To South America, first stop Buenas Aires
Buenas Aires and south!
Off on our adventure! Flew to Atlanta then Delta to Buenas Aires on a 10 hour overnight flight that wasn't bad at all if you can sleep sitting up! Fernando met at the McDonalds after 2 1/2 hours of getting through Customs and retrieving our bags--that was the worst of it!
Oceania's ship the Serena is very elegant and home to 640 fellow travelers. We have met so many nice people--including the two Ann Arbor Michigan fans. We enjoyed telling them that our daughter and son in law are on a Buckeye Cruise for Cancer as we speak. No children on board so all is very calm. The 400 crew are all beautiful and from 47 different countries! They knew our names after meeting us once. It is fun being on a smaller ship because you get to know the crew and they very quickly figure out that you want cream in your coffee or always ice cream with your dessert! (I do mean WITH your dessert--the ice cream is just an added attraction and doesn't really count!)
Montevideo, Uruguay is our first stop. We slept like people who had been up all night and then rallied to walk right off the ship for a stroll around town. It was Sunday so not much open. We walked a couple miles around the town but really not much to see--pretty run down by US standards.
The pool lounges are so comfortable with lots of shade and all the drinks and towels you want on the ship! We discovered "High Tea" at 4pm daily. We went just to drink some tea and listen to the wonderful string quartet but some how they just kept bring pastries, scones with clotted cream and jelly, and cookies right to our table and we were two weak to resist!
Punta del Este, Uruguay up next! It is the place to go and enjoy the ocean and beaches if you are among the rich and famous here. We walked about three miles along a beautiful wooden boardwalk and found the famous 'Hand sculpture" along the beach. It is large and very impressive. The beach is lined with hotels. The streets and sidewalks are not in good shape--Pete says probably the result of corrupt government not keeping them up. It was about 70 degrees and very windy. The Serena was anchored in the bay and we took tenders (smaller boats) to get to the beach area. It was coming back on board that was rather harrowing! The waves were so rough they kept slamming our tender into the ship. One of the large buoys exploded and the anchoring rope broke after only a few people got off. We circled around and tried it again with success. I doubt some of the guests with canes will want to try tenders in the kind of wind next time!
The Captain informed us of high winds and rough seas so "hang on to rails" was his advice! We put on our sea bands to help and I happily applied my Transderm Scop patch! We've had no side effects and it was well worth the cost of the patches! Pete of course seems to be immune to motion woes!
We have two days at sea as we head 1000 miles down the east coast of South America to Port Stanley and the Falkland Islands. It is now Tuesday Feb. 26th and cool and rainy but we are inside and dry!
I'm using the ships unlimited WiFi in the library to write this masterpiece.
We are really enjoying hearing about Carrie and Nate's 5 day cruise on the Royal Carribean with 2500 Ohio State fans. The whole ship is Buckeye themed and no lines for any activities so they are in paradise! They snorkeled in Grand Cayman yesterday and off to Nassau today. Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Willy are taking great care of the girls (20 months, 5 and 70 so we can all enjoy this vacation!
Off on our adventure! Flew to Atlanta then Delta to Buenas Aires on a 10 hour overnight flight that wasn't bad at all if you can sleep sitting up! Fernando met at the McDonalds after 2 1/2 hours of getting through Customs and retrieving our bags--that was the worst of it!
Oceania's ship the Serena is very elegant and home to 640 fellow travelers. We have met so many nice people--including the two Ann Arbor Michigan fans. We enjoyed telling them that our daughter and son in law are on a Buckeye Cruise for Cancer as we speak. No children on board so all is very calm. The 400 crew are all beautiful and from 47 different countries! They knew our names after meeting us once. It is fun being on a smaller ship because you get to know the crew and they very quickly figure out that you want cream in your coffee or always ice cream with your dessert! (I do mean WITH your dessert--the ice cream is just an added attraction and doesn't really count!)
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| Our ship in the distance (Sirena) from Punta del Este |
Montevideo, Uruguay is our first stop. We slept like people who had been up all night and then rallied to walk right off the ship for a stroll around town. It was Sunday so not much open. We walked a couple miles around the town but really not much to see--pretty run down by US standards.
The pool lounges are so comfortable with lots of shade and all the drinks and towels you want on the ship! We discovered "High Tea" at 4pm daily. We went just to drink some tea and listen to the wonderful string quartet but some how they just kept bring pastries, scones with clotted cream and jelly, and cookies right to our table and we were two weak to resist!
Punta del Este, Uruguay up next! It is the place to go and enjoy the ocean and beaches if you are among the rich and famous here. We walked about three miles along a beautiful wooden boardwalk and found the famous 'Hand sculpture" along the beach. It is large and very impressive. The beach is lined with hotels. The streets and sidewalks are not in good shape--Pete says probably the result of corrupt government not keeping them up. It was about 70 degrees and very windy. The Serena was anchored in the bay and we took tenders (smaller boats) to get to the beach area. It was coming back on board that was rather harrowing! The waves were so rough they kept slamming our tender into the ship. One of the large buoys exploded and the anchoring rope broke after only a few people got off. We circled around and tried it again with success. I doubt some of the guests with canes will want to try tenders in the kind of wind next time!
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| Punta del Este |
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| Boardwalk at Punta del Este |
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| Permanent hand sculpture--AMAZING |
We have two days at sea as we head 1000 miles down the east coast of South America to Port Stanley and the Falkland Islands. It is now Tuesday Feb. 26th and cool and rainy but we are inside and dry!
I'm using the ships unlimited WiFi in the library to write this masterpiece.
We are really enjoying hearing about Carrie and Nate's 5 day cruise on the Royal Carribean with 2500 Ohio State fans. The whole ship is Buckeye themed and no lines for any activities so they are in paradise! They snorkeled in Grand Cayman yesterday and off to Nassau today. Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Willy are taking great care of the girls (20 months, 5 and 70 so we can all enjoy this vacation!
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