Virgin Removes 24/25 Oz Cruises?

[springaussie]

One the bloggers has posted elsewhere! 

“Virgin Voyages has temporarily removed all of its second Australian season itineraries from sale while it reviews the itineraries.”

 

[MicCanberra]

Ah well, It was nice while it lasted 

[OzKiwiJJ]

With whatever is happening in Melbourne to cause the cruise lines to stop homeporting there, plus the limited capacity in Sydney, it's not surprising.

[mr walker]

Hopefully they are revising the itineraries to make them more roundtrip than different start/end points and a little longer.

 

We have a FCC (or whatever they call it) to be used within 2 years and am looking for a Syd/Syd cruise for maybe 7 days.

[onlyslightlymad]

Well I hope not as I am booked on a December 2024 cruise.  Also, it was pretty booked up, so that wouldn't make sense to me.

I just checked and they are all still for sale, so I don't really understand.

[redransom]

Perhaps the issues with the Middle East? Repositioning through the Suez Canal is currently problematic and may be a concern.

[MMDown Under]

Talk on the ship, when I was on board, was a move to shorter cruises.

 

There was concern about the rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea. ??
 

I am interested in a longer cruise from Singapore to Fremantle in November, 2024.

[sewgood]

Short cruises of three or four days aren't worth my time or the cost of getting to Sydney/Melbourne for me.

I interesting to see what happens if they redo the itineraries.

 

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, springaussie said:

One the bloggers has posted elsewhere! 

“Virgin Voyages has temporarily removed all of its second Australian season itineraries from sale while it reviews the itineraries.”

 

For all of the media blitz since the ship arrived, it is not translating into a good volume of forward bookings. It was always going to take time to establish goodwill & repeat customers, but they are still falling short. So far I have held off from making a booking, as it seems they change their minds too often:

Melbourne base, oh no it isn't selling, lets cancel some cruises and add Sydney,

You can't use Velocity points, oh wait, now you can,

Other perks added on the run that weren't there early doors - bar tabs, reciprocal loyalty benefits,

And now a possibility of more changes on cruises next season. When they can settle down, I will take a look, also considering we already have cruises booked for 24/25 and 25/26.

 

The Suez Canal will likely affect their relocation back to Europe and potentially the relocation back late this year. It might also affect a couple of cruises early next season due to the altered relocation. Potentially though, if they are finding it too hard to make money in Sydney & Melbourne, they might find it easier to ditch us all together and head to the Caribbean. After all, next season already sees Princess & Royal Caribbean each dropping a ship.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Pricing will need to fall if they want consistent bookings no matter how nice the ship is. Once people have tried it once they will return to cruising with the cheaper lines.

[cruisine21]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Pricing will need to fall if they want consistent bookings no matter how nice the ship is. Once people have tried it once they will return to cruising with the cheaper lines.

Have you cruised on Virgin Mic?

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, cruisine21 said:

Have you cruised on Virgin Mic?

Not as yet, but time will tell. If pricing does come down enough before they depart it may happen.

[springaussie]

The biggest thing I am waiting for to book on Virgin Cruises is Status Credits for my Velocity Frequent Flyer. 
 

[icat2000]

13 hours ago, sewgood said:

Short cruises of three or four days aren't worth my time or the cost of getting to Sydney/Melbourne for me.

I interesting to see what happens if they redo the itineraries.

 

Same. Ok if they ported out of Melbourne. But when you have to fly to Sydney. You got flights, accommodation, meals, taxis it all can add up to extra $1000. Or make a rookie mistake like I did a Xmas and forgot our passports got to airport and only realised. Had to turn back to Ballarat to fetch them. Missed our flights. Had to buy new flights same day with Qantas and that cost us $800. Couldn't claim on insurance. 

Edited January 31 by icat2000

[springaussie]

St Maarten cruise schedule has bookings for Resilient Lady has port bookings December 2024 and March 2025. 

[mum and son]

I would love to cruise with Virgin but there is nothing about the itineraries that appeals to me. As others have said, I don't want to pay flights for a short cruise and booking B2Bs is far too many $$ for my stingy wallet.

[SinbadThePorter]

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Pricing will need to fall if they want consistent bookings no matter how nice the ship is. Once people have tried it once they will return to cruising with the cheaper lines.

 

Agreed. I'm on Resilient Lady right now and she's a beautiful ship. But I got on board with discounted fares, there's no way in hell I would pay full fare.

