Circumnavigation South America Mariner Jan 6

[newlondon]

It's always difficult to be a fly in the ointment. We loved BA as did s2000drvr, but we couldn't be more on the other side regarding Mvdeo. We considered it a waste of time, a dirty, boring and out of date city. Not having visited Punta del Este we have no comment, but ioho Mvdeo can be missed.:eek:

[tripperva]

Thanks for the interesting accounts of this voyage. We were on the first segment a few weeks ago and it was terrific,just great. The last time we disembarked in BA from the Mariner,we claimed our luggage and went to find our driver & limo. Turns out a passenger before us,with the same last name, saw our sign and thought how nice that Regent provided them with

a private car. They took off in our car.We were stranded for hours....a very long story of subsequent happenings.

Next time you see Dorothy (BlueWhale), she has a Masters degree from the University of Virginia. A nice lady and a great university.

Tripperva

[2old4this]

Thanks for the interesting accounts of this voyage. We were on the first segment a few weeks ago and it was terrific,just great. The last time we disembarked in BA from the Mariner,we claimed our luggage and went to find our driver & limo. Turns out a passenger before us,with the same last name, saw our sign and thought how nice that Regent provided them with

a private car. They took off in our car.We were stranded for hours....a very long story of subsequent happenings.

Next time you see Dorothy (BlueWhale), she has a Masters degree from the University of Virginia. A nice lady and a great university.

Tripperva

 

You read as very positive about the vehicle loss. I'm afraid I might have been a lot less understanding. Did you manage to come away from being stranded with some satisfaction? Jack Morris

[blue whale]

We are having a wonderful time with Rick and Bev. We love this trip. Who are you who knows about my going to UVA? Fantastic! That was so long ago.....

 

Bev does a great job blogging about our voyage. She passes up the shows to share her thoughts with other CCers.

 

Dorothy

[s2000drvr]

It's always difficult to be a fly in the ointment. We loved BA as did s2000drvr, but we couldn't be more on the other side regarding Mvdeo. We considered it a waste of time, a dirty, boring and out of date city. Not having visited Punta del Este we have no comment, but ioho Mvdeo can be missed.:eek:

 

When were you there last in Montevideo? If you have been there a year or more ago, it has changed quite a bit. It has been cleaned up, and apartments are being all redone, the old city is becoming alive. Terry Breen just bought a place in Montevideo in the old city and she has explained how it is finally being a very nice place to live. We absolutely loved it. I would not hesitate to come back again. I will post pics of Montevideo as it is today and you can see what a nice place it is. Perhaps if you were there a few years ago, it may not have looked like this.

 

Did you happen to go to Rio Grande, Brazil? That is another story!!

[s2000drvr]

Here is a link to some photos on Montevideo:

 

http://photobucket.com/MontevideoUruguayDay2

[tripperva]

Jack: Many lessons learned from this and Regent treated us well in the end. When our car & driver were taken by another passenger with the same last name, we ended up sitting on the curb on our bags because you cannot board the ship again to seek assistance. No one from Regent on the dock. The local agent in BA completely "out of office" when the ships are in, so no assistance from them. We were able to get another car and

made it to The Four Seasons, rather angry. Lesson one: always check at

registration on board to see if any other guest has same last name. Lesson two: Insist that first names are included on anything you book. Since Regent had made all the arrangements for tour & car, they made a very generous payment back to us in a few weeks,as they should.

Blue Whale, to answer your question, we were with you on this cruise in January, and I was Chairman of the UVA Alumni Association.

Tripperva

[s2000drvr]

Some photos of Punta del Este:

 

http://photobucket.com/PuntaDelEste

[s2000drvr]

Travelcat and Rachel:

 

Franck Galzy says hi to you both and other Cruise Critic people that know him!

[s2000drvr]

Day 42 Rio Grande, Brazil Feb 17, 2012

 

This is the first time that we got up on deck 12 for our walk and the lights were still on! The long line of lights were on plus all the lights on the deck. The time was about 7a. Then we had the most beautiful sunrise with hues of pink that lit up the sky, some clouds were reflecting the hues and it was magnificent. Unfortunately, we did not take our camera up with us.

 

Breakfast was in CR and we had a tour scheduled for 10:20a. We quickly canceled our tour as we are a bit tired of museums. Regent was running a shuttle into town so we hopped on that. It was about a 10 minute ride.

