Resilient Lady - Virgin Voyages Cruise Line, Miami departure on the Western Caribbean Itinerary

The Cruise group that we traveled with
were a great group of peeps.  I took this pic on Bimini Island, Bahamas of the other 10 from our group.

It was our first time cruising with Virgin Voyages and Darren and I were excited to get on this cruise line that is adult-only and extremely friendly. Check-in time was 2:30 which was a couple hours later than we normally get on a ship. This was okay because our room was ready for us, which we had never experienced before. Initially we had a lineup behind the 2:30 pm placard for about 12 minutes and then it moved very quickly outside Terminal V and we were signed in very quickly as well.

Darren and I waiting in a long line-up

We received our little red cord bracelet which has an electronic device on it, which is your key to your cabin, your charge for your bar tab and if you make any type of credit card purchase on the boat.  You don't have to worry about carrying a card around or a key card which is very nice. 

Very casual looking and in the Virgin Scarlet red color.

When we first walked onto the ship it was  a 'rocking' atmosphere and I don't mean literally I mean the music was pumping out excellent dance music. A very young vibrant staff dressed in Scarlet Red which is the Virgin Voyages signature color were so much fun to watch.  The crew had provocative uniforms but very cool to look at and all very friendly and professional and helpful. We went to our room right away which we had bid to upgrade for a balcony room and we were placed on Deck 11 room 162 Z side. We got to drop off our heavy backpacks unpack a little bit and our luggage arrived shortly after. There were outlets on both sides for our CPAP machines which was a first. It was quite a spacious room and the balcony had a chair hammock which extends to a full hammock also a first for us. 

I loved this hammock, super comfortable on the back and legs.

I don't normally find them comfy but this one was.. We lucked out and were given mid ship which was highly convenient to the Grounds Club for coffee on deck 7 in the morning and the Galley on deck 15 for Breakfast each morning.  We were one cabin away from the stairs and elevators. 

Our Balcony Mid ship cabin # 11162, which was perfectly located! Kollers coincidentally were conveniently located right next door.  We both bid to upgrade and both received the highly desired mid ship!

The Hammock extends and is lovely and comfortable.  Each balcony cabin has one and it would be my inspo to bid to upgrade on the next Virgin cruises.

Then we needed to find our friends because most of the group of 12 that we were on board with were just getting on board. We wanted to catch up with the Dragans because that's the reason why we were on the cruise because it was Christine's birthday on April 12th the next day and she was like a cute dear in in the headlights, her eyes were just popping because it was her first experience on a ship. We love to live vicariously through Virgin travelers and especially Virgin Virgin travelers. We helped them to find their room, they had an extended balcony near the front of the ship and a slightly bigger room as well.  Their cabin bathroom was a beauty as well.

Christine was pretty excited to see inside her cabin as a Virgin sailor it is pretty exciting on your first cruise!

Dragans were both pretty excited about their cabin and we went to check out the rest of the ship. We found a meeting place that was called the Sun Bar outside and waited for everybody to get on board. Some of the fellow passengers or sailors weren't on board until about just after 4:00 and the boat left at 5:00 but they just signed up later and got a later check-in time. Once everybody was on board the Sail Away Party started. We did sail away about 45 minutes late because of another ship entering the channel.  We departed from Miami which we had done several times before so it was pretty routine for us but all pretty cool for the first timers. 

The Best Poster Ever!!

Virgin has a lot of netting to sit on including swings.  This net overhangs over the whole expanse of the decks below.  Darren felt comfortable.  Miami was in the background and it is pretty impressive from Deck 17.

Kent, Zenon and Rob O.

Leaving Miami behind.

The two Christine's having a great time at the party.

Zenon and Dean.

Sail Away

Dragans at their first Sail Away Party.

One of the pools.

Rob and Heather Fritz at their First Sail Away Party.

We had early dinner bookings at 5:45 p.m. at Razzle Dazzle, we didn't even have time to shower and change. The Margaritas on board were excellent. I just told them not to make them so sweet and they listened. We sat down and the menu was interesting. I ordered a Goddess Salad. It was excellent divine actually and that was my appetizer and then I ordered the V for Virgin Chicken and that was excellent. It was kind of a spin-off from Mississippi, Alabama food fair where it was fried Chicken. There were very crispy collared greens. They were really tasty with some bacon in them and a gorgeous, buttery biscuit. It was all very good. I couldn't eat it all and normally I don't eat desserts on cruise ships because I don't find them to be very good. I thought I'd give it a shot and I ordered the Creme Brulee and it was a smoked creme with a twist.  Unfortunately Razzle Dazzle made Darren sick that night and the whole next entire day Darren was confined to his room.  The tuna appee had the garlic, unbeknownst to Darren.  Darren and I were not impressed with Virgin for about 24 hours.

