What happened to Brilliant Lady

[aviators99]

14 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

They are apparently getting ready to move her to Palermo, to finish the interior.

Wow, so it wasn't even close to being ready in time. They should have let us know sooner that our voyage would be canceled... 

[Tolkmit]

3 hours ago, aviators99 said:

Wow, so it wasn't even close to being ready in time. They should have let us know sooner that our voyage would be canceled... 

 

We really don't know anything based on that. Realistically, they said they were having delays, staffing issues, and supply chain issues. All of those can be solved pretty quickly if you are willing to spend enough $$$. They most likely reached a point where getting her done even close to on time would have cost so much in overtime, extra workers, and premiums to get needed supplies quickly, that it was cheaper to just cancel and delay. So a debut in April or May doesn't mean they were no where close to getting her out in December. Could just mean they were choosing between paying a bunch extra to get her out a couple weeks late, or pay nothing extra to get her out months late, and since getting her out on time wasn't an option, they decided to pay nothing extra. Since they were taking the bad PR hit of delaying her regardless.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Tolkmit

[Ulsteinvik]

Stockholm released the 2024 cruise list.

Brilliant Lady is booked there 5 times overnight between 12 May 2024 and 24 June 2024. https://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/

Don't know if they are actual anymore but seems that they also planned to sail some Baltic cruises. Maybe 2025 then.

[Svennimo]

The Brilliant Lady is also listed in the recently published Rostock-Warnemünde list in 2024.

[malibudez]

Brilliant Lady Moves Closer to Launch - VV Insider | Virgin Voyages® cruise guides, info and news

 

Looks like closer to 2025. Boooooo

[rebeccac]

While I am not saying that they are wrong about this necessarily, but VV Insider is not always the most reliable source.  

[librarylady19]

Yes, it does seem like a long time to hold back the ship - unless they are money issues perhaps?

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, librarylady19 said:

Yes, it does seem like a long time to hold back the ship - unless they are money issues perhaps?

They are substantially altering the ship to be able to traverse the Panama Canal. Although the ship itself is narrow enough the lifeboats are what's causing the problem. On almost all other cruiseships the lifeboats hang above an open deck WITHIN the ship, and when needed there's a mechanism that lowers them out over the edge of the ship. In Virgin's case the lifeboats permanently hang too far  OUTSIDE of the ship itself, making the ship wider than it actually is. What needs to be done now is the deck where the lifeboats will hang hang must be altered so that there's room to accommodate the lifeboats within the ship, and new lifeboats mechanisms must be installed. This could mean a reduction in the number of cabins.

Edited February 22 by kwokpot

[Tolkmit]

1 hour ago, librarylady19 said:

Yes, it does seem like a long time to hold back the ship - unless they are money issues perhaps?

 

Delaying Brilliant coming out does likely save them a decent amount of money. However, delaying announcing her debut actually costs them money. Regardless of when she debuts, once they announce that date they can start selling tickets for her, increasing income without increasing costs.

[jon81uk]

37 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

They are substantially altering the ship to be able to traverse the Panama Canal. Although the ship itself is narrow enough the lifeboats are what's causing the problem. On almost all other cruiseships the lifeboats hang above an open deck WITHIN the ship, and when needed there's a mechanism that lowers them out over the edge of the ship. In Virgin's case the lifeboats permanently hang too far  OUTSIDE of the ship itself, making the ship wider than it actually is. What needs to be done now is the deck where the lifeboats will hang hang must be altered so that there's room to accommodate the lifeboats within the ship, and new lifeboats mechanisms must be installed. This could mean a reduction in the number of cabins.

It’s not being altered. The ship has already been built with that difference compared to the other ship. There is a reduction in balcony size on deck 8 on Brilliant Lady (this has been confirmed in new deck plans in travel agent brochures). 

[kwokpot]

14 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

It’s not being altered. The ship has already been built with that difference compared to the other ship. There is a reduction in balcony size on deck 8 on Brilliant Lady (this has been confirmed in new deck plans in travel agent brochures). 

Sorry, I misstated some of the facts and events.