notme2012

Has anyone noticed that the Brilliant Lady cruises are not on the VV website beyond the 2 Mermaiden voyages? That really makes me nervous....

First I was writing my comment late at night. Second, don't put words in my mouth. I didn't mention anything changing the Ascent's itineraries. Third, VV had Brilliant Lady selling at firesale prices prior to 1/1/23. Fourth, we should not have to speculate how or what VV will do with our sailing, period! You cannot compare the Ascent to the Brilliant Lady or Celebrity to Virgin Voyages. It is apples to oranges. Cruise lines are still having significant difficulties post-Covid. Again why are you putting words in my mouth? I will go back to what I have posted here since April. Virgin Voyages is still struggling to market their cruises. As recently as 4 months ago, VV ships were not sailing at full capacity or even close to full capacity. It worries me immensely that VV has not posted the BL schedule post April 20th. That date is only 8 months away. No other cruise line waits this long to post their schedules. I recently booked my flights and hotels in both SJU and Europe. But I think it is all for naught. I gave the T-ATL sailing less than 50% chance that it will sail. I don't trust Virgin Voyages! I think that VV is doing itself a great disservice by not keeping us informed. Plus, we cannot cancel without losing our deposits. Believe me if I had known that VV would be acting this way, I would not have booked this cruise.

Bain Capital and BlackRock are controlling the purse strings. That is what I meant about who are controlling/managing VV. As far as McAlpin, why is not still at Disney? His reputation is for starting up cruise lines, but his tenure at DCL, was shuffled a couple times. McAlpin is not the person to solve VV's problems with getting people under 35 to book VV cruise.

1-More proof that VV may keep the Brilliant Lady in Europe. 2-I checked all the Brilliant Lady sailings from San Juan, none are sold out. With the exception of suites, I could find insides, outsides and terrace cabins on every sailing. 3-Using a maiden voyage of ship in April 2022, still under Covid rules, really? Bad example! Most cruise ships were not even sailing half full.

The most that VV would compensate is determined by the fare, what is paid, etc. Those are finite amounts, even if compensated at 200%. But all are less than what VV is now charging for currently scheduled cruises. The suite cabins are over double from what VV was charging prior to 1/1/23. Besides, VV has cancelled cruises with very little notice before, why do you doubt that they would not cancel now? Here's the issue with Virgin Voyages. They promote that they are not like any other cruise line. They are managed by people who are not from cruise industry backgrounds. Why do you think that they will honor the schedule they posted? For people already booked, we cannot cancel without losing our deposit. We are stuck with whatever they decide to do. According to the cruise contract, there is nothing we can do other than arbitration.

Because not one Brilliant Lady sailing is in final payment yet. By removing the schedule after April 20th, VV doesn't have to pay compensation to more passengers whose cruise may be affected. It limits their costs (to compensate) only to sailings from Dec 24th to April 20th. The Resilient Lady was delayed purposely by Virgin Voyages because their bookings were not growing as fast as they thought they would. Also hiring crew was challenging. Now with these Amsterdam port visits with close together dates, which have the appearances of being fam cruises, adds to my doubts of the whole pre-April 20th schedule. Why would VV sail the ship from the shipyard (in Italy) to Miami, then San Juan, then do the T-ATL, of which NOT one sailing date is sold out? The 2 maiden voyages are not sold out. That is highly unusual for maiden voyages. If I were you, I would be worried about any Brilliant Lady sailing prior to April 20th. Maybe delaying and paying booked passengers compensation is less costly, then the extra revenue VV may earn from new bookings after April 20th, because cruises are much more expensive than they were a year ago?

Past actions do not mean that VV will be as generous as they were in 2022. Travel was still under the cloud of Covid. Go back in this thread, and check VV's compensation when they cancelled a sailing for a charter.

