What happened to Brilliant Lady

[trippingpara]

3 minutes ago, B747Purdue said:

My January was moved to Valiant...is OK.  My April being cancelled...is also OK.  Being able to switch to a 14 Day Transatlantic, in the same XL Sea Terrace, for no extra charge is amazing. 

 

I thought I had reached the end of my literal wave, considering I booked a single cruise in a Solo Sea View in 2020 and now I've ended up with five sailings in XL Sea Terrace's for no extra $$ out of pocket, I can't complain. 

 

I realize not everyone is in the same boat (another pun), although many likely are.  The Virgin Saga continues for us that have stuck with it since the beginning.

There are no XL Terraces available on the other TA.  They sold out a long time ago.  I tried to move over when BL's TA disappeared and was told no joy.  Only standard Terraces are available on the other TA.

[CineGraphic]

2 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

It's not a more popular port

 

The itinerary is more attractive....with ports they don't get to from Miami based sailings.

[Lustate]

1 minute ago, Tolkmit said:

 

It's not a more popular port; the newest ship always sells better than it's predecessors. Now they lose all the bookings from Valiant, plus inevitably some of the bookings from Brilliant because of switching ships.

 

It's a rookie mistake, one Virgin is unlikely to repeat in the future after it hits their bottom line.

I mean, are people really bothered about the age of the ships in this case given the oldest is only from August 2021? They are near identical, and it is a spot the difference game between them.

[Lustate]

3 minutes ago, trippingpara said:

There are no XL Terraces available on the other TA.  They sold out a long time ago.  I tried to move over when BL's TA disappeared and was told no joy.  Only standard Terraces are available on the other TA.

having stayed in suites, XL sea terrace and standard sea terrace, I can confirm it’s not really that big a deal between XL and standard. I was concerned about it for a longer voyage, but after the latest we did, I don’t think it would stop me going or remove any of the joy. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Lustate

[aviators99]

Can those of us canceled off the Dec 24 Brilliant book the 44-day reposition at the same price?

[gentscruising]

1 minute ago, aviators99 said:

Can those of us canceled off the Dec 24 Brilliant book the 44-day reposition at the same price?

Good question! It says any itinerary.

 

[Tolkmit]

4 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The itinerary is more attractive....with ports they don't get to from Miami based sailings.

 

If that were true, then cruises going those places on other lines would similarly have higher booking rates. They don't. However, pretty much every cruise line does see better booking rates on their newest ship.

[CanadianCruiser21]

4 minutes ago, aviators99 said:

Can those of us canceled off the Dec 24 Brilliant book the 44-day reposition at the same price?

No, I checked. 
The options are already listed on the form when you click on the link in the email to rebook.

they break up the 44 day repositioning into smaller cruises. 

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, Lustate said:

having stayed in suites, XL sea terrace and standard sea terrace, I can confirm it’s not really that big a deal between XL and standard. I was concerned about it for a longer voyage, but after the latest we did, I don’t think it would stop me going or remove any of the joy. 

While the room is the same the bathroom is 2X the size on the XL terrace and really nice. The XL terrace is worth the bigger bathroom.

[Tolkmit]

3 minutes ago, aviators99 said:

Can those of us canceled off the Dec 24 Brilliant book the 44-day reposition at the same price?

 

It's very unlikely there is one 44 night re-positioning cruise. Resilient is spending 44 nights re-positioning in October of 24; but that doesn't mean one cruise, it means 3 separate consecutive re-positioning cruises, just like it's doing in April of 24.

[jon81uk]

9 minutes ago, aviators99 said:

Can those of us canceled off the Dec 24 Brilliant book the 44-day reposition at the same price?

There is no 44 night repositioning, it takes that long to get from Athens to Australia but they sell it as three cruises, Athens to Dubai, Dubai to Singapore and Singapore to Sydney. You could pick one of the three and they  have soldout in 2023.

[gentscruising]

2 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

No, I checked. 
The options are already listed on the form when you click on the link in the email to rebook.

they break up the 44 day repositioning into smaller cruises. 

You're right. I see that the longest cruise available is 16 nights.

