greenenvy

Athens to San Juan doesn’t take 47 days so I’m curious as to what will that will look like as well. (Oct 20-Dec 6). I assume two weeks of that is Transatlantic but still lots of itinerary to fill. 

Here is the link about it. WPT charter

It’s the WPT Charter Cruise March 31-April 6. 

They should have it in the Red Room and it should also be available on one of the special events channels on the in room tvs, as well as shown at the Social Club. There is also a screen in the casino that could show it. 

6 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

SWEET!  Get right down to the Get Lost Desk as soon as they open. I love those folks, if you're on Valiant Lady, I honestly can't remember the name of the female associate, but she likes a flat white with oat milk. I started dropping off coffees in the morning for everyone to try to use up our Bar Tab. 🤣

Yulia?

Ooh! I’ll be on board Dec 14 - hoping for some good itineraries and prices! 

7 hours ago, warmwinds said:

It won't be Miami, it will be San Juan.  Our flight is not until 1 pm so we won't be in any real hurry.

 

In Miami, when you say "arranged by floor" do you mean all Deck 10 are in this group, all Deck 11 are in this group, etc?

Yes - there is a sign/stand that says Deck 10 and all deck 10 suitcases will be in a row near that sign. 
 

Not sure how organized San Juan will be but probably similar! 

1 hour ago, warmwinds said:

That's good to know....we carried off this time (our first VV cruise) but might not next time.  If you don't carry off, how soon are the bags in the terminal?

For Miami - it’s the most organized cruise departure I’ve ever had. They are sorted neatly arranged by floor and will be waiting for you (or at least should be) when you come down off the escalator in the terminal before you go through customs. 

If you do not like your assigned cabin location, you can contact VV by phone or even online chat and request another cabin in that same category and be moved pending availability. You can google deck plans and get a good idea of where you’d like to be. 

A few things to note - make sure the writing of the porter is legible. I bring my own Sharpie and rewrite neatly if necessary. Make sure the A or Z is included. And do not remove your tags for the duration of the cruise because they are used when you disembark as well (assuming you don’t plan to carry off your luggage). 

Room service used to have to cutest magnetic salt and pepper shaker that connected together. Those disappeared and they no longer come with room service. 

They just released itineraries past April 2024 (summer, fall, winter 2024 and spring of 2025) on September 11, 2023. It’s very possible we may not get Summer 2025 itineraries until next Fall. 

36 minutes ago, librarylady19 said:

That’s a bummer. It did sound like a good itinerary but I wanted to maximize my cancellation benefit and went w/ the 11 nt. Barcelona to Rome as that was a more appealing route to me and much pricier. No chance of that selling out at 5k for xl sea terrace 🙂

I had picked the itinerary before I even saw the price! I thought it was going to be way more expensive than it was. Kicking myself for not buying it outright on Monday and using the credit for something else. 

1 hour ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Yes, I’ve seen a few TA’s do this, especially when they are trying to form a circle and are a few cabins short. I wonder what the price will be if it ever does get released again though. From what I’ve seen, TA’s who have a few holds have not been having an issue selling them at all! 

I am very frustrated to not get this itinerary as a Brilliant replacement and even those that have holds - I’m unable to use my credit unless they actually release the rooms back to inventory. 

4 minutes ago, red lobster said:

I'm still waiting to hear something on mine, may I ask what your desired itinerary was?

Spain to Greece 10/11/24. I put in the form early Monday morning when it was first released and there was plenty of availability but it was priced so low word got out and the itinerary sold out. So definitely not pleased because I would have bought a cabin on Monday if I thought there was any chance I wouldn’t get it. I’m just hoping some cancellations happen and I can still figure out a way. 

I heard at the 7 day mark and did not get my desired itinerary. I’m very disappointed and discouraged to say the least. I’ll figure out a way to get what I want but really not pleased with the way this was handled. I was perfectly fine with my Brilliant Mermaiden being cancelled but to not get the cruise I wanted over a year in advance when it was not sold out when I requested it on Monday is very sad. I love VV - I’ve been on 4 cruises and one more booked in December. I know it’s a first world problem but my heart was set on it. 

3 hours ago, def0715 said:

Looks like there’s a 14-day Singapore to Dubai.

 

What is supposed to be released Monday? More Caribbean sailings? Other itineraries?

