July 13-27, 2025 Barcelona to Portsmouth Paused

[CruisingWalter]

We noticed that the July 13 - 27, 2025 Barcelona to Lisbon to Portsmouth disappeared from the itineraries. Reaching out to our TA it appears the booking has been 'paused for review.'  Could either be a charter negotiation or they are having to alter the itinerary.  We will have to wait to see if / when the sailing reappears. Just an FYI if any of you have already booked on that cruise before the pause. 

Edited December 20, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[CineGraphic]

I panicked for a second, as we're booked on the Portsmouth to Barcelona sailing, and that's our replacement for the previously cancelled San Juan to Lisbon.

[jon81uk]

I don’t think this one ever made it on sale, the itinerary posters went to TAs but there are a couple of 2025 itineraries which didn’t appear on the VV website 

[soccersharon]

7 hours ago, jon81uk said:

I don’t think this one ever made it on sale, the itinerary posters went to TAs but there are a couple of 2025 itineraries which didn’t appear on the VV website 

For sure!  I was ready to book this one (see graphic) when I was told it was chartered!  Not sure why they would distribute the poster to TAs, knowing dull

well it wouldn’t be available to book 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[cantgetin]

On the one hand, I can see how charters benefit the cruise line.  On the other, charters should NOT be available after a cruise has opened for booking.

[jon81uk]

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

On the one hand, I can see how charters benefit the cruise line.  On the other, charters should NOT be available after a cruise has opened for booking.

At least this one hasn’t been opened for booking, the posters went to TAs but that is all so far. I assume therefore it wasn’t planned to be a charter (whereas the 2024 Athens to Barcelona and to Portsmouth are) but last minute they are in negotiations.

 

Better tot pause last minute and work out what to do instead of like you say take it back out to turn it into a charter.

[Lustate]

21 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

We noticed that the July 13 - 27, 2025 Barcelona to Lisbon to Portsmouth disappeared from the itineraries. Reaching out to our TA it appears the booking has been 'paused for review.'  Could either be a charter negotiation or they are having to alter the itinerary.  We will have to wait to see if / when the sailing reappears. Just an FYI if any of you have already booked on that cruise before the pause. 

 

The Barcelona to Athens in 2024 has also been paused / not available for a while but shows on some of the documentation they share with agents. We have booked on that one (suite) and are waiting to see what happens. If it's just paused for sales, then it's not the end of the world; even if they cancel, it's not too bad, as there's plenty of notice. We don't want them to pull the voyage and offer a straight refund, as there is no way that, with the price increase, we could get the same cabin and duration for nearly the same price. I would hope for a charter they would offer "same cabin on any other voyage" type deal. 

[CruisingWalter]

7 hours ago, cantgetin said:

On the one hand, I can see how charters benefit the cruise line.  On the other, charters should NOT be available after a cruise has opened for booking.

 

Charters are available for booking for all cruise lines at any time. It's part of the cruise contract for every cruise line. All cruise lines can, and do, pull sailings for full ship charters. I've had Royal Caribbean and NCL both pull sailings for charters long after sales have started and somewhat close to sailing. And of course we all remember what VV did with Valiant Lady's launch... 

[CruisingWalter]

11 hours ago, soccersharon said:

For sure!  I was ready to book this one (see graphic) when I was told it was chartered!  Not sure why they would distribute the poster to TAs, knowing dull

well it wouldn’t be available to book 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

 

There's no confirmation yet that the ship is chartered. Negotiations to charter an entire ship usually take months. It's a long long contract that is customized for each charter. Cruise lines will always put cruises up for sale when they are ready in case the charter doesn't work out. My understanding is that many charter contracts fall by the wayside because the two sides can't come to an agreement. I don't think many companies realize the costs involved in chartering an entire ship. It's much more expensive than if you simply booked all the cabins. And it oftentimes involved unique menus, unique entertainment, etc... It's not just a standard cruise line sailing, so much goes into it. 

