Granny's 2008 Adventure

[tayl]

I'm going through "Granny" withdrawl !! :eek: She must be having too much fun to post. I think it wonderful when people take time to share their adventures.

Thank you Lorraine, and please post soon.

[SusanTravels]

Dear Granny,

 

We board in BA and I was curious as to who is on board as lecturer and entertainers. See you soon.

 

Susan

[GrannyLorr]

Saturday 19th. January

Today we have been on board 2 whole weeks!! How many have we left?

I have just read the latest posts, and no there isn’t any such person as Granny……she is just a figment of your imaginations!! She is actually very allergic to photos, just hate it, and the only recent photo of me in existence was taken while I was sound asleep in ICU!!! Great photo, tubes and bells and whistles and machines that go “ping”……

How amazing is that that I managed to get a photo of people, Margo met but I had no idea……and no I didn’t meet them Margo, what a shame. The only people I spoke to from the Legend that day were a couple of American ladies in the queue for the loo!

From an earlier post I think someone asked who was the Chef in the Veranda…..well its Ricky. Michael is the Chef de Cuisine but I think Chef Markus will be joining us soon. I believe there will be a lot of crew changes in Valparaiso. Here we are just starting to learn a few names, and some will be leaving.

We finally managed to get a reservation for the Indian dinner and it was delicious…we shared a table with newlyweds….in their 80’s! See how Seabourn keeps you young?

The next night after a long day tour we settled for room service in our pj’s…….think we will do that more often especially after long tours. Just ordered from the Room Service menu….I don’t like to make those poor kids run up and down the stairs for the “course by course” dinner.

Last night we dined in the Sky Grill, there were only 8 passengers there, but also the Captain and I think half the Officers.

There were gold balloons tied to a chair at the Sky Bar yesterday, just heard this morning that one of the passengers had his 90th birthday! I am sure they are people a few of you would know, they have something like 3.5 years of days with Seabourn! We also heard a few days ago that these people also once got stuck in the elevator. When the doors finally opened the waiters were standing there with champagne and caviar…….

Tonight is Bonnies show and I have heard how good she is, so somehow I am going to have to try to stay awake past 10pm! We have hardly seen any of the shows so far, last cruise we saw them all……what a difference 2 years makes……I just can’t seem to stay awake late anymore!

We have now been and gone from Peru and will be in Chile tomorrow. We are sailing quite close to the coast and I just glanced out our window and saw hundreds of seals jumping.

The tour we did yesterday was fantasic. It was at Paracas Bay, Peru. Boats picked us up from the ship and took us to the Ballestas Islands. It was only a two hour tour, but we saw hundreds and hundreds of seals and sea lions, penguins, and all sorts of birds….have never seen so many birds in one place. The boat driver took us in really close, some of the seals were playing or fighting in the water, some swam out close to us. Didn’t get too many good photos as the boat was rocking too much to keep the camera steady enough, but we really enjoyed it. Some people just went on shore to have a look around, and apparently the area is very badly damaged from the earthquake and following tsunami last August.

The day before we did a tour called Pachacamac Ruins and Paso Horses. We drove through Lima and we were very impressed with the City. Beautiful old architecture and very very clean. There were some lovely old mansions needing restoration. Also drove along the waterfront, then out to the desert where the ruins were located. In this area there are also lots of shacks and shanties, no idea how they build on great dunes of sand, but were told they are all squatters who have come down from the Andes. I must say they would have to be terribly fit to get to some of these shacks as there are no roads, and the hills are huge! The ruins were interesting; at least we have seen something belonging to the Incas! We then went to a hacienda that breeds Paso horses. The horses put on a demonstration, there were also a couple of dancers and we were introduced to their local drink…..pisco sour (sp?). We were told the first one is delicious, the second even more so, the third you start speaking fluent Spanish…….sadly it didn’t happen for us…..nothing can help us with languages! (I think we only had 2, but had a few more once back on the ship!)

It’s hard to choose what tour to take when you have never been to this part of the World, but so far we have been happy with all the tours.

The night we had room service, it seems we missed out on a Peruvian delicacy in the Restaurant. It was listed in the Menu as “Peruvian Pork”……..we know a couple of people who ordered it. Neither liked it……said there were too many tiny little bones and no meat…….even before they knew what it was! I think I upset one lady by saying “didn’t you see its little paws, and its nose twitching”……yep….guinea pig.

