Circumnavigation South America Mariner Jan 6

[s2000drvr]

George agrees with you about the lobster tail in P7. Very disappointing.

 

What in the world is a Yellow Bird? (When I first read, I thought it was some actual bird that had flown in the observation lounge.)

 

A Yellow Bird is made with banana liqueur, orange juice, rum and some other liquids. It sure looks nice served in a tall glass with an orange and cherry on a skewer, but the taste is far from what we were expecting. Went back to our chocolate martini.

[WesW]

S2000drvr, thanks again for your informative & entertaining on board reports; lucky y'all for scoring multiple Prime 7 reservations...wish you continued good fortune...r/wes

[RachelG]

A Yellow Bird is made with banana liqueur, orange juice, rum and some other liquids. It sure looks nice served in a tall glass with an orange and cherry on a skewer, but the taste is far from what we were expecting. Went back to our chocolate martini.

 

Ok, that just sounds gross!

[s2000drvr]

Day 20 Antofagasta, Chile

We lost another hour last night, so that makes two hours in two nights. Not functioning well this morning when we did our hour long hike around the deck. The weather was slightly warm, sun did not come up yet. There were so few people out on the deck. We did see a turkey vulture that was perched on the rail watching us walk around. One person was about 5 feet from him shooting pictures and the vulture just posed this way and that way. Was not intimidated at all.

We were amazed when we looked outside and saw the city of Antofagasta. There were a few high rise buildings, but lots and lots of homes. The mountains were right there with the homes built into the sides of them. We are still in the desert so the mountains had hues of red. Very pretty setting.

We had breakfast up in La Veranda due to our lateness in getting started this morning. Breakfast was fine.

We had a tour after lunch so the morning was spent enjoying a cappuccino, reading. Lunch was in Compass Rose and ice cream up on the pool deck.

Our tour was Antofagasta City and Surroundings, a 3 hour tour. Rich and I liked this tour, but others were not happy with it. Not sure why they felt that way, but it is a very clean city, not very congested. One thing we did notice that the people here are definitely from European decent. Our guide had blue eyes and light colored, curly hair. Chile is the number one exporter of copper. There are copper sheets in the pier area waiting to be shipped. But back to the tour, we visited the train station, walked around a plaza, saw some monuments, clock tower. There were lots of dogs around. Big difference in these pooches as they looked well fed, one had a collar, and three of the dogs decided to accompany us a very short way. Of course we did not pet them, but they seemed quite content.

Back onto the coach for a ride to the old silver refinery area. There was a museum which showed how the miners were dressed, the tools they used. Also were lots of fossils, and rocks. I thought the museum was quite interesting. We were on our own to tour it, but our guide would answer and give us an explanation if we seemed puzzled. As all the descriptions were in Spanish, Rich and I are at a disadvantage as we do not know Spanish, but we got the jest of it. After the tour of the museum we were taken back to the ship.

Once again we strolled over to Compass Rose for dinner. The maitra'd spotted us, and suggested that we might want to consider a dinner in Signatures! We were escorted to Signatures and had another fantastic, calorie laden dinner. The cream of mushroom soup is the absolute best. I will have to find a recipe and try to duplicate this. I had the salmon while Rich had the halibut. The dinner by candlelight was just a perfect way to end the day.

[Pincus]

Thanks for your notes...who is the Maitre'D on this voyage?

[RachelG]

Well, if you are eating in signatures, the salmon and halibut are probably the best choices calorie wise. But that mushroom soup--- to die for.

[s2000drvr]

Day 21 Sea Day

Woke up to cloudy, gray skies. Decided it was not worth the effort to walk the marathon that we do every morning. We made such a good decision as we later found out. Had breakfast in our favorite place, Compass Rose. We then decided to see if it was worth suiting up in our walking clothes. Good thing we checked it out. The wind was blowing everything around, the air was freezing. Enough of this we said, and headed back inside.

 

We listened to Terry Breen speak on SA. Again, fantastic speaker. The time just zips by when she speaks.

 

I went to see a cooking demo while Rich headed back to the stateroom. The chef made empanadas including how to make the dough. I never made them with margarine before, as I have always used butter. The filling was very easy to make. (Special note to myself: Make this for the SA party at home).

Next the chef made shrimp, clams, mussels in white sauce. I am not a fan of clams/mussels, but what I did learn is that he added a bit of whiskey to the finished white sauce.

 

Lunch time was finally here, so we headed back to Compass Rose where we had a great meal. Rich had the Korean flank steak and I had the sesame chicken salad. Both were superb. Again, we finished the meal with ice cream from the poolside.

