Caribbean Cruise 2020 (page 7 of 10)

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Greta's blog:

Day 7 - St Lucia (cancelled) - February 27th, 2020

We woke up and noticed the boat was really moving quickly, with high waves. Mike had gotten up to use the running machine and wondered why we couldn't see St Lucia. Greta had also gotten up around 645 to see if she could see the place they'd stayed in 2017, but didn't see land. We headed out to get coffee and breakfast. Eventually, using his phone with a slight cell signal, we could see that St Lucia was on the other side of the boat and we were headed towards Barbados. We met up with Jim and Trina who were going to go on a tour and told them what we'd found out.

A bit after 9 am, we found out what was going on. Due to some sort of "medical emergency with the crew" that St Lucia Medical couldn't handle, we were skipping the island and headed for Barbados, where hopefully we'd be able to dock in the afternoon and stay an extra day. Trina had heard from the tour operator on St Lucia that they weren't allowing Italians on the island due to coronavirus, so that meant NO ONE could get off the boat. That definitely was a disappointment for everyone and frustrating. Now we were stuck with a day at sea that wasn't planned, and no diving. Oh well... at least the sun was shining.

Since we were on the boat all day, we ate a big breakfast and just relaxed. Jim and Trina got on the Serenity Deck (21 and older only) early on and kept their spots. Mike and Greta wandered a bit, including going to the top levels of the boat where it was REALLY windy. Later on, they were on the swim deck. The cruise host Adam (Cheerio! is his catchphrase) and hostess Marie (?) were starting a game and needed 10 volunteers, so the van Meeterens joined in. It was a "last man standing" scavenger hunt where they'd announce an item, and you had to run to find it and then sit back down in your chair. The challenge was that they pulled one chair away each round, so whoever was last back to the row of chairs was out. Greta made it all the way to the last two people but was runner up. The rest of the people at the pool could help out and offer items we were looking for and then the next round you not only had to get a new item but return the last one if someone loaned it to the game. The challenges included a beach hat, a piece of fruit, three left flip flops, a non-Carnival branded beach towel, an ice cream cone, goggles, and the final item - a man wearing a woman's bikini top. One woman took her top off under a towel that her friend held up, and then gave the top to her husband. He put it on over his shirt, but then had to take that off, take of the shirt and put the top back on. Greta JUST missed beating someone back, but it was a fun win. Mike and Greta both got participation medals and Greta also got a runner up trophy. It was a lot of fun and a lot of laughter. One little boy RAN away because he didn't want to share his ice cream cone.

We all met up again later, had a little lunch, and hung out for a bit. They announced that they were sending out someone to take samples of the three possibly sick people, we now knew it was one crew member and two passengers. A lot of people watched the Coast Guard boat approach a few hours later and have three people in full hazmat suits board the ship at the bottom level of the boat. Most people were calm but at least one woman was panicking and saying "people don't understand how SERIOUS this is!!" even though they'd already said they didn't think anyone had the coronavirus but wanted to be sure. Later, we sat out on the back of the the Lido deck, and relaxed. We watched it rain a bit and eventually watched the sun set. It was amazing all the rumors we were seeing on the internet, from a reporter making a big deal about nothing (she was ridiculed on the internet) to a guy sitting on the beach, taking pictures of our boat (which was mile away) to reports that our boat was already docked but no one was being allowed to debark (obviously that was false). Instead we just kept going in circles all the while in sight of Barbados. Eventually that evening, we were allowed to dock but we had to stay on the boat. Everyone on the boat was giving a $100 credit, which is very unusual. It was interesting - usually when there are announcements, it can be hard to hear as a lot of people continue talking and visiting. Now, though, when we'd hear the chimes of a pending announcement, everything got VERY quiet as everyone wanted to be sure not to miss anything.

It was elegant night but we opted to just go the buffet instead. Nothing spectacular, although a few dishes, such as the teriyaki salmon and fusilli pasta, were also on the Elegant menu that night. We found a table outside where it was quite quiet, and we could look down on the pier. From dinner, we thought we'd wander the ship a bit - the casino and shops were in full service. Normally when the boat is docked, those areas are closed down, but due to our special circumstances, Barbados gave Carnival approval to run the ship as if we were at sea. We got to the forward area of the boat which had a bar, a very small stage, and open area on the 7th floor, and then an atrium all the way to the top of the ship where you could stand at the rail and looked down. The cruise hosts were running an 80s music theme event, and it was great. Everyone was singing along, dancing and laughing. Four men even held up Adam in the "Dirty Dancing" pose and carried him around the dance floor. Three women competed in a Madonna-music dance-off, and there was a little bit of everything else as well. From there, we went to the Palace Theater for Diva night. It was pretty amazing. It started as two dancers (a man and woman) demonstrated how to tie on a large piece of silk to make a dress (she wasn't dressed up enough for elegant night). Then they selected two couples from the audience. The men were given similar pieces of silk and they had to try to tie them on to their wives in the same manner. The well-dressed man from Houston did HORRIBLY and basically wrapped his wife up as a mummy. The casually dressed KC football fan from Missouri did quite a good job. The next competition had both men needing to strut up & down the diva catwalk. In the end, the KC couple won, and the wife was taken back stage for a diva makeover.

Then the show started. There were 4 men and 4 women dancers. They did all the dancing and singing themselves, with a complete light show. They did everything from Lady Gaga, to Whitney Houston, to Madonna, and even Prince (the guy who was Prince even looked like him). At the end, the KC wife came up, and was the centerpiece for the final song and dance. From there, we wandered to another stage, and watched some people learn salsa dancing. When that was done, the time was about 11 pm and we were tired out from doing nothing all day. We were out in the main lounge area for a bit when the announcement chimes chimed out. Everyone got very quiet as the captain of the ship started his announcement. The tests all came back negative for coronavirus, and we would be allowed to get off the boat as originally planned. The prime minister of Barbados had visited the boat and welcomed us all. We found out that Barbados was the first of all the Caribbean Islands to get the coronavirus tests, and had just been tested last week, so it sounds like we were in the right part of the sea when this all occurred.

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