Day 41 - February 13, 2008 - At sea

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.

 

Day 40 - February 12, 2008 - Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Salvador de Bahia photos
Just for information purposes, the airline we flew from Rio to Iguazu Falls was GOL and the airline from Iguazu Falls to Salvador was TAM.
So, today all we have on the agenda is to rejoin the ship. We were told last night on the bus that Mariner would be arriving here at 11am instead of 1pm, so we could leave earlier. We had asked our Tour Desk escort earlier today what was planned for us in the morning. Breakfast. Nothing else, you can walk around or do whatever you want. After we arrived, she said maybe we better not walk around here. But, we could lay at the pool or do whatever we wanted. We spent 2 nights off the ship and only one night at Iguazu and only 6 hours total at the Falls out of 2 days and this is our finish. Do whatever you want while you wait for us to bus you back to the ship. Shame on you Regent.
We had an early breakfast and apparently this is not an early morning kind of place even though the breakfast buffet was open at 6am. They told us they would start cooking eggs to order at 7am but between 7 and 8am they only cooked 3 eggs for people who stood there and insisted. We heard that from about 9 to 10am they were offering up a local specialty of manioc, called tapioca here, pancakes made on that griddle, but while we were there you had to insist on a single egg at all and then they would only cook one egg at a time. Again, there must be a lot of rooms and not much breakfast able to be served like that. The breakfast area was right at the pool/cable car area of the hotel. The cable car was a self-service car that took you about 100 yards down the cliff to the harbor where there was a dock/swimming platform area. The water looked really clear from above. There was no sandy beach here. Just the cliff ending in rocks at the waters' edge. The rocks extended under the water well out into the dock area and the swimming platform. There was a spiral slide into the ocean.
Debbie spoke to reception about setting up a tour for us, but few people in Salvador speak English. They speak some local dialect based on Portuguese and Yoruba. Think Gullah if you have been to the Charleston, SC area. Now imagine it in Portuguese. You get the idea. But, we did find a reputed English-speaking taxi driver and we arranged to spend five hours with him starting at 9am. Debbie got our RSSC Tour Desk escort's room number and called her at 9am to let her know not to expect us at the head count for boarding the bus. We checked out with some confusion about our having to pay local taxes, then did not pay anything, and Luis, our cab driver/guide arrived at 9am. He had a mini-SUV and spoke some English as described above. If you already knew what he was talking about you could make it out, but if he started out of the blue we couldn't understand anything. But, he was nice enough and wanted to tell us about himself, his family and the city where he was born and raised. He kept our luggage safe and watched out for us. We paid him $50 each plus tip and he dropped us off at the cruise pier a little after 2:30pm.
Our tour started out at Farol da Barra, a lighthouse/fort and nautical museum on the coast north of our hotel. Entrance fee was R$6. Reals are 1.7 to the US Dollar. It was drizzling on/off as we walked around the fort, taking in the views, but we had a couple of umbrellas and were ok. As the day continued, the rain came and went and then went away altogether. The fort was the first and most important Portuguese fort protecting Salvador and was taken over by the Dutch and retaken by the Portuguese and Spanish. It was begun in 1534 It had the trademark acorns you see on the Spanish forts (though this fort is likely Portuguese) in the new world. (The views were good, and while we were there, we saw Mariner cruise into the harbor. It was fun trying to shoot pictures of the Mariner framed by the fort acorns. Inside the fort, there was a lighthouse that held a nautical history museum documenting the history of Salvador. It is a history steeped in slavery as Salvador was the main slave entry port for Brazil. We next headed out to Bonfirm, to Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, Salvador's most famous church, a church known for its medical miracles. The Bonfim church has a Room of Miracles showing molded body parts that have been healed through prayers. (There really is a wide range of parts on display). The church had vendors set up around it selling souvenirs to tourists.
Along the way, we stopped by a lake in the center of town that had sculptures of Orixas, which are gods or goddesses that are inspired by nature. Each has its own color and characteristics. These Orixas play a role in the practice of Candomble, a religion which is a mixture of Catholicism and the beliefs brought over from West Africa by the slaves. Each day of the week has a certain Orixa associated with it, and the sculptures in the lake were organized by day of the week.
Our next stop was a second fort, Forte de Monte Serrat. This one had views overlooking the harbor and the old city center. We could see the three cruise ships at dock from the fort's view point. This fort also had the Spanish type acorns. It overlooked a nice stretch of sandy beach. We then headed back toward the center of town, but on the way, we stopped at the local market. Luis, our taxi driver guided us through the market on foot. It seems that the practice of Candomble requires animal sacrifice, and this local market had live animals for this purpose. There were lots of goats, chickens, roosters, and some bigger Portuguese type goats. There was also a fresh meat market for consumption purposes. There was a lot of other random stuff for sale in addition to produce. There is some local fruit called something that sounded like ubu or umbu that everyone was selling and eating and discarding and sorting, etc. Evidently it has a very short season and is a big favorite of the locals. They throw out the ones that have turned red and only eat the green ones. They look sort of like very small, hard green limes. They have a thick skin and a big pit. Luis made us try them. We washed them off carefully and then followed his lead. You bite a hole in the skin and squeeze the fruit with pit into your mouth and suck all the flesh off the pit, which you then spit about 6 feet away from yourself. Then you turn the skin inside out and suck and the remaining flesh and drop the skin. (This explains a lot about the appearance and the footing in the market area.) It tasted slightly of lime but it was sweet. Then Luis took us to what look like a shoe repair booth, but the guy started taking down coffee cans and frosting containers, etc. and mixing powders together. He gave some to Luis in his palm and Luis ate it. Then he gave him a small plastic bag of it. Luis told us he had high cholesterol and this is what he takes for it. Luis tried to convince us that we had reasons to make an animal sacrifice or to get our own powder concoctions, but we assured him we were just fine.
There were beautiful sandy beaches near both forts that went on for miles. There were lots of people swimming and on the beaches. There were lots of local entrepreneurs selling to all the people as well.
Then we headed to the Mercado Modelo and the Lacerda Elevator area. The Mercado is for souvenir junkies. They sell all kinds of locally made things. Of course, we spent some money. Don't know if we had pointed it out sooner, but there are no bargains in Brazil. Everything is more expensive here than it has been elsewhere in South America. Maybe we should have waited for some of the smaller towns we will visit and hope for lower prices, but we have had so many days go by where we saw something we wanted and there was no time for us to stop and make a purchase, that we have become leery of waiting now. There was a Capoeira show going on there as well. Capoeria is a kind of dancing martial art that looks like a combination of break dancing and street fighting, but without the physical contact. They say it developed with the slaves who were not allowed to come to physical harm as that would diminish their value. Now, it is mostly done for the tourists. They were selling everywhere a musical instrument associated with this art form. It is a long stick attached to a gourd and bowed with a single metal string. They use a small stick to beat on the string and they can play a variety of notes on it as well as percussion. There were also people playing these instruments. The Lacerda Elevator. This is quite a landmark and institution here. Everyone insisted that we had to ride the tall elevators between the lower and upper cities. Luis dropped us off at the bottom and told us he would meet us at the top, but there was a line out into the street and it was 33C and the sun was fierce. We got back in the van and told him maybe later. He drove us to the top and parked at the main square. We visited some more shops and took in the street vendors and performers. There were 3 ships parked just down at the bottom of the hill here today and it was jam packed walking around the old city center or Pelourinho. We visited the Igreja de Sao Francisco. Admission was about R$2. Almost every surface inside was coated with gold and there was a profusion of carved and painted art covering every surface. There was a convent cloister attached and you could visit the courtyard which was decorated with Portuguese blue and white tiles from the 1700s. There were 37 mosaics on the ground floor walls that were inspired by paintings from 1608 by a Flemish artist and they were meant to illustrate a book Moral Theatre of Human Life. The tiles were in pretty bad shape sadly. This area of the Pelourinho is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is filled with really remarkable old buildings. Some have shops and restaurants in them now. Some are abandoned and neglected. Some are active churches or government institutions. It is a fairly large and impressive old city center that needs some money, care and attention.
We headed back out and for the ship at this point. Luis dropped us off at the Lacerda Elevator again and this time there was no line, so we agreed to take it down and meet him at the bottom. We paid our 5 centavos each and got in the next elevator. Each elevator held about a dozen peoplewhen full and we were the only tourists aboard our full one. We were expecting some kind of panoramic view or something since everyone talks about these elevators. But, nothing. It was just a really tall elevator. 236 feet tall. Luis was there at the bottom before we got there. We have done it but we still don't get it. The local people are very proud of this cliff-side set of elevators and there has been one there since 1872 though these are not the original ones of course. So, if you don't drive this a quick, easy and inexpensive way to get up and down. It is not clear how much call there would be to travel up and down though. Luis drove us directly to the port gate at which Mariner was docked and we showed our key cards and hauled our luggage aboard. We were glad to get back. It had been a couple of hard travel days and today was tough too. We did not have to walk that much and there were no long flights, but it is very humid here and the sun is brutal. We saw a local temperature sign around mid-day that showed it was 33C. We dropped our bags and headed to the Pool Grill which was serving lunch until 4pm. We had really good hamburgers since we haven't had enough beef yet! They were serving 2 local beers at the Pool Bar, Skol and Antarctica. Clay had one of each. Margie went to put her feet up and Debbie and Clay stayed to have ice cream and close down the Pool Grill.
Back in the room there was a card with an announcement. "A Brazilian Celebration of Dance" had been canceled in Fortaleza. This was the Complimentary Event for this segment. Description pasted below.
"Brazilian Celebration in Dance".
Duration: 3 Hours.
Seated, Special Event.
Code: FTZ-5568
This special event is included for all guests with the compliments of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
This morning you will travel to the Teatro José de Alencar, a fascinating attraction in itself; the interior has been refurbished and is air-conditioned. This will be the setting for this special performance and cocktail reception.
One could say dance is a universal language that speaks to all nations and all nationalities. The human spirit can bemost profound when given music to move to. Here in Fortaleza a very special foundation has taken the children of the streets and given them purpose and skills - the purpose to express themselves and the skill to talk to the world through the art of dance.
The company is called Edisca and is a modern dance company of local dancers, from children to adults. They will dance the ballet, 'Bale Jangurussu,' which is a work based on life on the streets in Brazilian cities. Using modern instruments and video effects, they make a statement, sometimes humorous sometimes serious, on life in contemporary Brazil. There is great visual and emotional impact with striking effects made with simple tools and innovative choreography.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is proud to be part of the Carlson group of companies. Our chairman and CEO, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, and the entire group support the charity, 'World Childhood Foundation,' and so today it is gratifying that we can make our contribution to the children of the world by supporting this organization and bringing you here to celebrate Brazil and its children in dance.
The event will conclude with a short cocktail reception with canapés, while the local dancers mingle with the guests, dancing the 'Maracatu', an Afro-Brazilian dance, and couples dance the 'Forro'."
Since this was originally scheduled at 11am in Fortaleza where we expected to be docked from 7am to 3pm, we had made no other plans there. No idea what we will do there now. But, it will be Friday, so we have some time to think about it. Obviously, there is not a lot there. It is named for an historic fort, but apparently it is still a military installation and there are only beaches and impressive sand dunes as the other items of interest as well as crafts markets such as the one we visited today.
Anyway, the rest of the announcement on the card was that "A Brazilian Celebration of Dance" was now being performed onboard in Constellation Theater this evening at 6pm. We attended the performance by the Bale <SPANCLASS=CORRECTION id="">Folklorico
da Bahia. We were greeted at the doors to the theatre with bad glasses of caipirinhas. We did not like them too much when we had them in Rio, but these were a particularly bad version. They were a large, loud and colorful troupe with musicians and singers. They performed about 4 different pieces. One was clearly with Orixas. One was Capoeira. The other 2 were not explained but were listed in the newsletter as Fisherman's Dance and Samba de Roda. We went to Compass Rose for a quick and light dinner. Debbie and Margie had talked about going to the evening show of a comedian, Rich Ceisler, but both decided they were too tired to stay up.
Salvador de Bahia phoos

