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 🤷‍♀️

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...?

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!! 

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

Flowers from Delta!

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. 

1 hour ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

I assume they will want the 14 day self quarantine...unless the Grandeur never makes a stop...

🤪 at the rate we are going, we will have successfully completed a 14 day quarantine when we get back to Baltimore!!!

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. 

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....🤪

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

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.

 I'm so sad, my big long post has gone missing 😭 I will rewrite it, but an update here first. We are not going to St Maarten--some kind of new medical regulation has all cruise ships being turned away. We are en route to St Thomas instead and expected to arrive by 10AM.

On 3/10/2020 at 10:50 AM, ljmandelbaum said:

Got to laugh at the vegetarian beef burger.  

We cruised on Disney Christmas week.  The  only symbol on the menu was for vegetarian / lite fare.  It was funny seeing a chicken dish having the vegetarian symbol.   We just had to trust the waitress.

 

On Independence last month, we were able to see the vegan menu, so my vegetarian daughter asked for it the 2nd night.  Waiter was great, had it ready for her and made her order early since it takes longer.  

So far I've been able to order off the vegan and main menu during dinner. Theres no vegan menu during lunch though. 😰 I'd be so annoyed if they didnt distinguish between vegetarian and "lite" fare! They're often not nearly the same!!! 

On 3/10/2020 at 10:14 AM, cloud_nine said:

Loling at the vegetarian beef burger! Maybe they meant that you could also get it in a veggie burger option? Or maybe they meant to put it on the Gnocchi and it got put next to the wrong food! Either way, did you get the empanadas? Those are so good! Or at least they were when I had them a few years ago. Did you get a dessert from the lunch menu? Was wondering about the gelatin issue, as I would imagine the ganache tart would have it, but not sure about the cake. 

I tried to get the empanada yesterday but was told it was for one day only. 😩 I've been avoiding the desserts bc there have been lots of Jell-o and mousse, so I'm not sure. 

On 3/10/2020 at 11:59 AM, crusnbee said:

I have a very similar issue and am cringing to think that I will have to use sanitizer, especially during a flare up. I also have issues with soap and water occasionally, but do it anyway. Anything else special you do? Thanks for sharing.

Same, I also have trouble with soap and water. As much as I can I wash my hands in my room (I use a special soap which helps my skin so much!). I also find that using the hot air dryer doesnt dry my hands out as much as paper towels? So I've been using the restroom near MDR to use the air dryer as much as I can. And I have lotion on me At All Times and apply as soon as I can. I hope you're able to find something that works for you! 

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Unless she has her own with her at all times, I can't understand anyone declining. Seriously? Has she been watching the news the past 2 months?  

It was me. I do have my own on me at all times. I also have a skin condition that is exacerbated by hand sanitizer and has become very painful. Washing with soap and water isnt as bad for it (and is better than hand sanitizer anyway) so I have been washing often, especially right before meals. 

So yesterday we were going to rock climb, but I fell back asleep, whoops. Then we wandered the Solarium looking for a place to sit and seriously couldnt find any, so we sat and read in the Centrum. We had lunch at the MDR with a lovely crew of folks. I've attached the menu--beef burgers are vegetarian now??? 🤪 I wound up doing a bunch of if-thens. If this has stock, then I want that. If this doesnt have meat, then I want this. 🙄 it was OK, a little bland, but okay. 

We hung out in the Centrum again, chatting with folks and doing some of the games going on there. We went to trivia and 80s music trivia (one crew got EVERY single on correct, that was amazing) and then it was formal night 🥰 Dinner was lovely and I asked for the vegan menu tonight. Ordered something from it as well as the vegetarian entree from the main menu.

After that, Husby went to the show and I went to karaoke. I was a little tired but figured I could sing early then get to bed....but people SWARMED the sign ups! I spent so much time helping people get their numbers down that there was no room the sign up. 😭 Could have signed up on standby but I wanted to get to bed early, so I headed out. I have been so flattered by people asking me to sing though! 🙈 As I walked out of the Schooner Bar, who do I see but Husby walking from the Palladium towards me! XD He didnt think the impressionist was very good, so he was coming to watch karaoke. We called it a night and went to bed. 

Weather was sunny but very chilly, and there was SOOO much wind on the deck. I couldnt really even give it a shot. But getting warmer day by day! We are bummed to miss Puerto Rico, but are having a lot of fun on sea days anyway. 

All the hand sanitizer use is really starting to be a problem for my skin. I've been applying medication every day and lotion as much as I can, but it isnt helping. A little worried on how this will go at this rate...😅

I swear I have some non selfies but I'll upload then when I can get them off my camera 🤣

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Today is a beautiful day.  There is not a cloud in the sky and the high is supposed to be 61.  I plan on sitting in the sun and reading if I can find some shelter from the wind. DH tried this about an hour ago and said it was still too chilly.

