Virgin Voyages, Scarlet Lady. January 16 -21, 2022

Virgin Voyages, Scarlet Lady. January 16 -21, 2022

This was our first time trying out a cruise line that wasn’t our normal. So, it is a little different, plus throw in covid protocols. But I’m going to be 1000% honest throughout this review. Why? Because I want you to have an honest opinion. I want people to see what our experience was like. Please don’t base everything on our review though. We are just two people and I think everyone needs to try it out to decide for themselves.

I’ll break it down by days to make it easier.

Day One – Embarkation Day – January 16:

Embarkation was pretty much a breeze. So currently VV is using NCL old terminal as theirs until theirs is done being built. So the parking garage (G) is on the other end (that is for those who want to park at port).
When you get to the terminal there were three signs outside. Check in time 11:45, Check in time 12:00 and Too Early. Our check in was for 11:45. The woman stopped us and asked us our time, and asked if we did the pre-registration for our covid test (which yes, we did the night before).

We waited for about thirty to forty minutes outside in line before they let us in (a tad earlier than our check in time).

We immediately were ushered through security which was quick (even for us who had our two carry on suitcases and our backpacks). Then you get into another line for the covid test check in. All we did was give her our birthdates, names and email and she gave us each a piece of paper with covid test information.

Then we went into another line for our covid test (which again, didn’t take any time).

After you take your test, they tell you it will be about 15 to 30 minutes for your results and to head upstairs.

Up the escalators to the first waiting area. First you will check in for your cruise with your passport (yes, passports ARE REQUIRED for VV), and your vaccine card. They explain how you put your bands on and tell you to go ahead and have a seat.

Now this is like the doctors waiting room. You are just waiting for your results. Once your results come back negative you move to the next waiting area. As you head there, they check your results (to make sure you really are negative) and give you a boarding number. We were in boarding group one. But I saw up to boarding group eight.

This is where an early check in sucks. VV doesn’t allow anyone to board until 2pm. Yep. So, we waited, and waited, and waited. The gentleman who works for VV in there was funny and did his very best to keep us entertained.

Once boarding starts, they walk you back through past the first waiting room and to a group of people who scan your bands (they have your pictures attached and everything).

Then it’s up the gangway and onto the ship with the crew cheering as you enter.

You enter on deck 7 I believe (CHECK ON THIS).

Your room is ready immediately, so you can go ahead and drop off any carry-ons you had and check out your digs for the next week.

The rooms are smaller than what we are used to on other lines, but it’s not a make-or-break thing. I LOVE the hammock on the balcony and now I’ll forever been sad to cruise on other lines that don’t have these available. The hammock is comfortable and perfect for just relaxing at sea.

The Galley is where the main food area is. Think food court mixed with a sit down restaurant. So unlike other lines, there is no buffet. You go in and sit down wherever you like. Someone comes to you and takes your order. All tables have two QR codes. One for the menus and one for drinks.

The servers bring you everything you want and you aren’t fighting to find a table with hands full of food. This part I really like. James can go either way.

Sailor services is on deck 5 and we’ve had to go to them a couple of times to make sure our banks work and such.

We toured the spa, and the ship and got some great photos as the guest count for this cruise is about 475.

Day Two – Sea Day – January 17:

Everything is at your leisure. Seriously, there is no rush at all. No need to dress up or anything. Most places open between 6-8am and are open for breakfast until about 10 or so.

The app has a list of things to do, but if you need that paper to show you times and such, they have those available in Sailor Services.

The first sea day we didn’t do much but just explore some more and relax. Lunch was in the Galley again.

They have a TON of movies to watch on tv if you don’t feel like sitting outside or in a common area.

They have a old style looking diner that serves snacks and floats. We weren’t fans of the floats, but others may be. James had the one with Whiskey in it and all you could taste is whiskey.

In the very back of the ship was the Dock and they had little snacks you could order. We ordered the chicken and the steak. Both were pretty good and we would try those again.

That evening we also had dinner in Extra Virgin the Italian restaurant. The food was amazing! The setting was great and we had a beautiful view of the ocean out of the port window. (LIST EVERYTHING WE ATE).

