The Happy Wanderer---Summertime Down South

[RevNeal]

Greetings from the glorious Rotterdam! We're on our first day at sea out of Montevideo heading to the Fauklands. The seas are lovely, but the sky is overcast. We had fog this morning. I enjoyed a nice, leisurely breakfast in the main dining room with Adele. It was so nice being served without having to run around and get what I want/need. And, better yet, the food was excellent! :D

 

I have photos to prepare and upload from BA and Montevideo ... we had a great time in both ports, and the Tango sure was fun! :D ;)

 

Yes, we were re-provisioned in Montevideo! They don't do a re-provisioning in Rio because the port operations isn't as trustworthy there, while in Montevideo it is ... and, it's cheaper (which, I suspect, is the real reason).

 

Last night at dinner they passed around Dining Comment/Survey cards asking for our remarks and rating of food and service. It was nice to note that they're trying to get feed back this early-on in the cruise. My biggest complaint is that the selection of items has been thin on the menus. Oh, don't misunderstand me: everything I've eaten I've enjoyed, and I'll never go hungry aboard ship; however, I would appreciate a greater variety of items from which to select each evening. Thus far I've only once had to select between two items that I wanted ... usually the choice has been easy, and twice I've had to order off the "Available Every Day" section for my entree. The soups have been excellent, though I'm told that the chilled soups could be colder. The Appetizers are good ... don't miss the pasta appetizers, which are good and can be had as a main course. The fruit appetizers are excellent too (yes, I DO eat fruit, Christopher!). The desserts have been somewhat disappointing ... but, again, I'm always happy with ice cream, so I've got nothing to complain about there.

 

Last night was a glorious night. After the show and dancing with Adele up in the Crows Nest I went up onto the Sky Deck (above the Crows Nest) and lay down to star gaze the southern Hemisphere heavens. Glorious! For the first time in my life I got a view of the Southern Cross! Wonderful! I also got a good view of Alpha Centauri (the closest star system to ours at 4.3 light years away), which is brighter than I thought it would be.

 

Look for photos from me within the next few hours. I need to run an errand before they close the shore excursion office ... so I'll sign off for now.

[mamaofami]

Hi Greg, So glad you and the gang are having fun. What's available on the every night menu? I remember steak, salmon and some sort of grilled chicken.

 

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

[RuthC]

Longer, exotic itineraries tend to have excellent lecture series, and on this one we are blessed. Even the Port Lecturer takes it up several notches above what you hear on the Caribbean cruises. When you listen to Ian Denton you would think you were at an Explorations Series lecture. He talks about history, geography, economics, as well as recommends what (but not where) to buy.

We also have Warren Sallenger giving talks on Brazil---Latin American Giant, The Southern Cone---Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and Patagonia. Our Antarctic team of Caroline Gunn and Bernard Stonehouse started off with two lectures on The Southern Oceans---History and Wildlife, and My Friend the Penguin.

After three hours in "class" today I feel like I'm back in college. ;) And there's plenty more to come.

The supply order seems to have been well-filled. Peanuts appeared with the cocktails. :D Yippee!

[innlady1]

Love the reports, Ruth and Greg! Sounds like you're all having a marvelous time!

[AlohaPride]

I can't WAIT to see all the pictures!!

[Susie51]

Rev Neal,The picture of Christ in the clouds was exceptional. Have published your pix? They are amazing!

 

I'm glad this is a long cruise. I need a cruise fix, because I don't have one booked right now. I have been enjoying TomC's thread.

 

Everyone have a great cruise.

[mtnmommy]

Rev Neal and Ruth,

Thank you so much for your wonderful posts! I am a loyal lurker here and always enjoy vicariously cruising with you. As an added bonus, this time I'm keeping tabs on my Mom and her husband, who are on board with you. I'm assuming Mom is behaving, since you haven't yet posted about any outrageous behavior from a small, red-headed woman answering to the name of Barb. You know how wild these retired school teachers from Nebraska can be.

 

Ruth, I'm so glad the ship was re-stocked, and this can now be a Voyage of the Good Nuts. I do hope they didn't run low on the caffeinated Diet Coke--you would have seen my Mom swimming for shore. It is truly the woman's only vice, as opposed to my Grey Goose martini habit. Well, if you run into Mom, tell her to pour some rum into the Coke and rest up, because in two months she's taking my whole family on the Maasdam (aka Voyage of the Generous Grandma!)

 

Happy Sailing!--Lisa P.

[RuthC]

Even though I've taken this cruise before The Happy Wanderer hadn't gone into business, so I'll tell you a little about our stops in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It's way past time.

