A plane load of free Virgin Voyagers [Subsequent Issues due to Cancellation of Australian Voyages]

[RooFlyer]

Damn! Missed this, flying the other way this morning

Richard Branson gifts Virgin passengers on a domestic flight a free cruise​

Passengers on-board a Virgin Australia flight were left in complete shock when founder Sir Richard Branson dialled in via Facetime and offered them a free holiday worth up to $7,000 each.
The more than 150 passengers were on flight VA 1316, heading from Melbourne to Hobart on Thursday morning when the man himself gifted them a free Virgin Voyages sail to celebrate the cruise line’s arrival in Australia.

Even better:

In an unexpected twist, just before the door was closed on the plane, Branson also surprised the cabin crew, ground crew, baggage handlers and pilots on the flight by gifting them a free cruise. In total he gave away more than $1 million in free holidays.

 

[Blackswan]

Between this and the Velocity offer - they really must be having difficulties selling the packages!!!

 

[RooFlyer]

If so, long may it continue!

 

[Saab34]

Between this and the Velocity offer - they really must be having difficulties selling the packages!!!

when I think Virgin Voyages and seeing the offer/product, sailing around Oz isn’t the first thing that screamed out at me.

Surely Euro and Caribbean, USA trips is what this thing was built for. Not sailing around Tasmania.

 

[CaptJCool]

Not sailing around Tasmania.

My brother said
Usually the ocean is fine
However occasionally nautical around Tasmania is more treacherous than people realise

May the Virgin Voyage be naughtier then nautically challenged

 

[RooFlyer]

Surely Euro and Caribbean, USA trips is what this thing was built for. Not sailing around Tasmania.

The vessel is going to be based in Melbourne, at least initially and the Tasmanian connection is that that happens to be its first port of call.

 

[The-Aviator]

Imagine if you had chosen to Fly Ahead and missed this

 

[antycbr]

Between this and the Velocity offer - they really must be having difficulties selling the packages!!!

I had a look on cruise.com which allows you to see available cabins on the Sydney to Burnie and back cruise in mid February and I estimated only 55% the cabins had been sold

 

[Mattg]

Seems the prize has caused more issues for some of the winners than it was worth:

Virgin passengers were told they'd won a free cruise, but some can't redeem the prize

Virgin staff dancing at the boarding gate, a call from Richard Branson announcing they'd all won a free cruise, passengers wearing hats and filmed celebrating — but this winner says due to a change in itinerary, to claim her prize will cost her thousands.

www.abc.net.au

 

[RooFlyer]

Unfortunate, but I think the substitute offer was reasonable, if not ideal. I reckon they could get to Europe for under $8K for 2.

 

[Cynicor]

Hmm. Once you add the necessary night beforehand, transfers etc it does add up a bit more. It wouldn’t break the bank to offer $1k a head in airfares to those who were affected.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Unfortunate, but I think the substitute offer was reasonable, if not ideal. I reckon they could get to Europe for under $8K for 2.

You can get to europe for $870 on a full service carrier! (Air China)

But i’m not sure how ‘safety comes first’ even applies here? The red sea might be closed, but that doesn’t stop cruise ships coming via the cape, or across the pacific. I wonder if it’s because they just could fill their ships last time?

Cunard is still getting a ship here for the AU summer season. as are others.

Given the safety argument appears tenuous, at best, I think better compensation should have been offered. Like cash of $1000 or $1500 each (price per person for a basic room on one of their cruises).

 

[drron]

From my point of view Virgin Voyages was one of the best in their way of dealing with the Red Sea problems. Some of the other lines left the decision until the last minute and quite a few passengers were on their way to a cruise that was obviously never going to happen.
Cruise liners don’t travel as fast as planes. One Silversea ship took 27 days to get from Athens to Mumbai earlier this year. With no passengers.
There is no way you could at short notice get a ship having enough passengers to make the journey around Africa economically. Not to mention the difficulty of arranging supplies and excursions for such cruises.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

From my point of view Virgin Voyages was one of the best in their way of dealing with the Red Sea problems. Some of the other lines left the decision until the last minute and quite a few passengers were on their way to a cruise that was obviously never going to happen.
Cruise liners don’t travel as fast as planes. One Silversea ship took 27 days to get from Athens to Mumbai earlier this year. With no passengers.
There is no way you could at short notice get a ship having enough passengers to make the journey around Africa economically. Not to mention the difficulty of arranging supplies and excursions for such cruises.

March 2024 to December 2024? Cunard seems to be managing it.

Even if we give the benefit of the doubt. If they are filling the replacement cruises with paying pax, why not give that money to the prize winners? There shouldn’t be any profit being made out of this.

 

[drron]

March 2024 to December 2024? Cunard seems to be managing it.

Even if we give the benefit of the doubt. If they are filling the replacement cruises with paying pax, why not give that money to the prize winners? There shouldn’t be any profit being made out of this.

Cunard's managing what? Sorry but In every case I know of there has been no replacement cruises. From Australia's summer season most go to cruise the Mediterranean obviously if going through the Red Sea. Cruise lines have been cancelling just enough voyages so they get back to the Med in time for the first scheduled sailing after the cancelled Suez segment.
And I think cancelling the whole of the 24/24 Australian season will end up being seen as a very good decision because I think the Houthis will still be attacking ships at the end of 24. As well it gives time for those on cancelled summer cruises more time to find another option. We have already cancelled our May 25 voyage through the canal.
Despite air raids and multinational navy presence the Houthis are still attacking shipping and some of their attacks are hitting the targets.

