Effects of Red Sea troubles

[DAP2]

Now on Sale: Cape Town to Barcelona or Sydney to Barcelona

 

So this is interesting. We always book directly with VV and have been told the first two legs of the upcoming repositioning cruise would not be for sale because the ports can't handle a sold-out ship.

 

But, if you really want to go on one of these itineraries, it is for sale through My Cruises. From what I gather, they are some type of travel agency/reseller in Australia. They apparently bought a large block of cabins on the original repositioning cruise from Virgin and then packaged and resold them. Now, it looks like they are trying to recoup some of their costs by still selling their inventory, which I assume has increased due to cancellations. 

 

Buyer beware: the comments in the FB groups I'm in and YouTube reviews are...well, do your own research.

 

Note, pricing is per person, not per cabin and is in AUD, not USD. Here's one example of the packages they are offering:

https://mycruises.com.au/package/virgin-adults-only-half-world-voyage-cape-town-to-barcelona-2024/

Edited February 21 by DAP2

[helkatred]

She was chockers, with possibly half the ship virgin staff travelling on virtually free trips as their Christmas bonus! We figured out anyone over 50 was full fare paying 😂 a full ship - but that was a 4 nighter; chance of that happening on longer NZ cruise non existent. 

[Rambo24]

good feedback  Dap2 could you please post some YouTube links?

[RetroSister]

16 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

good feedback  Dap2 could you please post some YouTube links?

Thanks for saying what I was thinking...hard to do a search if you don't even know what you're looking for! 😄

[DAP2]

20 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

good feedback  Dap2 could you please post some YouTube links?

Type 'My Cruises reviews' into any search engine. 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12290-k13733873-Mycruises_com-Bargain_Travel.html

 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.mycruises.com.au

 

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/my-cruises

 

 

 

[RetroSister]

6 minutes ago, DAP2 said:

Type 'My Cruises reviews' into any search engine. 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12290-k13733873-Mycruises_com-Bargain_Travel.html

 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.mycruises.com.au

 

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/my-cruises

 

 

 

Ohh....I thought you meant reviews of VV or The Resilient Lady. Now it makes sense - thanks!

[Mark_UK]

I know we need to wait until next week, but wondered what people think the potential outcomes might be?

 

A) Return to Aus but via Africa, potentially from Portsmouth or Barcelona (vs. Athens)

 

B) Straight over to the Caribbean for a season, maybe out of New York instead of Miami?

 

C) Stays in UK/Europe and does Canary Islands. 

 

Any other possibilities?

Edited February 22 by Mark_UK

[CountessCookie]

2 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

I know we need to wait until next week, but wondered what people think the potential outcomes might be?

 

A) Return to Aus but via Africa, potentially from Portsmouth or Barcelona (vs. Athens)

 

B) Straight over to the Caribbean for a season, maybe out of New York instead of Miami?

 

C) Stays in UK/Europe and does Canary Islands. 

 

Any other possibilities?

I would say B. Since someone found that port booked for Resiliant Lady. 

 

Given what we have seen, I really doubt they will come back to Aus next season. I'm booked on Resiliant Lady for Jan 2025 and I've started making alternative plans.

[onechaiguy]

2 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

I know we need to wait until next week, but wondered what people think the potential outcomes might be?

 

A) Return to Aus but via Africa, potentially from Portsmouth or Barcelona (vs. Athens)

 

B) Straight over to the Caribbean for a season, maybe out of New York instead of Miami?

 

C) Stays in UK/Europe and does Canary Islands. 

 

Any other possibilities?

 

Everyone seems to say that the Caribbean sold way better than Australia, so perhaps VV will use this opportunity to reroute to the Caribbean. They need to make $$$ as evidenced by their significant price increases. 

[Jamesv281117]

4 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

I know we need to wait until next week, but wondered what people think the potential outcomes might be?

 

A) Return to Aus but via Africa, potentially from Portsmouth or Barcelona (vs. Athens)

 

B) Straight over to the Caribbean for a season, maybe out of New York instead of Miami?

 

C) Stays in UK/Europe and does Canary Islands. 

 

Any other possibilities?

I have a feeling it will go Portsmouth or Barcelona to the US but it's been hard trying to guess what Virgin will do so far 

[CountessCookie]

15 minutes ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I have a feeling it will go Portsmouth or Barcelona to the US but it's been hard trying to guess what Virgin will do so far 

This is so true. After this I think I'm going to give them a miss, untill they are a bit more "stable." I really feel for those who have now been twice cancelled.

[Rambo24]

No worries thanks for that Retro 

[jon81uk]

9 hours ago, CountessCookie said:

This is so true. After this I think I'm going to give them a miss, untill they are a bit more "stable." I really feel for those who have now been twice cancelled.

Although right now it’s not just VV that is having issues, the whole cruise industry is unstable due to the issues in the Red Sea and most lines are cancelling or rerouting trips that should have gone through the Suez Canal and Red Sea .

[RetroSister]

19 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

I know we need to wait until next week, but wondered what people think the potential outcomes might be?

 

A) Return to Aus but via Africa, potentially from Portsmouth or Barcelona (vs. Athens)

 

B) Straight over to the Caribbean for a season, maybe out of New York instead of Miami?