 

Hmmm, not sure we should have even taken the shuttle in as Rio Grande is not geared to tourists. If you would like to purchase a refrigerator, tv, or microwave, then this is the place for you. The streets are all cobblestone with lots of shops, but they are clothing shops, not what you would find in the malls though, you know what I mean?

 

We were warned about not wearing jewelry and to be aware of pickpockets. There were a lot of people milling around shopping, but it was not what we were looking for. There was a nice small park across from the shuttle and we caught up with Dorothy and George there. It was okay for picture taking, but that was about it.

 

Near the port, the buildings have seen better days, windows are broken, roofs needed repairs, grass growing in the streets. Does not give you a good feeling of safety.

 

Took the next shuttle back and decided to make our day into a sea day. CR was the place for us for lunch.

 

We did have our chocolate martini up in the Observation Lounge and then hung out to hear what the fitness instructor had to say about Belly Fat. Guess it did not look good with our 2 martini glasses sitting in front of us! So, don't eat anything that is good (I mean like anything with sugar or bread), keep it simple and only eat meat if the animal has two legs or less. I would certainly lose weight if I kept that up. I think I will keep my fat for now.

 

We had a Seven Seas cocktail party with entertainment of an opera singer, her husband who played the flute and their most adorbable little boy (8 years old) who played the violin. This was for gold and above.

 

From there we were invited to be the guest of Franck Galzy, the general manager, for dinner. There were 7 of us. There were Noel and Tom from Hawaii, John from CA, Erica Radojicic who is the Executive Concierge, Franck and Rich and myself. We had great wine, great conversations, lots of laughs. It was a fun dinner experience.

 

Franck is a most enjoyable person, and funny, too! He shared some experiences of sailing the high seas when the seas hit a bad storm.

 

Tomorrow we have a sea day!

[RachelG]

Travelcat and Rachel:

 

Franck Galzy says hi to you both and other Cruise Critic people that know him!

 

Please tell Franck hi. He is such a great guy.

[Hambagahle]

Travelcat and Rachel:

 

Franck Galzy says hi to you both and other Cruise Critic people that know him!

 

Mes salutations et amitiés à Franck!!

 

Could you ask if he will be the GM on board for the 18th March TA? That would be "la cérise sur le gâteau" for us!! (The iceing on the cake!!)

Gerry:)

[Hambagahle]

*Near the port, the buildings have seen better days, windows are broken, roofs needed repairs, grass growing in the streets. Does not give you a good feeling of safety."

Sounds just like Sarande, Albania... ask Orpington T!!

[purpleally]

Me too! You certainly have a great nack for finding good places to eat!

 

And I am intrigued by the fact that you rode back on the top of the tender. More intrigued that they let you do that! well done! What fun it must have been.

 

we did that in December but some ding dong climbed up wearing sandals with heels, fell down, and scraped up her knee so that was the end of that

nothing like playing to the least common denominator

[Travelcat2]

Travelcat and Rachel:

 

Franck Galzy says hi to you both and other Cruise Critic people that know him!

.

 

Thanks so much for sending that message. I miss his sooooo much. The Mariner keeps sailing places that we aren't going. He is the best (typed in pink because it makes him laugh:0)

[s2000drvr]

Day 43 At Sea Feb 18, 2012

 

When we did our hour walk on deck, noticed how cold it had gotten. Probably was in the mid 70's but you could definitely notice the difference.

 

Leisurely breakfast in CR. At 10:15 we headed to the theater to hear Terry Breen talk about Brazil. It is amazing how large Brazil is both in land and population.

 

We missed our CC get together as Terry's talk ran over a bit. Lunch was up by the Pool Side as they were doing a Gaucho lunch with lots of different kinds of sausages from Chorizu,Brazilian and blood. They had stir fried veggies, steak, lots of different salads, lots of other side dishes. We shared our table with Michael.

 

The afternoon was spent relaxing then around 2p we had our sessions with Janus. He is trying to strength my knee which has a torn meniscus. We will see how this goes. Rich had a great workout. He was huffing and puffing but did well. We go back in a week for another session.

 

After all that work, we decided a chocolate martini was calling for us. Have to answer that call!

 

Tonight for dinner we had arranged a Filipino dinner for 7 of our new friends. It was so good. They started us out with a tomato based soup with a shrimp in it, and some kind of vegetable. It was not spicy, just perfect. Next we were served a lot of rice, plain white. Along came a pork and chicken dish with mild spices in it along with some gravy/sauce. Then we had cellophane or glass noodles with lots of vegetables in it. I did take some pictures and will post them. The meal was fantastic. We really enjoyed it. Jane and Graham volunteered for the next meal which will be from Australia!! This is a great idea to take turns and try a variety of different foods.

