4 cruises canceled?

[cantgetin]

I saw a post elsewhere that VV has canceled 4 cruises on Resilient Lady and that they are restructuring their Australia cruises to make them longer. Sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to the details as we are not booked on any of these.  

Edited June 8, 2023 by cantgetin

[Freelancer3]

From Reddit:

"• January 23 - February 2, 2024: Tasman Sea, Fjords & Māori Shores • February 2 - February 14, 2024: New Zealand, Tasmania & Melbourne • February 14 - February 24, 2024: Southeastern Australia & New Zealand • February 24 - March 5, 2024: Pacific Fjords & Tasman Treasures"

 

[Freelancer3]

I mentioned that we might know more about April 2024 Resilient Lady after they work though these changes and cancellations.

 

[TYCruise]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

I saw a post elsewhere that VV has canceled 4 cruises on Resilient Lady and that they are restructuring their Australia cruises to make them longer. Sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to the details as we are not booked on any of these.  

They are moving to shorter round trip sailing from Australia instead of one way longer voyages to and from New Zealand.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/virgin-voyages-scraps-cruises-after-guest-feedback/103216

[Ondine]

Yes caught up in this and not happy.  Booked over 12 months ago and was looking forward to 2 x 10 night cruises - Melb to NZ and NZ back to Melb.  Great itineraries. We usually have longer cruises from Melb because of the distances down under.  Oh well doesn't instill trust in future bookings.

[CanadianCruiser21]

Question for those who have used MNVV and opted for the full refund option: how did that work? Did you get the MNVV deposit back as well?

[cantgetin]

yes

2 hours ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Question for those who have used MNVV and opted for the full refund option: how did that work? Did you get the MNVV deposit back as well?

 

[InHouseCounsel]

3 hours ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Question for those who have used MNVV and opted for the full refund option: how did that work? Did you get the MNVV deposit back as well?

I had this situation- while onboard two weeks ago, booked one of the now cancelled trips and used the MNVV credits.  While the answer is yes, you should get it back, I personally had very frustrating issues because the rep did not process it correctly, so be careful when you make the change.  In my case I received the cancellation notice on June 5  saying we would get FVC for the cancelled cruise plus some extra on June 6.  I called on June 6 after the extra credit showed up, and said I wanted to take advantage of all of the FVC to rebook for the next sailing that was not cancelled.  I also said I would like to make sure I did not lose the MNVV credit.  The rep, instead of just rebooking, changed the sailing date from the cancelled to the new cruise, and in the process the system wiped out the extra FVC. Also, the price was significantly higher, and discounts lower, so they wanted several thousand extra for the new cruise in a lower category suite.  The rep then said as far as he could see the FVC never existed, since it no longer showed up in their system. After two hours on the phone, and the involvement of a supervisor, the extra FVC was gone but I only had to pay $145 out of pocket for the change (and it was a 2 day longer cruise), so I was fine losing the "extra".  The next day, however, even though I had received a paid in full email and the cruise showed on the website as paid in full, it changed to show I owed another $1750 more.  The good news is I had posted about this just as a warning to others to be careful how things are processed, and VV reached out to me and offered to reinstate the credits plus make sure the cruise was paid in full.  They were very helpful, and I think it was more of a combination of systems and training issues- the reps had no idea the cruises had been cancelled, even the day after we received the cancellation notice.  The follow up customer service was good, though it did take two days and a few hours of my time to get it fixed.  I think they are trying hard, and I hope they learn for the future about how to roll out the cancellations a little better if it happens again.

Edited June 9, 2023 by InHouseCounsel

[Freelancer3]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties, but I guess you are okay with how worked out? 

 

So, to be clear, you were able to rebook a future cruise (though the price was higher) at no additional cost and received back your original FVC and MNVV? 

 

Did VV provide any other Bonus Credits to use on a future cruise?