We sailed up the Rio de la Plata (overshooting Montevideo on the way) to Buenos Aires where we had only one day, which could have easily been extended to four. Mary Ellen had done a lot of research (thanks M E ;) ) and arranged a private tour for the five of us. We managed to squeeze in a stop at the Cathedral (beautiful), a train ride to the delta, a boat trip on the Tigre River, shopping, lunch, a Tango Show, a visit to Ricoletta Cemetery, and a quick stop at the Hard Rock Cafe. Whew! What a full day.

If you can arrange it, and have some others to go with, a private tour is the way to go.

By Friday we were back at the mouth of the river for a day in Montevideo. Even though it's a large city it seemed a nice respite after the bustle of B. A. I had a HAL tour with only 12 other people. It felt like another private tour. I loved getting that personal attention again.

The Master Chef's Dinner was scheduled for tonight, so plans had been made to go to the Pinnacele. You know what they say about plans. They change. :rolleyes: Maybe it's because the Patriots are playing some other team on TV, don't know for sure, but the dinner has been put off 'til tomorrow.

All the better for me to see the game, m'dear! :D

Go Pats!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for checking in Ruth!!

[Susie51]

Ruth your private tour sounds amazing. How did you manage to get all of your luggage to the ship? Or am I thinking of the wrong Ruth?

[innlady1]

Even though I've taken this cruise before The Happy Wanderer hadn't gone into business, so I'll tell you a little about our stops in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It's way past time.

We sailed up the Rio de la Plata (overshooting Montevideo on the way) to Buenos Aires where we had only one day, which could have easily been extended to four. Mary Ellen had done a lot of research (thanks M E ;) ) and arranged a private tour for the five of us. We managed to squeeze in a stop at the Cathedral (beautiful), a train ride to the delta, a boat trip on the Tigre River, shopping, lunch, a Tango Show, a visit to Ricoletta Cemetery, and a quick stop at the Hard Rock Cafe. Whew! What a full day.

If you can arrange it, and have some others to go with, a private tour is the way to go.

 

By Friday we were back at the mouth of the river for a day in Montevideo. Even though it's a large city it seemed a nice respite after the bustle of B. A. I had a HAL tour with only 12 other people. It felt like another private tour. I loved getting that personal attention again.

 

The Master Chef's Dinner was scheduled for tonight, so plans had been made to go to the Pinnacele. You know what they say about plans. They change. :rolleyes: Maybe it's because the Patriots are playing some other team on TV, don't know for sure, but the dinner has been put off 'til tomorrow.

All the better for me to see the game, m'dear! :D

 

 

Go Pats!

 

Taking a break during half time and reading the Board! Good diversion during such a nail biter! I echo your thoughts, Ruth....

:D Go Pats! :D

[RevNeal]

Hi Greg, So glad you and the gang are having fun. What's available on the every night menu? I remember steak, salmon and some sort of grilled chicken.

 

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

 

Thank you so much! I actually enjoy reporting via photo even more than writing up my reports. Since Ruth does a good job with her own reports, and I don't see any reason duplicating her fine efforts, my photos of our sights see to me to be a good alternative.

 

From the "Available Daily" section of tonight's Menu (I'm reading it as I type it).

 

French Onion Les Halles

Classical Caesar Salad

Grilled Wild Salmon

Perfectly Grilled Breast of Chicken (as opposed to imperfectly?)

New York Steak (prepared on the Rotterdam in the South Atlantic!)

 

I'm currently sitting in the Explorers Lounge. The Super Bowl is on in the Sports Bar (the place is packed) so I've escaped to here, am one of the few listening to the lovely classical music, and am enjoying myself writing up this report. I'm also waiting for my photos to finish uploading. Once they're up (about 20 minutes from now) I'll be able to post a link to them for ya'll to see selections from touring BA and MV. Tomorrow we arrive at Stanley ... they're telling us the chances of our going ashore are not good. I'm praying DOWN the storm. :D

[RevNeal]

And ... YES ... we DID get to see Tango dancing in BA!! :D

 

 

And, no ... it wasn't Adele and Ruth doing the dancing! :D

 

Here's the link to my photo samples: http://www.revneal.org/Writings/rot4.html

 

As always, once I'm home and internet isn't outrageously expensive (and slow) I'll be uploading hundreds more ... and in much larger sizes.

[RevNeal]

And, YES, I did some nice touring in Montevideo.

 

http://www.revneal.org/Writings/rot5.html

[RevNeal]

Sea days are glorious!

Especially on this cruise.

We began with warm and sunny, and things are now turning cool and sunny. Soon, they will be cold and sunny!

 

 

I've love this, and I wish you all where here with us!