The Machu Picchu travelers are back, and it seems they all suffered from Altitude sickness, I knew we had made the right decision not to go. Some places we have just left too late in life. I knew I should have climbed Mount Everest a couple of years ago!

Now its Sunday.

Bonnies show was great last night, it was a full house! Unfortunately we also had to set our clocks forward an hour so didn’t end up with much sleep last night.

We have arrived in Arica, Chile. Only one tour interested us until they said a van carrying oxygen would follow the bus…..it also left at 7.15am!!! So we are still on the ship and might just go for a little walk into town. There is a shuttle to take us to the Port gates, then supposed to be just a short walk.

Smoking is a bit of a problem on the ship……the corridor on Deck 4 stinks! Think its pipe smoke. We hardly spend any time in the Club as half the room is smoking, and it’s too small an area, and too low ceilings…….so *cough cough*…….everyone crowds into the non smoking side….but that doesn’t work. I didn’t find any problem last cruise with smoking.

We have a Deck BBQ tonight and we always enjoy those. Don’t think I will be up too late for the Rock the Boat concert though. We also have a local band of children coming on board later this afternoon to give us a performance.

After breakfast this morning we went up to Deck 8 to see how hot or cold it was…..Captain Dexter invited us in to the Constellation Lounge for an “expert fault finding opinion”…….he said we just had to walk around, point, shrug our shoulders and click our tongue a bit…….we declined……we told him which passenger he should ask to point out the faults!!!

There are only 2 more sea days after today, then Valparaiso and the end of the first cruise.

Well better move myself and go have a look at my first Chilean town. We could see a McDonalds from Deck 8!! Don’t think we will be gone too long.

So until next time

Bye from Granny

PS……I have noticed some of my emails don’t seem to be going through…..mostly the Australian ones who use BigPond!! Let me know if you aren’t hearing from me!

[cruiseyguy]

Smoking is my big issue with Seabourn. But, as with the dress codes, they will be the last to change with the times.

[Seabourn-nail]

I have just read the latest posts, and no there isn’t any such person as Granny……she is just a figment of your imaginations!! She is actually very allergic to photos, just hate it, and the only recent photo of me in existence was taken while I was sound asleep in ICU!!! Great photo, tubes and bells and whistles and machines that go “ping”……(quote)

Too bad Lorraine! You probably are just modest. How could somebody take a picture of you while in ICU? I would never have given permission to do that. Thank God nobody ever did and hopefully I will never have to stay there again!

Please reconsider.

Marja

[marazul]

Lorraine,

 

we are going to have to send out the papparazzi to stalk our SB celebrity! We know you are real!

 

As for "bigpond" they seem to have some problems. We have a couple of Aussie friends who use it and all the emails we have sent since the beginning of the year have been returned with a "permanent address failure" message. May have to use snail mail to wish them a very belated happy new year.

 

We are realy enjoying your travelogue. From time to time let us know what other people have said about other excursions - as in liked or didn't like, of course, they can write their own travelogues with details.

 

Have a wonderful time!

 

marazul

[marazul]

Don't know why, but message got printed twice

[PittsburghJack]

An excellent article "Reporter Granny". Keep up the good work.:)

Jack & Mrs. Jack

 

(I, too, dislike having my picture taken.):eek:

[RachelG]

Granny, I haven't tried guinea pig (cuy as it is known in Peru), but my son did and said it was really good. He actually ordered it more than once during our Peru trip.

I think going to Machu Picchu for only one or two days from a cruise ship (therefore at sea level) would be a recipe for altitude sickness for anyone. It took us a week of acclimatization before we went there, and I still felt a little tired.

[simonv]

Cuy, guinea pig, is delicious. It tastes like suckling pig, tender and juicy. It's a special treat in the highlands. You see guinea pigs running around on the dirt floor in Quechua homes in the Andes. Too bad your friends didn't get a good one.

[Iamboatman]

I agree. I had it while "cruising" the Amazon in a canoe back in the mid-80's. They are kept in small enclosures in or near the kitchen, fed all the vegetable leftovers and then...free protein.

 

I don't think it tastes like suckling pig, though. I guess that must depend on how it is prepared.

