For our last full day on our first Virgin Voyage cruise, Mom and I had a slow morning since we didn’t have an excursion until 1:30pm. I still ended up waking up around 7am, watching our ship and two others head towards St. Kitts. A Celebrity ship was already docked. We docked second, then a Carnival ship, then Norwegian Sky right next to us. It felt like a full house (or port?) of ships.

For breakfast, I went up to the Galley to try their blueberry pancakes and then brought Mom an omelet back in the room. Her original plan was to eat out on the balcony, but she stayed in the bed to rest more from yesterday. That, and we were too close to the other ship to comfortably eat outside without feeling watched.

After breakfast, we went ahead and started packing what we could. Now, there was no real reason for us to be packing this early but since our afternoon and evening would be busier, we thought we might as well do it now versus trying to fight sleep later in the evening.

Heading Off the Ship

Once we were packed, I went down to the Grounds Club to get a chocolate croissant and S’mores cookie. We got off the ship a few hours before our excursion just to walk around the port area. The excursion was later in the day so we figured we wouldn’t have time to get a souvenir when the excursion was over.

Taking a picture of or with the “St. Kitts” sign seemed to be nearly impossible without someone else walking up. I decidedly said I wouldn’t get one with the sign, but I would try to get one of the sign by itself.

I did take a picture for someone else and shooed away people that kept trying to get in his picture (which was a chore in and of itself). Mom was getting impatient when she tried taking her own photos, so she also decided not to get a picture with it, either.

That’s what happens when there’s a lot of ships in port; there’s a ton of people. Anyway, we eventually made our way to a shop to get our final magnet for this trip and went back on the ship for a quick rest up.

Excursion Time

After getting one more pastry from Grounds Club, Mom and I went to the Shore Things desk to wait for our excursion group. We were waiting for about 20 minutes before they finally brought us down. Even as we waited outside in heat, we had to wait about another 20 minutes before we were put into a van to start the excursion. It started nearly 45 minutes later than scheduled. The tour guide explained they (all the tour guides) were a little overwhelmed by how busy the port was.

This excursion was called Overland Drive of the Enchanting Seaside. The goal of this excursion was to see different sights of Saint Kitts like Timothy Hill Overlook.

I know it’s called “Overland Drive…” but I was surprised by how much driving we actually did. We only got out of the van twice. Once to walk (very briefly) around some sort of courtyard for a resort and the second time was to take pictures at Timothy Hill. I ran into the woman from the scavenger hunt and cocktail party a third time at Timothy Hill Overlook.

I think the tour operator had several people on the excursion and separated all of us between 6 or more different vans. We’d all arrived there at the same time.

For most of the excursion our guide talked to us about the different properties, areas, and neighborhoods around Saint Kitts that we drove by. There was some history, but most facts were modern in nature.  In the moment, Mom said she might move there. However, after letting it settle for a couple of weeks after the trip, she said otherwise.

Heading Back to the Ship

Honestly, I think I would’ve enjoyed a more immersive experience (I was originally looking at the Kittitain Cooking Class) but, I guess it was good to ride around in air conditioning than walk around in the heat.

We made it probably 30 minutes before we were supposed to be on board. If the excursion had started on time, maybe it wouldn’t have been such a close call. Oh, well.

When we got back on the ship, we watched one of the other ships pull off from our balcony. They were waving our way so we waved back (as I’m sure other people out on the balcony were doing).

Drink Up!

Mom went down to the Dock House and got three of the same cocktails from a couple days ago. She finally just asked the bar tender for the recipe. It’s a good thing we took our mixology class back in Puerto Rico so she knew how to make it herself. Or she at least knew how to stir and measure.

While she was trying to use up the rest of her bar tab, I went up to Deck 15 to get a Frozé All Day to use a little more of mine. They charged me for two which I didn’t realize until the next day. If this was a bar tab I’d paid for, I would’ve raised a complaint but since it was a promotional bar tab and I still had hundreds of dollars left at the end of the cruise, I let it go.

We went to the Pizza Place for the last time to get some food in us because we weren’t sure if we were going to eat at our next event.

