Setting Sail The Virgin Way...

In all the years that I have been travelling, I have never particularly been interested in booking a cruise. It's not really something Debs had ever wanted to do either. To start with, we both suffer from motion sickness, me in particular, and secondly we've always had this perception that cruising is targeted at an older demographic than the one we're currently in. We actually used to say "Yeah, maybe when we're older and can't get around as easily we'll give cruising a try". Talk about judging a book by it's cover or what!

Anyway, as some of you reading this might already know, I became an at home travel agent back in October '24 and I was very excited to find out that Virgin Voyages was one of the many brands that I am now partnered with.

I don't know about you, but I've recently seen a lot about Virgin Voyages. My instagram algorithm is FULL of content created by young travellers who have been cruising the world with VV and spreading the word that actually, cruising is fun and not just for older folks, so when I saw the Virgin Voyages brand in my back office booking system, I was intrigued to find out more.

Very very soon after becoming an ITA I completed my Virgin Voyages First Mates training, which was a full progame created by VV to ensure that their at home agents know as much as possible about the ships, the itineraries and everything that VV have to offer. Honestly, I really should have recorded myself doing these training blocks because every single time I finished a section I would look over at Debs and be like "OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS, DOESN'T IT LOOK AMAZING".

I was probably only a quarter of the way through my training when I had the sudden urge to book a voyage and just a week or so later, we had booked our first ever cruise.

Now, as I mentioned I am someone who suffers with not only motion sickness (sea sickness in particular) but I also have sporadic vertigo, so I was somewhat apprehensive about this whole situation but I figured that I would never know if I liked cruising unless I just gave it a go.

On Sunday the 2nd of February 2025 we boarded a cruise ship for the first time. We chose the 'Western Caribbean Charm' on the Scarlet Lady and set sail from Miami for a heavenly 6 nights at sea.

Day One: Embarkation day & setting sail

As our cruise set sail from the heart of Miami, Debs and I decided to elongate our trip by spending a couple of nights in South Beach before we set sail. The morning of our cruise, we checked out of our hotel and spent the day exploring a little before our chosen embarkation time of 2:45pm.

As I have absolutely nothing to compare it to, I can't say how Virgin compares to other ships embarkation process but all I'll say is it took less than an hour from the time we got to the port to sipping cocktails over the sunset after dropping our stuff off in our cabin. It was very stressfree and honestly SO much nicer than waiting hours in an airport. (Remind me again why we haven't done this before?)

As we weren't due to set sail for another few hours, we decided to spend some time familiarising ourselves with the ship. Our first port of call was of course the top deck where we grabbed a drink and wandered the top few floors: taking in the sights and calming my nerves before sailing.

We then headed back to our room to see if our luggage had arrived yet (it had!) and unpacked all of our stuff in the very spacious cabin.

By the time we were finished, it was about time for another drink and we had managed to time everything perfectly to be able to head back up to the sun-deck where the 'sail away' party was about to begin. *TOP TIP: If you've never sailed with Virgin before, about an hour or so before departure there's a sail away party on the sun and pool decks where there's FREE bubbly for about an hour or so! You'll get to know the host of the ship and the happenings cast plus be able to take in all of the beautiful scenery whilst sipping free bubbles.

We found ourselves a little spot at the edge of the ship so we could see when we started moving, but honestly I don't really know why we bothered because by the time I'd even realised we were moving, we were about to turn around in the port! Being on a moving ship really is SO different to being on a smaller vessel.

We spent the rest of the evening watching Miami disappear into the horizon, gazing over the sun set and deciding where we were going to have dinner for our first night on the ship.

*Again, I have no idea how other cruise lines work but ALL of the food is included on board VV's ships. All of the restaurants are a la carte and offer extremely high quality food that you can quite literally have as much as you like of.

Day Two: Our first ever day at sea

We survived our first night on board (yay!) and honestly, I think I slept better than I have in my entire life. It turns out that if you have vertigo and you're on a ship, the motion of the ship kind of cancels out how uneven you feel to the point where you just feel normal. It did for me anyway, and I found myself really enjoying the motion of the ship gently swaying as we headed towards the gulf of Mexico.

Anyway, day two was a full day at sea so it was time to really see what the ship had to offer and make the most of the facilities. Of course, I was up before Debs (I always am) so I spent the morning quietly taking in the views from the decking, basking in the sun and listening to the waves crashing against the side of Scarlet Lady. Honestly, it was perfection.

