What happened to Brilliant Lady

[kwokpot]

3 minutes ago, def0715 said:

Having trouble resetting search dates on website. Can anyone help? I’ve clicked on reset numerous times. I can’t explore change options. Do bookings on website only go through October 2024? Thanks.

 

This was going to be my first time on Virgin. My cruise that originated in Miami now shows I’m on the 8-day sailing from San Juan (same dates) in the app. I haven’t changed anything.

You have to go through the cancellation email and click on the Offer Request Form hot link. From there you'll see a drop down menu in the Section marked Select your desired voyage. Many of the options are not on the website to see the itinerary and pricing. Those probably will be loaded on the 11th. 

[def0715]

Thanks. I don’t even see cruise length in that dropdown unless I’m doing something wrong.

[herdfans4]

6 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

There were more people booked on the San Juan based sailings than the Miami based sailings, so they chose to inconvenience a smaller amount of people. Makes sense to me.

But in reality it makes it much harder for those of us "inconvenienced"  on the VL cruises to rebook since most of the BL cruises were fully booked.  so now nothing available that is equivalent for us to book into.  I really hope the fact that I will be unable to find an "the same cabin" level with a sweet aft suite does not mean they screw me over when I have to book a lower quality cabin in rock star that is now going to actually cost more then the SAS I originally booked.  

[greenenvy]

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.  

[ghostshark]

34 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

We've decided to sail the 3/23/24 14 day sailing San Juan to Miami even though we don't know the itinerary yet. I called earlier today in hopes that someone would know, but no such luck. One thing's for sure, it' will be a Caribbean itinerary. lol.

We'll end up with $2200 in loot, for a sailing that set us back $2400. I'm not complaining at all.

where did you see that it was 14 days? Virgin's PDF says it's 8 days.

[CanadianCruiser21]

36 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

We've decided to sail the 3/23/24 14 day sailing San Juan to Miami even though we don't know the itinerary yet. I called earlier today in hopes that someone would know, but no such luck. One thing's for sure, it' will be a Caribbean itinerary. lol.

We'll end up with $2200 in loot, for a sailing that set us back $2400. I'm not complaining at all.

I heard it was a mistake and it’s not 14 days. It’s actually 8 days. 

[CineGraphic]

9 minutes ago, ghostshark said:

where did you see that it was 14 days? Virgin's PDF says it's 8 days

 

7 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

I heard it was a mistake and it’s not 14 days. It’s actually 8 days. 

 

It's listed on the form to request rebooking as 14 days, as is the cruise before it.

[BeasleysMom66]

38 minutes ago, herdfans4 said:

I agree so all the VL are just out of luck and no real compensation for all this confusion

 

That is pretty much where we are at and why I opted for get my money back and book something else somewhere else.  

[Fogcityca13]

3 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

 

It's listed on the form to request rebooking as 14 days, as is the cruise before it.

That’s odd, I was looking at this PDF and it’s showing 8. Waiting on my TA to see.

https://www.virginvoyages.com/dam/jcr:756316c3-1507-4c8f-940c-52533ace7f6e/Sailor-Itinerary-Options-Updated.pdf

[indybelle]

5 hours ago, scubagal44 said:

 

Lol I can tell you that I booked my Brilliant itinerary based on itinerary/ports alone, as the Brilliant's Caribbean itineraries were far superior to the other ships' ports. I truly couldn't care less that I'll now be on Valiant instead. It's a like for like swap, the ships were always going to be near-identical. 

Except that we were booked on two B2B cruises on Valiant which were apparently cancelled so that passengers from Brilliant could be booked in our stead.  I had a RS Aft cabin - they aren't available on this short notice, and the other cruises out of Miami are just 5 days - that is not a quid pro quo.  While the rebooking options seem ok, for me they aren't feasible this year - and I'm not sure how I feel about Virgin Voyages at this point.

[def0715]

I’ve been moved to the 8-day that now goes from San Juan to Miami on March 23. I assume that’s Valiant Lady. Sailing - when I booked - was out of Miami.

Edited September 8, 2023 by def0715

[rfsdvm]

itinerary possible for 3/23/23:

https://www.virginvoyages.com/itinerary/caribbean/san-juan-to-miami-cruise?fbclid=IwAR38oIusTz2SVSJAsh8JfbmO_iJxARymh2QuaeGLrphUcupUD9sdD8pydEQ#itinerary-overview

[BeasleysMom66]

8 minutes ago, indybelle said:

I had a RS Aft cabin - they aren't available on this short notice, and the other cruises out of Miami are just 5 days - that is not a quid pro quo.

 

That is my issue.  It isn't even close to a quid pro quo.  I had a RS Sweet Aft Suite as well.  A five day cruise out of MIA isn't worth it to me to fly cross country for.

 

9 minutes ago, indybelle said:

I'm not sure how I feel about Virgin Voyages at this point.

 

I am sure how I feel since this is the second time they have cancelled on me.  It will be a snowy day in He)) before I book with them again.

[herdfans4]

24 minutes ago, def0715 said:

I’ve been moved to the 8-day that now goes from San Juan to Miami on March 23. I assume that’s Valiant Lady. Sailing - when I booked - was out of Miami.

What ship were you originally booked on and which itinerary?

[def0715]

I was on the Valiant Lady out of Miami. Much better 8-day itinerary (to me) than the San Juan to Miami itinerary. It was doing Eastern Caribbean Antilles. Same dates.

 

Not only a better itinerary in my opinion, but I’d now have to fly to San Juan instead of driving to Miami.

Edited September 8, 2023 by def0715

[CineGraphic]

30 minutes ago, rfsdvm said:

itinerary possible for 3/23/23:

https://www.virginvoyages.com/itinerary/caribbean/san-juan-to-miami-cruise?fbclid=IwAR38oIusTz2SVSJAsh8JfbmO_iJxARymh2QuaeGLrphUcupUD9sdD8pydEQ#itinerary-overview

 

Don't be surprised if the 8 day itinerary is changed to a 14 day itinerary. It's been listed as both on different VV forms. When I spoke with a phone rep today, they referred to it as a 14 day sailing as well.

[def0715]

Would be interesting if they move it from 8 to 14 days. They have listed it as 8 days in my booking, in the Sailor Itinerary Options PDF that was included in the email and perhaps elsewhere. I’m new - or trying to be new - to VV. The March sailing was to be my first.

[phoenix1975]

Dates and itineraries (not individual ports yet) for all new cruises on the 3 ships has been posted on the VV Insider website here: https://vvinsider.com/full-itinerary-details-2024-2025-sailings-virgin-voyages/ 

[CineGraphic]

32 minutes ago, def0715 said:

Would be interesting if they move it from 8 to 14 days.

 

 

[def0715]

Time will tell. I don’t care either way. Probably not interested in sailing out of San Juan. Clearly things are fluid at this point. Hope everyone who wants 14 days gets 14 days.

[librarylady19]

1 hour ago, greenenvy said:

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.  

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

[greenenvy]

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. 

[CineGraphic]

12 minutes ago, librarylady19 said:

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

 

And they will take great care of you. Don't worry, enjoy!

[Ixtoras]

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.

[greenenvy]

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.