Scarlet Lady / Live / Solo / Back to Back!

[sid_9169]

 

*Cue opening credits… {Music plays in the background  “Do it Again” by Steely Dan.} Kramerica Industries presents… A Sacamano / Farbman Production… (If I were an A-List writer, this would be the point where my name would crawl across the screen, five feet tall and luminous…) Instead, a cardboard sign reading: “Written, Directed, and Produced by Sid James” Cut to a scene inside a small apartment in Atlanta where I prepare to embark on another epic journey upon Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady… 

 

The origins of this cruise date all the way back to the very early days of the ongoing pandemic… In fact, when this entire adventure began, the corona virus still hadn’t even been detected on US shores… January 2020 seems like such a long time ago now, and the World is such a different place than it was prior to the virus that altered nearly everything in our lives for much longer than anyone ever could have predicted or imagined. The Scarlet Lady was still under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Trieste Italy, and her planned first sailing was still a few months away. I wanted to try out something “new & different”, and this new quirky cruise line seemed like just the ticket out of my comfort zone that I had settled into with Carnival and NCL. I found a sailing that occurred during my “usual” cruise week of Memorial Day / early June, and pulled the trigger on a five night cruise to Cozumel and Bimini… Little did we all know how all our lives were about to be disrupted in ways that we never thought imaginable… Out of the blue, the virus quickly spread throughout the entire Planet, and we soon found ourselves immersed in a situation that encompassed nearly every aspect of our lives. 

 

 

[sid_9169]

Looks like it wasn't going to give me enough room in the title for the dates, so this will be covering the May 27th - June 1st sailing, followed by the June 1st - June 5th cruise... It's safe to say that this one has been a long time in the making.........

 

*Another stolen from the internet photo*

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by sid_9169

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

[sid_9169]

Of course, we all know the story that followed. A nearly immediate “pause” in cruise operations, that soon became a situation that nearly destroyed the entire industry as we knew it. It would be 16 long months before the cruise lines finally emerged from hibernation, and it looked like things were finally becoming right with the World. Little by little, ships began to sail again, and everything was going great for a while. The new cruise protocols, which included vaccinations, testing, and masks brought the nearly defunct industry back from the brink of extinction. The rise of the omicron variant, which was considerably more transmissible than prior variants, threatened to bring cruising to a standstill once again. In the second week of January this year, I finally had my turn dealing with the dreaded Omicron… Fortunately, my bout with the virus was mild by comparison, and I ended up staying home from work for a week watching TV and eating. I didn’t have a single adult beverage for eight straight days, which is my current record for the past several years. My symptoms began with a fever and night sweats, and a terrible headache that lasted several days. I lost my sense of taste and smell, and the things that I could smell had the scent of ammonia. I still suffer from a sort of “brain fog”, which others have described, but at least I never got really sick or ended up in the hospital.

 

[ceilidh1]

YES!!!! Can't wait...

[sid_9169]

[MzShae]

Ready to sail! Let's go.

[sid_9169]

Amazon just dropped off the final piece of the puzzle for my journey. I needed a decent bright red shirt for Scarlet Night, so I picked up a two pack for fifteen bucks. Nothing fancy, but it's just the right shade of "Virgin Voyages" red...

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by sid_9169

[Hogladyrider]

Now this is the @sid_9169 that the TRIBE knows and loves.....the party has started!

[sid_9169]

I guess that it's some kind of "rule" with the Universe that the last couple of days prior to vacation are required to be a living hell... That's the way it seems, anyway. We're already down three people at work today, due to kid's graduations. On top of that, we've been busy all day, and of course the three of us remaining are getting the brunt of the action. I would do almost anything to fast forward until quitting time tomorrow...

[pbxtech]

I am ready for your adventure

[canes20]

Glad to see your back for a review

[Shaded Lady]

Yay!!! @sid_9169 is cruising!

[mopedmom1]

Can't wait to hit the road! Or air, or sea!

[adam3313]

excited for another Sid review!  hoping today and tomorrow fly by to get to vacation packing time!!

[TravelGirlinDallas]

Ready to follow along!

[BigNance]

Oh YES!  

I'm very happy to be taking another virtual vacation!  Thank Sid!!!

Looking forward to much food an beverage porn...

N

[figmentfreak]

Woo hoo a @sid_9169 review and a b2b at that. 

[scaught]

Excited to read about the B2B experience since that may be the only way to get a longer cruise than 5 days in the states...

[sid_9169]

I snuck out of work earlier and went over to the nearest Marta station to pick up a new Breeze Card. Apparently all the ones I had expired recently, and I probably lost twenty or thirty bucks in stored value. The new one claims to be good until 2025, so I'll register this one to my account and delete the others.

 

 

[sid_9169]

After seven cancellations with Virgin Voyages alone, I’m finally about to take the journey that was supposed to happen sooo long ago. I took them up on their offer of double the amount that I had initially paid, and my initial five night sailing turned into a back to back cruise that was fully paid for. The first leg, dubbed “Dominican Daze”, will be five nights, visiting Puerta Plata and Bimini. And, the second leg, which they call “Fire & Sunset Soirees”, a four night cruise, porting in Key West and Bimini… Something tells me that we won’t be visiting Key West, but as I write this two weeks out, they still have yet to inform passengers of the change. This means that we’ll likely be visiting Nassau, which means I’ll count it as a sea day. No offense to those who enjoy Nassau, I’ve just never found anything exciting about it. (Edited to add: There has still been no communication indicating a port change, and allegedly, we WILL in fact be porting at Key West for the very first time for Virgin Voyages.) Of course, I’ve done no specific planning, as I’ve always been under the impression that we would be redirected to Nassau. 

 

I’ve only been to Key West two times in my “cruising career”... On my very first sailing ever, on the old Carnival Fascination in 2010, and again upon the Carnival Breeze in 2015. I basically just walked the streets, and ate some lunch at a food truck that I’d read about… I’m going to put together one of my hand drawn maps, and see what I can get into there this time around…

 

[sid_9169]

[britincanada]

Maybe we will see you on board! We are flying to Miami tomorrow!

[sid_9169]

All checked in on the Virgin Voyages app, and the only thing left is the corona virus test tomorrow afternoon and the online "wellness" questionnaire on the day of embarkation...