Sunday Stuff 7-23-23

SpainTravel

Jul 23

Maybe A Little More Virgin Stuff

Getting on board with Virgin Voyages

So since we returned from our trip to Spain we’ve had so many people reach out about traveling with Virgin Voyages and what our experience was like. I want to take a brief moment to give you my honest opinion about where VV excels and where they fell a little flat.

I made a short reel showing some of the things that we liked about VV so take a quick minute to look at that for a little “color” but for a little more in-depth information see below:

We loved that there were no kids on this ship. Even though we are huge Celebrity Edge Class fans, they are not child free. Having no kids on board definitely allows the fun to be a little “cheekier” than it would be on most ships. There is definitely a lot of double entendre in the entertainment and performances because there are no little ones or their parents to offend, but generally nothing too “over the top” in my opinion.
We loved that the overall vibe of the ship was modern, fun, elegant in a contemporary way and that the staff felt more able to engage with passengers in fun, creative ways. Our room attendant every day made a game of hiding the little rubber Octopus in our room and he always had a familiar and fun demeanor, but without being too familiar.
We loved that every restaurant is a specialty restaurant and that it is included in the cruise fare. And with that we loved that the majority of the food was excellent and of the highest quality. As always, there are some misses, but overall the food will exceed your expectations.
We loved that there was no tipping….there wasn’t a tip line on any of the sales receipts that showed a mandatory gratuity or even the ability to add a tip to a bill. We did leave our room attendant and Rock Star Agent a cash tip at the end of our voyage, but besides that there was no one else to tip.
We loved that the ship was only at 44% capacity so it was so easy to get dinner reservations and make changes to our schedules in the evening.
We loved that the fellow passengers were an eclectic and international mix and that diversity was celebrated without fear.
We loved that the entertainment was exciting and fresh and that there was live entertainment everywhere in the ship.
We loved our suite, we were able to upgrade to a Brilliant Suite which gave us Rockstar perks and status (like a stocked bar in our room, a $600 bar tab for the ship, our Rock Star Agent (named Gugu) that helped with all of our bookings and special needs and access to Richard’s Rooftop where we had free flowing Moet & Chandon everyday from 5-6 p.m.

Now…to be fair, there were a few things that we didn’t love (but we would still come back for another Virgin Cruise in a heartbeat)

The boarding process in Barcelona was terrible. They seemed disorganized and a little rough around the edges. As we were booked in a suite you would normally have a private lounge and a very relaxed on boarding process. We were shoved in some chairs knee to knee with other passengers and just left to our own devices to figure things out. In fairness, I do think the process is very different in Miami where Virgin has a modern, dedicated facility. In Barcelona, it’s a bit of a $hi+ $how.
The pool area is a bit of a joke. You only have to google Virgin Voyages and Swimming Pools and many people will share how ridiculously small the pool is for such a large ship. We are not “lay by the pool” people that much so it didn’t really bother us, but it is very odd that someone thinks that this is a good idea.
Richard’s Rooftop - while the loungers are super comfortable there, often you were stuck in the sun because the umbrellas can’t stand up to the wind when the ship is underway. They really have to come up with a better system. Also, it would be nice if there was a small, private pool area there for Suite guests. The space has potential but certainly could use some tweaks.

Virgin will definitely become a favorite of our cruising experiences. Whether it will replace Celebrity Retreat Suites on the Edge Class Ships is still up for debate, so stay tuned for future cruises

Quick Thoughts on Ibiza

If you’re like me when you think of Ibiza your first thoughts are Party, Drinking, Party, Drugs, Party, Music, Late Night Party and then another Party .

And that party does exist. However, Ibiza is so much more than just a party. Our last stop on our Med cruise was Ibiza. We arrived in port at 7:00 p.m. And as I said, many people on our ship had been power napping and planning for some all-night partying. The ship had multiple excursions for private tables to see David Guetta at one venue or Calvin Harris at another venue DJing in Ibiza Style. The ship stayed overnight and departed the following evening at 6:00 p.m. to allow all of us to have a full Ibiza experience.

We opted to enjoy a great dinner and meet some new friends for drinks later in the evening at the craziest walk-up bar at the top of some f*&king steep steps. Then I think we followed a drag queen to another bar and wound up sitting at another bar that was owned by a German and Austrian couple who moved to Ibiza 30 years ago. And of course one thing led to another and I might have some memory lapses of everything that occurred after midnight. However, I can tell you we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and a missed bus followed by a 3:00 a.m. return to the ship. So we did sleep a little late the next day.

