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

[Arzeena]

5 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We have a bit of a wave pool going on in the Solarium pool.  

 

A little taste of Coco Cay 😉Water Park compliments of Mother Nature.

[sargeantcurley]

14 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

It was raining when I woke up this morning. [so no sunrise pics] However, we moved past that area and its now sunny and warm.  I think this will be our last really warm day.  I noticed that our hometown of Louisa, VA [about 20 miles east of Charlottesville, VA] had a high of 47 yesterday and a low last night of 34. Brrr!  

it really is a small world, my aunt lives in louisa va

 

[Merion_Mom]

12 hours ago, dixieva said:

Oh yes we were.  We said we would not cruise in March again.  But I can't find any 12 day cruises from Baltimore in April 2021 so looks like we might be cruising in March next year.

 

Grandeur will be gone in April 2021.  

 

Enchantment will be there instead.  No 12 nighters right away.

[dixieva]

Yes I know that.  I was referring to cruises from Baltimore in April 2021 not Grandeur cruises specifically.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

19 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Grandeur will be gone in April 2021.  

 

Enchantment will be there instead.  No 12 nighters right away.

I looked at the reposition cruise for the Enchantment of the Seas from San Juan to Baltimore in April of 2021.  Usually these cruises are interesting and cheaper.  It is a poor 5 day itinerary and it is expensive. . . . I was bummed when I checked it out. 

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, dixieva said:

Yes I know that.  I was referring to cruises from Baltimore in April 2021 not Grandeur cruises specifically.

 

Right.  Nothing until November.  🙂

[Yorkvillain]

2 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Enchantment will be there instead.

 

I hope they are still planning on adding another restaurant or two! 

[Merion_Mom]

4 hours ago, Yorkvillain said:

 

I hope they are still planning on adding another restaurant or two! 

 

My money is on Giovanni's Table.  Izumi apparently is a franchise, owned by Travis Kamayama, and he may not want to put one on the Enchantment.  Or so I have heard.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

Happy St Patrick's Day!

 

The sun is shining and the weather still seems warm.  I think it will be pool weather for one more day.  

 

I did not make it up for the sunrise.  I had to settle for the sun rising above the deck.

 

 

Our Activities Director is from Ireland.  He told us he would be hosting a big St Patrick's Day party ☘️ today on the first day of the cruise. . . . He was pumped then.   😁

 

When I got up this am I saw the decorations he put around the ship. . . .nothing over the top, but just enough to remind us this is a festive occasion.   I will bring you along tonight. With the bars and restaurants closed we may be the biggest St Patrick's Day gathering.  

 

These are in each of the elevators:

 

 

 

He put balloons and a sign in the centrum:

 

 

[Biker19]

17 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

 

They disabled the Freestyle machine?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

42 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

They disabled the Freestyle machine?

We are not allowed to touch ANYTHING on this ship.  I mentioned that they are serving us in the Windjammer.  But, it goes much beyond that.  Someone serves the freestyle machines, you can not get ice water or coffee from machines or even get your own plate or sugar packet.  

 

We went to look at our photos yesterday.  There are not that many photos because we only had 2 ports.  You are not allowed to look at them closely.   There were a few more pics on the other side, but not many. . . and it was roped off the same way.  

 

 

An employee looks for your photos and then will hold them up for you to see. When we got the pic we wanted the employee entered my folio number into the register by hand rather than taking my sea pass card and scanning it in.  

 

There aren't any of the "sales" in the center of the shop area [t-shirts, hats, beach bags, etc] that usually draw a crowd.  The shops are open, but the clerks are wearing gloves so they do not touch anything we touch.  

Edited March 17, 2020 by DragonOfTheSeas

[retiredgram]

That's  beyond how they did it when the ship had the Noro virus one year.  Good to know they are being extra careful.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 minutes ago, retiredgram said:

That's  beyond how they did it when the ship had the Noro virus one year.  Good to know they are being extra careful.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Thanks for the reply.  I wondered if this is the usual procedure if there is noro.  Also, it is difficult to adequately convey the amount and level of cleaning they are doing. . . . It is constant.

