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! 😍

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. 

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!

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! 😄

22 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

The Indian sea can also be a a bit doggy at this time of year. 

8 minutes ago, helkatred said:

I have read on other sites that VV will announce at the end of February, all the new sailings for resilient lady, we are also booked on those same 3 sailings as you. However we aren’t keen on all the sea days (7x2 I think) on the African route.,by the way there is also muttering that they won’t even be bringing RL back to Australia as this inaugural season didn’t reach expectations. So up in the air and definitely hoping end of Feb will give us answers! 

That's what I heard as well. We're only booked on the first 2 legs, ending in Singapore (for now!). We were using it to get to Southeast Asia. To me, the middle leg looks the most interesting, but if they decide to scrap the next Australia/NZ season, then the whole thing is up in the air. I'm hopeful we'll know in the next couple of weeks! 

Just now, Jamesv281117 said:

The only way I see them changing those if the repositioning goes a different way entirely e.g. Portsmouth over to America.. 

 

I was booked on the Singapore to Dubai and used airline points redemptions and it's been so easy to get them refunded and use the points to get new flights. Is a great lesson if you happen to have points

It is! We are booked with points over to Europe as well, so if we have to change it will be easy. Or just make it a trip to Europe...or get a different repositioning itinerary back to the US. Rebanking points is so much easier than getting a refund or changing.

8 minutes ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I'm booked on the Portsmouth to Barcelona next September. Air is already booked so I'm hoping it isn't changed around to bad. 

 

They could actually depart Barcelona and go to Cape Town. So I am hoping if they have to avoid the Red Sea this will be the option.

 

It's hard to imagine the upstream itineraries like Portsmouth to Barcelona being affected, since that would be an unnecessary amount of work and expense for VV. I would actually look forward to a Barca to Cape Town itinerary, but a 5 night Athens - Barca in lieu of a 14 night Athens - Dubai would be a serious downgrade! I'd probably cancel that leg and keep the Barcelona - Cape Town if it comes to that. But they may change the whole thing entirely and not even reposition to Australia, in which case it could be going anywhere!

I'm game as long as it's not something ordinary, but I really feel for the passengers booked on the Spring itineraries who are dealing with all of this with little time to spare and almost certainly have airfare booked.

1 minute ago, Jamesv281117 said:

Hopefully you'll have some sort of idea about this by the end of February. There's every chance that if they change the repositioning route it could go a different way completely to what has been arranged for the March/April voyages. I think they would look to avoid a 5 night voyage possibly by cancelling another to make a longer one. 

 

It's hard to guess though what Virgin. A lot of people like me have had such good times on board that we're prepared to give them a bit of leniency on these issues! 

It will be our first VV, and we're SO looking forward to it! I'm happy to give leeway as far as changing the itinerary, both because I know it's out of their control and because I'm excited about the prospect of going to new places even if they're not where we originally expected to go. We recently retired and I'm planning to use repositioning cruises extensively to get all over the world with no jet lag! 😄

20 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

3rd leg Barcelona to Athens is on sale now I noticed, nothing particularly special about the pricing I don't think for the 5 night voyage 

I've been watching it unfold because we're booked on the 1st 2 legs of opposite itinerary in the fall: Athens - Dubai and Dubai - Singapore. Hard to imagine the Red Sea will be safe for insurance underwriters by the time they have to make the decision whether to sail that route. 

The Barca - Cape Town let honestly looks pretty exciting to me, but the Athens to Barca? From 14 days down to 5? No thanks. And what they're selling the Barcelona to Athens leg for right now is much less than what we paid for the original 14 day itinerary to Dubai. If we end up with the opposite itinerary, we'd probably just cancel the Athens - Barcelona leg and go Barca - Cape Town. Even though it's months away, it's still kind of maddening to wait. I can't imagine how hard it is to be recalculating plans for everyone on the upcoming April sailing.

On 11/22/2023 at 10:41 AM, igoplaces said:

we are on the star pride in 401 in Jan 2024.  I'll let you know

Thank you! Can't wait to see your thoughts on it, and on the ship in general.

@Doh15 it might be worse than uncomfortable for your travel companion: it could be actually unsafe. I agree with above; no interest in bringing my tourism $$$ to such a place. There's a big difference between being curious about different cultures and financially supporting oppressive dictatorships or monarchies. No thank you.

30 minutes ago, maryanntiger said:

My husband and i were in this cabin on a lower level for a Caribbean cruise.    Motion sickness was not really an issue.  In the lower level, we had a lot of anchor noise.    

Thanks, Maryann. We did discuss the anchor noise, but I don't think it will bother us, since on port days we'll want to be up early anyway - it'll function as an alarm clock! 😉

Great to hear that you didn't experience motion sickness. I just put down the deposit today so we could get the 2025 early booking special. So excited!!

7 hours ago, oakridger said:

Are you susceptible to motion sickness on a ship?  Those cabins are at the very bow of the ship.