[GrannyLorr]

Tuesday 22nd January

The first bit of news is quite shocking….there is a thief on board the Pride! A vegemite thief!! Last night we spoke to Captain Dexter at the Farewell Reception, and he told us he had asked for his vegemite at breakfast, and when it arrived the jar was half empty! What a terrible thing to happen. Hope Jane has packed the jar she bought!

Captain Dexter also commented on the fact that we weren’t dining with him last night……we said we hadn’t been invited! Oh dear….someone is in trouble, in fact a keel hauling is being called for, for the Maitre d’. Oliver had been asked to invite us last night and he didn’t! We had already accepted an invitation from the Doctor anyway.

Today is the last day for this cruise, last day of trivia, and that’s all I am going to say about that. Well Eric did say that at least we finished the competition with the same points we started with!.......(and we weren’t the only ones)

It has been a very hectic couple of days, as a deck BBQ and Galley lunch all had to be fitted in at the end. We have just had one Port call so far in Chile…..Arica…..not much to see there. There were a couple of tours arranged but I haven’t heard much about any of them. There was only one we liked the sound of and that was out of the question for us because of the altitude. It was a 10 hour tour, 8 hours on the bus, guests were told to take the pillows off their beds to sit on…..roads were rough. Spoke to one person who went and he said the scenery etc was spectacular.

We just walked into town but being a Sunday only the church was open, so that was about all we saw. There were a few market stalls just outside the port, but nothing much to buy there. We were watching some huge birds in the top of a palm tree, when a local came and told us all about them…..it was probably very interesting but was in Spanish and we failed those lessons! We just nodded at what we thought were the appropriate times……also spoke to a stray dog which is a bad habit of mine…….they always try to follow us then, but it was obviously an English speaking dog!

The Deck BBQ was great and was the latest I have stayed up all cruise. Eric started a conga line, but I soon disappeared when I saw it start to go up the stairs to the Sky Bar.

Today was the Galley Lunch, and I must say I was rather disappointed in it. Not in the food or the service of course, everything there was as good as ever, jumbo shrimp and lobster tails isn’t a bad way to start lunch. What I didn’t like was we ate, and we left the dining room. There was no atmosphere at all. We attended 4 Galley lunches on the Spirit…at the end all the Chefs were brought out, introduced and we were told where they were from and what their specialty was……bar staff and waiters were also introduced and thanked……all the crew got the applause they deserved. Today there was just nothing. I didn’t like that at all, and was disappointed that people who hadn’t sailed Seabourn before didn’t get to experience it properly.

Tonight will be sad, I just hate walking down the passage and seeing all the luggage there ready for removal……but then as someone said at lunch, its much sadder when its YOUR luggage…..well we don’t have to worry about that for a while yet.

I have heard there are 60 passengers remaining, so 140 give or take a few will be arriving tomorrow. I hope we are back from tour in time to “stare” at them during life drill. A lot of the crew are also leaving apparently, including Eric, so a new CD to break in. Wonder if we will be getting a new Maitre d’? I have heard the gorgeous Karl is now in an Office job? Anyone know about that?

We had a great “Broadway” show last night, with Eric, Jamila and Bonnie……Eric came flying in on his roller blades, no idea how he didn’t wipe his head out on the ceiling.

I am going to have to stop uploading the photos until I get home. The internet is quite slow, and takes ages for me just to post in CC and check my emails…..I signed up for 8 hours, and have already used almost 6 of them. The photos take too much time to upload……..sorry, but you will get to see the thousands of them as soon as I get home.

Someone asked about the tours that we DIDN’T go on, so I will try to get more info in future.

First Port was Puerto Moin, Costa Rica….we did the Coffee Plantation tour which I have already written about.. There was also the flying through the trees tour, we dined with a couple in their 70’s who had done that one, and loved every minute of it! So age is apparently no barrier there…..attitude is. Didn’t hear anyone talk about the Kayaking one, and I wished we had done the Tortuguero Canals and Banana Plantation one…that sounded great, not the banana part, but the canal part…..lots of animals and birds.

Next Port was Fuerte Amador, Panama……we did the Embera Indian Village which I would highly recommend. Also heard the Gamboa Resort and Monkey Island was very good.

