Deep Dive

High Seas and Higher Demands: Post-COVID Cruising Culture

The first rule of cruising culture, I learned last week, is that you always talk about cruising culture. It was all anyone would ask on Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady — my first cruise since I boarded a rickety Carnival ship to various Señor Frog locations across the Caribbean for senior Spring Break ‘07. What was your last cruise? When’s your next cruise? What was your favorite cruise? I don’t know, guys, I’m new here. Before the pandemic, my good friend and fellow Brooklynite Shadi Jurdi started buzzing about the soon-to-launch Virgin Voyages cruise line. From the busy world of Richard Branson, Virgin was supposed to have its inaugural sail in April 2020. But of course, it was postponed for more than a year. Virgin heavily promotes its status as an adult-only (21+) cruise line, with two ships in the fleet and two more coming in 2023. Its terminal at the Port of Miami is appropriately named Terminal V. I had zero interest in boarding a floating casino filled with strangers before the world shut down. But, by the beginning of this year, the trip didn’t sound so bad anymore. I just wanted to go anywhere. The Scarlet Lady docked in...