Live - Grandeur of the Seas March 7-19 ..::.. vegetarian, honeymoon, first time cruisers!

[vacationlover_mn]

I am not a vegetarian... however, I did have AMAZING veg indian food, for the one lunch we did in the windjammer (on Oasis).  Maybe they have veg Indian food in your Windjammer?

[jtsongas]

49 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

The health code changes are 21 vs 14 days for passengers who’ve been to one of the level 3 countries like China and Italy.

 

There were 3 ships that were supposed to be in St Maarten today but only one (Celebrity Edge) was cleared.

Actually there were four scheduled and only Edge cleared.  Grandeur, Vision and Costa Favolosa are at sea.  Grandeur now shows a destination of St. Thomas, Vision has not updated its destination and the Costa ship shows Martinique. 

[dorifuta]

2 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

The health code changes are 21 vs 14 days for passengers who’ve been to one of the level 3 countries like China and Italy.

 

There were 3 ships that were supposed to be in St Maarten today but only one (Celebrity Edge) was cleared.

I understand it tho--these countries tend to no have sophisticated medical facilities that could handle an outbreak of just about any thing. Theyd rather have less $$ coming than illness.

[dorifuta]

No St Thomas either. Now en route to Dominica. Poor Husby is going stir crazy 😭

[dorifuta]

4 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Yep, we have had the "luggage left way down the hall at another room" happen on about half of our cruises!  The first time was stressful.  Now I'm pleasantly surprised if my bag actually makes it to our room 🙂

Was no worries to me! I was just happy to see my bag ☺️ Unfortunately Husby's bag had all the snacks....🤪

[dorifuta]

No St Thomas after all, en route to Dominica.....after we drop off a seriously unwell patient in St Thomas for medical care 😰 I hope they just need supportive care and are able to recover. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, heres a bit of photo dump.

 

Husby and I spent the day before yesterday struck pretty hard with seasickness. Yesterday there was a bit more of the same. Hes not one for naps usually but has taken a few hours every day for the last three days. He is very bummed to have missed both our ports, but I hope we successfully make dock in Dominica. He will feel better with some solid ground under his feet. ♡ 

 

I feel like I have a bit of karaoke following! 🙈 I'm so flattered!!! I love to sing, so it makes me SO happy that people want to hear it (and miss me when I'm off!) 

 

Here are a few photos that havent posted well over the last few days. I had veggie tempura at dinner last night which was DELICIOUS. I'm still trying to get my hands on the empanada due to recommendation, but havent had luck. One of my dinner tablemates suggested getting a little pushy, so I'll give that a shot.

 

At lunch yesterday I learned there was no vegan menu available, which was sad given there was only one vegetarian option. (No bizarre markings though!) Instead the kitchen offered to make the "asian stir fry" vegan for me. 

 

It was pasta. Pasta with tomato sauce. Nothing Asian about it. Disappointed for sure. 

[dorifuta]

I am struggling to upload photos so I'm going to do a bunch of 2 at a time. 

 

In sum: Giovannis pasta is AMAZE, there was a vegetarian pesto linguini that was mmmmm. Full breakfast at MDR doesnt have too many veggie options but they seem willing to work with me. Theres no easy way to let a tablemate know if you're not going to dinner. 

[dorifuta]

[dorifuta]

Flowers from Delta!

[dorifuta]

I asked the bartender for an "extra sexy ocean" and it came with a heart straw 🤣🤣

[dorifuta]

Dominica (pronounced doh-mee-NEE-kah) was so lovely!! We originally didnt have an excursion planned--just get out and roam. We got off shortly after the gangway opened and hoofed up to the botanical gardens. On the way I found a fabric shop 🤩 and decided to go back later to buy. The gardens were beautiful and there were some really impressive trees. Husby was so happy to be off board the ship and on dry land XD we wandered through the city for a few hours. We also hit up the museum right in front of the port, which was VERY informative and learned a lot about its structure and history and natives. By the time we finished, he was so surprised only two hours had passed. He wanted to book an excursion now!

