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[jon81uk]

34 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

Someone in my social feeds noted that Resilient could have sailed a Trans Pacific from Australia to go to Los Angeles for the winter, the same thing Carnival Luminosa does each year for the Alaska season. That would have been a more interesting move in my opinion to open up the west coast of the U.S. for Hawaii, Mexican Riviera and California Coastal sailings.

The issue is Resilient Lady getting to Australia after the European summer season. So yes they could have cancelled the summer in Athens and Portsmouth and moved the ship to LA next month instead of going round Africa to get to Athens, but I think that would have meant a lot more worse cancellations compared to coming to Europe and then going transatlantic for winter 24/25 instead of back to Australia. Getting to LA for November 24 would have meant going back to Australia round Africa anyway instead of just doing the TA to San Juan.

[Chris86]

22 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

VV really needs to run like the boutique cruise line they are and learn from the other small cruise lines instead of emulating the large cruise lines. Oceania is a great example. They rarely run the exact same itinerary twice. They only have 6 or 7 ships so even when they spend the winter season in the Caribbean they'll run 20 sailings for a single ship but each one will be completely or slightly different. The following year you might see 1 or 2 of those itineraries repeated while the rest are altered. 

 

VV has got themselves in a rut with the same itineraries running in repeat. Especially in Miami with identical itineraries going on 4 years now, but even over in the Med. When you have over 20 ships you can run the same itineraries over and over because people can choose different ships. But when you have 1, sometimes 2 ships, you need to mix up those itineraries and offer something the rest of the cruise lines don't. Adult-only and all the inclusions will get people onboard. To keep bringing them back, you need some different itineraries to break up the rut. 

 

I'm wondering how 3 ships in the Caribbean are going to do this Winter. They're banking their entire winter season on three ships running in the same region with each one competing for the same Sailors. Someone in my social feeds noted that Resilient could have sailed a Trans Pacific from Australia to go to Los Angeles for the winter, the same thing Carnival Luminosa does each year for the Alaska season. That would have been a more interesting move in my opinion to open up the west coast of the U.S. for Hawaii, Mexican Riviera and California Coastal sailings. 

Yes agree! Pre pandemic I was more or less sailing with Oceania exclusively. Had an Azamara sailing booked which I had to cancel due to border closures. I haven’t cruised since the pandemic shut downs and more or less grew uninterested in crushing. However I’m starting to get the itch for a sailing. As a 30 something year old I would be all over Virgin. However I find myself far more interested in Celebrity and Azamara atm only for the sailings on offer. I was hoping VV pulling the Australian market off would have resulted in some further interesting sailings. Dubai to Singapore via India was interesting for example.

 

I tend to have the impression VV has some teething problems. Likely the delay in launch resulted in 3 ships suddenly sailing without the opportunity to build up staffing levels, quality of product, production etc. why else would they be delaying the 4th ship launch when it’s sitting ready. From what I have heard they are doing a good job on this front. However sailings seem to carry only 800 or so passengers. Test will be how well the product will hold up when the ships are full. Once they hit that mark they will really need to address the ports of call and sailing routes. Otherwise all the good work on the product will unravel.

 

I had a look at the Caribbean as I’ve never been. Mostly interested in the Southern Caribbean. It just isn’t really up there on my to do list. Not interested to visit the region otherwise and from Australia it would have to be a longer trip to justify the journey.

[-The-True-North-]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

VV really needs to run like the boutique cruise line they are and learn from the other small cruise lines instead of emulating the large cruise lines. Oceania is a great example. They rarely run the exact same itinerary twice. They only have 6 or 7 ships so even when they spend the winter season in the Caribbean they'll run 20 sailings for a single ship but each one will be completely or slightly different. The following year you might see 1 or 2 of those itineraries repeated while the rest are altered. 

 

VV has got themselves in a rut with the same itineraries running in repeat. Especially in Miami with identical itineraries going on 4 years now, but even over in the Med. When you have over 20 ships you can run the same itineraries over and over because people can choose different ships. But when you have 1, sometimes 2 ships, you need to mix up those itineraries and offer something the rest of the cruise lines don't. Adult-only and all the inclusions will get people onboard. To keep bringing them back, you need some different itineraries to break up the rut. 

 

I'm wondering how 3 ships in the Caribbean are going to do this Winter. They're banking their entire winter season on three ships running in the same region with each one competing for the same Sailors. Someone in my social feeds noted that Resilient could have sailed a Trans Pacific from Australia to go to Los Angeles for the winter, the same thing Carnival Luminosa does each year for the Alaska season. That would have been a more interesting move in my opinion to open up the west coast of the U.S. for Hawaii, Mexican Riviera and California Coastal sailings. 

Completely agree.

 

Done Four sailings and we are tapped out. Groundhog Day now.  Seen all the shows... Ate all the food... Did all the experiences...

 

Now to do it all again?! No thanks! And to think I'll pay 2-3 times the price... HA!

 

So long Virgin. Need to sell my pre change MNVV, still has the PIF discount on it.

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, Chris86 said:

However sailings seem to carry only 800 or so passengers.

That’s not been the case for over a year. Caribbean sailings are basically full now and many Mediterranean had 1200-2500 onboard.

[Tralfaz1138]

4 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

But when you have 1, sometimes 2 ships, you need to mix up those itineraries and offer something the rest of the cruise lines don't. Adult-only and all the inclusions will get people onboard. To keep bringing them back, you need some different itineraries to break up the rut. 

...

Someone in my social feeds noted that Resilient could have sailed a Trans Pacific from Australia to go to Los Angeles for the winter, the same thing Carnival Luminosa does each year for the Alaska season. That would have been a more interesting move in my opinion to open up the west coast of the U.S. for Hawaii, Mexican Riviera and California Coastal sailings. 

The limited ships does make selecting a next cruise interesting.  My wife and I sailed on Resilient Lady last year, and will be on her again later this year.  This makes me want to book something on Scarlet Lady (to change up the shows) in the Mediterranean next year but the voyages we are interested in are either on the rather expensive side, or are ones where Resilient Lady is the ship.

 

I had mentioned here or in Reddit that I wondered if they might try to open up Australia again by changing it to a trans-Pacific repositioning.  I imagine they didn't want to do it this season since that would have required cancelling all of Resilient Lady's Mediterranean bookings for the season, but maybe for 2026 they decide to go around Africa again and change that to an Australia/North America west coast ship.  Here's hoping since I would love to do an Alaska cruise on Virgin.

 

I suppose the other option is using Brilliant Lady to do that since it can traverse the Panama Canal but they probably want to keep it in the area year around for that flexibility.

[CruisingWalter]

4 hours ago, -The-True-North- said:

Need to sell my pre change MNVV, still has the PIF discount on it.

MNVVs do not have a Pay In Full Discount. Just because you purchased it before the PIF discount was terminated does not mean you can use it today. You simply put down a deposit on a placeholder cruise, to my knowledge the PIF does not apply to placehoders.

[CruisingWalter]

6 hours ago, Chris86 said:

However I find myself far more interested in Celebrity and Azamara atm only for the sailings on offer.

Azamara and Oceania share the same R-Class ships but Oceania has more inclusions. Celebrity has amazing ships, but they tend to be more expensive overall vs. Azamara / Oceania if you add everything in. 

[cantgetin]

On 3/10/2024 at 4:18 PM, bdever said:

Hi Walter, to clarify that would be a total of 3 bags for the 3 unique itineraries over a month sailing?

The bags are HUGE.  On 14-15 night cruises, we typically send laundry at about day 9 or 10 and can fit all our stuff with no problem.  And yes, the bags included on this cruise situation would be 1 per week.