Day 39 - February 11, 2008 - Iguazu Falls, Brazil and Argentina

Iguazu Falls Day 2 photos
Breakfast was served from 6-7am. It was a large buffet. Sadly, they had only about 3oz. goblets and one pitcher of water as the only water served. We had finished off all our water from yesterday and the bottle we took with us from dinner last night. We had some long waits for that pitcher between refillings and then all the trips with our tiny goblets. Strange. There was a lot of fruit and bread. You could make your own toast. There were 3 kinds of weenies in a steam tray. Bacon and scrambled eggs. It was alright, but nothing to write home about. Coffee was very strong and bitter.
By 7:30am, we had to checkout of the hotel. By 8am, we needed to be on the bus. Our RSSC information was that today was the day we would get very wet. Our local guide suggested that since we would not have a time or place to change clothes before flying out that we simply bring rain ponchos or buy them at the park in Argentina.
While waiting outside for our group to muster and the bus to arrive, we noticed some interesting woven bird nests hanging from the palm trees planted near the entrance to the hotel. We asked our local guide and she said they belonged to the red-rumped casiki (no idea how it should be spelled, that is what it sounded like she said). She said that these birds weave their nests near humans because toucans tear them up to eat the eggs and toucans don't like humans. OK, so we stationed ourselves there to watch for birds. We did see a red-rumped casiki. Debbie described it to Clay before we knew the name. Debbie thought it was a fairly big black bird with red wings when spread. It turns out that it is their tail feathers that spread open to reveal the red! Then, lo and behold a toucan arrived nearby and flew right over us, between the trees and over the hotel. It was most improbable that it would even be capable of flight, the beak was so impossibly large compared to the rest of the bird! Clay missed it. Soon, there was another across the lawn and the street. Clay saw that one along with several other people. Why didn't anyone tell us what to look for yesterday!?! We had been watching a number and variety of birds in the courtyard area and around the pool earlier after breakfast and checkout and before departure time.
It was a very short drive to the border with Argentina, then it was about 1+ hour wait at the border check. Fortunately for us, we got to sit on the air conditioned bus while our local tour guide took all our passports to be stamped and cleared at both countries' Immigration and Customs checkpoints. We were allowed to cross and then an Argentine official came on the bus with Isabelle, our local guide, and he eyeballed us each individually and appeared to do a head count. He eventually left the bus and we were on our way. It was about another half hour drive before we arrived at the start of our tour of the Argentine side of the Falls.

