Virgin Voyages: Dominican Daze
- Kimi's Travel Thoughts
- Feb 4
- 10 min read
Back in December 2023, I went on my first cruise ever and had such a great time with Virgin Voyages that I put a deposit down for a future voyage that I had to take within two years. Well, that time was early January 2025!
A few months ago, I decided to take another look at the Virgin Voyages website to see what options were available for short cruises and the dates they would set sail. After taking a look at my work schedule, it turns out I would need to book much sooner than expected and decided to go on the Dominican Daze voyage from January 3-8, 2025. My mom was able to join me for the trip so I wouldn't have to be in a larger room all by myself, and together we went to Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
Because I previously wrote about my time on a cruise with Virgin Voyages, I won't get into too many details about the ship and will broadly recap our two days at sea along with some other notes about my vacation which started in Miami, Florida. For this blog post, I'm going to highlight my experiences on land in Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
Transportation
I went with my usual transportation methods. If you're new to my blog, here's quick recap!
Flights
As noted in several other posts on my blog, Southwest is my preferred airline because they are the primary air carrier that flies out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. I booked my flights during a promotion and paid cash for the outbound flight to Miami (which included a brief layover in Dallas) and points for my return flight which was direct to Austin.
Ride Share
My mom and I used Lyft to get to the cruise terminal from the airport and back to the airport when we returned to Miami. It was about $25-$30 base fare each way, so I paid for the ride to the cruise terminal and my mom paid for the ride to the airport.
Virgin Voyages: Dominican Daze
Now for the day-by-day recap of my Virgin Voyages vacation! For once, I focused on getting more video content which I will later post as a series of Instagram Reels. I also took photos and included some in this post.
Day One: Set Sail with Virgin Voyages
We arrived to the cruise terminal right on time for our scheduled check-in. After receiving The Band (a small wristband that acts as our room key, wallet, and identification at the ports), we boarded the ship. My mom and I made a beeline for the ice cream stand behind the main elevators (I went here multiple times during the cruise) and then we went up to our room to wait for our luggage, change clothes, complete required safety tasks, and then eat dinner at The Test Kitchen -- my mom's favorite restaurant on Virgin Voyages which is a surprise menu dining experience. I had the meat option which included:
First Course: eel
Second Course: smoked sea scallops
Third Course: cheese tart
Fourth Course: chicken
Fifth Course: yuzu tart
After dinner we went to The Miss Behave Show where we played a chaotic game of trivia as an audience and got to experience some singing, dancing, and an aerial performance! From that point, it was time to call it a night and get some sleep.
Day Two: Day at Sea
After waking up and getting breakfast, my mom and I decided to buy bingo cards (had to spend that on-board credit) and play Bingo with The Diva which is the ship's version of drag bingo. I've played drag bingo at Still Austin a couple of times in the past and won each time, so I figured I had good chances on the cruise. I didn't win this time, but I had a ton of fun!
For dinner, we went to The Wake which is my favorite restaurant on Virgin Voyages. I ordered:
Starter: yeast rolls with herbed butter
Appetizer: corn custard & black bean salad
Main: salt-baked dorade
Side: creamed spinach
My mom was starting to experience some sea sickness as the ship continued to rock due to some choppy waters and we returned to the cabin to rest and relax for the remainder of the evening.
Day Three: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
The morning we arrived in Puerto Plata, my mom and I ate breakfast at The Galley which we did each morning of our trip. Then, we gathered our items for our Shore Thing (what Virgin Voyages calls excursions), collected our Shore Thing ticket, and walked to the port entrance where we were greeted with music and dancers. From there, we split into our tour groups for the Dominican Fiesta: Eat, Drink, & Dance excursion. Our guide, Mamá Sandra, got our group of 17 on our bus and we went to our first stop -- Macorix Rum.
Macorix Rum Tasting
Upon arriving at Macorix Rum, we learned more about the history, language, culture, and landscape of Dominican Republic and La Española before entering the facility. We we walked through a dark tunnel filled with aging rum barrels and into an auditorium watch a short video explaining the story of Macorix Rum. When the video ended, we were led into a connecting tasting room with some Macorix artifacts and sampled six flavors of rum. While I'm not a particular fan of rum, I could clearly see why the Mamá Juana blend (nicknamed "baby maker") is the most popular bottle!
Puerto Plata City Walk
After the rum tasting, we got back on the bus to go into the city to do some souvenir shopping where we learned about Dominican amber and Larimar. We walked a short distance to Calle Beller to take pictures underneath the rainbow umbrellas hovering above the street. I noticed a sign for empanadas and bought a chicken one for myself a beef empanada for my mom.
Note: Keep an eye on my Instagram page for the "KTT Dumpling Tour" where I post pictures of my favorite pocket food I've eaten along with the keychains I purchased during my trip for my keychain collection!
Once our time was up from taking pictures with the umbrellas, we walked a couple of blocks over to take more pictures at the entrance to Pase de Doña Blanca before walking a another block to Central Park for our final stop in the city. Our bus caught back up to us and we hopped on board to catch a ride into the countryside for dancing, food, and drinks at Hacienda Dora.
Hacienda Dora
They were being completely serious about going into the countryside! There was a muddy, narrow, one way in-and-out road as we made the turn into Hacienda Dora and there were cows, chickens, goats, ducks, dogs, and other farm animals all around as we drove through the trees and through a waterway to get to a nice outdoor pavillion. We were greeted once again with music and two dancers who quickly got us on our feet after we got drinks ordered so they could teach us merengue! You will not find any pictures of videos of me dancing because I'm not a good dancer, but I had fun learning merengue and bachata from the dancers.
