Tag: Bahamas Cruise

All aboard! Virgin Voyages’ Fire & Sunset Soirées cruise is a five day, four night Caribbean nautical adventure— the perfect length of time to relax into the luxury, adult-only ambiance and take in the sparkling blues of the ocean. From bar crawling in Key West to spa days on the boat to snorkeling in Bimini, your perfect, dreamy beach vacation awaits.

Growing up in Florida, all five of us sisters learned how to sail in the Caloosahatchee River… much less glamorous than the Caribbean Sea! Over the summer, we’d put our skills to the test, taking a sailing trip from our hometown in Fort Myers down to Dry Tortugas National Park— 70 miles west of Key West (read more about Dry Tortugas National Park here). As such, we’re used to days on the open ocean and life on the boat, but man oh man is the Scarlet Lady an upgrade from SeaQuest (the boat we used to sail down, pictured below).

Whether you’re planning your first cruise or your tenth, we’ll break down the itinerary, the stops, activities to explore on the boat, and most importantly, the scoop on the Beach Club at Bimini. 

We’re not always big cruise or multi-day organized tour people as it can sometimes feel limiting to our independent exploration; however, with relaxation high on the priority list, we took a chance on the cruise life and LOVED it! Four nights was the perfect amount of time to enjoy the luxuriousness of the boat without getting cabin fever— the time spent exploring Key West and unwinding at the Beach Club certainly helped! 

Living the Good Life 

Curious what all is included while you’re cruising around? More than you might think! While cruises can feel like a hefty up-front cost, it’s your accommodations, food, activities, and transportation cost all rolled into one! When you hand over the big bucks, you’re getting your room PLUS: 

• Food, food, and more food— you read that right, all the delicious culinary options on the boat are available to you at no additional cost… you already paid for it! You can check out all of your 20+ dining options here. 
• Gratuities! Even though this seems small, this is a cost we usually factor into our trip budget as we always want to make sure to alot and/or pull out cash to tip everyone properly. Virgin Voyages pays everyone on board a livable wage, so they don’t rely on sailor tips. There’s no expectation for gratuities here. 
• Wifi is complimentary. In this day and age, it would honestly be more surprising if wifi wasn’t available! If you want to unplug on vacation, you certainly can, but if you’re keen to talk or post, you’ll have all the access! 
• Activities!! From on-board bar crawls and pajama parties to sunrise yoga and outdoor boxing, there’s complementaries activities and events for everyone. While there’s certainly additional services you can purchase (can anyone say massage please), the complimentary activity itinerary stays packed to the gills, so you can stay as involved as you like. 
• They’ve got you covered for all you can drink “essentials”. This includes drip-coffee, sparkling water, tea, soda, non-pressed juices, etc. While fancier drinks and cocktails may cost ya, they’ve got the basics covered free of charge. Can’t have you getting dehydrated on the beach in the Bahamas!! 
• A child-free atmosphere— Virgin Voyages operates all their cruises as adult-only, meaning your inner child is welcome to come out to play, but everyone’s favorite tykes will be at home. Virgin Voyages cultivates a rather fun and flirty energy aboard their cruises, so it’s not really a child appropriate atmosphere. A perfect place to cut loose and have fun though!! 

Bottoms Up 

If alcohol isn’t included, how does that work? This really depends. When you’re signing up for your cruise initially, the may be an option to add a bar package for a “deal” – i.e. $200 for a $300 bar package. Or perhaps if Virgin is running a special, they may offer a $300 bar tab for “free” to incentivize prospective sailors. As such, whenever you order a drink, your bracelet gets scanned. If you have a pre-paid tab, the cost of the drink is subtracted from your tab; if not, the cost of the drink gets charged to your room. The cost of the drink is the same regardless of which payment option you utilize. 

Room with a View

Or should I say a room with a Sea Terrace? We rather enjoyed our room, but the best part by far was the lovely terrace and the cozy hammock. Nothing beats peacefully swinging as you watch the ocean float by. While cruise-rooms are notoriously conservative on space, we felt we had enough room and found the rain-shower to be lovely! We would definitely stay in this room again.

The Itinerary 

Five days and four nights of sunset soirées and fiery fun. What does that look like? What’s a gal to do? Well, each day has a vague plan made for you, and you get to customize it to your liking from there. We have some suggestions of things we like as well as things we would potentially do differently!

Day 1: Miami

Even though the superyacht departs at 6:00pm, boarding begins at 4:00pm, so everyone can be in prime relaxation mode by the time your sea voyage begins. We found both the embarking and disembarking processes to be very smooth, both as we were departing and returning. As soon as you arrive at the Virgin “Terminal V” someone is taking care of you and ushering you to your next step. There’s a place to drop your bags off, (they will get brought to your room within a few hours), ample space to relax while you wait for your boarding time, and so many friendly faces around to answer any question you might have. 

As you make your way on board, someone will graciously direct you where to go, while a DJ mixes some fun and funky tunes to make sure the vibes are right. While there are more than enough complimentary activities to keep you entertained, if you want to book any spa services or anything you couldn’t book/didn’t think to book in advance, you’ll want to do that pretty soon after you get your things sorted, so we recommend either going to do that in person or getting the Virgin Voyages app downloaded to sign up that way. 