 

We retired early as we wanted to catch up on some reading. When you have a good book, it is so hard not to just put it down. Tomorrow we will be in Porto Belo, Brazil.

[RachelG]

So glad you took my Filipino dinner idea. Yes, they do eat tons of rice. My former office nurse is Filipino, I have been to many Filipino weddings, funerals, etc. rice served at least 20 different ways is the norm!

[journeyfan]

I've been enjoying your postings, Bev. I'll be joining your cruise on Saturday and look forward to meeting you and the others who have been posting on the Roll Call for this cruise. Do you know if Dorothy and George are still planning to have a "Meet and Greet" get-together for CCers on Sunday at 10AM?

 

Marcia

[s2000drvr]

I've been enjoying your postings, Bev. I'll be joining your cruise on Saturday and look forward to meeting you and the others who have been posting on the Roll Call for this cruise. Do you know if Dorothy and George are still planning to have a "Meet and Greet" get-together for CCers on Sunday at 10AM?

 

Marcia

 

If Sunday is a sea day, then, yes, the CC will get together. It will probably be in the Horizon Lounge near the bar at 10a. It will be posted in the Passages.

 

Have a great flight to Rio and will see you onboard!

[Hambagahle]

I have heard Travelcat often refer to a chocolate martini. Now you mention it again!! What exactly is it? Sounds like something I should introduce to Switzerland!!

[newlondon]

s2000drvr, We were in Mvdeo 12/10. Glad you enjoyed it, but ioho does not hold a candle to BA. We missed Brazil and actually have no desire to go.

[s2000drvr]

I have heard Travelcat often refer to a chocolate martini. Now you mention it again!! What exactly is it? Sounds like something I should introduce to Switzerland!!

 

A clear chocolate martini has shot of vodka and a shot of clear creme de cacao. And of course, chocolate around the rim. This would be for a clear chocolate martini.

 

One could also substitute dark creme de cacao for a darker martini.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The only one I've had was dark, on Voyager. Didn't like it much, actually.

[Travelcat2]

Just to add that you can ask for Godiva chocolate liquer in the martini. . . really yummy:) The measure that I've seen used is 2 onces of vodka to 1/2 ounce creme de cacao. There are many variations including creamy chocolate martini's that have cream or Baileys added. IMO, it is a perfect dessert drink.

[s2000drvr]

Day 44 Porto Belo, Brazil Feb 19, 2012

 

Another beautiful morning to exercise. It was warmer, more to our liking. Breakfast was in CR, and we are trying to cut back, being we have a month or less left on the cruise. Very hard to pass up the pastries.

 

Our tour was in the afternoon so we decided to read up on deck in the sun and quickly moved to the shade. The humidity is with us and it makes a difference.

 

We had to skip our lunch as this was a tender port and we needed to be on the pier by 12:25. We left on the 11a tender to head to Porto Belo. The ride on the tender was nice, not too crowded. The pier is very long. We decided we had enough time to check out the town and try and do some shopping. There was not much to buy, Rich was a happy cruiser.

 

Our tour today was Camboriu Highlights and Cable Car. There were quite a few of us waiting for our tour to begin, but we had to wait for the morning tour to arrive in order to use the buses.

 

We had a nice drive along the countryside, beaches. We arrived in Camboriu City Resort. What a place this was! Very grand, tall hotels and buildings with the ocean right there.

 

We got to the cable car entrance and because it was a Sunday, the queue was very long, snaking lines. There were the five of us (Rich, Graham, Jane, Michael and myself) and we were wondering just how long it would take for the cable car ride. They could only hold about 4 people in each car. After 15 minutes of standing in line, we all decided to do our own tour.

 

We walked a bit and found a floating restaurant. Perfect spot to have a drink and share some appetizers. We all decided to try the well-known caipirinha drink made with a liquor from sugarcane and a lot of limes. The appetizer plate was calamari, white fish, shrimp and a lot of French Fries. After one drink, we all decided another round would be in order.

 

By the time we walked back to our coach, it was time to leave. We all enjoyed our stop here!

 

Dinner was in CR and Rich and I called it an early night.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Santos, Brazil.