Live! DragonOfTheSeas' B2B on the Grandeur of the Seas 3.28 to 4.18.19

[ShillyShally]

6 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

DH is doing fine. We had a good time at Dickenson's Bay beach. we took a taxi from the port area to the beach. It was $12 for the two of us each way. Another 20 for the beach chairs and umbrella. We were at the nicest quietest Beach you have ever seen. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I don't have very good connectivity right now.

Oh wonderful!!  Yay, I look forward to pictures but no rush, this is your vacation 🙂

[ShillyShally]

5 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

The kicker is that our Taxi Driver JoJo ask what time we were going to return. We told him 1:30 so he said fine I'll come pick you up at 1:30 and you don't pay me until I returning to the ship.

Wonderful, love that service!

 

Interesting on the tax and duty free slips but nice to not be charged extra!  I too am usually buying another something I lost!

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I have not tried to use it. I will check it out.

Was there a letter in your cabin detailing your benefits?  If so,  that letter should specify the ship’s policy.  Don’t trouble yourselves if the letter is not handy, though.  Honestly, for  those who have 8:00 dining, vouchers in MDR are not useful, though maybe specialty restaurants might be occasionally, I suppose.

 

So glad to hear you are both better.  Stay well the rest of this wonderful trip.  And Thanks again for this terrific thread.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Starry Eyes

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Here are some pictures from Antigua.  First let me say this island is one of my favorite.  

 

They advertise that Antigua has 365 beaches--one for each day of the year.  We have only visited 5-6 of them, but they are all beautiful.  

 

Here is a map of the island.  I know it is not the best quality to see.  However, it will give you an idea of what the tours visit on the island. 

 

 

This is a picture of the Nelson Dockyard.  It is the site of the old British Naval base.  It is included in most tours. 

 

We have been to Antigua many times.  It seemed for awhile that every cruise we took stopped here.  This is a picture I took a few years ago of the dockyard from Shirley Heights.  They were having a sailboat race of something.  This is still one of my favorite cruise pics. 

Edited April 12, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

OK I knew I have a better map of the beach locations.  Here is it.  Just to give you an idea about time.  The ride to Dickenson's Bay Beach is about 15 minutes from the cruise port.   We Went there on this trip.  On the last couple of trips were went to Valley Church Beach.  That is 20-25 minutes.   Each of the beaches have their cheerleaders and you will find lots of opinions. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We were not up early enough to see the sail in.  But we got pictures of the port at breakfast.

 

The first picture will help orient you to the port.  As you leave the wharf there is a pedestrian walkway.  It is a couple of blocks long.  There is an official taxi stand.  They all wear yellow shirt and there are lots of other people trying to sell you tours and taxi to the beach.

 

Half way up the walkway there is a gate to leave the port.  That is where all of the taxi and vans are parked.  Also, there is a pharmacy, internet cafes and cafes just outside the gate. [better prices but less ambiance]

 

This is to the right of the wharf

 

This is a long shot of the city of St John and the left of the wharf.  There is a casino right by the water. I think it is called King's casino.  There is another one on Dickenson's Bay. 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I already mentioned our taxi ride to the beach.  So here are some of the pictures of the beach. You can see we practically had the beach to ourselves. 

 

 

 

There were 2 other couples from the cruise ship there. 

 

Early in the day a few people walked by to reach the resort down the beach.

 

Then we got back to being alone.  Ahhh!

 

 

Remember the pictue of this house.  I know we learned who it belonged to.  I can't remember--but, I will find out. LOL

Edited April 12, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

You knew our luck with the weather could not last.  We ran into a short rain storm when we first go off the ship.  We ducked into a store until it was over.  About an hour and a half after we arrived at the beach a strong storm rolled in.  We just stayed under our umbrella.  We were trying to hold all of our things down.  😁 There was no lightening.  The other 2 couples waited for it to pass in the water.  . . . well they were wet already.  Look how dark this looks compared to the earlier pics.  But, then it stopped and the sun came out again.  You have to love the tropics. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

sorry I forgot to add the pics. 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I think everyone had a good day in Antigua.  There were lots of sunburned faces at dinner.  I think many went to bed early.  This picture is the Viking Crown lounge around 9:30pm.  We went up there to look out at the pool and see the moon.  As you can see there is not another personal in the whole lounge. Yikes!

 

The second picture is of the towel animal of the day.  We have a really great cabin attendant.  

