New "Marvelous Voyages" dropping over the next few weeks.

[Essiesmom]

Maybe the backlash will be people who know…not booking, bookings slow…drop price to where others of us who’ve been there, done that can afford it.  EM

[Jamesv281117]

I think the pricing is outrageous to be honest, there's still value to be had such as for the LA to Vancouver cruise in 2026 but largely getting priced out at this rate. 

[jon81uk]

14 minutes ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I think the pricing is outrageous to be honest, there's still value to be had such as for the LA to Vancouver cruise in 2026 but largely getting priced out at this rate. 

Of course the special one-off or once a year type itineraries are priced higher than the ones they offer for months at a time so it may be possible to find cheaper cruises.

[CastleCritic]

9 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Of course the special one-off or once a year type itineraries are priced higher than the ones they offer for months at a time so it may be possible to find cheaper cruises.

Yes and in marketing it probably makes sense IF they can fill the ships at those prices, but the uniqueness is what attracted me to those cruises in the first place.  But there is no way Im paying anywhere close to what they are asking to do it, like I said I wouldn't even pay what they are asking NOW for the Panama Canal cruise that I already booked.

 

I took a quick poke and it looked like the Iceland cruise was still assigning rooms on deck14 so its not exactly doing gangbusters out of the gate...sure still a lot of time before the cruise.

Edited August 21 by CastleCritic

[Jamesv281117]

46 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Of course the special one-off or once a year type itineraries are priced higher than the ones they offer for months at a time so it may be possible to find cheaper cruises.

I'll persevere but there's no question they're really looking to exploit people's enjoyment of the brand so far, seeing how much people will pay. I have loyalty to virgin no doubt but this latest round of pricing is too high.

[AndyUK]

18 minutes ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I'll persevere but there's no question they're really looking to exploit people's enjoyment of the brand so far, seeing how much people will pay. I have loyalty to virgin no doubt but this latest round of pricing is too high.

I agree, I have loyalty to Virgin, but the pricing seems off.. On the 19th Aug we got the pricing for the Total Eclipse of the (Med) and that was 17k GBP / 22K USD... for a Gorgeous mega rockstar suite. It's now at 22k GBP / 28K USD ! So I assume either they been popular or just trying their luck 

[Tralfaz1138]

12 minutes ago, Jamesv281117 said:

I'll persevere but there's no question they're really looking to exploit people's enjoyment of the brand so far, seeing how much people will pay. I have loyalty to virgin no doubt but this latest round of pricing is too high.

I really enjoy Virgin so I'd prefer to stick with cruises on them.  But it does seem like the itineraries I'd prefer end up priced at a level I'm probably not going to go with.  My wife and I got a couple of MNVV and I'll admit that I used the first on a cruise that might not have been "the one" we wanted, but it was still a good itinerary and the price on it happened to be pretty good at that point.  (The price on the type of cabin I got went up by almost $4k the next day also).

 

We used the second one on a TA, and the price on those is generally very reasonable and still seems to be on the one we booked.
 

It will be interesting to see what the Alaska cruises end up costing.  I want to do one of those, but I might have to wait for the smoke to clear on the first year of them running them.  I imagine the first year they'll be priced high due to demand, but "maybe" the second year they'll settle.  (Wishful thinking, I know).

[Tralfaz1138]

4 minutes ago, AndyUK said:

I agree, I have loyalty to Virgin, but the pricing seems off.. On the 19th Aug we got the pricing for the Total Eclipse of the (Med) and that was 17k GBP / 22K USD... for a Gorgeous mega rockstar suite. It's now at 22k GBP / 28K USD ! So I assume either they been popular or just trying their luck 

I've been guessing there is some automated demand based system going on with their pricing.  I booked a Brilliant Suite for our upcoming cruise and the price seemed surprisingly reasonable.  The day after I booked it, I looked at pricing and it had gone up almost $4k.  So I'm assuming they were not selling so the price "dropped" a bit, but once I bought one it interpreted it as them selling again so it went up.  But who knows.

[Jamesv281117]

57 minutes ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

I really enjoy Virgin so I'd prefer to stick with cruises on them.  But it does seem like the itineraries I'd prefer end up priced at a level I'm probably not going to go with.  My wife and I got a couple of MNVV and I'll admit that I used the first on a cruise that might not have been "the one" we wanted, but it was still a good itinerary and the price on it happened to be pretty good at that point.  (The price on the type of cabin I got went up by almost $4k the next day also).

