Exploring Miami and Sailing the Seas: Our Unforgettable Virgin Voyages Adventure

Arrival in Miami

View from Plane

Carrie and I went on our first Virgin Voyages cruise back in 2023, and we liked it so much that we signed up for a second cruise while we were still on the ship. We went on our second cruise from March 28 through April 2. It was another wonderful time, and we're already thinking about our next cruise on Virgin. We started this trip by spending two days in Miami before departing. We really like Miami and wanted to spend time there before leaving on our trip.

Hotel Pool View for Afternoon

We flew down early on the morning of Wednesday, March 26. We had a low-key first day, spending the day at the hotel pool, which was amazing, and then had a casual meal for dinner before making our way back to the hotel. We ate at some good spots this day, including Las Olas Cafe, which serves Latin-style food. It was so good that we went back again the next day to get coffee.

Exploring Miami Beach The next day found us in Miami Beach for breakfast at Cortado Cafe and Coffee House, where we ate breakfast, read, and I did some brief work. It's a popular spot for breakfast or coffee. We enjoyed our time on the corner watching people, and the food was great!

We were close to an Apple Store, as Carrie needed to stop by for an issue she was having with her Apple Pencil. After the Apple Store, we walked along the shops before deciding to grab a quick bite and drink at Oh! Mexico, where we had an appetizer and drinks. Actually, we had one appetizer and three drinks. It was an expensive bill for just an app and drinks, but it was good. It's a good spot to sit on the patio and people-watch while we snacked and drank.

Dining in Miami

Las Olas Cafe We ate at some good spots this day, including Las Olas Cafe, which serves Latin-style food. It was so good that we went back again the next day to get coffee.

Cortado Cafe and Coffee House The next day found us in Miami Beach for breakfast at Cortado Cafe and Coffee House, where we ate breakfast, read, and I did some brief work. It's a popular spot for breakfast or coffee. We enjoyed our time on the corner watching people, and the food was great!

Oh! Mexico After the Apple Store, we walked along the shops before deciding to grab a quick bite and drink at Oh! Mexico, where we had an appetizer and drinks. Actually, we had one appetizer and three drinks. It was an expensive bill for just an app and drinks, but it was good. It's a good spot to sit on the patio and people-watch while we snacked and drank.

Stone Crab from Stiltsville

Stiltsville Fish Bar Thursday night, we made reservations at a spot I selected called Stiltsville Fish Bar. We were drawn to this location due to their menu. I was interested in trying stone crab, which I had never had before and had never heard of until we were checking places to eat in Miami Beach. Stone crab is special to the Florida area, and it was good. We only had one as they are expensive, but it was worth the visit. We looked through other places to eat but decided on Stiltsville Fish Bar because of other items on their menu. Excellent!

Other items we had from Stiltsville Fish Bar...

Crab Cake from Stiltsville Fish Bar

 

Fish for Dinner From Stiltsville

Crab Cakes from Stiltsville

Key Lime Pie from Stiltsville

 

Following dinner, we headed to a nearby brewery where we could have some drinks while I watched the Washburn Ichabods on ESPN+ in the Final Four of the NCAA D2 basketball tournament. It was a good spot to watch the game on my phone while having some good drinks. Unfortunately, the Ichabods ran into a good team that went on to win the NCAA D2 championship.

Boarding the Virgin Voyages Cruise

Top Deck and Ready to Deport

Priority Boarding and Perks Friday morning found us headed to port to board the Virgin Voyages cruise line. Carrie and I were so excited to be on vacation and headed to our second cruise with Virgin Voyages. For this cruise, Carrie and I decided to sign up for more events than we did on the first trip. I’m glad we did, as we signed up for a painting class (more on this later), a spin class, morning meditation, and we went to both ports where we had originally thought we would remain on the ship. Again, I’m glad we signed up for more things, and for the most part, we stuck to the areas we signed up for.

The process of getting aboard was easy as we had priority boarding, which included a "Splash of Romance" that got us some Champagne along with some other perks we enjoyed. Virgin added some new options that could be ordered before leaving port, which included a bucket of beers, a bucket of Moscow Mules, and I also ordered premium WiFi so I could watch the basketball games I was hoping would take place on Saturday. The new additions of being able to have buckets of drinks waiting for us when leaving port were great!

