Sarturday 12/18 and Sunday 12/19
Our flight to Miami was delayed 30 minutes due to a late arriving crew. However, when we got to the gate, there was a nice surprise in addition to that not so bad news - we got upgraded to first class. That meant a bit more room and a breakfast snack box with bagel chips, Rondele cheese and fruit cup.
We arrived in Miami just before noon. It took a few minutes for our bags to come out, and then we headed off to Super Shuttle. We gave the dispatcher the zip code, and then the fun began. She told us not to take them because it would be over 100.00, but to go to the bus terminal to get the shuttle to the Tri-Rail train (a train that goes up the coast in Florida). I'd already looked at the schedule and on weekends it runs every two hours, and we'd just missed the noon train. Since she seemed to really not want to take us, so off to the bus terminal we went. She told us to go across the parking lot, but that seemed to simply go to a parking garage.
We eventually found somebody who told us to go to the international terminal and the bus terminal there. We found it and the gentleman working there helped us get tickets. The best shuttle left around 1:40 so we went back into the terminal, and had lunch. At 1:15 we headed to the bus terminal, at which point it started pouring. While waiting, we met an art teacher from Renton WA who sat with us on the train and we chatted all the way up to Boyton Beach.
It was about 3:30 by the time we arrived, and Joan and Rich came and got us soon after. We headed to their home on a lake, showered, hung out and then went to dinner at a nice east coast chain called The Village Tavern. I'd eat there again on my travels. Following that, we went to West Palm Beach. They'd purchased tickets for the John Test Christmas concert. It was not exactly what any of us expected, but was mostly fun.
After that we went back to their house, had dessert and looked at some of our Antarctica pictures, and then went to bed for much needed sleep.
Sunday morning, Glen woke me up at 9:30 - Joan was making a lovely breakfast for us - cinnamon scones and a spinach frittata. After a leisurely breakfast we demonstrator our team tango for them, packed up and headed to the port.
We normally sail out of SF, LA or Vancouver - SF can handle one ship, LA three and Vancouver four; there were eight in port here. Traffic was a mess, but once we got into the port, it was a quick trip to the terminal. They dropped us by the luggage drop, so we gave our bags to the porter and headed in. There was a short line to enter the terminal and go through security, but once we got in we walked right up to a preferred check in agent, and she had our cards to us within 2 minutes. There was almost no line to get on the ship, and we were soon in our room. No more than 10 minutes tops. Amazing!
We explored the ship - this is our first time on a ship of this class and it's the biggest ship we've ever been on. There are many features that are similar to other ships, but there are some differences. The rear of the ship has Club Fusion, and the biggest dance floor we've seen in a while. We practiced our tango on it. The ship has two buffets - the normal horizon count and behind it, the Caribe Cafe, a smaller buffet. Today it had similar food to the Horizon court but apparently they put things like the seafood and dessert buffets there. In addition, the International Cafe in the Piazza was bigger than on the Star, because it was in the original design, not put on as a retrofit. The Sanctuary, the adult only area reflected the same thing.
We had lunch, and then headed back to the room to rest and get ready for the muster drill. Glen took a nap while I got a brewed coffee. While we were out, our steward had left our glasses of champagne that mini-suite guests receive. He eventually came in to deliver ice. I asked for an eggcrate mattress topper, extra towels and a top sheet.
The muster drill was standard, I almost have the spiel memorized - this was our fourth one this year. When we came back to drop of the life jackets our suitcases had arrived so we unpacked and headed off to our Cruise Critic meeting.
The group had agreed to wear beads or leis so it was easy to find each other. We met Neil and Jerry from Boyton Beach - Neil is the most active poster on our roll call. A few other members were there including Lydia and Tim from New Brunswick Canada - they're getting married on Tuesday and we're all going to the wedding. We said, passing the Allure of the Seas - one of Royal Caribbean's ginormous ships (over 5K passengers) - it's got an open center atrium so we named it "Grand Canyon of the Seas" or "Monstrocity of the Seas" (it's sister, Oasis of the Seas has been named Behemoth of the Seas).
After our meet and greet we headed to the Platinum Elite lounge - met a couple of women from New Jersey who were on the Antarctic cruise before ours. We offered to play scrabble with them later.
Coming back to our room, Michael, our steward had done the turn down. He'd got the egg crate but no top sheet or extra towels. I paged him and he brought the top sheet.
We changed, and headed off to dinner. We stopped at the wheel house and danced to the jazz quartet there. Not great for dancing but it worked. We then headed to dinner.
We were seated at a table for 10 - I've always requested 6 or 8 so I'll have to contact my travel agent afterward to see what's going on. To our surprise, Neil and Jerry were our tablemates - this is the first time we've had roll call members at the table. It was a nice group, so we'll stay. We are the 2nd most traveled couples at the table.
After dinner we danced to the pool band at Explorers Lounge, they were good and not too loud. After dancing we walked around the Promenade deck, followed by a walk on the top decks. Somewhere on the lido deck a couple of women who were at Explorers complemented us on our dancing. Cool - and it's only the first night.
Now it's bed time, and I'm watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Tomorrow, we head to Princess's private beach so we'll sleep in and head over there for lunch and a walk. Still no extra towels.
Good night.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Off to the Caribbean - wait, there's snow on the ground
Greetings from Washington DC, actually Dulles airport, which for those of you who don't know this - is actually in Virginia.
It's 7am here, which is 4am our time, and we're waiting to board our connecting flight to Miami. From the airport, we'll go to our friends Joan and Rich's home, (if you read my Antarctic blog you may recognize their names) and spend the evening with them. They'll then take us to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow for our 7 day cruise on the Ruby Princess.
On the cruise, we'll make Princess elite status - their highest tier. What's vaguely interesting about that (and when you've had less than 4 hours of sleep it doesn't take much to be interesting) is that to get to that level you need 15 cruise credits (we got two for Antarctica because of the suite) and this is our first Caribbean cruise. Caribbean is a word that I need the spell checker for, so maybe after this cruise I won't any more.
Our flight from SF was short for a cross country flight. I still can't get comfortable in airplane seats to sleep. Oh well.
I will be blogging this trip, although pictures will probably come later since I have limited internet time, and the picture upload was the slow part on the last cruise.
Stay tuned.
It's 7am here, which is 4am our time, and we're waiting to board our connecting flight to Miami. From the airport, we'll go to our friends Joan and Rich's home, (if you read my Antarctic blog you may recognize their names) and spend the evening with them. They'll then take us to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow for our 7 day cruise on the Ruby Princess.
On the cruise, we'll make Princess elite status - their highest tier. What's vaguely interesting about that (and when you've had less than 4 hours of sleep it doesn't take much to be interesting) is that to get to that level you need 15 cruise credits (we got two for Antarctica because of the suite) and this is our first Caribbean cruise. Caribbean is a word that I need the spell checker for, so maybe after this cruise I won't any more.
Our flight from SF was short for a cross country flight. I still can't get comfortable in airplane seats to sleep. Oh well.
I will be blogging this trip, although pictures will probably come later since I have limited internet time, and the picture upload was the slow part on the last cruise.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Happiest Weekend on Earth
We're back from Disneyland, and had so much fun I didn't have time to actually post. So, here's a summary:
The flight down was uneventful and early. Beth and Lily, however were not. We waited for about 30 minutes, although, to be fair, if the flight wasn't early their timing would have been good.
We got to the Disneyland hotel at about 9:30 - hoping that at least something would be open for dinner. We also hoped we could get park tickets tonight, because we were anticipating big weekend crowds.
Our rooms were adjoining, and that was very nice. We dropped our luggage and then headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. The hotel restaurant at the DL hotel was closed for renovation of much of the pool area, and we were cutting it close for the other hotels.
So we headed to the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown. We left Lily and Glen there while Beth and I went to the ticket plaza to buy our tickets for the weekend. When we got back, they were enjoying an appetizer platter. We had a nice and tasty dinner (and maybe next time we're back during the holidays we'll eat there and I can finally try turducken!)
We decided to head to DCA at 9am on Saturday to pick up tickets for their new water show, just in case we wanted to go and then it was off to bed.
The flight down was uneventful and early. Beth and Lily, however were not. We waited for about 30 minutes, although, to be fair, if the flight wasn't early their timing would have been good.
We got to the Disneyland hotel at about 9:30 - hoping that at least something would be open for dinner. We also hoped we could get park tickets tonight, because we were anticipating big weekend crowds.
Our rooms were adjoining, and that was very nice. We dropped our luggage and then headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. The hotel restaurant at the DL hotel was closed for renovation of much of the pool area, and we were cutting it close for the other hotels.
So we headed to the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown. We left Lily and Glen there while Beth and I went to the ticket plaza to buy our tickets for the weekend. When we got back, they were enjoying an appetizer platter. We had a nice and tasty dinner (and maybe next time we're back during the holidays we'll eat there and I can finally try turducken!)
We decided to head to DCA at 9am on Saturday to pick up tickets for their new water show, just in case we wanted to go and then it was off to bed.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Abby, you just got a cool new job - what are you going to do?
I'm going to Disneyland!!!
Seriously, I am, although the two aren't related. My sister and niece are touring colleges in LA, so asked us a couple of weeks ago if we wanted to go for the weekend. We thought it would be fun. About that time, I started interviewing with a cool software company in SOMA in SF. Yesterday, they offered me a job, so what a great way to celebrate.
Right now we're in Red Carpet in SFO with about 20 minutes until we have to go to the gate. Not much to report, just setting the stage. It's been several years, sadly, since we've been to DL, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Nothing else to report right now.
Seriously, I am, although the two aren't related. My sister and niece are touring colleges in LA, so asked us a couple of weeks ago if we wanted to go for the weekend. We thought it would be fun. About that time, I started interviewing with a cool software company in SOMA in SF. Yesterday, they offered me a job, so what a great way to celebrate.
Right now we're in Red Carpet in SFO with about 20 minutes until we have to go to the gate. Not much to report, just setting the stage. It's been several years, sadly, since we've been to DL, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Nothing else to report right now.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
And in the End ...
Feb 18-19
Our day began before 7. I decided I needed to build in some time to go to the Purser's office if the credit wasn't applied, and given the wine situation, I wasn't holding my breath. Also, Montevideo is an hour later than BA, so we got to set the clocks back again.
I think that sometime around 4:30, we entered the BA harbor and started to move into position on the very narrow slip. The side thrusters were going and the shaking and noise woke us up. At some point we were able to go back to sleep.
At 6:45 the alarm rang. I got up and dressed, and opened the final bill. To my surprise, the credit for the loss was on there as a "good will" entry. Other than some outlet things that I loved that I probably won't be able to replace, it would have totally made up for it.
We packed our last minute things, swept the room and met Joan and Rich for breakfast. We ate a quick breakfast since we were supposed to meet Linda and Bob for our post cruise day trip at 8 in the dining room reserved for Platinum and above passengers. I sent Glen over while I went to the pursers desk to get a copy of my claim form. With the credit applied, I was pretty sure I didn't need to sign the form, but I wanted to be sure. The guy in front of me was annoyed because he'd tried to leave and they told him he still owed the ship 1.10 (yes, that's a dollar and ten cents). When I got up there, the purser looked for the form and after about 5 or 10 minutes came back and said that I didn't need it because the credit was given. I take that to mean that they destroyed it because they didn't need to send it to Los Angeles (or Santa Clarita more specifically). She did give me a copy of the laundry slip, though.
After that I went down to meet Glen, Linda and Bob, but as soon as I got to the dining room they told me to turn around, our number had been called. We walked off the ship, and waited for the next bus to move people to the terminal. At this point, I'm worrying about our checked luggage, since there are rumors of dishonest port workers in BA, and given the way stuff like this has been going, it wouldn't surprise me. However, we did find all 4 of our checked bags (only two are actual suitcases - the other two are two sportsac duffles) and Bob and Linda found theirs. We got a porter, and loaded most of the bags onto a large cart. Leaving the port there was an xray machine, but they waved us through. We went out to the exit and it was as chaotic as we remembered from embarkation - with several taxi lines, and a throng of greeters. It was 8:45 and our guide wasn't due for another 15 minutes, so we had our porter unload us to the side and we decided to wait. As we did, Cruise Critic friends kept coming out and we kept hugging goodbye. I periodically went out to check for our guide. At about 9, Glen noticed somebody outside holding up a sign that looked to him like it said Grossman. I went over there and it was our guide, Alexjandra. She went with me to our luggage, and immediately took charge, getting a porter, and communicating with the staff on how to get out. She contacted the driver, and we were soon loaded into the van. (We were relieved it was big enough for all our stuff). We drove out of town towards the pampas, about 75 miles I think. The driver apparently needed what Alexjandra called a "technical stop", which we learned meant a bathroom stop. Apparently, it's a non discussed subject in her family. She also got each of us a bottle of water, and we continued.
Our first real stop was in the town of San Antonio de Aresco, which has a historic area. We started with a visit to a silversmith's house which has a small museum of gaucho silver items, including spurs, whips (which weren't used much) and belts. Belts apparently were the start of the silversmithing in the Pampas, they needed to close their belts, and it started with two coins, and as belts got larger so did the number of coins, and it evolved to an elaborate art. We saw a brief video in which the silversmith spoke about how we got into it and what his vision is.
Here's an example of a belt. The 4 coin version.
We then saw the workshops, and the little hotel that is attached. The building is very Mediterranean style. There are also examples of his work, and that of his sons and employees in both silver and leather for sale.