Between dance lessons, we ate fresh fruit (papaya, pineapple, watermelon, and star fruit) and sipped on rum cocktails from the open bar. We had sancocho served up for late lunch with rice and avocado on the side. There was a dance party to conclude our time at Hacienda Dora before returning to the port and getting back on the ship.
Back on the Ship
My mom and I rested for bit in our cabin and I spent part of that time on the balcony in the hammock listening to a playlist of my top 25 songs as I watched the sunset over Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. After resting up, we went to dinner at Extra Virgin for Italian food where I had:
Starter: Focaccia with balsamic olive oil dip
Drink: basil lemonade
Cheese board: assorted meats, cheeses, nuts, jelly, & honey
Appetizer: crispy artichoke
Freshly Made Pasta: carbonara
Main: grilled sea bass with Yukon potatoes
Dessert: an apple dessert with mousse and a chocolate olive oil cake
We were still tired after an active day, so my mom and I returned to our cabin for the evening.
Day Four: Day at Sea
My mom and I started the day with breakfast before returning to the room to figure out how to spend our second day at sea. We still had plenty of money in on-board credit to spend with only about a day left to spend it all, so we went to Afternoon Tea at SIP and chose the "tea your way" option which was $35 USD each and included:
glass of Moët & Chandon
small pot of tea (peach oolong for me and hibiscus for my mom)
milk and honey
pastry tower
After tea time, we decided to explore the ship to get our steps in and sea areas that we had not been to yet. We checkout some some of the athletic areas around the pool which included workout equipment, a pickleball court, basketball court, and a short track. Then, we briefly returned to our room before getting dinner at Razzle Dazzle where I ordered:
Appetizer: Old Bay chicken wings
Main: blackened Mahi Mahi served with seared polenta, creamed swiss chard, & pepper jelly
Dessert: an apple cake with bourbon glaze and a small scoop of cinnamon ice cream
To wrap up the evening, we went to Around the World with The Diva -- an entertaining show hosted by Martina (the ship's resident queen) which included dancing, singing, lip synching, props, visuals, and some wackiness to keep you laughing and on your toes!
Day Five: Bimini, Bahamas
Our ship was in the Bahamas for the entire day and my mom and I weren't interested in the Shore Things, so we opted to explore Bimini on our own. We ate brunch after my mom returned from a massage at the spa (we still had a good amount of on-board credit to spend) and then went out to catch the tram to the island. It was 67 degrees with a strong north wind and quite cold for a day at the beach, so a lot of people were coming back to the ship as we left. However, it felt great in the sun! We didn't want to be out for long, so we took some pictures at the resort shopping area and then went to the beach for a few photos. My mom said that some people from the last cruise she went on recommended going into town and so we caught a taxi to town for some conch fritters and more souvenir shopping.
The taxi was $10 USD round trip per person and our driver gave us his business card so we could give him a call when we were ready for a ride back to the resort. He dropped us off at a row of shacks along the beach where we ordered conch fritters from CJ's Deli which were 8 for $5 USD. I've never had conch fritters before, but they were good! Crispy, a little sweetness from the conch, and savory from the seasonings and green onion. My mom and I walked down the hill and crossed the street for some souvenir shopping before she called our taxi driver to pick us back up. His step daughter was in the car and my mom (a teacher) was happy to chat with her about her school day and the food that's served for lunch. We made two brief stops so our driver's step daughter could get a snack from a local grocer and then to drop her off at an after school program which allowed my mom to see where the schools in Bimini were as our taxi driver pointed them out before we made our way to the tram and back on the ship.
Back on the Ship
My mom and I rested in the cabin and got to work on packing up our belongings once we returned to the ship for the day. We decided to return to The Wake for dinner and went early to get in line to get on the waitlist. I suggested going to the Pizza Place because I was hungry and figured it would be a long time before we would be able to get a table at The Wake. I grabbed a Caesar salad from the shelf and ordered a white pizza. I ate my salad first and only had one slice of pizza before we were notified that we had a table ready at The Wake. I picked up the pizza box and dropped it off in the room before we went to the restaurant for our final dinner of the cruise
We were seated at the raw bar and decided to mostly recreate our previous dinner at The Wake. I switched up my appetizer and went with clam chowder. We still had some on-board credit to spend, so we ordered drinks from the bar. My mom ordered a passionfruit martini and I got an aperol spritz. We got dessert this time and I had the lemon cheesecake while my mom ordered the coconut panna cotta. I got a couple of scoops in a waffle cone from the ice cream stand before we went up to the cabin and wrapped up our final night on the Valiant Lady.
Day Six: Miami to Austin
Unlike my previous cruise where I spent an extra day in Miami afterwards, I returned to Austin the same day the ship arrived at the Port of Miami to conclude my vacation.
Wrap-Up
This ultimately was a much-needed vacation and I got to accomplish my goal of learning more about the cultures of my destinations and supporting local businesses. Oh, and I also wanted to enjoy delicious food along the way which I most certainly did from the moment I arrived in Miami as I ate an empanada my mom got for me at the airport. We skipped the late night ship activities which I honestly didn't mind because I didn't have the energy to go to them after doing so much during the daytime. I truly had a great time meeting new people and spending quality time with my mom!
However, I think this will be my last cruise for a while. I want to take a bigger, more expensive international trip for my birthday a couple of years from now and need to save up for it. Any guesses on where I'm planning to go? In the meantime, I'll continue taking smaller trips and sharing those on my blog. Happy and safe travels, y'all!