A bunch. New Australia/NZ, Short sailings from Portsmouth to Amsterdam. A few repositioning that look interesting. Barcelona to Athens stopping in Cannes, Sardinia, Sicily, Santorini and Mykonos. I think there is a Portsmouth to Barcelona too. https://www.virginvoyages.com/l/new-2025-cruise-destinations-itineraries#europe
 

There’s not really much new for the Caribbean itinerary wise except the ability to book the former Brilliant cruises from San Juan that are now on Valiant. There will be a Miami to San Juan on Jan 7 to get Valiant to SJ. 
 

Holiday sailings for 2024 will open up and the 15-16 day repositioning - Athens to Dubai, Dubai to Singapore, Singapore to Australia. (And vica versa - I may have them mixed up in my head)

1 hour ago, Ixtoras said:

What a mess.  Been trying to make heads or tails out of it.  We were / are booked for the Feb 10 Brilliant Lady now Valliant Lady sailing out of San Juan.   Got a quick note this morning saying, hey we're just gonna change up ships.  So I guess we're fortunate.  Nothing to see here...

 

I get that it was clearly some sort of business decision probably favoring higher capacity sailings, but the logic seems questionable due to all the other complicating factors.   It seems like the "logical" thing would have been to just nix all the Brilliant sailings, with the natural excuse that she's just not gonna be ready till maybe April or Later.   Heck - with the issues with the Puerto Rico cruise port debacle, do we even know which port is going to host embarkation / disembarkation?

 

Taking the Valliant, which was doing 6 & 8 day rotating schedules and moving it to the 7 day schedule out of San Juan for like 3 months, and then pointing her passengers to the 4 and 5 day Scarlett sailings out of Miami just seems incredibly complicated. 

 

I feel sorry for all the impacted passengers and the poor TA's that are going to have to deal with this over the next few weeks.

I think they were just pointing the Valiant cancellations to Scarlet for comparable dates. I believe they can choose any cruise.   I haven’t seen what email they got. 

9 minutes ago, librarylady19 said:

I have XL Sea terrace but didn't pay single supplement (ie only paid for 1 sailor!)

You’d have to ask but my guess is you’ll be able to add him for free or just pay port fees.  You technically pay for cabin and not per person so you’re staying in a 2 person cabin. 

4 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

A new question (I think) - I booked the TA as a solo and only paid for one person. So....I'm thinking I now have 2 options: a) book another solo cruise (longer the better!) or 2) book w/ hubby and pay the going rate for him. I am one of the lucky ones who got a great deal so I'm not too put out as I'm ending up with current perks plus more. Others, not so much 🤔

Did you have a solo room or a sea terrace? I’m not entirely sure but if you have a sea terrace you can probably add your husband and the only difference in price would be taxes/fees or there may not be a difference at all.  

21 minutes ago, Lustate said:

A couple of cancellations going to hit RL. 
 

4-13 of Aug 2024 they have a charter booking of Athens to Barcelona

13-23 of Aug 2024 a charter Barcelona to Portsmouth.

 

the routes are being sold by the private company as an LGBT+ event. 

The currently scheduled cruises are listed as sold out on the website so at least they stopped selling them. 

13 minutes ago, Freelancer3 said:It will be interesting to see how they make this right for customers. 

FWIW - this is what they offered when they postponed Resilient with two months notice. “Passengers with bookings have several options. They can get a full refund within seven days, or receive a 200% credit towards a future cruise with Virgin Voyages within the next 12 months. 

If they take the credit and rebook for 2022, they will get an additional free voyage on another Virgin Voyages ship.

The company is also offering refunds of up to $500 per passenger to cover any cancelation penalties or canceled flights.”

In other news… the artist who makes the big red tables for the chart room posted they just finished one for VV which makes me think maybe they are decorating Brilliant and it will be ready on time. (Or it could be a replacement for an existing table).  Thinking positive thoughts 

2 minutes ago, Ranger1227 said:

If they use a different ship and give us similar cabin and no other charges, that will be OK

Scarlet, Resilient and Valiant had full itineraries up to October 2024 so some cruises will definitely be changed / cancelled if Brilliant doesn’t launch on time. 

Just now, Ranger1227 said:

If that is the case the TA voyage is scuttled and we are screwed.

Someone in a FB group mentioned an 11 day San Juan to Lisbon TA so it sounds like it could still happen but it could also be another ship. But I guess we should know more in 24 hours.