Live: CintiPam, Riviera, Southern Caribbean, 14 days

[CintiPam]

Yesterday’s Humphry Slocombe ice cream flavor was Toast and Jam: brown butter ice cream with brioche and jam bits.  The brioche bits did not appeal to my taste buds.  I have not yet looked at today’s flavor because after dining at Toscana last night and Jacques the night before, I currently feel like a dirigible.  (I grew up near Lakehurst Naval Air Station and worked there one summer while I was in college.)

 

 

[CintiPam]

Our excellent service from staff continues.  Both Jacques and Toscana were delightful decadent opportunities.  There was fewer French staff serving at Jacques (only the host?) but fine by me because I sometimes have found the French servers a bit pretentious for my tastes.  My opinion only.  The only Italian staff we encountered at Toscana were the hostess and the two charming young people wheeling the olive oils trolley around and educating us on the oil options.

 

The lines to enter Polo and Toscana at 6:30 were very long.  When we dined at Jacques at 8 pm only one couple came in after us, at 8:30 pm!  Hopefully tomorrow at the returning passenger party I will find out more about the numbers of North Americans v Europeans and Australians onboard.  

 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by CintiPam

[bigmjh]

44 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

As I posted last week, we had two guest lecturers delivering talks the first two days of this 14-night cruise.  However, we have not heard from either since we arrived at our first destination of Aruba last Saturday. 

Odd because a different guest lecturer was on our roll call, kindly announcing to us roll call members the subjects of his scheduled talks but posted that he would not be on our cruise after all only a week or so before we embarked.
 

So I do not know whether it was “the chicken or the egg” but no guest lectures this week.  (A ship’s officer gave a lecture which I did not attend.)

Is it possible that the lecturer(s) are in or have passed through one of the "banned" countries/cities/ports and cannot embark? 😷

[CintiPam]

So immediately after tonight’s show in the Riviera Lounge, our Cruise Director announced that a medical emergency onboard had led to our changing course and heading to St. Croix after our 4 pm departure from our last scheduled cruise port of St. Barts.  However, for reasons not disclosed to us, and within spitting distance of St. Croix, he announced that we now are heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We were scheduled for two sea days between St. Barts and disembarkation on Wednesday morning in Miami.  That is all we have been told.

Edited March 9, 2020 by CintiPam

[jackdeb]

Hi Pam

First I want to thank you for the updates, very well done. The ship changing course could be a lot of different issues, we once had a14 hour diversion so a man could be helicoptered off because of cardiac problems. I am curious about how much self serve is still at the Terrace Cafe and Waves grill? Are there more servers or fewer options?

thanks 

Jack

[CintiPam]

CD just announced that the passenger has been successfully helicoptered off the ship.  We now are in rough seas so a separate announcement was made into our cabin about 30 minutes ago to use handrails and that wet surfaces are everywhere outdoors.  
 

More servers I guess.  (It has been the same from day 1 of our cruise.). Definitely not fewer options.  The only self serve I have seen anywhere is for whole oranges, apples and bananas in the Terrace Cafe with signs to use the tongs supplied with each when taking any of them.

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

Yesterday’s Humphrey Slocombe flavor was my chocoholic self’s favorite yet:  an intense chocolate with fudgey swirls whose name I now forget, something like chocolate frevet.

 

I have enjoyed all three ship’s excursions I went on this trip:  snorkeling to Klein Bonaire from Bonaire, catamaran sail to Bequia from St. Vincent with a couple of hours swim time at the lovely Princess Margaret’s Beach there and yesterday’s St. Barts Sailing Adventure, a catamaran sail to Colombier Bay on a very luxuriously appointed catamaran.  I enjoyed having an all female crew (two women) on international day of the woman! 

Edited March 9, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

Our Riviera ship’s Russian-born Captain just announced into our cabin that he has heard talk around the ship and wanted to assure us all that the passenger who just left the ship has a long history of heart issues which resulted in his evacuation by helicopter off the ship and not because of any virus.

[CintiPam]

Captain Maksym just announced that Oceania corporate headquarters has initiated across its fleet of ships its highest level of crew cleaning operations due to public health concerns but apparently no activities onboard are being curtailed.  Passengers are urged to use good hygiene by washing their hands often and using hand sanitizers.  
 

The Captain also  told us that the passenger who disembarked in Puerto Rico is doing much better, and that he is suffering from a heart condition and no signs of an infectious disease.

 

Seas are calming down from rough conditions that started overnight.  The dance show scheduled for 5:15 pm today was changed to tomorrow with tomorrow’s scheduled singer performing tonight at the usual 9:30 pm time.

Edited March 9, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

Today’s Humphry Slocombe offering  was “Harvey Milk and Honey Graham., very yummy IMO.  We ate both breakfast and lunch today in the Grand Dining Room (Deck 6) due to the rough seas which started overnight rather than at the Terrace Cafe or Waves Grill (Deck 12.). 
 

Lucky us will dine in Jacques tonight on Deck 5 so no rough seas worries. (Also, the seas have abated considerably starting about 3 pm.).  The Captain said tomorrow will be fine seas, so I will be able to pack without worrying about my footing!

Edited March 9, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

White caps are gone, just little cat’s paws waves. Yay; I will enjoy Jacques  this evening even more. 🇫🇷

[CintiPam]

The smell of the Code Red chemicals just starting to spread:  first whiff overwhelming as I boarded the rear elevator on the way to dinner at Jacques, then upon returning to our cabin after the evening show.  I know it is for my own good and safety but I am very happy we disembark on Wednesday morning.  
 

That smell breaks back bad memories:  husband and I were on Riviera in the Caribbean three (?) years ago when norovirus broke out onboard mid-cruise, and we returned two days early to Miami after hitting the CDC threshold percentage for the outbreak, requiring our return for deep cleaning of the ship, a very unpleasant event when men in hazmat suits greeted us upon arrival and CD Dottie kept us in the dark as much as possible. 

[Paulchili]

Just one more day Pam - hang in there😃

Glad it didn’t happen on Day 2 of the cruise.

[CintiPam]

11 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Just one more day Pam - hang in there😃

Glad it didn’t happen on Day 2 of the cruise.

For sure, Paul.  Oceania’s “outbreak response plan” with “an increased sanitation level” is on indefinitely on all its ships per the noon announcements (just now!) of the Captain and our Cruise Director so public bathroom outer doors all are open, bread baskets not left on the table, etc.  
 

We are enjoying a lovely last day onboard in our vacation bubble as the side to side motion now is gone completely and the sun has come out.  We had to make a dash for it at breakfast as a brief but heavy shower came down in the outdoor section of the Terrace  Cafe just as we finished obtains our breakfast food.  Fortunately the staff rescued our hats and my sweater from our table just as the rain commenced.  

[CintiPam]

I just realized that I forgot to post the passenger stats provided at the returning guests party last Friday evening:  1177 total passengers, with 877 repeat passengers, including 468 with five or more cruises (and one with more than 60!).  
 

Top five countries of origin are USA with 752; Canada with 209; UK with 110, followed by Germany and, the only surprise - Belgium.  

[CintiPam]

We got to our home in Cincinnati safe and sound late yesterday afternoon. Husband legaleaglegreen decided that we should disembark on our own and NOT put out our luggage by 10 pm Tuesday evening, and that was a brilliant move.
 

Self-disembarks like us were permitted to disembark starting at 8 am, and we walked off the ship through the lined up scrum of chaos on Deck 6 at 8:30 am, just as the very first luggage tag color was called!  We were through customs/ immigration and in our Uber to Fort Lauderdale airport at 8:44 am.