 

After consuming all the calories today, we decided come hell or high water, we better get out and walk for the hour. I cannot tell you how windy it was. It was the first time I was actually being blown around by the strong gusts of wind. Rich said that this was ridiculous, but I said, either we do the walk up here or go down to deck 6 and walk just up and down the outside deck. So, that is what we did. Talk about boring, just a clock to look at, but on the flip side, we did have the ocean on the one side to see. Yes, we did our one hour. The wind was fairly light down there.

 

We had reservations in Signatures tonight. Again, the food is so good as is the service. Rich had the lamb chops and I had the duck, and also of course we started with the cream of mushroom soup.

 

We are not show fans, so tonight we will top the evening off with a glass of champagne and think of what tomorrow will bring in Valparaiso. Our captain will be getting off and going home. Captain Felice Patruno will be taking over. Hope that Capt. Patruno will be bring calm seas with him.

[Hambagahle]

Captain Patruno is a lovely man! He was our Captain on the Mariner when we cruised the Mediterranean in 2010... so I hope he will be staying on the our trans-Atlantic cruise which

follows your South American one! (I you get a chance, perhaps you might ask him??)

 

I do hope your winds have subsided!

[s2000drvr]

Day 22 Valparaiso, Chile

Woke up to the same dark, cloudy skies. I guess in this part of the world because the sun sets around 9p, their day starts a bit later with the sunshine. It seems to come out around noon. It is colder than previous days.

 

Because we had a tour today we ate breakfast in La Veranda. It was pleasant.

 

We took a tour today called Panoramic Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar & Winery. The first thing we noticed when we walked outside was the lovely fish odor, at least that is what I think it was. I almost gagged. We had to take a shuttle to the port entrance where we then transferred onto our tour coaches. We went through a screening before we were allowed on the coach. This port is very large with lots of containers, Navy ships.

Our coach was quite filled, I believe around 35 people were on ours and there were a total of four coaches going on the same tour. Valparaiso is a very busy city, lots of houses crammed on top of each other. We did notice graffiti was quite common.

 

Some of the houses were just hanging onto the cliffs. During the rainy season, mudslides happen and these houses just slip on down the side of the hill. People then rebuild. Seems like a never ending process.

 

Valiparaiso is made up of 45 hills. The coaches cannot make it up some of the small, steep streets. The scenery was quite picturesque. There were different types of pine trees and palm trees in the same location making it an odd combination.

 

The winery we visited was Casas del Bosque. It reminded us of being in France or a California Winery. Very nice landscaped grounds, white roses surrounding the edges of the vines. The tour was great if only the group had been smaller. We did receive ample tastings of 3 variety of wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Carmenere, and Pinot Noir. You could also purchase wines here.

The ride back to the pier showed different classes of neighborhoods. Because it was a Friday, the roads were full of traffic.

 

We got back in time to have some burgers from the Pool Side Grill, then off for our one hour walk. It was windy up on the 12th deck, but we trudged along.

Dinner was in Compass Rose with Dorothy and George. We had a delightful time catching up on the last few days. Because they are world travelers, they share many interesting tidbits. Hope some of this sinks in!

 

Tomorrow is a Sea Day, gotta love those sea days!!

[schub229]

We also went to Valparaiso on a Virtuoso tour, Virtuoso being the umbrella company over our travel agent's up in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Virtuoso always has a free tour for its members that are usually some of the best on the trip. We went to the William Cole winery that was growing the same group of wines as the rest of the Casablanca region and by 9:30 AM we'd already tried 2 whites. Luckily we had a little ride afterwards to the Puro Caballo, where we had a marvelous luncheon, entertained by 3 local singers, and then off to sit under a tree on hay bales to watch 3 young riders put their horses through their paces. These horses, caballos, are Chilean purebreds and only about 14 hands high, while normal horses in the US are about 17 hands high. Lovely, well trained horses put through their paces by these young people-one of whom, Concepciona, is 14 and has been riding since she was 3. Soon we were off for the 45 minute ride back to catch the shuttle to our ship. Interesting that our ship was flanked by a 4 masted schooner and a Naval battle ship!

 

Full of lunch, we ended up having soup and some antipasta up in La Veranda before we went back to the suite to watch Moneyball. We feel like we've missed out on so many movies up for Oscars this year.

 

Thanks for you great updates, Bev. I enjoy reading them to see what we missed by taking other excursions.:)

[s2000drvr]

Day 23 At Sea

 

Today we woke to a cloudy morning, then the sun came out later, then more clouds.

 

Breakfast was in Compass Rose, excellent, our favorite place for breakfast.