But I think that Ibiza became a lot more than just a party. We toured the ancient old city (Dalt Vila) but we took a cab to the top as I just didn’t have another uphill hike left while recovering from the previous evening. At the top of the old city you find a magnificent ancient cathedral and the winding streets of the old city and little museums and shops and hidden corners full of flowers (and you do find the same bar from the night before with an even crazier bartender that sucks you in and starts giving you (SELLING YOU) shots and tapas. But then you run into a delightful couple from Paris and spend the rest of the day with them until you have to return to the ship. It was a joyous afternoon and it made us decide we needed some more beach time before heading back to Madrid.

We honestly contemplated getting off the ship and staying in Ibiza, but we just didn’t have a hurried pack job in us, but we did seriously consider getting off the ship in Barcelona and hopping a plane back to Ibiza (this is the part of the story where Sitges enters the picture).

All of this is to say that I would gladly return to Ibiza and enjoy an amazing non-party stay on this beautiful Spanish Island.

Sitges Stuff………

Sitges, Spain…..If you haven’t heard of it, neither had we.

As we sat at our final dinner with new friends on the Valiant Lady we were lamenting the fact that we hadn’t stayed on in Ibiza and shared our thoughts about flying back with our table mates. Once again, Lady Janet came up with a plan. She asked if we had ever been to Sitges. Apparently it is one of THE best known gay beach towns in Europe ( I apparently didn’t read this section in the manual ) and she thought we would love it. Plus it was only a 40 minute drive from the port in Barcelona and much easier than a plane flight with all of our luggage back to Ibiza.

One thing I haven’t shared about Lady J and her husband, Alan is that they may be Scottish, but they live in Spain. Lady J said that their car was in the port in Barcelona and they would just drive us down to Sitges on their way home. Now, I have to say that we may overpack when we go on cruise vacations and this time was no exception. I gave Janet and Alan a rather dubious look and asked if they really thought that we could get all of our luggage and theirs in the car which was met with a “no problem, love”. Well it did turn into a little bit of a problem, but thankfully Alan had had many years of logistics training and I still don’t quite understand how he got all of our luggage and theirs into their SUV, but we made it and headed to Sitges.

The image I had in my head

Also, another image I had in my head

Reality

Interior Reality

In a short 40 minute drive we found ourselves in the lovely beach town of Sitges. Formerly a quaint fishing village south of Barcelona, but over the years it has developed into a bustling beach town renowned for it’s Gay nightlife and club scene, but also it’s beaches and ocean breeze and the convenience of being a short cab ride from Spain’s second largest city. In the 1930’s Sitges became something of a secret haven for “men of a certain persuasion” to meet, cavort and perhaps toss caution (and clothing) to the wind. It is important and surprising that this was able to continue after the Spanish Civil War and throughout the Franco regime. But humans always seem to find a way to persevere and survive and succeed through the worst of times.

After reading some brief information about the area I wasn’t sure if we would enter the town and the streets would be lined with Pride Flags or if it would be more subtle (let’s go with …it was more subtle). There is the old cathedral that serves as the “anchor” of the town and it’s elevated above the cliffs of the sea and the streets wind out in no particular order from there. It is the classic Spanish street collection of restaurants and bars and stores serving the needs of the locals and tourist alike.

We stayed at the newer Melia ME Terramar, which was on the southernmost area of beaches near the new golf course and apparently a 15 minute walk from the Gay Nude Beach ( we were warned by the concierge that we might be shocked if we went that direction)…we took it under advisement and stayed with the clothing positive crowd for the remainder of our trip. This is the most modern and probably most exclusive property in Sitges. It definitely tries and mostly succeeds at a light modern beach vibe hotel, but they do have some service issues to iron out before I would give them the full 4 stars they say that they are.

Sitges has a beautiful, wide walkway that traverses the area from our hotel to the old town where you walk in front of the many beachfront mansions built over the last 100 years. And also serviced by the most touristy “train” that takes you on the 4 km journey back and forth. You really have to balance your exhaustion with your embarrassment at being seen in this ridiculous tourist train.

We very much enjoyed our decompression time in Sitges and it was our first “beach vacation” that we’ve ever taken together. While some down time was great, we may be more city vacation types. There’s only so much laying around that one can do before one needs activities.

My two favorite things that we found were the C&O Beach Barcelona clothing line with the most beautiful cotton and linen shirts (we bought several) and the Calcats store for the most exquisite Men’s Espadrilles which I know that I will regret not buying more (they were 34 Euro and just perfect)