To get the vacation mood going, a pool party starts right around 5pm, so that everyone is well on their way to a good time by 6pm when the cruise leaves port. Once the sun starts to set, a pajama party ensues, but we will warn you, the saucy vibe Virgin Voyages is known for is very evident in some of their night time programming. 

Day 2: Key West

What’s on the agenda for today? Key West, baby! With practically a whole day (8:00am- 5:00pm) set aside to explore, there’s so much to see! Having been to Key West before, we have a whole blog post of our own recommendations for some fun spots to grab a bite, great cocktail spots, and fun things to do for the day! Getting a picture at the southernmost point is a must!

Key West is known for being a colorful place where people come to have a good time, and it certainly delivers. If your ideal vacation involves zero planning on your behalf, Virgin does have various tour options you can be a part of (click here for a complete list of paid shore excursions for Key West).

The friends we were with really wanted to do the Bar Crawl through Virgin, which was fun enough, but if you have a bit of adventurous spirit and don’t mind making a bit of a plan yourself, we recommend striking out on your own to explore some of the nooks and crannies of this small island. Just make sure you make it back to the boat before 5pm! 

Just a note: People often mistake Key West for being an open container city, but it is not, so make sure you don’t get too cavalier with your sidewalk sippin’! 

Day 3: Sailing at Sea

The third day of the cruise is all about exploring the boat and taking advantage of everything there is to do, because this is the “at sea” day. We woke up and spent the morning in the spa, which I highly recommend! The massages are spendy but sooooo worth it if you’re looking to splurge. Plus, if you purchase any spa treatment, you have access to the thermal spa for a few hours afterwards, and it was beyond relaxing to just bask in the Himalayan sea salt rom. 

From there it’s really a choose your own adventure dealio. Still kinda needing some R&R to recover from last night? Take a nap in a hammock. Feeling like you need to move your body? Explore the impressive gym on board or take a fitness class? Looking to make some new friends and keep the party going? Grab a lounger and hang out poolside.  

The options continue as the sun sets, because the Scarlet Lady boasts a wide variety of entertainment options. From an arcade room to a casino to an interactive theater experience to an organized bar crawl ending at a nightclub, each sailor really does get to tailor their cruise experience to fit their personality and expectations. We enjoyed their dinner and a multi-act show. It’s really rather interesting to wander around the ship and see all the nuance they’ve put into making different spaces unique! 

As it happens, Key West & Bimini aren’t very far apart, so you might look out into the horizon and notice you’re not moving along very quickly. Welp, you won’t be moving at all for a majority of the day. To create the illusion of a “day at sea”, you actually stayed posted up about 100 miles off the coast of Miami, just enjoying the endless blue ocean, before eventually heading to Bimini to dock for the next day. 

Favorite Restaurants on Board

• The Wake— the spot to go for amazing steak and seafood options
• Pink Agave— serves both tasty Mexican cuisine as well as a perfect Mezcal pairing
• Pizza Parlor— amazing made-to-order pizza (with gluten-free crust options!)
• Test Kitchen— a unique part-cooking-school, part-eatery that makes dining an interactive experience
• The Dock House— refreshing, casual-yet-specialty Mediterranean plates
• Lick Me Til Ice Cream— when does homemade ice cream ever not hit the spot???

Day 4: Beach Club at Bimini

The fourth day of the cruising adventure, and arguably the most exciting because today is all about Bimini— or more specifically the Beach Club at Bimini! From 8am to 7pm, the club is available exclusively to the Scarlet Lady sailors. There are endless beach chairs and loungers set up, so there’s more than enough room for everyone aboard to spread out and feel comfortable.

Beach games are set out for people to enjoy, a DJ stays spinning, keeping everyone hype, and every 20 minutes or so dancers will perform to keep the party momentum alive. Ordering drinks works exactly the same at the Beach Club as it does on the boat, so just keep scanning that bracelet and having yourself a time. 

We were more than content to nap on the shoreline and stare off into the gorgeous hues of blue, but if you are one that has a hard time sitting still, there’s loads of opportunities to explore. If we were to do it all again, we just might go take a jet ski tour, snorkel with stingrays, or perhaps even scuba dive with hammerhead sharks. If you’re feeling intrigued, you can find a complete list of Bimini’s shore excursions here. 

Day 5: Miami

All too soon, the final day arrives. The Scarlet Lady will arrive back in Miami by 6:30am, and everyone is transitioned off the boat by 10am. While the crew definitely promotes the having of a good time, the push for a partying vibe in notably less the last night, in an effort to help groggy, partied-out travelers make it off the boat in time.

Final Thoughts

We’ve flow Virgin Atlantic, but we’d never sailed with Virgin Voyages, so we were curious how the nautical expedition would go. We must say Virgin Voyages puts on a pretty comprehensive cruising experience!

Our gripes are few and far between. The countertop space is a bit lacking in the bathroom, but this is easily remedied with a hanging toiletry bag. We also generally felt that the food sat a little heavy, but this is honestly more due to “eating out” for every meal as opposed to a refection of the preparation, because all our meals were truly very tasty!

Would we book another Virgin Voyages Cruise? Definitely! The rooms, dining options, drinks, shows, activities, and Beach Club at Bimini were all amazing! Cheers to your next maritime adventure!

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