Sort Live from the Infinity around the horn and back

[abbydancer2003]

1 minute ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Under the wifi connection make sure "Auto Join" is enabled.

Thanks, but it is.  Other people have the same problem.

[DaKahuna]

@abbydancer Happily following along on this current adventure.  Sounds like you are haivng a wonderful time.  Can't wait for the updates. 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Hope you have a great cruise and will be following along as we very much enjoy cruising in that part of the world. So much wildlife and beautiful scenery to see!!

[Stem to Stern]

Bon voyage!

[abbydancer2003]

I think we last left me in Buenos Aires.  Here's boarding day before I go to bed having just finished my coursework until Tuesday.

 

Infinity - Day 1 - Boarding

 

Today is the day for our most days ever cruise.  We decided to get a quick breakfast, so we set the alarm with enough time to pack before breakfast.  

 

We got up, did most of our packing and headed to breakfast.  We were seated and got coffee.  About the breakfast  - it wasn’t one of the best buffets I’ve seen.  There was fruit and pastries, juice, and a couple of hot plates of things I couldn’t identify (same thing in the lounge).  The second day, the server offered us an omelette or fried egg, but they didn’t do that today or Thursday.  I had a dulce de leche filled croissant  and fruit salad.

 

On our way to customs on Wednesday, I got an email and text from Celebrity that boarding was going to be delayed due to Norovirus.  So I’d coordinated with the other people on my transfer (Bob and Michelle) about moving it to 11 or so.  I contacted the company, but they were unable to do it, so it stayed at 10:30.    

 

We left breakfast at 10:10, and headed to the room to grab our stuff.  At 10:14, the hotel called to say that our ride was here.  I said we’d be right down.  We did one final sweep and grabbed our luggage and headed down.  Michelle was there with her bags, so we loaded those.  Her friend Debbie was still upstairs dealing with the fact that, because she’d been rerouted onto a different airline, her bags didn’t make it.  Debbie eventually came down and reported her bags were still in Panama.

 

Bob and Melissa soon joined us, and we were off after confirming we had the right shuttle.  We saw S&K outside waiting for their transfer.

 

We arrived at the port in about 15 minutes.  They dropped us off and we entered to ask where to drop the bags.  They told us to go to door 7.  We went down there, and there were a bunch of people looking at boarding passes.  They had rolls of stickers with numbers (sort of like you get if you do a cruise line tour), and currently had 1 and 3.  At first she gave us 3, but I said we ere in a suite, so we got 1.  We gave them our bags, and headed into the waiting area.  There apparently wasn’t a separate suite area, so we sat with the rest of our shuttle.  Apparently no suite waiting area.  

 

I asked how we would know what to do and they said they’d make an announcement, and then we’d head to the lone desk in the center of the room.  Since there are over 50 suites, that might be 100 people around a small desk, but it turned that once they called us at 12:15, we just walked behind the desk to security.

 

After putting our bags through we went upstairs, to a small room in the corner of the second floor with rows of chairs.  Once sitting a rep came up to us to check us.  We were asked about vaccines and symptoms.  Once we were checked in, the put a bracelet on us to indicate we were done, gave us what looked like a boarding pass, and sent us to the next stop - immigration.  I think the US is one of the few countries where they don’t check you out when you leave.  It was the same as on Wednesday, thumb print and picture.  We were then sent to the next station which was passport.  The agent took the passport, put half the boarding card in it, and gave us the other half as a receipt.  Then it was down the stairs to the busses for the ship.

 

We were first on our bus, and I thought maybe we’d have to wait until full, and given the trickle of people it could be a while.  A second couple boarded the bus, and then what appeared to be two Celebrity people, and we left.  A 10 minute ride and we were on the ship.

 

We first went up to drop our bags, but the corridor was closed off.  So we decided to head to Luminae for lunch.  Our muster station is the Rendezvous lounge, and so we stopped there on the way.  They checked us off for arriving, and we commented that we hadn’t been able to watch the drill on the tv, and if we did it on the phone we’d each have to do it.  So they suggested that they just give it to us.  I said I’d do it, and proceeded to rattle off what to do.  We had fun with that, and when we checked, we were all checked in.