 

At 10:30 we heard Terry Breen speak about the glaciers and more about SA. At about this time the seas started turning a bit nasty. There were huge, long swells that caused the ship to go from side to side. I guess I am not a sailor as that ended my day.

 

The rest of the day was spent watching movies, sleeping, reading. Tried several times to move around, but it just was not happening. Tried sitting on the balcony to watch the horizon, still nothing was going to help. Did take bonine but probably took it too late.

 

Here is a link to some more photos: http://photobucket.com/Valparaiso

[poss]

Reporting even when you're feeling not so great: That really is going the extra nautical mile!

Thanks for all the posts--and may seas be settled by now.

[RachelG]

Sorry you aren't feeling so great. Lay down flat and take the Bonine.

[Parlady]

This is the only post I will make. I am also on this cruise at the moment. I will say that I have been on Oceania, both old and new, and Seabourn. Every ship has their good and bad. My friends told me how wonderful Regent was. I really understand that when someone complains it is not accepted well. Here is the good and the bad. The good - the cruise director Ray is a sweetheart. The bad - every other show is lacking. I really don't care about shows, just something to pass time. The food is not nearly as good as on Oceania Marina, trust me. The staterooms, yes, have nice wood, but not as nice a layout as Seabourn Sojourn. I'm finding the wait staff seems to be tired of waiting on people. Yes, they are doing their job, not as good as on Oceania or Seabourn. They do not seem that happy or helpful. I know that I sound like a downer, just disappointed in the staff, I was hoping for something outstanding. The Captain seems nice, and Janus in the workout center is great. Good fitness classes! There have been posts about sewage smells on the ship, and unfortunately I must say that I have smelled them in various restrooms and in the hallway. I'm going to stop now, I am not coming back to listen to the repercussions. It is only my opinion. I know people love this line. Cheers, and happy cruising!

[s2000drvr]

Day 24 Puerto Montt, Chile

 

The skies were full of liquid sunshine when we woke up. The temperature had dropped some as well. We decided to skip our morning ritual and concentrate on fueling up for the day.

 

We headed down to Compass Rose and had a delightful breakfast. This morning I tried the oatmeal and it was good. They serve it with warm milk and dark brown sugar. Rich had his normal breakfast of cheese omelet.

 

There was a handcraft market a short walk away but the rain was coming down in buckets when we wanted to venture out, so we canceled that idea.

We had an early afternoon tour so we decided to try doing some laundry while others were out touring. It was a good move.

 

Lunch was up by the pool overlooking the port. The weather was a bit showery, but it looked somewhat promising.

 

Our tour was Puerto Varas and Frutillar. The tour was great. We drove by some nice scenery. Salmon is one of their biggest industries. We were also told that they have experienced the second biggest earthquake at about 9 on the scale in 2007, I think. This area has a large German influence seeing that the Germans settled here in 1853. We drove by Chile's largest lake called Lake Llanquihue. We were not able to see the two volcanoes because of the low cloud cover.

 

We drove on the Pan American highway and this is where it ends. The first town we explored was Puerto Varas. We had about 30 minutes to walk around the downtown area. We found some shops and decided the kitties needed two more rugs. These are small round Alpaca rugs so they will not be hard to pack. By this time the rain had decided to start and we finished up checking out the area and headed onto the coach.

 

The next town was Frutillar and it is definitely German. We stopped to go to a local museum which showed how the German settlers lived. This museum had beautiful grounds filled with all kinds of flowers. We strolled over to a German restaurant and tried their Apple Kuchen. It was quite tasty. After this stop we headed back to the ship. The scenery is just beautiful, lots of farms, quaint looking homes. A lot more modern than in Peru.

 

Tonight there was a special dinner and show for all the passengers that are doing the whole circumnavigation at the Signatures restaurant. We dined with Dorothy and George, Michael, and Graham and Jane. Our dinner conversations were quite lively at times. The show was a pianist and was quite good.

 

After that we decided to see the comedian in the theater. I did not fall off my seat laughing.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

[s2000drvr]

Day 25 Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

 

Woke up to very cloudy, dark skies. I just would have liked to put the blankets over my head, and go back to sleep. Rich got up, chipper as usual, got dressed for walking the deck. I moaned and groaned, and finally got my act together. Not in a mood to exercise today. So, we went onto deck 12 and decided the wind, rain and freezing temps were not a good mix. Headed down to deck 6 where it is covered and started walking. Almost slipped on some oil that had been spilled and decided we would hit the treadmills at the gym. By now, I just wanted to get it over with so off on the treadmills I went. In the end I was glad that we did exercise, but what a price to pay for eating......

