Virgin Voyages Cancels Multiple Sailings for Private Charters

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Not one, not two, but four cruises onboard Valiant Lady have been cancelled in favor of private charters that have booked out the entire cruise ship.

Impacted passengers, which were scheduled for May and October of 2025, were contacted by the adults-only cruise line to notify them of the cancellations and their options – and many werenโ€™t happy about it. 

The first impacted cruise would have embarked on March 23, 2025, from Miami, Florida, and called for stops at Cozumel, Mexico, and Bimini Islands, Bahamas, over the course of five fun-filled days. 

โ€œUnfortunately, Valiant Ladyโ€™s sailing scheduled for May 23, 2025 has been cancelled due to a private charter. We sincerely apologize for this disruption to your plans,โ€ Virgin Voyages emailed impacted guests. 

But whatโ€™s even more unusual is that the 2,770-passenger vesselโ€™s following sailing also seems to have been cancelled due to another private charter. 

โ€œGot [an] email today cancelling our May 28th VL cruise due to the cruise getting privately chartered,โ€ an impacted guest shared online, although the cruise line has not directly confirmed this information just yet. 

This sailing was another 5-night Miami-based itinerary that called for stops at Puerto Plata / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic, and Bimini Islands, Bahamas. 

The final two impacted sailings will be embarking from Miami on October 10 and 15, 2025, and are a 5-night and 4-night sailing, respectively.

Itโ€™s unclear if all the sailings were chartered by the same private company or group, or what the theme of these voyages may be.

Naturally, many passengers who had been looking forward to their upcoming vacations were disappointed by the news. 

โ€œCancelling due to weather or ship maintenance is one thing, but cancelling due to a private charter? Not going to lie, this is pretty infuriating,โ€ one cruiser shared on Reddit. 

However, impacted guests were given multiple options to choose from to make things right, including a full refund, a future cruise credit, or to rebook a similar cruise at no extra cost with a $100 onboard credit thrown in for the inconvenience. 

Why Do Cruise Lines Prioritize Charter Cruises? 

In many circumstances, charter cruises – and especially full-ship charter cruises – are a good deal for the cruise lines that make it worth choosing these private groups or companies over already-booked passengers. 

In a full-ship charter, an organization rents out the entire ship to celebrate a theme, cause, or activity. Some examples of recent chartered sailings to make headlines are themed around Star Trek, Taylor Swift, and Comic-Con – which is a first-of-its-kind celebration at sea taking place in 2025

But in order to host these sailings, the organizers typically pay as if the ship was at maximum capacity with double occupancy in each stateroom.

Virgin Voyages' Valiant Lady Cruise Ship
Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Felix Mizioznikov)

They may also be paying the cruise lines extra fees for things like facilitating special events onboard and administration fees for organizing the private sailing. 

Considering most cruises arenโ€™t at maximum capacity and at least a few cabins remain unsold, the cruise lines ultimately profit more when they accept the charter – even after refunding already booked guests.

Other mainstream cruise lines have also cancelled upcoming sailings in order to prioritize private charters – including an October 2025 voyage onboard Carnival Liberty and two Bahamas sailings onboard Norwegian Getaway in August of 2026.

Read Also: What is the Best Way to Book a Cruise?

This is also not the first time that Virgin Voyages has upset its guests with cancellations. 

Earlier this year, there was an uproar online after the cruise line removed the ports of Toulon, France, and Marseille, France, from Scarlet Ladyโ€™s European โ€œIrresistible Medโ€ and โ€œFrench Daze & Ibiza Cruises.โ€ 

Likely in response to the outcry, the cruise line quickly added the ports back onto the itinerary.

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Catie Kovelman
Catie Kovelman
Catie is an award-winning journalist and researcher. By day, she helps market new movies and TV shows as a senior research manager. But by night, she loves writing cruise news. In addition to Cruise Hive, Catie has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, and other online publications, such as The Plaid Horse, Unwritten, YourTango, Fangirl Nation Magazine, Chapman Magazine, the Orange County Register, and Voice of OC.

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