LIVE! B2B on the Grandeur March 7-27, 2020 with Dragon of the Seas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Are some pictures of the beach in Barbados. This is the Harbour Lights on Carlisle Bay.

 

 

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

12 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

 

I think they are being more than fair. 😁

 

So do I, but it sure has people buzzing on CC that feel it's not enough of a FCC to sway people away from just taking a refund. Lots of discussion on this. Anyway, glad you made it to Barbados. Sail on!!!

Edited March 14, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[DragonOfTheSeas]

40 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

So do I, but it sure has people buzzing on CC that feel it's not enough of a FCC to sway people away from just taking a refund. Lots of discussion on this. Anyway, glad you made it to Barbados. Sail on!!!

It will not sway me to cruise in the near future. But this too will pass-the question is how long. 

[OnTheJourney]

Indeed...how long IS a big question. Our next is with Viking in January. I'd hate to see that one go down since it is the special inaugural (non-public) sailing onboard the new ship with Mr. Hagen, chairman of Viking. Previous Viking Sky guests were graciously invited on the sailing due to the unfortunate events of 3/23/19. It departs out of Rome, so we'll see how things progress over the coming months. I'd hope by then we're in a much better place, globally speaking, relative to COVID-19.

Edited March 14, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Indeed...how long IS a big question. Our next is with Viking in January. I'd hate to see that one go down since it is the special inaugural (non-public) sailing onboard the new ship with Mr. Hagen, chairman of Viking. Previous Viking Sky guests were graciously invited on the sailing due to the unfortunate events of 3/23/19. It departs out of Rome, so we'll see how things progress over the coming months. I'd hope by then we're in a much better place, globally speaking, relative to COVID-19.

We have a Celebrity cruise in February 2021.  It is a cruise to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.  The ship does 2 overnights. I will be so disappointed to miss it.  . .  but who knows.  Then we have the Baltic cruise in July 2012.  We had planned to book a B2B cruise for this fall onboard.  Needless to say we cancelled those plans.  It is just too uncertain.  

 

I have not given up on cruising.  We will return to cruising when we can.  

 

Something else to consider is a recent Royal Caribbean rule change to require a doctor's note to prove you are healthy enough to cruise after age 70.  This will impact many cruisers. . . . and us eventually. The question will be how long before the cruise do you have to have this note?  Can you get one a year or do you need to see the doctor before each cruise, etc?  The devil is in the details. 

[OnTheJourney]

I intersperse land tours and car trips with cruises. We like all modes of travel! Probably car trips are still our favorite. I've never minded the 'hotel hopping' that goes along with that. Baltic is a nice cruise if you've not done it before. We found it, though, to be very 'port intensive' - none of those 'relaxing' sea days. It felt more like a land tour that happened to use a boat as your accommodations. The morning of our entrance into St. Petersburg, especially, was VERY intense. Everyone was just sort of keyed up since it can be a bit dicey getting through security there (at least it was for us). Loved it - and the whole trip - but, yeah, very busy itinerary. 

 

I'm hoping things are better by fall. We have a fly/drive trip planned to see more National Parks out west. Didn't book any flights yet and will hold off on it. The hotels can easily be canceled if need be. 

Edited March 14, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Now back to our Southern Caribbean cruise.  Today was a relaxing beach day.  We took a taxi from the pier to Carlisle Bay. [$5pp]  We had visited there on a previous trip.  However, we had just ventured out on the public beach and rented chairs.  This time we visited Harbour Lights.  It is a beach club that has live entertainment at night, but caters to cruisers during the day.  For $10 pp you get a chair and an umbrella to share with your partner.  There are restrooms, showers and lawn games.  There is also a small café/bar plus free wifi.

 

The sand is very soft--few sea shells. . .  and the sand looked almost pink like Bermuda.  The walk in is very gradual and the water is clear enough to see the fish and the bottom.  It made for a good day. 

 

The weather was iffy. It drizzled a little on the shuttle, but within a short time we ended up with a partly cloudy day.  That was good for me. 