We had to take 2 small trains to get to the start of our first path to Devil's Throat from this side. In the bus, Isabelle had described the 4 paths of catwalks here and where we would go and what we would see. Unfortunately, we only had time on our tour for this path in its entirety, but we would not learn that until about an hour after we had started out. The trains run on time tables and our group was able to get on each train at the time that Isabelle had planned for us, but we still had some waits. The longest wait was also the only time we had rain, so that was really lucky. Also, the place were we might have gotten very wet from spray at the Devil's Throat, the wind was blowing towards Brazil and so we mostly stayed dry and only had to use ponchos or umbrellas for about 15 minutes and not when we were at the Falls at all.
We walked for quite a long ways before we could see the Falls. We could hear the sound building and see the spray, but it was a good long walk on slippery metal before we arrived. It was just breathtaking. Waiting to board the first train, a frog-like croaking was heard and then we saw a toucan. He was pretty close, but flew away too quickly. Then we spotted a pair in the distance on the other side of the train. We hurried to the front of the train to get photos and then boarded the first car to wait for time to go. Very exciting. Clay got to see them and take some photos. On the walk to the Devil's Throat we saw plush-crested jays, other birds and a very large caiman. (There is some dispute among the viewers as to the size. It varies from 4 feet to 12 feet. Of course, a caiman should not be that large. But, we were told that caiman are the only large gator-types here. So, if it wasn't a caiman then it should not have been there. Though, they did tell us that they thought they did not have anaconda and they recently found one that weighed 300 pounds! They thought they could not live here because it is a sub-tropical forest which means that the temperature occasionally reaches freezing.) We saw turtles and fish in the water as well. There were some scary/silly signs along the catwalks about snakes and humans, but we did not see any snakes. Thankfully.
Once we were in sight of the Devils' Throat, Isabelle told us to start walking back within 15-20 minutes and meet at the snack bar to catch the train back. We all got squeezed onto the first train available back and got off at the Cataratas Station in the middle of the train's route. From here there are 3 additional viewing trails. We did not have time to complete even one now. We arrived at Cataratas Station at 12:30pm and were told that we had to be at a restaurant for lunch at 1pm. We were told originally and on the bus this morning that we would have lunch in Brazil at Porto Canoas, but now we were told that it would be at La Selva here in the Argentine park. So, we had about 20 minutes to be back to board the next train to the Central Station.
We were allowed to walk part of the Salto Dos Hermanos/Bossetti. This is a portion of the Upper Circuit. We had to skip the rest as well as the Lower Circuit and the San Martin Island. This was disappointing and we questioned it. We were told that we had diabetics and they required lunch at 1pm and it was not negotiable. Lunch was another grilled meat buffet and again it was very good and abundant. We had all the beer and wine we could hold and it kept coming. It was a very long lunch. They told us we could sleep on the bus and on the plane to Salvador de Bahia. OK.
Finally, we were told to use the toilets and get on the bus. We drove again to the border for a very long wait in a long line of buses while Isabelle walked on ahead and through the checkpoints. We were not boarded this time. We arrived at the airport on time. Isabelle had us wait in the general terminal while she went to get our boarding passes. We all just took our own luggage either through security or to the checkin desk to check luggage. So, the group got all spread out and separated, but there was only one departure gate area and we were all in there in plenty of time. Isabelle told us to make sure we boarded when called because we were on the last flight out that day!
We were at the airport at 3:45pm and our flight departed at 5:10pm. We expected to arrive at Salvador at 8:25pm per our RSSC literature delivered to our cabins 2 days before we left. It turns out that was not possible because one, it was not a non-stop flight and two there is a one-hour timedifference between Iguazu and Salvador de Bahia. So, we departed on time in a plane about 2/3rds full and we flew back to Rio de Janeiro. We sat on the plane in Rio for close to 2 hours before we took off again for Salvador. We were on the plane this time for about 6 hours. Meanwhile, we had to advance our watches one hour to arrive at Salvador at about 10:30pm. The local guide on the 45 minute bus ride told us that we would have to have dinner first before checking in so our luggage could be delivered. He had already been told by a few people that they were just too tired to eat dinner and they wanted to go straight to bed.
So, when we parked in front of our fairly awful hotel later, about half of us just just went under the bus and got our own luggage with an argument and then got our own rooms keys while being told that we had to have dinner first. But, the hotel desk had our keys ready and just handed them out as we gave our names. We didn't even bother showering and just fell into bed. The hotel was about 22 stories above ground and a few below. The guidebooks say the only redeeming feature here is the pool and the cable car down the cliff to the sea. The guide on the bus said it was an ordinary hotel, nothing nice, but wait until you open your curtains tomorrow morning and see the view of the bay. Wow. We guess that he has never cruised and has no idea that we get a view like that or even better every single day!
So, when we opened our curtains in the morning no one was really wowed. Plus, here is the weird thing. It was still full dark at 7am in Iguazu, but it was broad daylight here in Salvador at 5:30am. Breakfast was to be at anytime in the morning between either 6 and 10am or 7 and 10am. It is still not clear. So, our arrival. We got another triple room here on the 19th floor. All the hallways were open air. All the public spaces had lights on motion sensors, if it went dark before you got the door unlocked, just keep moving. They had the system where you had to insert the key in a slot to turn on the electricity in the room. So, at 11pm or so it was over 100 degrees in our room when we arrived. We know because Debbie has a souvenir thermometer hanging on her backpack. It was about 3am before the room temperature became tolerable. There were 2 single beds and a plywood cot in a small room with a kitchenette. The window fully opened without a screen. It was a long way down to the pool below and there were about 6 lounge chairs down there. You had to lean against the glass or out the window in order to see straight down to the pool. Scary! It was a very small pool and very few chairs for a 22-story hotel! The bathroom was a tub with shower and a toilet and single sink. The AC did not vent anywhere in the room except the beds area which also had 2 chairs a table, a love seat, a desk with TV and closet. There was only a thin pillow, thin sheet and a bedspread on each bed. There were no extra blankets or pillows in the closet. The AC unit when switched on had a light bulb inside the system and you either had to sleep with the light on in the sleeping area, or switch the AC off to get the light off. We just sleep with the light on and the AC blowing directly on the first bed. We tried to adjust the vent slats but they were really dirty and covered with spider webs which was a little scary. But, we did get all the slats at least open. It appeared that someone had earlier closed them all to keep them from blowing on that first bed maybe or to block the light coming through there. Who knows?
There is a small Sofitel by a nice beach very near the airport. If we had to leave Iguazu early yesterday to spend a night in Salvador, wouldn't that have been a better choice? Better still, was there not a flight directly (or indirectly) to Salvador de Bahia the following day? We wound up spending a total of about 6 hours viewing the Falls. The 60 people who took the 12.5 hour tour from Buenos Aires were on direct non-stop charter flights and had 8 hours at the Falls. They only missed our one hour walk at Das Cataratas Hotel to the Brazilian side of Devil's Throat so they did not miss a lot, but we did. We missed 2 nights and a day off the ship and for less time at the Falls. This was some really poor planning and we were afraid of that when we booked. But, we had been told that we really need to see both sides. We did not realize that this particular itinerary would give us so little of 2 sides and it still doesn't seem that it had to be this way. We expected Regent to do a better job and we were disappointed.
Iguazu Falls Day 2 photos

