Virgin Voyages Replaces Itinerary For Future Holid...

When cruise traces make itinerary modifications, they attempt to maintain the changes as minimal as attainable. However for Scarlet Woman’s December 12, 2026, crusing, the itinerary has been changed and renamed.

As an alternative of working the 5-night Mayan Sol crusing as deliberate, the Virgin Voyages’ ship will pivot to the 5-night Grand Turk & Bimini Seashore Membership itinerary.

“We needed to let that your Sailor’s Mayan Sol crusing on December 12, 2026 has been refreshed to characteristic Grand Turk & The Seashore Membership at Bimini – considered one of our highest-rated Caribbean itineraries,” Virgin Voyages mentioned in an replace.

“This replace replaces their authentic itinerary with a crusing designed to ship extra easy island time, that includes Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, alongside our iconic Seashore Membership at Bimini,” the adults-only model continued.

For reference, the Seashore Membership at Bimini is Virgin Voyages’ unique resort on Bimini Island for visitors 18 and up that launched with the young cruise line in 2021.

What Does the New Itinerary Look Like?

Eliminating the necessity for further stress surrounding journey preparations, embarkation and debarkation will proceed as deliberate in PortMiami on December 12 and December 17. The modifications solely influence the ports of name on the itinerary.

“Whereas among the ports of name have modified, their voyage size, ship, and embarkation port stay the identical,” Virgin Voyages confirmed.

Learn Additionally: What You Should Know About Cruise Port Cancellations

The unique itinerary that visitors booked ought to have referred to as to Costa Maya, Mexico, on December 14 and Bimini, Bahamas, on December 16.

Underneath the brand new plan, the decision to Bimini, Bahamas, stays the identical. Nonetheless, Costa Maya was changed by Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos, on December 14. The two,770-guest ship will probably be within the Japanese Caribbean vacation spot from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. native time.

Why Was the Change Made?

Cruise traces could make itinerary changes for a wide range of causes, and Virgin Voyages didn’t explicitly verify the explanation behind the change.

That mentioned, a number of ships have already been routed away from Costa Maya as a result of modifications in port availability associated to Royal Caribbean’s endeavors. It appears doubtless that this can be what’s occurring right here.

Royal Caribbean is at present within the course of of remodeling Costa Maya into Good Day Mexico, with the large resort anticipated to open within the fall of 2027.

The cruise line said that it might maintain the port open to all cruise traces when Royal Caribbean officially took possession of the port final summer time, however development could also be getting in the best way.

“This can be associated to the truth that Royal Caribbean is changing the Costa Maya port to their very own non-public resort,” one cruise fan guessed on Reddit.

Most just lately, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore needed to skip its planned call to Costa Maya on January 21, 2026, for that reason.

Friends Have fun the Information

Quite than reacting with anger or frustration, a lot of the response to the up to date itinerary has been constructive. Although it’s a matter of non-public choice, many view Grand Turk as a greater port.

“Costa Maya is a vacationer lure port made particularly for cruisers. It’s a C tier port. You simply received an A or A-,” one cruiser asserted.

“Actually – that’s an improve. Costa Maya doesn’t have a lot to do,” one other agreed.

With simply over 10 months till this cruise embarks, it additionally could be a lot too quickly for visitors to have shore excursions booked, that means there isn’t a actual upheaval to their plans both.

“Shore Issues,” because the cruise line calls them, don’t go on sale till 135 days earlier than the crusing for RockStar and Mega RockStar suite visitors and 120 days prematurely for everybody else.