DChabira

I don’t even consider marijuana an illegal drug anymore, since it’s been legalized in so many states, either medically or for recreational use. They smoked pot all day long on the balcony just forward of ours. When we were in the pool, I saw people taking something orally that was wrapped in foil. I couldn’t tell if it was pills or powder, but they weren’t snorting it. The use of glass in the pool struck me as very odd and unsafe. There was higher roller in the pool buying bottle after bottle and they were being passed around. They kept washing out their drinking glasses in the pool. Gross! I saw dozens of people drinking directly from the bottles they were passing around. Not very sanitary in this pandemic environment.

I saw a lot of drug use. I deleted it from the first draft of my review, as I was afraid they might not publish it.

Correct!

A pina colode was $13. Beer was between $5-$8

It’s day three of our first voyage on the Scarlet Lady. We’re booked on back-to-back sailings, May 22-27 “Riviera Maya”, and May 27-June 1 “Dominican Daze”. First, some background. I am 63-years old and my wife is 61. We’ve been married 38-years, and this is our 31st and 32nd cruise. We’ve sailed on most major cruise lines, but primarily on Royal Caribbean, NCL and Celebrity. We have Diamond Crown & Anchor status on Royal Caribbean’s loyalty program, but that’s mostly because we sailed with them a lot when our children were young. Our tastes fluctuates but at this stage in our life, we’re big Celebrity cruise line fans, with NCL coming in a close second. We were initially booked on the Scarlet Lady’s second voyage in 2020, but the pandemic forced us to re-book multiple times. We received a considerable boost in Future Cruise Credit which afforded us these two sailings in a Seriously Suite stateroom. I wanted to wait a few days before starting my assessment, so we could get a good feel for the vessel, and for the Virgin Voyages experience. So far, we’ve had a day at sea, a stop in Cozumel yesterday, and we are at sea again today, headed for tomorrow’s stop at the Beach Club at Bimini. Embarkation was extremely smooth. We arrived with our Covid Test results from Walgreens, and walked right onto the ship at 1:30pm. The ship itself is beautiful, as is our suite which I’d equate to a Jr. Suite on most other lines. There are lots of 110v and USB outlets which are lacking on most ships. The bathroom and shower are massive. Each suite has a turntable and a few vinyl records. I understand the desire for quirky, but this is just a giant waster of valuable counterspace which is always in short supply. The compact Bluetooth Speaker is really all that’s needed. The mini-bar is well stocked with many items, some are free and some are for sale but which is which is never fully explained. I did not find the ship easy to navigate. Signage is limited and not very intuitive. There’s little mention of Aft, Mid-Ship, or Forward so it’s difficult to figure out where exactly things are located. After three days, I still find myself searching for places I’ve been to before. There’s no daily cruise letter, rather you’re expected to use the VV App on your smart phone for most everything, to get alerts, to book dining reservations, and to learn what activities are going on. We are very tech savvy but I found the use of the App awkward, and the flow of communication poor. I also hated scanning the bar code in restaurants to view the menus. Unless you’re carrying around a tablet, a phone screen isn’t the best option for viewing a full menu. If you ask for a paper menu, the server will bring you one, and we opted to go that route when dining. The crew and staff are top notch, a step above any cruise line we’ve ever sailed with. Everyone goes above and beyond to welcome you aboard and to accommodate any and all requests. They are more fluent in English and appear more educated and refined than many of the third-world teams we’ve sailed with before. Adults only, is also a huge plus for VV. We love children and have three grandchildren of our own that we adore, but that doesn’t mean we want to spend every vacation with small children. Not having kids running and screaming around, and splashing in the pool was a godsend. While we’re talking about the swimming pool, it was woefully inadequate for a ship of this size and stature. The ship can lodge 2700 passengers. We had roughly 900 on our first voyage and 1400 on the second leg of our trip, and the pool was shoulder to shoulder crowded to the point of being uncomfortable. The eardrum busting techno music didn’t make the pool experience any more enjoyable. Personally, I’m a big fan of a large outdoor swimming pool and a second enclosed pool on a cruise ship. VV wants to attract a younger market and I think they’ve been somewhat successful. We are not fans of Carnival cruise lines, because of their “Party till you Puke” clientele. The pool crowd on the Scarlet Lady was a rowdy bunch also, actually scary at times. There was some serious drinking going on every afternoon. Security made no attempt to keep things orderly because the offenders were dropping big cash on bottle service. There were a number of altercations at the pool and more than once someone was so drunk or high that medical services had to be summoned. I’m all for people living it up on vacation, but not at the expense of others enjoyment. I guess it just wasn’t our crowd. Yesterday, we visited Sir Richard’s Beach Club at Bimini. This was a highlight of the cruise. We’ve visited most every port in the Caribbean, and we no longer care to disembark at some ports of call. We’ve also visited most cruise line’s private island stops. The Beach Club provides a Virgin-centric experience, it's not a private island, so passengers have the option to explore other parts of Bimini, should they wish to do so. A ten-minute shuttle ride delivers you to the Beach Club which is super clean and meticulously maintained. It’s a beautiful facility and a gorgeous stretch of beach. With the exception of the food served, I’d give it an A+. I’ll cover all of the food, a little later in this review. I read a lot of Scarlet Lady reviews prior to our trip, and I scoured through the Cruise Critic Boards before we sailed. Multiple reviews praised the food, so our expectations were sky high. Sadly, our dining experiences turned out to be our biggest disappointment. Breakfast and Lunch options were adequate, but trying to determine what was available when and where was confusing. Cinnamon Buns were available for lunch, but not for breakfast? Also, variety was in short supply throughout the ship. Same three Ramen options every day, same desserts, same ice cream