brilliant Lady after the 20th of April. There used to be, because when I was checking on this TA I was thinking of doing a B2B on her there in the Mediterranean. It's like she just goes away.  

[CineGraphic]

1 minute ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I saw the mention of a TA on Celebrity I thought I would check in out.

 

Another option is Scarlet's TA out of Miami. Hopefully, if they do cancel for whatever reason, they will try to accommodate as many of us as possible by moving us to this sailing.

Part of me wants to put a deposit down on this one just in case.

[Wildcatllamas]

2 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Another option is Scarlet's TA out of Miami.

I've thought of that as well. The goal was to go to Lisbon so not sure what the others will think about that. I only have so many days I can take at a time at work so have to plan accordingly. We had planned to sight see in Lisbon and then head to London for a couple of days to sight see there.

[librarylady19]

At this point we are making alternate plans and hoping for enough compensation to get a Caribbean cruise in winter out of this! Oh sorry not supposed to be speculating about compensation 😒

[jamesp1234]

One of the sailors on this sailing has kindly sent a tweet to try to pressure virgin for information. Would be good to try and get as many retweets on his post as possible if anyone has a moment to do so ? 
 

https://twitter.com/CharlesConroy/status/1660010887783018496?s=20

[librarylady19]

27 minutes ago, jamesp1234 said:

One of the sailors on this sailing has kindly sent a tweet to try to pressure virgin for information. Would be good to try and get as many retweets on his post as possible if anyone has a moment to do so ? 
 

https://twitter.com/CharlesConroy/status/1660010887783018496?s=20

I agree. I’ve been asking the question about “ what happened to Brilliant Lady?” On every social media post from Virgin I see. 

“

[CineGraphic]

5 hours ago, jamesp1234 said:

One of the sailors on this sailing has kindly sent a tweet to try to pressure virgin for information. Would be good to try and get as many retweets on his post as possible if anyone has a moment to do so ? 
 

https://twitter.com/CharlesConroy/status/1660010887783018496?s=20

 

Let's hope Virgin replies.

It's been much more than 5 weeks. Cruise was pulled April 4th or 5th.

[Lustate]

I'm sure they will come out with something news-wise soon. 

Just using basic logic they will be looking at budgets for 2024/25 and need to get sales coming in. So a couple more weeks and all these concerns will be a thing of the past. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

4 hours ago, Lustate said:

I'm sure they will come out with something news-wise soon. 

Just using basic logic they will be looking at budgets for 2024/25 and need to get sales coming in. So a couple more weeks and all these concerns will be a thing of the past. 

A lot can happen in a couple of weeks though, like alternative sailings doubling in price, and reward flights being booked up. 
 

but it’s true, they do need to release their schedules soon because the other cruise lines are already selling their 2025 itineraries. I assume they are trying to figure out where they can find demand.

[librarylady19]

2 hours ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

A lot can happen in a couple of weeks though, like alternative sailings doubling in price, and reward flights being booked up. 
 

but it’s true, they do need to release their schedules soon because the other cruise lines are already selling their 2025 itineraries. I assume they are trying to figure out where they can find demand.

Agreed. Transatlantic deals get snapped up early by veteran cruisers and prices are definitely higher and cabin choices more limited. It will definitely be harder find a flight deal (especially with points/miles) as lots of people pounce on those as soon as they are released. 

[FFMilesJunkie]

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 😭

[jamesv92]

49 minutes ago, 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 😭

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!

[jon81uk]

12 minutes ago, 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 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.

[FlyingAnchor]

14 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

Transatlantic deals get snapped up early by veteran cruisers and prices are definitely higher and cabin choices more limited.

We recently booked an alternative/backup sailing with all of this uncertainty and it is double the price vs. what we paid to book the VV TA pretty much the day it was released for sale. 😔 This sailing is our introduction to VV...can't say we're impressed.