[Lustate]

4 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

It's very unlikely there is one 44 night re-positioning cruise. Resilient is spending 44 nights re-positioning in October of 24; but that doesn't mean one cruise, it means 3 separate consecutive re-positioning cruises, just like it's doing in April of 24.

 Correct, it’s 2 x 15 nights and 1x 14 night if memory serves me right. 

[AlaskaNewbie68]

24 minutes ago, Lustate said:

14th of January to the 19th of January has mega and rockstar available for booking. Not what you originally had planned but it’s the same cabins and period etc. 

Thanks...if you mean the Riviera one, definitely not the itinerary we want. Appreciate it. 

[scubagal44]

13 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

If that were true, then cruises going those places on other lines would similarly have higher booking rates. They don't. However, pretty much every cruise line does see better booking rates on their newest ship.

 

Lol I can tell you that I booked my Brilliant itinerary based on itinerary/ports alone, as the Brilliant's Caribbean itineraries were far superior to the other ships' ports. I truly couldn't care less that I'll now be on Valiant instead. It's a like for like swap, the ships were always going to be near-identical. 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

32 minutes ago, ghostshark said:

they chose to inconvenience the people who *didn't* gamble on a new ship being ready to sail on time, to pay off the people who *did* gamble

Seems as though in this example, booking a cruise is always a gamble and no one is guaranteed anything until the date of sailing. 

[Tolkmit]

14 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser21 said:

No, I checked. 
The options are already listed on the form when you click on the link in the email to rebook.

they break up the 44 day repositioning into smaller cruises. 

 

I'm curious, does another set of re-positioning for Resilient in April of 2025 show up as well? She is likely doing the same thing in reverse then, but I wonder if it will be included in this set of itinerary releases, or not be out for a while.

[WanderingBrit]

1 minute ago, scubagal44 said:

 

Lol I can tell you that I booked my Brilliant itinerary based on itinerary/ports alone, as the Brilliant's Caribbean itineraries were far superior to the other ships' ports. I truly couldn't care less that I'll now be on Valiant instead. It's a like for like swap, the ships were always going to be near-identical. 

Exactly the same with us!

[Swells1]

1 minute ago, scubagal44 said:

 

Lol I can tell you that I booked my Brilliant itinerary based on itinerary/ports alone, as the Brilliant's Caribbean itineraries were far superior to the other ships' ports. I truly couldn't care less that I'll now be on Valiant instead. It's a like for like swap, the ships were always going to be near-identical. 

Same here. I didn’t even realize Brilliant was a new build when I booked her. It wasn’t until weeks later when I couldn’t find any ship porn that a figured it out. 

[ghostshark]

2 minutes ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Seems as though in this example, booking a cruise is always a gamble and no one is guaranteed anything until the date of sailing. 

it's apparently much more of a gamble on Virgin than other cruise lines

[CanadianCruiser21]

This is the first time VV didn’t offer any FVC.

Overall, the people who got their cruise for a super low price potentially benefit the most as they can book Sydney to Singapore or one of those other $10k+ cruises. 
 

Those who booked at more recent prices and are switching to something similar get $300-$600 in loot depending on when they book. 
 

I still hope VV offers a FVC option in the coming weeks to add some flexibility with newer promotions and changing cabin categories. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

5 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

 

I'm curious, does another set of re-positioning for Resilient in April of 2025 show up as well? She is likely doing the same thing in reverse then, but I wonder if it will be included in this set of itinerary releases, or not be out for a while.

No, it only lists up to March 2025, and they are all AU and NZ area cruises up to then. 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

2 minutes ago, ghostshark said:

it's apparently much more of a gamble on Virgin than other cruise lines

Not really.  Mechanical issues, weather, illness, natural disasters and charters can cause any sailing on any line to be interrupted. It’s life. 

[ghostshark]

1 minute ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Not really.  Mechanical issues, weather, illness, natural disasters and charters can cause any sailing on any line to be interrupted. It’s life. 

Sure, except those are problems that cause a cancellation for the affected ship. Less common to get cancelled for a problem with a ship that I'm not even booked on.

[Tolkmit]

2 minutes ago, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

Not really.  Mechanical issues, weather, illness, natural disasters and charters can cause any sailing on any line to be interrupted. It’s life. 

 

Those are rare occurrences. Virgin having a ship ready on time is a coin flip.