Then we got to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Some people went off for 5 days to Machu Picchu, others went on a full day to Quito which sounded enjoyable if you could breathe…..we just did the Guayaquil Introduction….and enjoyed that.

Callao Peru….we did the Pachacamac Ruins and Paso Horses….really enjoyed the horses, not so much the ruins. Some did just a “Greater Lima” tour and others a museum and Indian Market….wish I had been able to get to the market, but there was a good market at the Port so was able to do some shopping there. Those who went to the Indian Market said it was great.

Paracas Bay, Peru only had sand dune tours in jeeps, or boat tours to the islands to see birds and seals etc…..we did the birds and seals and really loved that. I heard at least one jeep broke down so the people didn’t get much of a tour……didn’t hear from anyone else.

Tomorrow we are in Valparaiso, so there are a couple of tours of Valparaiso and wineries etc….we are doing a full day to Santiago…so now I had better finish and start packing a bag for the tour!!

Until next time

Bye from

Granny

[marazul]

Lorraine,

something is happening with the CC website. Tried posting earlier, but it would not "take."

 

Thanks for your comments on your excursions as well as those taken by others, They are really useful for future planning. You are a doll, even if you will not let us see your picture.

 

Say hello to your fellow Aussies Leslie and Ian who will board the next segment. We met on the Spirit his past summer and had several dinners together. They inspired us to sign for this cruise next year.

 

Keep posting. It's a long winter over here!

[terrafirma]

GrannyLorr I still haven't received any emails from you.

Try sending to (bears name ---> -----bear70@hotmail.com)

Oh and I guess you were really keen to go on this cruise as your lights have been keeping your house bright for a month :eek:

[GrannyLorr]

terrafirma......last email has just been returned again.....was going to suggest you sign up for a hotmail....will try the bear one.....

[terrafirma]

terrafirma......last email has just been returned again.....was going to suggest you sign up for a hotmail....will try the bear one.....

 

Don't forget to put her name before bear !!

[GrannyLorr]

well you didnt tell me that!!!:confused:

[GrannyLorr]

Thursday 24th. January

A nice long sea day today…and another tomorrow.

Yesterday we did a long, whole day tour to Santiago, and we really enjoyed it. The hardest part was actually getting off the ship…took ages for the authorities to clear the ship. I thought that was rather strange as it wasn’t our first port in Chile. Suppose it had something to do with it being an embarkation Port. We didn’t get to our tour bus until about 45 minutes later than we were supposed to. This may serve as a bit of a warning to those who book early flights after disembarkation too! Guests who were in transit and going on a tour were allowed to leave the ship first, and I think those disembarking wouldn’t have got off much before 9am. some would have been a lot later than that.

As we lined up amongst all the luggage on Deck 4, we saw a few of the crew dressed in “normal” clothes…..we knew that meant they wouldn’t be there to look after us that night. Apparently there were a lot of the crew leaving in Valparaiso. As we disembarked I saw a group of young ladies waiting to board……poor things I thought….straight into uniform and start making up all the beds!

We had to get in a shuttle bus to take us through the Port area to the Cruise Terminal, then have our bags inspected. Seems Chile has the same agricultural type rules as we do in Australia. No food etc allowed to be taken in. We had to place all our bags on the floor and a sniffer dog inspected them all. Luckily there were no starving people leaving the ship and trying to smuggle food with them so we were soon allowed to leave.

Our coach was beautiful, “smelt” very new, as in leather seats. The drive to Santiago took us past a lot of Wineries and other fruit orchards. Once we got to Santiago, we drove past a few areas, and stopped and walked in a few areas. We thought the city was really beautiful. It was a very clean city, with lots of European architecture, especially French architecture. Visited the Cathedral which was spectacular, the Presidential Palace, but couldn’t go in as the King of Norway just arrived before us……no idea why he got preference over us! We then went to a “mountain” in the middle of town and onto a funicular railway to take us up….there are always smarties who have to mention the fact that they hope the brakes work!! We were certainly up very high by then. After a photo opportunity which showed us the whole city of Santiago, we then got into a chair lift which took us down to a Restaurant for lunch. I am thinking that perhaps these Seabourn tours could skip lunch………do we really need it? Anyway it was delicious and we all ate it! Topped off by pisco sours and Chilean wine…….think we are all getting addicted to pisco sours. Must ask Nelson what we can buy to make them at home…….There were only 15 of us on the tour so we never had to wait on anyone…..that has been a problem a couple of times.