Although the bathrooms on board were nice they were harder to find.  Darren got to see many washrooms on board for his sick day.

I liked their slogan.  That was on the Terminal V that we left behind in Miami.  Pic taken from our Deck 11 Balcony.

Christine and I at the Sail Away Party.

Leaving the channel and all other Cruise ships behind in Miami.  Lovely shadow of my phone on my face.  Not too bad a pic after 4 strong Margaritas!

We had danced at the sail away party for an hour or so and my knees were not thrilled with that.  Sometimes I wish that they would just #$@%^&*%. But we had the pajama party at 11:00 pm that night.  We actually did go but it was too hot in there, 6 of the group stayed and had a blast.   Darren did his usual and went and found a quiet place and painted before I packed it in that night and fully unpacked. We did walk around for probably an hour before to check out the ship that night in my PJ's. 

In my PJ's for the Pajama Party.

Virgin has these Merry Go Around pieces to take pics on.

Christine loves her Casinos!

I had to find where the Grounds Club was and there were two on board, Deck 7 and 15. That's where I could find my coffee in the morning and I would just add that to my bar tab and some other crucial areas like where to have my salad for lunch.  We checked that out at the gallery on Deck 15 and that salad bar looked amazing. There's no real buffets on a Virgin ship which is very different than any other Cruise line and I loved that. I did find Chia Pudding, Acai mixed with Yogurt, but not walnuts on board for my breakfast.  The fresh fruit was excellent for breakfast as well.

Unbeknownst to Cannells on the A side of the ship at 6:30 am our first morning a US Coast Guard Helicopter performed a medical evacuation off of our ship. Many of our friends on the A side of the ship witnessed the whole thing off of their balconies. We had no idea that after midnight that night our ship turned around and sailed quickly back to the USA so that the helicopter could get close enough to the ship to do the evac. This put us a day behind schedule and therefore Jamaica was pushed forward one day. As long as the person was ok and survived we didn't care.

The rest of the day was a great Sea day where we got acquainted with the ship and what it had offer us. It was Christine Dragan's 50 Birthday that day so we made the most of it as it was her day.

Christine the Birthday Girl with her Face Jewelry.

Kent was on fire that night.

The Dragans with their new hats.

Christine O. took care of business and decorated Christine D's. cabin door and room.  Zenon choked on that job.

We met for coffee at Grounds Club and then went and walked the outdoor track for a couple of miles. I went and had breakfast with Zenon and Dean and Virgin uses reusable plastic boxes and many of the breakfast grab and go items are in these. 

Chia Pudding and Oatmeal.  I loved that the Virgin has smaller servings of food.  Then you can freely mix and match especially for breakfast.

Christine and the girls went and did Bingo with the Diva for a couple of hours and I went and worked out at the very nice fitness place.  We ate at Extra Virgin that night and it was great Italian food!! The desserts were a bit wacky and I did not order one. I had already had ice cream earlier in the day. 

Heather and Corinne at the end of their ice cream cones.

After supper we went to our 8:00 pm Karaoke Booking and we were serenaded by Kent double micing it and Zenon hitting the loud high notes, too funny!!! We then filtered through the clubs and bars and did a Trivia Night. 3 of the couples stayed up to the wee hours of the night to dance their faces off at the 80s party.

That night we all got bedazzled with face jewelry.  The sparkly hallway was the entrance into one of the dance clubs.

Birthday Girl Night.

The next day was another Sea Day due to the medical evac and Darren and I played Pickle ball for a couple of hours. We then went to the pool which we never do on any other ship but everyone else was there and loving it. Virgin cruises is more uninhibited than other Cruise lines because it is adult-only. Wow, we saw some interesting things that kept us talking and guessing for quite some time.

We sailed into Ocho Rios, Jamaica and we had been there several times before.

The Ocho Rios (8 Rivers) Port is quite pretty.

