We have no pictures on this sea day.
Margie is not feeling well today and is going to skip breakfast and sleep in. Debbie is planning to go to Bebi's first 2 exercise classes. So, it was a quick light breakfast in LaVeranda for Debbie and Clay. There were no raspberries!! There were no raspberries 2 days before we arrived in Rio, but Debbie had been assured they would be loaded in Rio. Evidently, that operation was not a success because there are no raspberries. Chimi tried to give her mixed blueberries and blackberries with no comment on a new ETA for raspberries. Since Debbie would not eat blueberries anyway, there was another couple who offered to take the bowl off her hands. Clay tried to use the Internet and then we all met at 9:45am for An Audience with Captain Philippe Fichet Delavault. This lasted about an hour and was the Captain's slideshow and CD Bryan Townsend's questions. It was interesting. Capt. Delavault told a lot about his seafaring male ancestors and the seafaring history of his hometown St. Malo. He also talked about the history of Mariner and its construction. Lunch was on the Pool Deck and was Pizza Pasta. It is hot now and sunny. Humidity is about 80%, so it is pretty uncomfortable outside. The seas have been pretty calm overnight and all day with about 3 foot waves. We have seen lots of cities and oil derricks and refineries and fires along the coastline all day and evening. We past the cities of Recife and Natal. The afternoon was devoted to unpacking, napping, photo and blog work. Tomorrow is laundry. Tonight is Formal and we have an invitation to dinner at 7:15pm in Compass Rose with F&B Manager Franck Galzy. This is also the night of the Seven Seas Society Cocktail Party in the Constellation Theater at 6:15pm.
The Constellation Theater was impressively decorated as Rio with the Christ statue atop Corcovado onstage. They served the usual caviar and shrimp with wine and sparkling wine being passed around. The theater was very full, though there was no announcement as to how many people onboard were past cruisers. They did have a slideshow going tonight but it looked like it was just commercially available images of Rio. The Captain joked that he better get back on the bridge because he thought we had left Rio. It looked very nice though and everyone gave credit to Franck Galzy, our new F&B Manager. Captain Delavault and Cruise Consultant Brian O'Brien made the announcement that the sale of RSSC to Apollo Group and Prestige Cruise Holdings has been finalized. Because of the deal being closed, they also announced the construction of a new ship. They think it will be about 75,000 GT and still hold 700 passengers. So, the cabins will be larger and they expect to have more dining options available. They said that they were requesting suggestions about building the new ship.
On to Compass Rose and dinner. We were seated at a table for 6 that was set for 7, so it was a closeknit group tonight. Beyond us and our host, Franck, we were seated with another single woman who we had not previously seen and who said she was on for the entire Circle and a male couple who were all onboard for 1 segment and had just extended their stay to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The other 3 all talked with Franck about the segments of the Circle South America and World Cruises that they had done previously. Franck informed Debbie that there was next to no possibility that raspberries would be loaded before Ft. Lauderdale. Debbie told him that she thought they should have plenty of time to order them to be delivered in Manaus and that was a long enough wait. About then, Executive Chef Mike came by and acted shocked that Debbie had any expectation of them stocking raspberries in the next 18 days, but he said there was a slim possibility he could get them aboard in Barbados, 5 days before we disembark. We'll see what happens. Franck and Mike both said it is very expensive to stock foods like raspberries or Dover Sole, etc. in South America and other remote locales. No doubt but that is what we are payingthe big bucks for, isn't it. Mike and the male couple insisted that everyone must attend the 2nd performance this evening of Mike's girlfriend, Mezzo-Soprano Heather Clancy. We didn't for the 2nd time. Sorry, nothing to report on that. Internet is not working and we are told it will be down for maintenance tomorrow as well. Sorry for the additional delay in getting updates posted this week.
A few random comments here. One is the interesting factoid that may or not have been posted earlier, that Brazil is energy self-sufficient. We are seeing small sailing fishing boats in this area that are similar to those seen in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf and East African coasts. They tell us that it is because of the Africans that populated this area and brought this style of boat-building with them. The other comments are observations about the Mariner. There is a surprising lack of fresh flowers aboard. In the public walkway on Deck 6 where on Voyager there were stunning enormous floral arrangements, they have a selection of bonsai. It just isn't the same. It isn't elegant. After the orchids all died, they were replaced with Alstroemeria. When those died, we now have empty vases. Sad because there were enormous and stunning local flower markets at the past few stops. Oh, well. An update to the Antofagasta excursion that was so bad 2 segments ago is that we never did see any charges for that date on our bills, so we are assuming at this point that the Tour Desk removed those charges. That is just an assumption and if the charges do not appear before we leave the ship we will actually know, assuming RSSC is not in the habit of collecting such charges after passengers have left the ship. Who knows? Oh, Channel 3 is back as it was before and is working again. Our TV still displays in mostly only one color. Margie got her TV replaced but we were shown how to keep adjusting our color and told that the TVs are due to be replaced and there is nothing they can do until Ft. Lauderdale. Well, thanks. Of course, since the movies are not playing all the way through usually anyway and it is just annoying and there is nothing else to see as we have commented before. Not like on Voyager, no menus, no special Mariner Today. Mostly just advertisements for RSSC and H. Stern or whoever else is on selling something or the lectures. We mostly just keep it off except to check the time and weather, speed, etc. and then it doesn't
matter what color is displaying. But, it is disappointing at this 6-star level.