We started the day with breakfast in The Galley, which is basically like a huge food court (but nicer) with loads of different options. What we liked the most about this concept was that we could both go and grab whatever we wanted from different locations and sit and eat together whilst watching the waves.

After we were suitably fed, we grabbed a coffee to go and headed up to the sundeck / pool area to find ourselves a couple of loungers, which is where we planned to stay for the majority of the day. Whilst it could sometimes be busy, there was normally always somewhere to sit and we found a couple of sun-beds right by the edge of the ship and spent the rest of the morning roasting in the sunshine.

After hours and hours of basking in the sun, dipping in the pool(s) and taking in the ocean, we opted to head to The Dockhouse for an afternoon snack before heading to our room to get showered and changed. We managed to time our late lunch perfectly with a little live music which was really lovely.

Our second dinner of the trip was at GunBae, A Korean BBQ restaurant which is a shared dining experience with two other couples. Whilst the food was good, and the evening was highly interactive - I have to say this was my personal least favourite (food wise) of the trip. There was honestly just SO MUCH FOOD and there was no menu as such, meaning you ate what you were served, and as someone who isn't a lover of spice (Debs' too), a lot of our meal was left at the end.

*I'm in no way saying that this wasn't an amazing restaurant, just saying it was my least favourite but it was still good!

*TOP TIP: As soon as you book your Virgin Voyage, download the app and make note of when you can make dinner reservations. As soon as the dinner reservations are live BOOK IT. The restaurants get really busy / booked up so if you want the opportunity to try them all I'd recommend booking as soon as you can. Don't get me wrong, there were a couple of nights we didn't make bookings and we did still manage to get a spot but we had to wait / eat at the bar and it wasn't guarenteed.

Day Three: Roatan

Day three at sea and I woke up to the first sight of land I had seen since Sunday (it was now Tuesday) and I again spent the morning chilling on our balcony as we neared closer and closer to shore. By the time Debs' had awoken, we were pretty much pulling up (I'm not sure what the sailing words are for this) at the dock so we both sat with coffee watching as we docked in Roatan. At this point, we decided to order 'Ship Eat's for breakfast so we could take in the scenery from the balcony and enjoy a slow morning before our day ahead.

After breakfast, we got ready and got all of our stuff together before figuring out how the hell we got off the ship. Luckily, there were signposts everywhere and we made it off the ship in a matter of minutes. We opted to find a local taxi to take us where we wanted to go: West Bay Beach. We chose to book our own transportation as it's just a lot cheaper than booking with the cruise line but if you're worried about doing this or would just prefer someone to do it for you, then I'd highly recommend booking your 'shore things' (excursions) in advance with your travel agent (or however you booked).

We actually ended up sharing a taxi with one of the ship's production cast and a solo traveller so it was nice to get to know some other people on board and learn more about life as a travelling actor / performer.

After a short taxi ride (where I wondered at points wether or not we'd make it out of the car alive), we made it to West Bay: one of the most famous beaches in Roatan. Our taxi driver took us to the quietest end of the beach and helped us out with getting some loungers and drinks.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing, chatting to locals, getting to know the waiters, swimming in the crystal clear waters and at the very end of the day, we ended up bumping into and making friends with the Virgin Voyages DJ and all of his friends he had made on board. He actually also had a local friend with him who we got chatting to (and ended up connecting on Facebook, like we do). This lovely guy has lived on the island his whole life and is a local tour operator on the island, so when we go back, we know exactly who we'll be hitting up to book our tour of Roatan!

*TOP TIP: I'm not sure if other cruise lines are the same but when you're on a Virgin Voyage - you need to stay on ship time. Ship time stays in the same time zone that it departed in, so in our case we were on Miami time. Roatan was an hour in front (or behind, I can't remember), so the crew reccomended we change our phone / watch settings to stay on Miami time to ensure we were never late back to the ship!

After another amazing day, we got ready on board and headed out in search of cocktails before our dinner at The Wake. The Wake was honestly one of my absolute FAVOURITES of the whole trip. It's a steak / grill restaurant at the very back of the ship and it was just so much better than I was expecting it to be. Now remember, all food is included: I would have happily paid London prices for the meal we were served. 10/10 - a MUST whilst on board a Virgin Voyage.

Day Four: Costa Maya

From day four onwards, the weather took a bit of a turn: it was super super windy. I noticed it as soon as I woke up on the fourth day but not in a bad way, I could just tell that the weather was weathering. Our second stop of the cruise was to the very beautiful Costa Maya, a pretty remote area on the Mexican coastline not too far from Playa Del Carmen (somewhere we're previously visted in Mexico!)