[soccersharon]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There's no confirmation yet that the ship is chartered. Negotiations to charter an entire ship usually take months. It's a long long contract that is customized for each charter. Cruise lines will always put cruises up for sale when they are ready in case the charter doesn't work out. My understanding is that many charter contracts fall by the wayside because the two sides can't come to an agreement. I don't think many companies realize the costs involved in chartering an entire ship. It's much more expensive than if you simply booked all the cabins. And it oftentimes involved unique menus, unique entertainment, etc... It's not just a standard cruise line sailing, so much goes into it. 

Good to hear!  I keep checking to see if this voyage pops up on the booking engine.  You’ve given me a little hope!

[sothall55]

4 hours ago, Lustate said:

 

The Barcelona to Athens in 2024 has also been paused / not available for a while but shows on some of the documentation they share with agents. We have booked on that one (suite) and are waiting to see what happens. If it's just paused for sales, then it's not the end of the world; even if they cancel, it's not too bad, as there's plenty of notice. We don't want them to pull the voyage and offer a straight refund, as there is no way that, with the price increase, we could get the same cabin and duration for nearly the same price. I would hope for a charter they would offer "same cabin on any other voyage" type deal. 

Was told when on Valiant in September that this voyage was no longer showing as it is sold out. Launched at a crazy price which lots of people snapped up.

[moomoocow]

On 12/21/2023 at 9:26 AM, Lustate said:

 

The Barcelona to Athens in 2024 has also been paused / not available for a while but shows on some of the documentation they share with agents. We have booked on that one (suite) and are waiting to see what happens. If it's just paused for sales, then it's not the end of the world; even if they cancel, it's not too bad, as there's plenty of notice. We don't want them to pull the voyage and offer a straight refund, as there is no way that, with the price increase, we could get the same cabin and duration for nearly the same price. I would hope for a charter they would offer "same cabin on any other voyage" type deal. 

I’m booked on this - it’s also not showing on the cruise port timetables. It “stops” in Barcelona (from Portsmouth) then the next time Resilient is visible is 20th October in Athens where it continues on to Dubai. 

I’m getting worried. 

[CineGraphic]

I saw a post in one of the countless Facebook groups this morning that it has indeed been chartered, but I forgot to bookmark or screen shot it.

[-The-True-North-]

How much was this when it launched?

 

Itinerary looks good. 

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, -The-True-North- said:

How much was this when it launched?

 

Itinerary looks good. 

The one in the OP never went on sale.

[Lustate]

On 12/21/2023 at 11:15 AM, CruisingWalter said:

 

There's no confirmation yet that the ship is chartered.

it’s on sale and has been for months through Atlantis cruises. It’s a confirmed charter booking. 

[Lustate]

On 12/22/2023 at 9:08 PM, -The-True-North- said:

How much was this when it launched?

 

Itinerary looks good. 

for a sea terrace on Atlantis site it was $5,098 for two people. 
 

it’s worth remembering that the charter also adds loads of other entertainment, and this is a LGBT+ party cruise. Not for the faint hearted even in the community. lol 

[bdever]

15 hours ago, Lustate said:

it’s on sale and has been for months through Atlantis cruises. It’s a confirmed charter booking. 

I didn’t see any 2025 itineraries on their website.

[AlyssaJames]

I think people are mixing up 2024 and 2025 a lot in this thread.

 

(I have one of the insanely good deals for late summer 2024, before fares were tripled, and I keep waiting for them to cancel it on some pretense so they can resell it at a higher rate …)

Edited December 31, 2023 by AlyssaJames

[moomoocow]

On 12/31/2023 at 6:58 PM, AlyssaJames said:

I think people are mixing up 2024 and 2025 a lot in this thread.

 

(I have one of the insanely good deals for late summer 2024, before fares were tripled, and I keep waiting for them to cancel it on some pretense so they can resell it at a higher rate …)

Same. Especially as they have another ship doing the almost identical itinerary a few days later.