Sorry for the delay in posting this! We did get trapped in Miami for an extra day and a half, then my computer broke so had to get a new one.

Quick recap: Went on a cruise, first couple of days were fun. Did a cigar rolling excursion in the DR (that’s what Lin Manuel calls the Dominican Republic).

After our cigar rolling excursion I took a nap. After all, I’m on sabbatical and getting old. We ordered some room service and got ready for the night.

Virgin Cruises runs a “Scarlet Night”, which is basically just a ship wide party where everyone wears red. Themed parties are the best. I had no idea what to expect but WOW almost everyone showed up in theme!

The party started inside with some sort of story about a sailor and an octopus or something (I probably could have paid more attention but, ya know, drinking). Then we headed out to the pool where dancers surrounded the pool and music was bumping from the DJ overlooking the area. The dancers were incredible and for two hours straight just keeping the energy going.

We danced in the pool then headed over to the ‘club’ for the after hours party. I learned a new line dance that I immediately forgot. Then finished the evening with all of the desserts!

Small sidebar – the service across the cruise was INCREDIBLE. The staff seemed to work non-stop. Servers one day were doing dishes the next. Dancers turned into VIP hosts. Everyone was always friendly and helpful and they kept the ship immaculate. The only folks who seemed to only do one job were the musicians. And that’s probably my best shot to ever work on a cruise ship someday. Maybe my next sabbatical, I’ll pull a “Mike Rowe” and just try out a bunch of other fun jobs.

The next couple of days had a similar theme: RAIN. We had a SCUBA excursion scheduled in the Bahamas but that got cancelled. We were disappointed; there was something that felt really cool about being 40ft under sea level and then a couple weeks later being 19,500ft above sea level. We still made the most of the day, braved the rainstorms and went to the beach anyway. Wasn’t quite SCUBA, but did some snorkeling.

After our beach day, we had the best meal of the trip for dinner. It was Latin inspired food & I had the cocktail with the crickets in it! It was a fantastic last night to an amazing trip. We had a few more celebratory drinks, packed up our luggage, and planned to disembark the next morning.

We all had breakfast together and talked about how to kill a few hours in Miami before the flights. Our friends all had earlier flights than us and theirs kept getting delayed due to incoming storms. Ana and I decided to head back to The Standard hotel – worse case, our flight gets cancelled and we stay another day! Well that turned out to be true. Miami was under a flood watch and all flights were cancelled. The rain was insane and just non-stop. Still it was kind of cathartic and watching it hit the ocean made me feel like Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump.

While a weather delay can normally be quite annoying and leaving you feeling anxious on when you’ll get home, being on sabbatical it was very easy to just ‘go with the flow’ and enjoy another night in Miami! We had a little bit of nervousness as our flight the next day kept getting delayed, too, and we still had quite a bit to get done before Kill — but we made the most of it!

All in all – the cruise was a really fun experience, made much better being with best friends. It was the perfect week to relax & unwind prior to a very different type of vacation as we head to Tanzania very soon!