choices, same two taco options, same sandwiches. You could order an Omelette and specify the ingredients, but the Pizza Parlor offered a choice of six pies with no substitutions, and little variety. Free soda with lots of soft drink options was one of the few bright spots. It was also difficult to find many snack options outside of regular hours. The fine dining options for dinner were a huge let down for us, with the exception of the Wake. For some crazy reason they attempted to limit you to only eating once at each one of these establishments. This would have rubbed me the wrong way under normal circumstances, but with the ship only 35% occupied, it was particularly annoying. Staying in a suite and being a “Rock Star” passenger, you were occasionally able to get your agent to subvert the rules, but it was still irritating. If I want to eat at the same restaurant every night of my cruise, that should be my prerogative. There are six restaurants onboard that I would consider to be fine dining, The Wake (Steak & Seafood), Razzle Dazzle (Primarily Vegetarian), Pink Agave (Mexican), Extra Virgin (Italian), Gunbae (Korean BBQ), and the Test Kitchen (*****). The Wake was by far the best of the six that we dined at. The Main Courses offered there, were of a more traditional nature. The appetizers and sides were less traditional but acceptable. Extra Virgin was also better than average, but offered another unconventional menu. All of the desserts on the ship were ok, but we didn’t have one single dessert that we would consider exceptional. The Filet Mignon on the other hand is one of the best we’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot. The main problem with these high-end restaurants, and with a lot of other amenities on the ship was VV incessant desire to be avant-garde. Main course options were extremely limited and delegated to a few frou-frou or fusion items. If that’s your thing than it’s wonderful, but adding a few classical dishes would have gone a long way towards pleasing a broader clientele. You’re not going to find any Fajitas in the Mexican Restaurant, or a steaming dish of Lasagna in the Italian restaurant, that’s for sure. We’re pretty adventuresome eaters, but after a handful of attempts, we gave up and started frequenting the Galley (Food Court) for most of our meals. The Beach Club food options were no different, just more haute cuisine, where Burgers and Pulled Pork would have been a bigger hit. It's obvious that VV is still sorting things out. There was a lot of confusion around the protocols for our back-to-back sailings. When our Rock Star Agent didn’t have the answers, I went to the Sailor Services Desk, but even the two customer service representatives there, couldn’t agree on what the policies were. After one of them consulted with a supervisor, we were instructed to go to the Medical Center between 4pm-6pm the last night of our first cruise to take new Covid tests. When we arrived at the Medical Center, they knew nothing about this. They told us that testing would happen the next morning at 10am in the Sip Lounge. The next morning, we arrived at 10:00am and took our tests. At 10:45am we were escorted off the ship to get checked out by Border Patrol, and then checked back in. The entire process took about 90-minutes. Once back in our cabin, we were anxious to go and explore Miami. When we departed, we were told that if we left the ship, we’d have to test again, before coming back onboard. However, when we returned to the ship later in the afternoon, we were able to walk right on without being retested? Before I comment on the Entertainment, I need to make a full disclosure. My wife and I have been in the entertainment business all of our lives. I worked for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas for twenty-one years, until 2019, and I’m currently the General Manager of the Big Apple Circus. We love shows and make regular visits to Broadway and to the West End in London to see shows. A ship as grand as the Scarlet Lady deserves a majestic theater venue, a first-class showroom. The Red Room does not fit that bill. It looks like a Cirque du Soleil training room, or some kind of elementary school gymnasium or multi-purpose room. I really couldn’t wrap my head around what it was designed for? Certainly not a headliner, a comedian, or a production show. We only attended one show, the acrobatic (Cirque Like) show titled “Dual Reality”. While the Performers (Artists) were all very talented, I thought the show was a total train wreck. I’m not sure if this is true of every show onboard, but for this production you were not allowed to leave during the performance which seems like a really bad idea. What if you have to go to the bathroom? What if you just don’t like the show? There was also a lot of pop-up performances around the ship. All were good performers but the way they were presented didn’t do any of them any justice. On the second leg of our journey, on the sea day, there was a medical emergency and a helicopter had to evacuate someone from the ship. This was handled quickly and efficiently, and our prayers go out to the individual involved. This was our first time in the Dominican Republic. Nice port if you don’t leave the Disney-like cruise terminal area. We walked the mile back and forth into downtown, badgered by local tour guides, taxi drivers, and merchants hawking their wares. Nothing to see outside of the cruise compound but poverty and sketchy characters. If you go there, venture outside at your own risk! Today is the final day of our journey, and we spent a pleasant day again at the Beach Club. Bimini was by far the nicest stop on our journey and we were happy to visit it twice. Today we learned that there’s a ferry that runs three days a week, back and forth between Bimini and Fort Lauderdale. We will definitely make it a point to come back for a long weekend, and stay at the Hilton property here on the island. Tonight, we will return to the Wake for another Filet Mignon dinner to close out our vacation on a high note. I’m sure many will find this review gloomy or downright negative and that isn’t my intention. Food, Entertainment, the entire Cruising Experience is very subjective. To each his own. This is just my personal observations, and it doesn’t mean you won’t love it. There were many positives, and any day cruising is a great day. Every cruise line markets to a certain demographic, and this model just didn’t work well for us. Virgin Voyages is in its infancy as a cruise line, and I strongly suspect they will make a lot of tweaks and changes in the coming years. I’m not sure it will be enough to lure us back, but I’ll keep an open mind.