On the way back to the ship we were taken through a lovely area along the waterfront of Valparaiso. We have noted that if you lived in this country, you would never have to buy a dog…..there are so many on the streets, you could just drive around and take your pick. Most actually seem to be in pretty good condition and although I have been careful not to touch any, they all seem lovely friendly dogs….poor things. There was one area where we even saw some horses in a park in the middle of the road! They didn’t look like they belonged to anyone either. They weren’t tethered or have any bridles etc. and were in an area of quite busy traffic.

Back to the cruise terminal, and the shuttle bus, and those who had done the Winery tour joined us. By the sound of them they had all had a very good day too! They also had a few bottles with them.

We were too late to see the new guests during their life drill, so I missed that photo opportunity. By the time we got up to the Sky Bar, it was very busy up there with everyone waiting for sail away. Not too many familiar faces, so many had left. One of the bar waiters came running up to me, “Mrs B Mrs B, can I get you a drink?” it was as if he had just seen someone he knew too amongst all the strangers. Poor kids have to start learning all new names again….I was very glad to see a lot of our favourites are still here.

Met up with another couple we knew from our last cruise. It seems there are a lot more younger people this cruise…….not real young….but “slightly younger” than the last.

We had dinner arrangements with friends at “2” for the Tastings, which was very good as usual, but I think I still prefer the Restaurant and “normal” type meals. There were also very few people there….I think the “theme nights” are more popular than the Tastings.

We will be dining again at “2” tonight as we have a birthday celebration to go to….its also Formal night, and we had to turn down the Captains invitation again! Probably won’t invite us again.

Today was the start of the new trivia competition. We lost 4 of our team, so have replaced them with 3…….after today we think one of the new ones just has to go. Last cruise we had so much fun…….we aren’t very competitive and laughed ourselves silly every day. One of our new members is trying to take over…I am the scribe, and he snatches the paper out of my hand and writes on it himself……when our team is asked for our answer, he speaks over me……he is far too serious for us so will just have to be told to go annoy someone else! I ended up putting the paper out of his reach and putting my champagne between him and the paper…..if he tried to grab it he would have knocked drinks everywhere! Tomorrow we will decide who gives him the news!!!

Michigan David arranged a CC Meeting this morning, and most people turned up. We met Jane Pond, Christine and Donna (BurlingameCA) Judy and Steve (Margate Cruiser)….but Westmount didn’t arrive….have to find them soon. Of course everyone recognized John!!

Yesterday our Stewardess announced that she had been promoted to “upstairs”….even the crew get to upgrade from the “po folks deck”! Today we were on Deck 5 and she saw us and came running up for a hug…said she missed us already!! Are we allowed to take some of these kids home with us?

We have a new Cruise Director now that Eric has gone…..its Tony Markey….Bonnie is still here…and I think the other Ass CD is Nick?

Professor Willis is on board, but haven’t heard of any other lecturers yet……our wonderful Pianist is still on board, but has me rather confused.

Last cruise he was Oskar Santori……..after his last concert he was selling CD’s outside the Magellan Lounge. I bought one. While I was signing the bill, he autographed the CD. Got it back to my suite and saw it was by someone called Adam Johnson…..I’m thinking he has brought the wrong CD’s to sell…..but then the photo he has signed looks a lot like Oskar????

Got last nights Herald, and there is a write up about Adam Johnson…….same write up as the one for Oskar Santori last week……..well now I am happy. Us oldies think we get forgetful at times, this bloke is a young’un and he doesn’t even know what his name is!! As long as he remembers how to play the piano!!

[wynkys]

Another great report Lorraine and thank you again for making the effort to keep us all entertained.

Smooth sailing.

Wayne

[Seabourn-nail]

Thanks again for another long review Lorraine! I hope you will manage to send your son an email now. I think he really misses you!

Will you be so kind and give my regards to prof. Willis? I've sailed with him and his friend Mary quite a few times. If she is there too, please give her my regards too.