Day 38 - February 10, 2008 - Rio de Janeiro

Rio to Iguazu photos
Ok, so this is being typed on the 13th and memories begin to fade and accumulate and things getting out of order. So, we'll do the best we can as quickly as possible and try to get this posted and the laundry done before things get busy again here.
Sunday morning and we will have an early start on our "Iguassu Falls Spectacular". Not to be a spoiler, but must admit right up front, that while the Falls are indeed spectacular, this 2-night overland excursion was most definitely not spectacular in any way, shape or form. Sorry, but needed to get that out of the way quickly.
We had interrupted sleep, very sadly. At 3:10am, there was a Code Blue on Deck 9 that nearly scared the bejeezus out of us booming out of the speakers over the bed. We learned yesterday that a man had died then and his wife was escorted off the ship after we left that day with his remains. We don't know who it was, or if we had met this couple, but that it is very sad news.
When we got back to sleep it was only for a few hours because we needed to get an early breakfast, finish packing and get our passports before we could leave the ship at 8am. A word about packing, there was nothing anywhere in any of the literature we got from RSSC or the Travel Concierge Desk staff to indicate that bathing suits would be required at any point. A fellow passenger onboard told us about having to wear a bathing suit under clothes for some walking, then a lot of stairs and then onto a boat that would do doughnuts and go up under the falls to drench the passengers. Now this is some people's idea of fun, for others fun would be a calm float with lots of different views of the falls and good photography opportunities.
Unfortunately, the boat portion was exactly as the fellow passenger described it and it is unimaginable why the first time we heard about it was on the bus in Iguazu itself. At that point it is too late to back out or to pack a swimsuit! What are they thinking? So, we packed swimsuits just in case this morning. Picking up passports we learned that only 23 people were going on this trip. 2 of them were taking an earlier nonstop flight, and 21 of us were taking a later, direct with a stopover, no change of plane, flight and we all had to travel on the same bus.
So, we were up and departing a little earlier than had been planned. The reasons for this were never explainedto us. So, we spent a good part of the day sitting at departure gates either in airports or in plane seats without any forward motion as a reward. These are never happy times. All but one of our flights roundtrip were completely full, and one coming back was about 3/4 full. Perhaps earlier we mentioned that Saturday was the parade of Carnaval champions. As our bus went to depart the port, we got stuck in the parade floats heading out of town to be dismantled. That was exciting. We saw all the winning floats without any crowds or noise. But things goes downhill from here except when we are actually insight of the awesome falls.
We dropped off the couple on the direct flight. Still innocent excitement with no idea what is to come. We soon begin to see. We are all lined up in a frenzy of departing Carnaval goers leaving Rio. We are all lined up to get our boarding passes. Though it starts with the luggage not being picked up from the halls the night before. Everyone who wanted it picked up, walked out this morning to find it still in the hall outside their door. OK, everyone brought their own luggage to the Constellation Theater and then off the ship, through the dock, through the terminal building, across the terminal parking lot and on to the bus. We did the reverse when we arrived at the airport. Now we are lined up in a crush of Disneyesque lines at the domestic Gol departures check-in desk. We were in line for over an hour before we got our boarding passes. Good thing we left early to accomodate the couple on the other flight. Then we had to go through security screening and finally to the departure gate. The jet was there. But, we are looking at our boarding passes and the arrival time on them is an hour later than our itinerary states. Is there a time change between these 2 places? We ask. No, there is not. Ummm... Oh, it was not clear to the Tour Desk escort with us, but now she sees it is clear that this flight is not nonstop. She goes around and tells us as we queue to board that we should not get off the first time the plane lands.
So, we get to Iguazu about 1:30pm and it is not a long drive to the Das Cataratas Hotel inside the National Park. Our local guide informs us on the bus that because of our late arrival something will have to be sacrificed. WHAT? We are only one hour late and someone scheduled this flight in the first place and should have known the arrival time. It is decided that if she phones our restaurant orders in tothe hotel that we will eat sooner and not have to sacrifice anything. Our tour escort goes around and writes down grilled chicken, grilled filet mignon or grilled fish for each person. The fish is supposed to be some kind of really big fish that is caught locally in these rivers by the Falls. Clay orders fish. Debbie and Margie order filet mignon. So, now all we are supposed to sacrifice is some of our free time this afternoon, instead of 2 hours we will have only 1 hour. OK, but since we now learn that we are supposed to change into bathing suits, etc. That really leaves no free time.
Lunch was a cold fish salad with lettuce, bread, the main courses we ordered and dessert. We could have water, beer, wine, sodas as beverages. Two drinks per person allowed. Debbie's steak is rare. She sends it back against all her rules and it comes back still rare, so she just doesn't eat it. Clay really likes his fish. We are asked if we want dessert and coffee. We ask what is for dessert. Milk pudding. Sure, we'll give it a try. It was flan, really very good flan. We go and check in and get our keys and identify our luggage. We had booked a triple again as in Machu Picchu. This time we actually got a triple room. This hotel is quite beautiful. It was built with a view of the Falls in 1958. The trees have since grown up too tall to see the falls, but you can hear them and see the spray from Devil's Throat. There is a 3-4 story tower at the front, center of the hotel. As our bellboy walked us past a doorway, he casually mentioned that you could go up the tower to view the Falls. Our room was at the back, near the pool but without any real view even though it had a small balcony. It had a front room with 2 twin beds, table and 2 chairs, and the closet with safe. Then back room had a double bed, 2 tables with lamps, a desk and a refrigerator as well as the door to the bathroom. The bathroom was large with only one sink, but a tub and a separate shower and a toilet and a bidet. We cleaned up a little and then debated what to wear out in this heat and humidity. It should be pointed out that it was pouring rain when our plane landed, it rained all the time we were eating lunch.
As we debated the sun was trying to come out and if it did that would be good, but also steamy! Clay decided that he would get wet and dress and accordingly. Debbie and Margie decided to not take the boat ride and only dress for the walk to Devil's Gorge as well as down to the river where they would just wait and come back. Then we went to climb the tower for the Falls views. It was a lot of stairs but the views were worth it. On our afternoon walk, we were amazed at the Falls and we were to learn that at any point you can never view all of them! We saw over 20 Quati on this trail and a lot of them were babies born in October. Our local guide told us that the females give birth to up to 11 at a time and only one time per year. There appeared to be grain scattered along the sidewalk to attract them. Our guide said they had to have so many babies because they lost a lot to predators. They are pretty big animals, so what is preying on them? Jaguars and pumas! Yikes! We saw tons of big spiders in monster-sized webs. We saw 2 kinds of really ugly, 2 different kinds of scary lizards, big multifooted worms, and some butterflies and birds.
We got a lot of views of Devil's Throat which is the fall with the greatest volume of water flowing over it. We arrived near the base of a cliff and the end of the falls. We rode an elevator up to find the bus. The bus was really nice with a lot of space between seats and built in footrests like a recliner. It was great. We had to ride about 5km to the place with the stairs and the boat. We had passed it on the way from the airport. Macuco Safary. After a quick potty stop, we got into seats on a little wagon and were pulled through some rainforest. The seats were wet. Not good. Then we unloaded in the mud in the middle of a very buggy forest and Clay got stung by 2 bees. Deet repellent meant nothing to these yellow jackets or whatever they were. Not good. 2 four-wheeler pulled up here and unloaded some very wet people, explaining the wet seats. We barely fit in the 2 jeeps by squeezing in the 2 rows running on either side of the back and then the front seats.
One woman had decided to stay on the bus (the local guide had the driver take her back to the hotel instead of letting her sit there). If she had come with us, it would have been impossible to make it in 2 jeeps. We drove some more and we did not really see any animals of interest here. Just more random birds and spiders. Some stinging nettles and a lot of bees. We unloaded and started taking zigzagging stone stairs downhill. More than halfway down, we were met by the jeep that continued on with a couple with a cane. What? If the jeeps had to drive to a place where there were only about 30 steps, why don't they just go there? It's a mystery.
When we arrived at this landing with benches and steps for the jeeps, we founda load of Europeans nearly naked and drying themselves with towels and putting on their dry clothes. Guess our now wet butts, dried their seats for them. It was not a pretty sight. But, it meant that at least some tour companies were fully disclosing what to expect here and these folks were prepared down to the towels! We went down the rest of the steps and our group went out onto a covered, floating dock to take off their clothes and shoes and get plastic bags for their cameras. Apparently, they take you so far down river to let you take photos and then they tell you to put things in the plastic bag and shut it and then they start trying to drown the passengers while they videotape it. This is supposed to be very fun. Results were mixed, but most people got off the boat laughing about the experience.
Debbie and Margie were very glad they did not go when they saw portions of the video later. So we spent about 4 hours out this afternoon and about half of it was to make this 21-minute thrillboat ride available. We they got back they asked Debbie and Margie how long they had waited for them. The answer was about 20 minutes. No, that can't be right, it felt like about 2 hours. (It probably would have felt like a lifetime to some people!) No, Margie had photos of the boat leaving and the boat returning. The difference between the 2 time stamps was exactly 21 minutes. Debbie and Margie sat up front for the ride back because everyone else was soaking wet and their clothes had just about dried out during their wait ashore.
Debbie and Margie spent the time checking out the weird rock formations along the river and watching birds and checking out the small waterfall beside the stairs. At one point, Margie put her hands in the river and was surprised that it was so warm. Debbie reckoned the water must be well oxygenated. The rocks were cool. They looked like they had some kind of hard (maybe iron, lots of red color in the soil, water, etc.) center and the outer portions were eroded away around then in concentric patterns. It was really weird. Margie got a rock. Took photos of Roy and Bob. (Cannot believe we did not get photos of Roy and Bob at Corcovado!!) At some point, about 6 feet from the Iguazu River Debbie, stepped back and bumped into Margie, asking if they had crocodiles or alligators here. Margie said no, why. Nevermind. OK.
So, it was a pretty quick trip back and no one purchased a video because they did not demo it very well and no one gave us a price. We were back to the hotel and had an hour to get ready for dinner. It was an outdoor barbecue buffet. It was a lot like the meal in Rio, but less selection and no walking around with meat. Oh, and it was outdoors. Fortunately, they had really powerful fans blowing and that kept it on the cool side and blew off the flies and mosquitos.
This place was packed and although we had seats reserved, there were not enough. Also, the whole place was smoking. There were a lot of Japanese and Europeans here and so there was smoking at almost all of the adjoining tables to our group. The food was good and abundant and everyone got enough to eat and drink.
We walked a bit in the gardens looking for the night-blooming jasmine. There were bats flying above the swimming pool. There was an amusing sign with directions should you encounter a big cat. Scary, but here they are summarized. Keep calm. (Right! Aiyyeeee!) Do not run. Do not get down. Make noise. Make yourself and big as you can. If you have small children, put them on your shoulders to appear even bigger. If you do not have small children, find some to make yourself appear even bigger and meaner. OK, made up that last one! Haha. Inform management. Really.
The walkways out here were paved with local stones and there were some interesting shapes left in them from the erosion, Debbie and Margie were telling Clay about it and showing him the weird shapes. We found 2 hearts and 1 startlingly realistic human face. As we were studying the face in the stone, someone came up near us and cleared their throat. Debbie jumped and cursed. Debbie has an incredible startle reflex. The man found that very amusing, but he didn't speak English to us, so maybe he didn't know what Debbie said! Then we fell into to bed and crashed. These were not comfortable beds, but there were some extra pillows in the closet and that helped. The temperature was comfortable. We had to get up very early in the dark the next day.
Rio to Iguazu phoos