Jamaica has a lush jungle like atmosphere and turquoise waters.

Jamaica is not my favorite place but we had signed up with the whole group and we were off on a river tubing and rafting Ship excursion. The guides ended up being quite good and the group had a complete blast tubing down the river which was faster than normal because of the recent rains. There had been a hurricane that ravaged that part of Jamaica 6 months previously and we did see some of that destruction which was sad to see.   Reportedly some of the island still did not have electricity and power etc. 

Most of the group is there for our pic before tubing.

Looking adventurous in our helmets and life jackets.

Tubing was so much fun!

The helmets were necessary because if you weren't paying attention you can clock yourself on the head with boulders.

The Bus to take us to and from the Tubing.  That's the Kollers.

After the tubing we were put onto rafts or dinghy boats in our two groups and it was a race to get through to the open ocean and then on to the beach and our group was right behind but we also had two extra bodies in our boat. It was fun and we got in a good work-out.

Rafting was fun too but our dingy was overfull.

I am the one with the big pipes, ha ha. I am 2nd from the back in front of Kyle, one of the Bachelors on board, Kyle is Corinne's bro.

They then bussed us to the Beach Club which had plenty of loungers and really good food, and really strong Rum drinks which I had three and that was plenty.  We got some swimming in the Caribbean in because the water was warm and lovely. All in all, a very good day. 

Dean another Bachelor who is originally Zenon's friend but now all of our friend. He is sandwiched by Heather and I.

The girls but missing Otani.  We could have stayed in longer but our guide called us out of the water and into the bus.

Rob and Christine Otani.

I can't remember if we went to The Wake restaurant that night because I am blogging about a week after we returned from the cruise. The wake had really good food on the ship but Darren after talking to the waiters about his garlic allergy had ordered his food and later they had placed a plate down on the table with his steak that he ordered and it had a huge whole roasted garlic bulb sitting right next to his steak. (That was a little bit suspect). Darren called the poor guy over and Darren didn't even have to say a word because 11 of us kind of jumped down the guy's throat in the nicest possible way and the plate was promptly taken away.

You can see the whole bulb of garlic on the opposite side of the pan.  All meals at the wake were served with this.  This was actually a pic of Dean's Tomahawk Steak which was 32 oz.  Dean had to pay huge for this special steak but actually I think Zenon actually had to pay for it?  Who knows.

Eventually Darren did get his plate without garlic and the meal ended up being very good 

The 12 Cruisers on the stairs of The Wake Restaurant.

Dean was unstoppable that night!  He was eating his appetizers in this photo and just getting started.  He ordered the appee which was complimentary but the gigantic seafood platter was bigger than a small planet and that cost him money or was it Zenon's money?  Who Knows?  I should mention that along with the Tomahawk Steak meal Dean also ate the full Lamb Chops meal as well.  He was man of the hour that night!

The next day was Grand Cayman which we had to tender onto the island which was quite slick. We played pickle ball first to kind of let all the people rushing off to get onto the island. We didn't need that much time in the sun so we enjoyed ourselves and the Kollers and us leisurely got off the ship tendered in with no wait and took a $6 per person shuttle to the Ritz-Carlton to meet the rest of the group who were having lunch at the Ritz. They literally just had to walk to the beach club and meet us there and all 12 of us had a wonderful time playing in the water. The water was sublimely Caribbean turquoise in color with white sand beaches and extremely beautiful and none of us really wanted to leave the gorgeous waters.  

7 Mile Beach directly in front of the Ritz Carlton.  The water was sublime and if it wasn't for the UV index we would have stayed in much longer but there was that little hindrance to us of the last Boat Tender being at 4:30 pm to the Ship. 

Our Texas buddy at the Beach with Heather.  He was real nice and offered to take photos of the group for us.  His wife was a Rodeo Queen and both Christine's have daughters who compete in Rodeo.

The Fritz Duo

The Otani Duo.  Why did Cannells have to sail with all of these hawt, photogenic couples.  Good thing they were fun, ha ha.

Dean loves his food!

Rob O. and Zenon

Christine Squared.

The group in the water that did not want to come out.

On the Boat Tender driving the 1 km or so to the beach.  Resilient Lady was so pretty.

Kent in the Caribbean before anyone else got there.

                                             Kent might be a Penguin.

Darren doing what Darren does.  I could not identify what he made this time?

