Virgin Removes 24/25 Oz Cruises?

[CountessCookie]

1 hour ago, Mark_UK said:

https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-reroutes-resilient-lady-due-to-red-sea-tensions/?utm_content=cmp-true

 

Also the route back to Australia in October and all Aus/NZ sailings for next season seem to have been taken off sale... 

Thank you for the update. The article says we should hear the decision on the return for next season by end of February. So, not too long of a wait, but considering they have removed sailings it isn't looking good.

[aussielozzie18]

This morning - Posted by admin of our VV forum that all 3 legs from Sydney have been cancelled.  New route will go via Africa. TAs have just been informed so I would assume cruisers impacted will be informed directly very soon.  Check to the VV website for more details of this announcement.

Edited February 9 by aussielozzie18

[arxcards]

New itinerary following departure from Sydney = Eden, Fremantle, Port Louis, Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Praia, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Casablanca, Barcelona, Valletta, Santorini, Piraeus.

 

Those doing all 3 legs will still get a cruise.

[Chiliburn]

31 minutes ago, arxcards said:

New itinerary following departure from Sydney = Eden, Fremantle, Port Louis, Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Praia, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Casablanca, Barcelona, Valletta, Santorini, Piraeus.

 

Those doing all 3 legs will still get a cruise.

That would be hard trip punching into the prevailing weather .

 

Any idea if it’s coming back next season or whatever?

Edited February 9 by Chiliburn

[arxcards]

19 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

That would be hard trip punching into the prevailing weather .

 

Any idea if it’s coming back next season or whatever?

All ships that are skipping the Red Sea really have no choice but to head west.

 

Personally I have no idea Chili, except I believe they are considering an alternative homeport.

[mr walker]

I'm hoping for a 5-6N roundtrip from Sydney in 1st half Dec '25 - don't really care where it goes. 

[Chiliburn]

13 minutes ago, mr walker said:

I'm hoping for a 5-6N roundtrip from Sydney in 1st half Dec '25 - don't really care where it goes. 

I’m thinking virgin and Disney are taking some business off Royal Caribbean and that’s one of the reasons we only have two ships next season.

[CountessCookie]

31 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I’m thinking virgin and Disney are taking some business off Royal Caribbean and that’s one of the reasons we only have two ships next season.

I imagine the other lines with ships down here will be happy if Virgin stays away. I'm already looking at which cruises have 4-6 nights from Sydney this January thru March. 

Edited February 9 by CountessCookie

[shireboi]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

I'm hoping for a 5-6N roundtrip from Sydney in 1st half Dec '25 - don't really care where it goes. 

 

after they have based their AU departures for the 1st season out of Melbourne ???  

[CountessCookie]

33 minutes ago, shireboi said:

 

after they have based their AU departures for the 1st season out of Melbourne ???  

They did have a few round trips starting from Sydney next season.

[aussielozzie18]

New route announced today to avoid the Middle East conflict.

[mr walker]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I’m thinking virgin and Disney are taking some business off Royal Caribbean and that’s one of the reasons we only have two ships next season.

New competition is surely one reason , but I think the decisions were made before Disney or VV had a chance to make too much difference. Overall competition, priorities in other markets, falling $A, environmental pressures & lack of Sydney wharf capacity would all likely be part of it.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, CountessCookie said:

I imagine the other lines with ships down here will be happy if Virgin stays away. I'm already looking at which cruises have 4-6 nights from Sydney this January thru March. 

That is natural. Virgin wants a slice of the market, and existing brands will compete to protect their slice. Virgin thought it would be an easier nut to crack than they are finding. Princess & P&O now have itineraries released up to 30 months ahead to commit potential passengers, while Virgin is a year behind that and also made itinerary changes on the run for this season. While those established brands have itineraries locked in for April 2026, Virgin isn't 100% about what they are doing in November 2024.

 

More competition is good for all of us, regardless of our preferred cruise line - but none of them are about to roll over for the other.

[arxcards]

30 minutes ago, mr walker said:

New competition is surely one reason , but I think the decisions were made before Disney or VV had a chance to make too much difference. Overall competition, priorities in other markets, falling $A, environmental pressures & lack of Sydney wharf capacity would all likely be part of it.