Day 37 - February 9, 2008 - Rio de Janeiro

Rio photos
Debbie and Margie really enjoyed the show last night that was really only 1 dance to open by the ballroom dance champs, then JC Fisher with the Regent Signature Orchestra. He was from Kansas City and he tried a sort of comedy as well. He did a lot of audience participation. It was good.
We were up early for what was advertised by everyone on the ship as one of the 3 best sail ins in the world. Terry had told us that we would be here early to try to catch the sunrise and she would begin narrating at 6am. It wasn't sunrise until much later. So, anyway at just before 6am, they turned on all the lights in Observation Lounge and between the reflected glare and the dirty windows, there was absolutely nothing to be seen from there. Capt. Delavault did a 360 degree turn in the bay in front of Corcovado with its Christ statue lit up on top before rounding Sugar Loaf and docking. We would have been better off once again by just staying in our cabins and listening and viewing there. We gave up about the time LaVeranda opened at 7am and went to the back open deck to sit and eat. We had hoped to continue listening to Terry's commentary from out there, but it was not being broadcast there. We were docked on the starboard side by 7:30am and the ship finally cleared around 9am. RSSC was running a free shuttle from the port to Ipanema (near H. Stern) and back once every 30 minutes according to Passages. We don't know if that was around the clock or what since there wereno times listed in the newsletter or anywhere else that we noticed.

Today we had our complimentary private tour booked through the H. Stern representatives onboard. We walked through the Terminal Building (which turned out to be a big mistake since that was where we saw the only t-shirts anyone was interested in and later they were closed!) and met Nessim who assigned us an assistant. She was a young woman named Ana and we were in an air-conditioned Toyota sedan with a driver named Nelson. We did not have anything too bizarre planned here. Nessim had told us he thought we could see the 2 mountains, the Carmen Miranda Museum, H. Stern and have lunch. But, today was the last day of Carnavale. It was very crowded here. Rio is a beautiful city in a stunning physical setting, but it must be the tour bus capital of the world. We were told that it had been raining all week in Rio and it was not clear that it would be a nice day. But, it was a nearly perfect day. It was between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius all day and partly cloudy. It did not rain until nearly dark and by then we were just ready to come back to the ship and crash anyway. Technically, Carnaval ends on Tuesday and Lent begins on Wednesday, but not here. Here it ends officially on Sunday. Today is the parade of champions of the Carnavale and the big culmination. Everyone has said that if you can only be here one day this is it. But, we did not know that until too late to do anything about it really. Also, since we only had the one day here because we chose to spend more time going to Iguazu Falls, we had to choose and we chose to ignore Carnavale. Unfortunately, our memo did not reach the throngs of people here! We stood in a long line to buy tickets to take the train up Corcovado (US$21pp) only to learn that the tickets were for noon. That was 2 hours away and the driver had already left and he said there was too much traffic to take a chance going elsewhere and coming back so we just had to kill 2 hours waiting to stand in line again. Pretty much what we did all day today was stand in line and wait for our turn at something. We did get to see the Christ the Redeemer statue though, which is a very iffy thing apparently. We did get to see it in all its entirety before clouds rolled in, but the clouds had already obscured the views from up there of the city. It was 2pm by the time we got back down and we went to lunch. We agreed to Ana's suggestion of Porcao. This translates to Big Pig. We felt like big pigs when we left there! It was a big place right on the bay and it was very busy and crowded with mostly local families it seemed. This place had a lot of specialties that we had never had. They had fried cheese pastries, little hard boiled eggs, farofa, and tons of meat. They had an enormous buffet and then, they came around with grilled meat on long skewers and cut off some if you wantedit. Clay had 2 different local beers, Cerpa and Chopp Tulipa. Both were nice light ales. Debbie tried the Caipirinha, which is a strong mixed drink, in the vein of the Pisco Sours from the other coast. Margie had the Caipirinha variation with strawberries instead of lime. Both were very strong even though they were made with sugar. One was probably plenty for a lifetime. We were glad that we invited Ana to join us for lunch since we would never had gotten in without her as we did not understand the Portugese announcements for numbers as we were waiting to had our ticket number called. Also, she explained everything to us from how it worked to what things were. It was really hectic and chaotic and loud but the food was overly abudant and very good. Not something you would want to do very often though, it seems. Lunch for 4 was US$210. By now, it was 4pm and we decided to go up Sugar Loaf (US$20pp) while it was still clear and forget about the museum since it was getting late. We had a fairly clear time at Sugar Loaf and again it was very crowded. The clouds were blowing by fairly quickly and we got to see everything except the top of Corcovado from up there. Though we did get some clear views of the Christ up there from down at the beaches off and on later. We made a last stop to tour H. Stern and we were back on the ship just after 7pm. We were really glad that we had not booked a samba show like some people had. We were sweaty and exhausted just from all the shuffling along in lines with the throngs of people here. Plus the early and long days we have ahead.
This evening we received invitations for this segment's Gold, Platinum and Titanium event. It is tomorrow at 12:30pm. We will be gone to Iguazu by then and will miss it. Anyway, it is a unique perspective for the sailaway from the forward deck 7.
If wedon't post for a few days don't be alarmed. We will not have the laptop with us and we will not be back on the ship before the afternoon of the 12th. So, farewell until then. Wish us luck!
Rio photos

Day 36 - February 8, 2008 - at sea

The pictures today show our Iguazu Falls trip itinerary.

