Day 8: Virgin Voyages | Scarlet Lady
It has been an incredible journey, but our trip is coming to a close. Today is disembarkation day and we have until 10:30am before we are required to leave the ship.
The morning started as most mornings start on this trip…with a workout. Brian headed to the top deck for his morning run while I headed to Complex-B for a Slow Flow yoga class. I think Brian partially ran everyday because he liked looking at his run summary on his Garmin app and seeing his run in the ocean. The yoga class was nice and small with only six yogis.
We didn’t have much time after our workouts. I still had a little packing to do and we also needed to eat breakfast. I also wanted to roam the ship and grab some last-minute videos and photos. The time flew and after breakfast I had little time to roam the ship. I love walking around on disembarkation day. So many passengers leave first thing in the morning so the ship is especially empty. It’s also bittersweet to know that our vacation is winding down.
We said goodbye to our cabin and ship and we were off on another adventure. We left the ship and walked the terminal to customs and immigration. There was hardly a wait. We handed our passports over to the agent and were asked what we had brought back with us. Soon enough we were cleared and back into the real world. We had considered requesting an Uber, but there were taxis right out front ready to go so we opted for a taxi. We took a taxi ride over to our next hotel. We paid our taxi by credit card and the driver was visibly annoyed that we weren’t paying him cash. A reminder for why we usually Uber. We stayed at Marriott Biscayne Bay which is a short taxi ride from the port. Our room faced the bay and we could see Lady Scarlet and a few other ships from our hotel room.
The hotel was nice enough, but definitely a downgrade from Stanton Marriott South Beach where we had started our trip. They were doing work on the balconies and we were told that while we had a balcony room, the balconies were locked due to construction. The first thing Brian did when we got to the room was open the balcony door. It was not locked, but I didn’t want to take any chances hanging out on it. When we arrived to our room, it was noisy and we could hear the construction noises.
The next couple days felt like the vacation after the vacation. Time to transition our minds from vacation mode to back-at-home mode. I had some work to do so I spent a few hours catching up on things before our stomaches urged us to go out and explore. We headed out to a little pizza place called Pinocchio on the Bay that was within walking distance from the hotel. It was a mix between a bakery, coffee shop, juice place, and pizza place. It was sort of a weird combination of things, but everything we had was very good. I had a smoothie and pizza and Brian had the pasta with a coke.
After lunch we went for a long walk. We crossed the street from Pinocchio’s and found a park. The park had a trail so we began walking on it. The trail went towards the bay and eventually ran parallel to the water. We walked passed our hotel and eventually the trail ended at a street with sidewalks. We turned onto the street and walked on the sidewalk towards a drawbridge. We walked halfway down the very long bridge positioning ourselves on the bridge surrounded by water. We could see the cruise ships on one side and the bay on the other side.
It was a pretty easy-going day. Tomorrow we head home. I made the mistake at looking at the weather forecast for back home. When we left for our trip it was unseasonably warm an in the 60’s. When I was packing for the trip, I had a decision to make. Pack my heavy winter coat that would old potentially be needed for the walk from the airport to our car back in Cleveland, but take up a significant amount of space in my suitcase or take the gamble it wouldn’t be too cold and leave my coat at home. You win some. You lose some. I did not pack my coat. It’s going to be a chilly walk tomorrow!
About the Author
Amaris is the owner of the Ohio-based travel agency, Adventures by Amaris. Her love for travel began at a young age when she traveled to her parents' home countries of England and Mexico. She continued traveling in High School by participating in a People to People program to Italy, France and Monaco. In college, she spent six weeks in Europe studying abroad and traveling. She visited Spain, Portugal, England, Wales, Ireland, Vatican City, and Italy in a whirlwind summer. Through her adult life she continues to make traveling a priority with her family. Her young son is autistic so navigating the world of traveling with an autistic child brings on new adventures. Her travel resume includes Mexico, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia, and Cayman Islands. She is an expert in planning family vacations across the world from Disney World to Europe to worldwide cruises.
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