Any successes on new itineraries bookings?

[Yinster]

I know many of you are in the same boat as me which is definitely not on Brilliant lady. But had their cruise cancelled and are looking to rebook. 

 

Since we were traveling with another couple, we spent Friday chatting what cruise and date suits everyone so we can hopefully travel again. Both paid RS cabins.

 

Our TA has hopefully submitted our form for one of the new itineraries whilst our friends submitted their own so now like many we are now waiting  for when they go through them 

 

It will be nice to see who has been successful in getting their choice

 

And a big thank you to those who had valuable information regarding all this. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Yinster

[Yinster]

New itineraries are now live on the VV website. Though there are still wee glitches.

 

Very expensive cabins till you actually go into the cruise and search the actual cabin you want. Then prices are normal

Edited September 11, 2023 by Yinster

[CruisingWalter]

With the amount of people who submitted requests, I would suspect you will be hearing back from VV between today and Wednesday on the results. Good luck! 🙂 

[DAP2]

I was able to rebook via phone on Saturday morning. I went from a 6 day ($2,800ish) Carribean to a 14 day Dubai ($7500ish). The agent held to make sure I received my confirmation email with booking number and I was surprised to see it also had my new cabin assigned. I voluntarily downgraded from a central sea terrace to limited-view sea terrace. She said it had to go to the displacement team next to apply my sailor loot and partial-refund (which I couldn't see why they'd give me money back).

 

As the fall Dubai repositioning cruise was released this morning, I now see why I'd be getting a refund along with my rebooking. A limited-view sea terrace when booked this far out, is $2,745. So, I'm expecting a small refund and my $600 in new loot. I keep my $300 bar tab too. Even with no additional refund, we'll be paying $70/person/night on the (at the moment) newest ship. Still very pleased. 

[herdfans4]

Just an update for us. 

 

Found SAS rock star on 3/16/23 7 night from San Juan.  same room as before.  Looks like plenty of RS suites left on this sailing for some reason.  Glad I was able to rebook the same cabin and I do like the itinerary. Good luck to everyone that is trying to rebook today.

[def0715]

DAP2, which Dubai sailing is that? Is it Dubai to Athens?

[cantgetin]

There is an amazing price on the 9 night Spain to Greece in October 2024.

I watched the cruise I might be interested in increase in price.  I saw it, clicked on the Sea Terrace, got the 3 options, clicked on one, and got an error message.  Started over and did it all again and it went thru, but the baseline cabin fare before taxes was $300 more than a few minutes earlier.  No worries, there are no accessible cabins available at the moment.

[Yinster]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There is an amazing price on the 9 night Spain to Greece in October 2024.
 

That's the one we submit our form for. Not heard anything back yet. My partner had been watching all day and as the day passed, the number of RS cabin decreased till there were none. Not hopefully at all

[cantgetin]

1 minute ago, Yinster said:

That's the one we submit our form for. Not heard anything back yet. My partner had been watching all day and as the day passed, the number of RS cabin decreased till there were none. Not hopefully at all

My TA has been working on forms and now reservations since the first announcement.  I suspect is a matter of the time stamp on your form....good luck!

[Fogcityca13]

My TA is working on it. Decided to push the rebooking to 2025 in hopes we can rebook with a cheeky corner suite. We’ll make a decision on doing a shorter curse in March 2024. I wanted to maximize the rebooking perks with a longer cruise in the same cabin class. 

[DAP2]

6 hours ago, def0715 said:

DAP2, which Dubai sailing is that? Is it Dubai to Athens?

 

Yes, Dubai to Athens Sping 2024. Current price is over $7,000 for the same cabin and itinerary that's going the opposite direction in Fall 2024 for under $3,000. Main take away from this whole process for me is to book sailings the day the come out (more than a year in advance) and then watch for price drops....lol. 

[def0715]

Thanks. I was interested in Dubai to Athens ($7,000-ish) in April. Was confused about which Dubai one is only $3,000. Some of these itineraries are pretty great.

[kristinp36]

I called today and now have the New Zealand to Australia on hold. The rep I spoke to said initially it would show as a hold and then they have a team of people working hard to move over the price, confirm the booking, add our old bar tab and loot, etc. My on-line account already has a room number so I am hopeful it all works out. My travel agent had too many bookings and asked us all to handle the changes if we were comfortable. I will be having her handle any issues we might run into if things are not confirmed by Friday. 

 

Excited to go from a 7 night Caribbean to a 12 night to places I have yet to travel too for the same price.... with the exception of the airfare.  

 

Next to call our insurance to see if they will port over the policy or not.

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, DAP2 said:

Main take away from this whole process for me is to book sailings the day the come out (more than a year in advance) and then watch for price drops....lol. 

And price drops DO happen.  We were able to save $400 + add a $600 bar tab with a cancel and rebook on a cruise that we thought was well priced when we booked it.  interestingly, the price has steadily increased since we rebooked.

[DAP2]

3 hours ago, def0715 said:

Thanks. I was interested in Dubai to Athens ($7,000-ish) in April. Was confused about which Dubai one is only $3,000. Some of these itineraries are pretty great.

 

It's the October 2024 sailing. Inside cabins are less than $2,000.

[Yinster]

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

And price drops DO happen.  We were able to save $400 + add a $600 bar tab with a cancel and rebook on a cruise that we thought was well priced when we booked it.  interestingly, the price has steadily increased since we rebooked.

That would dynamic pricing. Most companies do it. Supply and demand. More want it, price increase. It will be interesting to see what price they price your cabin in the transfer

[simrox9]

Question that I'm not clear on. Does each person on the reservation need to submit a rebooking form or does just one person and they'll automatically add everyone that is under that existing booking number? 

[Lustate]

Booked one voyage yesterday (across the med in Rockstar), and now just going to wait for 2024 and the announcement of the Brilliant Lady routes. 

 

Hope everyone else got sorted pretty quickly and was not disappointed at the prices and options. 

[CruisingWalter]

20 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There is an amazing price on the 9 night Spain to Greece in October 2024.

 

There are amazing prices across the board on those new itineraries. Especially in Europe.

 

My only disappointment with the new itineraries is they did not add any longer Caribbean itineraries when we only have one ship in Miami. I was really hoping to see a few 7, 10's and maybe even one 14 day itinerary sprinkled in there to mix it up with the 5's and 4s. Just literally repeating the same 5 and 4 over and over with the one ship does get old. Especially when you don't have that 4 month Brilliant Lady option in San Juan for the Southern Caribbean option in 2024. 

[CruisingWalter]

8 hours ago, simrox9 said:

Question that I'm not clear on. Does each person on the reservation need to submit a rebooking form or does just one person and they'll automatically add everyone that is under that existing booking number? 

 

Just one form per booking. 

[CruisingWalter]

13 hours ago, cantgetin said:

And price drops DO happen.  We were able to save $400 + add a $600 bar tab with a cancel and rebook on a cruise that we thought was well priced when we booked it

 

Incredibly rare for VV, that price drop at the beginning of this month was practically unheard of for VV. In general the first month a booking is open is the cheapest you're going to get the VV staterooms. It's basically the Disney model that Tom McAlpin brought over from DCL. After the first month, staterooms slowly inch up.  Our Valiant Lady Thanksgiving cruise was selling at 2.5X the original cruise fare by the time it sold out. 

[kristinp36]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There are amazing prices across the board on those new itineraries. Especially in Europe.

 

My only disappointment with the new itineraries is they did not add any longer Caribbean itineraries when we only have one ship in Miami. I was really hoping to see a few 7, 10's and maybe even one 14 day itinerary sprinkled in there to mix it up with the 5's and 4s. Just literally repeating the same 5 and 4 over and over with the one ship does get old. Especially when you don't have that 4 month Brilliant Lady option in San Juan for the Southern Caribbean option in 2024. 

Agreed.... we waited until we could review the new sailing in the Caribbean before we committed to our change. Disappointed to see the short itineraries in the Caribbean. We have to fly to our sailings so we try to do 7+ days only to make it worth it. 

[red lobster]

I was on the fence about rebooking or asking for the refund, but decided to request the 8 day Valliant Lady, submitted my form this morning. I booked the original cruise on Brilliant Lady out of San Juan to try Virgin for the 1st time, I hope the ports aren't disappointing, I've never been to Puerto Plata, St. Croix or Bimini. I saw so many great options, but flights to New Zealand are so high from where I live. Thank you all for being helpful and sharing information, and shout out to Cruising Walter for always giving us his expertise here.

[Freelancer3]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

Incredibly rare for VV, that price drop at the beginning of this month was practically unheard of for VV. In general the first month a booking is open is the cheapest you're going to get the VV staterooms. It's basically the Disney model that Tom McAlpin brought over from DCL. After the first month, staterooms slowly inch up.  Our Valiant Lady Thanksgiving cruise was selling at 2.5X the original cruise fare by the time it sold out. 

Agree normally, but the 2025 Caribbean Sea Terrace first day pricing (from memory) is higher than I would expect. 

 

Interestingly, today, no 2025 dates are showing on the website using my login. Im sure its a fluke and will be back soon (I did log out and back in).

[Freelancer3]

Encouragement to those concerned about it taking a while to rebook:

 

 

This was my 4th cruise cancelled by VV. I was never disappointed by the prior three rebookings. I anticipate this number 4 to go as smooth as the prior 3. I am waiting for for final confirmation as most of you.