 

C) Stays in UK/Europe and does Canary Islands. 

 

Any other possibilities?

We're really hoping for A, since we were using the repositioning itinerary to reposition ourselves to southeast Asia, and South Africa would also be a great destination we haven't explored. 
C would be acceptable, depending on the specifics. 

For us, B would be a deal-breaker, since it would get us back to the US, which is the opposite of what we were looking for. Not to mention the fact that it's a very ordinary route, which defeats the purpose, at least for us. 

I propose a D option, a Trans-Atlantic that ends in South America for their summer season, which we would definitely take advantage of! We're trying to preemptively decide what we would and would not accept so we can make a quick decision when the time comes. 

[helkatred]

On 2/23/2024 at 7:42 AM, CountessCookie said:

I would say B. Since someone found that port booked for Resiliant Lady. 

 

Given what we have seen, I really doubt they will come back to Aus next season. I'm booked on Resiliant Lady for Jan 2025 and I've started making alternative plans.

Which port? New York? 

[Tralfaz1138]

7 hours ago, RetroSister said:

I propose a D option, a Trans-Atlantic that ends in South America for their summer season, which we would definitely take advantage of! We're trying to preemptively decide what we would and would not accept so we can make a quick decision when the time comes. 

I've thought this would be a good option for them, though it also doesn't come without risks and challenges.  I saw a post from someone on another cruise line talking about having a day in Columbia removed (likely due to the heightened issues with crime and civil unrest there).  Resilient Lady also can't, I guess, go through the Panama Canal.  So it's South America itinerary could be limited to the southern part of South America.

 

Honestly I don't admire the position they are in since there are no "great" options.  Another plan they could go with might be to go ahead and reposition around Africa again (as mentioned), keep the Australia cruises, then change Resilient Lady to do Alaska/US West coast cruises during the summer and have Brilliant Lady bounce from South America/Panama Canal in winter to taking over Resilient Lady's routes in the Med during summer.

[CountessCookie]

1 hour ago, helkatred said:

Which port? New York? 

It has been mentioned in a few other threads that Resiliant Lady shows up on St Maarten Cruise Ship Bookings website between Dec 2024 and March 2025. At the time it was suggested that the bookings where place holders for Brilliant Lady, but maybe that isn't the case.

[RetroSister]

2 hours ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

I've thought this would be a good option for them, though it also doesn't come without risks and challenges.  I saw a post from someone on another cruise line talking about having a day in Columbia removed (likely due to the heightened issues with crime and civil unrest there).  Resilient Lady also can't, I guess, go through the Panama Canal.  So it's South America itinerary could be limited to the southern part of South America.

 

Honestly I don't admire the position they are in since there are no "great" options.  Another plan they could go with might be to go ahead and reposition around Africa again (as mentioned), keep the Australia cruises, then change Resilient Lady to do Alaska/US West coast cruises during the summer and have Brilliant Lady bounce from South America/Panama Canal in winter to taking over Resilient Lady's routes in the Med during summer.

Hadn't heard that about a Colombia port being missed, but I would assume if it's part of a Panama Canal itinerary, it's probably Cartagena. There are a lot of reasons why ports get cancelled or skipped, not necessarily related to crime or civil unrest, but that's possible, too. I've been to Colombia a couple of times, but only to Bogota, never to the coast, and it's been a while. According to friends who moved back there, it's much safer now than when we were there in the '90s, but unrest can happen just about anywhere.

I was thinking more of the Eastern side of S.A., since that is more accessible for a Trans-Atlantic, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina. It would be arriving at the beginning of the cruising season for the Southern hemisphere. I have no idea if they're considering any such thing, but a girl can dream! 😍

[helkatred]

So as speculated, Virgin aren’t coming back to Australia next season! Sailing out of San Juan. So now we have individual flights to Athens booked we will have to find a different way to spend our holiday!’ 

[wintrev]

Hey CrusingWalter

 

When are you having a Virgin Voyages rep on again? - have a few questions for her - some very annoyed Aussies down here - obviusly she gets fed the usual BS from Virgin to promote!!!

[Rambo24]

Also updates on Virgin excursions on the 27th of March Sydney to Athens its only 28 days out.

[Rambo24]

Just rung up Virgin, they tell me all excursions  for 27th of March Sydney to Athens has been sold out, has anyone managed to book one of these?

[Jamesv281117]

6 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

Just rung up Virgin, they tell me all excursions  for 27th of March Sydney to Athens has been sold out, has anyone managed to book one of these?

Personally I don't believe that for a minute, I enquired about the cape town to Barcelona and was told they'd be live a week before departure!

[Rambo24]

16 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

Personally I don't believe that for a minute, I enquired about the cape town to Barcelona and was told they'd be live a week before departure!

Thanks for that James, i think you are right had just a little panic attack when the woman on the phone was adamant is was all sold out, but because i missed out they would look after us and i said you really don't expect me to be on the for 45 days with out doing an excursion, she laughed and said at least you will have fun.    

[Rambo24]

James you were right of course, excursions came out the other day...which is great not so great they have changed cabin again for a fourth time!!!!! too tired  to vent