All of the above, plus it is no longer a boom market here. Cost of living pressures only has to drop 5% of cruiser numbers to take away cash from the cruise lines. 

[ozdevil]

if coming from Greece (Athens) to OZ  , it could be costly adventure if they dont want the red sea  

i dont think its the market here .  its just getting here

[CountessCookie]

19 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

if coming from Greece (Athens) to OZ  , it could be costly adventure if they dont want the red sea  

i dont think its the market here .  its just getting here

Someone from Virgin is going to be crunching the numbers to try work out which course of action will be the most profitable. I can't say I envy that person.

[ozdevil]

15 minutes ago, CountessCookie said:

Someone from Virgin is going to be crunching the numbers to try work out which course of action will be the most profitable. I can't say I envy that person.

well i think tentions in red sea are going to dictate that .

from athens to oz through the red seas with pirates

or the long way round  whats the accountants going to do

 

[MicCanberra]

North to Alaska, the rush is on.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, ozdevil said:

well i think tentions in red sea are going to dictate that .

from athens to oz through the red seas with pirates

or the long way round  whats the accountants going to do

 

They already are, but what do you do in November this year? Do you wait and see what is happening in the Red Sea in September and cancel your planned itinerary to go the long way around and lose a packet in cancellations? Do you cancel those already booked now and offer the alternate cruise knowing the Red Sea could be safe to traffic by then?

 

Or do you just take the Red Sea out of the equation and go to the Caribbean instead, where there is more gold is to be had and the pirates are only in the movies.

 

This is just the bookings for St Maarten, as mentioned by Springaussie at the start of the topic. All of the Florida homeports display limited public information that far ahead, so this is the only trail I can find at present. They could be just in case bookings, but the fact these were made prior to yesterdays announcement has me believing they are just rolling out the news one step at a time so that their call centre can prioritise. I hope I am wrong. 

 

The 24/25 Australian season, as mentioned, is currently unavailable. That is less of a concern, as they could simply be taken offline so their call centre can focus on all the cancellations, credits & rebooking of those affected by the rescheduling of the March relocation. But these port bookings are real.

 

 

 

Edited February 9 by arxcards

[Chiliburn]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

They already are, but what do you do in November this year? Do you wait and see what is happening in the Red Sea in September and cancel your planned itinerary to go the long way around and lose a packet in cancellations? Do you cancel those already booked now and offer the alternate cruise knowing the Red Sea could be safe to traffic by then?

 

Or do you just take the Red Sea out of the equation and go to the Caribbean instead, where there is more gold is to be had and the pirates are only in the movies.

 

This is just the bookings for St Maarten, as mentioned by Springaussie at the start of the topic. All of the Florida homeports display limited public information that far ahead, so this is the only trail I can find at present. They could be just in case bookings, but the fact these were made prior to yesterdays announcement has me believing they are just rolling out the news one step at a time so that their call centre can prioritise. I hope I am wrong. 

 

The 24/25 Australian season, as mentioned, is currently unavailable. That is less of a concern, as they could simply be taken offline so their call centre can focus on all the cancellations, credits & rebooking of those affected by the rescheduling of the March relocation. But these port bookings are real.

 

 

 

With that news we might get another Royal Caribbean ship in Sydney this coming season.

[CountessCookie]

I kind of find it halarious that those of us booked for next season in AU can still pay of the cruise balance or add bar tab to the booking. 

[MicCanberra]

They will take any and all donations to their sailing fund.

[Mark_UK]

It will be interesting to see how they handle it if they do cancel Aus/NZ this year. They don't seem to offering any compensation for the March/April impacted sailings which, although frugal, can be justified by the circumstances beyond their control. I'd argue to cancel a whole season, many many months in advance, is primarily a business driven decision. 

[arxcards]

Last September, Virgin cancelled several cruises based in Piraeus and transferred them to Portsmouth UK . Currently, Resilient Lady has cruises available up till the end of September ex-Portsmouth. Altering homeports seems to come easily to Virgin.

[jcruizer]

We are cruising VV to NZ on the 5th March. Only cruising this one, as it was a great price... Not normally our kind of ship but food reviews are good and it will be interesting to try this one...