 

Back at the terminal I visited my favorite store in the Caribbean, Best of Barbados.  It started with Jim and Jill Walker and now their children are involved.  I tried to take a picture of the sign outside the shop.  It is not very good quality.  [I took pictures with my Kindle today so I could load them using the wifi.  They are not very clear--but, you get the idea] 

 

I like to get souvenirs here because they are not made in China.  They cost a little more than some of the less quality items in some ports, but they are much better.  Also, they have some unique gifts. Last time I bought Christmas cocktail napkins of Santa Snorkeling.  They were fun to use. Many of their items feature turtles. I have purchased these for my grandkids.  For every sale of turtle items they donate to the Barbados turtle fund. If you go to Barbados check it out.

 

I hate to shop, so you know if I sing the praises of a store it is good. 😏 And have I mentioned that I am frugal?]

 

Here is the link to their website:

http://best-of-barbados.com/pages/Shop.html

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Well. . . it is on to Baltimore.  The Captain just announced that we would not be stopping in St Kitts.  So we are headed back.  He did not have any details about our return.  He said we would get those as soon as he had them. 

 

I did not hear the first part of the announcement. My one negative comment is that when the Captain makes an important announcement like this that he should come on the intercom INTO the cabins.  You can only hear what he is saying in the hallway.  Since it was 7:30 in the morning I was still in my nightgown and needed my robe to do that.  So I missed most of the announcement.  

 

 

I always say I love sea days.  I will have had 10 of them by the time we return.  😊 

 

[dixieva]

Safe travels home!

[Maggie Mae]

40 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

Well. . . it is on to Baltimore.  The Captain just announced that we would not be stopping in St Kitts.  So we are headed back.  He did not have any details about our return.  He said we would get those as soon as he had them. 

 

I did not hear the first part of the announcement. My one negative comment is that when the Captain makes an important announcement like this that he should come on the intercom INTO the cabins.  You can only hear what he is saying in the hallway.  Since it was 7:30 in the morning I was still in my nightgown and needed my robe to do that.  So I missed most of the announcement.  

 

 

I always say I love sea days.  I will have had 10 of them by the time we return.  😊 

 

Sorry your trip is cut short but hope you have a safe journey home.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

Well. . . it is on to Baltimore.  The Captain just announced that we would not be stopping in St Kitts.  So we are headed back.  He did not have any details about our return.  He said we would get those as soon as he had them. 

 

I did not hear the first part of the announcement. My one negative comment is that when the Captain makes an important announcement like this that he should come on the intercom INTO the cabins.  You can only hear what he is saying in the hallway.  Since it was 7:30 in the morning I was still in my nightgown and needed my robe to do that.  So I missed most of the announcement.  

 

 

I always say I love sea days.  I will have had 10 of them by the time we return.  😊 

 

 

Sorry to hear you lost St. Kitts, but not entirely unexpected. I have to agree with you 100% on the announcements! That has always been one of my pet peeves that it is not piped directly into the cabins. There is a volume control - presumably for just that purpose (?)  I, too, wind up opening the door partway to catch the latter part  of an announcement in many instances. Especially in this sort of unprecedented situation announcements should be heard in all locations. 

 

Make the most of your time on the return journey. Enjoy, stay healthy, and best wishes for safe travels back home. Send us all a few more nice sunset / sunrise pics. A little cheer right now is very welcomed 🙂

[DragonOfTheSeas]

16 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Sorry to hear you lost St. Kitts, but not entirely unexpected. I have to agree with you 100% on the announcements! That has always been one of my pet peeves that it is not piped directly into the cabins. There is a volume control - presumably for just that purpose (?)  I, too, wind up opening the door partway to catch the latter part  of an announcement in many instances. Especially in this sort of unprecedented situation announcements should be heard in all locations. 