This is the courtyard that separates the workshop from the hotel. It's very pretty.
After that, we walked around the square, looked at the town church, apparently the priest is Irish, and the town hall.
The square. That's the church in the background. It was a very quiet and peaceful day there.
From there, we went to the ranch. We left the main road, and went onto a dirt road. Alexjandra told us it was a typical Pampas road. The ranch was beautiful, several Spanish style building and beautifully landscaped grounds. They had a stable, and also some sheep and goats. The owner and hostess greeted us warmly, and we were offered our choice of drinks. We all opted for wine. We then sat down on the veranda and one of the servers brought us some empanadas, which were wonderful. They were so good, we had a second round - that round they fried, and in the first round they were baked. We decided we liked the baked ones slightly better. We sat on the veranda for a while chatting. Alexjandra asked if we wanted to ride horses or do a carriage ride. We thought a carriage ride would be nice so she went and arranged that. She was gone for a while, but we were enjoying our time socializing and Glen and Bob took pictures. It was very restful.
A view of the ranch. It was very nice.
And here's one of the buildings of the ranch. Those are the gauchos. In addition to their music, they also helped serve the meat at lunch.
Eventually, Alexjandra came back and said it was lunch time, and we'd do the ride afterward. She escorted us to a serious of nicely set picnic tables outside. On the table was red wine, water, bread and 3 kinds of salad - green, a simple cole slaw, and a very good potato salad. They also brought out a tomato salad.
Soon after, servers and gauchos came out carrying plates of barbecued meat. It was all very good. As we were finishing, the gauchos came back with guitars and played music that most closely resembled polka. Soon, other gauchos, including some young boys were dancing with the guests. One of the boys invited me to dance with him, which I accepted but the dance ended as we were about to started. I danced with one of the older men (who apparently wrecked his back breaking horses) and then with Glen. Somebody told the owner we danced tango, so she had the band play a tango and we danced for all the guests. It was great fun.
And now, the music.
By that time, it was after 3pm. Bob and Linda wanted to be at the airport by 6 for their 9:40 flight, since we'd all heard that the airport is a zoo in the evening as all the US flights depart. The driver, talking with other drivers, decided we should leave between 3:30 and 4, (they also discussed the best routes).
Linda and I looked at the hotel rooms, and they looked delightful. We both decided that if we were in Argentina, it would be nice to spend a couple of days there. A little bit before 4pm we thanked our hostess and headed out. We had a relaxed drive back, and circumvented BA. On one of the toll roads, which we learned were all private, we saw shanty towns, something we, at least hadn't seen on our BA visit pre cruise. Alexjandra told us the road is considered dangerous at night, as people get on the overpasses, throw rocks at cars to break the window, and when the car stops, the occupants get robbed. Like any scheme like that, it doesn't always happen, but it can.
When we got to the airport, it was busy with buses and cars. Our driver stopped and Alexjandra ran into the airport to get us luggage carts. She came back with two, and we each loaded our luggage into them. Alexjandra accompanied us into the terminal and then said her good byes. We then said goodbye to Bob and Linda as they went to the American line and we went to United. We will see them when we go to Florida next time.
There was no real line for United business, although I saw long lines for economy for both United and American economy and another for what I think is an Argentine airline. We were asked about our luggage going in, and each bag was tagged for Xray. I think all US bags get that.
When we checked in, we were given an Argentine exit form to fill out, as well as our boarding passes and luggage tags. When we found the area to enter the whole security section, we saw Linda and Bill, other CC friends filling out theirs. I know they were on our flight, so Glen and I agreed to take them into Red Carpet.
First stop was a check that we had boarding passes, and then we went through customs. It was about a 5-10 minute wait, not too bad. Glen's got stamped through easily. The agent stared at mine for a while, since there was no entrance stamp, but she read the police report, and my guess is finally decided not to bother with it, and stamped me through as well. We next went through security - compared to US it's sort of a joke - no pulling the quart bag, laptops, no shoes off, just put the bag on and go.
Once through there, we walked through the shopping mall that is the gate area. Mostly makeup and electronics, same stuff you'd find at home. We were told the lounge was near gate 6 so we went to gate 6. It took a few minutes to find the lounge but we got there. When we got in we discovered that as a member, I could bring one guest, and Glen, as business class, got 0. We apologized to Linda and Bill and said we'd see them on the plane.
We sat with Charles and Judy for a couple of hours and sampled the odd assortment of appetizers they brought out. The plane was supposed to board at 9:20, so about 9:10 we went out there. There was a security check at the gate - they opened all the carry ons and did a quick pat down of everyone. Soon after we boarded, and settled into our seats.
As they entered, Charles asked if we wanted to trade seats - we said no.
The flight left on time, and was off the ground quickly. The estimation was that we'd be in a bit early - we had over 2 hours, but our friends had less, so that was good.
After dinner, I settled down to try to sleep - never easy for me on a plane, but the seats in Business Class are lay flat, so it might work. I was able to get some sleep, until ...
Somewhere around the equator (cool - we crossed the equator), it got bumpy so the seatbelt sign went on, which sort of woke me up. Then, I heard one of the announcements you never want to hear on a plane, especially when you are trying to make a tight connection "If there is a doctor on board, please ring your call button". About 15 minutes later we heard "if anyone has nitroglycerin, ring your call button".
About 15 minutes later, I noticed on the other aisle of the cabin an IV line was hanging from the overhead compartment. I then tried to go back to sleep. While this was going on, I put on Glen's entertainment unit, and put it to the map. We were over Columbia. A bit later, I saw a couple of the flight attendants stop and look at it - that was pretty ominous.
Every so often, I checked the map, and saw we were now over what I think is the Caribbean Sea. Soon after, the pilot came on and announced that the doctor had told them that they should get the passenger off the plane and to a hospital, ASAP. So, we were heading to Kingston Jamaica to drop him off, refuel and get on our way.
Glen and I discussed it, and he thought since there was a refuel, the pilot was putting the pedal to the metal and going to try to make up time. Also, we had tailwinds, so it was possible that, if the stop was less than an hour, we might make our connection, and maybe some of our friends would too.
After landing, it took about 20 minutes to get the passenger off. I saw them take him off and hopefully he'll be OK - it was I heard a heart attack. He was awake and holding the oxygen tank as they took him off, so I hope it's a good sign.
We then sat on the tarmac for another 3+ hours. Periodically the pilot came on - apparently it took a long time to negotiate how to pay for the fuel since United doesn't fly into Kingston, and then there were what appeared to be hours of negotiating removing the bags of the 4 people who left - the passenger and wife and their traveling companions.
At some point, I got out my cell phone and called United about our rebooking. Turns out Glen and I were on different flights. The agent I spoke to said he was going to get us on the same flight, although because he was on an upgrade ticket, he'd probably lose it. Because I was being charged international rates, I asked the agent if I could get off the phone. He said I could, and he would work on it.
After about four hours, and seeing the sunrise on Jamaica, we finally were able to leave. At least we got to kiss in one more airport (if the entry road in Uruguay counted then the tarmac in Kingston should too).
Another 3 hours of flight and we were in DC. We were off the plane quickly and one of the first few people through customs. The immigration agent asked what happened to my old passport. He also asked if we'd been on a farm or ranch in the last few days. We had, but hadn't got near the cows or horses. They also asked about food, etc. All we had was 5 bottles of wine.
We then picked up our luggage and sailed through customs. Next step was to recheck the luggage and go through US security (apparently they are aware how lax international security can be). After that, we went to the Red Carpet Lounge to figure out our next step.
Here's where it got fun. I was on the 12:15 flight and Glen was on the 2:45 one. That was the problem with splitting the reservations. Apparently, the agent I spoke to (and probably wasted several dollars on the call) didn't fix anything. The agent was helpful, but apparently the only way to guarantee that we'd be on the same flight would be to wait until the 4:15 flight. She did however, bump Glen to the top of the standby list for the 12:15.
I went outside to wait for Linda and Bill since I think we could bring them both in. When they arrived, they said they were on a 1pm flight and wanted to get to that gate since it was quite far away. We said our final goodbyes, and they left. As soon as I got back in, I saw Glen had poured me some coffee and juice. I pulled out the PC to work on the blog, and as soon as I started booting it, the agent paged Glen. He was on my flight, although in coach. I plan to write United and say that I think upgrades should be preserved when a connection is missed. If not, either miles should be returned or the passenger should be given a complimentary upgrade later, with priority. I won't get anywhere with it, but it's worth a try.
That flight was uneventful. While on the plane before take off, I arranged from the ride back from the airport. At that point, we'd been awake most of the last 36 hours, so a ride was very appreciated.
The flight got in a bit early, and our ride arrived just after we got our luggage, so the timing was good. We arrived home with just enough time to get the mail. We headed out for an early dinner and early bed after being more or less awake for 44 hours.
And with that, the entries for this trip are finished. When I upload the full pictures to the web I'll post that. Also, a housekeeping point - Glen wants to correct that at the Crown Grill he had the sirloin, not the Porterhouse.
Thanks for reading. Since this is a travel blog, I'll continue to post my trips, but it will probably be a few months. Until our next biggie, I won't send email updates (and there will be an opt in for that).
And some closing thoughts. This was an amazing trip, other than a few problems, that over time will be minor. Next year is the last year, at least for a while, that the big ships will be doing Antarctica, so I'm glad we got this in. And, even though we missed a couple scenic spots, we were very lucky that we both made the Falklands and had that wonderfully sunny day in the Gerlache Straights. And there were many things I never thought I'd see/do - wiping penguin poo off our shoes, watching the Superbowl live from the same place where Shakleton fought for the life of his crew, and hitting the southern end of the Panamerican highway. We'll do more cruises, we may even have some that are more fun - but what we saw on this one (and the people we met and now consider friends) will probably never be surpassed.
Our day began before 7. I decided I needed to build in some time to go to the Purser's office if the credit wasn't applied, and given the wine situation, I wasn't holding my breath. Also, Montevideo is an hour later than BA, so we got to set the clocks back again.
I think that sometime around 4:30, we entered the BA harbor and started to move into position on the very narrow slip. The side thrusters were going and the shaking and noise woke us up. At some point we were able to go back to sleep.
At 6:45 the alarm rang. I got up and dressed, and opened the final bill. To my surprise, the credit for the loss was on there as a "good will" entry. Other than some outlet things that I loved that I probably won't be able to replace, it would have totally made up for it.
We packed our last minute things, swept the room and met Joan and Rich for breakfast. We ate a quick breakfast since we were supposed to meet Linda and Bob for our post cruise day trip at 8 in the dining room reserved for Platinum and above passengers. I sent Glen over while I went to the pursers desk to get a copy of my claim form. With the credit applied, I was pretty sure I didn't need to sign the form, but I wanted to be sure. The guy in front of me was annoyed because he'd tried to leave and they told him he still owed the ship 1.10 (yes, that's a dollar and ten cents). When I got up there, the purser looked for the form and after about 5 or 10 minutes came back and said that I didn't need it because the credit was given. I take that to mean that they destroyed it because they didn't need to send it to Los Angeles (or Santa Clarita more specifically). She did give me a copy of the laundry slip, though.
After that I went down to meet Glen, Linda and Bob, but as soon as I got to the dining room they told me to turn around, our number had been called. We walked off the ship, and waited for the next bus to move people to the terminal. At this point, I'm worrying about our checked luggage, since there are rumors of dishonest port workers in BA, and given the way stuff like this has been going, it wouldn't surprise me. However, we did find all 4 of our checked bags (only two are actual suitcases - the other two are two sportsac duffles) and Bob and Linda found theirs. We got a porter, and loaded most of the bags onto a large cart. Leaving the port there was an xray machine, but they waved us through. We went out to the exit and it was as chaotic as we remembered from embarkation - with several taxi lines, and a throng of greeters. It was 8:45 and our guide wasn't due for another 15 minutes, so we had our porter unload us to the side and we decided to wait. As we did, Cruise Critic friends kept coming out and we kept hugging goodbye. I periodically went out to check for our guide. At about 9, Glen noticed somebody outside holding up a sign that looked to him like it said Grossman. I went over there and it was our guide, Alexjandra. She went with me to our luggage, and immediately took charge, getting a porter, and communicating with the staff on how to get out. She contacted the driver, and we were soon loaded into the van. (We were relieved it was big enough for all our stuff). We drove out of town towards the pampas, about 75 miles I think. The driver apparently needed what Alexjandra called a "technical stop", which we learned meant a bathroom stop. Apparently, it's a non discussed subject in her family. She also got each of us a bottle of water, and we continued.
Our first real stop was in the town of San Antonio de Aresco, which has a historic area. We started with a visit to a silversmith's house which has a small museum of gaucho silver items, including spurs, whips (which weren't used much) and belts. Belts apparently were the start of the silversmithing in the Pampas, they needed to close their belts, and it started with two coins, and as belts got larger so did the number of coins, and it evolved to an elaborate art. We saw a brief video in which the silversmith spoke about how we got into it and what his vision is.
Here's an example of a belt. The 4 coin version.
We then saw the workshops, and the little hotel that is attached. The building is very Mediterranean style. There are also examples of his work, and that of his sons and employees in both silver and leather for sale.
This is the courtyard that separates the workshop from the hotel. It's very pretty.
After that, we walked around the square, looked at the town church, apparently the priest is Irish, and the town hall.
The square. That's the church in the background. It was a very quiet and peaceful day there.
From there, we went to the ranch. We left the main road, and went onto a dirt road. Alexjandra told us it was a typical Pampas road. The ranch was beautiful, several Spanish style building and beautifully landscaped grounds. They had a stable, and also some sheep and goats. The owner and hostess greeted us warmly, and we were offered our choice of drinks. We all opted for wine. We then sat down on the veranda and one of the servers brought us some empanadas, which were wonderful. They were so good, we had a second round - that round they fried, and in the first round they were baked. We decided we liked the baked ones slightly better. We sat on the veranda for a while chatting. Alexjandra asked if we wanted to ride horses or do a carriage ride. We thought a carriage ride would be nice so she went and arranged that. She was gone for a while, but we were enjoying our time socializing and Glen and Bob took pictures. It was very restful.
A view of the ranch. It was very nice.
And here's one of the buildings of the ranch. Those are the gauchos. In addition to their music, they also helped serve the meat at lunch.
Eventually, Alexjandra came back and said it was lunch time, and we'd do the ride afterward. She escorted us to a serious of nicely set picnic tables outside. On the table was red wine, water, bread and 3 kinds of salad - green, a simple cole slaw, and a very good potato salad. They also brought out a tomato salad.
Soon after, servers and gauchos came out carrying plates of barbecued meat. It was all very good. As we were finishing, the gauchos came back with guitars and played music that most closely resembled polka. Soon, other gauchos, including some young boys were dancing with the guests. One of the boys invited me to dance with him, which I accepted but the dance ended as we were about to started. I danced with one of the older men (who apparently wrecked his back breaking horses) and then with Glen. Somebody told the owner we danced tango, so she had the band play a tango and we danced for all the guests. It was great fun.
And now, the music.
By that time, it was after 3pm. Bob and Linda wanted to be at the airport by 6 for their 9:40 flight, since we'd all heard that the airport is a zoo in the evening as all the US flights depart. The driver, talking with other drivers, decided we should leave between 3:30 and 4, (they also discussed the best routes).
Linda and I looked at the hotel rooms, and they looked delightful. We both decided that if we were in Argentina, it would be nice to spend a couple of days there. A little bit before 4pm we thanked our hostess and headed out. We had a relaxed drive back, and circumvented BA. On one of the toll roads, which we learned were all private, we saw shanty towns, something we, at least hadn't seen on our BA visit pre cruise. Alexjandra told us the road is considered dangerous at night, as people get on the overpasses, throw rocks at cars to break the window, and when the car stops, the occupants get robbed. Like any scheme like that, it doesn't always happen, but it can.
When we got to the airport, it was busy with buses and cars. Our driver stopped and Alexjandra ran into the airport to get us luggage carts. She came back with two, and we each loaded our luggage into them. Alexjandra accompanied us into the terminal and then said her good byes. We then said goodbye to Bob and Linda as they went to the American line and we went to United. We will see them when we go to Florida next time.
There was no real line for United business, although I saw long lines for economy for both United and American economy and another for what I think is an Argentine airline. We were asked about our luggage going in, and each bag was tagged for Xray. I think all US bags get that.
When we checked in, we were given an Argentine exit form to fill out, as well as our boarding passes and luggage tags. When we found the area to enter the whole security section, we saw Linda and Bill, other CC friends filling out theirs. I know they were on our flight, so Glen and I agreed to take them into Red Carpet.
First stop was a check that we had boarding passes, and then we went through customs. It was about a 5-10 minute wait, not too bad. Glen's got stamped through easily. The agent stared at mine for a while, since there was no entrance stamp, but she read the police report, and my guess is finally decided not to bother with it, and stamped me through as well. We next went through security - compared to US it's sort of a joke - no pulling the quart bag, laptops, no shoes off, just put the bag on and go.
Once through there, we walked through the shopping mall that is the gate area. Mostly makeup and electronics, same stuff you'd find at home. We were told the lounge was near gate 6 so we went to gate 6. It took a few minutes to find the lounge but we got there. When we got in we discovered that as a member, I could bring one guest, and Glen, as business class, got 0. We apologized to Linda and Bill and said we'd see them on the plane.
We sat with Charles and Judy for a couple of hours and sampled the odd assortment of appetizers they brought out. The plane was supposed to board at 9:20, so about 9:10 we went out there. There was a security check at the gate - they opened all the carry ons and did a quick pat down of everyone. Soon after we boarded, and settled into our seats.
As they entered, Charles asked if we wanted to trade seats - we said no.
The flight left on time, and was off the ground quickly. The estimation was that we'd be in a bit early - we had over 2 hours, but our friends had less, so that was good.
After dinner, I settled down to try to sleep - never easy for me on a plane, but the seats in Business Class are lay flat, so it might work. I was able to get some sleep, until ...
Somewhere around the equator (cool - we crossed the equator), it got bumpy so the seatbelt sign went on, which sort of woke me up. Then, I heard one of the announcements you never want to hear on a plane, especially when you are trying to make a tight connection "If there is a doctor on board, please ring your call button". About 15 minutes later we heard "if anyone has nitroglycerin, ring your call button".
About 15 minutes later, I noticed on the other aisle of the cabin an IV line was hanging from the overhead compartment. I then tried to go back to sleep. While this was going on, I put on Glen's entertainment unit, and put it to the map. We were over Columbia. A bit later, I saw a couple of the flight attendants stop and look at it - that was pretty ominous.
Every so often, I checked the map, and saw we were now over what I think is the Caribbean Sea. Soon after, the pilot came on and announced that the doctor had told them that they should get the passenger off the plane and to a hospital, ASAP. So, we were heading to Kingston Jamaica to drop him off, refuel and get on our way.
Glen and I discussed it, and he thought since there was a refuel, the pilot was putting the pedal to the metal and going to try to make up time. Also, we had tailwinds, so it was possible that, if the stop was less than an hour, we might make our connection, and maybe some of our friends would too.
After landing, it took about 20 minutes to get the passenger off. I saw them take him off and hopefully he'll be OK - it was I heard a heart attack. He was awake and holding the oxygen tank as they took him off, so I hope it's a good sign.
We then sat on the tarmac for another 3+ hours. Periodically the pilot came on - apparently it took a long time to negotiate how to pay for the fuel since United doesn't fly into Kingston, and then there were what appeared to be hours of negotiating removing the bags of the 4 people who left - the passenger and wife and their traveling companions.
At some point, I got out my cell phone and called United about our rebooking. Turns out Glen and I were on different flights. The agent I spoke to said he was going to get us on the same flight, although because he was on an upgrade ticket, he'd probably lose it. Because I was being charged international rates, I asked the agent if I could get off the phone. He said I could, and he would work on it.
After about four hours, and seeing the sunrise on Jamaica, we finally were able to leave. At least we got to kiss in one more airport (if the entry road in Uruguay counted then the tarmac in Kingston should too).
Another 3 hours of flight and we were in DC. We were off the plane quickly and one of the first few people through customs. The immigration agent asked what happened to my old passport. He also asked if we'd been on a farm or ranch in the last few days. We had, but hadn't got near the cows or horses. They also asked about food, etc. All we had was 5 bottles of wine.
We then picked up our luggage and sailed through customs. Next step was to recheck the luggage and go through US security (apparently they are aware how lax international security can be). After that, we went to the Red Carpet Lounge to figure out our next step.
Here's where it got fun. I was on the 12:15 flight and Glen was on the 2:45 one. That was the problem with splitting the reservations. Apparently, the agent I spoke to (and probably wasted several dollars on the call) didn't fix anything. The agent was helpful, but apparently the only way to guarantee that we'd be on the same flight would be to wait until the 4:15 flight. She did however, bump Glen to the top of the standby list for the 12:15.
I went outside to wait for Linda and Bill since I think we could bring them both in. When they arrived, they said they were on a 1pm flight and wanted to get to that gate since it was quite far away. We said our final goodbyes, and they left. As soon as I got back in, I saw Glen had poured me some coffee and juice. I pulled out the PC to work on the blog, and as soon as I started booting it, the agent paged Glen. He was on my flight, although in coach. I plan to write United and say that I think upgrades should be preserved when a connection is missed. If not, either miles should be returned or the passenger should be given a complimentary upgrade later, with priority. I won't get anywhere with it, but it's worth a try.
That flight was uneventful. While on the plane before take off, I arranged from the ride back from the airport. At that point, we'd been awake most of the last 36 hours, so a ride was very appreciated.
The flight got in a bit early, and our ride arrived just after we got our luggage, so the timing was good. We arrived home with just enough time to get the mail. We headed out for an early dinner and early bed after being more or less awake for 44 hours.
And with that, the entries for this trip are finished. When I upload the full pictures to the web I'll post that. Also, a housekeeping point - Glen wants to correct that at the Crown Grill he had the sirloin, not the Porterhouse.
Thanks for reading. Since this is a travel blog, I'll continue to post my trips, but it will probably be a few months. Until our next biggie, I won't send email updates (and there will be an opt in for that).
And some closing thoughts. This was an amazing trip, other than a few problems, that over time will be minor. Next year is the last year, at least for a while, that the big ships will be doing Antarctica, so I'm glad we got this in. And, even though we missed a couple scenic spots, we were very lucky that we both made the Falklands and had that wonderfully sunny day in the Gerlache Straights. And there were many things I never thought I'd see/do - wiping penguin poo off our shoes, watching the Superbowl live from the same place where Shakleton fought for the life of his crew, and hitting the southern end of the Panamerican highway. We'll do more cruises, we may even have some that are more fun - but what we saw on this one (and the people we met and now consider friends) will probably never be surpassed.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wine, Laundry and the Purser
Feb 17
Our last day of the cruise. We had a winery visit planned with 5 other CC couples, and the couple that added through the winery. We set the alarm for 7 because it would be our last day for breakfast at Sabattini's, and we didn't want to miss that. I woke up early and saw from the balcony that we were coming into the harbor at Montevideo. A little while later, I noticed the ship moving sideways, meaning we were docking. About then, the last couple called to say they were sick, and wouldn't be coming. He told Glen he knew there was a waiting list. It was annoying since it's impossible to pull someone off a waitlist at 7am on day of. I did email the winery before heading out of the room, hoping we won't have to pay for their lunch.
Montevideo at dawn. This was taken as we sailed into the harbor.
We had our last breakfast at Sabattini's, and at the end made a point of thanking Pedro and the crew for their outstanding and friendly service during the cruise. They made the breakfast experience really special.
We then met our friends at the wheelhouse and proceeded off the ship. Because we'd gotten in a bit early, there was no line at the gangway, and we all headed off the ship. I'd very carefully written down the information Maddy (the contact) had given me, and in dealing with the cancellation, left it in the room. Because I'd written it down, it was somewhat committed to memory, so we left the port. At the location where I thought they'd be, there were lots of vans, but they were all there to get passengers to take tours, none were waiting for us. As I was considering heading back to the ship to get the phone number, a van pulls up, a young woman jumps out asking if one of us is Abby. The van they usually use is broken, so that's why they were slightly (very slightly - about 3 minutes) late. She introduced herself as Cecelia or CeCe, we all piled in and went off for our city tour. She showed us several parks, monuments and historic buildings, and also a part of the original wall around the old city. We stopped at a beach park along their shore (remember that like BA, Montevedio is a port along the Rio de la Plata, not the ocean) to take pictures. We got some of parrots, which are wild here. As we were leaving, the buses from the ships (both the Star and one of the Royal Caribbean ships were in town) were arriving, and we were very glad that we were on our private tour.
Glen at the beach park. I can't remember exactly what the sculpture behind him is.
Still at the park, these are parrots. Yup, they are wild in South America. Birdwatching here certainly beats Alaska.
After that we headed towards the winery. We had a few extra minutes, so CeCe showed us the new international airport. As we drove by the entrance, Glen and I kissed, and we got another airport in. (If you don't know, we're trying to kiss in as many airports as possible - this started when we were both traveling a lot).
We arrived at the winery and were greeted by Maddy, the -it turns out young - women I'd set this up with. After a few minutes, we got a tour of the winery. Because it's harvest time, we tasted a grape called Tannet - one I don't see at home at all. It was, like every wine grape I've tasted, very sweet. We then did a standard winery tour, showing the crush and separation of stems and seeds, the fermentation tanks, the aging tanks, and the bottling operation.
This is the crusher. For whatever reason, I usually don't visit California wineries during harvest season. So it was fun to see it in action.
They make two brands - their fine wine and their table wine. One of the main differences is the amount of pruning of the vines. What was cool is that because it was harvest time, we actually saw the crush and bottling operation in action. Very cool.
The winery. It's very pretty and quiet there.
After the tour, it was time for tasting and lunch.
This is Glen in the dining room. It was very pretty and a delightful experience.
Lunch started with plates of cold cuts, veggies and cheese, and a white wine sample. After that we two red wines with potatoes, sprinkled with Rosemary (which we think was growing just outside the tasting room), salad and barbecue meats. It all very good. We finished with sparkling wine and flan with dulche de leche. Quite possibly the best flan dessert I've ever had.
I rarely do food pictures, but this tasted even better than it looked. I'm going to Uruguay for dessert every night from now on.
Once lunch was over, we had to pay for it. She asked me to pay cash for the transportation and tour, so we just split it 12 ways. It was probably only a dollar or two more per person, no biggie. Each couple paid for their own lunch and the bottle of wine we all felt compelled to buy. I think we were all sorry that Montevideo was at the end of our trip - we would have loved to buy more and and drink it during the cruise.
CeCe gave us a bit more tour on the way back - we saw the presidential palace - which the current president doesn't live in. He's a doctor, lives in his own house and btw, has kept up his practice since he's one of the best oncologists in Uruguay. He didn't run for reelection, and the new president (inaugurated next month) won't live there either.
After the tour, most of us went back to the ship. We went back to our room to to prepare for the drink off, and the laundry debacle began.
Two days earlier, I'd sent laundry out. It should have arrived on the night of the 16th, but it didn't. Our steward told Glen it was done, but they couldn't find it. They had a search procedure and were going through it. When the laundry didn't arrive last night, I called the purser's desk. They called the laundry, who said it was don't but would be ready between 8 and 9 am. When we got back to the room, it wasn't there. I called again. They said it still wasn't done. At that point, we paged the steward's duty manager. He came by about 25 minutes later, and said it was lost, and I'd have to file a loss claim. So down to the pursers desk I went. The purser I spoke to was the one I talked to last night, and she was very apologetic, and told me that was what she'd been told. She then called the laundry to try to get a straight story. They told her they didn't have the ticket, implying it hadn't been submitted - they went back and forth and involved our steward. To make a long story less long, I gave her the claim info and the whole thing to about 40 minutes, so I missed the first 20 of our drink off. I finally got up there, and watched sail away from the balcony with friends. We then said good bye to some of them. Rich suggested we go to the pursers desk and talk to the hotel manager about it - with management involved they might be able to find it.
At about 6:30 we went to the pursers desk and asked to speak to the hotel manager or the purser. After about 5 minutes we were ushered into the First Pursers office. Glen stated that we'd been given the runaround for two days, and we just wanted to be sure that all was being done that could be. He apologized, said it was, and that he'd personally been down there to look for it. He was going to have the night shift look one more time, and if it really wasn't there, he'd give us the loss claim as an on board credit later in the evening. He also offered to buy us dinner at the Crown Grill or Sabattini's, but we wanted to have dinner with Joan and Rich at our usual table. He understood that and asked if we drank wine. We said we did, so he got our time and dining room.
Just enough time to go back, change for dinner and pack. We didn't want to put our bags out yet on the off chance the laundry would show up.
We enjoyed our last dinner with Joan and Rich. I don't know what the purser meant about wine, but none showed up. Maybe our old table got it or it would show up as a credit.
After dinner they came up to our room to pick up the roses Glen gave me for Valentine's day. Once they left, after a fond just-in-case farewell (we were going to try to meet them for breakfast at 7:30) Glen and I decided to walk around outside for a while. We found a relatively dark and quiet spot to look at the night sky - wait for this - at the mini-golf course that's just behind the Jumbotron screen. We enjoyed the Southern sky one last time.
Bed was next - early day again tomorrow.
Our last day of the cruise. We had a winery visit planned with 5 other CC couples, and the couple that added through the winery. We set the alarm for 7 because it would be our last day for breakfast at Sabattini's, and we didn't want to miss that. I woke up early and saw from the balcony that we were coming into the harbor at Montevideo. A little while later, I noticed the ship moving sideways, meaning we were docking. About then, the last couple called to say they were sick, and wouldn't be coming. He told Glen he knew there was a waiting list. It was annoying since it's impossible to pull someone off a waitlist at 7am on day of. I did email the winery before heading out of the room, hoping we won't have to pay for their lunch.
Montevideo at dawn. This was taken as we sailed into the harbor.
We had our last breakfast at Sabattini's, and at the end made a point of thanking Pedro and the crew for their outstanding and friendly service during the cruise. They made the breakfast experience really special.
We then met our friends at the wheelhouse and proceeded off the ship. Because we'd gotten in a bit early, there was no line at the gangway, and we all headed off the ship. I'd very carefully written down the information Maddy (the contact) had given me, and in dealing with the cancellation, left it in the room. Because I'd written it down, it was somewhat committed to memory, so we left the port. At the location where I thought they'd be, there were lots of vans, but they were all there to get passengers to take tours, none were waiting for us. As I was considering heading back to the ship to get the phone number, a van pulls up, a young woman jumps out asking if one of us is Abby. The van they usually use is broken, so that's why they were slightly (very slightly - about 3 minutes) late. She introduced herself as Cecelia or CeCe, we all piled in and went off for our city tour. She showed us several parks, monuments and historic buildings, and also a part of the original wall around the old city. We stopped at a beach park along their shore (remember that like BA, Montevedio is a port along the Rio de la Plata, not the ocean) to take pictures. We got some of parrots, which are wild here. As we were leaving, the buses from the ships (both the Star and one of the Royal Caribbean ships were in town) were arriving, and we were very glad that we were on our private tour.
Glen at the beach park. I can't remember exactly what the sculpture behind him is.
Still at the park, these are parrots. Yup, they are wild in South America. Birdwatching here certainly beats Alaska.
After that we headed towards the winery. We had a few extra minutes, so CeCe showed us the new international airport. As we drove by the entrance, Glen and I kissed, and we got another airport in. (If you don't know, we're trying to kiss in as many airports as possible - this started when we were both traveling a lot).
We arrived at the winery and were greeted by Maddy, the -it turns out young - women I'd set this up with. After a few minutes, we got a tour of the winery. Because it's harvest time, we tasted a grape called Tannet - one I don't see at home at all. It was, like every wine grape I've tasted, very sweet. We then did a standard winery tour, showing the crush and separation of stems and seeds, the fermentation tanks, the aging tanks, and the bottling operation.
This is the crusher. For whatever reason, I usually don't visit California wineries during harvest season. So it was fun to see it in action.
They make two brands - their fine wine and their table wine. One of the main differences is the amount of pruning of the vines. What was cool is that because it was harvest time, we actually saw the crush and bottling operation in action. Very cool.
The winery. It's very pretty and quiet there.
After the tour, it was time for tasting and lunch.
This is Glen in the dining room. It was very pretty and a delightful experience.
Lunch started with plates of cold cuts, veggies and cheese, and a white wine sample. After that we two red wines with potatoes, sprinkled with Rosemary (which we think was growing just outside the tasting room), salad and barbecue meats. It all very good. We finished with sparkling wine and flan with dulche de leche. Quite possibly the best flan dessert I've ever had.
I rarely do food pictures, but this tasted even better than it looked. I'm going to Uruguay for dessert every night from now on.
Once lunch was over, we had to pay for it. She asked me to pay cash for the transportation and tour, so we just split it 12 ways. It was probably only a dollar or two more per person, no biggie. Each couple paid for their own lunch and the bottle of wine we all felt compelled to buy. I think we were all sorry that Montevideo was at the end of our trip - we would have loved to buy more and and drink it during the cruise.
CeCe gave us a bit more tour on the way back - we saw the presidential palace - which the current president doesn't live in. He's a doctor, lives in his own house and btw, has kept up his practice since he's one of the best oncologists in Uruguay. He didn't run for reelection, and the new president (inaugurated next month) won't live there either.
After the tour, most of us went back to the ship. We went back to our room to to prepare for the drink off, and the laundry debacle began.
Two days earlier, I'd sent laundry out. It should have arrived on the night of the 16th, but it didn't. Our steward told Glen it was done, but they couldn't find it. They had a search procedure and were going through it. When the laundry didn't arrive last night, I called the purser's desk. They called the laundry, who said it was don't but would be ready between 8 and 9 am. When we got back to the room, it wasn't there. I called again. They said it still wasn't done. At that point, we paged the steward's duty manager. He came by about 25 minutes later, and said it was lost, and I'd have to file a loss claim. So down to the pursers desk I went. The purser I spoke to was the one I talked to last night, and she was very apologetic, and told me that was what she'd been told. She then called the laundry to try to get a straight story. They told her they didn't have the ticket, implying it hadn't been submitted - they went back and forth and involved our steward. To make a long story less long, I gave her the claim info and the whole thing to about 40 minutes, so I missed the first 20 of our drink off. I finally got up there, and watched sail away from the balcony with friends. We then said good bye to some of them. Rich suggested we go to the pursers desk and talk to the hotel manager about it - with management involved they might be able to find it.
At about 6:30 we went to the pursers desk and asked to speak to the hotel manager or the purser. After about 5 minutes we were ushered into the First Pursers office. Glen stated that we'd been given the runaround for two days, and we just wanted to be sure that all was being done that could be. He apologized, said it was, and that he'd personally been down there to look for it. He was going to have the night shift look one more time, and if it really wasn't there, he'd give us the loss claim as an on board credit later in the evening. He also offered to buy us dinner at the Crown Grill or Sabattini's, but we wanted to have dinner with Joan and Rich at our usual table. He understood that and asked if we drank wine. We said we did, so he got our time and dining room.
Just enough time to go back, change for dinner and pack. We didn't want to put our bags out yet on the off chance the laundry would show up.
We enjoyed our last dinner with Joan and Rich. I don't know what the purser meant about wine, but none showed up. Maybe our old table got it or it would show up as a credit.
After dinner they came up to our room to pick up the roses Glen gave me for Valentine's day. Once they left, after a fond just-in-case farewell (we were going to try to meet them for breakfast at 7:30) Glen and I decided to walk around outside for a while. We found a relatively dark and quiet spot to look at the night sky - wait for this - at the mini-golf course that's just behind the Jumbotron screen. We enjoyed the Southern sky one last time.
Bed was next - early day again tomorrow.
A Generic Sea Day
Feb 16
Our last sea day of this outstanding cruise. We slept in, and missed breakfast and the line dance review.
Around 11:00 we decided to find some coffee and pastries. The Patisserie had no seating, so we decided to wander over to Rich and Joan's room because I had to give them something. As we were about to drop it in the mailbox, Rich came back so he invited us in.
I have never seen anything like their room (and, Rich and Joan, in case you're reading this, I mean it in the nicest possible way) - the walls, which I just learned are magnetic, are covered with magnetic clips with all kinds of spreadsheets, maps and other documents about their four cruises. They also showed us the various tools and medicines they take with them. I thought I was hyper organized, but I bow to the masters.
We spent some time discussing future cruises, and looking through a cruise atlas that the future cruise guy had given Rich. We hope to cruise together again sometime. By this time it was lunch time, and they invited us to tag along with them and the CC folk that were going to Montevideo with them. We won't be having dinner with them tonight because some of those people are treating them to dinner at the steakhouse as a thank you for shepherding them around in ports. It was a nice lunch.
After lunch, it was almost time for the boat race. Glen didn't feel well, so I went to the boat race. What's the boat race? teams build boats (or as our guide in Punta Arenas said, a boat on a boat) that have to be able to haul a 12 pack of beer across the pool and back without sinking. If more than one boat makes it, the winner is based on style points as decided by the audience and the cruise staff.
Our friend's boat was a whale made (at least externally) of duct tape. The belly held the payload. The team name was "Moby Drake", and they all had hats commemorating that. There is apparently a story, but it wasn't read. Hopefully someone will post it on our roll call. I got to be the official cheerleader and photographer for the team.
They were able to successfully send it across the pool and back, and a hose clever let Ralph, the driver, blow water out. However all three boats made it, so the winner was another boat that looked like a miniature ocean liner. However the audience vote (by applause) was so close that they were awarded duplicate first place - medals (plastic) and 12 beers. That lead to a problem - how to drink all those beers when the cruise was ending soon. They wanted to have a small gathering to drink it, and no one except us had room to host it. So we decided that at 4:45, just before sailaway from Montevideo, we'd have all the roll call people we were close to come over with their left over drinks and we'd have a small good bye party.
After a break it was time for our last trivia game. This time, Glen came with me and we both played and (and lost - so no trivia win for me). Following trivia, we went to the Elite lounge, then dinner prep, then dinner.
Rich and Joan were at the Crown Grill that night, so Glen and I were going to invite the couple at our waiter's other table to join us (they were alone at a table for 6 every night), but they didn't show up either. So, we had a nice "chef's gala dinner" together. After dinner, we went Explorers to hear Groove Babies, but they were finishing a set. We hung around during the break, and Glen gave the band some contact info to get them in touch with his brother, who has connections in the music business. By the time we finished talking with them, it was time for their next set, so we danced that entire set (sitting out a couple). The highlight was that we decided to follow the vocal line of Love Shack and dance a tango. When all you have is the rock band, you get creative. We had a great time.
We had an early day at Montevideo the next day, so went to bed soon after.
Our last sea day of this outstanding cruise. We slept in, and missed breakfast and the line dance review.
Around 11:00 we decided to find some coffee and pastries. The Patisserie had no seating, so we decided to wander over to Rich and Joan's room because I had to give them something. As we were about to drop it in the mailbox, Rich came back so he invited us in.
I have never seen anything like their room (and, Rich and Joan, in case you're reading this, I mean it in the nicest possible way) - the walls, which I just learned are magnetic, are covered with magnetic clips with all kinds of spreadsheets, maps and other documents about their four cruises. They also showed us the various tools and medicines they take with them. I thought I was hyper organized, but I bow to the masters.
We spent some time discussing future cruises, and looking through a cruise atlas that the future cruise guy had given Rich. We hope to cruise together again sometime. By this time it was lunch time, and they invited us to tag along with them and the CC folk that were going to Montevideo with them. We won't be having dinner with them tonight because some of those people are treating them to dinner at the steakhouse as a thank you for shepherding them around in ports. It was a nice lunch.