Slept in again and late breakfast at Compass Rose. We opened the place up. But, first we snagged 2 washers on Deck 10. We ran the long cycle and the washers were not done when we got back almost an hour later. Somehow, even though there was only one washer running while ours ran, all three dryers were in use. So, Debbie and Margie had a long sit! No one came in to use a washer while we waited though. Clay went to Terry Breen's lecture alone. Debbie skipped exercise this morning. Debbie and Clay both wound up stopping at the Tour Desk to confirm that we were booked on the Igauzu Spectacular and got 2 different answers about the lack of information on it, which neither one had brought up, so they were preemptive apologetic explanations, but both different. The upshot though was that we are all 3 booked. The Destination Specialist said it is a 3 hour flight, so at this point we hope they realize that we are traveling together and that we can sit together on the flights. We'll see.
At breakfast this morning, Rommel had to tell Debbie that there are no raspberries left on the ship. She gasped and clutched her heart. Rommel told her to call 1-800-REFUNDS to get her partial money back for the day with no raspberries. Margie wondered about that, but people do file complaints like that everyday here. It is astounding. One that anyone would have to feel that way on a cruise that is priced and advertised as 6-star and secondly that anyone would choose to spend their time here doing that. Debbie is sure that there will raspberries again when we reboard the ship in Salvador and is not too worried about it. Michael had brought an extra bowl of strawberries just in case Debbie would accept them as a substitute. Debbie declined. Rommel brought her the empty berry-stained bowl with a piece of paper on top with circles drawn all over it and the word printed, RASPBERY. Ah, a virtual berry substitute. We alllaughed. Debbie put the paper in her pocket and told Rommel she was keeping it in case she needed it again, that Chimi did not give her a drawing of raspberries when we were out for 5 days before. Rommel told her that if there was anything she wanted that wasn't onboard to just let him know and he would give her another drawing to substitute. Good to know.
Today there is a Tex-Mex buffet on the Pool Deck. Always one of Debbie's favorites. The day broke, sunny and warm with really calm seas. As the day progressed though it got cloudier and wetter and windier and the seas kicked up. It might not be so pleasant up there now. Debbie is planning on a least the Fitball class this afternoon. Margie is thinking about the Big Screen Popcorn Movie in Constellation Theater instead of her usual activities because they are showing "Becoming Jane." But, since they will show it again one day on TV (maybe! We nor anyone we have spoken to has been able to see an entire movie on the TV yet, unless you get a DVD to play) and Debbie and Clay have seen it already, then maybe not. Well, Clay went to the movie alone and Margie stayed in bed. It was just too rough.
Oh, did not say earlier that Clay accidentally deleted all his photos from El Zanjon. Sorry, they were some good ones because it was an amazing place and we had a great time there. Margie had a couple of photos from there. We'll see, with the Internet up and down, but anyway, the photos from that evening are lost.
The Captain came on about 12:15pm today for us noon announcement. Once again, you just have to be sitting waiting with the volume turned up on Channel 2 to hear him. He did not tell us anything today about our position or why Channel 3 is down or whether he had charts in the Observation Lounge any longer. He did confirm that the weather has turned on us and it continues to be bad ahead. He said he was crossing his fingers for an improvement for Rio for the sail in. Us too! At that time, he thought the seas were about 8 feet, but they grew and pretty much doubled as the afternoon continued. It was full on raining for lunch. We still went up top for the Tex/Mex. Clay was craving ribs and they were on the grill up there. Debbie and Margie got their burritos. It was very rough up there in LaVeranda, the ship was leaning heavily to the port, so there may be hard wind coming against the starboard side, but we didn't go out over there to find out in the absence of the wind speed and direction on TV. We also did not venture up and forward to the Observation Lounge to check if there was any information displayed there. We will have to assume that the rough ride and port leaning are a result of stiff winds, currents and high waves. Not sure if anyone will make it out to any of the things scheduled for this afternoon. As Debbie told a neighbor from exercise, Fitball Fun should be really FUN later. We could just try to sit on there for a 1/2 hour and it would be a workout. We'll have to see. So, Debbie did make it to Fitball. She had to use Margie's Motionease and a Relief Band, but she made it. Bebi had a safety evaluation this afternoon though so the class was shortened and the Pilates class after was delayed. Debbie did the whole Fitball class then and a few exercises after on her own and then did not stick around for Pilates to begin. The sun did come out later in the afternoon, and the whitecaps died down, but the swells seemed to get larger and more frequent and the ride remained unpleasant. Still hoping though for a clear and calm morning sail in to Rio de Janeiro. It is supposed to be one of theworld's most beautiful ports to sail in with Corcovado and Sugar Loaf and all the big beaches visible. With low visibility, it won't be much. So, fingers crossed and we may have to be up early in the morning to get good seats in the Observation Lounge for the sail in. We have plans tomorrow for independent touring with an air-conditioned van or car and English-speaking guide. We are really looking forward to it and to the jewelry demonstration.
Tonight is Informal. Hoping everyone is up to dressing and going out. None of us are very excited about any of the menus tonight though. The show is a tenor and a ballroom dance champions couple. Debbie and Margie plan on going even though we plan to be up early tomorrow for the sail into Rio De Janeiro. Terry Breen, the on board lecturer, says that Rio along with Sydney and Hong Kong are the three best sail in harbors. Personally, we think Cape Town with its cloud draped Table Mountain should be on anyone's best harbor list. We met Terry on the way to dinner and she said she would start her narration at 6am tomorrow. We plan on being in the Observation Lounge on deck 12 before then. It will be a short night's sleep before a busy day tomorrow in Rio.
The pictures today show our Iguazu Falls trip itinerary.

Day 35 - February 7, 2008 - at sea

Past Days photos
We were without Internet/phones/TV etc since Montevideo. Sorry for the delay get the past day's entries posted. The only official information we got from the ship was a card in lieu of the newspapers we get every day. The cards said that due to the "ship's current position" we could not get the newspapers delivered. OK!! By now, Channel 3 which had a diminishing amount of information and what it had was wrong. We were still in Montevideo all day according to that. Today, Channel 3 is just a black screen, no info at all there. So, we still wait to find out what is going on, but we did get Internet back! We slept late and had a late breakfast in Compass Rose. Since we will be very busy this Saturday and Sunday, we are treating Thursday and Friday as our weekend days.
Debbie wanted to go to exercise since Leanne had left in BA. Our new fitness instructor is one Debbie knows from Voyager, Bebi. Bebi remembered Debbie from the Panama Canal pre-World Cruise segment in 2005-2006. That was amazing but Bebi said it was her first RSSC contract then and she had just marked her 2-year anniversary working with RSSC and so she had recently been thinking about it. Debbie did Cardio Groove in the morning and Basic Step and Beginner's Pilates in the afternoon. So, it was a good welcome back to the gym. We all went to Terry Breen's morning lecture. Then, as usual for whatever reason, no matter how entertaining the event in the Constellation Theater is we get sleepy. So, we all laid down before lunch. Captain Delavault did not make his noon announcement in the cabins. We waited and between 12:20 and 12:25 he finally came on only Channel 2, not over the speakers. He had little to say about the weather, waves, location etc. He said that if we wanted to know the ship's position that he had some maps/charts up on it the Observation Lounge.
OK. So, there was a Fish Fiasco, oh, al Fresco on the Pool Deck today. We did not like anything on the Compass Rose menu for dinner and it is Formal Night tonight with the Captain's Welcome Reception. So, Debbie decided we should go look for the Signatures menu and see if she could go tonight. We found the menu and it looked as good as it will get for her. She has gone 162 nights on Regent without a meal in Signatures. This would be the night. So, before going up to the Pool Deck for lunch for Clay to have fish, we went to look for someone to find out if we could get in Signatures. Last Formal night was a nightmare in Compass Rose because so few people went to Signatures and Latitudes, so we thought we had a good chance. Debbie asked in Compass Rose and Leilani told her that Mr. Remy was out front and would handle Signatures reservations. There was no one out front. Debbie leaned in on the other side and Remy saw her and motioned us in. Debbie shook her head no and pointed to Remy and crooked her finger to beckon him to her. He startled and looked around, pointed to himself and then jogged up. Debbie asked him about getting into Signatures and he was very funny. He told her, I can't believe it, you came for me, you are finally coming to Signatures, I was afraid I was going to have to approach you myself... He was pretty booked up for the segment apparently, but could take us tonight without a problem. Debbie told him we only need tonight, this is a limited window of opportunity here for you. She negotiated the time with him, so that we could attend the Captain's Welcome Reception and then he confirmed us at 7:15 tonight. He told Debbie, now I have something to live for. Uh oh. No one can play irony like the French, but now it was on. We all laughed about it. Clay said that Remy was on the World Cruise with us and must have remembered that we never came once then. Whatever, RSSC can make a big profit on us everyday, no worries.
Then we went up to the Pool Deck. Clay got fish and Debbie and Margie got other food. Ludovich finally found us today and told us he didn't look for us earlier because he was too busy with evaluations before Rio. Margie went to Arts & Crafts and Needlepoint in the afternoon, Debbie to the gym and Clay read and sat on the balcony. Then it was time to dress for the Captain's Reception and dinner. ThisCaptain's Reception was different. They had chairs set up on the stage with tables and Capt. Delavault asked Bryan the Cruise Director, Magnus the Staff Captain, Richard the Hotel Director, Giovanni the Chief Engineer, Terry Breen and Scott the Travel Concierge to sit in the chairs. Then he did a slide show on the big screen that had masked the Regent Orchestra while they were playing for dancing. He talked about the construction and history of the ship. Then he showed slides and maps about South America and spoke about places we had already been and where we were going. He had Scott and Terry talk about places we will go and not to throw things off the ship in the Amazon, or anywhere else, please. Champagne was delivered to the stage tables and Capt. Delavault asked for a toast. Bryan tried to give him a glass and he refused, saying that he did not drink because he is the driver and asked Bryan to make the toast. We drank and they left the stage and the screen rolled up and the band played. We stopped by the jigsaw puzzle on our way to Signatures. The sky over the fjords was finished and 2 different people told us that they had done that. We denied any involvement to anyone who came by. Dinner was as expected. Debbie was ranting about what sick person puts snails in ravioli and special places in hell... Remy came by and asked her about the ravioli and she smiled and told him it could not be improved. We had a long wait before our main courses and Remy came by and apologized. Debbie told him sweetly, oh it is only prolonging the anticipation. Remy finally got it and did a few double takes as he walked away. It was all fine really, with truffles in every single thing including the butter for the bread. Some people live for this. Others avoid it like the plague. Remy walked us out at the end of the meal and hoped we were satisfied and would return. We told him everything was fine, but we would probably wait another 160 or so days before coming back. Remy did not look happy. Not sure what he is worried about, his tables were all full. Not like Latitudes with only a single digit number of tables occupied almost every night.
This afternoon Margie had a phone call from Brendan at Reception, he told her that if we wanted to look for the Southern Cross tonight to go aft and starboard and look about 30 degrees above the horizon and if we couldn't find it to call Reception and ask for help. So, we were not planning to go to the show, a pianist, but we all stayed up to go look. We tried the back deck off Horizon Lounge first but it was all lit up. So, we went up to Deck 12 and the lights were all off up there, so someone had made some effort for us. We couldn't figure out what we were looking at or for. Debbie went into the corridor there in front of the elevators and called. Brendan was off and had not told anyone that we might call. Danielle asked Debbie to wait there and she would see what she could find out and call her back. In about 5 minutes, Danielle did call back and gave more explicit instructions from someone on the bridge who had stepped out up there and checked. Debbie and Margie came back and we stood where and how directed with Clay and waited to get our night vision back. Then we all turned our heads right 30 degrees and then up 30 degrees. We think we found it. We found it and a lot of other things that could have been it under the Milky Way. So, assuredly at least one of the things that could have been the Southern Cross was it, so we can say that we've seen it. We did appreciate the thoughtfulness of some unknown person on the bridge getting the lights turned off for us and telling us where to look, but a nicer gesture would have been someone there to point it out or even invite us to the bridge to point it out. But, we'll have to take whatever we can get. Debbie even more appreciates the time on Voyager with the Harvard astrophysicist taking small parties out on the darkened front of the ship to point out all kinds of things like the coal sack and planets as well as the Southern Cross. Clay is still kicking himself for missing that one special opportunity. On to bed and planning to sleep in and then laundry again in the morning since it has been almost a week and we will be off the ship for all day tomorrow and then 2 nights away.
We all realized that we need to be thinking about packing for that and we have had no confirmation that we are on for Iguazu yet. The Destination Specialist said that only 31 people were going on that. So, we will have to check with the Tour Desk in the morning.
Past Days photos

