What happened to Brilliant Lady

[Wildcatllamas]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

According to posts on the Princess forum, and John's own LinkedIn page, he's still president of Princess. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpadgett

Well darn. The travel agent I know told me that he had moved over to NCL. I was all hopeful that Princess would improve. Guess not.

[diva.diva56]

Has anyone heard any more on this transatlantic cruise?

[Fogcityca13]

Just saw that someone was able to load their Brilliant Lady sailing on the app. I can’t confirm, the switch voyages feature does not seem to work while on board. I plan on swinging by the get lost desk today and asking.

[neverendingcruising]

You definitely cannot switch voyages while on a voyage unless something changed. We did back to back on Valiant last year and were unable to look ahead to the next voyage. 

[DrSch]

10 minutes ago, neverendingcruising said:

You definitely cannot switch voyages while on a voyage unless something changed. We did back to back on Valiant last year and were unable to look ahead to the next voyage. 

Confused.  Does that mean you couldn't prebook dinners and such for the second leg?

[neverendingcruising]

We pre booked 45 days out so that wasn't an issue. We could switch back and forth just fine until the first voyage of the B2B started. But once it started we weren't able to switch anymore. More an annoyance than anything, after some asking around at sailor services they figured out how to look up our bookings for the next voyage since we had forgot what they were. 

[Fogcityca13]

6 minutes ago, DrSch said:

Confused.  Does that mean you couldn't prebook dinners and such for the second leg?

You only get locked out while on board another cruise. Currently aboard Greek Gems and cannot switch voyages. I was able to switch voyages before we boarded.

[DrSch]

24 minutes ago, Fogcityca13 said:

You only get locked out while on board another cruise. Currently aboard Greek Gems and cannot switch voyages. I was able to switch voyages before we boarded.

I think, ( could  be wrong) if you disconnect from their wifi, (if off the cruise at a port where data isn't too much) you can access everything

[Fogcityca13]

24 minutes ago, DrSch said:

I think, ( could  be wrong) if you disconnect from their wifi, (if off the cruise at a port where data isn't too much) you can access everything

That make sense, we’re currently at sea, so stuck on the ships connection.

 

I had a chat about Brilliant and they are totally aware of the rumors and stress. Currently, they plan to make an announcement about itineraries at the end of August. They said that the TA is still going as planned. They teased about some new itineraries, but we’ll have to wait until they make the official announcement.

[Wildcatllamas]

42 minutes ago, Fogcityca13 said:

 Currently, they plan to make an announcement about itineraries at the end of August. 

So now it is the end of August. Well, I won't be holding my breath.

[aqlollipop]

7 hours ago, Fogcityca13 said:

Just saw that someone was able to load their Brilliant Lady sailing on the app.

I'm booked on the San Juan mermaiden and the app still says the ladyship isn't loaded in yet. At least for me.

[neverendingcruising]

6 hours ago, DrSch said:

I think, ( could  be wrong) if you disconnect from their wifi, (if off the cruise at a port where data isn't too much) you can access everything

When we were sailing it didn't matter if we were onboard or shore, it just seemed to be the fact that we were currently on a voyage. 

[aviators99]

28 minutes ago, neverendingcruising said:

When we were sailing it didn't matter if we were onboard or shore, it just seemed to be the fact that we were currently on a voyage. 

I concur. I consider this a bug and would be a real problem if you hit the 46 day mark for a future cruise while you are on a current one. 

[jon81uk]

1 minute ago, aviators99 said:

I concur. I consider this a bug and would be a real problem if you hit the 46 day mark for a future cruise while you are on a current one. 

That’s going to be incredibly rare though, I don’t expect anyone is often cruising that frequently.

It’s probably more annoying for those dong back to back who can’t recheck the schedule for the following week. 

[aviators99]

Just now, jon81uk said:

That’s going to be incredibly rare though, I don’t expect anyone is often cruising that frequently.

 

Hah!  You're in the wrong group!  Didn't quite happen to me, but it was pretty close.