 

Our tour today was at 11:45. The tour was Highlights of Chacabuco and surroundings. We were anchored today, the first time on this trip. The tender ride over was about 5 minutes, smooth going. The coach was okay not like others in the past. Very little leg room. Now the weather here is cold, windy, and raining, sometimes heavy at times, sometimes not so bad. Now you would think rain would equate to umbrellas, proper overcoats? Guess again. Gotta love having patience. People got wet walking to the coaches (no umbrellas). The coach gets going and first thing we hear is “where is the heat”? I like heat, but do not like to sweat. We wore layers and before long I had stripped down as far as I dared, sweating like a pig. Why do some people not know how to dress? Okay, I am off on this tangent.

 

The scenery here is just unbelievable. The Andes Mountains are so close to us, so large, with snow topped caps. The pictures will have to tell how it is. Words do not describe what we saw. There are many, many waterfalls. It is so dense here with trees, everything is green. So not like Peru where it is all desert.

 

This area is the second largest exporter of salmon. There are many salmon farms here.

 

We drove along just in awe of the scenery. We saw double waterfalls. Lots of animal husbandry here. We saw rhubarb plants that are taller than us!! We went to a National Reserve and walked around a bit, the guide telling us about the flora and fauna. We walked down to the river and saw the rugged coastline. We then saw a huge, dynamic waterfall. The water flowing down the mountain was breath taking, such power and force. It was just amazing. We then went back to a small town to check it out, but all the shops were closed for siesta. Rich breathed a sigh of relief. After yesterday's buying spree of more rugs for the kitties.

 

Dinner tonight was in Compass Rose. The staff had gotten some excellent salmon and the chef prepared a salmon dish tonight that was so good. Kudos to the kitchen! They also bought wine in Valparaiso that was just a perfect pairing.

 

Hope to see the Liar's Club tonight.

 

Tomorrow will be seeing the glacier in Laguna San Rafael, Chile.

[OrpingtonT]

I am very much enjoying your daily reports, s2000drvr. I am envious of that circumnavigation trip.

[Hambagahle]

I echo Tom's post above!

 

And I completely agree with you about how some people dress. It is as if they give no thought at all to the weather, the season or whatever!! Too bad you have this cold weather though. When we were in Chacabuco we had a lovely walk through a rain forest - no rain, only sun and warm!! It is a nice little place.

[s2000drvr]

Here is a link to the past few days of pictures:

 

http://photobucket.com/PuertoMontt

[RachelG]

Agree with too bad about the weather. I too prefer to do my exercising walking on the top deck, with the deck on 6 being a distant second choice, and the indoor elliptical or treadwill a very distant 3rd. But sometimes the weather is just too bad, and it is either the inside exercise room or get too fat.

[s2000drvr]

Day 26 Laguna San Rafael, Chile

 

Woke up to gray skies, still cool, light rain, but no wind. Decided that we would have breakfast and think about walking our 4 miles. Breakfast was great in Compass Rose. I had my first French Toast and it was as thick as could be. Rich had the oatmeal. I am so glad that we thought about exercising and we did discuss it. That is as far as it went.

 

We had a mid afternoon tour so we had time for our laundry and reading. Very relaxing knowing that we can just take it easy. We dined in Compass Rose for our lunch. I was told quite a few days ago that my wine that I love so much would soon be disappearing as they were low on stock. I was trying to be understanding about this, but I really like this wine. The wine stewards assured me that they would come up with something similar. I can only hope.

 

Our tour day was scheduled for 1:50p to see the glacier by catamaran. We were in the theater waiting and waiting for our cat to come in. By 3p we were on our way. The cat was so modern. It felt like we were in a plane. We chose to go downstairs where the seats were like airline seats, but not economy, not quite business class, but close enough. There was so much leg room and the seats reclined. Upstairs there were tables with bench seats which was not what we were looking for.

 

It took one hour to reach the glacier. As we got close to it, we saw large chunks of blue ice floating by. What a spectacular event that was. I just cannot believe the hues of blue on the chunks of ice. The San Valentin Glacier was just incredible. The glacier is the world's nearest glacier to the equator. We did not witness any calving, unfortunately. That would have been a sight to see and hear.

 

We stayed about ½ hour in the rain taking as many pictures as we could. All of a sudden while Rich was forward on the cat, when all of a sudden there was a big clunk and movement of the cat. It seemed like a large piece of ice suddenly hit the side of the cat. Rich got a picture of the ice berg.

 

The glacier is retreating at 200 meters per year. Soon it will no longer touch the ocean.

