Key Aspects:
- Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady has cancelled port calls to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on her current sailing and her November 17, 2025 cruise.
- The ship is instead calling at Cozumel, Mexico, on the current cruise and will visit Grand Turk on her next voyage.
- The Grand Turk call will cause a visit to Grand Cayman to be replaced by the Dominican Republic.
Virgin Voyages has notified booked guests about upcoming itinerary changes due to damage caused by Hurricane Melissa when the monster storm made landfall in Jamaica in late October 2025.
The cruise line’s Brilliant Lady, its newest ship that entered service in September 2025, is impacted. Based at PortMiami, the 2,860-guest ship sails 7- to 12-night voyages to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean, with some that were to call at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, this week and in the coming weeks.
Ocho Rios is no longer a port call option, at least temporarily, and guests learned that Brilliant Lady’s November 8, 2025, departure will be affected.
The 12-night “Colorful Curaçao to the Charming Caymans” cruise was to call at Ocho Rios on November 17, 2025.
Five port calls are scheduled. In addition to Jamaica, the ship is due to visit Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; Cartagena, Colombia; and George Town, Grand Cayman.
“Originally set to visit Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on November 17, we’ll now sail to Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, arriving at 11 a.m. and departing at 6 p.m.,” states Virgin Voyages’ notice to guests.
“To ensure you’re able to visit as many ports as originally planned, we’ve chosen Grand Turk as an exciting alternative that keeps your itinerary full of adventure,” the statement continues.
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But there’s a catch. In adjusting the ship’s routing to Grand Turk, the itinerary will now drop Grand Cayman and instead call at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Booked guests indicated they understand the need to temporarily avoid the Jamaica port, but some were frustrated about also missing Grand Cayman.
“Replacing George Town with Puerto Plata is like replacing a Lexus with a Pinto, and calling it a fair exchange. I’m not happy,” one guest posted on Reddit.
“Yeah, totally understanding about Jamaica but genuinely bummed about George Town, there were so many great excursions there,” posted another.
Brilliant Lady, in fact, already missed one scheduled call to Ocho Rios on her November 1, 2025 cruise, a 7-night “Western Caribbean: From Miami to Bimini” sailing. Her November 3, 2025 call to Jamaica was replaced with a visit to Cozumel, Mexico.
Still More Itineraries Are Likely to Be Revised
It is too soon to know exactly when Jamaica’s cruise ports will reopen, but the Jamaican Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has said that the goal is to resume all tourism operations by December 15, 2025.
Brilliant Lady is next scheduled to call at Ocho Rios on her December 7, 2025 cruise. The 11-night “Aruban Sunsets & Calm Cayman Days” cruise will also call at Aruba, Grand Cayman, and Colombia. The cruise line has not yet revealed an itinerary change for that voyage.
A second Virgin Voyages ship, Resilient Lady, includes Ocho Rios on some itineraries from her homeport of Miami. The ship’s November 22, 2025 sailing, the 7-night “Cayman Coves & Jamaican Waterfalls” cruise is slated to visit the destination on November 24, 2025.
No announcement has been made regarding that ship’s itinerary either. Other port calls are Grand Cayman and Bimini Islands, Bahamas.
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The other two ships in the Virgin fleet, Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady, do not feature any Jamaica ports on their voyages from Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, respectively.
Virgin Voyages is not the only cruise line temporarily adjusting itineraries away from Jamaica. Royal Caribbean, for instance, has altered the itineraries of several ships that were scheduled to call at Jamaica.
Like other cruise lines, Virgin Voyages has pledged to support Jamaica’s recovery with a donation.
