Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Voyages is sure to be an interesting cruise line when they start sailing in 2020.  The adult-only line focusing on unique experiences and a different take on cruising revealed more about what guests can soon expect, including how they'll help keep "sailors" (their term for guests) and the environment healthy.  They also took this opportunity to name their first vessel.  

Frequent visitors may have noticed that we spent a bit of time away this past month, and we wanted to share why, as well as briefly mention some of the things we missed that we look forward on circling back on. The past month has been full of change for us.  We moved our home, the CruiseHabit Shop headquarters (yet still shipped all orders within days!), started a new career, took a cruise on MSC, a line completely new to us, and took an unrelated land trip.  Life happens, and this time it happened with timing that just didn't let us keep you and the rest of the internet as up to date on the cruise world as we'd have liked.  In fact, there was some cruise news that we wanted to cover while we were still sailing on MSC Seaside - too much multi-tasking for this cruiser to endure for sure...

This morning we woke up to the last day with that terrible feeling of it being our last day of the cruise, but a beautiful last day in Nassau and a great way to sunset our very first (but certainly not last) cruise with MSC.  This will prove to be a somewhat short post, partially because we really took it easy and did "more of the same", taking in another round of what we enjoyed most about MSC.  Also though, we were lucky enough to tour and enjoy MSC's Yacht Club today, learning about all it has to offer guests in this exclusive suite area.  MSC was one of the lines integral in creating the "ship in a ship" experience, and we want to talk all about that...in a future article.  While this leaves a bit of a gap in our final day's post, we hope you see it more of a teaser, and we're really excited to share photos and information about Seaside's Yacht Club in an upcoming post. Still we managed to enjoy a nearly empty-ship, take in more impressive entertainment, and say goodbye to new friends on this, the last day of our first MSC cruise.

As much as I love visiting new places, I really love sea days.  This is especially true when on a ship that has a lot to offer, and at a point in the cruise that I’ve found my favorite spots.  What I’d not done until today was really site outside and enjoy the Caribbean.  Today’s weather was perhaps the best of the cruise, so I set out to take some of it in and then enjoy more of the wonderful entertainment on MSC Seaside.

Our stateroom bed on MSC Seaside is quite comfortable.  Still, I somehow woke up the morning after only about five hours of sleep.  Looking out the window, I saw we’d arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then went back to bed for a bit - despite wanting to start the day early.  Round two of waking up was slightly more successful, so we got dressed and headed to breakfast.

Today we arrived in Philipsburg, which is a city on the island of Saint Martin, and a destination I’ve not visited in around fifteen years.  There are two parts of this beautiful and politically unique island: The Dutch side – Sint Maarten, and the French side – St Martin.  The border is completely open, and noted only by roadside markers.  The French side is part of the European Union, and is an overseas collectivity of the country of France, it’s largest city is Marigot.  The Dutch side is one of the four countries which make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and it’s largest city is Philipsburg. 

After being out a bit late yesterday evening we woke up feeling like a thousand...Yen.  A late start to breakfast got us moving (along with some espresso) and we were determined to try some of the outdoor fun MSC Seaside has to offer...

Our first full day on Seaside was exactly the pace I enjoy: relaxed.  Between the two of us, a long week of moving and a week of international travel meant we took things easy today, but still feel we took in a lot of what Seaside has to offer (as well as a nap).  We enjoyed meals, some sun, entertainment, and the best stage show I've seen at sea.

Waking up knowing I'm going on a cruise that day always feels great.  Interestingly, knowing the ship wasn't scheduled to set sail until 7:00pm made things feel a bit less rushed, even though 4:00pm sailings out of South Florida give us plenty of time to get to the ship ahead of schedule.  We had some breakfast, double-checked our packing list (we don't need a repeat of this day) and got into a Lyft to head to the port around 1:00pm.

This Saturday (July 7) we'll be setting sail and enjoying seven nights in the Caribbean while bringing all the details to you.  What makes this particularly exciting for us is that like our November sailing on Holland America, we're trying out a cruise line that is completely new to us: MSC Seaside.  To add to the excitement, we're scheduled to sail to a couple of ports that we've not visited in many years.