 

We got back around 6p and dined again at Compass Rose. We vowed that we must exercise more frequently or we cannot dine anywhere. Our clothes have to fit for the next several weeks, and we are losing this war. On our way out of CR, a wine steward stopped and gave us the best news! They ordered my favorite wine and I will not be running out!!! Kudos to the wine stewards!

 

If you would like to view some pictures, here is the link:

 

http://photobucket.com/PuertoChacabuco

 

Tomorrow we will be en-route to Punta Arenas, Chile.

[purpleally]

Elvis does make wonderful drinks and is such a lovely man:D We rarely take the Navigator but will be doing a quickie cruise in November -- hope he will be on board!

 

We are also taking a quickie cruise in November and hope to see Elvis. Which one are you doing?

[s2000drvr]

Day 27 Enroute to Punta Arenas, Chile 2nd day

 

Today we woke up to a mixed bag in the weather department. First it looked like we could hustle and walk, however, the weather turned in a flash to rain. The weather turned out to be very unsettled between sun peaking out, rain, and gray. The scenery made up for it though with the mountains, waterfalls. We found it hard not to keep looking out or going on deck to capture it with our cameras.

 

The seas were rocky during the night, but they quickly settled down in the morning.

 

Onward to breakfast instead. I had the blueberry pancakes and Rich had an omelet. Compass Rose was quite busy this morning.

 

We found a quiet nook to read our books. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. We are back onto the salad kick and hope that we can lose a few pounds. For our ice cream, we are settling for one scoop.

 

There was a CruiseCritic get together in the afternoon, but there were only four of us. We had a nice time chatting for a few minutes.

 

The scenery today was unbelievable. The Tempano Glacier was unreal. Hope that our photos give you an idea of what we experienced. The blue hues are amazing. The hills and mountains are very lush and are snow capped in places. The air temp was not as cold as we expected. We did see a shipwreck that went down in the '60's. The ship is quite visible as it is stuck on a shoal.

 

We did attend the Fire and Ice party that was held in the theater. What a transformation with “ice bergs”, penquins.

 

Dinner was with Michael at Compass Rose.

 

We did attend the show last night which featured Jeri Sager. She sang songs from some Broadway shows. What a voice she has! Excellent performer.

[2old4this]

Day 27 Enroute to Punta Arenas, Chile 2nd day

 

Today we woke up to a mixed bag in the weather department. First it looked like we could hustle and walk, however, the weather turned in a flash to rain. The weather turned out to be very unsettled between sun peaking out, rain, and gray. The scenery made up for it though with the mountains, waterfalls. We found it hard not to keep looking out or going on deck to capture it with our cameras.

 

The seas were rocky during the night, but they quickly settled down in the morning.

 

Onward to breakfast instead. I had the blueberry pancakes and Rich had an omelet. Compass Rose was quite busy this morning.

 

We found a quiet nook to read our books. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. We are back onto the salad kick and hope that we can lose a few pounds. For our ice cream, we are settling for one scoop.

 

There was a CruiseCritic get together in the afternoon, but there were only four of us. We had a nice time chatting for a few minutes.

 

The scenery today was unbelievable. The Tempano Glacier was unreal. Hope that our photos give you an idea of what we experienced. The blue hues are amazing. The hills and mountains are very lush and are snow capped in places. The air temp was not as cold as we expected. We did see a shipwreck that went down in the '60's. The ship is quite visible as it is stuck on a shoal.

 

We did attend the Fire and Ice party that was held in the theater. What a transformation with “ice bergs”, penquins.

 

Dinner was with Michael at Compass Rose.

 

We did attend the show last night which featured Jeri Sager. She sang songs from some Broadway shows. What a voice she has! Excellent performer.

 

How do you explain the poor showing at your CC meeting? Was it poorly announced? I have read elsewhere that the CC meetings, while well intended, are poorly supported. All the excitement of CC chatting occurs on the Internet and not much once a cruise is underway. Comment? Jack Morris

[s2000drvr]

How do you explain the poor showing at your CC meeting? Was it poorly announced? I have read elsewhere that the CC meetings, while well intended, are poorly supported. All the excitement of CC chatting occurs on the Internet and not much once a cruise is underway. Comment? Jack Morris

 

Jack, I agree with you that there seem to be more chatting on the boards than in person. The announcement was made in the Passages. I did speak to one person to ask why she did not attend and she stated that she simply did not see it in the Passages. It was not in bold print, if I remember correctly, so it did not catch your eye. It just sorted of blended in with other activities.

 

Another reason why poor attendance could be that there are so many activities going on, especially if it is competing with a lecture.