It’s a Ship Show

The last show we saw for the cruise was It’s a Ship Show. It wasn’t in the Red Room like most of the bigger nightly entertainment. It was located in The Manor and the show had an optional dinner menu to accompany it. We ran into the Canadian couple from our Gunbae dinner and ended up being seated with them again at the front of the room.

A crew member’s mother sat at our table as well. I recognized him from the Dodgeball Tournament, and he was the Zumba instructor for my mom. His mother didn’t speak English but I tried talking with her using Google Translate at one point. I think she was content just watching the show.

It’s a Ship Show felt like a talent show and circus mixed with a late-night talk show that included dinner.  There was a host, a band, the performers sharing their unique talents, and some audience games. The wife from the Canadian couple got called up on stage to participate!

It was a good show and I thought it was good to end the trip on. I didn’t eat anything on the menu because I’d planned on going to Test Kitchen later and Mom didn’t like or couldn’t eat anything on it (spinach or some type of nut was in nearly everything).

This would be the end of the night usually, right? Well, hold on. It’s not over yet. I still had my tattoo appointment.

Tattoo Time!

I bet ya’ll forgot I made a tattoo appointment at the beginning of the cruise, right? Well, it was finally time!

When it was about 15 minutes before my tattoo appointment I went down to Squid Ink. I should’ve gone down 30 – 40 minutes earlier because it took a while for me to fill out the paperwork and for the tattoo artist and I to finalize the design.

I could tell he was getting a little frustrated but if I’m paying $300 to have something on my body permanently, I need it to be what I want.

The actual tattooing only took 10 minutes (if that). However, because of the delay, I had to cancel my dinner reservation at the Test Kitchen. I knew I wasn’t going to make it in time. Alas, I didn’t get to try the second menu. There’s always the next cruise.

Ending the Night

I went to the Virgin Store and bought a shirt ($35) before going up to the Galley for dinner. They had butter chicken and basmati rice, so I got myself a plate of it and went back to the room.

Originally, we were going to go to the 70s themed party in the Manor to end the last night on the ship with a bang, but our tiredness got the best of us once again and we turned in for the night.

At some point between the end of It’s a Ship Show and dinner, I choose our disembarkation time in the app. They also offered transfer options for an additional cost but we would’ve gotten off too early to use it, so it wasn’t available for us.

You can also leave your bag outside of your room the night before (by 10PM) to have it taken off the ship by the porters, but we opted to take our own bags off. It’s usually quicker that way.

Last Morning of Vacation

For our last morning, we went up to The Galley one final time to eat. You could technically still eat The Wake or Razzle Dazzle on the last morning if you’re not in a rush.

Our last meal wasn’t super grand: I just got a fruit bento box and Mom ate half an omelet. Neither of us were super hungry (maybe it was because were sad to leave).

Even though we chose our time at around 9AM we decided to get off the ship early since we had nothing else to do. Looking back, I probably would’ve stayed a little longer so we wouldn’t have been at the airport for so long.

The latest time suggested to get off the ship is 10AM to avoid traffic. They mentioned this in the app multiple times and I agree. Embarkation day was traffic heavy so it made sense if there was traffic on disembarkation, too.

Getting to the Airport

We got an Uber and had to walk down to the bigger parking lot away from the cruise terminal (it seemed like the taxi drivers took ownership of the parking lot closest to the terminal.

Our Uber driver was nice and cheery. He definitely changed his station to R&B though, I guess assuming that’s what we would like. It took about 20 minutes to get the airport and the roads were mostly empty.
 

End of the Line

Once at the airport, they’ll have you put your check and carry-on bag through inspection first before (basically a pre-TSA before going through actual TSA).

Tip: You have to get the tag on your carry-on and check bag saying it was inspected before going to check-in counter or TSA line. 

The energy seemed to shift at the airport. Everyone seemed to be in a mood, so I guess it was good we were going home. For my mom’s wheelchair, we got the same guy we did before (and yes, he was also in a mood).

We were at the airport a few hours before our flight so we just rested and waited until we finally caught the flight home.

That was our first Virgin Voyages cruise out of Puerto Rico! Overall, I really enjoyed myself and cannot wait to go on another Virgin Voyages cruise!

This is the end of this is series so, until the next one, see you later overthinkers!