After lunch, it was almost time for the boat race. Glen didn't feel well, so I went to the boat race. What's the boat race? teams build boats (or as our guide in Punta Arenas said, a boat on a boat) that have to be able to haul a 12 pack of beer across the pool and back without sinking. If more than one boat makes it, the winner is based on style points as decided by the audience and the cruise staff.
Our friend's boat was a whale made (at least externally) of duct tape. The belly held the payload. The team name was "Moby Drake", and they all had hats commemorating that. There is apparently a story, but it wasn't read. Hopefully someone will post it on our roll call. I got to be the official cheerleader and photographer for the team.
They were able to successfully send it across the pool and back, and a hose clever let Ralph, the driver, blow water out. However all three boats made it, so the winner was another boat that looked like a miniature ocean liner. However the audience vote (by applause) was so close that they were awarded duplicate first place - medals (plastic) and 12 beers. That lead to a problem - how to drink all those beers when the cruise was ending soon. They wanted to have a small gathering to drink it, and no one except us had room to host it. So we decided that at 4:45, just before sailaway from Montevideo, we'd have all the roll call people we were close to come over with their left over drinks and we'd have a small good bye party.
After a break it was time for our last trivia game. This time, Glen came with me and we both played and (and lost - so no trivia win for me). Following trivia, we went to the Elite lounge, then dinner prep, then dinner.
Rich and Joan were at the Crown Grill that night, so Glen and I were going to invite the couple at our waiter's other table to join us (they were alone at a table for 6 every night), but they didn't show up either. So, we had a nice "chef's gala dinner" together. After dinner, we went Explorers to hear Groove Babies, but they were finishing a set. We hung around during the break, and Glen gave the band some contact info to get them in touch with his brother, who has connections in the music business. By the time we finished talking with them, it was time for their next set, so we danced that entire set (sitting out a couple). The highlight was that we decided to follow the vocal line of Love Shack and dance a tango. When all you have is the rock band, you get creative. We had a great time.
We had an early day at Montevideo the next day, so went to bed soon after.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sea day, formal night, dance contest, balloon drop
Feb 15
Today was the day of our second bridge visit. We woke up at 9am in order to have a quick (pastry and coffee) breakfast in Sabatini's. We had to be at the deck 14 elevator lobby at 10:25 and we were right on time. At about 10:30 someone came to check off the names. We were soon led into the bridge and given an overview, similar to what we had on the Ultimate Ship tour but slightly different. Once again, we could wander around. Captain Fortezze was there (I think I mentioned earlier that he was the captain on our Alaska cruise). We chatted with him for quite a while, he's very personable once you get him talking - we talked about his family (when we went to Alaska we spoke to his wife a lot, and met his baby girl who's now 3 and a half. She also now has a baby brother). He also told us about the decision not to enter Iceberg Alley - apparently they were faced with almost solid ice and complete darkness - making it impossible to distinguish icebergs from white caps, so the decision to not go in had to be made. We also discussed the fact that it was good we did Alaska before Antarctica. It was a nice chat. We then looked at the flags - the alphabet flags and country and state flags - they fly those when visiting a port. Here's the Falklands flag.
This was taken on the day we visited the Falklands. They had just put the flag up. A trivia question. What animal is on the flag? See bottom of post for answer.
By this time it was getting close to noon, and their shift switch. I got my picture taken with the captain, we thanked the crew and headed out.
And here I am with Captain Perrin. Woo hoo.
Captain Fertezze was behind us on the stairs, so as we said good bye we asked him about the wave height on the Alaska cruise. His only answer was "It was bad. It was very bad". I guess we'll never know, but we were on deck 14 and getting sea water on the balcony. Definitely worse than anything here (actually, the water was never that bad it was wind).
We went back to the room, and then to the dining room for lunch. We had lunch with a woman from Canada and one from Alabama and had a very pleasant chat. After lunch, we dropped by the ballroom class, but it was in Explorers Lounge and the floor was very, very crowded. So Glen left and I stuck around for a bit to help one of our CC friends with her waltz and to figure out exactly what Rumba he was teaching. I learned the basic and then Clare, a young lady who was apparently a competitive dancer in Canada did it with me, as her partner was helping my CC friend. I also ran through songs on my Ipod.
After the dance lesson, at 2pm, we had a meeting with Ben of the cruise staff to go over what dances we'd be doing that night and to download our music. Because there were only 3 or 4 (he didn't have the right cabin number for one) couples, we got to select two dances each. We decided to do Tango to an Elvis Presley song, and Nightclub Two-step to our favorite Mana song whose name I never can remember. The other couples there were from the East Bay, and one was very experienced, and very very strong Latin dancers. Both of those couples chose rumba and cha-cha.
The tango couple was giving a lesson during that time, so we went to the class for a bit. It was, like before very crowded. We took part for a bit and then went up to the carpeted area to practice. Joan and Rich were there and we helped them for a bit. We also told them that we had to be out of dinner by 9:25 because our event started at 9:30. That's my biggest complaint with the cruise - most of the "fun" events began at 9:30 so we missed most of them. And the cruise staff has not been very responsive to that. Their attitude is that there is "only so much time". So fine, make late seating earlier.
After the meeting, we wandered around and headed upstairs. Linda and Bob had left a bottle of wine in our room, and we'd invited them over to drink it. We also invited Terri and Rod over because they didn't make the cabin crawl and want to see a suite.
We enjoyed the wine until about 5:20 when we decided to go up to Skywalker's for the elite lounge. We stayed until 7, with other friends joining us, practiced a tango on the way out and went to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was a rushed affair because we had to be out by 9:25 - usually it's around 10. Our waiter was fast and efficient, and we arrived just in time. We were ushered to the "green room" a corner of the Explorer's Lounge with a single entrance. Couple number 4, Dottie and Carl (very good west coast swing dancers, but not really ballroom dancers) arrived. Soon after, Ben and Veronica (dance instructors) showed up with some champagne.
At 9:30ish they played ballroom blitz. Then Ben announced that they found the four best dance couples on the ship (my comment - did they check every cabin - somebody else said something about the only 8 people willing to do this) and then the audience would choose the best by paper ballot, one per group, not person. They also stopped giving out ballots once the dancing started.
We were all introduced, and then we did a group waltz. Then each couple did their first dance. The first couple was one of the two east bay couples, and relatively new, but they did nicely. Next, Dottie and Carl did a very good west coast swing. Lily and Johnny went next and did a technically good rumba. We then did our tango, pretty good, not as strong as I would have liked, but no major mistakes. After the second dance, we were to be interviewed. Elaine and Gary, couple 1 did a nice cha cha, Dottie and Carl a good waltz, not as strong as their west coast, though. Lily and Johnny did a cha cha that was almost certainly choreographed and probably for competition, as it was that style, and technically pretty close to perfect. Cha cha is clearly their money dance. We finished with our two step, which I think we did well. Ben asked us how long we'd been married and dancing and where we danced. Of the four times he asked that, we were the third to answer California. Once we were done being interviewed, there was a swing while they tallied the votes - and the crowd was invited to join in.
The results were announced, and Johnny and Lily won (rightly so) and we were second so we are now the proud owners of a bottle of champagne and a second Princess dance trophy.
We then wandered around talking to people. There was a balloon drop at 11:15, so at 10:45 we went upstairs to drop our stuff and then came back down. By then, the atrium was packed and the Groove Babies (rock band) was playing. We would have gone to the dance floor if we could have got there, but we couldn't so we danced at the periphery. At 11:15 the balloons dropped, and we got one to pop.
To bed after that, with some internet time.
Trivia answer: A sheep.
Today was the day of our second bridge visit. We woke up at 9am in order to have a quick (pastry and coffee) breakfast in Sabatini's. We had to be at the deck 14 elevator lobby at 10:25 and we were right on time. At about 10:30 someone came to check off the names. We were soon led into the bridge and given an overview, similar to what we had on the Ultimate Ship tour but slightly different. Once again, we could wander around. Captain Fortezze was there (I think I mentioned earlier that he was the captain on our Alaska cruise). We chatted with him for quite a while, he's very personable once you get him talking - we talked about his family (when we went to Alaska we spoke to his wife a lot, and met his baby girl who's now 3 and a half. She also now has a baby brother). He also told us about the decision not to enter Iceberg Alley - apparently they were faced with almost solid ice and complete darkness - making it impossible to distinguish icebergs from white caps, so the decision to not go in had to be made. We also discussed the fact that it was good we did Alaska before Antarctica. It was a nice chat. We then looked at the flags - the alphabet flags and country and state flags - they fly those when visiting a port. Here's the Falklands flag.
This was taken on the day we visited the Falklands. They had just put the flag up. A trivia question. What animal is on the flag? See bottom of post for answer.
By this time it was getting close to noon, and their shift switch. I got my picture taken with the captain, we thanked the crew and headed out.
And here I am with Captain Perrin. Woo hoo.
Captain Fertezze was behind us on the stairs, so as we said good bye we asked him about the wave height on the Alaska cruise. His only answer was "It was bad. It was very bad". I guess we'll never know, but we were on deck 14 and getting sea water on the balcony. Definitely worse than anything here (actually, the water was never that bad it was wind).
We went back to the room, and then to the dining room for lunch. We had lunch with a woman from Canada and one from Alabama and had a very pleasant chat. After lunch, we dropped by the ballroom class, but it was in Explorers Lounge and the floor was very, very crowded. So Glen left and I stuck around for a bit to help one of our CC friends with her waltz and to figure out exactly what Rumba he was teaching. I learned the basic and then Clare, a young lady who was apparently a competitive dancer in Canada did it with me, as her partner was helping my CC friend. I also ran through songs on my Ipod.
After the dance lesson, at 2pm, we had a meeting with Ben of the cruise staff to go over what dances we'd be doing that night and to download our music. Because there were only 3 or 4 (he didn't have the right cabin number for one) couples, we got to select two dances each. We decided to do Tango to an Elvis Presley song, and Nightclub Two-step to our favorite Mana song whose name I never can remember. The other couples there were from the East Bay, and one was very experienced, and very very strong Latin dancers. Both of those couples chose rumba and cha-cha.
The tango couple was giving a lesson during that time, so we went to the class for a bit. It was, like before very crowded. We took part for a bit and then went up to the carpeted area to practice. Joan and Rich were there and we helped them for a bit. We also told them that we had to be out of dinner by 9:25 because our event started at 9:30. That's my biggest complaint with the cruise - most of the "fun" events began at 9:30 so we missed most of them. And the cruise staff has not been very responsive to that. Their attitude is that there is "only so much time". So fine, make late seating earlier.
After the meeting, we wandered around and headed upstairs. Linda and Bob had left a bottle of wine in our room, and we'd invited them over to drink it. We also invited Terri and Rod over because they didn't make the cabin crawl and want to see a suite.
We enjoyed the wine until about 5:20 when we decided to go up to Skywalker's for the elite lounge. We stayed until 7, with other friends joining us, practiced a tango on the way out and went to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was a rushed affair because we had to be out by 9:25 - usually it's around 10. Our waiter was fast and efficient, and we arrived just in time. We were ushered to the "green room" a corner of the Explorer's Lounge with a single entrance. Couple number 4, Dottie and Carl (very good west coast swing dancers, but not really ballroom dancers) arrived. Soon after, Ben and Veronica (dance instructors) showed up with some champagne.
At 9:30ish they played ballroom blitz. Then Ben announced that they found the four best dance couples on the ship (my comment - did they check every cabin - somebody else said something about the only 8 people willing to do this) and then the audience would choose the best by paper ballot, one per group, not person. They also stopped giving out ballots once the dancing started.
We were all introduced, and then we did a group waltz. Then each couple did their first dance. The first couple was one of the two east bay couples, and relatively new, but they did nicely. Next, Dottie and Carl did a very good west coast swing. Lily and Johnny went next and did a technically good rumba. We then did our tango, pretty good, not as strong as I would have liked, but no major mistakes. After the second dance, we were to be interviewed. Elaine and Gary, couple 1 did a nice cha cha, Dottie and Carl a good waltz, not as strong as their west coast, though. Lily and Johnny did a cha cha that was almost certainly choreographed and probably for competition, as it was that style, and technically pretty close to perfect. Cha cha is clearly their money dance. We finished with our two step, which I think we did well. Ben asked us how long we'd been married and dancing and where we danced. Of the four times he asked that, we were the third to answer California. Once we were done being interviewed, there was a swing while they tallied the votes - and the crowd was invited to join in.
The results were announced, and Johnny and Lily won (rightly so) and we were second so we are now the proud owners of a bottle of champagne and a second Princess dance trophy.
We then wandered around talking to people. There was a balloon drop at 11:15, so at 10:45 we went upstairs to drop our stuff and then came back down. By then, the atrium was packed and the Groove Babies (rock band) was playing. We would have gone to the dance floor if we could have got there, but we couldn't so we danced at the periphery. At 11:15 the balloons dropped, and we got one to pop.
To bed after that, with some internet time.
Trivia answer: A sheep.
The holiday that we ignore and Hooray for Google
Feb 14
Valentine's Day, and we slept in a bit. For the first time 4 days we didn't have an early event.
Breakfast started at Sabatini's again. Pretty much the usual great service. I left at 10:20 to go to line dance class. It turns out that Melissa, the teacher, is teaching her own line dances, rather than the ones that the cruise line gives her. That's all well and good, but her dances tend to be a lot of small footwork movement (heels and toes, stomps and jazz squares), and not a lot of the big moves such as grapevines and walks. Her logic is that people who do a lot of cruises tend to get bored with the same old dances. I can, on the one hand, see that logic, but on the other, it would be nice to have dances that are familiar and that would be useful for future cruises. Oh well, still fun.
