cruising

Seeing (Scarlet) Red

Virgin Voyages Day 4. Wednesday, December 22, 2021. Back at sea.  We are on our way to Bimini now.  We had a pretty full day yesterday so a lazy morning is in order. We have nothing on today except dinner reservations at Gunbae, the Korean BBQ joint.  Tonight is the big, ship wide Scarlet Night.  It’s an extravaganza of red and I’m really looking forward to it.  We haven’t made it to Noodle Around and their udon bowl looks delicious.  Noodles for breakfast it is.  The wind is kicking up a bit and it’s cool this morning.  Hot noodles should hit the spot.  AAACK.  The udon is served with shitake mushrooms and spinach and it tastes like a shaker of…

Taino Bay Puerto Plata, DR

Virgin Voyages Day 3. Tuesday December 21, 2021. Wow it’s just 4 days till Christmas. Woke up this morning for an early-ish breakfast.  Ate a so-so omelet and funky round hash brown patty from The Galley on Deck 15.  Brrr. It’s cold this morning.  Had to get a cup of hot tea to warm my hands.  Today is a shore day in Puerto Plata, a port town in the Dominican Republic. We are the FIRST Scarlet Lady cruise that gets to dock at the brand spanking new Taino Bay port. The other scheduled DR cruises were diverted elsewhere in the past few months because the port was behind schedule and unfinished.   But first, it’s time for our private bungee…

Scarlet Lady Food Review

Dining on Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady is a different experience from your “regular” ocean-going ships.  Each restaurant is included with your trip so there’s NO extra cost to dine anywhere. No.  A few items on the menus do have an upcharge, such as lobster or wagyu beef, but that’s an exception.  Typically, the most difficult part about dining on Scarlet Lady is deciding what to eat.  There are six specially themed sit-down restaurants.  We were on a 5-night cruise which meant that we had to leave one restaurant out.  The way reservations work on Scarlet Lady is that you are allowed to make one reservation per restaurant.  If you want to re-visit any of them you can show up and…

MyBeast on Scarlet Lady

Day 2 on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady ship. It’s Monday, December 20, 2021. Sunrise yoga and meditations? Break of dawn mimosas and crisp fresh air? Nope. Sleeping in feels so nice. I looked at the clock briefly at 7:30am and thought about getting up for yoga.  Then promptly pulled the covers higher and forgot about it. My first scheduled activity today is a MyBeast Fitness class at 2pm.  Hahah. Why torture yourself on a cruise?  Idk.  In the morning we wandered around looking at the ship and taking photos.  Then we went to The Wake for brunch.  This is the one restaurant I didn’t make dinner reservations for because it’s a steak and seafood place.  Since my friend and I…

Scarlet Lady is a Diva

I just realized I haven’t blogged since I went to Iceland in November 2019. That’s pretty much what the pandemic has done to me. I logged on and saw that I had some half done drafts from a cross country RV trip to 4 states in Summer 2020 and then a half-draft for my trip to Toronto in September 2021. But none of that made it to the final stage. It is now December 19, 2021. I’m on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady. I boarded this afternoon and it was already a full day of activities. I am going to pack everything in that I can so that if anyone asks me about this brand new ship I’ll be able to…