The Ritz had these floats that were
anchored in the sand so that they
did not float away.  We all used them
and 7 of the group
dropped a wad of cash at the Ritz for lunch 
and had drinks, so it wasn't a problem.

Resilient Lady in the distance with another ship.  The walk was 1 hour if you wanted to get your steps in.  I had a broken ankle otherwise I would have walked as we have done in the past.  You just have to be cognizant of the British style roadways and not get run over.

I never ever want to leave water and sand that looks like this.

We hired a bus back to the ship and got on. No worries. Went for ice cream and then went to probably my favorite place that I discovered late on the cruise and it was the Ramen Noodle Restaurant. I ordered the Thai Green Curry Ramen and it was amazing so I know that when I am on Virgin again, I've already booked for 2028, I will definitely be eating at that Ramen Restaurant probably daily for lunch. It was delicious. We ate at Pink Agave that night which was a Mexican restaurant and with the 12 of us sitting together they tended to take all of the appetizer offerings and bring them all in multiples so that everybody could taste every appetizer which was kind of cool.  Virgin did that also at Extra Virgin too.  I've never seen that done on any other Cruise line. Everyone enjoyed their meal and we went off to whatever venue we went to that night. We did see Lola's library which was amazing singing and dancing. The voices were so good, it was a 1 hour and 10 minute musical performance and the people to look at were just amazing with their skilled dancing and costumes and it was also a hilariously funny musical as well. And on Virgin there's no sparing with the f-bombs etc. 

At Lola's Library.

One of the dancers.

We also went to The Misbehave Show which is a game show where the British host who is flamboyantly dressed has a nasty swearing habit who is also bloody funny with Brit humor. She split the audience into two groups and then we competed against each other with just absolutely ridiculous questions. The opposite side earned some points because some guy went into the center aisle and voluntarily stripped his shirt off.  This was the kind of show that it was. The host also had a an assistant who was as gay as Christmas and super cute to look at and he also was skilled in a lot of different things like acrobatics. The guy could do splits you name it and he was also quite funny and added a lot to the show. I would strongly suggest that you see both those shows. Super funny, super worth seeing.

Miss Bitch and Delilah the Gay Guy.  I can't remember their names exactly but it is close.  They were highly entertaining.

The Stage Set was very cool.

Delilah on the acrobatic bars suspended from the ceiling.

The stairs up to the stage which I thought was hilarious.

A little sexual innuendo at the water and ice dispensers on Deck 15 in the Galley.

The next day we had a Sea Day which was welcomed after the two Port Days and you do what you want to do on Sea Day. I read on my balcony and sat in my hammock on my balcony for quite some time. I fell asleep a couple times we ate. We went to different venues. We played pickle ball. We ate again at Extra Virgin because who doesn't like Italian?  Darren doesn't.  He would be the only person on the planet.  Garlic is in everything Italian.  

We all had a great day, even Darren who was in his Glory and went and ate Pizza for his Dinner. 

A group pic somewhere on the ship.

The next Port was Bimini Island, Bahamas.  We played Pickle ball first and then we walked off the boat and caught a shuttle almost instantly for a 10-minute drive to the Virgin Beach Club. It's very large with tons of seating right on the ocean and it had two pools and two large bars. The food was included.  There is not much to complain about with Virgin but I did not like 50% of the food choices at Virgin Beach Club. They had the food in appetizer size portions which is perfect because then you can try a lot of them. The Cucumber Watermelon Salad was amazing and actually the Rum Cake was really good too. The Curry dish was good but the rest were not really my thing. Virgin also needs more bar staff and more bars at The Beach Club because the first time I went for drinks it took me 17 minutes. When I figured out there was another big bar at the other end I went there and that took me just a couple minutes for my drink. (First World Problems) 

We played in the water which was also beautiful but also a little bit colder because you're a little bit farther north so I didn't stay in the water as long. We just sat around and talked. We enjoyed the shade, it was 25 degrees that day in the Bahamas and it was humid. We had 75% humidity and played pickle ball that morning and I was dripping wet and I normally don't sweat.

Bimini Island is a small island with a landing strip and permanent homes on it.  There is a hotel and casino and you can take a ginormous Catamaran from Fort Lauderdale which is a 2 hour boat ride and stay at the hotel with a package.

Rob O. looking dapper in hearts!

The girls enjoying their cocktails at Bimini Beach Club.