After line dance I chatted with some CC friends, and then hung out until 1pm for the ballroom class. It was a review of jive, which is single step swing. We did that, and then, after some more time chatting with friends, headed to the Pub Lunch. This time it was a Scottish type theme - Scotch Eggs, prawns and chips, chicken curry and Sherry trifle. By the time we sat down they were out of both the trifle and chicken curry. So we had Prawns and Chips and then left. We stopped at the store to buy Joan and Rich some chocolate for their anniversary.
At 4pm, they were doing a mass vow renewal. We didn't sign up, but I wanted a coffee around that time, so I went down for it. and watched the renewal. The captain read a poem, had them all recite vows. He finished with "now the grooms may kiss the brides". A little Universal Life Churchish for my taste, but people participating seemed to like it. Our group was of two minds on it. They either loved the idea or thought it was the silliest thing ever. Some of the comments from the silly camp: "I haven't broken my vows, so I don't need to renew" "I didn't know they expired" and (Glen's) "I'm not renewing my vowel til Vanna White does it".
After that, trivia. It was romance themed and we didn't do very well.
When I got back to the room, I found that our "swag" bag from the Ultimate Ship's tour had arrived. In it (for each of us) was a deluxe robe, chef's jacket and laundry bag. There were also copies of all the pictures they took, including the one with us and the captain, and a personalized note pad. Nice souvenir - it's good thing I brought folding suitcases.
Following that was the usual get ready for dinner, relax have dinner. There was a special dessert tonight for us - on the previous set of menus, before the last overhaul, there was a dessert on Italian night that was peach halves stuffed with almond souffle. It got removed a year or so ago. I'd asked the head waiter about it, and he said he'd asked some pastry chefs and nobody remembered. He told me if I could get the exact title they might be able to make it. I googled, and found it, and had given it to him the day before. He had it made for us tonight. In addition, our waiter had a Love Boat Dream dessert with a candle for Joan and Rich. Since Rich doesn't like that dessert he wanted a menu and it took quite a while to get. So, when the headwaiter came over, Rich complained about our assistant waiter. I think he's a nice kid, just inexperienced. I don't know what will come of that, hopefully they'll work with Johnathan. He's very nice, so I think he'll eventually learn. Wolfgang (headwaiter) just felt bad that Rich had waited til the end of the cruise to tell him.
We did a couple of Argentine Tangos after dinner. Glen told me that while we were dancing, one of the Argentinian couples watched one of our moves and said "muy bien". I guess we're doing OK.
Then it was back to the room and bed. Another relatively early day tomorrow.
Valentine's Day, and we slept in a bit. For the first time 4 days we didn't have an early event.
Breakfast started at Sabatini's again. Pretty much the usual great service. I left at 10:20 to go to line dance class. It turns out that Melissa, the teacher, is teaching her own line dances, rather than the ones that the cruise line gives her. That's all well and good, but her dances tend to be a lot of small footwork movement (heels and toes, stomps and jazz squares), and not a lot of the big moves such as grapevines and walks. Her logic is that people who do a lot of cruises tend to get bored with the same old dances. I can, on the one hand, see that logic, but on the other, it would be nice to have dances that are familiar and that would be useful for future cruises. Oh well, still fun.
After line dance I chatted with some CC friends, and then hung out until 1pm for the ballroom class. It was a review of jive, which is single step swing. We did that, and then, after some more time chatting with friends, headed to the Pub Lunch. This time it was a Scottish type theme - Scotch Eggs, prawns and chips, chicken curry and Sherry trifle. By the time we sat down they were out of both the trifle and chicken curry. So we had Prawns and Chips and then left. We stopped at the store to buy Joan and Rich some chocolate for their anniversary.
At 4pm, they were doing a mass vow renewal. We didn't sign up, but I wanted a coffee around that time, so I went down for it. and watched the renewal. The captain read a poem, had them all recite vows. He finished with "now the grooms may kiss the brides". A little Universal Life Churchish for my taste, but people participating seemed to like it. Our group was of two minds on it. They either loved the idea or thought it was the silliest thing ever. Some of the comments from the silly camp: "I haven't broken my vows, so I don't need to renew" "I didn't know they expired" and (Glen's) "I'm not renewing my vowel til Vanna White does it".
After that, trivia. It was romance themed and we didn't do very well.
When I got back to the room, I found that our "swag" bag from the Ultimate Ship's tour had arrived. In it (for each of us) was a deluxe robe, chef's jacket and laundry bag. There were also copies of all the pictures they took, including the one with us and the captain, and a personalized note pad. Nice souvenir - it's good thing I brought folding suitcases.
Following that was the usual get ready for dinner, relax have dinner. There was a special dessert tonight for us - on the previous set of menus, before the last overhaul, there was a dessert on Italian night that was peach halves stuffed with almond souffle. It got removed a year or so ago. I'd asked the head waiter about it, and he said he'd asked some pastry chefs and nobody remembered. He told me if I could get the exact title they might be able to make it. I googled, and found it, and had given it to him the day before. He had it made for us tonight. In addition, our waiter had a Love Boat Dream dessert with a candle for Joan and Rich. Since Rich doesn't like that dessert he wanted a menu and it took quite a while to get. So, when the headwaiter came over, Rich complained about our assistant waiter. I think he's a nice kid, just inexperienced. I don't know what will come of that, hopefully they'll work with Johnathan. He's very nice, so I think he'll eventually learn. Wolfgang (headwaiter) just felt bad that Rich had waited til the end of the cruise to tell him.
We did a couple of Argentine Tangos after dinner. Glen told me that while we were dancing, one of the Argentinian couples watched one of our moves and said "muy bien". I guess we're doing OK.
Then it was back to the room and bed. Another relatively early day tomorrow.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A tale of two vans
Feb 13
Punta Arenas, Chili, and another group tour. We were told to meet in the Art Gallery at 7:45, so we set the alarm for 7 and ordered room service for 7-7:30.
At 6:48 the breakfast arrived. We were still moving, and the bridge cam showed that there were 32 nautical miles and we were moving at about 8 knots. Figured we had lots of time so we ate and leisurely got ready. At about 7:35 the ship stopped, but it sure didn't look like we were in port. Then I remembered this was a tender port. Yup, moments later, the captain got on the speaker and told us that we were moored, the tenders were down and we could start going ashore as soon as the locals cleared us. We quickly got ready and headed down just a few minutes late. However, the Art Gallery was empty. After a moment or two of wandering around, we decided we should catch the next tender, and meet our group on shore.
And that's exactly what happened. We weren't too worried since the meeting time per the tour company was 8:50, and we were on the tender by 8. When we arrived, they started calling to get the drivers so that we could start.
In this case, there were 18 people on the tour and thus there were two vans. However, we only had one guide. The plan was that he'd be in one van on the way out and the other on the way back. He was in our van first.
We took off and the first stop was the driver's house (huh?) - he ran in and ran out - probably a restroom break would be my guess.
After that we headed out of town along the coast. There was a treat on our way to our first stop - dolphins right near the shore. The driver stopped so we could take pictures.
This is one of Glen's pictures. Turns out, he's better at this stuff than me.
Our first official stop was a marker that marks the north south geographic center of Chile. You may be curious about this as Punta Arenas is at the southern tip of Patagonia. Apparently Chile claims a pie slice of Antarctica from the coast to the south pole. If you count that, and the non territorial waters in between, it would be. Our conclusion? Presumptive.
It's hard to see from the picture, but that pie slice at the bottom is Antarctica all the way to the South Pole.
We piled back into the vans and headed to our next stop - a monument at "Hunger Bay" (actually, starvation bay) - a location where early settlements had failed.
And the monument at Starvation Bay.
After that we stopped at a bay to watch some fishing boats go out and them loading some seaweed (poisonous apparently) to go to Japan for cosmetics use or something.
The next stop was the main attraction - Fort Bulnes. It was named for the president of Chile at the time it was built in 1843 by the first Chileans to sail there and claim the Straights of Magellan and surrounding lands for Chili. There's a few buildings there, but the fort itself is a reproduction. There's a marker in the actual location, but the gate to it is closed for construction.
A view of the fort.
Some of the buildings at the fort.
Another view, with a rainbow. I wasn't quite sure how we got that, since it hadn't actually rained.
After the fort we went to a mineral water factory. The building design is supposed to represent a glacier. Apparently, our guide also works there part time. They have a very nice tasting room (with a snack bar and small gift shop) and gave us all a sample.
That's the building. Does it represent a glacier? Draw your own conclusion.
After sampling, we took a roughly one mile round trip nature walk (up a fairly steep hill) to an overlook where we could see much of the Straights of Magellan. I remembered that in about 3rd grade I did a report on Magellan. I never imagined that several years later (OK, lots of years later) I'd be looking down on the route he sailed that was named for him. Amazing really.
And there it is, from the overlook.
After the walk, we went back to town and had our driver drive us through downtown by their central plaza to see what it was like. We decided we didn't want to walk back there, so we got the tender back to the ship. By the time we were done, the winds had picked up considerably.and the tender ride back was, for lack of a better term, interesting. The tenders were bouncing up and down. If you don't get seasick, it was kind of fun.
When we got back to the ship, we dropped our stuff in our room and went to lunch at the buffet, our only choice at that time. After that we relaxed for a bit and then I went to trivia. Glen was feeling sniffly, so he stayed in the room. After trivia, I went up to the Elite lounge and hung out with some cruise critic friends. While there, we saw a tender actually send up a flare - our guess was a power issue since it stalled. Eventually, though, it made it back to the ship. (I later learned that the flare got wet, and that deploys it automatically. Although, there were a couple of stories running around the ship about it.)
The rest of the evening wasn't particularly exciting. Dinner, a bit of dance and bed.
Punta Arenas, Chili, and another group tour. We were told to meet in the Art Gallery at 7:45, so we set the alarm for 7 and ordered room service for 7-7:30.
At 6:48 the breakfast arrived. We were still moving, and the bridge cam showed that there were 32 nautical miles and we were moving at about 8 knots. Figured we had lots of time so we ate and leisurely got ready. At about 7:35 the ship stopped, but it sure didn't look like we were in port. Then I remembered this was a tender port. Yup, moments later, the captain got on the speaker and told us that we were moored, the tenders were down and we could start going ashore as soon as the locals cleared us. We quickly got ready and headed down just a few minutes late. However, the Art Gallery was empty. After a moment or two of wandering around, we decided we should catch the next tender, and meet our group on shore.
And that's exactly what happened. We weren't too worried since the meeting time per the tour company was 8:50, and we were on the tender by 8. When we arrived, they started calling to get the drivers so that we could start.
In this case, there were 18 people on the tour and thus there were two vans. However, we only had one guide. The plan was that he'd be in one van on the way out and the other on the way back. He was in our van first.
We took off and the first stop was the driver's house (huh?) - he ran in and ran out - probably a restroom break would be my guess.
After that we headed out of town along the coast. There was a treat on our way to our first stop - dolphins right near the shore. The driver stopped so we could take pictures.
This is one of Glen's pictures. Turns out, he's better at this stuff than me.
Our first official stop was a marker that marks the north south geographic center of Chile. You may be curious about this as Punta Arenas is at the southern tip of Patagonia. Apparently Chile claims a pie slice of Antarctica from the coast to the south pole. If you count that, and the non territorial waters in between, it would be. Our conclusion? Presumptive.
It's hard to see from the picture, but that pie slice at the bottom is Antarctica all the way to the South Pole.
We piled back into the vans and headed to our next stop - a monument at "Hunger Bay" (actually, starvation bay) - a location where early settlements had failed.
And the monument at Starvation Bay.
After that we stopped at a bay to watch some fishing boats go out and them loading some seaweed (poisonous apparently) to go to Japan for cosmetics use or something.
The next stop was the main attraction - Fort Bulnes. It was named for the president of Chile at the time it was built in 1843 by the first Chileans to sail there and claim the Straights of Magellan and surrounding lands for Chili. There's a few buildings there, but the fort itself is a reproduction. There's a marker in the actual location, but the gate to it is closed for construction.
A view of the fort.
Some of the buildings at the fort.
Another view, with a rainbow. I wasn't quite sure how we got that, since it hadn't actually rained.
After the fort we went to a mineral water factory. The building design is supposed to represent a glacier. Apparently, our guide also works there part time. They have a very nice tasting room (with a snack bar and small gift shop) and gave us all a sample.
That's the building. Does it represent a glacier? Draw your own conclusion.
After sampling, we took a roughly one mile round trip nature walk (up a fairly steep hill) to an overlook where we could see much of the Straights of Magellan. I remembered that in about 3rd grade I did a report on Magellan. I never imagined that several years later (OK, lots of years later) I'd be looking down on the route he sailed that was named for him. Amazing really.
And there it is, from the overlook.
After the walk, we went back to town and had our driver drive us through downtown by their central plaza to see what it was like. We decided we didn't want to walk back there, so we got the tender back to the ship. By the time we were done, the winds had picked up considerably.and the tender ride back was, for lack of a better term, interesting. The tenders were bouncing up and down. If you don't get seasick, it was kind of fun.
