Greece! - 2

August 30, 2023

Jo and I stood on top deck and watched the cruise port at Athens disappear as the Resilient Lady, our Virgin Voyages cruise liner, glided out over the calm waters of the Aegean sea.  

I expected the ship to look like a floating retirement home, but was far from that.  

When Jo and I went up to the top deck for the departure party, we saw a scene that looked like a cross between Spring Break in Ibiza and Burning Man.  Everyone was young, gorgeous and very Instagrammable.  The crew were handing out glasses of champagne and we looked down on the pool and hot tub area at all the guests who had already shed all their clothes and were bouncing to the throbbing house music in their glistening swimsuits. 

"Did they just all come off another cruise?  Look, they're all so tan."  Most of the women looked like models, splashing in the pools and hot tubs with their champagne held high.  "You realize, we are the most uncool people on this boat!"  Jo laughed.

Virgin Voyages is a recently launched cruise line.  Our ship which can hold four thousand guests was only at half capacity.  In order to promote their brand, Virgin invited all the top social media stars to come to the cruise and post about it and spread the word.  As we began to meet more of the other guests on the cruise, we found out many of them were on complimentary tours on the boat, and all they had to do was tell all their followers about their experience.  It was literally a boat full of social media influencers and personal trainers.  The entire top deck of the ship was a gym and training facility.  Everyone would work out all day and then go out and party in the port at night.

"I hope this experience helps your writer's block."  Jo lifted her glass of champagne and offered a toast.  "You just have such a unique way of creating and telling stories Val, I really hope you come away from this with some kick-ass art."