Voyage to Antartica and beyond on Voyager Jan 29 - Feb 17, 2023

[1982CruzStart]

Our lovely suite has 3 TVs and we haven't been able to get any of them to work. One we could get sound but no picture, one we could get a picture but no sound and the last we didn't try as we would have to lay in the bathtub to watch it. Oh well nothing good to watch anyways ir at least that is what i am telling myself. 

 

Well my morning started with a cool shower and not on purpose. I guess too many people all trying to shower at once to get to breakfast so couldn't get the water to run anymore than lukewarm. Not really what i wanted but i have heard that is better for your skin than having a hot shower but still not keen.

 

Our bus is scheduled to leave at 12 and i know there is at least one at 12:15 and quite possibly ones before or after.  The breakfast area seemed to be full of Regent guests. 

 

Not long now so can't wait. 

[Gilly]

I read on "the other place" that those returning from Iguazcu had some flight problems, which I hope are now resolved and that all are able to board as planned.  Thinking of you all in what must have been a stressful situation and wishing you smooth sailing from now on!   I always think that everything is ok the minute I see that bottle of champagne and the plate of petits fours!!

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, 1982CruzStart said:

Our lovely suite has 3 TVs and we haven't been able to get any of them to work. One we could get sound but no picture, one we could get a picture but no sound and the last we didn't try as we would have to lay in the bathtub to watch it.

 

Turn on the one with sound only, turn it up LOUD, and watch the one with picture and no sound. Problem solved. 🤣

[boblerm]

23 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

We have a lovely 1 bedroom suite with a large living area, a spacious king bedroom and a large bathroom with separate shower and a jacuzzi tub, and best not to forget the bidet. 

What hotel did Regent use?

Were you assigned that great room just by the luck of the draw, or did you request an upgrade in some manner?

Thanks

 

[boblerm]

7 hours ago, Gilly said:

I read on "the other place" that those returning from Iguazcu had some flight problems, which I hope are now resolved and that all are able to board as planned. 

All ended well, the poster in the other place* posted that they arrived in BA 15 hours late (!) and were brought directly to the ship.

The bad news is that they missed their tour of Buenos Aires, the good news is that their suites were ready upon boarding due to their "refugee status".

 

*It's ok to say "Facebook" here, it's not like invoking the name of "Voldemort" or anything😉

[1982CruzStart]

18 hours ago, boblerm said:

What hotel did Regent use?

Were you assigned that great room just by the luck of the draw, or did you request an upgrade in some manner?

Thanks

 

We were at the Alvear Palace Hotel and it was just the luck of the draw as we didn't request any kind of upgrade. 

 

 

[1982CruzStart]

I have been derelict in my postings, due to just being busy. Headed out again in the next couple of minutes so will try and catch up later today or sometime tomorrow. 

No food porn from Chartreuse last as i forgot my phone. It is so hard to get good help. Dinner was great. More later. 

 

[cwn]

2 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

We were at the Alvear Palace Hotel and it was just the luck of the draw as we didn't request any kind of upgrade. 

 

 

Pre Covid the Alvear Palace was a great hotel! We stayed there several times. They had a Sun Brunch that was out of the world…

[forgap]

I posted in detail on Facebook about the pre-cruise trip to Iguazu Falls.  I’m posting here as some readers may not follow FB.  
 

Buenos Aires to Santiago, 2023, RSSC Voyager

This is a rather long post but I wanted to chronicle our pre cruise and what became a full blown cluster *%$*.  Unfortunately, RSSC can't control the weather or flight schedules.  We were fortunate that our group was well behaved and understanding.  Our tour managers were tremendous in making the best of a very difficult situation. 
 

Pre Cruise to Iguazu Falls

 

“Red skies in morning, sailors take warning”

What I thought was a beautiful sunrise gave way to an ominous wall of gray menacing weather coming from the west.  In short order there was torrential rain and lightning that I thought would pass quickly as our flight from Buenos Aires to Iguazu would leave in several hours.  Not to worry, right?  Wrong!  We arrived at the airport to learn that there was a ground stop in progress and our flight would leave later than planned.  An hour later, the skies were lifting, and planes were taking off.  We finally boarded our plane, sat for a bit, then barreled down the runway and climbed through clouds for an hour of turbulence before the sky cleared.   We were already considerably behind our tour schedule.

 

The agenda for our first day was to see the falls from the Brazilian side.  The river that feeds the falls is also the border between Argentina and Brazil.  It was almost 3:30 by the time we reached the river side restaurant for lunch.  
 

