“Something Brilliant is coming”

[MeganGC1983]

Several of my friends that work for VV have posted “Something Brilliant is coming May 1st”. I guess Brilliant Lady details will finally come out. 

[MeganGC1983]

After rewatching it. There’s a Statue of Liberty, a flamingo, the HOLLYWOOD sign, and the Space Needle on this. Says it will be broadcast at 12 est on May 1st. 
mice also noticed Richard Branson has been doing a scavenger hunt in London and NYC. London sailings have been announced, but not New York. Guessing Brilliant will sail from NYC and west coast? 

[ceilidh1]

25 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

After rewatching it. There’s a Statue of Liberty, a flamingo, the HOLLYWOOD sign, and the Space Needle on this. Says it will be broadcast at 12 est on May 1st. 
mice also noticed Richard Branson has been doing a scavenger hunt in London and NYC. London sailings have been announced, but not New York. Guessing Brilliant will sail from NYC and west coast? 

I saw that this morning and legit cannot contain my excitement. If VV come to Westcoast I will be sailing constantly. Lol.

[CruisingWalter]

Yep, get ready West Coast.  My guess is she comes across the pond to NYC. Does a few sailings there.  Comes down to Miami, does a few sailings there. Then Panama Canal Crossing to LA.  And then Seattle for some Alaska itineraries?  That'll be interesting. I'm really hoping Hawaii is at least one of the itineraries.

[Jamesv281117]

4 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Yep, get ready West Coast.  My guess is she comes across the pond to NYC. Does a few sailings there.  Comes down to Miami, does a few sailings there. Then Panama Canal Crossing to LA.  And then Seattle for some Alaska itineraries?  That'll be interesting. I'm really hoping Hawaii is at least one of the itineraries.

Will be heading over for one of those if this is true!

[kwokpot]

4 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

I saw that this morning and legit cannot contain my excitement. If VV come to Westcoast I will be sailing constantly. Lol.

I'm currently on the Carnival Panorama from Long Beach doing the Mexican Riviera. Had a wonderful day yesterday in Puerto Vallarta and we're docked in Mazatlan right now.

[ceilidh1]

4 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Yep, get ready West Coast.  My guess is she comes across the pond to NYC. Does a few sailings there.  Comes down to Miami, does a few sailings there. Then Panama Canal Crossing to LA.  And then Seattle for some Alaska itineraries?  That'll be interesting. I'm really hoping Hawaii is at least one of the itineraries.

Same - I'm not convinced Alaska is the right itinerary for Virgin but Hawaii, Pacific Coast, and Mexico would be awesome!

[ceilidh1]

I feel like VV could really capitalise on West Coast Summer sailings by NOT offering Alaska - it would be so great to have options for Hawaii and Coastals that are not just beginning and end of season repositioning cruises....

[Alegeeter]

So if we see VV on the schedule in  LA in April and some have seen schedules in the PNW May onwards, do we think Brilliant Lady spends Summer/Fall '25 in NY,  Fall '25/Winter '26 in Miami and then the Panama Canal in late March?

[MeganGC1983]

6 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Same - I'm not convinced Alaska is the right itinerary for Virgin but Hawaii, Pacific Coast, and Mexico would be awesome!

I agree. Perhaps we will meet up officially on one of those sailings. 

[TheDarkestBlue]

Panama Canal sounds awesome, always wanted to do full passage through 🙂 

 

 

 

[CruisingWalter]

10 hours ago, TheDarkestBlue said:

Panama Canal sounds awesome, always wanted to do full passage through 🙂 

 

 

 

It IS awesome. We did the partial transit on Princess but then took an excursion boat all the way through to the Pacific. I think everyone should do a transit that way as well. With such a small boat, 250 pax, we were coming in to the very bottom of the locks with the walls about 15 feet or so over our heads. When you're on a cruise ship, you're basically on a skyscraper going through. It's still amazing, but experiencing it from the waterline is pretty dang cool too. 