When we got back to the ship, we dropped our stuff in our room and went to lunch at the buffet, our only choice at that time. After that we relaxed for a bit and then I went to trivia. Glen was feeling sniffly, so he stayed in the room. After trivia, I went up to the Elite lounge and hung out with some cruise critic friends. While there, we saw a tender actually send up a flare - our guess was a power issue since it stalled. Eventually, though, it made it back to the ship. (I later learned that the flare got wet, and that deploys it automatically. Although, there were a couple of stories running around the ship about it.)
The rest of the evening wasn't particularly exciting. Dinner, a bit of dance and bed.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Southernmost Blog Post in the world
Feb 12
Today was our port day in Ushuaia. We had a tour to Tierra del Fuego National Park that one of our members had arranged. Our meeting time was 8:30 on the pier. We woke up early went for a pastry/juice coffee breakfast at Sabattini's and headed out. We found a young man standing at the pier holding one of Russell's signs. He cleverly printed up signs saying "Russell's Star Princess Tour". We were directed to a bus. Just before 8:30 our last member showed up and well all piled into a 20 seat van. The young man who was directing us was our guide Norberto.
The tour began with a drive out of town. One of the things our guide pointed out (throughout the tour actually) was the border between Chile and Argentina. Apparently they've been disputing it for years and have almost come to a war or two over it. There is currently a treaty that draws certain lines. For example, the Beagle channel divides the country as does the tree line on certain mountains.
Our first stop in Tierra Del Fuego national park was at a beach location. This is where you can buy a postcard stamped with the end of the world. We also took a walk through the forest there, with Norberto pointing out interesting plants. In feel it wasn't that different than home, which is somewhat interesting.
The sign at the beach. I believe the mountains in the distance belong to Chili. At least this year.
A woodpecker we saw on our walk. Apparently, they are rare to see. Glen got this picture.
One of the big themes around here is that it's the southernmost city in the world. So everything is "this is the southernmost blah blah". We got into it.
Isn't this fascinating? You think it's just common seaweed, seen in many places including the pacific coast. You'd be wrong, since this is the southernmost seaweed in the world. (Groan - I had to do it)
And I had to do it again - the southernmost picture of Glen in the world.
After that stop we went to a lake, whose name escapes me, but the border goes right through it. I asked what would happen if you got in a canoe or kayak and went across the lake. Apparently, you would be entering Chile illegally. Our guide did tell us that there's not a border patrol on the lake.
The lake. You're looking at Chili on the far shore.
Next was a break at a campsite. We were given the choice of walking over (about a 5 minute walk or taking the bus. Pretty much everyone walked. After a stop to use the restrooms, look at the shops and for some get a snack we got back on the bus for our final location - the end of the Pan American highway. Just before it, the driver pulled over so that those who wanted to could do a walk through the park to get there. We did that and it was very pleasant, took about 20 minutes. Along the way there was an overlook that you could see the end.
The end of the Panamerican highway as seen at the overlook.
Once we got there we took pictures, went along a walkway to see the Beagle Channel. As we were leaving, we saw a couple of motorcycles arrive - apparently they'd started in Alaska and ridden all the way down here.
The sign. I wonder if there's a similar one in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska?
Just to prove we really were here. This is at the end of the walkway at the end of the highway.
That really concluded our tour, so riding back Norberto gave us a map of downtown Ushuaia and suggested places to go. We decided to have lunch with Eric and Carol. We realized that we hadn't brought much money with us however. We ended up at an Italian restaurant, and had pasta. It was pretty good. Then back to the ship.
The ship was pretty empty and there were great views of the two so we spent about an hour taking pictures. Then it was down to the patisserie for coffee. I worked on the blog and read a bit. At about 4 pm, we heard the typical announcements you get in port, asking passengers to contact Passenger Service - meaning they haven't been scanned back in. At about 5pm, the ship sailed - an hour late. I heard later that a boat brought the missing passengers out. I hope they get charged for this.
The town, as seen from the bow of the ship.
We went up to Skywalker's and chatted with our friends for a while, and then got ready for dinner. As we got ready for dinner, the ship sailed through the Beagle Channel. Gorgeous, with lots of glaciers, mostly named for countries. Take a look.
One of the glaciers. The pictures won't do them justice, but here are a few.
The next. The glaciers are named for countries. This might be France. Or it might not.
This one is pretty impressive. By now, we're getting to be late for dinner.
The last, and best, the "melting glacier". You can see why it's called that. It was an amazing ride through the channel.
We were a bit late for dinner because of the glaciers, but Rich and Joan understood. After dinner I went to the country night and did a couple of line dances while Glen went to look for Menthos (something about torpedoes and the boat building competition). Once the party ended we danced a bit, but we have a very early start tomorrow, so we went to bed.
Today was our port day in Ushuaia. We had a tour to Tierra del Fuego National Park that one of our members had arranged. Our meeting time was 8:30 on the pier. We woke up early went for a pastry/juice coffee breakfast at Sabattini's and headed out. We found a young man standing at the pier holding one of Russell's signs. He cleverly printed up signs saying "Russell's Star Princess Tour". We were directed to a bus. Just before 8:30 our last member showed up and well all piled into a 20 seat van. The young man who was directing us was our guide Norberto.
The tour began with a drive out of town. One of the things our guide pointed out (throughout the tour actually) was the border between Chile and Argentina. Apparently they've been disputing it for years and have almost come to a war or two over it. There is currently a treaty that draws certain lines. For example, the Beagle channel divides the country as does the tree line on certain mountains.
Our first stop in Tierra Del Fuego national park was at a beach location. This is where you can buy a postcard stamped with the end of the world. We also took a walk through the forest there, with Norberto pointing out interesting plants. In feel it wasn't that different than home, which is somewhat interesting.
The sign at the beach. I believe the mountains in the distance belong to Chili. At least this year.
A woodpecker we saw on our walk. Apparently, they are rare to see. Glen got this picture.
One of the big themes around here is that it's the southernmost city in the world. So everything is "this is the southernmost blah blah". We got into it.
Isn't this fascinating? You think it's just common seaweed, seen in many places including the pacific coast. You'd be wrong, since this is the southernmost seaweed in the world. (Groan - I had to do it)
And I had to do it again - the southernmost picture of Glen in the world.
After that stop we went to a lake, whose name escapes me, but the border goes right through it. I asked what would happen if you got in a canoe or kayak and went across the lake. Apparently, you would be entering Chile illegally. Our guide did tell us that there's not a border patrol on the lake.
The lake. You're looking at Chili on the far shore.
Next was a break at a campsite. We were given the choice of walking over (about a 5 minute walk or taking the bus. Pretty much everyone walked. After a stop to use the restrooms, look at the shops and for some get a snack we got back on the bus for our final location - the end of the Pan American highway. Just before it, the driver pulled over so that those who wanted to could do a walk through the park to get there. We did that and it was very pleasant, took about 20 minutes. Along the way there was an overlook that you could see the end.
The end of the Panamerican highway as seen at the overlook.
Once we got there we took pictures, went along a walkway to see the Beagle Channel. As we were leaving, we saw a couple of motorcycles arrive - apparently they'd started in Alaska and ridden all the way down here.
The sign. I wonder if there's a similar one in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska?
Just to prove we really were here. This is at the end of the walkway at the end of the highway.
That really concluded our tour, so riding back Norberto gave us a map of downtown Ushuaia and suggested places to go. We decided to have lunch with Eric and Carol. We realized that we hadn't brought much money with us however. We ended up at an Italian restaurant, and had pasta. It was pretty good. Then back to the ship.
The ship was pretty empty and there were great views of the two so we spent about an hour taking pictures. Then it was down to the patisserie for coffee. I worked on the blog and read a bit. At about 4 pm, we heard the typical announcements you get in port, asking passengers to contact Passenger Service - meaning they haven't been scanned back in. At about 5pm, the ship sailed - an hour late. I heard later that a boat brought the missing passengers out. I hope they get charged for this.
The town, as seen from the bow of the ship.
We went up to Skywalker's and chatted with our friends for a while, and then got ready for dinner. As we got ready for dinner, the ship sailed through the Beagle Channel. Gorgeous, with lots of glaciers, mostly named for countries. Take a look.
One of the glaciers. The pictures won't do them justice, but here are a few.
The next. The glaciers are named for countries. This might be France. Or it might not.
This one is pretty impressive. By now, we're getting to be late for dinner.
The last, and best, the "melting glacier". You can see why it's called that. It was an amazing ride through the channel.
We were a bit late for dinner because of the glaciers, but Rich and Joan understood. After dinner I went to the country night and did a couple of line dances while Glen went to look for Menthos (something about torpedoes and the boat building competition). Once the party ended we danced a bit, but we have a very early start tomorrow, so we went to bed.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
South side of the Horn
Feb 11
Today was mostly a sea day, but we had an hour of scenic touring of Cape Horn in the late afternoon.
Our day began early because we had the Ultimate Ship' Tour at 9. We started by visiting Sabattini's for a quick coffee, juice and pastry.
We headed to the meeting location, with our signed waiver, at 8:45. Just before 9, so crew members started showing up, and checking the list of names. At 9am, Dave, one of the cruise staff, led us into the theater where JJ (Cruise director) gave us a brief introduction to the tour. It started with them demonstrating staging of a show. At the end a couple of costumed dancers appeared, and then Bex, the line captain came out to tell us about the show. (Bex is apparently a normal British nickname for Rebecca - I know this from reading Shopaholic books). She took us back stage to see the dressing room. Among the interesting points was that the stage is actually about 5 stores worth of stuff. While we were on the stage Glen asked if we could do a dance turn. They agreed so now we have danced on a Princess stage.
We then went to the mooring area at the front of the ship, and saw the anchor and lines. It was interesting to learn about them as I've seen them before - on the Dawn Princess the promenade deck goes by the mooring area and you can see in. (I believe they close it when mooring is in progress).
Next we headed out to the Galley. Once again, the chef was there to greet us and explain things. The tour we got this time was much more detailed, with visits to the pastry station, the storage refrigerators and the vegetable cutting room (down one deck, vegetables are never cut in the actual cooking galley). No visit to the galley is ever complete without a snack - in this case mimosas and chocolate covered strawberries. They had some white chocolate ones, and I had those. They were yummy. For the most part, strawberries are almost always just covered with regular chocolate, so this might be the first time I've had them.
The vegetable cutting area.
From the galley, we headed to the engine control room. There one of the engineers explained how the engines worked and answered other questions about things including how sewage is treated. We learned about black water and grey water. (Email me if you want more details).
Following that, we visited the shops - printing and photo - saw where all stuff you get in your mailbox is printed - they do about 22,000 pages a day. The menus, by the way, are preprinted, probably in Santa Clarita and brought on board. They have a wall with cubby holes with stacks of them.
Pretty fun looking.
In the photo shop we saw their huge photo printers. The photographers use all digital now, and it's uploaded and printed quickly. The manager did tell us that they'd be going all digital eventually, but I'll believe it when I see it. Photos are very much an impulse purchase, and I can't see them risking that. Maybe eventually they'll use digital display boards.
A highlight of the trip was the laundry - we saw all the washing machines, driers, folding machines and the dry cleaning areas. The laundry is in operation 24x7.
Usually, the medical center is next, but since it was clinic hour time, we went to the bridge first. There were about 7 people working there, and the 3rd officer showed us around and pointed out the various equipment. During that time, everyone got their picture taken with the captain. The views were spectacular, and since we were still having heavy winds, you could see the ship moving up and down. There were also refreshments there.
Glen spent some time talking technical with the staff captain and I wandered around. I asked the captain if it really was his best visit in 4 to Antarctica. He said I was the second person that asked that, and yes it was true.
A view from the bridge.
After the bridge, we went to the medical center. Dylan, the senior doctor, showed us around. There are two doctors there, with different backgrounds. Dylan came from intensive care and anesthesiology and the other one from emergency medicine. We saw the hospital and then what apparently is the most asked after part of the medical center - the morgue. Yes, they have one and they use it, especially on longer cruises (which makes sense since older people take those cruises).
After the morgue we were done. Today, there were two special dining features - a pastry buffet and a pub lunch. We first went to the buffet because it closed first. Almost everything had chocolate on it though, so I only ate a little. Then, around 1:15, we went to the pub lunch. There was a pretty long line, so I got in it while Glen went to watch the tango show. We ran into some people from our roll call, so we decided to eat with them. We heard while waiting that they were waiting for the kitchen to catch up, which appeared to be the case - the line started moving very fast. It took a while for the food to come, but it was actually very good.
After lunch, I went to line dance class. Melissa, the instructor, decided to teach a partner dance that has pivots and underarm turns in it. I got it but my partner didn't. As was the case with a lot of people. After about 35 minutes, and getting frustrated, she gave up and went on to a line dance. As we were about to do it with music, the captain got on and announced that because of wind (still at gale force), we couldn't board the Chilean pilot, and we were not allowed to sail in Chilean waters without a Chilean pilot, so we were going to have to view Cape Horn from the south. I think we later had to go in in order to get to Ushuaia.
That was disappointing, certainly.
At 4:00 I met my friend Linda at Vines, the wine bar. We sat and chatted, and then we hit Cape Horn so I grabbed my coat and camera and took lots of pictures.
This is a picture of the Cape. It was stark and striking (and very windy!)
And the monument on the island. I don't actually, at this time, know what it is.
And the other structure on Cape Horn. Notice the flag of Chili.
One last picture for you. Enjoy.