Marja (from Holland, I think he knows)

[LaPaloma]

Granny, got home exhausted from caring for my daughter post surgery. I needed the laugh I got from your last post..as I caught up on CC. You referred to Ass CD and gave name...Cracked me up..next time he would appreciate Asst. I am certain. Teehee. Glad that you continue to have a great time. It seems that you are the life of the party..per...Jane. I admire you ladies for taking the valuable time aboard to post. Don and I are far too lazy...and..."laxed" out. We are only a short time away from our trip, and are SO ready. Lola [as I checked this back over..the typos were many..I left more I am certain]

[GrannyLorr]

Tuesday January 29th.

The first thing I had better explain is to La Paloma regarding calling the Assistant CD an ass!!! I really didn’t mean anything rude by it, but ass to you isn’t the same thing to us. An ass is a donkey, and I wasn’t calling him a donkey either! Ass is also a shortened version of assistant…….so you see its just the difference between English/English and American/English…..now if Id called him an arse, I’m sure Captain Dexter would be calling for my keel hauling again! To make my point, you would probably have no problem talking about someone’s fanny in here, but oh dear I would NEVER discuss someone’s fanny in a public forum!! (Completely different meaning)

Now back to our adventure….if I can remember where we are and where we have been….just had to look at the Herald to see what day it was!

After 2 lovely sea days we arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile. There were quite a lot of tours offered here, but I think this was the place where both the swinging through the trees and the horseback riding was cancelled due to insufficient people signing up. I did hear that the tree one could go ahead at $500 per head….don’t think anyone was that interested in playing Tarzan!

The tour we chose was called Petrohue Rapids and Emerald Lake and we really enjoyed it. It was an 8 hour tour and there were three busloads of us. Once we arrived at the lake, we transferred to a boat and did a 45 minute tour around the lake. The scenery was breathtaking, snow capped volcanoes and the water a beautiful emerald colour. People likened it to Lake Louise. Then it was off to the waterfalls and rapids. This part I was a bit disappointed in, not the scenery or the rapids, but the fact that we had so little time there. The amount of time allocated meant we had to do a rather fast walk to the lookouts, take some quick photos, then quickly walk back to the bus. As most of us are a wee bit past the sprinting stage, we really did not have anywhere enough time to look properly. I get out of breath quite quickly and of course there were others much older than me, and lots with walking difficulties. The walk itself was quite flat and most people would have been able to enjoy it if not at such a fast pace.

Next was lunch, of course…..we can’t do without extra food! We went to a restaurant high on a hill and overlooking the lake with the volcano in the background. Beautiful outlook. There were a lot of llamas here including a couple of babies…..one llama was determined to follow us into the restaurant. I found it rather strange to also find a couple of emus here….in Chile?

Last part of the tour I found a complete waste of time. We went to a small town, parked outside the Casino, and were given about 45 minutes……there were a couple of craft shops and I am sure “someone’s Uncles” Lap lazuli shop! A lot of the time wasted here could have been spent at the waterfalls. That was the only fault we found with the tour.

On the way back to the ship, we were dropped off at a very big handcraft market. I wanted to buy some stuff, but I really haven’t liked any of the crafts in this part of Chile. After the beautiful soft alpaca products in Peru, the knitted products here are very rough and primitive.

Back to the ship and up to the Sky Bar ready for sail away. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, and apparently this is quite unusual we had been told. As we were enjoying our pisco sours, we heard planes coming towards us…………right in front and above us we had an air show. It was as though the display was put on just for us, and of course Captain Dexter did take the credit for arranging it. The display went on for some time all those loop the loops and moves I don’t know the names of. It was quite spectacular.

As it was January 26th. it was also Australia Day. A celebration had been planned for us starting with a cocktail reception in the Constellation Lounge. The Captain attended, and then also had dinner with us. The Captain had been asked if he had any Australian flags, but of course the Pride doesn’t go to Australia so there were none on board. The Pursers office had printed flags from their computer to decorate our tables, and we also had red rose petals covering the tables. We had our own menu, starting with Caviar on the Rocks, not a particularly Australian dish but still…….the “rocks” were small potato dumpling type things. We then had Shrimp Trilogy, shrimps done 3 different ways of course. Then baby oysters in a champagne and shallot gratinate (that’s the only course I passed on). Raspberry Sorbet to cleanse the palate before a choice of Lobster Thermidor or Rack of Lamb. Of course the lamb was the most “Australian” choice but most of us chose the lobster. Our desert was Pavlova with strawberries and passionfruit.