Zenon on the pier at the back of our Ship which is a different shaped ship than we are used to.  Notice the quasi triangle at the top.  I have a pic of Darren sitting on that net on Day 1 of the cruise and that was it.  There are 9 or 10 decks, underneath when you sit on that net.  I did not sit on the net.

Zenon, Kent and Rob F.

Bimini Beach Club food.  Dean and his food.

Kyle to the right and others I can barely make out.

The shuttle back to the ship had a long line up and  we tried to time it so that the line wasn't so long to catch the shuttle back to the ship. But we still had about a 20-25 minute wait in the hot sun and that needs to be rectified. Bimini Island was still pretty and fun and worth going to. There really was very little to complain about coming from a seasoned cruiser like myself.

We did eventually get back to the ship and went directly to the ice cream stand and tried a new flavor and went and showered and relaxed on my hammock and made it to another restaurant that night called The Test Kitchen. 

It was Scarlet Night and Cannells did not have room or weight to carry around red outfits in their luggage for 3 months.  I honestly did not think it would be a big deal but their was about 90% of all Sailors in red.  Virgin takes its theme nights seriously!  And I like that.

All 12 of us were not really into the menu, not going to lie, the food was really quite bizarre.  You had to pick the right side or the left side of the menu and I picked the left side and the first appetizer that came out was a charcoal rosette over top of a tofu swirl surrounded by roasted eel. When you did take all of those flavors into your mouth it was interesting but not something I would order and pay good money for. The rest of the dishes including the scallops which should have been good, were completely tasteless and then the main course, to be honest, I don't even remember  what it was because it was so bizarre and it did not taste good to me. The interesting thing about the Test Kitchen is I would recommend it. They explain how the food is made and it's really quite interesting and I'm glad we went even though the food wasn't to my liking.  Maybe if I was a foodie I would have liked it but not one of us in the group of 12 was a Super-fan and my dessert was even odd. 

Very pretty Eel Appetizer with the edible charcoal rosette.

Very pretty mushroom, cheese appetizer with an edible charcoal dish, some of us liked this one but the cheese was very sharp.

The next day was a Sea Day and because it was our last day of the cruise I just tried to do as many things as as we could including pickle ball and resting in my hammock and reading and relaxing.  That night we went to GunBae Restaurant a Korean Barbecue place where they cook your food right at your table. Some of the dishes were great but overall too much meat for me. Carnivores were in heaven!!

Our lady cooking our meat at our table with the exhaust fan above.  Kyle and Dean were at our table.

After Gunbae we went to the back of the ship at the outdoor bar and hung out.  It was Scarlet night and there were parties everywhere.  We were entertained by agile crew members doing some acrobatics on the deck.  Then we all went to the Pool Area where the real party was taking place with lots of great music.

Some games at the back of the ship.

Some crew doing acrobatics.

I think that was in the elevator.

Miss Someone, I did not catch her name.  She was the host of the Scarlet Party Dance Night.

Our Good Bye Photo.

Everyone in their Scarlet Wear, even Zenon had a red scarf on his head.

Scarlet Photo except Darren and I were losers in blue.  Next time I am definitely packing Red for our two week Virgin cruise that we have booked in January 2028.

Kent and Zenon.

Overall the food was fantastic on Virgin except for the Test Kitchen Restaurant and at the Virgin Beach Club, but many from the group really liked all the food at the Virgin Beach Club.

I would definitely highly recommend Virgin Voyages. It is probably my most favorite cruise line and we have cruised them all except for the very expensive Cruise lines like Oceania etc. I wouldn't hesitate to book a Virgin Voyage. We loved the adult-only atmosphere, the super-friendly people, the great food, the drinks, the entertainment and honestly they were the best drinks of any cruise line.  I really don't have a lot bad to say about the cruise and the people we cruised with were super fun and just added to the adventure.

Flying into Calgary. WestJet left Toronto one hour late so we missed our connection in Calgary that night.  WestJet put us up at The Clique Hotel which was pretty nice.  I did not honestly think that we could take 3 Westjet flights home and actually make it to Saskatoon on time, 'No way Jose'

I think Christine D. sent everyone this on the Whats App Group Chat for the cruise.  I thought that it was hilarious and a great ending to a wonderful and fun-filled cruise with people that were beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.
Cheers Sailors, until next time..................