The good, the bad, and the global pandemic…

VIRGIN VOYAGES

HEY STRANGERS!

Virgin Voyages is a new cruise line, started under the Virgin brand, headed by Richard Brandson. The company launched their first ship during a difficult time for the cruise industry, something we would soon realise.

In March 2022, Jake and I were lucky enough to be aboard Virgin’s first ship, Scarlet Lady. Our sailing was a part of the vessel’s ‘World Tour’ which would have seen the ship attend large media events and eventually position itself in the home port of Miami. It was also used as a test for the ship and crew, and only accessible to friends & family of the crew.

We embarked in Liverpool, England, with our destination set for New York City where the ship and company had planned an extravagant media event to launch the company in front of the World’s press. The trip was expected to be 10 days, however, half way through the transatlantic voyage, the company’s CEO informed all onboard that, due to a certain virus’ increasing presence in the Big Apple (and worldwide), we were to be redirected to Miami.

This came as a shock, as when we had left England a few days prior COVID-19 wasn’t a much of a concern, much less a global pandemic. But, we all know how that turned out. Nevertheless, we continued to enjoy the cruise and once we got over the panic of “how do we get home from Miami”, we looked forward to the prospect of exploring a new city!

Naturally, when we first heard that we were being redirected to Miami, we started looking at how to get to Orlando as at the time we were Walt Disney World Annual Passholders looking for any opportunity to return to the magic. However, we quickly, maybe somewhat begrudgingly, came to our senses realising we would spend and lose a lot of money going through with that plan.

As we were supposed to sail to New York, we had booked a hotel and our flight home from there. We also had Broadway tickets to see The Book of Mormon, which I had gotten for Jake for his birthday. But, New York deserves its own blog. Back to Scarlet Lady…

When our destination changed, of course there was a lot of confusion and a lot of panicked sailors on board. The crew handled it beautifully and shortly after the announcement, a second message rolled through the cabins letting everyone know that for the next hour there would be free, unlimited champagne being served in the main atrium. I immediately sent Jake down to get a couple of glasses. It was a brilliant idea on Virgin’s behalf, a certified crowd pleaser and once everyone’s buzz had worn off Virgin Voyages had devised a plan to get everyone home.

During the uncertainty, the company offered compensation for travel up to New York for the inconvenience which we greatly appreciated. This did however mean we wouldn’t make it to NYC until a day after we had originally planned. Our biggest struggles came through our Hilton in Manhattan which weren’t particularly accommodating and required a two hour phone call from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to get them to understand the situation.

We like to try and see the bright side of these kinds of situations so upon arrival to Miami we packed up our bags, enjoyed a great breakfast in the Galley and disembarked the Scarlet Lady, quickly encountering our first Covid-19 precaution, a temperature test (which Jake technically failed because he had sun burn on his forehead). We then grabbed our bags and set off for South Beach. Enjoying some warmth in Winter, we strolled up and down the famous beachfront, enjoyed some food and light shopping before having to head to the airport for our onward travel up to New York.

We then enjoyed an amazing short trip in NYC before heading back to the UK where we were almost immediately thrown into our first lockdown.

Although we may have had an unconventional cruise with Virgin Voyages, we did have a great and very interesting trip onboard Scarlet Lady. Our full review will be its own blog, soon!