After the bulk of it, we went up to Skywalkers for the elite lounge and chatted with Teri and Rod until the reception was over - at 7pm. We then got ready for dinner, did a bit of dancing and enjoyed dinner.
We have an early day tomorrow, so after a couple after dinner dances, we went to bed.
Today was mostly a sea day, but we had an hour of scenic touring of Cape Horn in the late afternoon.
Our day began early because we had the Ultimate Ship' Tour at 9. We started by visiting Sabattini's for a quick coffee, juice and pastry.
We headed to the meeting location, with our signed waiver, at 8:45. Just before 9, so crew members started showing up, and checking the list of names. At 9am, Dave, one of the cruise staff, led us into the theater where JJ (Cruise director) gave us a brief introduction to the tour. It started with them demonstrating staging of a show. At the end a couple of costumed dancers appeared, and then Bex, the line captain came out to tell us about the show. (Bex is apparently a normal British nickname for Rebecca - I know this from reading Shopaholic books). She took us back stage to see the dressing room. Among the interesting points was that the stage is actually about 5 stores worth of stuff. While we were on the stage Glen asked if we could do a dance turn. They agreed so now we have danced on a Princess stage.
We then went to the mooring area at the front of the ship, and saw the anchor and lines. It was interesting to learn about them as I've seen them before - on the Dawn Princess the promenade deck goes by the mooring area and you can see in. (I believe they close it when mooring is in progress).
Next we headed out to the Galley. Once again, the chef was there to greet us and explain things. The tour we got this time was much more detailed, with visits to the pastry station, the storage refrigerators and the vegetable cutting room (down one deck, vegetables are never cut in the actual cooking galley). No visit to the galley is ever complete without a snack - in this case mimosas and chocolate covered strawberries. They had some white chocolate ones, and I had those. They were yummy. For the most part, strawberries are almost always just covered with regular chocolate, so this might be the first time I've had them.
The vegetable cutting area.
From the galley, we headed to the engine control room. There one of the engineers explained how the engines worked and answered other questions about things including how sewage is treated. We learned about black water and grey water. (Email me if you want more details).
Following that, we visited the shops - printing and photo - saw where all stuff you get in your mailbox is printed - they do about 22,000 pages a day. The menus, by the way, are preprinted, probably in Santa Clarita and brought on board. They have a wall with cubby holes with stacks of them.
Pretty fun looking.
In the photo shop we saw their huge photo printers. The photographers use all digital now, and it's uploaded and printed quickly. The manager did tell us that they'd be going all digital eventually, but I'll believe it when I see it. Photos are very much an impulse purchase, and I can't see them risking that. Maybe eventually they'll use digital display boards.
A highlight of the trip was the laundry - we saw all the washing machines, driers, folding machines and the dry cleaning areas. The laundry is in operation 24x7.
Usually, the medical center is next, but since it was clinic hour time, we went to the bridge first. There were about 7 people working there, and the 3rd officer showed us around and pointed out the various equipment. During that time, everyone got their picture taken with the captain. The views were spectacular, and since we were still having heavy winds, you could see the ship moving up and down. There were also refreshments there.
Glen spent some time talking technical with the staff captain and I wandered around. I asked the captain if it really was his best visit in 4 to Antarctica. He said I was the second person that asked that, and yes it was true.
A view from the bridge.
After the bridge, we went to the medical center. Dylan, the senior doctor, showed us around. There are two doctors there, with different backgrounds. Dylan came from intensive care and anesthesiology and the other one from emergency medicine. We saw the hospital and then what apparently is the most asked after part of the medical center - the morgue. Yes, they have one and they use it, especially on longer cruises (which makes sense since older people take those cruises).
After the morgue we were done. Today, there were two special dining features - a pastry buffet and a pub lunch. We first went to the buffet because it closed first. Almost everything had chocolate on it though, so I only ate a little. Then, around 1:15, we went to the pub lunch. There was a pretty long line, so I got in it while Glen went to watch the tango show. We ran into some people from our roll call, so we decided to eat with them. We heard while waiting that they were waiting for the kitchen to catch up, which appeared to be the case - the line started moving very fast. It took a while for the food to come, but it was actually very good.
After lunch, I went to line dance class. Melissa, the instructor, decided to teach a partner dance that has pivots and underarm turns in it. I got it but my partner didn't. As was the case with a lot of people. After about 35 minutes, and getting frustrated, she gave up and went on to a line dance. As we were about to do it with music, the captain got on and announced that because of wind (still at gale force), we couldn't board the Chilean pilot, and we were not allowed to sail in Chilean waters without a Chilean pilot, so we were going to have to view Cape Horn from the south. I think we later had to go in in order to get to Ushuaia.
That was disappointing, certainly.
At 4:00 I met my friend Linda at Vines, the wine bar. We sat and chatted, and then we hit Cape Horn so I grabbed my coat and camera and took lots of pictures.
This is a picture of the Cape. It was stark and striking (and very windy!)
And the monument on the island. I don't actually, at this time, know what it is.
And the other structure on Cape Horn. Notice the flag of Chili.
One last picture for you. Enjoy.
After the bulk of it, we went up to Skywalkers for the elite lounge and chatted with Teri and Rod until the reception was over - at 7pm. We then got ready for dinner, did a bit of dancing and enjoyed dinner.
We have an early day tomorrow, so after a couple after dinner dances, we went to bed.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Ice Station Cabin Crawl
Feb 10
We woke up at 6:30, got dressed and headed outside.
Deception Island is the Caldera of an old volcano. It's U shaped. I hoped we were sailing in, but apparently not because there's a rock at the harbor entrance that prevents it. So we watched for a while looking for wildlife and then, since we were exhausted, went back to bed as the captain spun the ship around, and went around the island.
You can kind of see how the Island looks like a caldera with an opening.
One side of the entrance.
And the other.
At about 9:00 he announced that we were leaving and heading north to Cape Horn. He also said this was the best Antarctic visit he'd had for scenic cruising in all four trips he'd made. Considering that we missed 2 of 4 major spots (although the Gerlache Straight was amazing) and this was the best, it's very clear that cruising Antarctica is somewhat dicey. The last cruise had to leave a day early. Whether it was or wasn't, this was simply an amazing four days.
We went to Sabatini's for breakfast and for the first time they were crowded. Breakfast service wasn't what it usually was and it took a long time. We got out with just enough time to get cash and grab my dance shoes for our tango lesson. When we stopped back at the room, our steward was cleaning it out, and his boss was there - he later told his boss stops in every once in a while to make sure all is well.
Our tango lesson went very well. Cecelia was the primary teacher, since her English was good, and Fernando speaks very little. Because we already do tango (she said she watched us dance the night before) she asked us if wanted patterns, or technique. She also asked if we wanted praise, or constructive criticism. We said we wanted them to be honest - but they could choose what we did with the lesson. She opted to work on one pattern (ocho), improve it, and give us a couple of variations on it. At the end of the lesson, we got their business card, and also the location where they teach when not on the ship. She pointed out where they lived, said we should come over when we're in town (I think she's kidding). It was an hour well spent.
We were still a bit tired, so went back to the room for a while. This afternoon was our Cruise critic cabin crawl, so we cleaned up a bit to get ready for that.
It was getting to be about 1pm, and we hadn't had lunch so we stopped by the buffet on our way to meet our group for the crawl. Uninspiring as always, but reasonably tasty.
After lunch I arrived at the elevators near the buffet - we set 2pm for the crawl, and a meeting time between 1:50 and 2:00. I was a couple minutes early and to my surprise there were at least 16 people there by the time I got there.
What, you may ask is a cabin crawl? (I can hear you now - Abby, what's a cabin crawl? Glad you asked). It's an event where a group gets together and visits as many different types of cabins as they can. I started organizing this a few months ago by asking who wanted to volunteer a cabin, or just go. I've been keeping track of it for a while. After everyone arrived, Glen took the various wines to our room, which was the final destination, and we'd have a little party there. We started with an inside room, and then when from Deck 12 to Deck 8 to visit two outsides - one with an obstructed view (not very) and one with unobstructed. It was a fun group, with about 30 people, going in a few at a time, since most ship board rooms won't hold more than about 10 (6 comfortably) at a time. Rooms are very small by hotel standards. After the outsides, we'd had a problem, since the balcony volunteer wasn't there due to sea sickness. Somebody else volunteered and we rearranged a couple of rooms. Next up was the minisuites, one with a covered balcony one with the normal uncovered. One of our members volunteered her room as well, since it had a large wraparound balcony. Some people had never seen a mini, and the bathroom was a feature, since it has a full size tub, not the usual micro showers. After that, we went to the balcony cabin and then we all went to our suite for some wine and cheese.
One of the things that impressed people was that we get the dinner menus in our room, so I proceeded to read the menu as a waiter would announce specials.
During the party the phone rang. It was the ship confirming that we're going on the Ultimate Ship tour tomorrow morning (interesting since in theory bookings closed tomorrow).
The party lasted about 2 hours, and a good time was had by all. After that, I went down and did trivia while Glen rested after our early start.
Tonight was the Captain's Circle Party (for repeat cruisers) and formal night. We got ready for that, and then went to it. Usually the captain is there, but this time it was the hotel manager. The cruise director said it was because the captain was on the bridge because of the weather. Probably.
We have an early day tomorrow, so after dinner we went to the second heat of Ballroom Blitz, (we didn't have to qualify, but we thought it would be good to go) and then went to bed.
We woke up at 6:30, got dressed and headed outside.
Deception Island is the Caldera of an old volcano. It's U shaped. I hoped we were sailing in, but apparently not because there's a rock at the harbor entrance that prevents it. So we watched for a while looking for wildlife and then, since we were exhausted, went back to bed as the captain spun the ship around, and went around the island.
You can kind of see how the Island looks like a caldera with an opening.
One side of the entrance.
And the other.
At about 9:00 he announced that we were leaving and heading north to Cape Horn. He also said this was the best Antarctic visit he'd had for scenic cruising in all four trips he'd made. Considering that we missed 2 of 4 major spots (although the Gerlache Straight was amazing) and this was the best, it's very clear that cruising Antarctica is somewhat dicey. The last cruise had to leave a day early. Whether it was or wasn't, this was simply an amazing four days.
We went to Sabatini's for breakfast and for the first time they were crowded. Breakfast service wasn't what it usually was and it took a long time. We got out with just enough time to get cash and grab my dance shoes for our tango lesson. When we stopped back at the room, our steward was cleaning it out, and his boss was there - he later told his boss stops in every once in a while to make sure all is well.
Our tango lesson went very well. Cecelia was the primary teacher, since her English was good, and Fernando speaks very little. Because we already do tango (she said she watched us dance the night before) she asked us if wanted patterns, or technique. She also asked if we wanted praise, or constructive criticism. We said we wanted them to be honest - but they could choose what we did with the lesson. She opted to work on one pattern (ocho), improve it, and give us a couple of variations on it. At the end of the lesson, we got their business card, and also the location where they teach when not on the ship. She pointed out where they lived, said we should come over when we're in town (I think she's kidding). It was an hour well spent.
We were still a bit tired, so went back to the room for a while. This afternoon was our Cruise critic cabin crawl, so we cleaned up a bit to get ready for that.
It was getting to be about 1pm, and we hadn't had lunch so we stopped by the buffet on our way to meet our group for the crawl. Uninspiring as always, but reasonably tasty.
After lunch I arrived at the elevators near the buffet - we set 2pm for the crawl, and a meeting time between 1:50 and 2:00. I was a couple minutes early and to my surprise there were at least 16 people there by the time I got there.
What, you may ask is a cabin crawl? (I can hear you now - Abby, what's a cabin crawl? Glad you asked). It's an event where a group gets together and visits as many different types of cabins as they can. I started organizing this a few months ago by asking who wanted to volunteer a cabin, or just go. I've been keeping track of it for a while. After everyone arrived, Glen took the various wines to our room, which was the final destination, and we'd have a little party there. We started with an inside room, and then when from Deck 12 to Deck 8 to visit two outsides - one with an obstructed view (not very) and one with unobstructed. It was a fun group, with about 30 people, going in a few at a time, since most ship board rooms won't hold more than about 10 (6 comfortably) at a time. Rooms are very small by hotel standards. After the outsides, we'd had a problem, since the balcony volunteer wasn't there due to sea sickness. Somebody else volunteered and we rearranged a couple of rooms. Next up was the minisuites, one with a covered balcony one with the normal uncovered. One of our members volunteered her room as well, since it had a large wraparound balcony. Some people had never seen a mini, and the bathroom was a feature, since it has a full size tub, not the usual micro showers. After that, we went to the balcony cabin and then we all went to our suite for some wine and cheese.
One of the things that impressed people was that we get the dinner menus in our room, so I proceeded to read the menu as a waiter would announce specials.
During the party the phone rang. It was the ship confirming that we're going on the Ultimate Ship tour tomorrow morning (interesting since in theory bookings closed tomorrow).
The party lasted about 2 hours, and a good time was had by all. After that, I went down and did trivia while Glen rested after our early start.
Tonight was the Captain's Circle Party (for repeat cruisers) and formal night. We got ready for that, and then went to it. Usually the captain is there, but this time it was the hotel manager. The cruise director said it was because the captain was on the bridge because of the weather. Probably.
We have an early day tomorrow, so after dinner we went to the second heat of Ballroom Blitz, (we didn't have to qualify, but we thought it would be good to go) and then went to bed.
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