 

About then I got a text from Bob, that they were at Luminae.  We arrived soon after and were seated at a table next to them, so we pushed them together and had a nice lunch.  I had the pea soup and filet mignon.  We skipped dessert.

 

After lunch we went to the room to drop our backpacks and our luggage was there.  So we unpacked.  The storage here is a little odd, in that the closet is in the corner of the entryway, but we got everything into someplace.  I also got a message from Linda, a woman on both our cruises, and we’d agreed to meet.  She said they were in the martini bar and I said we’d be there after we unpacked. 

 

While we were unpacking,  our butler Maria came in to talk to us, and we went over a lot of things.  She’s very nice.

 

We finished unpacking and then went to explore the ship, since it’s Glen’s first cruise on an M class.  We started on Deck 3 with Tuscan and when we got to deck 4 we saw Linda and her husband Don.  We started chatting but there was a DJ in the atrium, so we went to the Rendezvous lounge and talked for a while.  

 

After that we finished our tour, we went back to the room to get ready for the evening.  I was surprised that we didn’t see our room steward, nor did we have a card for him.

 

We noticed their dance band was playing  at 6:45, so we got dressed and headed to the Lounge.  They were pretty good, and played danceable songs.    The had a 45 minute break, so we decided to go to Michaels Club and maybe have a drink.  We spent a bit of time with the concierges, Milca and Jairo.  Jairo recognized me from the Eclipse last summer, and then I remembered him.  It was nice to see him again.

 

We’d noticed that the counter in front of the tv was sticky, so Glen asked the concierges to let someone know.

 

We went back to the lounge for a 7:45 set.  We did see S&K there, and the said they’d had dinner early.  

 

 

After the set, we had dinner.  I started with burrata, as I usually do, but for dinner I had a new choice.  Prime Rib is back in the dining rooms, and tonight I had a choice between main dining prime rib and Blu prime rib.  I went with Blu and probably next week will go with main dining.

 

After dinner, we went back to the room, and I set up our DVD player.  While home from my last cruise, I found the power cord and the remote.  It turned out that the TV simply had a bunch of channels and none of the smart features of the rest of the ships, so setting it up was a matter of attaching everything, and voila!

 

For the DVDs, I bring all the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies.  We started tonight with the first Harry Potter movie.

 

We watched it and then went to bed.

 

Tomorrow, it’s Montevideo.

[MOcruisinggardener]

Thanks, abbydancer. Sounds like a full embarkation day that went fairly smoothly. Good luck with the coursework. Thanks for taking time to share your adventure with us. Looking forward to your next post!

[boxkite]

Abbydancer, thanks for sharing your cruise adventure with all of us. Will follow along for the rest of your cruise.

Both of you have a great time!

[mahdnc]

Once very nice thing about this very long cruise--no time zone changes!  But it is impressive how late in the evening it stays bright outside (when you get closer to Cape Horn).  We wish you a smooth sailing with clear skies.

Edited March 17, 2023 by mahdnc

[Norwaylady]

Bon Voyage!

 

Looking forward to the rest🙃

[lovecruzin]

Thanks for taking us with you again, Abby!

Can you post a picture of your itinerary (if you still have the daily) so we can see where you are each day?

Happy Cruising.

[abbydancer2003]

9 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

Thanks for taking us with you again, Abby!

Can you post a picture of your itinerary (if you still have the daily) so we can see where you are each day?

Happy Cruising.

For you, anything.  Here you go ...

 

 

[lovecruzin]

Thank you @abbydancer

[abbydancer2003]

And I'm back.

 

Infinity day 2 - Montevideo 1 Sunday 

 

Yesterday, we agreed that we’d walk around Montevideo with Linda and Don.  I’d become Facebook friends with Linda when someone on our 3/23 cruise suggested we connect on this one (they’re on 4 and this is leg 2 for them).  We agreed to meet at the martini bar at 10.

 

We woke up just before 9 and I ordered coffee from Maria.  I’d asked for cream, so she brought several packages of International Delight.  I don’t like those packets, and even when they are half and half, I don’t like the plastic waste.  (I waste enough as it is).  She said they didn’t have cream but they did have milk.  I said that was fine.  She came back with that, and gave us a laundry slip that I’d asked for (we had a bag, no slip).  She refreshed our ice, too.