After dinner we went to the Never Sleep Alone show. This is in the Manor (night club). The entrance is located inside of the casino. You need a reservation for this show, so make sure you book this on day one!

The show was interesting. Not something we’ve ever seen before. It was definitely not PG. The woman is a sexologist who goes through different things about never sleeping alone and sex lives. She pulls adventurous people on stage. (When you first walk in they usually ask if you are adventurous or not. If you are, they put you in the front. If not, they stick you toward the back).

She pulled couples on the stage and had them do things like make out or touch each other where they like to be touched. She had some fun ones too where a woman was blind folded and had to pick who she would go on a date with just by their answers to questions. The end, well the end you will have to see for yourself. 😉

Day Three – Cozumel, Mexico – January 18:

Again, everything is at your pace. Don’t rush. There are no announcements since the first day before leaving port. It’s been quiet and really nice. So we woke up just before 8am and went to breakfast. After that we got ready and were off the ship by 9:30ish. Because of the lack of guests and getting on and off at your leisure, there wasn’t really anyone else getting off with us which made it super quick.

The port we were at in Cozumel is not the same one as Carnival and that made me a bit sad because I didn’t realize Carnival had their own. The duty free area wasn’t anything to boost about.

We walked down to my favorite store, Del Sol. Got a few things and just walked around some more.

Now because we were the only ship there and the RCCL ship was a little ways down the road, the people were out and annoying. There were hardly any of us in port and the shop owners were following us down the street some to get us into their stores. Just be aware (like any port).

We stayed in port for a few hours. We TRIED to have lunch at Senor Frogs, but the service was lacking. We were brought drinks (water for me, soda for James) and asked if we wanted chips and salsa and guacamole. We said yes and those things were brought right away. However, after that the server never came back to our table. Maybe because we didn’t order mixed drinks? Maybe he was too busy dancing in the conga line? I don’t know. I know we waited for about twenty minutes before we decided to track down the host and ask for our check. I was a bit disappointed.

So back to the ship where we had lunch. After lunch we just hung out in our room for a bit and just spent some time resting before the night. We stayed in port until about 10pm.

Dinner was at the Pink Agave. Again, food was amazing. VV really does it right with the food. (LIST FOOD WE ATE).

After dinner we went to the show Ships in the Night. I’m not a fan. And that may be just that show. It might be because there are so little people onboard. Who knows. The show was packed though. We saw a whole section that was just for crew and the rest for guests.

I do have to say though, the dancers I’m impressed with. They aren’t you normal skin and bones dancers you see all over the places so it was a nice mix of people and personalities. That part I LOVED.

Day Four – Sea Day – January 19:

We woke up and went to breakfast. Sea days on this are basically a just ‘hang around and do whatever your heart pleases’ day. We walked around some more and got a few more photos. Mostly we just relaxed and chatted until lunch time. We headed up to Razzle Dazzle and had a lunch/brunch type of thing. Razzle Dazzle was the veggie forward restaurant. But we were able to get a chicken sandwich and a salad (which we split both). We were pleasantly surprised by both. Next time we plan to try Razzle Dazzle for dinner and see what they have.

After lunch we walked around and checked out the shops. I was able to purchase a hammock from the shop up on deck 7 right before The Wake restaurant. They are only open until 3pm on sea days. So, if you want a hammock, you have to get it then!

Dinner that night we to Gunbae the Korean BBQ place which is right next to the Galley. It was definitely an experience. The cook top is in the middle of the table, and they bring you a plate of five tiny bowls of things to try. Some were spicy and I can’t handle too much spice, but James liked many of them. They also give you a bowl of rice and then cook your meat that you ordered in front of you. The ice cream we got a mix of both, and it was pretty interesting. Definitely something we would do again.

That night we also had a reservation in the spa for the Thermal suites. When you first enter they give you a robe and shower shoes. You can change there or show up in your bathing suit. Then you can opt in for the mud which they give you a small cup of and you put that on yourself and go sit in one of the rooms until it dries and then wash it off with the shower there.
There is also a pink salt room, steam room, sauna, thermal pool, one hot tub, and a couple of cool tubs. It was $39 for three hours in there. There are also chairs around the pool for you to sit in and relax.

