Live From Nova South America Grand Voyage

[JSR]

 

Buenos Aires is a really beautiful city. Last night we went to dinner and tango at show at Michelangelo’s. They managed moving us to and fro very smoothly!!! The musicians were outstanding. So nice to hear performances without a band in a box backing them 
Today we had a really good over view ship tour. We were the only 2 on the tour. We saw a lot of the city. Went for a lovely walk in the park, saw the different neighborhoods, buildings, had amazingly good empanadas. Lovely introduction to Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we have a graffiti walking

[JSR]

Alas our last day in Buenos Aires. Had a wonderful tour with Theo from graffitimondo. The street mural tour was framed by the history of Buenos Aires, and the significance of the art in terms of society. We saw art of La Boca, art on the wall of the first labor union building, a mural in the style of Diego Rivera which told the history of Argentina...Theo is a history professor and working on his PHD. Very interesting young man. 

 

The ship today, does indeed have a new vibe. OK, have a become that person...my ship, my way??? LOL Started this morning when the tour announcements started coming through in the suite without our tv on (turning the tv on to the bridge channel is how you get the announcements in the suite if you want them). Being me I called reception and said, how do I stop the announcements in our suite? The reply, you can't, guests complained they did not know where to go when because the announcements are not in the cabin. Ok, we can fill in all the mass market cruise ship jokes now. A bit annoying as Nick was sleeping. Made reception laugh when I commented, hopefully the children we picked up yesterday will learn the ropes quickly. Day time attire is far more casual, I am not the fashion police, just an observer. This maybe attributed the ship having arrived in the hot and humid portion of the cruise. Tonight is formal option so we shall see what we see. I have the obligatory black dress and multiple jackets so I will not be mistaken for chic or note worthy, just compliant, I do however enjoy seeing those that are able to pull of more high fashion or elegance. Everyone seems to be enjoying their ship tours. 

 

[JSR]

 

[JSR]

Eva Peron and Messi our guide, Theo - he was very informative - great tour 

[JSR]

We are on our way to Brazil having spent the last two days in Uruguay. Uruguay is a fascinating and charming country that was experiencing a heat wave in Montevideo. While we are prepared for the heat, I wasn’t expecting it to be oppressive until we hit Brazil so I was taken a bit by surprise.
 

in Montevideo Nick did the bike ride. After 3 plus hours of riding in the heat and humidity he drank 5 bottles of water, had a shower, and a nap. Decided to skip going back ashore which meant I did not get off the ship. We did go to a show performed by dancers and musicians from Uruguay on the ship which was very enjoyable and entertaining. 
 

 

Of note it is harder this segment to just show up for restaurants without a reservation. We were turned away at The Grill the night before last as they were completely over booked. Not sure if it is because we are at capacity or the cruisers on this segment are more proactive about reservations. Most people we have met that boarded in Buenos Aires are here for the one segment and then off the ship, a quick 9 day cruise. A lot of Europeans as well. 
Over the past 25 years of cruising we have taken many 7 day cruises, as many working people do, however after being on the cruise for 35 days now, we are of a new mindset—- Really, they went to all the effort  for just 9 days…. Interesting to see how we evolve at different phases in our lives. 
 

Also for those of you that are concerned with age as a number. We have met so many active and vibrant people 20 or more years our senior and we are 65. So don’t let the average age make you think SSea is for old folks…. 

[drron29]

We did many short cruises in our sixties but now in our 70s 30 days is the new 7.

[Lirio]

I wish I was on Rio de Janeiro to see Silver Nova. But I came to my home town. So I will miss her!

[hsfrank]

thank you all your bloggers for the information you were providing. October will be our first cruise with Silver seas and we will be on the Nova. The Internet has provided some conflicting information about restaurants and surcharges. I was led to believe that there are no surcharges, except for LaDame,SALT and Kaiseki. however, some other websites are showing surcharges for other restaurants. Can you clarify this thank you.

[dawntrdr]

Welcome!  There is a surcharge for LaDame, which serves dinner only.  There is a surcharge at Kaiseki for dinner but not for lunch.  There is no surcharge for the regular SALT restaurant (Deck 3), but there is one for the SALT Kitchen Chef's Table dinner, which is performed periodically at the Salt Lab on Deck 10 (sign up while on board).  There are no other charges in any other restaurant or bar unless you want to buy a special bottle of wine or spirit off the Wine List (I've always found the included offerings to be fine for me).