[InHouseCounsel]

Yes, at the end of the day I was able to rebook (from the cancelled Feb 24th to the March 15 sailing) and still got the benefits of the MNVV ($600 in sailor loot and $600 in bar tab after having paid $300 to secure it, so $900 net).  My out of pocket I had to pay now for the change was $145 on top of what we paid for the cancelled cruise, and eventually (two days later) they reached out and said as a gesture they would add $3200 total in FVC for another cruise later. Also, the new cruise was 12 nights rather than 10. I am an a slightly lower level Rockstar suite this time, since our original category was not available on this cruise. 

 

I know some people reported much more seamless experiences and said they got 50% in FVC on top of a refund or FVC, but that was not the case for me, so it seems to be a little selective on what they offer, or maybe they are just testing things out seeing what people will accept.

 

Overall am happy with the outcome once someone finally stepped in and fixed things.

[Freelancer3]

$1600 per sailor is what I read elsewhere, so I think you came out well.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip to make up for your inconvenience. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Freelancer3

[InHouseCounsel]

4 minutes ago, Freelancer3 said:

$1600 per sailor is what I read elsewhere, so I think you came out well.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip to make up for your inconvenience. 

 

That makes sense- ours was $1600 per person, hence the $3200. I thought I saw others posting different amounts, but we are very happy with it once they agreed to add it back. Really our main issue was they offered it, then it disappeared, and originally did not make up for the cost difference for the new cruise.  But after they added some discounts we came out very well.  This will be our 4th VV cruise, after 2 already this year and one more in Sept out of Athens.  

 

 

 

[Ozz12]

I am also one of the cancelled sailors thanks to Virgin Voyages pulled the plug on some of the NZ-Aus itineraries.

 

I opted to get our deposit money back as none of the other sailings suited or had our room type available without us needing to donate a kidney. 
 

That being said we have been given a FUTURE VOYAGE CREDIT of approximately AU$2400. 
 

Here is the noob/dumb question that I can’t seem to get a straight answer from VV or find answers online:

What can the credit be used for?

Can I actually use it to pay for a new cruise or is this really only to be used whilst onboard a cruise booked in cash?

 

thanks for your help.

FUTURE VOYAGE CR

[Freelancer1]

It can be used as cash to book a future cruise. 
 

Hopefully you will find one soon to use it on. 

[Jmx2000]

This is a bit *****. I noticed they were advertising these "sampler" cruises and I thought wow, that sucks, there is no real cruising in Australia anymore, it's all just two to three day bogan party cruises. I did NZ to Australia back in 2018 on Celebrity which is why I didn't try to book one of their NZ to Australia cruises, whereas I haven't cruised to Tassie, so that was interesting to me. This is also why I was not interested in booking on Disney (well that and the excessive pricing), as they only have 3 and 4 night cruises, within Australia. I am not interested in going through the hassle of getting on a ship for 3 nights, even if the port is only close by to me. 

[CruisingWalter]

12 hours ago, Ozz12 said:

What can the credit be used for?

Can I actually use it to pay for a new cruise or is this really only to be used whilst onboard a cruise booked in cash?

 

You can book your new cruise with the credit, that's what it's used for. Not onboard. We received a 200% FVC when our original cruise was cancelled due to the pandemic. We upgraded from a Sea Terrace to a Cheeky Corner Suite. 🙂 

[CanadianCruiser21]

17 hours ago, Ozz12 said:

 

That being said we have been given a FUTURE VOYAGE CREDIT of approximately AU$2400. 
 

FUTURE VOYAGE CR

Did they give you an expiry date to use the FVC?

[Ozz12]

Canadian Cruiser, yes they did. It’s 1 year from the date Virgin cancelled.

 

Given we only have a limited season here it’s pretty much use it in this upcoming December to March season or lose it… other than buying flights to the US or Europe. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

17 hours ago, Ozz12 said:

Canadian Cruiser, yes they did. It’s 1 year from the date Virgin cancelled.

 

Given we only have a limited season here it’s pretty much use it in this upcoming December to March season or lose it… other than buying flights to the US or Europe. 

Woah. I thought it would be 1 year from the original sail date. 

[_tacocat_]

1 hour ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

Woah. I thought it would be 1 year from the original sail date. 

that's what it was when we got cancelled - it may be different in reality (and in the cancel-ee's account) vs. what sailor services tells them too.  it was in my experience!