 

The SAD news is that, within just a day or so, we will drop off the Internet Sat net. Once we're past Stanley we won't be able to get line-of-sight with the Geostationary Satellites that the Internet-At-Sea uses. As a result, we will be out of contact for between 3 - 5 days. Once we're back in range, Ruth and I will be happy to come back and share our experiences of the bottom of the planet. I plan on having photos to share, too. :)

 

Blessings and Peace to all of you.

[cruz chic]

Ruth your private tour sounds amazing. How did you manage to get all of your luggage to the ship? Or am I thinking of the wrong Ruth?

 

In terms of the luggage you have the wrong Ruth. I think you are talking about Ruth and Jim. That posters id is JimVrhovac.

[innlady1]

In terms of the luggage you have the wrong Ruth. I think you are talking about Ruth and Jim. That posters id is JimVrhovac.

 

I think so, too. "This" Ruth was adament about not overdoing the luggage on her cruise.

[cruz chic]

Sea days are glorious!

Especially on this cruise.

We began with warm and sunny, and things are now turning cool and sunny. Soon, they will be cold and sunny!

 

 

I've love this, and I wish you all where here with us!

 

 

Blessings and Peace to all of you.

 

I wish we were all there with you guys too:D I've have to be happy with all your awesome pictures. Thanks again!

[cruz chic]

Sea days are glorious!

Especially on this cruise.

We began with warm and sunny, and things are now turning cool and sunny. Soon, they will be cold and sunny!

 

 

I've love this, and I wish you all where here with us!

 

 

Blessings and Peace to all of you.

 

I wish we were all there with you guys too:D I have to be happy with all your awesome pictures instead. Thanks again!

[mancunian]

Could one of you please tell me what time it goes dark? Many thanks. I ask because after we leave Ushuiaia we seem to have a lot of scenic cruising that day. Here we go dark at 5 pm.

 

Thank you for the super reports and particularly the pictures. It is strange Rev Neal that you went to the Panama just before us and whetted my appetite for our Christmas cruise, and now you are in SA just before us, though of course we are just doing the straight cruise Rio to Valparaiso and not the Antarctic.

 

I am so looking forward to it. Last weekend my husband was in hospital and it looked as if we were not going at all - anyway news is now good and I am counting the days for 28 Feb when we fly out to Rio.

[jhannah]

Sounds like things are going swimmingly! Continue to enjoy your journey to the bottom of the earth.

 

Note to Ruth: Sorry about your Pats. They just couldn't pull it off.

[RuthC]

It's all Greg's fault. We weren't able to stop at Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, this morning. And it's all Greg's fault. You see, last night he was saying how he hoped we would get in. He was also busting my chops and saying he hoped the Patriots would lose. :eek: As soon as the Giants became Super Bowl champions (congrats, New Yorkers, btw) I knew. Greg got one out of two of his wishes.

And he so wanted to get ashore! Bet he's sorry now.

Maybe he should have cheered for my team. :D Or at least stayed neutral on the subject. ;)

The seas are being called "rough" at 26' with 55 MPH winds. I agree that walking is dangerous and have even taken to using my cane aboard---for the first time ever. :(

Oh, well. This, too, shall pass. Perhaps by as early as tonight! Until then we have a brand spanking new schedule of activities and plenty of time to watch the angry sea.

I'll repeat something Greg has already mentioned---we'll be losing the satelite signal for several days, so there won't be any reports while we're in Antarctica. But I'll be back at the keyboard as soon as possible afterward. Stay tuned and keep checking back here.

manchunian, right now sunset is after 10:00 PM, with a long twilight after. Of course, as time goes on the days will become shorter. Hope that helps. We were told there's a possibility we will see the Aurora Australis. That would be nice. :)

[innlady1]

The loss was pretty sad for us New Englanders, Ruth. I'm hoping it's not a premonition of things to come with your cruise (not being able to go to Stanley) and with our cruise.

Tomc posted last night that they had to turn around back toward San Juan to rendevous with a helicopter to transport a pax who became ill. Captain Scott announced the ship would be late arriving in NYC...more updates to follow. So, that, the fact that it's predicted we'll have high seas on Wednesday, and the Patriots loss :confused:

Have a good journey and make the most of an unexpected sea day!

 

Love your reports...and loved Greg's photo of you and Adele!

[DFD1]

Wonderful reports, Ruth and Rev. What a fascinating part of the world. Thank you both! Stay safe.

[mamaofami]

Great hearing from you, Ruth and Greg,

If you are experiening such high seas, I guess we shouldn't be worried about the expected 15 foot seas on Wednesday night on the Noordam. As usual, Seattle doesn't even know the ship will be late arriving into NY.

 

Sorry about the super bowl, Ruth, but it was a wonderful win for my 11 year old grandson who went to his first super bowl game.

 

Enjoy Antartica.:D