[ShillyShally]

Love the pics!  Antigua looks beautiful, on my list to visit!  Sorry about the rain but still looked beautiful!  We have rain here now and it doesn't look quite that nice 🙂

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

 

Today we are in St Lucia.  We did not do very much that was exciting.  There was already a ship at the dock near the city center. [the Aida Perla]  So, we were docked at Point Seraphine Pier.  You could walk to the city center [longish walk] or take a water taxi.  $3 one way or $5 roundtrip. 

 

The last time we were here we docked at the other pier.  There is a nice craft market there where you can buy local items.  Last time we bought a painting of the Pitons.  [Gros and Petit Piton are the two famous mountain peaks.]

 

The area around the Point Seraphine Pier must be the business district.  There are several multi-story very modern buildings.  We passed a department story and other high end stores that you can tell are geared toward the residents rather than tourists.  For example, they had a window display of a stainless steel front loading HE washing machine.  . . . I know the next time my washer goes I am not coming to St Lucia to replace it. 

 

I can't get my pictures to load tonight. So, I will try again in the AM. 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Here are the first pictures I took from St Lucia.  The first 2 are from a little shopping area at the port.  It was very crowded, but had some local shops as well as the Diamonds International. 

 

You can see it looks like a modern city. I included one of the street signs.  They have free wifi provided by the government in all of the areas we walked. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I know it is a little crazy to always include a map.  But, how do you know were you want to go if you can't visualize the island.? [can you tell I was a former history and social studies teachers?  HaHa]

 

The terrain is very mountainous.  It think it is more so than any oth the other islands we visit on this trip.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

 

You can see from the previous pictures that it was not the nicest weather. It would be sunny for a few minutes and then the clouds would move in with rain.  then the sun would come out.  It did that all day.

 

We had not booked an excursion, so we decided to just walk around a bit and hit the pool in the solarium.  We love the ship when it is empty. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful place to visit.

 

 

Not long before sail away the rain really started.  but, everyone was back by then.  The sea was still calm.  All was good. 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Today we are in beautiful St. Kitts. It is a little windy today--but, very sunny. 😀

 

We purchased a beach break excursion from the ship for today.  We know we could likely do it for less via taxi DIY.  But is was less than $50 for each of us and it includes transportation, chairs and adult beverage. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Someone asked about using diamond vouchers in the MDR and windjammer. Yep, they work. Theatre, too.

[h20skibum]

Too bad you had rain leaving St. Lucia.  One of our trips there, the captain sailed up close to the Pitons, and passengers were allowed on the helicopter pad for photos.  I have some close up photos of them towering above the ship.

 

We were on the Serenade for our cruises there, and not the Grandeur at that time.

[Starry Eyes]

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Someone asked about using diamond vouchers in the MDR and windjammer. Yep, they work. Theatre, too.

Thanks

[Arzeena]

Hi Dragon

Really enjoying your pictures! Can't wait till we get on next Feb.

Do you have an ocean view cabin on this cruise?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Too bad you had rain leaving St. Lucia.  One of our trips there, the captain sailed up close to the Pitons, and passengers were allowed on the helicopter pad for photos.  I have some close up photos of them towering above the ship.

 

We were on the Serenade for our cruises there, and not the Grandeur at that time.

That would have been terrific.  Captain Thor would have been the type to do that.  But, it was an rainy sailaway.  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

51 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Hi Dragon

Really enjoying your pictures! Can't wait till we get on next Feb.

Do you have an ocean view cabin on this cruise?

Yes, we are in 2538.  It is deck 2 right across from the forward elevator.   The location is not bad.  But, I do not love deck 2.  the windows are not as large as on decks 3 & 4.  . . . and we had booked a panoramic OV cabin for the cruise that was canceled.  We were sorry to lose that. But, it has been a great cruise.  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Welcome to beautiful St Kitts. Our beach break took us to cockleshell beach.  It is about a 25 minute ride from the port.  If we had taken a taxi it would have been $28 each way + tip.  That goes a long way to making up what we paid for the cruise excursion. 

 

You are looking at the Atlantic on the right and the Caribbean on the left.  

 

The Atlantic side is very rough.

 

There are lots of time shares on this side of the island.

 

Our beach looked across the 2 miles of water between St Kitts and Nevis. [its sister island]

Edited April 13, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Remember I said it was windy this morning. LOL

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

 

OK, here is the map so you can tell where the beach is located. We docked at Bassetterre.  Look at the thin neck of land that extends to Nevis.  The pictures with both bodies of water are from the top looking toward Nevis. 

 

The beach is at the very end before the 2 mile stretch of water.  the water was clear and warm.  However, it was a little rough.  Lots of wave action.

Edited April 13, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas