What happened to Brilliant Lady

[cantgetin]

10 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

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

That's my understanding as well on MNVV--one change after you apply it to a date.

[forever2fly]

Are the four ships identical?

 

I know that's easier for maintenance and such, but I kind of like exploring a new ship so I'd prefer they not be exact clones of each other.

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, forever2fly said:

Are the four ships identical?

 

I know that's easier for maintenance and such, but I kind of like exploring a new ship so I'd prefer they not be exact clones of each other.

As far as we know yes. The deck plan for Resilient Lady is the same as Scarlet and Valiant so it’s assumed Brilliant will be the same. 
 

Resilient Lady does have almost all new entertainment though. 

[raphael360]

5 hours ago, forever2fly said:

Are the four ships identical?

 

Brilliant is now being displayed on cruisedeckplans dot com and looks exactly like the first 3.

[CanadianCruiser21]

Looking at the sailing schedule, it appears both Resilient Lady and Scarlet Lady are in europe all summer, with valiant lady covering the Caribbean. I am thinking the San Juan to Lisbon TA sailing for brilliant lady is less likely now. Probably stay in San Juan or double up in Miami. 

[jon81uk]

30 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Looking at the sailing schedule, it appears both Resilient Lady and Scarlet Lady are in europe all summer, with valiant lady covering the Caribbean. I am thinking the San Juan to Lisbon TA sailing for brilliant lady is less likely now. Probably stay in San Juan or double up in Miami. 

Although that transatlantic for Brilliant was on sale for probably at least 5-6 months so the plan to move the ship to Europe alongside Scarlet was formed a while back. Which is why is disappearing is strange. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

True, but having 3 of their 4 ships in Europe seems a bit much, especially if they haven’t established a big market there yet. 

[FFMilesJunkie]

The Brilliant Lady summer schedule was never posted.  Her homeport was never announced.  There is speculation it will be Lisbon based on the TA that was posted, but we have not been told yet.  European sailing are struggling this year for all lines due to flight prices.  The difference is that the established lines have been selling 2023 sailings for several years and VV has only had them on sale for about 18 months and early on there were not a lot of people who wanted to invest big money into a European cruise without knowing much about the cruise line.  Now that VV is establishing a very loyal following and getting tremendous positive reviews, we are seeing stronger bookings in Europe.  

 

I would not be surprised if the Brilliant Lady spends the summer 2024 season in the Caribbean.  I think VV needs 1 more year to get their European sales up before sending 3 ships there; and there is soooo much demand for Caribbean this summer and not enough ships to meet that demand. VV probably wishes they had 2 ships in the Caribbean this summer and build off this tremendous momentum they have with all these sold out Spring sailings.  

 

Personally, I'd like to see the Brilliant Lady base out of Miami with 10-11 night cruises to Southern Caribbean (with a stop at Bimini on the way home).  San Juan just presents another barrier for people who want the convenience of a South Florida departure.  Easier flight and hotel options. 

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

9 minutes ago, FFMilesJunkie said:

The Brilliant Lady summer schedule was never posted.  Her homeport was never announced.  There is speculation it will be Lisbon based on the TA that was posted, but we have not been told yet.  European sailing are struggling this year for all lines due to flight prices.  The difference is that the established lines have been selling 2023 sailings for several years and VV has only had them on sale for about 18 months and early on there were not a lot of people who wanted to invest big money into a European cruise without knowing much about the cruise line.  Now that VV is establishing a very loyal following and getting tremendous positive reviews, we are seeing stronger bookings in Europe.  

 

I would not be surprised if the Brilliant Lady spends the summer 2024 season in the Caribbean.  I think VV needs 1 more year to get their European sales up before sending 3 ships there; and there is soooo much demand for Caribbean this summer and not enough ships to meet that demand. VV probably wishes they had 2 ships in the Caribbean this summer and build off this tremendous momentum they have with all these sold out Spring sailings.  

 

Personally, I'd like to see the Brilliant Lady base out of Miami with 10-11 night cruises to Southern Caribbean (with a stop at Bimini on the way home).  San Juan just presents another barrier for people who want the convenience of a South Florida departure.  Easier flight and hotel options. 

Port bookings suggested Brilliant was headed to Northern Europe, as VV had booked calls in Zeebrugge and Reykjavik. But, I'm thinking Brilliant's summer season gets canned and she stays in the Caribbean. Maybe she'll move to Miami for 7 night sailings through the summer. I hope they keep a ship in San Juan though for the winters. Virgin is planning to offer a great selection of ports, and selfishly, I'm hoping to sail on one of those itineraries. But VV better hurry up, as all their competitors are already open for booking through 2025.

[CineGraphic]

I was originally told that the TA to Lisbon was pulled by the inventory department because of a pricing/promo error.

 

Ten days ago, a rep from VV was in the process of re-faring our booking for this sailing with our TA when they accidentally cancelled it, and we've been waiting ever since for them to correct the situation.

 

We're told that they can't do a thing until the inventory department releases the sailing.

[CanadianCruiser21]

4 hours ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

Port bookings suggested Brilliant was headed to Northern Europe, as VV had booked calls in Zeebrugge and Reykjavik. 

Oooh Lisbon to Reykjavik would be awesome 

[CineGraphic]

Although the Transatlantic sailing still isn't showing up, they were finally able to re-book us this afternoon, so my guess is that it should be viewable/bookable in the next day or so.

[CanadianCruiser21]

That’s great news! I’ll still hold off a bit before booking flights. Perhaps until I see some sailings listed after the TA. 

[raphael360]

On 4/19/2023 at 6:50 AM, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Looking at the sailing schedule, it appears both Resilient Lady and Scarlet Lady are in Europe all summer

I'm on Scarlett May 4th and it appears, from the online booking options, Scarlett is in Miami all of 2023. Resilient and Valiant are in Equope 2023 with Brilliant's launch scheduled for 2024.  According to VV's website booking searches. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by raphael360

[jon81uk]

5 minutes ago, raphael360 said:

I'm on Scarlett May 4th and it appears, from the online booking options, Scarlett is in Miami all summer.

Scarlet is in Miami summer 2023 and Barcelona summer 2024.

[Wildcatllamas]

16 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Although the Transatlantic sailing still isn't showing up, they were finally able to re-book us this afternoon, so my guess is that it should be viewable/bookable in the next day or so.

That is excellent news. I hope the fare doesn't jump up to drastically. 

[CineGraphic]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:57 AM, Wildcatllamas said:

That is excellent news. I hope the fare doesn't jump up to drastically. 

 

Well, since it's still not available for booking, there's a good chance it's sold-out.

I know when given the choice of Miami to Barcelona, or San Juan to Lisbon, my wife didn't hesitate and opted for this one since it's a bit unique. Maybe that's the big attraction.

[Wildcatllamas]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Well, since it's still not available for booking, there's a good chance it's sold-out.

I know when given the choice of Miami to Barcelona, or San Juan to Lisbon, my wife didn't hesitate and opted for this one since it's a bit unique. Maybe that's the big attraction.

I spoke with a Virgin agent yesterday and it isn't sold out. She did confirm it is in the Inventory Department.

[CineGraphic]

7 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I spoke with a Virgin agent yesterday and it isn't sold out. She did confirm it is in the Inventory Department.

 

And someone on a Facebook group a couple of days ago said that a rep told them it was sold-out.....could have been a guess of the rep's part.

[Wildcatllamas]

4 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

And someone on a Facebook group a couple of days ago said that a rep told them it was sold-out.....could have been a guess of the rep's part.

Could be because the agent I spoke with had me on hold while she verified what was going on. She had me on hold for about 5 minutes, so I would think if it was sold out it wouldn't have taken that long.

[CineGraphic]

4 hours ago, Wildcatllamas said:

Could be because the agent I spoke with had me on hold while she verified what was going on. She had me on hold for about 5 minutes, so I would think if it was sold out it wouldn't have taken that long.

 

One thing is for sure: One of the them is wrong. lol

[Wildcatllamas]

14 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

One thing is for sure: One of the them is wrong. lol

Very true. Kind of like calls to Princess. Five calls and one of them may be close to right.

[CruisingWalter]

On 4/18/2023 at 4:14 PM, 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.

 

 

According to some of the crew on Scarlet, she is due for at least 2 weeks of maintenance while in Europe, most likely at the end of the Summer season before she returns to Miami. It sounded like it will be a quick dry dock to re-paint and perform the standard 5 year maintenance most ships receive. While she's only been in service with the public a few years, she did launch in 2019 so she will be due next year. 

[jamesp1234]

Hi everyone, anyone had any update on if the sailing is going ahead. I can’t get any information from Virgin despite the sailing not being on sale for a month now ! Thanks 

[Wildcatllamas]

49 minutes ago, jamesp1234 said:

Hi everyone, anyone had any update on if the sailing is going ahead. I can’t get any information from Virgin despite the sailing not being on sale for a month now ! Thanks 

Not a word. I checked again last night and was told once again it is in the inventory department.