Key West instead of Havana

[patty1955]

34 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

 

Still like the ship, and would consider VV in the future -- but ONLY if they get their act together and offer some decent itineraries! Would you and Eric give them a second look, based on this particular experience?

We'd try them if they had a tempting itinerary. We'd love to see Cuba since we've seen so much of the rest of the Caribbean.Maybe if will be possible if the political winds shift. If they had substituted Jamaica instead of Key West, we wouldn't have cancelled, we still haven't been there. We had planned to spend a week in the Keys before or after the cruise to make it worth the long flight so Key West was a non-starter. 

We'll be moving to the PNW in a month and the refund will help with some of the moving expenses.

[wwcruisers]

4 hours ago, patty1955 said:

We'll be moving to the PNW in a month and the refund will help with some of the moving expenses.

WOW Patty -- You guys are really leaving the Bay Area? Whereabouts in the PNW? Anywhere near the Puget Sound (where we are)?

We too are hoping for another chance for a Cuba cruise, in a couple of years. We are just kicking ourselves for not booking one, as soon as those itineraries opened-up, a few years ago!

[patty1955]

8 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

WOW Patty -- You guys are really leaving the Bay Area? Whereabouts in the PNW? Anywhere near the Puget Sound (where we are)?

We too are hoping for another chance for a Cuba cruise, in a couple of years. We are just kicking ourselves for not booking one, as soon as those itineraries opened-up, a few years ago!

We'd love to see Cuba. The next time it  goes on sale, we're booking.

The Bay Area is too expensive and crowded. We've bought a house in Chehalis and will be moving next month.

[wwcruisers]

2 hours ago, patty1955 said:

We'd love to see Cuba. The next time it  goes on sale, we're booking.

The Bay Area is too expensive and crowded. We've bought a house in Chehalis and will be moving next month.

Yep -- if we get a second bite at that particular apple, we don't intend to let it pass us by, either!

Chehalis is nicely located, in between Portand and Seattle -- but not in either 'big city'. I think that you guys will like living in WA! (LOTS of Californians move up here to retire.)

[perditax]

Got this email yesterday. Afterwards I got an updated itin showing the new lower balance. 

 

Quote

 

Hi Sailors, me again... 

On behalf of the entire Crew at Virgin Voyages, I want to tell you how much we appreciate your patience as we continue to sail these uncharted waters following the U.S. government’s regulations on cruise travel to Cuba. 

On June 11, we introduced new itineraries to replace our sailings to Cuba, as well as a special policy. As part of that reveal, we announced certain price adjustments for affected Havana sailings. These adjustments were made to all sailings across our inaugural season and were based on a number of factors. However on reflection, and after listening to our Sailors’ feedback, we realize that in some cases, the adjustment applied didn’t seem appropriate - especially for those Sailors who booked early with us. 

We’ve listened to you, and we want to make sure we follow through on our promise of doing what’s right. I am happy to share that our Crew has revisited these price adjustments to provide a more equitable offer to affected Sailors. 

We know you chose to book a Virgin Voyages sailing not only for the destination but for this exceptional, never-before-experienced holiday at sea, and we want to ensure you still have the opportunity to enjoy it. 

Effective today, we are making additional adjustments to your booking that will result in a total price reduction of $200 per Sailor. This will ensure that each of our impacted Sailors receives this minimum price reduction, regardless of their voyage date and itinerary, or the category selected. 

You will be receiving a revised booking confirmation email with the newly adjusted pricing by June 30. And if you’d like to chat through these changes before then, our Sailor Services Crew is standing by to assist. You can give them a ring at 954-488-2955(US/Canada) or +44 (20) 30034919 (UK) or speak to the First Mate (Travel Advisor) who arranged your booking, and they will be able to help you out. 

Again, thank you for your continued loyalty as one of our first future Sailors. We can’t wait to welcome you on board our Scarlet Lady in 2020 to show you what a holiday with Virgin Voyages is all about. 

Sincerely,
Tom McAlpin
CEO & President
 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by perditax

[Cruisevirgin75]

I’ve been communicating with them about my disappointment in their “compensation” via INSTA DM since the original email and they've been responsive even calling me before this email came out to let me know how they were addressing people’s complaints.  They may not have gotten it right the first time around but they did listen and did something about it!

[CruisingWalter]

We opted to switch out for the Mayan Sol trip which gives us two days at sea.  They offered us a really good deal to stick with the original 4 night cruise which was originally the Havana overnight.  

 

I have not had a chance to climb the Mayan ruins in Costa Maya and since that's one of the stops for the Mayan Sol cruise, we made the switch. 

 

All in all, I think Virgin is doing a great job with a completely unexpected turn of events.  I really feel bad for the folks who were on ships on their way to Cuba when all this idiocy went down.  

[timf2001]

3 hours ago, creativegenius said:

We opted to switch out for the Mayan Sol trip which gives us two days at sea.  They offered us a really good deal to stick with the original 4 night cruise which was originally the Havana overnight.  

 

I have not had a chance to climb the Mayan ruins in Costa Maya and since that's one of the stops for the Mayan Sol cruise, we made the switch. 

 

All in all, I think Virgin is doing a great job with a completely unexpected turn of events.  I really feel bad for the folks who were on ships on their way to Cuba when all this idiocy went down.  

 

I've received a grand total of $400 in price reductions for the Key West cruise.  Is this the same you were offered, or did they up the discount when you attempted to switch?  I'm still on the fence whether to keep the reservation or cancel outright, but I'm leaning towards sticking with it and switching only if they release a better (longer) itinerary for 2021.

[CruisingWalter]

9 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

 

I've received a grand total of $400 in price reductions for the Key West cruise.  Is this the same you were offered, or did they up the discount when you attempted to switch?  I'm still on the fence whether to keep the reservation or cancel outright, but I'm leaning towards sticking with it and switching only if they release a better (longer) itinerary for 2021.

 

My wife handled all the details.  I know they increased the price reduction for the Key West trip that made it quite cheap, but with Cuba out, I thought it would be more fun to spend the extra night onboard to really get a chance to check out everything the ship has to offer.  And since we have not had the chance to go to the Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya, that made it easier.

 

We never had any plans to cancel as we absolutely want to sail the ship.  5 nights seems perfect since we're still not sure how good the beds are going to be.  But with 2 full days at sea, we'll have a good opportunity to explore and test out as many of the 20 eateries as possible.  :)