 

At 9:40, Linda texted that they were at the bar, but no rush.  We joined them around 9:55, and headed off the ship.

 

The last two times I was here, I was on a winery tour, with a brief tour of the city.

 

We left the ship and followed the crowd.  There was, just after the exit a small set up of street vendors.  One of them had belts, so I thought maybe by the time I’m done with all this, I’ll get one.  We walked by several streets over to the main beach and the water walk, which I’ve been told is the longest one in the world.  We’ve seen it on our previous stops.

We did see some cool things:

 

In a shop:

 

Along a wall:

 

 

It was too hot to walk it so we took some pictures and walked over a block or two to walk back towards the ship.

 

 

On the way back we saw this interesting building (the one in the background)

 

 

Don looked it up and it’s called Palace Salvo, named after the businessmen who commissioned it in 1928.  It’s one of the tallest buildings in Montevideo, and was the tallest in Latin America at it’s completion. 

 

On our walk we also found a park with a statue to the founder of Uruguay.  I don’t know why, but I didn’t take a picture.

 

We then stopped at a store for them to buy a refrigerator magnet.  I collected them before we remodeled our kitchen.  I did see this sign while they were shopping:

 

We arrived back at the ship around 11:30 or so, and stopped at Al Baccio for coffee.  After that back to the room.  As we arrived, our room steward showed up, Than, from Thailand.  Apparently, he just joined the ship, so he doesn’t have cards yet.

 

At about 1:45 we decided to go to the buffet for lunch.  It was crazy busy.  Nothing much appealed so we got pizza and salad.

 

After lunch, we went back to the room so I could work on my blog and class.  While working on this, we watched the beginning of the Extended Edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

 

We also arranged to meet Bob and Melissa for dinner.

 

The dance band had their  first set today at 5, so we headed down to that. Their next set was at 6:45, so we headed to Michael’s club for a dink, and snacks - small veggie platter and potato chips.  This takes the place of the afternoon snacks they used to deliver to your room, and are now on the food bar on revolutionized ships.

 

Towards the end of the dance set Bob & Melissa showed up, and we finished drinks and went to dinner. 

 

Three of us chose to start with the baked brie in Blu.  It was disappointing, as it appeared to be fried and over done, so very little oozing brie.  Bob also chose the short rib appetizer and it looked great.

 

 

For entrees, Glen and I both had the New York streak, with carrots and beet reduction.  Here’s a blurry picture and you can see that the carrots consisted of 2 little pieces and the beet reduction was just smeared on the plate.  That said, the steak was very good and cooked perfectly. (A little blurry - sorry about that)

 

 

For dessert, I had Cherries jubilee from either the main or Blu (I’m not sure which they gave me, as it was on both menus.  The problem for me on the Luminae dessert is that of the 3 desserts, two had chocolate, and the third was pine nut flan, which is just odd.  Bob and Melissa had the Hazelnut cake, which looked good.

 

 

After dinner we walked around for a bit, and the went back to the room and did our usual - finish the movie and bed.  Tomorrow is Punte de Estes.  It’s one of the two new ports for us (not counting Santiago).

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

Day three Puenta del Este

 

While this is our first time here, nothing offered by either the cruise line or private tour operators appealed, so we we decided to just check out the port.  Linda and Don also had no plans, so we decided to walk together.

 

The tenders started around 7:30, so we decided to go at 9 to avoid the really hot part of the day.

 

We ordered some coffee from Maria, and drank it while getting dressed.  

 

At 9am we headed to Michael’s club, where Milca or Jairo would take us to the tender.  We met Linda and Don there, and Milca took us down.  We got some of the last seats on the tender currently leaving.  It was about a 15 minute ride, and then tender seemed further out than either Cabo or Falklands.  

 

Leaving the tender, we followed a boardwalk around the water.  This is the mouth of the Platte river.

 

We then followed the crowd along a boardwalk past a harbor and lots of hotels.   We were approaching a point on the land, and it just looked like more hotels etc, so we headed away from the water.  