 

Make the most of your time on the return journey. Enjoy, stay healthy, and best wishes for safe travels back home. Send us all a few more nice sunset / sunrise pics. A little cheer right now is very welcomed 🙂

He just made the same announcement again.  This time it was in all of the cabins.  It seems that Royal Caribbean has now stopped all world-wide operations.  All ships are headed to their home port.  So I do not think it was a matter of St Kitts not letting us have a port stop.

 

We will arrive in Baltimore sometime after noon on Wednesday--a day early.  They will open phone lines for a free call/s for those that did not drive to the port at the guest services desk to alter their arrangements. [in cabin phones will be regular rate] The internet café will allow guests to use free internet time to contact those they need to contact. 

 

We will get a letter by lunch time that outlines a compensation package.  Zoey briefly described it.  It sounded like we will get the same 125% FCC of our cruise fare or you can ask for a refund. 

 

I have tried to post this a couple of times.  The Internet on the ship has just almost stopped working.  I think everyone is writing to their families. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On 3/7/2020 at 8:57 AM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I wanted to share with you my 20 for 2020 goals for the year. In December I read a couple of postings [on the other social media board we can't mention 😜] about setting goals for the new year.  I am not one to make resolutions because I find I don't keep them. 

 

So, the idea is that you select 20 things you want to do in 2020 and do it/them 20 times.  Some are bigger goals and others are small--or even silly. I created a chart and I am keeping track. 

 

I am mentioning this because I plan to make progress on several of these on the cruise. What I have found is that I go out of my way to achieve the goals  . . . I am not doing the same old thing all the time. LOL

 

These are some of my goals:

Take an overnight trip [yep]

Take a day trip

Reach out to an old friend/extended family with phone call, note or visit

Eat at a restaurant we have never been to before [Chops Steakhouse]

Visit a historical place [Morne Brue Garrison-Dominica]

Buy something that is a non-necessity/non-clothes item [you see a theme here]

Dance with DH [only 1 so far]

Give a gift to our children/grandchildren that is not a birthday/Christmas etc. gift

Attend entertainment or cultural events [plays, sporting events, concerts, etc]

Go to the beach [Barbados--I had thought I would have more of these]

Go swimming  [Barbados]

Try, do or experience something you never done before [I have several of these on this cruise]

 

I am making good progress. I think these 2 cruises will really help me. We have reserved the hot air balloon ride on Coco Cay and we took DD out to a new restaurant last night.  Wish me luck.  

 

Do you rmember this post from the first day?

 

HaHaHa!  Little did I know just how many things I would do or experience that I have never had/done before. 🤣  . . . and we still have 3 more days.  I am sorry I missed my hot air balloon ride.  Maybe next time. 

[squale2]

do you know the name of the Suite Lounge Concierge?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

23 minutes ago, squale2 said:

do you know the name of the Suite Lounge Concierge?

His name is Carlington.  [I think that is how you pronounce his name] He is from the UK.  However, he is due to go on vacation after this cruise.  Who knows if he will do that now.  Under the current rules he would not be allowed to return to the US to join this ship or any others from the US. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I had a long posting on an island we encountered this morning.  I will give the abbreviated version here again. Cruise critic lost all of the text.   Thankfully they kept the pictures.  It is taking a long time to load those. 

 

With St Martin off our starboard side we noticed what looked like a rock in the ocean,

 

As we got closer we noticed houses on the island and we could tell it was a dormant volcano.  Someone near me said on their Facebook group someone replied it is called Saba.  It is part of the Netherland Antilles.  [5 sq miles]

 

 

 

I looked on TripAdvisor.  The capital is called "the Bottom"  [below] and it has one road called "the Road."  It is big on hikes and eco tourism. This is not a very clear picture, but you get the idea. 

 

[Pam]

We visited Saba many years ago, on a Windjammer Barefoot cruise; it was a delightful place.  We got a cab, driven by a man who just drove cabs for fun every once in a while; while I shopped, my husband chatted with him.  There was a restaurant/club (and I think small hotel) at the top of the mountain.  Almost every house had a family cemetery in the yard.

