What happened to Brilliant Lady

[Wildcatllamas]

I finally convinced a friend of mine to do the TA from San Juan to Lisbon the end of April 2024 and now it is gone. But it appears all sailing with the Brilliant Lady are gone from the end of April 2024 through October of 2024. Has anyone heard anything about this.

[jon81uk]

3 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I finally convinced a friend of mine to do the TA from San Juan to Lisbon the end of April 2024 and now it is gone. But it appears all sailing with the Brilliant Lady are gone from the end of April 2024 through October of 2024. Has anyone heard anything about this.

The summer season for Brilliant Lady has never been announced. Only the transatlantic has been taken off sale, anything beyond that was never published. I’m expecting they would announce in the next month or so the summer 2024 itineraries for Brilliant and maybe the winter 2024 for Valiant too.

[Wildcatllamas]

2 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

The summer season for Brilliant Lady has never been announced. Only the transatlantic has been taken off sale, anything beyond that was never published. I’m expecting they would announce in the next month or so the summer 2024 itineraries for Brilliant and maybe the winter 2024 for Valiant too.

So I was being way to focused on the TA and just didn't pay any attention to the rest. My boss finally gives me permission to be gone longer then 10 days and I have always wanted to go to Lisbon so I was really focused on that. Thanks for the reality check jon81uk!

[jon81uk]

3 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

So I was being way to focused on the TA and just didn't pay any attention to the rest. My boss finally gives me permission to be gone longer then 10 days and I have always wanted to go to Lisbon so I was really focused on that. Thanks for the reality check jon81uk!

If you want the transatlantic might be worth calling and asking or seeing if a travel agent can still book it. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

21 hours ago, jon81uk said:

If you want the transatlantic might be worth calling and asking or seeing if a travel agent can still book it. 

I’m booked on this and TA’s on Facebook said it’s not available for booking through their portal, despite it only being 25% booked. Hoping it doesn’t get cancelled! 

[Lustate]

8 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

 Hoping it doesn’t get cancelled! 

 

I'm sure it's going to be fine. 

 

I think a lot is going on behind the scenes with ports lined up, routes planned and perks sorted. I cannot even imagine how busy the team must be this month getting all this sorted for sailors to book for summer 2024 onwards. 

[notme2012]

22 hours ago, jon81uk said:

The summer season for Brilliant Lady has never been announced. Only the transatlantic has been taken off sale, anything beyond that was never published. I’m expecting they would announce in the next month or so the summer 2024 itineraries for Brilliant and maybe the winter 2024 for Valiant too.

Not true at all!  The beginning of last week all the cruises for Brilliant Lady were in inventory for Europe all next summer. I know because I was looking at them! We are on the TransAtlantic cruise. I was searching for airfares for myself, for a friend who is interested in joining us, and possibly extending our cruise. On April 12th, the TransAtlantic sailing disappeared from inventory and then on Fri. April 14th all the Brilliant Lady Europe cruises disappeared. 

 

Since VV postponed the maiden voyage of the Resilient Lady, this has all the appearances of the same thing happening to the Brilliant Lady. That is my primary guess. My second guess is the European sailings are not selling well enough. VV doing this now makes all the sense in the world. Not one of Brilliant Lady sailings is in final payment. Final payment for the Mermaiden voyage is August, 2023. The financial costs to VV are dramatically smaller than they were when VV postponed the Resilient Lady. Possibly VV has observed their Caribbean sailings to be outperforming their Med sailings. There are many reasons for that to be the case, as airfares to Europe are multiples higher than to Miami. If that is true, why move a ship to Europe? 

 

What I don't like is how deceitful this is. I called VV reservations. The agent told me "if a sailing isn't showing it is sold out". I then asked about the Brilliant Lady summer sailings, and she stated she could not comment. I am prepared for my cruise, the TransAtlantic to be cancelled. I always gave my cruise a 50/50 chance of actually sailing. 

 

But in the true VV form of "breaking the mold", tongue in cheek, they are ever changing.

 

 

[jon81uk]

25 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

Not true at all!  The beginning of last week all the cruises for Brilliant Lady were in inventory for Europe all next summer. I know because I was looking at them! We are on the TransAtlantic cruise. I was searching for airfares for myself, for a friend who is interested in joining us, and possibly extending our cruise. On April 12th, the TransAtlantic sailing disappeared from inventory and then on Fri. April 14th all the Brilliant Lady Europe cruises disappeared. 

 

Since VV postponed the maiden voyage of the Resilient Lady, this has all the appearances of the same thing happening to the Brilliant Lady. That is my primary guess. My second guess is the European sailings are not selling well enough. VV doing this now makes all the sense in the world. Not one of Brilliant Lady sailings is in final payment. Final payment for the Mermaiden voyage is August, 2023. The financial costs to VV are dramatically smaller than they were when VV postponed the Resilient Lady. Possibly VV has observed their Caribbean sailings to be outperforming their Med sailings. There are many reasons for that to be the case, as airfares to Europe are multiples higher than to Miami. If that is true, why move a ship to Europe? 