Day 34 - February 6, 2008 - Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay photos
All we had to do was cross the Rio de la Plata between 10pm and 7am. We arrived an hour late this morning. Fortunately, it did not end up mattering to us because Debbie's private guide had informed us that she would not be there before 9:30am. Good. Marta was the name of the guide Debbie had been emailing. In her last message, she told us she would be waiting by the green path with a sign with our name. You always worry about how you will find the red roof or the blue building or the green path. In this case, there was no worry. The green path was not to be missed. There were a few ships docked here in a very compact area. Captain Delavault had a tricky parking job this morning. So, we followed the green path past our ship to the intersection with the next ship's green path and there was Debbie's name on a sign. The woman introduced herself as Noemi, Marta's sister. Marta had an emergency with her daughter and could not come. We hope that everyone is all right now. But, Noemi did a fine job filling in and she teaches English, so we had no problems. Luis was our driver and he met us with an air conditioned van outside the port entrance. Marta did fine by us and we can recommend her services to anyone. Marta Marquez, tour organizer, msmtaiz@hotmail.com
We had the guide and driver for 5 1/2 hours for US$165. We spent a little more time than that with them because we invited them to join us for a parillada lunch in the Mercado del Puerto after the tour finished. The Mercado del Puerto is an amazing old building that is now full of meat grilling restaurants and some shops. We ordered 2 mixed grills for 2, 2 orders of french fries and one of mashed potatoes with 2 waters, 1 big Pilsen beer and 1 bottle of medio medio (half still white wine-half sparkling white wine) and the bill was US$151. There were a number of places both up and downstairs to eat there, but we ate upstairs at LaPosada Don Tiburon. Each grill came with 2 cuts of beef and grilled pork and lamb chops. It was much more than even 5 people could eat. The beef was really good.
Earlier in the day, we requested a stop for ice cream as a comparative study of course. Mercedes, yesterday, told us that the Argentines had improved on the gelato that the Italians brought over with them. We did really like the BA ice cream and wanted to see how the Uruguayan compared. Noemi told us that she did not know if it was that good, but that she had a favorite place, La Cigale. So, we went. Well, it was really very good ice cream. In point of fact, we all agreed that it was even better than the Freddo ice cream we had in Buenos Aires. Sorry, but Uruguay wins.
So, we drove around Montevideo and we walked around the downtown area some. We went to the Plaza Matriz and visited the flea market and the Cathedral. We walked down a pedestrian street to the Plaza de la Independencia and the mauseoleum of Artigas. We visited Museo Torres Garcia and the Museos del Gaucho y de la Moneda. The first was a local modern artist who died in 1949. The second was in a beautiful old house now owned by a bank that had one floor as a Mint Museum and the top floor about gauchos. It was full of old and fancy spurs, knives, bolladeras, whips, tack, mate cups, etc. along with some dioramas. It was quite interesting, but nearly all the signage is in Spanish only. On the floor with the Mint Museum, which is quite small, there was a photo exhibit by Geographic Study and Recognition Group of Uruguay. The thing we found most interesting here was a mud nest like the one that Clay saw at the Estancia yesterday. Noemi told us this small bird does build a large mud nest and the bird is called hornero. We drove to the hill overlooking the city which has a military museum on it, but which we did not visit. To get there you have to drive through an impoverished area that was once the center of the corned beef industry. Very interesting. We drove past the bronze sculptures of Belloni, which are very realistic and represent the colonial period of Uruguay. Sadly, they have suffered a lot of vandalism and theft. We also drove past some of their beautiful beaches. It was very hot here. We passed thermometers that said from 32C to 36C this afternoon. But, there was a constant breeze that kept things on the pleasant side and also we spent a lot of time in the air-conditioned van. We noticed a lot more mate drinkers here than we had in Buenos Aires. Noemi told us that most of the people in BA are in Uruguay on vacation right now anyway.
All aboard was at 5pm today for 6pm sailing. We have a new Captain now and apparently now we have to be back on board a full hour before sailing when it was only 30 minutes during the previous 2 segments. We hope that this is only for today since the new arrivals had to have a muster drill at 5:15pm today and not going to be a full hour for all aboard for the rest of our cruise. We'll see. At 6pm, after the last tour bus returned we sailed right on time. Capt. Delavault came on to announce that all were aboard and we were leaving, then he told us that he would not be attending the Block Party, but would be with us in spirit. We did not attend the Block Party either. Everyone in our section of hall is on the entire Circle and we had met everyone at the previous 2 Block Parties except the couple directly next to Margie. we were so stuffed from our late, meaty lunch and the heat that we didn't even really want to think about going to dinner or anything. The good news is that we now have 2 sea days before Rio de Janeiro. We have a private tour there scheduled through the courtesy of our H. Stern friends onboard Nessim and Fabian. We overnight in Rio and the next day we fly out to Iguazu Falls for to see both sides and then we spend a 2nd night in a hotel in Salvador de Bahia to wait to rejoin the Mariner.
Pasted below is the tour description for Iguazu Falls.
Iguazu Falls Spectacular
Duration: 2½ Days.
Hiking.
Price: $1425
This optional tour has to be pre-purchased and is not included in the regular tour program. If you have not already pre-booked this optional shore excursion you may contact Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Reservations at 1 (800) 285-1835 to verify the current status of this program. Limited space may be available and should be booked via reservations. You may also check with the Travel Concierge Manager upon embarkation to verify if this tour is still available. RSSC reserves the right to withdraw this program if minimum participation requirements are not met. A 100% cancellation penalty applies to overland programs cancelled within 60 days of departure. Experience the extraordinary natural beauty and wildlife of South America during this memorable journey to Iguazu Falls. The Iguazu, or Iguassu, River Delta is located in the center of a sub-tropical forest spanning 457,000 acres, and possesses unique characteristics that have made it an important economic and ecological reserve for all of its neighboring countries. Your adventure begins with an unforgettable guided walking tour through Iguazu National Park. Here, one of the world's most awesome series of waterfalls combine to create the Iguazu Falls, located on the border between Brazil and Argentina. Iguazu Falls are over two miles wide with 275 jumps, and a total height of 216 feet - taller than Niagra Falls. The catwalk you will walk across will tremble under the roar of the deafening torrents, and the awesome power of the falls. Next, you will embark on a jungle riverboat ride at Macuco Falls. This combination off-road vehicle tour and boat cruise through the park will enable you to get close enough to feel the spray and energy created by this great mass of falling water.
After an overnight stay at the Das Cataratas Hotel, located next to the falls, you will venture to the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls for a half-day walking tour that penetrates deeper inside the falls than on the Brazilian side. You will hear the thunder of the rushing water and feel the spray from the falls before returning to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. After lunch and a flight to Salvador, you will enjoy an overnight stay at the Sol Marina Hotel before transferring to your ship the next morning. Day 1 - Sunday, February 10, 2008 Disembark the ship for the transfer to Rio Airport, and your 2-hour flight to Iguazu. Snacks and refreshments will be served en route. Upon arrival at Foz do Iguaçu Airport, you will be met by your local guide, then transferred to Brazil's Falls National Park. Check-in at the Das Cataratas Hotel, located next to the falls.
After a buffet lunch at the hotel, your guide will meet you in the lobby and take you on a 1.5-hour introductory walking tour through the enchanted park at Iguazu Falls. This vast forest is comprised of sub-tropical wood species that include Brazilian walnut, cedar and peroba. Iguazu National Park is also home to several hundred species of butterflies, a wide array of macaus, toucans, parrots and other rare birds, and wildlife that includes the monkey, quati, anta, pacu, capybara, and jaguar. Featured in the motion picture, The Mission, the catwalk you will walk through will tremble under the roar of the deafening torrents as you take in one of the world's most incredible sights. Along the way, your guide will explain all about the trees, birds, falls and more.
The name Iguazu means Great Waters in Guarani. This natural wonder is taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide and combines 275 falls in a massive, magnificent cascade that stretches for nearly 1.7 miles. Situated on the border between Argentina and Brazil, its waters pass over lush, sub-tropical greenery. One of the most breathtaking sights you may see during your walking tour is the fluttering of more than 700 species of butterflies that make this area their home.
Next, you will proceed to Macuco Falls for a jungle riverboat ride. This excursion combines an off-road vehicle tour through the National Park with a motorized boat cruise that allows you to view the falls from water level, and get close enough to them to feel the spray and energy created by this great mass of falling water.
Following this scenic adventure, you will be transferred back to your hotel for a buffet dinner. Overnight at the Das Cataratas Hotel - Iguazu. Day 2 - Monday, February 11, 2008 After a Brazilian-style buffet breakfast at the hotel, you will check-out and depart for the 1-hour drive to the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls. En route, a stop will be made to clear customs. Upon arrival, youwill begin your 3.5-hour walking tour. While walking along catwalks that penetrate deeper inside the falls than on the Brazilian side, you will hear the thunder of the rushing water and feel the spray from the falls. On your return to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls, a stop will be made for lunch at the Porto Canoas Restaurant. After lunch, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Salvador, with snacks and refreshments served on the plane. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel for check-in. Overnight at the Sol Marina Hotel - Salvador. Day 3 - Tuesday, February 12, 2008 After breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred to the pier and your ship. Please note: Pack one small suitcase for the journey. Bring a light rain jacket to protect your clothing from the spray of the falls. Wear cotton attire and comfortable, rubber-soled shoes, as there is some strenuous walking involved in the falls area. A passport is absolutely necessary for check-in at the airports, both in Rio and Foz do Iguaçu, even though it is a domestic flight. The order of sites visited and included may be altered according to availability of venues.
Program Includes: • 1-night at the Das Cataratas Hotel - Iguassu in a deluxe room. • 1-night at the Sol Marina Hotel - Salvador. • Brazilian-style buffet breakfast at the Das Cataratas Hotel Restaurant. • Buffet lunch and dinner at Das Cataratas Hotel Restaurant, with beverage (local beer, soft drinks and mineral water). • Tour to the Brazilian side of the Falls, and Macuco Safari Boat Tour. • Tour to the Argentinean side of the Falls. • Lunch at local restaurant with beverage (local beer, soft drinks and mineral water). • Transfers between the pier, airports and hotel for flights Rio/Iguassu/Salvador. • Privately-chartered deluxe air-conditioned vehicles and English-speaking guides. • Luggage handling and porterage at the airport and hotel. • Service charges, handling fees and local taxes. • Mineral water on-board the vehicles during the excursions.

