Live! DragonOfTheSeas' B2B on the Grandeur of the Seas 3.28 to 4.18.19

[ShillyShally]

49 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Well when you travel you have to be flexible. We got to the shuttle stand to buy our ticket to go to Sandcastle this morning at 9:50. the ship was not cleared to go ashore until about 9:15. They had already sold out all their umbrellas and chairs. So here we are at Rainbow Beach. It has a restaurant they sell chairs and umbrellas our two loungers and umbrella for $30. That's a pretty good price.

Sorry for the delay and not getting to the original plan but hope the back-up is great today!  Enjoy!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Trying to load some Rainbow Beach pics.

 

not sure about this catamaran. It was chill here until it arrived. Now it is packed.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Check this pic

[kathimac123]

10 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Check this pic

It kind of stinks that the catamaran parks right in the MIDDLE of the beach area.  What a bummer.

Edited April 10, 2019 by kathimac123

[DragonOfTheSeas]

46 minutes ago, kathimac123 said:

It kind of stinks that the catamaran parks right in the MIDDLE of the beach area.  What a bummer.

Yeah it would have been okay if they had parked a little off to the side. I have read that Rainbow Beach was a little more commercialized and that's the reason we originally picked sandcastle. But the water's nice we have chairs and umbrella and we're on a cruise. What more could we want? Oh, and the weather forecast today was for scattered showers and it's been sunny all day. So we're blessed.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The Rainbow Beach bar. We had crab cake sandwiches. They were good.

Edited April 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The catamaran is gone now. Back to quiet.☺

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We are not far from port. It was 7 minute ride. 6 dollars rt.

[ShillyShally]

54 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Yeah it would have been okay if they had parked a little off to the side. I have read that Rainbow Beach was a little more commercialized and that's the reason we originally picked sandcastle. But the water's nice we have chairs and umbrella and we're on a cruise. What more could we want? Oh, and the weather forecast today was for scattered showers and it's been sunny all day. So we're blessed.

I'd never be sorry with that sort of a day 🙂  Enjoy!!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Here are some pictures I took when we arrived this morning.  

 

You can see it is much less densely populated than many ports.

 

 

 

These are the ruins of Fort Frederick--back to its Danish roots.  To the left of the picture you can see the beginning of a small beach.  Many cruisers walked to this beach.  There were chairs and umbrella rentals there.  I can't tell you how it was.  but, I did see a restroom building. 

 

You can still see the blue tarps on the roofs from the hurricane damage. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This will be an usual perspective on the Grandeur of the Seas.  

 

I posted that I had a sinus thing I got near the end of the last cruise.  But, I got rid of it. Well DH was not as lucky. A couple of days into this cruise I asked him to go to the ship's Dr.  Of course, he told me no.  But, later that afternoon he relented. 

 

Not to all my friends and family he is fine!!

 

So the following is our experience:

 

We went down to the medical facility on deck 1.  There are 2 waiting rooms.  One is for the crew and the other for guests.  A medical staff member took a very complete medical history and made sure we understand they will charge our seapass card a fee for seeing the Dr.  No problem.  We know that and we have insurance. 

 

First a nurse came in and took all of the vitals. [BP, temp etc]  He did not have a temperature.  But, we thought he might have bronchitis. We did not want it to develop into something serious.  Then the Dr came in.  She gave him a good exam and asked a lot of questions.  She said since he had some body aches she needed to give him a flu test.  We thought OK, we just knew he did not have the flu.

 

Seven minutes the later the nurse came out to the waiting area with the test results and a mask.  He had the flu and would be confined to his cabin for at least 24hrs.  Yikes.  

[ShillyShally]

2 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Seven minutes the later the nurse came out to the waiting area with the test results and a mask.  He had the flu and would be confined to his cabin for at least 24hrs.  Yikes.  

Yikes indeed, so sorry he's down and out!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

He had to put on the mask and go to our cabin.  She gave him Tamiflu to take and suggested I take a preventative dose for 4 days--which I did.  

 

The charge for room service is waivered for confinement.  He order food for the first dinner.  But, he did not love what he got.  For the rest of the meals I got them at the windjammer and brought them down.  That worked out well.

 

The guest services called at least 3-4 times during the time he was confined.  A nurse called twice and he had to go back to medical one other time.  [I told him they were taking good care of him--but, they were also making sure he was in the cabin.]

 

They informed everyone about it.  Our waitress knew. I guess so he did not show up at dinner.  The Head waiter came by for the next two days when came back to make sure he was OK.  After 24 hrs and since he had never had a fever they let him out.  We were so happy.