As it was such a remote port, the excursions were very adventurous and we were really just looking for a chilled day, so we chose to stay in port. I also wanted to experience what a day was like at a busy port so I could be able to give honest feedback and recommendations to those who have no cruise experience at all. Here's our takeaway from a day in port:

• It's super super busy, but still plenty of spaces to sit if you get there early enough (we got off ship around 10-11am)

• Great for families who want to entertain the kids without getting in a taxi (although we were on an adults only cruise so not particularly important for us)

• Lots of shops, bars, restaurants and seating options

• Many of the pool areas allowed you to sit for free if you buy a drink

• Wouldn't recommend if you're looking for an authentic experience

It was so so hot in Costa Maya that we actually ended up back at the ship early and took a dip in the pool before getting ready for the highly anticipated Scarlet Night.

For those who know nothing about the Virgin Voyages Scarlet night, it's basically an all evening, almost ship-wide party with entertainers performing across several decks and spaces. If you really want to be a part of the whole experience, pack a red outfit for this particular evening and spend time wandering around the decks the performances take place on. This was such a good evening! We had drinks at 'on the rocks' bar followed by dinner at 'The Test Kitchen'. As the party didn't start until 10pm we decided to squeeze in a quick show in the red room (which was fabulous) before joining the party on the sundeck to watch the cast perform. I think this was potentially our latest night of the whole trip. SO MUCH FUN.

Day Five: Another sea day

The next day we had another full day at sea, which I was lowkey excited about. We ended up booking breakfast at Razzle Dazzle and were genuinely disappointed we hadn't thought to do this sooner. It was INSANELY GOOD. *TOP TIP: The day you board, head to sailor services or the restaurants themselves to book a few a la carte breakfasts. We didn't realise this was even a thing until a few days in so we definitely missed out but we managed to squeeze in two breakfasts here on our last two mornings and both times were amazing.

We then had another day full of sunbathing, dipping in the pool, hot tubbing, eating and drinking before more cocktails and dinner for our penultimate evening on the ship. We managed to catch a little live music, which was amazing, before having the best meal we had on board at Pink Agave, the Mexican restaurant with a twist. The food here was our favourite out of all the restaurants and we wish we could have visited more than once because it was just that good. I'd highly recommend the steak here and definitely grab a signature tequila cocktail.

Day Six: Bimini Beach Club in The Bahamas

Our last stop of the cruise and our last full day of the whole experience was spent in The Bahamas, on a beautiful little island called Bimini. The water here was some of the bluest I have ever seen and the beach that was at the beach club was stunning: white sands and went on for miles. Included in our voyage was a day at the beach club which is exclusive to Virgin Voyages. We disembarked the ship, took the free transport to the club and found a couple of loungers by the pool for the day.

We got to the beach club fairly early so it was easy to find a space, and it also gave us a couple of very quiet hours to relax and read by the pool before the DJ set up and the real party began.

*TOP TIP: Food is included at the beach club as it is on the ship, so no need to worry about where you're going to eat.

After a day (very well) spent in Bimini, we got back on board to get ready for our dinner reservations at Razzle Dazzle, (I'd say this came in at a very very close second to Pink Agave), before catching one last show before the cruise was over. We managed to grab a seat in The Manor for Jack Geladow's show, a very funny comedian from the UK who had us crying with laughter for the duration of his set.

After Jack's set, we decided we wanted to grab one last drink and head up to The Runway, which is the running track at the very top of the ship. We did a very slow lap and took in the absolute darkness of the ocean. It was a pretty perfect end to an incredible week at sea.

Day Seven: Disembarkation

On morning number seven, I awoke to the sensation of the ship docking: we had arrived back where it all began in Miami. The disembarking process was really easy, we basically chose a time, packed our stuff and left: it was as simple as that.

We honestly had the most incredible time on our first cruise and we're so pleased that we chose to sail the Virgin way. There isn't a single thing that I could fault from the entire trip and I'd urge you to give cruising another thought if it isn't on your radar already.

*TOP TIP: My last tip is to make sure to PRE-BOOK a taxi or transfer for when you get off the ship. Trying to get a cab or an uber was absolute mayhem and when we book again, we are without a doubt going to book a car in advance to avoid having to wait over an hour to leave the port!

So there it is, a full report of our first ever cruise.

If you have any questions, would like me to help you book a cruise or chat more about travelling please feel free to drop me a message on here, instagram or email me at: hello@prideescapes.com

Happy Cruising!

Becca x