 

There is no sunrise pictures today. We slept too late.  We went to the showing of The Joker last night at 10:15 in the theatre. So, I needed my beauty sleep.

 

On his noon briefing the Captain said we are 150 miles SE of Cape Hatteras.  The swells are about 7 ft and the wind out on the deck is about 26 kts.

It is so windy out!! We have tried twice and instead are sitting in the Centrum listening to music. I may grab my winter coat and try again little later.

Officially official: will not make it to San Juan. Going right to St Maarten for the 0800 docking. Wimp womp.

Heard again that we are skipping San Juan 😭 The ship is going slower today, saw it at 15.5 knots earlier versus the 17.7 yesterday. But the rocking has eased and the weather is perking up. Rumor has it the captain decided slowing down to keep passengers safer, and ships were having trouble docking in PR even when they were down there, so skipping the first port is the way to go. I'm very sad! Puerto Rico was the reason we chose this SPECIFIC sailing, so it is a huge bummer to miss it. What I've heard is that we will be at St Maarten at 3pm on wednesday instead, so I wonder if we will have a chance to go explore during that time.

Last night at Chop's, the waiter had eggplant parm prepped for me, AND a huge plate of pasta with veggies, AND an extra cheese tot order 😰 it was *so much food* and v hard to say no. We brought dessert back to our room after dinner though which was lovely. 

MDR formal night tonight! I'm excited for it. I spoke to our waiter, Nikola, on day 1 about getting more vegetarian options for meals. He knew we werent there yesterday so I'm hoping today we will be able to see some more options. (And maybe get more of that mushroom soup.🤤) 

I'll have more photos to update with a little later today, but theres suggestion that we might be skipping San Juan and going straight to St Maarten. We are off the coast of I think Georgia at the moment. Fingers crossed we will get an official update soon. 

5 hours ago, cloud_nine said:

 

Yep, it always has been. RCI have never been good with marking things as veggie or not.

.a.n.n.o.y.i.n.g. I dont like being a nag asking about every second thing on the menu! 

Well today we did get our Key lunch at Chop's. The view was PHENOMENAL and we loved how quiet it was. I grilled someone on the mushroom soup--pureed mushrooms with spices and cream. No stock! So I had that. Which was SO. SO GOOD. Definitely going to have more tonight!!

1 hour ago, SlipperyVic said:

Interesting you say that you had an intense check in experience.

 

I was on the cruise immediately before you and found the lack of screening at check in to be alarming. The entire enhanced screening process seemed to be a guy outside the port that asked if we have been to China. That was it. No health questionnaire at all.

 

Once on board the only place they encouraged hand sanitizer use was at the buffet. It was not mandatory, just suggested. No mandatory hand cleaning after ports.

Interesting! We had the one guy outside the building asking all the questions, then after the X ray machine was handed a health questionnaire and when we turned that in, had another set of questions asked. There was hand sanitizer at every station. When we actually walked on board the ship, someone squirted some hand sanitizer for us, it didnt seem like a question. We walked from there to MDR and then Windjammer without touching anything. When we got to WJ, had another offer of hand sanitizer. I have a skin condition, so too much sanitizer use causes flare ups and pain, so I said no thank you I just did it a few moments ago. Then she was like "No, you have to." 🤷‍♀️ 

Had dinner with the lovely Deltablue and DragonoftheSeas and one other Cc-er whose username I didnt get. Also met JHU in line! 👋 hi yall!

So, meals for vegetarians.

Windjammer was a little complicated. We ate a lot of starches (pasta salad, chickpea salad, Cole slaw, potatoes, bread) and there was one steam veggies option and one grilled corn. Good to know. Hard to find. 

In the main dining room, I got fruit for my appetizer and Husby got the mushroom soup. Tomorrow I'll ask to speak with someone to confirm the stock for the soup. The vegetarian items on the menu were not well-marked: things like apple cobbler and ice cream werent marked as vegetarian. And while gelatin is always a possibility, it's just not NORMAL for some of those items. So I think the veggie marker was incomplete/inconsistent. Hoping for better turn out tomorrow on that front. 

Husby went to the spa and really enjoyed his treatment. Cant say much else there besides that, but he wished that hed had more direction and could have relaxed in the environment more than he did. I enjoyed no lines while rock climbing...but the auto-belay equipment was unnerving since I'm used to a human on the other end of the line. 

Bed early tonight and lots to do tomorrow! I love that the Compass comes in the evening so we have a hot minute to figure out what we want to do tomorrow. Still trying to figure out tipping though 😩