 

What I don't like is how deceitful this is. I called VV reservations. The agent told me "if a sailing isn't showing it is sold out". I then asked about the Brilliant Lady summer sailings, and she stated she could not comment. I am prepared for my cruise, the TransAtlantic to be cancelled. I always gave my cruise a 50/50 chance of actually sailing. 

 

But in the true VV form of "breaking the mold", tongue in cheek, they are ever changing.

 

 

I must admit I hadn’t looked for the Brilliant Lady summer 2024 season in the last week or two but a month ago they weren’t there. 
 

if they went on sale for  a couple of days then were pulled it does seem like an error and were released too early as there wasn’t any other announcement.

 

I doubt the ship is going to be delayed as the Christmas sailing and the San Juan itineraries are still on sale.

 

why the transatlantic was taken off sale is a mystery still though!

[Wildcatllamas]

Wow. So this is interesting. I hadn't looked at the summer offers for Brilliant Lady but I had been really looking at the TA. I began pricing airfare yesterday for the TA that Scarlet Lady is doing and couldn't believe the prices just going through various months to get a feel for them. With a $500 credit that isn't even close to covering my cost out of Colorado to Miami and then back from Barcelona. I could get cheaper flights out of London and a pretty cheap flight from Barcelona to London so that might be an option. Guess I will wait and see.

[notme2012]

47 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

Wow. So this is interesting. I hadn't looked at the summer offers for Brilliant Lady but I had been really looking at the TA. I began pricing airfare yesterday for the TA that Scarlet Lady is doing and couldn't believe the prices just going through various months to get a feel for them. With a $500 credit that isn't even close to covering my cost out of Colorado to Miami and then back from Barcelona. I could get cheaper flights out of London and a pretty cheap flight from Barcelona to London so that might be an option. Guess I will wait and see.

I would wait and see, before purchasing any flights. Inventories for flights for around April 20, 2024, will not be loaded until May 21, 2023. Besides there could be promo airfares between now and Jan. 1, 2024. In this case, waiting is your best course of action.

[Wildcatllamas]

30 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

I would wait and see, before purchasing any flights. Inventories for flights for around April 20, 2024, will not be loaded until May 21, 2023. Besides there could be promo airfares between now and Jan. 1, 2024. In this case, waiting is your best course of action.

Yeah, I had planned on waiting but I just wanted to get a ball park idea. I'm going to just wait and see what happens because I'm really not interested in Barcelona.

[notme2012]

2 hours ago, jon81uk said:

I must admit I hadn’t looked for the Brilliant Lady summer 2024 season in the last week or two but a month ago they weren’t there. 
 

if they went on sale for  a couple of days then were pulled it does seem like an error and were released too early as there wasn’t any other announcement.

 

I doubt the ship is going to be delayed as the Christmas sailing and the San Juan itineraries are still on sale.

 

why the transatlantic was taken off sale is a mystery still though!

From the "mermaiden" voyage to April 20, is 16 cruises. Much less than the 6+ months of cruises that were in play with Resilient Lady, some of those were fully paid. What really is strange, is the mermaiden voyage is still available in almost all classes of cabins. I have checked every sailing between Dec 24, 2023 and April 20, 2024, but none appear to be sold out. My point is this indicates there will be change. After a week, this isn't an IT issue or some other inventory issue. The most likely possibilities are the ship will be delayed or stay in the Caribbean. 

 

I always felt that my sailing had a 50/50 chance of actually sailing.  I sold travel for 30 years, including owning my own cruise-only agency. VV does not follow industry practices in any way. But maiden voyages not being sold out, this is a bad sign, for passengers and for the cruise line. With all the other cruise lines, maiden voyages are highly prestigious and usually sell out within days of being offered. New ships being delayed, changing itineraries are all normal. But not informing anyone about it, is just bad customer service. 

[notme2012]

15 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

Yeah, I had planned on waiting but I just wanted to get a ball park idea. I'm going to just wait and see what happens because I'm really not interested in Barcelona.

Time to use miles and points. Barcelona is an excellent city to visit. You could easily fly to Lisbon on a low cost carrier. Personally, I would rather fly to Europe and do a Med cruise. I was only booked on this TATL because other friends were on this sailing.

[dreamer321]

I was hoping to book either Scarlet Lady or Brilliant Lady on an East to West transatlantic for fall 2024. I guess I'll have to wait since they haven't announced Brilliant Lady's summer 2024 season yet. I'm pretty sure they will move Valiant Lady back from Barcelona to Miami on 11/3/2024.  I figure there's a good chance VV will move Brilliant Lady from Lisbon to San Juan at the end of October or first of November 2024 but we will have to wait and see.