[CruisingWalter]

17 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

I feel like VV could really capitalise on West Coast Summer sailings by NOT offering Alaska - it would be so great to have options for Hawaii and Coastals that are not just beginning and end of season repositioning cruises....

 

That's why I'm most interested in the Seattle sailings. Will they do something other than the expected Alaska itineraries. Seattle to Hawaii would be cool. Seattle to Mexico would be interesting. 

[Wildcatllamas]

I did some checking and it appears that the May 7, 2026 scheduled stop for Brilliant Lady in Astoria is gone and Grand Princess is now there.

 

Princess has had some pretty popular cruises up and down the West coast that are advertised as Wine Country cruises. I guess we will find out on May 1st.

[CineGraphic]

10 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I did some checking and it appears that the May 7, 2026 scheduled stop for Brilliant Lady in Astoria is gone and Grand Princess is now there.

 

Astoria is a lovely small town. One of our previous Princess coastal sailings docked there, and we walked into town. Everyone was so friendly.

[Wildcatllamas]

8 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Astoria is a lovely small town. One of our previous Princess coastal sailings docked there, and we walked into town. Everyone was so friendly.

An NCL cruise I was on had to cancel our stop in San Francisco and subbed Astoria. It was a very enjoyable time there.

 

When we entered the Columbia river channel at 1:30 am it was high tide and let me tell you that ship was pitching and rolling. Furniture on the deck was being slammed around and it was almost impossible to walk in the cabin. That morning we went to the Maritime Museum and found out about the Columbia Breaks and what a ships graveyard it is.

[soccersharon]

On 4/24/2024 at 10:42 AM, CruisingWalter said:

Yep, get ready West Coast.  My guess is she comes across the pond to NYC. Does a few sailings there.  Comes down to Miami, does a few sailings there. Then Panama Canal Crossing to LA.  And then Seattle for some Alaska itineraries?  That'll be interesting. I'm really hoping Hawaii is at least one of the itineraries.

Any clue as to a timeline?  Fingers crossed for 2026, but most likely 2025

[CruisingWalter]

12 hours ago, soccersharon said:

Any clue as to a timeline?  Fingers crossed for 2026, but most likely 2025

Everyone at VV is very tight lipped on this one. The deployment grid we have shows Brilliant Lady in Q4 2025 with "Coming Soon." No specific dates or locations. May 1, 12 noon ET we find out together. 

Edited April 26 by CruisingWalter

[Oren]

23 hours ago, soccersharon said:

Any clue as to a timeline?  Fingers crossed for 2026, but most likely 2025

Here's a teaser if its still true that it will be based in Los Angeles in March 2026.

 

[Oren]

On 4/24/2024 at 7:39 AM, ceilidh1 said:

I saw that this morning and legit cannot contain my excitement. If VV come to Westcoast I will be sailing constantly. Lol.

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

Edited April 26 by Oren

[singleflyer]

19 hours ago, 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

 

Moving on to Seattle for Alaska season on May 3, 2026...

[Wildcatllamas]

So far nothing is showing for Alaska or Vancouver for May of 2026.

[wintrev]

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!

[Oren]

21 hours ago, wintrev said:

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!

Agreed, even MSC is teasing about stationing a ship out of L.A. in April 2026 (Bellissima) after a prior Port of L.A. calendar showing the MSC Bellissima starting in November 2025.  Looks like the cruise lines hold the port terminal position and then that gives them flexibility to finalize their itinerary 2-3 years in advance which makes sense.  

Edited April 28 by Oren

[CruisingWalter]

On 4/28/2024 at 4:00 PM, Oren said:

Looks like the cruise lines hold the port terminal position and then that gives them flexibility to finalize their itinerary 2-3 years in advance which makes sense. 

 

That's exactly how it works Port slots are negotiated and purchased up to 5 years in advance, sometimes more. It's big money for the ports. Cruise lines can change the ships listed so long as they are a size that the port can support, but buying those slots is big business. I would never want that job.