Cancelled: Valiant Lady Coast the Canary Islands

[sandero]

I'm just so gutted right now, just received this email for our cruise next month:

 

Ahoy Sailor,

We wanted to give you an important update about your upcoming Coast the Canary Islands, Spain, & Portugal voyage. Due to a private charter, unfortunately, your sailing aboard Valiant Lady on 4/18/2022 has been canceled. We understand this is disappointing and we’re so sorry for any inconvenience to your travel plans.

 

I just want to cry 😭 Cancelling just five weeks out. Cancelling for a private charter seems just so wrong. I can understand medical or engineering emergencies, but private charters are not that. 

[gumshoe958]

It’s gutting but unfortunately money talks. All cruise lines do it. Are VV giving you any sweetener?

[sandero]

150% FVC, and doesn't include previous FVC. Has to be used up within a year, and with only two ships (one in EU, one in US), it's pretty much pointless for us to take. The cruise fare for this trip was higher than their weekly cruises in the med, so only way that offer is going to work for us is to take two cruises before next March, for EU, that's only good up to to October this year (since the ship sails to US for the winter). 

Of note, the last time they cancelled us, it was 200% FVC. https://www.virginvoyages.com/travel-advisories/stories/inaugural-season-update-july-2021. 

 

[basenji56]

I would take a refund rather than a credit.  Is that an option?

[britincanada]

I'm sorry. Did you have other travel booked - flights, hotel etc that cannot be refunded? 

[johnnylikely]

Quite a few cruises have been cancelled apparently! Not a great start

[_tacocat_]

That's pretty crappy business, so close to the sailing date.  When resorts have last-ish minute buyouts, they usually bend over backwards to accommodate the displaced people (and I assume bill it to the buyer-outers?) - like flight change fees and airfare changes to get them on property for another date.  Given VV's generosity with rebookings, I'm surprised they're not being more accommodating. 

[Fogcityca13]

Really disappointing to see this happening so close to a sail date. While some may have flexibility in rescheduling other’s don’t. Hearing that they canceled 3 weeks of cruises to host a TV show. Definitely shakes my confidence that VV has a united leadership team in place. Sorry to those impacted by this.

[basenji56]

30 minutes ago, Fogcityca13 said:

Really disappointing to see this happening so close to a sail date. While some may have flexibility in rescheduling other’s don’t. Hearing that they canceled 3 weeks of cruises to host a TV show. Definitely shakes my confidence that VV has a united leadership team in place. Sorry to those impacted by this.

Wow.  Three weeks cancelled?  I have been considering VV but not if they treat their "sailors" like this.

[Omgirl]

I’m sorry this happened to you. It’s awful! You could use the $$ for a higher category room on one voyage?

[70KToM]

You likely have a year to make your booking, but that booking can be farther out, so you could probably book by March 2023 for 2024 if that works better for you. Or of course get a refund, but by now it will be difficult to get refunds on other things like travel, unless you have insurance. 

 

Ridiculous that Virgin is canceling for a private charter with just weeks notices. That's bad business, even with 150% FVC.

 

Apparently even the cruise just 12 days out from now is cancelled!!

 

Apparently Customer Service has told several people that it's been chartered for a month to film a TV show. One person suggested The Bachelorette but I haven't seen that confirmed. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by 70KToM

[gumshoe958]

Wow, so they’re literally just doing the Mermaiden next Friday then cancelling everything for a month?

 

Like I said, money talks. But it’s pretty shabby.

 

(EDIT: on the website, they’re still selling the Zeebrugge three nighters on April 1 & April 29 but nothing else in April.)

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by gumshoe958

[Cruisingcouple22]

We were booked on the 15th April (Easter weekend.) Spoke to customer services a couple of times today, they cancelled cruises on 4th, 15th and 18th April.

They immediately offered 150% future cruise credit or full refund and 25% future cruise credit. Later on in the day they have started to say there is a free cruise being offered to affected customers too, but it’s a one way from Amsterdam to Portsmouth from the 24th to 29th April. Sounds like it’s one they had to do to get the ship back to Portsmouth anyway, bet they were planning on selling it before the lash back on social media!

Not a good way to build a loyal fan base! 

[gumshoe958]

Ok, so looks like they’ve cancelled departures on March 21 (11 nights), April 4 (11 nights), April 15 (3 nights) and April 18 (11 nights) - but kept April 1 (3 nights). I wonder why that one’s survived? No filming that weekend I suppose.