 

For me it might be a problem, but some other people are just fine up there!

 

~Nancy

Neither my husband nor I are susceptible to motion sickness - we always take meclazine with us but as yet have never used it! 
I love the idea of having the bed in a separate little alcove, but wasn't sure if there was some downside I was missing, other than the movement of the bow. Thanks!

I've just put a hold on Suite 400 for a 2025 itinerary with the early booking special. Anyone sailed in 400 or 401 more recently and have any comments or advice? I'm so excited to finally try Windstar!!

We did a 21 day transpacific in October and had the opposite experience. The meet and mingle was brilliant, with games even, and we met several people who have since become friends. We just got a Christmas card from some new friends last week!

We went up in the afternoon to hike and stayed for the sunset. It was not at all crowded and felt more peaceful and personal to us. My aunt and uncle lived there when we visited and they would always recommend sunset to avoid the hurried crowds from the resorts. Resorts will always recommend the sunrise tours because they get a cut if you book through them, and you have the whole day to come back and spend money, but we much preferred the experience of sunset.

On 3/23/2022 at 3:33 PM, wendyam76 said:

So my bid on April 3rd Equinox was accepted today for Aqua Class. My family veranda bid expired a couple of weeks ago and this one has been pending since - got it for £200 each!

Wendy

Nice! We're on that cruise, too. I only bid on the FV, but it was really low so I don't expect to get it. Doesn't hurt to try, though!

5 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Update as promised:  After checking twice a day for two weeks, I was surprised by the “Congratulations” email this afternoon.  We are very happy with the location of the cabin and delighted with the deal we got. Apparently I was unable to cancel or modify my bid because it was on the list to be at least considered.  

Congratulations!! Thanks for keeping us posted and enjoy your cruise!

17 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

IMO being near an elevator bank is a plus.  As the staterooms are in a hallway away from the lobby, that has never been an issue with us with noise or other concerns and has been very convenient for access.  Again, just my opinion.  Agree with being under any public deck - always prefer to have one stateroom deck above (and below) our locations.  And just a footnote regarding any assigned bid location - once assigned you can move to another location if available within the assigned category if desired.

Good to know! I guess I was comparing it to being near an elevator in a hotel and hearing the dinging all day and night, but if there are doors separating the area from the hallway that wouldn't be so bad. I just want a quiet place, and don't mind the extra walking, especially with all of the eating and drinking I plan to do on board. 😉

2 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Hopefully the OP will contact their CC company and come back with an update.

Yes! Inquiring minds wanna know! I'm extra curious because we bid on a family veranda, too. Since there are only 4 of them, it seemed  better bet to control for location. Last thing we want is to be under the pool deck or 5 feet from an elevator!

11 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Except that the notification and transaction process typically occurs just a few days prior to sailing.  Not saying that you are incorrect, but that seems a bit early with the OP's cruise still two weeks away.  But anything is possible.  Curious to hear an update from the OP.

True, it typically is, but nothing is typical these days, lol. I'm sailing on the Equinox on April 3, and some people have already had their bids accepted weeks ago. Plus, it never hurts to check. 

28 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I received the MoveUp offer email on January 31 for the March 31 sailing of the Millenium.  I bid only on the family veranda.  I checked my bid approximately two weeks ago, and was unable to modify or cancel my bid.  Yesterday I went back to the original email to look at the current bid ranges and now see “not eligible for upgrade”.   Any ideas about what this might indicate?

It probably means that your bid was accepted, but hasn't shown up yet on the website. If the bid was simply rejected, the other categories should still be open for you to bid. Check your credit card activity to see if it was charged and bon voyage!

On 2/25/2022 at 9:11 AM, Gaynors said:

• Ship:  EQUINOX
• Length of Cruise: 9 Night
• Cruise Sail Date:  3/4/22
• Date email offer received:  2/23/22 - reduced price offer, original offer received in January
• Captain’s Club Tier:   Elite
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA:   TA
• Current Cabin: CAT 10 inside
• Bid?  Yes/No:   YES

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category: Balcony
• Bid Offer:  $175 pp (minimum bid)
• Notification Date:
• Accepted / Rejected - still pending

General Comments (offer details, etc.) - received price drop email 10 days out

Did you receive the price drop email from your TA or from Celebrity directly? (I booked through an online TA (very large well known company) but my agent no longer works there and the person I spoke with told me I should contact X directly with my questions, so I'm not confident that I would get anything from them if there were price drops.)

On 2/24/2022 at 1:08 PM, foxnan said:

My understanding is you do not get the CC points on an upgrade.  Points remain the same.

You do not get the points with a move up bid, but if you simply upgraded in the usual way, you would get the points. They were suggesting that it's better to check first what the cost would be to simply upgrade, and therefore get those points vs. the move up bid and not receiving them, depending on the difference in price it might be worth it.