[diva.diva56]

Are they really waiting until end of August to expand Brilliant Lady voyages and decide on the April 2024 transatlantic?? This is crazy. Does anyone know what's going on with Brilliant Lady?

[Fogcityca13]

They could announce something earlier as well. I did hear the TA was still going forward. What Brilliant does after the TA is the question. I honestly would rather they take the time to build new itineraries rather then cancel or modify them after booking. Anything other than the official word from Virgin is just speculation, you have to take it for what it is. 
 

Conneted to cell service and shut off WiFi. APP drops lots of functionality when on a voyage and not connected to the ships WiFi. Can’t even tap trough to settings. On ship WiFi and cell service, I’m still seeing the switch voyage option on available. Looks like an intended design function. My hope would be that on board sailor services are able to make reservations for you if were in that situation. 

[cantgetin]

On 5/29/2023 at 2:55 PM, _tacocat_ said:

The smaller ship size can fit through the older (cheaper) locks/canal/whatever you call it.

This is true, but. the VV ships are too big for the old locks.  The old locks are 110 feet wide; the Disney Magic was specifically built at 106 feet to allow her to fit thru the old locks...and I can attest that it is a tight squeeze.  At 125 feet in width, the VV ships are limited to the new locks.

[roj2323]

29 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

This is true, but. the VV ships are too big for the old locks.  The old locks are 110 feet wide; the Disney Magic was specifically built at 106 feet to allow her to fit thru the old locks...and I can attest that it is a tight squeeze.  At 125 feet in width, the VV ships are limited to the new locks.

The modifications to the ship are to make the sides flatter so they can be moored against the side of the locks.  The original ship design has some overhangs on deck 7, the lifeboats, the center area (where you typically get on the ship (in Miami), and the aft end by what they call "the dock".   I circled them for clarity in blue. 

[roj2323]

Here's a photo of Brilliant showing the changes.  The lifeboat rigging sits past vertical meaning that the lifeboats will sit further into the ship. The center area is flush with the side of the ship, and the tail end doesn't have the overhang either. 

[cantgetin]

19 minutes ago, roj2323 said:

The modifications to the ship are to make the sides flatter so they can be moored against the side of the locks.  The original ship design has some overhangs on deck 7, the lifeboats, the center area (where you typically get on the ship (in Miami), and the aft end by what they call "the dock".   I circled them for clarity in blue. 

So are you saying that these changes are enough to reduce the width to  less than 110 feet to fit thru the old locks?  The new locks are 180 feet wide, so 125 on VV ships is no problem.  The cost difference to take a ship thru the old vs. new is quite significant, but there is the issue that cruisers want to see the new set up.  I'm guessing that it is also easier to get a reservation to go thru the old locks.

[notme2012]

My FB Messenger convo with VV:

 

Sorry that is NOT a sufficient answer to me. I am booked on the Brilliant Lady on April 20th. Rumors have been floating around that you going to cancel the Brilliant Lady's Europe itineraries. Now is the time to tell us the truth!!! I have to get airfares purchased and so on. I NEED TO KNOW NOW!

 

Virgin Voyages

 

Please send us your booking number and full name, as we'd love to take a deeper dive into this for you.

Fri 2:51 PM

Virgin Voyages

 

Thanks so much for confirming your booking info. After chatting this over with our Crew behind the scenes, there have been no talks of any cancellation for your voyage embarking April 20, 2024 (Brilliant Lady) from San Juan

 

So the lies continue....

Edited July 23, 2023 by notme2012

[librarylady19]

Right! How do they explain the fact that the ship is not scheduled to be in any of the ports on the TA or Lisbon.

[Freelancer3]

28 minutes ago, librarylady19 said:

Right! How do they explain the fact that the ship is not scheduled to be in any of the ports on the TA or Lisbon.

Am I understanding correctly that the April '24 TA is not showing scheduled on the port dock reservations in Lisbon or the other stops prior?

[HBCcruiser]

Does anyone have any updates on the ship? We are scheduled for the Mermaiden voyage but the App is not functioning and I’m hearing crickets regarding our cruise and the ship from VV.  Anyone in the “know”?