 

Welp. Ahaha. I wasnt really comfortable grabbing one of the guys who were hounding you when you got off the docks, since it was our first time. So we found the Royal Caribbean shore excursion employee and booked the 4x4 Lost World Tour, which would get us back on the boat just before all aboard time. We had 45 minutes to get ready, so I rushed back to the fabric store and bought some, ran it back to the ship, and got into a bathing suit. 

 

The open air 4x4 tour was so cool. We saw some truly spectacular views and were told a lot about the island. We got to see steaming hot streams and boiling pools where the water is heated by the volcano, beautiful vistas and mountain views, the Trafalgar falls (from a distance) and finished the trip at Titou Gorge. You got a life preserver, since the water is 15 to 25 ft deep in places, and you swim through a deep ravine to a big waterfall. I forgot the water wallets 😭😭😭 but it was so beautiful. And VERY COLD. I wish I had worn my sandals into the water tho bc the first steps in and out were difficult with the stones. At the back of the gorge, a waterfall pours in and you can walk under the falls. I didnt want to do it at first even after watching our driver do it. But he reached out a hand to me and I said to myself "I am Lara Croft." Took hold of his hand and crept along the wall around the room to the falls. And I did it! It was INTENSE. Thought I lost a contact lens but I was OK. The area by the falls was cramped, so Eric and I swam back to the entrance after that. There was a little pipe of hot spring water that felt amazing after the chilly waters. 

 

We all got out, dried off, made a rum punch cheer and headed back to the ship. Eric and I watched sail away from the 5th deck and chatted with our new friends Cindy and Bert. 

 

After dinner was the Love and Marriage game show. As the honeymooners....we got on. It was very funny, a good time was had by all I think. We had a lot in common with the 60-year married couple 🤣 Since then, so many people have stopped us to say hi and tell us they enjoyed it 🙈 glad to have been entertaining!! 

[dorifuta]

The officially official news is that we are going back to Baltimore early😭 No St Kitts--which was the excursion Husby was most looking forward to. We should be home by noon Wednesday. It looks like Royal Caribbean is offering a 125% future cruise credit, OR a 100% refund. Not sure yet which we are taking. We haven't been totally put off by cruising--we have kept a good attitude and we can tell the staff is working so hard to keep us happy and entertained and we so appreciate that. But our vacation days this year are otherwise taken up by weddings, so we wouldnt be able to go until next year at the earliest. And who knows what will happen by then...?

[Philly Steve]

So glad you landed on "Love and Marriage!"  Sorry your vacation was bittersweet.  May your next cruise be everything this one was supposed to be and more.

[rtazz17]

Hopefully you took the 100 percent refund. You will make out much better then the 125% if you use 3rd party vendor. We cruise every yr for 1000 less then royal site states plus all gratuities paid plus 300 on board credit plus 2 specialty rest dinners for a family of 4. Net savings for us vs going through royal is easily 2,000...... so that 25%would not come close to covering savings going elsewhere.

[Mapleleafforever]

Hearing Noro outbreak on this cruise....can you confirm??

[neptune18]

On 3/15/2020 at 11:34 AM, rtazz17 said:

Hopefully you took the 100 percent refund. You will make out much better then the 125% if you use 3rd party vendor. We cruise every yr for 1000 less then royal site states plus all gratuities paid plus 300 on board credit plus 2 specialty rest dinners for a family of 4. Net savings for us vs going through royal is easily 2,000...... so that 25%would not come close to covering savings going elsewhere.

Maybe I need to switch to your vendor!

[dorifuta]

3 hours ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Hearing Noro outbreak on this cruise....can you confirm??

Heard the same. I wouldnt be at all surprised. Between the continual announcements of "gastro illness" and everyone we know who was sick for a day, two at most? Almost definitely. I read somewhere it was confirmed noro but 🤷‍♀️

[retiredgram]

2 hours ago, dorifuta said:

Heard the same. I wouldnt be at all surprised. Between the continual announcements of "gastro illness" and everyone we know who was sick for a day, two at most? Almost definitely. I read somewhere it was confirmed noro but 🤷‍♀️

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2020/Grandeur_3-7.html

 

Sorry, but it is true.

[KmomChicago]

For what it's worth, your cruise has a unique place in history, one of the last before the official break in the industry. I hope you have good memories of the rather unusual experience. Thanks for posting.