 

We walked on streets with a few closed shops and restaurants, and eventually got to the other water, ie the Ocean, since Punta del Este is at the edge of the Platte river.   On the way, we saw these guys:

 

 

And here’s the ocean:

 

 

 

We walked along there for a while and eventually turned back towards the tender area.  On the way, we saw some sort of a park:

 

 

 

As we wound our way towards the ship, shops were opening, so we found a gift shop so that Don could get his refrigerator magnet.  Success!

 

We decided it was getting very hot and time to go back to the ship.  Linda and I made a quick stop at the tourist information building but there was a line of people so we just went straight back to the pier.   There was a tender boat filling, so we were almost the last people on that.  

 

Once on the ship we decided the closest place to get some water was Michael’s club. We stopped for about 15 minutes, hydrated, and headed back to the room to drop our stuff.

 

At about 1:15 we went to the buffet.  They had beef stroganoff which looked good.  I had a salad.  Their salad bar (being served at this time) doesn’t have croutons, so I have to then go to the Caesar salad bar to get those.  Next stop was the pasta bar for fusilli.  The do a quick cook of it, so I waited about 3 minutes for that.  Then to the beef stroganoff.  Last stop was the Mexican food bar for some sour cream.  I will say that I did end up making a tasty stroganoff meal.

 

After lunch,  I went back to the room to work on the assignments for my class that were due tomorrow.  

 

At 6 we went to Rendezvous for dancing and ran into our friends from the east bay (we’d met them in February at a Starbucks).  We danced a bit and chatted with them, and then headed to the show.  It was a male trio doing Michael Buble songs.  Not our thing, so we decided to go dinner.   We stopped up at the room for a bit, and then  went to dinner.

 

Bob & Melissa arrived right after we did, so we joined them.  I started with eggplant tapenade from Blu.

 

 

 

Melissa had a cute crab martini.

 

 

I ordered a game hen with spaghetti squash, pepitas and sherry vinegar, but with chicken.  It was quite good, and unlike on the Silhouette, they had pipitas. 

 

For dessert I had the vacherin.

 

Glen had the lemon olive oil custard

 

 

After dinner, we walked a bit, and then went back to the room.  I caught up with family, watched a bit of Harry Potter 3, and went to bed.  Tomorrow is our first sea day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

Heads up.  My last week of course work dropped yesterday. I'll try to finish by tomorrow and then will post the rest of this cruise at the start of next.  

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity Day 4 - Sea Day 1 Tuesday 3/14

 

We didn’t have anything in the morning, so we slept in a bit.  At around 9:15 we called Maria to get some coffee, juice and pastries.  She arrived with that, plus the laundry that was supposed to arrive last night.

 

After enjoying our breakfast, we headed to Michaels club.  We sat at the table in the bar area to look out the window.  We had lattes and talked to the staff.  The person manning the bar was from Brazil, but gave us a recommendation for lunch in Ushuaia.  

 

I started working on the new week of class material.  (Course stuff drops on Tuesday).

 

At about 1, we went up and dropped our laptops and went to lunch.  

 

It’s the first sea day lunch, so in honor of it, I asked for my half Luminae burger.  Our server for lunch was Chelsey and once she understood it was cut in half crosswise, to make a quarter pound burger, she said it would happen.  We both started with the broiled feta and asparagus salad.  I’m not exactly sure what is broiled on that, but it’s still good.

 

Next Chelsey came back with my half burger.  She said it took seven tries to explain it to them and if we see a chef with a black eye, we know why.  Here it  

 

 

For dessert, I had the white chocolate mousse.  It’s very good.

 

 

After lunch, I decided to to start working on this weeks assignments, since I wanted to get everything done before we hit Cape Horn, as the IT manager on the Solstice had told me that there wasn’t good coverage “at the end of the world”.  I also needed some lectures printed, so I sent those of to the concierges as well.

 

Around 3pm, we’d agreed to meet Linda and Don to play Splendor.  We met them by their room, which is 2 decks up from ours, and on the other side.  We found a table in the buffet, and played.  Glen won.  We then taught them Flux, and they liked it, so we played a couple of rounds.  