 

So I am sure you are all wondering how much that cost.  The Dr. visit and Rx for both of us was $389.  They gave me all of the paperwork I need to submit to my insurance for coverage.  

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

It was a very professional experience.  

 

We saw the Dr. introduce herself at the Welcome aboard reception with the Captain.  She said she was from New York and went to Columbia University.  

 

He is feeling fine now and we are glad he visited the medical facility. 

 

I recently saw a bill a friend had for her daughter at an urgent care center in the US.  The daughter does not have insurance.  For the visit and strep test and medicine it was over $500.   We considered the ship's charges fair. . . . 

 

Something that another cruiser told us was that if they confine you they will credit back a small amount of money to you. I am not sure that is true--but, I will let you know. 

 

Again, he is fine now and we both went to the beach today.  All is good. 😁

Edited April 10, 2019 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

🤣🤣  Never let it be said that DH and I have not sought out all of the experiences aboard the Grandeur of the Seas. 🤣

[ShillyShally]

34 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

🤣🤣  Never let it be said that DH and I have not sought out all of the experiences aboard the Grandeur of the Seas. 🤣

LOL LOVE this attitude 🙂

[Jlppsu]

SO SORRY this happened to you both!! Hope you are both 100% and enjoying the rest of your trip!

[birdylady]

15 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

He had to put on the mask and go to our cabin.  She gave him Tamiflu to take and suggested I take a preventative dose for 4 days--which I did.  

 

The charge for room service is waivered for confinement.  He order food for the first dinner.  But, he did not love what he got.  For the rest of the meals I got them at the windjammer and brought them down.  That worked out well.

 

The guest services called at least 3-4 times during the time he was confined.  A nurse called twice and he had to go back to medical one other time.  [I told him they were taking good care of him--but, they were also making sure he was in the cabin.]

 

They informed everyone about it.  Our waitress knew. I guess so he did not show up at dinner.  The Head waiter came by for the next two days when came back to make sure he was OK.  After 24 hrs and since he had never had a fever they let him out.  We were so happy.

 

So I am sure you are all wondering how much that cost.  The Dr. visit and Rx for both of us was $389.  They gave me all of the paperwork I need to submit to my insurance for coverage.  

 

 

So sorry hubby wasn't well. But so glad you got him care so early on that it didn't get worse and you were able to get him back on the mend so quickly.  People always think of the flu like a cold, it too shall pass. But it can be so dangerous.  As far s the cost. WOW!  That's actually pretty darn good.  My insurance (high deductible BS!) would have cost me at least that, without the rx.  AND you got more than one visit!  Kudos RCI!

Enjoy the rest of your trip in good health.

Erika

[Starry Eyes]

On 4/6/2019 at 5:20 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

The diamond lounge is open on boarding day.  You can go there for drinks and apps.  Also you will have tree vouchers loaded to your seapass card.  You can use them in any bar.  

 

[Celebrity does not have the lounge on boarding day--maybe that is what you are remembering.]

 

PS--happy hour is 4:30pm to 8:00pm.

Thanks for the live review.  We wil be sailing her again next month after several years away, so your thread is timely and helpful.

 

Recently on another ship we have been able to use vouchers in MDR and specialty restaurants.  Is this allowed on Grandeur?  Or are vouchers currently only used in bars on this ship?  Not a huge deal, but it is nice to know the ship’s policy in advance.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

5 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Thanks for the live review.  We wil be sailing her again next month after several years away, so your thread is timely and helpful.

 

Recently on another ship we have been able to use vouchers in MDR and specialty restaurants.  Is this allowed on Grandeur?  Or are vouchers currently only used in bars on this ship?  Not a huge deal, but it is nice to know the ship’s policy in advance.

I have not tried to use it. I will check it out.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We are in beautiful Antigua today.

[ShillyShally]

5 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We are in beautiful Antigua today.

Enjoy!  How is your husband doing?  Hope you aren't starting to feel any of it too!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

DH is doing fine. We had a good time at Dickenson's Bay beach. we took a taxi from the port area to the beach. It was $12 for the two of us each way. Another 20 for the beach chairs and umbrella. We were at the nicest quietest Beach you have ever seen. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I don't have very good connectivity right now.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The kicker is that our Taxi Driver JoJo ask what time we were going to return. We told him 1:30 so he said fine I'll come pick you up at 1:30 and you don't pay me until I returning to the ship.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Each of the shops that I've been in today in the port area they have me fill out a tax and duty-free slip. And then they don't charge us anything on our purchases. The prices are not terrible the liquor prices are good I lost my visor at the beach today so I had to buy another one of those. That's a pretty usual event for me. Haha