Virgin Voyages Swaps Mexico for California on Brilliant Lady as Hurricane Trudy Forces Fourth Straight Reroute

October 17, 2026 — Update: Hurricane Trudy has forced Virgin Voyages to reroute Brilliant Lady’s seven-night cruise leaving Los Angeles today. All three Mexican Riviera ports are gone, replaced by San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada. Yesterday the change was only a possibility; Virgin confirmed it on October 16. Virgin also rolled out new menus fleetwide and at its Bimini beach club.

The new itinerary

Date	Original	Now
October 17	Depart Los Angeles	Depart Los Angeles
October 19	Cabo San Lucas	San Francisco
October 20	Mazatlán	TBA (no port listed)
October 21	Puerto Vallarta	San Diego
October 22	—	Ensenada, Mexico
October 24	Return to Los Angeles	Return to Los Angeles

Port times had not been published; Virgin told guests to watch its app for confirmed times. The line said sailing south would risk putting the ship on the stronger side of the storm, calling that “a gamble we’re not willing to take.”

Trudy briefly reached Category 3 on October 16 before easing to Category 1, according to Cruise Hive, with forecasters projecting a path north near Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta.

Refunds

Virgin shore excursions in the dropped ports are refunded automatically as onboard credit. Virgin did not say whether unused credit goes back to the original payment method.
Tours booked with outside operators must be cancelled with those operators; refunds depend on each company’s terms.
Excursions for the new ports can be booked onboard in the Virgin app.

Fourth disrupted sailing in a row

September 26: Hurricane Polo — switched to San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada.
October 3: Swells from Hurricane Rachel — Ensenada replaced Cabo San Lucas.
October 10: Storms Rachel and Simon — Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ensenada replaced the Mexican ports.
October 17: Hurricane Trudy — this sailing.

New menus

Virgin is refreshing food at two included restaurants and at The Beach Club at Bimini in The Bahamas, Seatrade Cruise News reported on October 16:

The Beach Club at Bimini: a new Caribbean menu by Los Angeles chef Rashida Holmes of Bridgetown Roti, featuring dishes such as curry chicken roti and snapper patties. It reaches Resilient Lady and Scarlet Lady guests in October 2026, Brilliant Lady in November 2026 and Valiant Lady in April 2027.
The Wake: new brunch and dinner menus by chef Brad Farmerie, with more seafood plus vegan and gluten-free choices. Available now.
The Dock: new Mediterranean sharing plates and skewers, also available now.

No prices were reported for the new menus.

What it means for airline travelers

The ship still sails from and returns to Los Angeles on the original dates, so flights into and out of LAX do not need to change.
Pack warmer clothes. Virgin warned that San Francisco and San Diego will be much cooler than Mexico, especially in the mornings and evenings.
Cancel private Mexico tours now to give yourself the best chance at a refund from outside operators.
Booking a Brilliant Lady Mexican Riviera cruise later this season? Four straight sailings have lost Mexican ports, so build flexibility into plans that depend on a specific Mexican port.
No change to interline or travel-industry cruise rates was mentioned.