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

[2PARRS]

My SIL has landed at the airport in Saba several times recently and said that it is quite an experience.  He really loves Saba and said that it reminds him of what the Caribbean used to be.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We have another medical emergency aboard.  The Captain said we would go to St Thomas --again.  We will transfer the patient to the rescue squad. 

 

We should arrive around 11pm and it could take an hour to make the transfer.  He did not think it would delay our Baltimore arrival.  

 

I am interested in what weather system we have ahead of us.  No one has mentioned anything--but, they have put the seasick bags on the stairs.  That is always a bad sign.😮

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 minutes ago, 2PARRS said:

My SIL has landed at the airport in Saba several times recently and said that it is quite an experience.  He really loves Saba and said that it reminds him of what the Caribbean used to be.

I had never even heard of it before today.  I will have to check this out. 

[TravelerThom]

5 hours ago, editor@cruisecritic said:

...[Saba] is Swedish in heritage....

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. 

5 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

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...

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. 

[2PARRS]

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dutch St. Martin, Saba, and Eustacius (sp?)are all under the Dutch control.

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

Here you go! Going. . . .

 

 

 

Going. . . .

 

 

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

 

 

 

Beautiful....I needed that after seeing Dow futures take a nosedive (again tonight) and all the updated news on the CV spread.  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, TravelerThom said:

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. 

Ah, thank you. 

 

As we first approached the island DH asked if that was a lake in the lower corner.  I said it looked like a large parking lot.  . . . but, then it seemed to disappear. All we could see was a fence.  I can't believe it is an airport. 😮 

[TravelerThom]

5 hours ago, 2PARRS said:

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dutch St. Martin, Saba, and Eustacius (sp?)are all under the Dutch control.

In 1954 the 6 small islands you mention  (and associated even smaller islets) formerly known as the colony of Curaçao and Dependencies became the Netherlands Antilles, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with theoretically equal status to the Netherlands (in Europe) and Surinam (in South America). Aruba became its own constituent country in 1986. In 2010 the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved and Curaçao and Sint Maarten became their own constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Saba, Bonaire and Sint Eustatius became Special Municipalities of the Netherlands. 
Sint Eustatius is colloquially called Statia, so the “Dutch Leewards” were the “Three S’s” (Sint Maarten, Saba and Statia) and the “Dutch Windwards” were the ABC islands. 
Statia, known as The Golden Rock, was a major free trade port, willing to sell anything to anyone and was the largest seller of arms to the fledgling United States of America. The first formal recognition of an American ship as representing a sovereign nation was an 11 gun salute given by Statia in November 1776. In retaliation England demolished the island in 1781 and the island’s economy never recovered. 

[TravelerThom]

4 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

As we first approached the island DH asked if that was a lake in the lower corner.  I said it looked like a large parking lot.  . . . but, then it seemed to disappear. All we could see was a fence.  I can't believe it is an airport. 😮 

The official elevation of Saba airport is 18 meters (60 feet) above mean sea level. So your view of the airport would vary significantly depending on what deck you were on. A view of the airport from up The Road:

 

The official language of Saba is Dutch, but I’ve never encountered any local who could actually speak Dutch. Everyone I’ve met spoke English, the current governor was born on Saba, but is a University of Florida graduate. The official currency is the US dollar. The (un)official drink is Saba Spice (a liqueur). 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by TravelerThom

[DragonOfTheSeas]

5 hours ago, TravelerThom said:

The official elevation of Saba airport is 18 meters (60 feet) above mean sea level. So your view of the airport would vary significantly depending on what deck you were on. A view of the airport from up The Road:

 

 

 

Wow--that does not leave much room for error. 😜

[hannibal54]

[DragonOfTheSeas]

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!  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

15 minutes 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.  

We passed through another brief shower --look what I just found. . . . better than a sunrise pic. It was a beautiful full circle.