[CruisingWalter]

Apparently ABC Television in the US chartered the ship for "The Bachelorette." That makes the cancelations even worse. Kicking off actual paying customers to make a really bad reality show. Makes me completely rethink the Virgin brand. They don't have alternative options like most other cruise lines with additional ships. To basically say 'Hey Sailor, we know you had your heart set on this cruise, but this reality television show is giving us a LOT of money and you know all that free advertising time on ABC is gonna be worth it for us in the long run." 

 

So sorry this ruined your vacation. 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

I liked our Dominican Daze cruise this month - enjoyed it quite a bit.  We were considering another Virgin cruise next year, but given this scenario, I'd rather give my money, and cruise loyalty, to another line.

[70KToM]

I feel terrible for the people whose vacation got canceled, and it's absolutely shameless that this was done with so little notice.

 

However, I'm definitely also excited about seeing a Bachelorette season on a cruise ship. I've only seen one season of The Bachelorette, but the setting would make me more likely to watch. I can also understand that Virgin is desperate to get some media exposure to get bookings going again after the extremely rough start. How many people will they alienate with these cancellations though??

[gumshoe958]

That’s exactly the point - relatively few - and mostly Brits who aren’t their key target market. 
 

The harsh reality is that for VV, the benefits of massive exposure of their brand on a reality TV show that reaches the type of customer they’re desperate to attract - 20 and 30-something Americans - far outweigh the reputational and financial cost of cancelling on  a few thousand Brits.

 

They may well get a bit of bad press in the UK but it won’t last long, will soon be forgotten and won’t matter in the grand scheme of things if, as they hope, the show leads to a spike in Caribbean bookings.

[UK_Cruiser99]

Hi I just made an account here to post my experience,

I was also booked on the 15th April cruise hoping to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary on board.

I heard rumors last week the cruise may be cancelled as I wanted to book an additional cabin and was told the sailing is no longer on offer when I rang a travel agent. After a bit of digging the travel agent told me the ship has been hired for private charter and there is no way I would be going on it.

 

I immediately rang Virgin Voyages who told me the cruise was going ahead with no issues or cancellations so I went ahead and booked my hotel and made travel arrangements.

Really upset its been cancelled like this, the only other cruise I can find on these dates is with P&O which I am currently investigating.

The thought of a free cruise from Amsterdam sounds good but in reality its going to be very difficult for me to get extra time off work to do this!

The cruise on the 15th April was perfect as it was either side of a UK Bank Holiday!

 

Really gutted now trying to come up with another plan, I'll be ringing Virgin Later today

[basenji56]

8 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

 

The harsh reality is that for VV, the benefits of massive exposure of their brand on a reality TV show that reaches the type of customer they’re desperate to attract - 20 and 30-something Americans - far outweigh the reputational and financial cost of cancelling on  a few thousand Brits.

 

Their target market appears to be a demographic that doesn't cruise.  Rich young people without kids.  

 

They may succeed, who knows.

 

But a heck of a way to treat their "sailors".  People who do cruise and are treated like trash.

 

[Mike981]

Feel really sorry for those effected. I hope you had insurance to help with the pain.

This is not a typical charter, this is a popular TV show and in my experience with that kind of exposure this could reduce the charter cost drastically or have it eliminated to VV. Exposure gets used a lot in the entertainment industry.

[SouthWestEngland]

21 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Ok, so looks like they’ve cancelled departures on March 21 (11 nights), April 4 (11 nights), April 15 (3 nights) and April 18 (11 nights) - but kept April 1 (3 nights). I wonder why that one’s survived? No filming that weekend I suppose.

March 21 isn't cancelled.  It is a charter by Imagine Cruising with an 80s music theme.

[UK_Cruiser99]

Did anyone else receive an email advising them of a free cruise on valiant lady for any sailing between March and Oct 2022?

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by UK_Cruiser99

[Cruisingcouple22]

54 minutes ago, UK_Cruiser99 said:

Did anyone else receive an email advising them of a free cruise on valiant lady for any sailing between March and Oct 2022?

 

 

Yep, we got this one through too. Much better tone in this email and seems like an actual apology

[UK_Cruiser99]

I can confirm I am in the process of getting a full refund and a complimentary cruise on any Valiant Lady itinerary between March and Oct leaving from the UK / Barcelona.

 

 

Taxes must be paid but I am quite happy with this!

 

I have also now booked a P & O cruise for the same dates as the original Virgin one (that was cancelled) at a much lower price so essentially I have managed to get two cruises for the price of one!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by UK_Cruiser99