I think the whole cruise calendar disappearing from April 20th is still very suspicious. Why, this late, with less than 9 months to April 20th, there is no schedule? I go back to what I posted months ago. VV is limiting its losses because the ship is being delivered late, and they haven't planned as to where the Brilliant Lady will be berthed, because of late ship delivery. While Europe is all the rage right now, VV is still doing promos to cover the high airfares. That also leads me to believe that VV has doubts about having 2 or 3 ships in Europe. All those port days in Amsterdam, many of which are close together, could be travel agent & media familiarization cruises. Look at the dates: May 8th, 13th, 17th, and then 10 days later May 27th. The Zeebrugge stop on May 7th, and then no stops until July 29th? With bated breath, I would not be surprised if everything before April 20th get cancelled. VV doesn't do things like other cruise lines, be prepared.

But not in April 2024.

Yup, we are going 3 days early. As we found an inexpensive AirBnB. But we decided that we will probably cancel this cruise anyways. I am tired of VV. They lost a customer....

I just booked tickets to SJU, as the award prices were so low. Only 10K each to fly into SJU, which I can cancel. But I am tired of this dragging on, and not being honest with us.

My FB Messenger convo with VV: Sorry that is NOT a sufficient answer to me. I am booked on the Brilliant Lady on April 20th. Rumors have been floating around that you going to cancel the Brilliant Lady's Europe itineraries. Now is the time to tell us the truth!!! I have to get airfares purchased and so on. I NEED TO KNOW NOW! Virgin Voyages Please send us your booking number and full name, as we'd love to take a deeper dive into this for you. Fri 2:51 PM Virgin Voyages Thanks so much for confirming your booking info. After chatting this over with our Crew behind the scenes, there have been no talks of any cancellation for your voyage embarking April 20, 2024 (Brilliant Lady) from San Juan So the lies continue....

They should be doing what Royal Caribbean did, "Lift and Shift". That preserves the pricing and the payments made so far. But VV, does not do anything logical...more wishful thinking on my part. At this point, I think we should be happy we get our deposits back. As far as any special compensation, yeah, I won't hold my breath.

Thank you! I am happy that someone else gets my drift... This isn't meant to be hurtful to anyone, but I am not happy with the VV experience pre-cruise. This is a cruise line that was developed by non-cruisers and venture capitalists. What could go wrong? Well everything! If I get 150% of what I paid, that is less than $1500. Why should I even bother staying with VV? If this is what transpires, I am done with Virgin Voyages!

Not one Brilliant Lady cruise is in final payment. Most people have less than $1000 paid. If I get 200%, I get $1000. That is nothing for the efforts that I have go thru, to cancel all the other arrangements that I have made for this trip. Again, I am not holding my breath. It would be nice, but I sincerely doubt that VV will be as liberal as they were in the past.

It does appear that the area, in question, is flatter than on her sister ships.

The pic you posted looks just like the 3rd one I posted. Nothing sticks out over the edges of the ship.

There still seems to be tables in the graphic. The overhang is how that back deck sticks out on the sides. The lifeboats also do not stick out at all.

See that deck that sticks out?! That is the overhang! The first is a pic from the VV website of the Brilliant Lady! I am guessing that VV web bozos picked the wrong pic, because the 2nd pic is the Scarlet Lady. The ships look the same. The 3rd pic is supposedly the Brilliant Lady. Do you see the difference? The new locks in the Panama Canal, do not use electric mules to pull the ships thru the locks. Instead they use tug boats to push and pull the ships into and out of the locks.

Don't count on any rebooking help. VV's customer service standards, plain out suck! The agents are clueless! I will predict that service recovery for this cancelation will be measly! Don't count on getting a cruise credit and an extra cruise.

I suspect you are right. I know a group of people, who all booked suites on Brilliant Lady 4/20/2024 sailing. Everyone of them booked a "cheeky corner suites" for about $1200 person, or $2400 per suite. All of the suites have been sold out since last Sept. 2022.

The promos they had have ended. I suspect there will be a new promo.

Sorry! This thread is about the disappearance of Brilliant Lady sailings after April 20th, 2024.

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

For the April 20th, 2024 TransAtlantic sailing?