There’s very good, and very sensible, news from Virgin Voyages on their 2027 eclipse cruise in the Mediterranean. Until recently, on the day of the eclipse, the Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady had been scheduled to be in the port of Tangier. The updated itinerary puts the ship at sea for that day.
This was a change that both guests and travel agents were pushing for, ourselves included. The original schedule frustrated so many travelers that they began choosing other cruise lines over Virgin. Obviously, it seems, the company took notice of the comments (read polite, if angry, urging) and made the necessary changes to the schedule.
Why Do So Many People Care?
Scheduling the eclipse day in a port may not immediately be a clear fumble, but it really is the cruise line equivalent of washing red clothes with white towels. Eclipses are amazingly beautiful astronomical events that occur with some regularity, but where they occur shifts quite broadly around the world. If you travel thousands of miles to another part of the globe, specifically to see an eclipse, only to have the weather be cloudy… well, that’s a bit frustrating. Hence, the eclipse cruise.
By viewing the eclipse from sea (if possible), you greatly reduce the chance of it being cloudy because the ship can move. The path of totality, where the complete solar eclipse is experienced, can be more than 100 miles wide. That gives lots of room for a ship to sail away from a band of clouds.
The experience of seeing an eclipse is something that cannot be adequately described with anything less than a novella. However, the land-based eclipse crowds and traffic jams are as irritating as the eclipse is magical. Why, then, would a cruise line schedule a port day for the eclipse? Nobody knows.
Second Time
The most frustrating part of this whole thing is that it’s an unforced error (apologies for my use of baseball terms to all our non-baseball fan readers).
Virgin Voyages already had two other itineraries on their schedule for the 2026 eclipse. Those cruises also had port days during the eclipse and, just like with the 2027 eclipse cruise, many of us had to push them to change the plans. In other words, we’d been through this already.
Fortunately, the plans for the Virgin Voyages eclipse cruises changed and they are now at sea for the eclipse.
If you are interested in sailing on the 2027 eclipse cruise, reach out to us for information. Space is limited, as it has been very popular, but we may be able to book you. Many 2026 solar eclipse cruises for the much shorter eclipse are already sold out.
By the way, in 2024 we were at sea off the coast of Mexico on the Emerald Princess. It was fantastic.