Dining on the Ship

Pink Agave One thing I do not like about the Virgin Voyages app is that after the cruise ends, I cannot go into the app to see what we did or details about what we ordered. Everything ends except the home button on the app. However, I think I can remember the places we ate and call those out here.

Pink Agave is my favorite of the places we ate. This was our second time eating at Pink Agave, as the restaurants are similar between ships. Pink Agave has good drinks, the food is outstanding, and the wait staff is on point with recommendations, answering questions, and being attentive to our needs while we eat.

Seafood Dinner at The Wake

The Wake The Wake is another favorite on the trip. We went here twice, once for breakfast and then for dinner. It’s at the rear of the ship with large windows that look out over the ocean as we leave a wake in the water.

Razzle Dazzle Razzle Dazzle is another good place to eat on the ship. We went here our first night and had a good meal along with drinks.

Extra Virgin Our least favorite spot on the ship, both this voyage and our first voyage in 2023, is Extra Virgin. It’s an Italian place to eat aboard, and just like our first voyage, our experience lacked at Extra Virgin. The waiter took a while to greet us, get our drinks, and seemed burdened by our questions. We had the same experience on our first voyage too with Extra Virgin, where the food was alright, but the attention to detail or being there to answer our questions was lacking.

The Galley We did eat a few times in The Galley. It’s always a spot that is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks, and we stopped by there most days while aboard. We liked to check their daily special to see what was available and found some good things to eat in The Galley.

The Pizza Place Finally, not mentioning The Pizza Place would be remiss. Another place that is open throughout the day and late into the night, we stopped by to get pizza a few times, which was very good.

Activities on the Cruise

Carrie on Left, Mine on Right

Painting & Boozy Bevvies We signed up for Painting & Boozy Bevvies, which I will admit, I was a little anxious about doing. We had a great time. Champagne was being served, and they walked us through painting with watercolors. Truthfully, I was surprised how well mine turned out, where I can actually see the sun reflecting off the water. We sat at a fun table with other sailors and had good conversation.

Spin Class The spin class I attended was a lot of fun. The class totally kicked my butt, but it was worth it and made me feel good to work out while enjoying food, drinks, and snacks throughout the day while aboard. The class was packed, and I only did one spin class, but I would sign up for classes on our next trip.

Port Stops

Selfie at Pool in Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic As I mentioned earlier, we did make it into both of the two ports where we stopped. At the Dominican Republic port, we stayed at the resort pool off the ship and had a wonderful day. We found a nice spot with some shade to spend the day and enjoy the pool. There was a lazy river too, which we did, but we ended up getting out about halfway through as it was a long experience.

Bahamas Port

Bahamas: Virgin Voyages Beach Club at Bimini The other port we stopped at was in the Bahamas at the Virgin Voyages Beach Club at Bimini. This was our second time at Bimini. This time, though, we got there early around 9 am and had a great spot in front of the beach. It was an enjoyable day spent at the beach, and again we enjoyed good drinks, delicious food, as well as reading and snoozing. Wonderful day spent at the beach.

Departure and Final Thoughts

Leaving the Ship The last day aboard the ship was Wednesday, April 2. It was a sad day as we were leaving the ship and our vacation was ending. The process to exit the ship was the easiest it has ever been on any ship. We were off the ship and headed to the airport within thirty minutes. The fun had only started, though, as our flights were changed because of weather. We ended up not getting home until Thursday, with our Wednesday night flight being canceled.

Selfie in front of Virgin Voyages Ship

Looking Forward to the Next Cruise We had a great time on our trip and thoroughly enjoy Virgin Voyages. We are not sure when we will be sailing again, but we do want to go again on Virgin Voyages.

See all photos from our trip on Flickr.

Happy Birthday Cruise to Carrie on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady April 9 - 14, 2023... Highly Recommend Virgin Voyages!

Sunrise From Flight

Carrie and I left for a cruise on Saturday, April 8. We booked our cruise a few months ago to celebrate Carrie turning 50. We decided on a Virgin Voyages cruise as we had a few friends who had been on the cruise and said it was great.

