Rerouted by Tropical Storms, Virgin Voyages' Brilliant Lady Adds Santa Barbara Stop Monday
The Oct. 10 seven-night sailing drops its Mexican Riviera ports for Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ensenada after Tropical Storm Rachel and Hurricane Simon upended Pacific itineraries.
A seven-night Virgin Voyages cruise that was supposed to spend its port days on the Mexican Riviera will instead make an unscheduled stop in Santa Barbara on Monday, Oct. 12, after tropical weather off Mexico's Pacific coast forced the line to scrap all three of its Mexican port calls.
The ship, Brilliant Lady, departs Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 10, on a voyage originally slated to call at Cabo San Lucas on Oct. 12, Mazatlan on Oct. 13 and Puerto Vallarta on Oct. 14. Virgin Voyages told passengers that the ship will now visit Santa Barbara from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, followed by San Diego on Tuesday and Ensenada, Mexico, on Wednesday, before returning to Los Angeles on Oct. 17.
Tropical Storm Rachel, a former hurricane tracking west of Baja, and Hurricane Simon, which the National Hurricane Center classified as a hurricane in its Oct. 9 forecast, prompted the change. In its notification to guests, the cruise line wrote: "After carefully considering the latest forecast, we've made the decision to adjust our planned route. Your safety and the safety of our crew always come first."
The line is compensating passengers for the disrupted holiday. According to the notification shared with guests, affected passengers receive $100 per person in onboard credit and a $200 Future Voyage Credit per person toward a future sailing, with larger credits for guests in RockStar and MegaRockStar accommodations.
This is the third consecutive Brilliant Lady sailing affected by storms in the Pacific, and the second reroute in a week: the Oct. 3 departure had already dropped a planned Cabo San Lucas call. Carnival's Carnival Radiance also canceled an Oct. 9 Cabo call out of Long Beach, swapping it for a day at sea.
The surprise Santa Barbara call puts the ship's passengers ashore in the city on Monday, a one-off visitor day for the waterfront and State Street businesses. The revised itinerary, published by Virgin Voyages on Oct. 9, replaces the entire Mexican Riviera slate with the California coast plus Ensenada.
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