Other cruise lines are beginning to think ahead. There are signs that Silversea are considering Cancelling cruises that are scheduled to go through the Suez. The 3 voyages prior have been waitlisted which is what happened to the cancelled voyages earlier this year.

Just imagine what would happen if a cruise ship was hit and there were casualties. Especially if that cruise line was headquartered in the USA. virgin voyages headquarters are in Plantation, Florida.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Cunard's managing what? Sorry but In every case I know of there has been no replacement cruises. From Australia's summer season most go to cruise the Mediterranean obviously if going through the Red Sea. Cruise lines have been cancelling just enough voyages so they get back to the Med in time for the first scheduled sailing after the cancelled Suez segment.
And I think cancelling the whole of the 24/24 Australian season will end up being seen as a very good decision because I think the Houthis will still be attacking ships at the end of 24. As well it gives time for those on cancelled summer cruises more time to find another option. We have already cancelled our May 25 voyage through the canal.
Despite air raids and multinational navy presence the Houthis are still attacking shipping and some of their attacks are hitting the targets.

Other cruise lines are beginning to think ahead. There are signs that Silversea are considering Cancelling cruises that are scheduled to go through the Suez. The 3 voyages prior have been waitlisted which is what happened to the cancelled voyages earlier this year.

Just imagine what would happen if a cruise ship was hit and there were casualties. Especially if that cruise line was headquartered in the USA. virgin voyages headquarters are in Plantation, Florida.

Cunard is managing to get their shop to Australia for the summer cruise season. Or at least they haven’t cancelled it yet.

Sure, Suez closed… but they have 8 months to route via Cape Town? Or send a ship from Alaska to Australia? Or from their caribbean program, via the panama to australia?

But ok, let’s say that’s just not possible because of logistics. The new cruises are presumably being filled with fare paying pax. The money from those pax should go to the prize winners. Otherwise the cruise line has potentially made a profit out of reselling 180 cabins.

 

[drron]

Mate you obviously have no idea of running a cruise line.
Alaska is teeming with cruise ships in their season. Might well be extremely difficult to get that organised. Besides the season is short. No way is a cruise ship coming via Alaska in October, November or December. The tourist infrastructure has packed up and gone to the Carribean for the northern Winter.
We have done a cruise up the West Coast of Africa. Tourist infrastructure even now is very basic so the number of ships doing that sort of itinerary is limited. That's why they are sending their ships empty around the Cape.

Cunard not having cancelled any voyages yet might mean people booked on the early season voyages from Australia are going to be disappointed and these days that often means angry as well.

The cancelled cruises are cancelled. They are not being replaced. The 180 cabins will not be resold.

 

[antycbr]

I think that it’s pretty clear this is a case of force majeure, Virgin Voyages had intent on running the sailing program in Australia in the 24/25 summer and had published cruise itineraries.

I purchased an onboard “next cruise” voucher - a MNVV for those familiar with Virgin Voyages - on a cruise in the 23/24 season, with the intent of using it for another AU/NZ cruise.

Obviously the Australian cruise program for 24/25 was cancelled so I just sucked it up and booked something in the Caribbean. I’d paid $ for this voucher - those on the freebie aren’t out of pocket. They still have a voucher. It's not reasonable to expect VV/VA to pay for a flight to SJU, MIA, BCN, ATH etc. Air travel to the port of origin in Australia would not have been included anyway.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Mate you obviously have no idea of running a cruise line.
Alaska is teeming with cruise ships in their season. Might well be extremely difficult to get that organised. Besides the season is short. No way is a cruise ship coming via Alaska in October, November or December. The tourist infrastructure has packed up and gone to the Carribean for the northern Winter.
We have done a cruise up the West Coast of Africa. Tourist infrastructure even now is very basic so the number of ships doing that sort of itinerary is limited. That's why they are sending their ships empty around the Cape.

Cunard not having cancelled any voyages yet might mean people booked on the early season voyages from Australia are going to be disappointed and these days that often means angry as well.

The cancelled cruises are cancelled. They are not being replaced. The 180 cabins will not be resold.

Fine. But let’s call it a commercial decision rather than a safety decision? Other cruise lines are scheduling ships to Australia. Other cruise lines do go via the Cape or via the Panama. Im surprised they’re going to leave a cruise ship empty for three to four months and not schedule something else in its place… greek islands, the med, caribbean, etc.

So the other option is to then extend the voucher to the 2026-27 cruise program?

 

[drron]

They all still have vouchers neither you or I know when or if that voucher expires.
Now you are changing the goa[ posts. We have been talking about the fairly recent cancellations and replacement cruises which haven't occurred. As i have said I think VV have made the right decision as I doubt the red sea will be safe come December this year. Yes the ship that was to make the Australian cruises will be cruising the Med instead. I really don't see why that means the people given vouchers should get some of the proceeds. Although there are good commercial reasons for doing Northern Hemisphere cruises instead of the Australian season the prime reason is Safety and the Red Sea.

And quite frankly the statement that it would require $8000 is ridiculous to fly to the northern hemisphere is ridiculous.. That is the return business class airfare on Chinese airlines through Expedia to Rome. I picked Rome because it is frequently the start/finish port of Med cruises. Return Economy fares start at $964 on CA and $1478 on MU. You can even get QF codeshares on EK for $2354 in economy return. And this was for late June 2024.