[jon81uk]

25 minutes ago, dreamer321 said:

I'm pretty sure they will move Valiant Lady back from Barcelona to Miami on 11/3/2024

Scarlet Lady is doing the summer season in Barcelona next year, Valiant is staying in Miami all summer. 
Some people think Scarlet might stay in Europe for maintenance, so if there is a transatlantic next October/November 2024 it will be Brilliant Lady.

 

[TYCruise]

3 hours ago, notme2012 said:

But maiden voyages not being sold out, this is a bad sign, for passengers and for the cruise line. With all the other cruise lines, maiden voyages are highly prestigious and usually sell out within days of being offered. New ships being delayed, changing itineraries are all normal. But not informing anyone about it, is just bad customer service. 

 

 

Airfare to Europe is insane right now.  It could have something to do with it.  Also, Brilliant Lady is the fourth of four almost identical ships.  That could make being on the Mermaiden Voyage less special to some.

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, jon81uk said:

Scarlet Lady is doing the summer season in Barcelona next year, Valiant is staying in Miami all summer. 
Some people think Scarlet might stay in Europe for maintenance, so if there is a transatlantic next October/November 2024 it will be Brilliant Lady.

 

I've read that Scarlet will be due for dry dock in 2024 and that is the reason for her doing the April TA that year.   I know nothing about when the dry dock is scheduled.

[dreamer321]

1 hour ago, jon81uk said:

Scarlet Lady is doing the summer season in Barcelona next year, Valiant is staying in Miami all summer. 
Some people think Scarlet might stay in Europe for maintenance, so if there is a transatlantic next October/November 2024 it will be Brilliant Lady.

 

You're right. I meant Scarlet Lady will be doing an East to West Transatlantic cruise next fall as I mentioned in the first line.

[notme2012]

14 minutes ago, TYCruise said:

 

Airfare to Europe is insane right now.  It could have something to do with it.  Also, Brilliant Lady is the fourth of four almost identical ships.  That could make being on the Mermaiden Voyage less special to some.

If you read my original post #7, I mention airfare being multiples higher than Miami.

 

VV is still having issues breaking thru into the mainstream. VV original concept was for millennials who have not chosen to cruise in the past. That demographic is not sufficient to fill 4 ships. Which is an issue going forward for VV. Not allowing under 18, eliminates the family market (many millennials have children). The marketing doesn't help with those over 55. The mermaiden sailings are holidays sailings at generous prices! That should be a big motivator for bookings. Yet both Dec 24 and Dec 29 sailings are not sold out. For any other cruise line that Dec 29th sailing would not sell well as it runs over into the school week. But that should not matter to VV!  Do you see the points I am trying to make?

[jon81uk]

9 minutes ago, dreamer321 said:

You're right. I meant Scarlet Lady will be doing an East to West Transatlantic cruise next fall as I mentioned in the first line.

That depends if Scarlet goes into dry dock as above at the end of the summer season or not. If the ship doesn’t then I agree it will do a westbound transatlantic. Otherwise I expect Brilliant to come back to Miami or San Juan again. 

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

8 hours ago, notme2012 said:

Not true at all!  The beginning of last week all the cruises for Brilliant Lady were in inventory for Europe all next summer. I know because I was looking at them!

What itineraries were they showing for Brilliant? I've been monitoring the site for them, but hadn't seen anything. 

[notme2012]

25 minutes ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

What itineraries were they showing for Brilliant? I've been monitoring the site for them, but hadn't seen anything. 

Very similar to the Resilient Lady this coming summer. Which may be the issue, too many ships in the Med.

[CanadianCruiser21]

I just hope they make a decision and announce it sooner than later. I know it’s technically still early, but if this gets cancelled, I’ll book the sailing to scarlet transatlantic to Barcelona and fly to Lisbon. I want to do it before the scarlet transatlantic goes up in price!

[cantgetin]

3 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

I just hope they make a decision and announce it sooner than later. I know it’s technically still early, but if this gets cancelled, I’ll book the sailing to scarlet transatlantic to Barcelona and fly to Lisbon. I want to do it before the scarlet transatlantic goes up in price!

Alternatively, you could book the Scarlet Lady TA now.  Then, when/if the TA to Lisbon becomes available, you can cancel your TA to Barcelona and move to the one to Lisbon.  That way, you have locked in a price on  Scarlet (which is amazing), and can re-evaluate the situation when the cruise you really want is available.

[CanadianCruiser21]

2 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Alternatively, you could book the Scarlet Lady TA now.  Then, when/if the TA to Lisbon becomes available, you can cancel your TA to Barcelona and move to the one to Lisbon.  That way, you have locked in a price on  Scarlet (which is amazing), and can re-evaluate the situation when the cruise you really want is available.

That’s not a bad idea, but it’s booked with MNVV, which I hear only allows for one change.