 

[patrioticgirl]

Really enjoying reading your thread here at home in Fredericksburg! 🙂

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

As I mentioned earlier we had another medical emergency transfer last night.  I went up on deck at 11:30 to see if my phone could pick up a signal from land. [Verizon].  No dice.  There were lots of others talking on their phones. I could see we were still not that close to shore--so I went back to my cabin.  

 

The person next to me in the Solarium said we docked right at midnight and by 12:15 they had made the transfer.  

 

The Captain announced the emergency around 5:30 and we had already turned around at that point. So 5-6 hrs back to St Thomas and then the same to get back to our original position means the Captain will need to put the pedal to the medal or the noon arrival time is in doubt.  We will see if he makes a morning announcement.  

 

Here is a map of our travels yesterday. I took this around 7pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dixieva]

Safe travels home!

 

I live near Richmond and it has been cool here for a few days.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

6 minutes ago, dixieva said:

Safe travels home!

 

I live near Richmond and it has been cool here for a few days.

 

Yes, that is what I am expecting. . . . I still remember the sailing s few years ago that got back on March 16 to several inches of snow.  You were on that one weren't you?

[LBumb]

enjoy your remaining days at sea

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We just got a message from the Captain.  Our trip back to St Thomas puts us back on our original schedule.  We now should arrive at around 6am on Thursday.  The new favorite expression is that all of our plans are fluid. 😏

 

The Captain was very subdued this morning.  He sounds exhausted. 

 

We used to carry off our own luggage and got off the ship quicker.  But, now we keep one bag and let the ship move the rest.  So we should be headed to DD house around 8-8:30am.  . . . that is unless they become fluid again. 🤣

 

They still have the phone lines open for calls at the shore excursion desk.  I feel sorry for the people that booked hotels, shuttles, etc. yesterday and now need to change those again. You can use wifi at the internet café for free to make changes, too. . . . that has been very busy.

[dixieva]

16 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Yes, that is what I am expecting. . . . I still remember the sailing s few years ago that got back on March 16 to several inches of snow.  You were on that one weren't you?

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.

[beed2010]

Are you getting compensation still?  I’m really curious as I was booked to be on the cruise but had cancelled just prior to final payment. I actually regret it now ☹️  Was worried about the kid missing school 🤦🏼‍♀️  Seems silly now. But 10 days at sea with the husband 😱 that might not have been fun. 

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We passed through another brief shower --look what I just found. . . . better than a sunrise pic. It was a beautiful full circle.

 

Beautiful! Sorry to hear about the 2nd medical transfer. Hope all goes ok now till you're back. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

47 minutes ago, beed2010 said:

Are you getting compensation still?  I’m really curious as I was booked to be on the cruise but had cancelled just prior to final payment. I actually regret it now ☹️  Was worried about the kid missing school 🤦🏼‍♀️  Seems silly now. But 10 days at sea with the husband 😱 that might not have been fun. 

 

Yes, we got a letter that said we would get an FCC for 125% of our cruise fare.  [They gave a date, but I do not have the letter on me]  If we decide we want a refund of the cruise fare we can contact them [there is an online form] and it will be refunded in 30 days.  Then they will deactivate the FCC.  We have until Dec 2021 to use the FCC.  

 

I imagine they will no longer give the prorated return for beverage packages, internet, The Key and other things they mentioned yesterday.  . . . Remember that everything is fluid. 🤣

[beed2010]

Everyone who sails on the grandeur knows things are always fluid on that ship 😂 it makes sailing out of Baltimore much more exciting !

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The Captain just gave his noon briefing.  I never remember the latitude and longitude, so I will not try to give that.  However, what I can remember is 77degrees and seas are about 7 ft  which is moderate.  There is a slight sway. We keep sailing into small areas of showers. Then the sun comes out.

 

The combined wind [actual combined with the forward speed] makes the wind on the decks 40 mph. [I forgot the knts]  They have closed the deck above the pool for safety. 

 

Tomorrow he says it will be 72 for a high and some sun.  

 

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