Wildcatllamas

I did find flights that were running about $60 a person one way. Unless I win the Power Ball my work only allows vacations not to exceed 14 days. So that would mean I wouldn't be able to fly to Lisbon and sight see and then on to London for a day of sight seeing. My boss said she could give me a bit of wiggle room but not over an extra 2 days. So I know the frustration.

This is only about the sudden disappearance of all the sailings of Brilliant Lady after April 20th, which includes the April 20th transatlantic. So far all the cruises prior to the April 20th transatlantic all still offered on Virgin's site. So you are good. Enjoy your time on Virgin.

I remember that as well. So now I wonder if they are making changes to cabins and need to adjust the inventory to reflect that. It is all a guessing a game.

So I reached out yesterday to the TA I used to use when my late husband and I traveled a lot. She reached out to her BDM. They confirmed that this sailing is indeed in inventory maintenance and should be back live and ready to book soon. So guess I will be checking daily.

I would love to have them on the West Coast. I just did a search and found a reference to San Diego doing a $5M renovation to their current terminal. This was released back in March. So maybe a small step till they can jump through the hoops to get another pier and terminal for cruise ships. In 2022 there was an article championing Virgins switch to biofuels and a small paragraph of how that would fit into West Coast sailings. Once again - who knows. https://cruisewestcoast.com/sustainability/virgin-voyages-partners-with-sustainable-marine-fuel-providers.html

I was just checking the Celebrity cruise that is close to this cruise. The price is crazy expensive. I haven't had time to call Virgin again and see if I can get anywhere with anyone. We are looking at almost two months since everything for Brilliant disappeared. While I was on vacation I spoke with a couple who have sailed twice on Virgin and were on Scarlet back in April. Now supposedly (we all know how that goes) they were told Brilliant was going to transit the Panama Canal and reposition to West Coast to Hawaii. I would normally say hogwash but with everything having disappeared who knows what could be going on.

I've thought of that as well. The goal was to go to Lisbon so not sure what the others will think about that. I only have so many days I can take at a time at work so have to plan accordingly. We had planned to sight see in Lisbon and then head to London for a couple of days to sight see there.

I just got back from vacation and see that we are still in limbo over this cruise. When I saw the mention of a TA on Celebrity I thought I would check in out. Nope - 3 different browser and it says access in denied. I cleared cookies and still no luck. I will try again on Monday to see if anyone know what is going on with this cruise. What is so strange is there is nothing for Brilliant Lady after the 20th of April. There used to be, because when I was checking on this TA I was thinking of doing a B2B on her there in the Mediterranean. It's like she just goes away.

Well, I tried calling Virgin again and the rep I spoke with once again went to her supervisor. This cruise is still in the inventory department. She said there are several tickets for review that have been put in. So who knows what they are up to.

Thanks for the update CineGraphic. I sure hope Virgin gets this sorted out because 3 friends and I want to go on it.

They also have the TA on 10/29/2023-11/12 on the Valiant Lady from Barcelona to Miami.

Yup, there it is on a Gay website for this particular cruise. So back to the planning board.

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

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

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.

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

That would be great if we can. Of course there may be difficulties if on your first cruise you were in the Mega Rock Star cabin and now you are in a humble Sea Terrace. But if they can reuse them that is a lot less waste.

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

Yeah, I had planned on waiting but I just wanted to get a ball park idea. I'm going to just wait and see what happens because I'm really not interested in Barcelona.

Wow. So this is interesting. I hadn't looked at the summer offers for Brilliant Lady but I had been really looking at the TA. I began pricing airfare yesterday for the TA that Scarlet Lady is doing and couldn't believe the prices just going through various months to get a feel for them. With a $500 credit that isn't even close to covering my cost out of Colorado to Miami and then back from Barcelona. I could get cheaper flights out of London and a pretty cheap flight from Barcelona to London so that might be an option. Guess I will wait and see.

So I was being way to focused on the TA and just didn't pay any attention to the rest. My boss finally gives me permission to be gone longer then 10 days and I have always wanted to go to Lisbon so I was really focused on that. Thanks for the reality check jon81uk!

I finally convinced a friend of mine to do the TA from San Juan to Lisbon the end of April 2024 and now it is gone. But it appears all sailing with the Brilliant Lady are gone from the end of April 2024 through October of 2024. Has anyone heard anything about this.

I am slated to leave on my cruise on Sunday. I had my reservations fully booked months ago. On Tuesday I went to check and all of my dinner reservations, including the Crown Grill (which was paid for) were gone. Talk about a scramble to try and get ones done during the time we wanted to eat dinner. Crown Grill is now fully booked and they couldn't get me back in. So after a lot of back and forth we are doing the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. So if you do have your dinners booked keep an eye on them.

That is so sad. A terrible situation for those directly involved in it.

I would so love them to sail out one of the West Coast ports. So much cheaper and easier for me to get to. The chatter I have been hearing is that Scarlet is due to go into dry dock in late 2024 and that she may "possibly" move to the West Coast. Keeping my fingers crossed.