Once fed and watered, we drove a short way to a path down to a viewpoint.  One group hiked, the other group of the less agile or more easily fatigued, took an elevator to the viewing platform.  The falls were thunderous and impressive.  
The water levels were high due to recent rains and the volume of water coming over the falls was more than twice what it should have been.  The “devil’s gorge” was like a cauldron of raging water and mist.

 

Back on the bus, we traveled back to Argentina which should have been a relatively short drive but the border officials had other ideas.  Our passports were collected and our local guide, Alex,  left the bus to navigate the system for us.  We had been warned that sometimes it is a short process and other times not so much.  Unfortunately, this was one of the times that took Alex an hour and a half to complete the process.  It was now nightfall and we were tired and hungry.

 

Our hotel, the Loi Suites, was not very far away, and located in the jungle.  This was a beautiful hotel and our only disappointment was having time to really enjoy it.  The architecture fits into the jungle with the use of natural materials and wooden suspension bridges that connect the various buildings.  At breakfast, we observed toucans, other birds, and monkeys in the tree canopy.

 

Our tour on this day was to see the falls from the Argentinian side.  We started at 7:30 am in an attempt to beat the heat, starting with the upper trail.  The walk is impressive, and you can choose a path that suits your level of fitness and heat tolerance.

Those of us without any physical limitations opted for zodiac ride beneath the falls.  We took an open air truck through the jungle to the cliffside.  There we had to navigate 260 steps down to the zodiac launching point.  It was relatively easy going down, not so easy coming back up.

 

The ride was exhilarating.  We traveled up the river to view the devil’s gorge from a distance, then the fun began as we raced underneath a series of falls.

 Yes, we were soaked.  Yes, we had been warned and brought along a change of clothes – not an easy task in a miniscule stall in the restaurant bathroom.

 

After lunch, we went to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires.  This is when the vagaries of travel got ugly.  We arrived at about 2:30 pm for our 4:55 pm flight.  The flight was delayed.  Our tour leaders couldn’t get any information.  By 7:55 we knew there was a technical problem and another plane was coming in from Buenos Aires.  Sol, our tour leader, and her colleague who was leading the two-night Regent pre-cruise, were faced with the difficult task of keeping us informed with little information and figuring out what to do next.

 

We were already on a tight schedule as we had dinner and a tango show booked in Buenos Aires.  It was clear that we would never make it when we were informed that we would not fly out until 2:30 am.  So, they pivoted and booked a tango show in Iguazu.  Off we went, driving into the city, taking in a vista of Paraguay along the way.  The show didn’t start until 10 pm but we were all feeling much better after eating and a couple of glasses of wine.

 

After midnight, we were back at the airport.  Mind you, we may have been in dry clothes but we were not exactly clean after our “shower” in the river.  So, 2:30 rolled around and the new plane also had a technical issue.  Sol said it was missing a bolt and rolled her eyes.  Yet another plane was coming from Buenos Aires to get us.  Yes, we spent the night on hard plastic chairs in the Iguazu airport.  And, yes, our 7:55 am flight did not leave until 9 am.  Another pivot, as check out time at our hotel was 11 am so the planned shower and shuttle to the ship was cancelled.  We arrived in Buenos Aires at 11 and went straight to the ship.  We must have looked like a motley crew – dirty, wrinkled, bedraggled, exhausted after 20 hours in transit.  I called us the “Iguazu Refugees”.  
 

Fortunately, the ship was notified and the Voyager General Manager, Davor, said that cleaning our cabins were made a priority and we should grab a glass of champagne and go directly to our rooms.  For this, Davor will always have a special place in my heart!

 

After a nap, and a shower (yes, that is an  indication of how utterly depleted we were that sleep trumped cleanliness) we were restored.  Cocktails and dinner capped the evening.  The staff were beyond wonderful to us, on our first night back on Voyager.

[Gilly]

@forgap what magnificent photographs!!

[PatriciaF]

@forgap we will be doing this pre trip in early March..we know bad things happen airplane wise, but we hope we avoid this.  Did you do this trip through Regent?  The reason I ask we are suppose to stay on the Brazil side at the Belmond. also, why was it more difficult going up the stairs than down?  Other than just walking up?  I have a harder time going down.

 

what FB group did you post your adventure?

 

thanks

 

[forgap]

56 minutes ago, PatriciaF said:

@forgap we will be doing this pre trip in early March..we know bad things happen airplane wise, but we hope we avoid this.  Did you do this trip through Regent?  The reason I ask we are suppose to stay on the Brazil side at the Belmond. also, why was it more difficult going up the stairs than down?  Other than just walking up?  I have a harder time going down.

 

what FB group did you post your adventure?

 

thanks

 

We did our tour through Regent.  There were two choices.  The one you have picked was a day longer.  
 

As far as the steps are concerned, going up and up in the heat of the day with high humidity made it difficult.  I heard that the zodiac trip from the Brazilian side has many fewer stairs.

 

we stayed at the Loi Suites and I would book there again in a heart beat.  Very beautiful.

[forgap]

Waiting for fellow passengers and our bus has decent internet!  Some more pics:

 

Toucan in the jungle at Loi Suites

a bird i haven’t identified 

Monkey business at breakfast at the Loi Suites

Tango at iguazu falls

leaving Buenos Aires

 

[PatriciaF]

@forgap Thank you for your quick response.  Looks like that bus internet is excellent!  I went back and looked at the RSSC website, your trip doesn't state the hotel at the Falls, ours does.  We are suppose to do the zodiac the day we arrive.  But I forgot about the heat, humidity, etc going up those stairs.  Perhaps not for me.  I have breathing issues that are worse in heat and humidity.

 

Is the Loi Suites the former Sheraton on the Argentina side?  We have friends that stayed there awhile ago and loved the location but thought that the it needed some updating.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by PatriciaF

[1982CruzStart]

I am doing an experiment to try and get into posting pictures. Please bare with me. 

This is a statute from our tour of Montevideo.  

[1982CruzStart]

The internet has proven to be a challenge for me but I will try and post a little now while it seems to work on my phone but not my tablet. 

Embarkation was pure chaos though short lived. Norwegian Star was loading at the same time using all the same space and immigration personnel.  We were intermingled making it a challenge to figure out where we should go. When we finally got in the right line and got up to speak to immigration their system seemed to go down.  So we just waited with no explanation as to what was happening.  At first wondering if it was just us and there was something wrong with our passports. 

Finally onboard, a quick lunch at the grill then access to our suite an hour early. Luggage followed fairly quickly and we spent time unpacking. Sadly without a glass of champagne as they didn't have enough to put in everyone's suite. That would have to wait until Montevideo.  

[1982CruzStart]

We took a wine tour that was to leave the ship at 9. Nothing like drinking wine before 11. We did a little tour around the estate first and into the underground cellar then onto drinking wine. We took this tour as we had never tried Uruguayan wines before.   We had good pours of 5 wines. 4 were nice but for us not worth the price to buy. 1, the late harvest, was undrinkable.  I like late harvest but I couldn't drink it all. The tasting was accompanied with what was billed as lunch.  For me a problem as I need to avoid flour and everything was made with flour but the cheese. Lunch was a few cubes of cheese.  That was going to be it as I stupidly booked a tour for the afternoon tour. 

It was a bus tour around the city which I wanted to see but give me wine and a moving bus and let's just say I didn't see all the sights. 

I will post a few pictures like the previous one. 

[1982CruzStart]

Here is the current government building in Montevideo. This is the third one in modern history. 

[forgap]

1 hour ago, PatriciaF said:

Is the Loi Suites the former Sheraton on the Argentina side? 

I have no idea.  The place was well taken care of and had a kind of zen ambiance.  Mind you, we arrived well after dark and left at 7:30 am.  Rooms were nice and spacious, shower was wonderful, and the AC worked spectacularly. 
 

Since you will be on the Brazilian side be sure to enquire if you will be on the zodiac tour with all the steps.   

[1982CruzStart]

Next is the first government building that has now been turned into offices and condos. Quite a beautiful building 

[1982CruzStart]

For my Canadian readers, our embassy in Uruguay.  So impressive.  Not. But then again having an Embassy in Uruguay is questionable for a country our size considering Uruguay is a country of 3.5 million people. Couldn't get pictures of the mega mansions of the American and British Ambassadors let alone their actual Embassies.  

[1982CruzStart]

Congressional building for Uruguay.  Someone had the nerve to climb the stairs which caused some shrill whistling and sent a guard rushing over to tell them it was a no no. 

[1982CruzStart]

BTW Uruguay has 3 official flags. 2 showing in the picture above. 

[1982CruzStart]

Now a little food porn.  First the crab and avocado salad appetizer.  Then the chicken and goose liver parfait.   My DH said the crab was delicious, the avocado and sauce indifferent.  My parfait was delicious.  

[1982CruzStart]

We both had the scallops that were also delicious but not worth taking a picture of. The entree was 5 small to medium scallops.  Not impressive to look at but wonderful to eat. I had mine with a caper butter sauce on the side. Also had a few asparagus spears and shared some sauted mushrooms.