 

After playing for a while, we went back to the room to dress, and get ready for dinner.  

 

It was our first of two evening chic nights, so we dressed up and went down and danced for a bit.  We also went to the 7pm show, It was a South American singer, (Salvatore Hasard) who was good, but because he did the show in both English and Spanish, it got tedious.  We left a little before it ended, and stopped by the room for a bit.  

 

We went to dinner just before 8pm.  

 

I had a spinach salad, and I’m not sure if it was from Blu or Main dining.

 

 

For my main, I had the lamb chops.  They were boneless, but good with mint jelly (let’s be honest, lamb chops are simply a mint jelly delivery system.

 

 

For dessert, I had a buttermilk Panna Cotta with grape jello, fruit and kiwi compote.  Here’s what it looks like

 

 

Glen had ricotta cheesecake and it’s pretty, so here it is

 

.  

After dinner we went back to the room and finished Goblet of Fire.  We have a very early day tomorrow, so bed was early.  

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Abby -  Hope your having a great cruise.   By the look of your pictures you are indeed.   I'm getting hungry just looking at the food pictures.     I don't recall seeing the Panna Cotta before but then again the descriptions never look like what comes out.  

 

I've been collection pictures and making a personal database on a Blog I keep for personal use.   A good example is Glen's Ricotta Cheesecake.   We always chuckle when we see them deliver to a close by table and the person says -  I ordered the cheesecake

 

By the way your missing a couple more Atmospheric Rivers due to hit Tuesday and Wednesday.  

Edited March 27, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[Norwaylady]

Looks like you’re having a good time @abbydancer🥰 

[abbydancer2003]

And I've now finished my class (rumors of no internet down here are greatly exaggerated),  So onward.  I'l try to do two posts a day.

 

Infinity Day 5 - Puerto Madryn 1. Wednesday 15

 

Today was Puerto Madryn, our second time there.

 

We’d bought a tour from Shore Excursion Group to go to peninsula Valdez to see wildlife.  

 

Before bed last night, I ordered room service for a pastry breakfast (coffee, juice pastries) to be delivered between 6:30 and 7.  We wanted to be off the ship around 7, so by ordering for 6;30 to 7 I knew, based on what I’d seen on other Cruise critic threads, that it would show up sometime before 6:30.  

 

Sure enough, at 6:15 Maria arrived with our breakfast.  We had the curtains open while docking, so we watched that, in the dark.

 

We were ready to go, and able to get off the ship around 7:05, and walked the long walk down the pier.  There was a long line for the shuttle, so we figured walking would be faster.

 

We arrived around 7:20, and found the tour company.   We were led to the 12 person van for our group and waited for 6 more to show up.

 

Just before 8 we left.  Apparently there were supposed to be two more, but they apparently weren’t coming.

 

We had our driver Mario, and our guide Andrea.  Andrea told us a little about Puerto Madryn (for example, Madryn is a Welsh word) and about how the Welsh settled here.  peninsula Valdez is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, and is a protected nature reserver.  

 

Near to where the peninsula starts, we stopped by the entrance, and Andrea paid for the tickets.  She gave each of us our ticket in case we wanted them as a souvenir.  (We’ll eventually toss them I think).

 

First stop was the visitors center for bathroom and information.  There was a whale skeleton there, among other displays.

 

Next stop was an area for wildlife.  We did stop periodically for animals, mostly the ubiquious guanaco (related to camels).

 

 

The landscape was interesting.  Here’s typical.

 

 

The wildlife area had mostly sea lions, but not a lot of them.  People reported penguins , so I took a picture but when I enlarged it I think they’re Comoran birds

 

 

Apparently Andrea had been talking to other guides and they said there was good viewing at the northern tip of the peninsula.  That, however involved an hour of driving on a gravel road.

 

Eventually we reached that area.  Greeting us in the parking lot was a small armadillo.

 

 

We walked to the boardwalk and below were many sea lions:

 

 

Among them was one or two elephant seals.  You can see them below - they are the light colored ones.

 

 

We observed them for a while, and I liked the small family walking along the beach.

 

 

Once we were done viewing we headed back to the van for our provided lunch.