Some shipboard notes here. We are in cabins 736 and 738. The Internet signal in 738 is extremely low and unstable. It is better in 736, but the best place on this deck seems to be the chairs in front of the Main Atrium elevators before the spa and gym. Go figure. We cannot imagine the reason for the difference in signal quality just between the two cabins. But, if we only had 738 and basically no Internet access in suite, we would be very disappointed. Since we can walk across the opened balconies and get the signal in 736 it is not too bad, but it is bad. A new problem in the whole information sharing issues onboard Mariner is the TV has lost some categories. There is a channel that always displays navigational and meterological statistics. Today we starting losing categories, like temperature was gone in the morning, by afternoon there was no humidity or barometric pressure or wind speed. (Updated the next day to note, 24 hours later there is no ship's speed and the map locating the ship is not being updated.) It was bad when we were getting conflicting information from the ship's staff, but a complete information blackout is ridiculous.
Today at breakfast in LaVeranda, Pat of Ray and Pat from LCT came over and they introduced themselves. Hello Pat & Ray!
So, our evening. We did finally go to dinner in Compass Rose. We went much later than usual. We ate much later than normal. Ludovich found us as normal. He came up to the table and huffed, and said Finally, I have looked everywhere for you, but my spies finally reported that I could find you here. Debbie told him it was a little creepy that he could always find us and asked how he knew to find us at the jigsaw puzzle the other morning. He said that we always go up there to Coffee Corner to eat croissants after we have a big breakfast. WHAT?!? Ludovich just cracks himself up. He warned us that he was inviting us to dinner on the 2nd formal night with the new F&B manager, Franck. Forgot to tell about ourlast previous encounter. We actually missed a day of Ludovich. We last saw him when we ate in Latitudes. He asked us about our Tango Tango experience. We told him all about it and that we really enjoyed it. He asked us how long it lasted. A 1 hour 45 minutes long show. He wondered if that was too long. No, it wasn't really. He asked how much we paid. $69pp. He waved his hand and as before walking off told us that he would put on a show for us for that kind of money. He didn't hear Debbie wonder aloud if he could go for an hour and forty-five.
Debbie and Margie went to the show. It was a comedian named Don Gavin. He was very funny. He says he will be onboard until Rio. That's not long. Wonder if he will have another show in that amount of time.
Montevideo, Uruguay photos