 

We used the second one on a TA, and the price on those is generally very reasonable and still seems to be on the one we booked.
 

It will be interesting to see what the Alaska cruises end up costing.  I want to do one of those, but I might have to wait for the smoke to clear on the first year of them running them.  I imagine the first year they'll be priced high due to demand, but "maybe" the second year they'll settle.  (Wishful thinking, I know).

Also intrigued to see Alaska pricing, is a very competitive market so on paper I would think they wouldn't go crazy with pricing but a lot of people are eagerly waiting for it so might pay big money!

[beardedladies]

This trip is a disaster waiting to happen. Looking at the main page detailing it (https://www.virginvoyages.com/itinerary/europe/specialized-solar-eclipse-cruise-from-uk-to-iceland#itinerary-overview) there is no mention of you only seeing 98.5% totality - presumably because on the 12th August you’re in Akureyri and not the west side of the island where you would. 
 

Yet the description also says “and before you know it, you’ll be walking the streets of Reykjavik under the surreal glow of the celestial phenomenon.”. Except you won’t. 
 

Forking out £8k+ to find out that seeing the total eclipse is not what you’re getting would make me rather upset. 

[CastleCritic]

That just sounds like terrible scheduling, theres a lot of ocean west and south of Iceland that you could...I dunno..park a cruise ship in the dead center of at the time.

 

we got "surreal glow" here on the east coast earlier this year, Im more looking for 100%.

Edited August 21 by CastleCritic

[beardedladies]

I agree the scheduling is weird. A sea day on eclipse day would let you chase a cloud free spot, take advantage of that mobility! This cruise smacks of a previously put together standard cruise they suddenly realised would be somewhere relatively close to the eclipse. 

[CastleCritic]

I think thats the reality of the situation, just like the now  "wonderful" Panama Canal cruise that is in reality a repositioning that they needed to do in order to do Alaska.

[jon81uk]

56 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

I think thats the reality of the situation, just like the now  "wonderful" Panama Canal cruise that is in reality a repositioning that they needed to do in order to do Alaska.

Although Panama Canal cruise is also a nice trip many people do want to do, so kinda a two in one, repositioning and seeing an interesting sight. Some other cruise lines do Miami to the Panama Canal and back to Miami just to see the locks.

 

 

Edited August 21 by jon81uk
Spelling

[Eric&Pam]

38 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

I think thats the reality of the situation, just like the now  "wonderful" Panama Canal cruise that is in reality a repositioning that they needed to do in order to do Alaska.

It's still a full transit of the canal, and not one of those partial transits that lines like Princess and HAL have sold for decades. The fact that it's repositioning doesn't affect it at all.

[CastleCritic]

6 minutes ago, Eric&Pam said:

It's still a full transit of the canal, and not one of those partial transits that lines like Princess and HAL have sold for decades. The fact that it's repositioning doesn't affect it at all.

No, I know that and I have that cruise booked from the day it was dropped based on that (when it was $4k cheaper than it is now).  Looking at a ...search site Im not sure we can mention.... there was no direct bump in its price due to the marvelous journey category being added around the 13th (there was one on June 25 or so to Oceanview moreso  and sea terrace to keep it slightly higher).

 

It also wasn't that much more expensive (once you factor in the add on stuff you need) originally than doing much of the same thing on princess on a much much older ship as a full canal transit between California and Florida (that they just seem to go back on forth on every few weeks at some times of the year).

Edited August 21 by CastleCritic

[rebeccac]

6 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

Also intrigued to see Alaska pricing, is a very competitive market so on paper I would think they wouldn't go crazy with pricing but a lot of people are eagerly waiting for it so might pay big money!

 

I'm hearing rumors that they are having a difficult time getting itineraries put together precisely because there are already so many ships doing Alaska.  It will be interesting to see what they come up with.  

 

[Lena11033]

I was interested in this as the itinerary had stops I was interested in but this morning the 'starting' price was about $9,000 and now it's $11,000 - sorry but that's ridiculous for an inside room

[kad56]

10 hours ago, Lena11033 said:

I was interested in this as the itinerary had stops I was interested in but this morning the 'starting' price was about $9,000 and now it's $11,000 - sorry but that's ridiculous for an inside room

Wait, I'm sorry, which voyage is this for? How many nights?

[Lena11033]

12 minutes ago, kad56 said:

Wait, I'm sorry, which voyage is this for? How many nights?

 

It was the med one from Aug 10-22 - so 12 nights

 

Edited August 22 by Lena11033