 

 

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

His name is Carlington.  [I think that is how you pronounce his name] He is from the UK.  However, he is due to go on vacation after this cruise.  Who knows if he will do that now.  Under the current rules he would not be allowed to return to the US to join this ship or any others from the US. 

 

I thought Carlington is from Jamaica.

[OnTheJourney]

Love the pics of St. Maarten. We were there not too long after the hurricane. It was sad to see how much devastation had occurred. I would suspect they're still not completely recovered. I know all about some of those "roads". Almost got sick on the way back to the ship during the return ride after an excursion. One of our passengers who was along mentioned about getting back in time to do some shopping so the driver really boogied it. We were taking some of those hairpin turns at a pretty good clip. Was so glad to get back to the ship!  

Edited March 15, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[editor@cruisecritic]

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I had a long posting on an island we encountered this morning.  I will give the abbreviated version here again. Cruise critic lost all of the text.   Thankfully they kept the pictures.  It is taking a long time to load those. 

 

With St Martin off our starboard side we noticed what looked like a rock in the ocean,

 

As we got closer we noticed houses on the island and we could tell it was a dormant volcano.  Someone near me said on their Facebook group someone replied it is called Saba.  It is part of the Netherland Antilles.  [5 sq miles]

 

 

 

I looked on TripAdvisor.  The capital is called "the Bottom"  [below] and it has one road called "the Road."  It is big on hikes and eco tourism. This is not a very clear picture, but you get the idea. 

 

 

Hi, Dragon of the Seas, love that you are featuring Saba. It's a really sweet place -- some of the smaller lines call there -- and is Swedish in heritage. It's totally vertical and most services are up the mountain rather than at the seaside. And it's got an airport that's so treacherous we were told that it beats even St. Barths when it comes to terrifying. Fortunately, we were on a cruise 🙂

 

Enjoying your posts from your crazy trip.

 

Carolyn

[DragonOfTheSeas]

58 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I thought Carlington is from Jamaica.

You are likely correct.  I must be confusing his country with someone else.  However, Dudley, the concierge in the Diamond lounge, was the one that told me this was  Carlington's last cruise before vacation. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

22 minutes ago, editor@cruisecritic said:

 

Hi, Dragon of the Seas, love that you are featuring Saba. It's a really sweet place -- some of the smaller lines call there -- and is Swedish in heritage. It's totally vertical and most services are up the mountain rather than at the seaside. And it's got an airport that's so treacherous we were told that it beats even St. Barths when it comes to terrifying. Fortunately, we were on a cruise 🙂

 

Enjoying your posts from your crazy trip.

 

Carolyn

You are so lucky to have visited there.

 

I can't believe Saba has an airport.  It must be on the other side of the island because there is no flat land on this side.  We noticed that there are 2 cell phone/tv towers at the tops of the peaks.  So, it is not totally cut off.  I was surprised by the number of attractions/tours listed on TripAdvisor. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, Pam said:

We visited Saba many years ago, on a Windjammer Barefoot cruise; it was a delightful place.  We got a cab, driven by a man who just drove cabs for fun every once in a while; while I shopped, my husband chatted with him.  There was a restaurant/club (and I think small hotel) at the top of the mountain.  Almost every house had a family cemetery in the yard.

 

 

That sounds like fun.  

[Pam]

Our visit was great fun, I forgot to mention that it was the tour guide/cab driver's birthday.  My husband bought him a drink while they visited.  He took us all over the island, we saw the treacherous airport and shuddered at the thought (although we would have loved to go there and stay a couple of days).  

 

Since we were sailing on a converted sailing ship, we felt the movement a lot.  Standing at a shop counter on Saba, a couple of us suddenly moved sideways, it felt like the island was rocking.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

9 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Make the most of your time on the return journey. Enjoy, stay healthy, and best wishes for safe travels back home. Send us all a few more nice sunset / sunrise pics. A little cheer right now is very welcomed 🙂

 

Here you go! Going. . . .

 

 

 

Going. . . .

 

 

Almost gone! Sorry tht I did not catch the exact sunset--but, this is close.