 

They gave us a ham and cheese sandwich (I gave Glen my ham, since I don’t like it), a cereal bar, and a chocolate covered cookie.  Since I don’t like chocolate, I traded mine for his cereal bar.

 

As we were about to leave, Andrea said there were some Orcas in the water, but to be honest, I didn’t really see anything.

 

We then got back into the van and drove back down the gravel road.

 

I’m not sure I ever need to go back there again.  To be fair, this is the very end of the season, so most animals have migrated away (I don’t know where they go), so not a lot of any of them.  Also, if sea lions are the great draw, we can see those in San Francisco, as there’s a dock next to Pier 39 where they live all year.

 

It took about 2 hours to drive back to to the pier.  We said good bye to Andrea and did the long walk back.

 

There were two gangways open, and there was a line for the one on deck 5, so we went to the short one for deck 3.  We stopped off in the room for water, and then I went down to Michael’s for tea time, 

Bob & Melissa eventually arrived after their tour to Punto Tambo (we did that last time) and Glen eventually joined us.  We chatted, and then agreed to a 6:30 dinner.

 

I went up to the buffet, where the Susan & Ken (we met them in BA and had talked before the cruise), were having a snack.  When they left to get ready for the show, I went back to the room and got ready for dinner.

 

We left a little early to see who was playing in Rendezvous, and it was a solo guitarist, so we headed to Luminae and waited.

 

It was a nice dinner.  The amuse bouche was a very pretty beef carpaccio and cheese Napoleon.

 

 

I started with a Melon and procutto salad, which was pretty much standard.

 

 

 

For my main, I had the filet from Blue and it was quite good.

 

For dessert, three of us had the vanilla baba.,

 

 

but Glen had the dulche de leche granache (wth chocolate)

 

 

After dinner, we went to the Tango show,.  It was a couple and the were very good.

 

I then did a little casino, and then bed.  Second sea day tomorrow.

 

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

Infinity Day 6 - Sea Day 2 - Thursday 1

 

This was our second sea day, and because we were very tired last night we went to bed pretty early, 

 

We woke up in time for breakfast which would be our first in Luminae.  We arrived a bit before 9 and I had a cheese omelette and side of bacon.  There was a lot of bacon, and it was a little more cooked than I like it.  Glen ordered the huevos rancheros, and said it was good, although it doesn’t actually have ranchero sauce.  He however, knew that, having had it lots of times.

 

Following breakfast, we headed to Michael’s club, after grabbing our laptops.  I finished the reading for my class, and opened the assignment for the week.  A lot of busy work.  At about 12:30 we went back up to the room and dropped our laptops.  

 

We went down to Luminae, but it was very crowded, so we grabbed jackets and headed for the open decks.  It was cold though, so we took the jackets back and went down and waited for lunch.  

 

Eventually we were seated.  For a starter I had the chicken and beef satay from the main with chili sauce (I think true satay should have peanut sauce).  The sauce reminded me of some of the sauces we get from Blue Apron.  For my main, I had, also from the dining room, spaghetti bolognese.  After I got it, Luana dropped off a spoon for twirling.  I’ve never used one, so Glen tried to teach me.  Epic fail.  The spaghetti was pretty good though.

 

 

I had a banana creme brûlée for dessert, also from the main dining.  It was good, with bits of banana in it.  

 

After lunch, I made a brief stop in the casino, and then met Bob and Melissa for Alejandro’s talk on the pandemic, specifically about being the cruise director on the Eclipse, which had to spend an additional 15 days getting passengers to San Diego.  It was entertaining, but could have been a bit tighter.  

 

Then I went back to the room to try to get the assignment for this week done.  We also started watching Harry Potter 5.

 

At 5pm there was a senior officer gathering so we got dress for that.  I spent some time with Bob and Melissa talking to the associate hotel director.  Glen did, on the way to dinner, shake hands with the captain.  

 

After that, we headed to dinner.  The amuse bouche was a goat cheese puff.

 

 

We all got beef Carpaccio.  

 

 

I had the beef bourgeon from the main dining and it was good.  

