Pre(r)amble: I sit here writing this blog entry back at the Standard Hotel in Miami as it storms outside. After leaving our cruise, we didn’t really know what to do with our bags and had 6 hours before flight departure. Our travel companions headed to the airport only to find their flights continually delayed. For someone on sabbatical, I’m actually 100% ok if my flight gets delayed and I need to spend another day at a spa, haha!

We’ve never been on a cruise before. But it was something Tim wanted to do to celebrate his 40th bday, so 6 of us all signed on to be sailors and celebrate! (Jonathon and Patrick (Old Money), Tim & Andie, Pat & Ana).

Virgin Cruises are adults only, which was ideal to say the least. The ship was beautiful, modern, and well maintained. It was a very pleasant first impression as we headed to our “Rockstar” quarters. The room was quite large, with a stocked mini bar and a record player. It was a small detail, but was actually really fun as our agent brought us different records to play each day! OpEd: While records are really fun, it is quite annoying to have to flip/change after 3 songs. Digital music has me spoiled.

We spent the first days out at sea; Getting to know the ship, relaxing by the pool, eating all the food (especially desserts), and just general merriment. (That sounds like a sailor phrase, right?). Since Ana and I (and Tim) have a mountain to climb, we made sure to dedicate time to training and even jumped on the pickleball/basketball court.

In the evening we went to the “We Fancy” party. Always a ton of fun to dress in theme. It kinda felt like a mini-Vegas club, especially since you had to walk through the casino to get there. We didn’t stay out TOO late as we were porting (is that a word?) in the Dominican the next day.

In the DR, Tim and I went on a cigar tour. We learned the process to make cigars and visited three different shops. We got to roll our own and smoked free local cigars at every stop! (It was WAY too much to smoke in one day, but free is free). I bought a box of (likely counterfeit) Cubans, and a couple other varieties I really liked. You think it’s safe to smoke a self-rolled celebratory cigar at the top of Kili…?

To be continued….