Our fight left at 5:18 in the morning. We got a hotel near the airport for the night before, but we still had to be at the airport by 4 am. It was great to be able to see the new MCI airport although nothing was open when we were there, or when we returned, but it is nice to have one spot to depart and arrive for the airport.

We flew into Miami and had a hotel for Saturday night, so we did a tour of Little Havana where we had a guided tour to eat, drink, and see the area. It was so fun! We had a great tour guide that was from the area. Delicious coffee, drinks, and food, plus hearing about the area was so interesting. We had a great time before we headed to our hotel.

From Balcony in Miami, FL

We had a wonderful evening in Miami where we head a balcony looking out over the inlet to the ocean with so much activity of boats, I could have spent all day watching boats entering and leaving to the ocean. It was so cool! We had reservations at The River Oyster Bar which was walking distance from our hotel which was perfect. We of course had to order oysters and they were delicious. We had six different kinds, I believe, and they were all delicious. The drinks, appetizers, and meals were good too. We really liked The River Oyster Bar and our time spent in and around Miami. 

Leaving on a Cruise

Finally, Sunday, we were ready to leave for the cruise. We were so excited to be leaving on a cruise that Carrie shouted out to the crowd gathered how excited she was to be leaving. The boarding process for Virgin Voyages was so easy as we were on the ship and had our first drink minutes after boarding. There was a guy in line with us that might have been more excited than Carrie, but it was close. He was singing and giving high fives to the staff as we were heading up the stairs. We think he had done three or four Virgin Voyages before this one as he knew everyone.

Bar We Visited Each Day

We visited the Sip Bar each of the days on the cruise. Drinks were great and the bartenders worked their butts off while helping to keep everyone happy and drink in hand. We did go to the Sip Bar each day we were on the cruise. We were sad one night when they closed at 11:30 instead of midnight, but the two bartenders were going to staff party.

There were only two ports being visited on the five day cruise. Carrie and I decided we were going to remain on the ship for the first visit. We had a wonderful time going through the ship, spending time at the pool, and enjoying the ship without it being crowded. We almost did this again the second port day, but decided we should at least say we had been to the Bahamas and put our toes in the sand. It was tempting to not remain on the boat and enjoy the spaces without the people.

Hola on Side of Ship

We did take a catamaran the first port day which was in the evening which was a lot of fun. The margaritas were not great on the catamaran, but the beer was cold and all part of the voyage. As we returned, I was able to capture a picture of ship with 'HOLA' on the side lit up in lights. While we were on the catamaran, I was able to see some fish "floating on the air" which I had only ever seen on the internet. They were all over the place on the first hour out to the open water along the shore. The way back, I only saw one fly along the top of the water. It was fun and the crew did a good job keeping us entertained and drinks in hand.

Dinner at "The Wake". So good!

We had dinner at just about all the places to eat aboard ship. One of our favorites was dinner at "The Wake". Our seats were in front of the window showing the wake of the boat which was incredible. The meal was good and our waiter was great allowing us use our own bottle of wine and not charge a corking fee. Thank you! 

"The Wake", "The Test Kitchen", and "Gunbae" were my favorites. Least favorite was "Extra Virgin" which was Italian, but it was just OK for me. Main complaint was they were out of all of their wines except for one.

The bars on board were good and we frequented a few of them. It would be nice if only beer is being ordered that would not have to wait for those getting blender drinks, but overall, we had a great time and enjoyed our time onboard. We met so many wonderful people even having dinner with some of them one night. 

Sunset from Catamaran

We liked our cruise so much that we put a payment on a future cruise that we get ship credit for and then have to book it within the next two years. I look forward to another trip and to sailing again on Virgin Voyages. It will be fun to see another ship and make new memories to new destinations. 

When we returned to Miami on Sunday morning, we had a cabana reserved for us at a local hotel. We spent the day Poolside at Surfcomber as our flight back to Kansas City did not leave until 9 pm Sunday night. Worked out great as we were able to nap, eat, drink, and be in the pool. It was really a fun spot and once again our waiter took great care of us while we were there.

I am happy that we were able to celebrate the 50th birthday for Carrie doing a cruise. We both had a wonderful time and look forward to cruising again. It had been eleven years since we had last been on a cruise and this did not disappoint. Happy Birthday, Carrie!

See full photo album on Flickr.