Also happening later that night was Scarlet Night. Many people dressed in Scarlet having a blast.

Day Five – Bimini, Bahamas – January 20:

So as per our normal, we headed up to the Galley for our last breakfast on the ship. It was just as great as it was the other days.

Bimini is a new destination, and we were curious to check it out. So we made our way back to our room to shower and change for the day. Again, this is all at your leisure, so we took our time. We did hear ONE announcement from the Captain about running some drills and not to be alarmed.

Once we were off the ship it was a quick walk to the tram. The tram took you across the small bridge and made two stops. One at a small beach just on the other side, and another stop at the Bimini Beach Club. Before you get there you pass the Hilton and a few other little places to stay.

Bimini Beach club is pretty big. Two large pools, bars, and a huge beach area to relax. There was PLENTY of seating. The pool however was ice cold. I don’t know how James even got in there. The ocean water was a bit warmer. We hung out there for a few hours, before having a quick lunch there and heading back to the ship. The lunch we had was curry. He had chicken and I had pumpkin. Both were really good. We always tried the rum cake. It was definitely more rum than cake!

Back on the ship we just relaxed a bit and had a snack before taking a quick nap before our very busy night!

Our night started with dinner in The Wake. The Steak & Seafood. It was amazing. I had the clam chowder and James had the salad for our small plate. I have to say, that was the best I’ve had. For dinner I had the lamb chops and he of course, had his steak. We split the potatoes and mushrooms (which was more than enough for two with our meats).

Right after dinner we beelined it to the Manor (the nightclub where the entrance is inside the casino). We were heading to watch The Performing Nerd. We joined him for 3,333 seconds of fun. He’s funny and a Rubik’s Cube master. Honestly it was legit the best show we watched onboard, and I would definitely go see it again.

About an hour after that show ended, we headed down to The Red Room to watch Duel-Reality. It was like acrobatics love story. It wasn’t bad. It was better than the first show we saw on the cruise and took second to The Performing Nerd.

After the show we headed back to our room to pack and get ready to disembark the following morning.

Day Six – Debarkation Day – January 21:

Ah, the day we all hate. To get off the ship. With VV you select your debarkation time the day before. Because we had a few appointments to get to we selected 7:45am. Just before 7:30 that morning I saw people getting off the ship. It was just a couple people. But we both shrugged, double checked the room and headed to deck 7.

As we walked toward the door, the staff sadly waved goodbye, thanked us for traveling with them.

So off the ship we went. Down back through the gangway and into the terminal. We took the escalators downstairs to baggage and custom. Since we carried our bags off, we rounded the corner to customs. No other guests were there.

The customs agent looked at our passports, checked to make sure we were really us and directed us outside.

Once outside we found the bus that would take us down to the other end of the port to the parking garage. And by 7:41am we were sitting on the bus waiting to go.

By 8:10am we were on the highway heading back home.

OVERALL:

So, overall, we would sail VV again. We definitely want to try it when there are more people onboard. The experience with no children is different, but nice. I love kids, but it was nice to not have a lot of them onboard.

The food was amazing. Absolutely amazing. The one thing that VV definitely has down is their food.

The ship was beautiful and SUPER easy to navigate. By the second day I knew my way around (which says a lot because I’m always lost).

Port side is A, Starboard side is Z for staterooms.

I love the tablet in the room to control stuff. They DO have switches and an actual remote for the tv, but the tablet is great.

Would have loved more daytime activities to do.

The bathrooms are tiny, so that’s something to keep in mind.

Smoking areas are decent.

No waterslides water area like on other ships.

Noticeable differences between Carnival and Virgin Voyages:

No cruise director (this can be a blessing or not). For us it was fine.

No buffet. Not a big deal since the Galley is just like a food court and you have plenty of choices.

No main dining room. Different than normal because every night you are more than likely eating somewhere different, but nice because you get to try different things that are included!

No announcements. This was nice. It was so nice not having several announcements daily.

No photos. This one I semi missed. I didn’t miss the price tag at the end, but I did miss taking them and getting to look through them. I do not miss the dining photos when you feel obligated to take a photo while trying to stuff your face.

Pictures are posted in an album on our Facebook page! Check them out here!