 

 

Glen had the short ribs with steam buns 

 

 

 

For dessert, I went with the Daniel Beloud dessert.  It’s supposed to be topped with raspberries, but they don’t have them.  Instead there are strawberries, which are pretty but not quite the same.

 

After dinner we went back to Rendezvous and danced a little bit.  I stopped by the casino, and then went back to the room to finish my homework assignment, and watch the rest of the movie.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day with Cape Horn in the evening.

 

[vickykay]

Enjoying your photos.  Thanks for posting.

[asnaleah]

I did not know we can order from Blu in Luminae. We are often offered the MDR menu, but not Blu. Thanks for the info! 

[Jim_Iain]

Abby -  hope you are enjoying.    I just found out some friends of our Jack and Suzanne are aboard and had their Zenith Ceremony on the Bridge just as the came around the Horn.     If you happen to meet them say high.   They may have introduced them at the Captain's Elite and above toast.

[abbydancer2003]

Day 7 Sea day 3 - Friday 3/17

 

Today is mostly a sea day, although we’re supposed to get to Cape Horn around 5:30.

 

We slept in a bit, still catching up from Puerto Madryn I guess.   We decided to get breakfast at the buffet, since we’d missed the restaurants, including Tuscan continental.

 

I had scrambled eggs, and had them put some cheese on it and a bagel with cream cheese that got very messy.

 

We then did what’s becoming our morning routine, go to Michael’s club, sit in the high top tables near the window and drink lattes or tea and water.  Today was an Al Bachio latte.

 

 

Around 1;15 we went to lunch.  For whatever reason, no wait today.  I started with a favorite the baby heirloom tomato salad.

 

I ended up having a hot dog with potato chips, and for dessert, I had an olive oil pudding with fruit, which tastes a lot better than it sounds.

 

 

Following lunch, we met Linda and Don to play our usual games.  I still haven’t won.  Don thought that we’d have the better viewing of the lighthouse and monument from our balcony, so we invited them to join us.

 

The captain’s announcement said that we’d get there around 6:30.  And, since this was Friday, I figured I’d go to Friday night services first.  The community board said they’d be in the Constellation lounge, but going in there it was a zoo, since it was packed with people waiting for Cape Horn.  I asked, and was told it was on 3.

 

Fortunately, a crew member told me that it was in a side room, part of the teen club.  I went in and there were people, but no chairs, and no electronic candles.  Bill and Brenda (we had dinner with them in BA) got everything organized and we did a quick service.

 

After that, I went back to the room, to get ready for Cape Horn.  We did get, around 6:15 a call from Don saying they had no view, so we invited them to our larger balcony.  I ordered some coffee and cheese and crackers.  We ended up, as the ship turned, switching between balconies.  It was very cold but very enjoyable.  

 

Approach

 

Lighthouse

 

 

At about 7:40, Bob texted that they were ready for dinner.  We joined them about 10 minutes later.

 

I started with the spinach salad with warm bacon dressing from Blu.  I think it has to be eaten in Blu since the dressing was cold by the time it got to me.  Still good.

 

Glen had the white balsamic glazed veggies.  They looked pretty good.

 

Nothing appealed on any of the menus, so we all pretty much had the steak from the anytime menu in main with bernaisse sauce.   I did ask for it with the sides for the veal cheeks.  (I have since learned that veal cheeks are not actually cheeks, but jowl meat so maybe I’ll have that next time.)

 

 

For dessert, I had the Cherry Creameaux.  Not sure what that was but it was good.

 

 

As we left the restaurant, the party band was playing in the lounge, so we did a swing in the Luminae entrance.  I think we entertained Krissimer, the lumina manager.

 

From there, we went to the lounge and danced a couple more dances.   The party band was playing so we did a couple to those, and then headed to the room to watch a movie and then bed.

 

 

[StartrainDD]

The inscription on the Albatross Monument at Cape Horn reads:

"I, the albatross that awaits at the end of the world...

I am the forgotten soul of the sailors lost,

rounding Cape Horn from all the seas of the world.

But die they did not in the fierce waves,

for today towards eternity, in my wings they soar,

in the last crevice of the Antarctic winds."

Hope you enjoyed it despite the cold!  We have found that Cape Horn 'feels' colder than our cruising days in Antarctica.