 

The food is good, but so it is on other lines. Service is excellent, but so it is on other lines. The less said about the itinerary, the better.

 

The ship is attractive with an industrial vibe. The cabins are functional, but with some truly bone headed design decisions. Pools are pretty pathetic.

 

All in all, a nice cruise at a pretty outrageous list price that puts it in competition with the luxury brands and where it comes off second best.

 

I can see myself booking my next cruise on Princess without a backward glance.

 

[fixi]

This would be annoying since we just bought their next cruise offer last week. We are most certainly not travelling half way around the world to use it. 

 

Oh well. 

[CountessCookie]

Has anyone else gone to check? I just looked at their website and I can still see Australian cruises listed for summer 24/25. I can't say none have been removed, but not all.

[Luvsbooks]

We've just disembarked off the Resilient Lady in Melbourne today. When onboard 2 days ago, we asked about the 2024/25 AU/NZ season as we were interested in booking a NZ cruise covering the Sounds. At the 'Get Lost' sales desk we were advised that all AU/NZ itineraries were under review and that even if I purchased a MNVV then, she couldn't book us on any AU/NZ sailings next summer. We did get the MNVV, but still have 5 days to cancel it for a full refund (which we're considering doing given all the uncertainty around what they're doing). I do hope they retain some cruises out of Melbourne next summer as going to Sydney simply isn't worth it. 

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Agreed. I'm on Resilient Lady right now and she's a beautiful ship. But I got on board with discounted fares, there's no way in hell I would pay full fare.

 

The food is good, but so it is on other lines. Service is excellent, but so it is on other lines. The less said about the itinerary, the better.

 

The ship is attractive with an industrial vibe. The cabins are functional, but with some truly bone headed design decisions. Pools are pretty pathetic.

 

All in all, a nice cruise at a pretty outrageous list price that puts it in competition with the luxury brands and where it comes off second best.

 

I can see myself booking my next cruise on Princess without a backward glance.

 

I guess that sums up a fair bit of my thoughts too. The PR fizz usually goes up my nose, and their social media tells outright lies about the first cruise line to do this or that. They are not reinventing cruising, just reimagining or styling parts of it. A 4 star product at a 6 star price isn't going to get up the gangway.

[MicCanberra]

22 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I guess that sums up a fair bit of my thoughts too. The PR fizz usually goes up my nose, and their social media tells outright lies about the first cruise line to do this or that. They are not reinventing cruising, just reimagining or styling parts of it. A 4 star product at a 6 star price isn't going to get up the gangway.

The hype was always going to work to some extent, I was tempted until I saw the itineraries and the prices. A new ship just isn't enough for me nowadays.

[Relaxing Robbies]

We boarded Resilient Lady today and so far we are very happy.  Boarding in Melbourne was our easiest boarding at this port ever. The staff actually strictly enforced the boarding times, so boarding was very smooth. Had 3 free glasses of bubbly at the sailaway party and it was actually drinkable! We ate at  The Wake tonight and were very impressed with the food and service. Saw a show tonight that was so full of energy it was great. Only downside was that we had to stand for the whole hour performance because there was only very limited seating provided and it was only on the upper level.

 

We did purchase our cruise with Velocity points and it was a real bargain.

[mr walker]

We ignored the original hype, including the TV 'doco' & expected that Virgin Voyages would not be something we would do.

 

My sister & BIL recently did a Mel-Burnie-Hobart-Mel cruise and raved about the whole cruise experience - they have done several cruises on various lines. So taken with the experience, she called me from the ship saying that she just bought a FCC (or whatever Virgin call it) for US$300 (A$450) which counts as deposit on future cruise, a US$300 discount on the fare & US$600 OBC. She said she can get one for us - same deal.

 

We bit the bullet and said go ahead - another sister & BIL also did the same. You only live once, right?

 

So, we have invested A$450 & now have to try and find a cruise that suits before end-Jan '26 & we will then become 'sailors' - ahoy, matey. Our placeholder cruise shows as departing Miami 1st Jan 2050 😮 One thing I need to understand is that it seems pretty much all is included in the fare, so how do we spend $600 OBC on a 3-4-5 night cruise??

 

Let's see how this all goes!!!!

[onlyslightlymad]

19 hours ago, fixi said:

This would be annoying since we just bought their next cruise offer last week. We are most certainly not travelling half way around the world to use it. 

 

Oh well. 

I have a cruise booked in December.  I haven't heard anything yet. ?