Effects of Red Sea troubles

[RetroSister]

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.

[Jamesv281117]

55 minutes ago, RetroSister said:

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.

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 will do. 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! 

Edited February 17 by Jamesv281117

[RetroSister]

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! 😄

[Wildcatllamas]

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.

 

[RetroSister]

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.

[Jamesv281117]

1 minute ago, RetroSister said:

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.

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

[onechaiguy]

2 minutes ago, RetroSister said:

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.

 

I am very curious as well as I am scheduled to be on the fall Barcelona - Athens leg, which was an amazing price when it launched. I am wondering if they will send Resilient to the Caribbean instead...

[RetroSister]

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.

[Wildcatllamas]

2 minutes ago, 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

I have points on United but they are outrageous to do a flight from Colorado to Heathrow. I ended up doing British Air in Business class going over and originally in Economy coming back for less then what United was offering. I wasn't going to waste that many points. Then British Air made a snafu and when I called they were very apologetic and offered to move me to Premium Economy on my flight home for all the trouble. I wasn't going to turn that offer down.

 

If VV decides to move Resilient to the Caribbean leaving out of Portsmouth and hitting the ports I'm on currently I would definitely consider that. My boss - mmm not so much. Guidelines have been 16 days max. Guess I could always say it was a sudden change mid-ocean and I had no other option.

[helkatred]

6 hours ago, RetroSister said:

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.

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! 

[RetroSister]

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! 

[helkatred]

10 hours 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.

 

That's an interesting thought.  So we wouldn't be able to get on in Athens anyway!

[Rambo24]

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

[helkatred]

22 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

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

Dodgy?😂😂

[RetroSister]

22 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

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

[Rambo24]

Hah Thanks guys predictive text... The Indian sea can also be a a bit doggy at this time of year. 

[Rambo24]

Has anyone been on deck 14 with Virgin we are basically under the pool.... it it noisy? 

[CineGraphic]

2 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

Has anyone been on deck 14 with Virgin we are basically under the pool.... it it noisy? 

 

The golden rule is, the quietest cabins have cabins above and below them.

Edited February 19 by CineGraphic

[Rambo24]

Thanks, when i originally booked i thought there were cabins above, yes there are just not where we booked in the centre (Mid) ship. Although the suites are not far from our room so i guess  when you pay zillions of dollar's for  one of these rooms.... you would expect them to be quite.  I'm also thinking  the ship may not even be half full.

[Jamesv281117]

We were originally on deck 12 and were rebooked to deck 14 and have changed it to deck 13 which is near enough to the action above but has the buffer of cabins in between 

[Tralfaz1138]

There was a surprisingly decent price on a Brilliant Suite on 14 when I booked our cruise.  I saw on the ship map where 4 of them are under Gorgeous Suite's, so I called to book and was at least able to get one of those.  I imagine the sound on Scarlet Night might still travel but otherwise I'm hoping it works out well.

[Rambo24]

Thanks James and Tralfaz, great feedback, anyone had any indication on how full the ship maybe.  

[Tralfaz1138]

45 minutes ago, Rambo24 said:

Thanks James and Tralfaz, great feedback, anyone had any indication on how full the ship maybe.  

Assuming we're all talking about the 2024 Portsmouth to Barcelona, I'm not sure if anyone really "knows".  At least one person in this thread said, when they called Virgin, they were told it was sold out, but then they were told other things as well.

 

It's not available to book any more, but the last cruise I took stopped being available a number of months before it set sail, but then reappeared a month or so prior.  On board we were told there were about 1900 passengers.  In general, when others have asked how full any particular cruise is, people have told them you can only find out when you're actually on board.

 

[helkatred]

23 hours ago, Rambo24 said:

Has anyone been on deck 14 with Virgin we are basically under the pool.... it it noisy? 

We were on it last week and I think it would be fine, the cabin decks were always quiet when we were looking around. Our cabin was on 5 which was quite handy for sailor services and bars on 6. Only negative was the moving around of furniture in the Red Room after their performances late at night, but obviously the cabin was underneath so not a sensible pick! 

Edited February 20 by helkatred

[Rambo24]

Thanks for the feedback, was she full, i understand Resilient Lady  might not return next year because of the numbers, still has a couple of trips to NZ to go as well before she goes back.