 

 

[grneyes]

When the GR docks on Thursday I Baltimore will everyone on

board be screened temperature taken etc? 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

1 hour ago, grneyes said:

When the GR docks on Thursday I Baltimore will everyone on

board be screened temperature taken etc? 

We  have not had any information regarding the procedure.  . . . but, when the MD Governor closed the port he said 2 ships would be exempt and there would be enhanced screening.  Who knows what that is?  

[Mapleleafforever]

2 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We  have not had any information regarding the procedure.  . . . but, when the MD Governor closed the port he said 2 ships would be exempt and there would be enhanced screening.  Who knows what that is?  

Is it true that there is a Noro outbreak on Grandeur right now?

[editor@cruisecritic]

On 3/15/2020 at 8:26 PM, TravelerThom said:

While St. Barth has Swedish heritage (its Capital is named for King Gustav III of Sweden, I don’t think Saba has any Swedish heritage. 

The Saba airport is in the lower right hand corner of YOUR second and third photos.

SAB has a 400 meter runway, allegedly the shortest runway in the world with commercial service. SBH (St. Barth airport) is a comparatively comfortable 646 meters long EXCEPT the mountain on the west end of the runway and the water on the east end increases the excitement factor considerably. 

 

You are right, TravelerThom, it's actually Dutch. I think I thought it looked somewhat Swedish, hence the confusion. Thanks for challenging me to go look it up!

 

Carolyn

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

3 hours ago, retiredgram said:

That's  beyond how they did it when the ship had the Noro virus one year.  Good to know they are being extra careful.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Here is a picture I took of one of the glass tables in the South Pacific lounge after cleaning with the special sanitizer.   On wooden tables, railings, pillars, etc it is not that visible once it dries--although it is a little sticky.  However, on glass it is very noticeable. 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

14 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Is it true that there is a Noro outbreak on Grandeur right now?

Very likely, although I am not sure it is still going on.  About day 3 of the cruise the Captain began to mention some gastro intestinal related issues.  He never used the Noro word.  About day 6 or 7 they began the firm "no touch" protocol. 

 

 

[dixieva]

Someone on social media says 89 cases of 

Noro on board.  Hope that's not true.

[Merion_Mom]

Cian LOOKS like a leprechaun!  😁

[Coralc]

5 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Thanks for the reply.  I wondered if this is the usual procedure if there is noro.  Also, it is difficult to adequately convey the amount and level of cleaning they are doing. . . . It is constant.

 

 

 

I would think that it is because they are going into suspension for 30 days after your sailing. It would probably be really bad to have Noro on a closed up ship with just crew members onboard and limited access to medical facilities. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

55 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Cian LOOKS like a leprechaun!  😁

Here he is. [Activities Director from Ireland]

[DragonOfTheSeas]

1 hour ago, dixieva said:

Someone on social media says 89 cases of 

Noro on board.  Hope that's not true.

I do not know how they found out that number.  It was never announced. I would not be surprised if that was a true number. They got serious about cleaning around day 6.

 

33 minutes ago, Coralc said:

 

I would think that it is because they are going into suspension for 30 days after your sailing. It would probably be really bad to have Noro on a closed up ship with just crew members onboard and limited access to medical facilities. 

It is true they are suspending cruising--but, I think the all out cleaning was because they wanted to stop an outbreak of Gastro [likely Noro].  We were turned away for several islands.  Islands were looking for any reason to deny a ship.  I think the ship pulled out all of the stops to stop the outbreak so we would have at least a couple of port days . .  . . . One thing I find notable is that there do not seem to be passengers coughing or sneezing onboard.  [a few people did the the first couple of days and everyone turned and looked at them] You almost always hear some coughing in a large group. 

 

I know they must report when they have these cases onboard and do stepped up protocols. 

[aqualibra]

This outbreak on the Grandeur is on the CDC website: 89 Total - 6 crew and 83 passengers.

 

The Grandeur is consulting with CDC on plans for their comprehensive sanitation procedures in Baltimore, MD, on March 19, 2020, including

• Planning staged disembarkation for active cases to limit the opportunity of illness transmission to well guests.
• Planning sanitation of terminal and transport infection control procedures.