I was seated next to Captain Dexter who remarked that I had already refused two of his invitations, but then why would I want to dine with the crew anyway! We had a fantastic night, Captain Dexter continued with his great sense of humour all through dinner and we must have been the noisiest table in the entire restaurant. He told us all sorts of stories about his days at sea. We think he is very selfish leaving the ship in Buenos Aires. Seabourn certainly picked a winner when they signed him up. Unfortunately our dining had to end at 10pm as we all wanted to see our new entertainer Izabella, a beautiful violinist who we had dined with the night before. What a great way to celebrate Australia Day!

Next day we arrived at Castro on Chiloe Island. We had to tender ashore but the water here was so calm it was easy for a change. I had chosen a tour called Dalcahue and Castro City tour. Unfortunately there isn’t much in either of these towns to see, and at a cost of $100 each, we wouldn’t recommend it. The tour ended at the Museum of Modern Art. I think there were 3 paintings there, some painted fabric, an extremely bored local band and a fashion parade of these very primitive knitted clothes……I suppose we can say “we have been there” but I would rather still have our $200. One guest did ask our guide about the amount of stray dogs we have seen everywhere in Chile. She said she had taken a dog off the street and it cost her $60 to have it sterilized. When most people only earn a wage of around $200 a month, $60 is far too much for them to be able to afford to sterilize their dogs…….hence the dog problem.

Yesterday we arrived at Puerto Chacabuco. When we woke around 6am we were sailing down a fjord with snow capped peaks outside our window. This was our view while we ate breakfast. Our tour was to Coyhaique and Simpson Valley. Coyhaique is on the other side of the Andes, and is the hometown of our guide. She was so enthusiastic about everything she showed us, everyone agreed she was the best guide we have had in any Port. The driver was also very good, and would park the bus on the wrong side of the road so we could take photos! The scenery was spectacular, another very enjoyable tour.

Of course we couldn’t do a tour without having to stop for food! There was a wonderful spread of typical Chilean food like empanadas etc. and of course pisco sours and Chilean wines. The only other tour offered in Puerto Chacabuco was horse riding and I heard this was very enjoyable for those who could ride properly.

There was also an “Exclusive Seabourn Experience” tour planned here, but it had to be changed. The one we were supposed to be doing was on a catamaran, but seems they had some major electrical problems so the tour couldn’t go ahead. The change was to a park, to see native flora, then music and dancing and FOOD. We were told it was quite a long walk so we opted not to go. Those who did go said it was the worst Seabourn Experience they have ever had. I suppose those who organized it couldn’t have got it right anyway. If they didn’t organize “something” people would complain……..but I don’t really think there are a lot of choices in this area.

We actually got to afternoon tea for only about the third time on our entire cruise. It was nice and empty in the Constellation Lounge as most people were still out on tour. Then after having afternoon tea we didn’t want dinner! So we just annoyed Nelson for a few hours drinking pisco sours and watching the beautiful scenery, until it finally got too cold for us. It must have been about 10pm before we finally succumbed to more food and ordered Room service. After all we have eaten in about 24 days all I wanted was a cheeseburger and fries. Now I get to my first complaint about the food……what has happened to the famous Seabourn fries?? They were good fries, but nothing like they used to be!

Well that about gets me up to date again so time to go get ready for Trivia….

So until next time

Bye from GrannyLorr

[Iamboatman]

I remember my DW, who is Scottish, refusing to believe my grandmother's name was Fanny. Talk about my daughter being conflicted!:eek:

 

Glad you are having a good time. It is, alas, hard to find great excursions in places that just don't have regular visitors. I tend to find that the tours sometimes try to make something out of nothing and unfortunately miss the true flavor of the place (which, of course, to them is just their everyday...which is what we actually find of most interest.)

[Decebal]

Hi Granny. Love your posts. I have a food question about the long, long trip you are on. As you pointed out there are many people on board that are no spring chickens. My non-spring-chicken parents are on a low sodium diet. Are the chefs taking that into account? Thanks.

[terrafirma]

GrannyLorr are you going to tell me hotmail doesn't work now ?¿

Try checking your spam folder for emails !!:rolleyes: