Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady
Western Caribbean Charm
Dec 22-28, 2024
My favorite thing about sailing with Virgin Voyages is you can make your voyage anything you want it to be. There is something for everyone to enjoy whether your vibe is relaxing, partying, or a mixture of the two.
Our goal for this second time onboard the Scarlet Lady was to check out the shows and parties as we missed most of them on our first trip.
Highlight of this Cruise
We were able to book the “Behind the Scenes” tour. This ship tour sold out on our last cruise so we snagged spots as soon as we got onboard the ship. The 2.5 hours was spent walking to different areas such as laundry, food preparation, the control room, and the bridge. Each area had a crew member explain what the job involves and answer any questions. Closed toe shoes are required and they should be comfortable as you will be on your feet the whole time. Our tour ended in the Sip Lounge with a complimentary glass of champagne and a thermo cup souvenir.
Food
Dining this cruise included our favorite restaurants, Galley favorites, and Galley specials.
We started off the cruise with bowls at Sun Club Cafe. This hidden gem is located on Deck 16. The tuna bowl was delicious and one of my favorite meals.
The Wake was a beautiful place to have dinner for sailaway. Everything we’ve eaten at this steakhouse has been cooked perfectly and delicious at both dinner and brunch.
Test Kitchen has become a must for us. We love trying new food. They started the cruise with Menu A and then switched to Menu C halfway through the cruise.
Razzle Dazzle was a great place to have breakfast with many unique options to choose from.
Razzle Dazzle becomes Lucky Lotus at night and we couldn’t wait to try this new restaurant. The menu features Chinese-inspired cuisine.
Pink Agave was such a treat last time that we made sure to save a night to eat here again. We wound up eating too much because we wanted to try everything.
Extra Virgin was a lovely choice for the last night of our cruise. We had the pleasure of watching them make the pasta on our ship tour so we were excited to taste it.
The Galley is a food court type of setting with several different options some of which have daily specials. All food is made fresh. You can grab a table, scan the menu, and put the flag up when you are ready to order.
The Dock House has a chill vibe and has become one of my favorite places to hang out. I love it when there is live music as it is always great. There are also snacks available when you get hungry. We made it to Opa hour during one of our sea days to try items from the happy hour menu.
Entertainment
Ships in the Night in the Red Room was a broadway style production packed with fabulous choreography mixed with technology that told the story of strangers passing each other in the night. Duel Reality was an exciting production about two feuding families. Audience members get split between the red side and the blue side and receive a band with that color. These skilled acrobatic performers amazed the audience with their stunts, climbing and juggling. We enjoyed both of these unique productions.
The Happenings Cast made everything fun and we attempted to see as many of their performances as possible. The Hostess, Patsy, had the most incredible voice. We had the pleasure of seeing her in both the Holiday Cabaret show and telling the story of Scarlet Night in The Red Room. Dixie Krystals, the Diva, was wonderful in Lights, Camera, Drag which was performed in The Manor. We also made it to On the Rocks to see the Diva sing and the show was great. Ashley, the Charmer, astonished us with her magic in the Roundabout.
Live music can be enjoyed at On the Rocks and the Dock House many times during the cruise. We loved all the entertainment we squeezed into our agenda. It was impossible to see everything but we gave it a good try.
Activities
We attended Bingo in the Red Room twice. You purchase your cards at the door and although we didn’t win, the Happenings Cast members made playing a lot of fun. I never realized there were so many ways to play bingo.
It is difficult for us to stay up late so we were proud that we made it to the PJ party on the first night. Our motivation was showing off our matching Christmas pajamas. We didn’t stay for the whole party but enjoyed the music while we were there. The only other party we made it to was Scarlet Night Pool Party. We enjoyed it so much on our first cruise we couldn’t miss it. The dancers are so talented. There are late night parties every night for those that like that sort of thing. I’ve heard they are fun and maybe we will make it to some of them on our next cruise.
Cabin
We got an amazing deal on a Rockstar cabin during our first cruise with Virgin Voyages so we splurged and had the Rockstar experience for this voyage. We enjoyed the perks but not sure if the price difference is worth it for us. The biggest pros were the large bathroom, playing records in our cabin, and entering the main shows first as there was a separate line for Rockstars. The “first round on us” bar in the room was equipped with 5 bottles of liquor, 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of champagne, 4 cans of beer, and soda. There is no way we could ever drink that much alcohol. We gave it a try but didn’t come close to drinking it all and still had quite a bit of money left on our bar tab. Although we had a great experience I’m not sure it was worth double the price for future sailings.
Christmas Trees
We noticed there were Christmas trees all over the ship so I attempted to get a picture of them all. Each festive tree had its own theme.
Ports of Call
Costa Maya port day was packed with a visit to Chacchoben and Chu’Huk. We started at Chacchoben exploring Mayan ruins and then tasted pineapple at Chu’Huk.
Roatan port day was spotty showers. We thought there was a break in the rain so we tendered into port long enough to visit Cariloha to pick up a set of sheets. While in port there was a downpour and we got soaked so we tendered back to the ship.
Our last day was spent at the beach club in Bimini. We splurged for a cabana in the Rockstar area. The covered bed was great protection from the sun. Service was excellent. The staff checked in with us constantly and brought water, drinks and lunch. This was a great way to hang out on the beach.
We had a lovely holiday voyage with the Scarlet Lady crew. The crew does a fantastic job by providing great service. We enjoyed our trip so much we made it down to Get Lost – Future Voyage Sails and booked our next voyage.