[A Tucson Guy]

1 hour ago, dawntrdr said:

Welcome!  There is a surcharge for LaDame, which serves dinner only.  There is a surcharge at Kaiseki for dinner but not for lunch.  There is no surcharge for the regular SALT restaurant (Deck 3), but there is one for the SALT Kitchen Chef's Table dinner, which is performed periodically at the Salt Lab on Deck 10 (sign up while on board).  There are no other charges in any other restaurant or bar unless you want to buy a special bottle of wine or spirit off the Wine List (I've always found the included offerings to be fine for me).

One comment- the Chef's Table is nightly and the cost is $180 per person- pricey but enjoyable! La Dame is $160 pp and Kaiseki is $80 pp, as I recall. This is only on the Nova and the new Ray.

[JSR]

It's been a port intensive week. We are having a lovely sea day today on our way from Rio to Salvador de Bahia. I can not believe I have not posted since Uruguay... guess I got distracted. 

Ship board activities are plentiful. We took another cooking class. I wanted to learn to make chimichurri - The class was a good start but the recipe needs tweaking defiantly needs less fluid and more peppers. Nick grilled up a nice steak - cooked perfectly (I used to eat beef so I can appreciate the look of a good steak even if I do not eat it any more).

 

We took a mixology class at the SALT bar. If you are interested the bartenders teach a couple of drinks with local booze. To sign up you see the bartender as it is an old school paper list sign up. They offer the classes on sea days at 4 pm and seating is limited. No charge. The class changes each segment and sometimes during the segment depending on length of the segment. In our class the focus was on Cachaca. Cachaca is made from sugar cane, it is a different rum. Rum is usually made from molasses and Cachaca from fresh sugar cane juice. 

 

Super Bowl Sunday was on the ship. The game started at 8:30 pm (20:30). The ship opened up SALT and Atlantide at 6 pm with pretty much the standard menu. We opted for salad and sandwich in the room. One of the guests had organized selling squares which enhanced the festiveness of the game especially for me as none of my teams were playing. I bought two squares and won the first quarter with 0-0 square. There  was an under whelming selection of finger food, Budweiser beer in mini cans, and no decorations of any kind. There was bar service in the Venetian which was a nice bonus. The theater was packed for first half. It was so nice that everyone stood and sang the National Anthem. We did not see any of the commercials but did get the full half time show which also does not always happen on cruise ships. 

 

Friends we met on the ship hosted and arranged for an Indian dinner in Altantide one night. It was delicious, there were 8 of us, so we had many flavors to chose from and sample. Lovely evening. You can arrange this for yourselves, I suggest you try and invite others so you have more dishes, 8 seems to be the magic number for one of the larger round tables. 

 

Last night we returned to Silver Note for the third time. The menu does not change. It is small plates. Some people opt to go and have everything in one night. We chose to work our way through slowly as we are here forever or at least 28 more days. I tried the duck for the first time last night. I am hooked, it was excellent, crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, just the right size. Highly recommend. The music is enjoyable. Reservations are a must here as it is very small. 

 

Oh my, we have been to three ports including Carnival in Rio...

[JSR]

Brazil - Our first port is Balneario Camborui where we tendered to shore. The sky scrappers were amazing and surprising. The architecture was well done creating a very interesting sky line. The shore guide mentioned that is sometimes referred to as the Dubai of South America. It is a beach town, many high rises, long beaches, and lots of people. Their Carnival celebration is scheduled for that night and attracted 75,000 tourist to town so it was about crazy. 

We did the ship tour up the cable cars with walk around the rain forest part. VERY touristy. I suggest you take the cable cars up and back and skip the walking around part which dragged on and on. There is a lot of cobble stones, hills, and stairs. When we returned to the beach level from the cable cars we went for a walk along the sea walk however, the heat and humidity were oppressive so we headed back to the ship. Our guide recommended taking the city bus around the island, we were just too hot and tired but I wish we had bailed on the tour sooner, and done this. The bus is free and is accessible. We also met a couple who had gone to the barber shop and gotten hair cuts. They enjoyed the conversation there and got hair cuts as well for $10. They said the were salons there too. Another option for some. 

 

The next stop was Illabela. Another beach town and tender port. We chose not to get off the ship, it was hot and we were conserving energy. People who did get off, walked  around the area just off the tender port and said it was charming. 

 

Next stop RIO

[JSR]

BC,

[JSR]

Ilhabela

 

[JSR]

Rio Carnival

We arrived in Rio on Monday, February 11 around 8:00 in the morning. We opted to not take a tour to save our energy for the evening Sambadrome experience. We walked around and saw lots of revelers, scantily dressed festive people, more carts with booze then you can imagine and floats headed down the street. It was one big party.

We tried to nap and rest and then it was time to get ready. I purchased a headdress at the shops in the port and earrings on the street next to the port. We were given T shirts as part of our package which my husband wore, and I put mine on my wheelchair as I could not face wearing polyester in the heat.  The Grand Voyagers had lounge seating included which you could also purchase for $1399. The ship also offered assigned grandstand seating which are concrete bleachers, and frias seating which are ground level sections of about 12-14 people with seats. I do not recall the prices.

 

The Sambadrome was built to perform the parades of Carnival and it holds 90,000 spectators. It is 700 meters long (equivalent to about 2 ½ NFL football fields long). It has seating on either side of the length. The Samba schools are given 85 minutes to march from one end to the other. There are reviewing stands and the schools are judged with the top schools performing in the final parade on Saturday. There is a starting gate that is pulled away and the samba school starts, then when the timer runs out the gate is closed at the other end and if even one person from the school is on the wrong side of the gate will lose points. Each school picks their theme which is executed through their floats, costumes, choices of music and style of dancing. After each school a cleaning team comes out and then at the appointed time the next school starts. Next week the schools will start preparing for next year. The government has set up a warehouse/workspace for the top Samba Schools to store their floats/costumes and prepare for the next Carnival.

 

 It was a process for the ship to move 500 people to their respective areas. We were dropped off by our van near the wheelchair bleacher seating however, that was not where we were sitting as we wanted our lounge seating with the Silversea group. It turns out it was the opposite end and side of the stadium. We were lucky and our driver had gotten us there quickly. In true form of kind people our guide spoke to many people in Portuguese and having added several additional helpers we were able to take the short cut right down the middle of the parade route to our section. We then encountered a full flight of stairs as I could not go through the turn style to enter on the lower level with only about 6 steps. It was fortuitous as we would not have benefited from the air conditioning, nor would I have been able to see over the people standing. We ended up with seats that were open in the front with A/C at our back which was very comfortable. We were a little perplexed when we got there as there were no other people from Silversea. Turned out the other vans hit traffic and took 2 hours to arrive. Once we were all together there was unlimited cocktails, chair massage, buffet food, and A/C. Silversea provides transportation back to the ship for whomever wants to after each school. The show starts around 10 pm (22:00) and ends between 4:00 and 6:00 am.

 

Our section was right next to the drumming section for each school which creates the beat and about 2/3 way through the school joins the parade. It was loud and we regretted not having our concert earplugs. We did have our binoculars which were great for seeing details on the floats and costumes.

 

The parade was amazing. I do not have words to describe the detail of the costumes, drumming, floats and dancing. We stayed for 3 schools, the first two of which were our favorites. We arrived back at the ship at 3:00 in the morning. For me the second school would have been my first place. The competition lasts two nights, Sunday and Monday. We only saw it on Monday night and I will be curious to see who the winners are. I shall check online. If you have an opportunity to go to the Sambadrome- it is incredible. 

 

This is a bucket list worthy experience!

 

 

[JSR]

 

[JSR]

 

[JSR]

To give a feel of the stadium. I have so

many videos and photos, I’ll stop now 

[highplanesdrifters]

WOW

[flyers]

[JSR]

@flyers  thank you. How did you do that?

[jpalbny]

31 minutes ago, JSR said:

@flyers  thank you. How did you do that?

 

It's a Northern Hemisphere trick. 😉 

[Host Jazzbeau]

55 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

It's a Northern Hemisphere trick. 😉 

So right!  All the time in New Zealand and Australia I kept feeling I was going to drop off the Earth into space!!!  It's good to be back home and solidly planted to the ground, with my photos all right side up!

[Fletcher]

@JSR I'm very keen to learn how you got on in Fortaleza and all the Amazon stops as we are on the Wind in April making a similar trip.  Thanks!

[JSR]

@Fletcher just arrived in Fortaleza. Will update later today. Amazon in 3 days. So far hot and humid is the theme with rain coming later today. We are taking a generic sightseeing tour today. Will report back. 
 

also I owe someone some beer information. The bartenders believe their will be local beers onboard in Alaska but suggested you request them ahead of time to help assure this will happen.