boblerm

On 6/27/2023 at 4:53 PM, Treasure Hunter said:

This is our first ( and last) Viking cruise. It is not luxury and a disappointment.

Our Viking Mississippi cruise was our first Viking experience as well, and we were also frustrated with many of the service issues.  But I have to say, that every single person that we encountered on the cruise were Viking veterans, and assured me that these issues were very atypical of their previous Viking experiences.

I recently returned from the Memphis to New Orleans cruise, and have posted my review here

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=701254&et_cid=3672465&et_rid=271182289&et_referrer=&address=dXJ%2fsgj7xctYs4GPjyhRs1vU9Mqv%2bkxh 

 

In short, I largely agree with much that has been posted here; the service was a major problem, but

I rated the cruise 4 stars-  I gave it 1 star on service, and 5 stars on the other aspects of the cruise that are important to me, quality of cuisine, entertainment/ enrichment, and itinerary.  By the process of higher mathematics, this averages out to 4 stars. 😊

We did not have the cabin servicing issues that @planada did, our cabin attendant delivered wonderful service, and took care of all of our needs.

 

I have a little bit of a different perspective in regard to the itinerary change.  Here is the old and new itineraries:

 

 

We were given a precruise overnight in Memphis at the Sheraton, which wasn't the greatest choice, sure we would rather have been at the Peabody, but it was fine. On embarkation day, we had a choice of a visit to Graceland or the National Civil Rights Museum in the morning, prior to our trek to Rosedale.  IMO, both of these are must dos when visiting Memphis, but it is far easier to do the Civil Rights museum on your own and take the included Graceland tour as the Civil Rights Museum is in town, and Graceland is not.  The afternoon did entail a long ride, with a stop in between to check in and get our room keys.  It was convenient to be able to have our keys in advance so that we did not have to line up and do this upon boarding, but this could have been done at the hotel.  And we did arrive at the ship on the late side, no time to relax, have a drink, and get ready for dinner, the evening was rather rushed.

 

The other side of the coin is that substituting Greenville, MS for a day of cruising is a definite plus.  As others have pointed out, there is nothing to see while cruising the Mississippi, and our visit to Greenville was great.  We were treated to an amazing performance of country music and blues over a really nice barbecue lunch.  Afterwards, we could do a tour of the BB King museum, a city tour, or just go back to the ship to relax. So on balance, for me, this is a change for the better.

 

Happy to answer any questions.

 

Bob

I was on the Voyager in March.  I can't imagine what the complaints were about, the food, service and entertainment were over the top.

On 3/30/2023 at 9:52 AM, RachelG said:

We had dinner reservations off the ship in Kobe at Hanasato, a very traditional Japanese restaurant which specializes in Hida beef. 

What was George's verdict on the Hida  beef?  And what is Hida beef (I've heard of Kobe beef, but not Hida)?

Bottom Line

 

Trip reports that I have done in the past have been largely positive, since when I am cruising, I tend to not sweat the small stuff.  This report has been different, in that I have been expressing a lot of negativity about the ports.  But I am not whining and complaining for its own sake.  I think that it is important that people who are considering this itinerary have some idea as to what they are likely to experience.

So the bottom line- knowing what we know now, do we regret taking this cruise?

The answer is no.  There were 3 ports that, IMO, do not warrant a cruise ship stop.  But the ports of BA, Montevideo and Rio were great enough to make it worthwhile.  2 ports, (Porto Belo and Buzios) were pleasant enough.  And the pampering that we received on board has a way of soothing any frazzled nerves that one may have experienced in port.  So all in all, we are happy that we went on this cruise.

I wish everyone happy cruising!

Bob

 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

 

The sail in to Rio is one of the more impressive ones that I have experienced. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are taking a cruise with a sail in from the south, you might want to consider booking a room on the port side, and paying attention to the captain’s report the evening before, when he says the approximate time for the approach.

 

Our tour was “Highlights of Rio”, (Rio actually has some highlights! 😊

We drove around the city

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a drive past Copacabana and Ipanima beaches.  Once again, I chose the wrong side of the bus (which in this case was the left side of the bus) to get a good view of the beaches.

 

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Then to Corcovado mountain, where we took a cog railway to the top.  This is the kind of place that you think you know what it is like having seen pictures of it, but you really don’t until you have been there.  It is truly spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I should note that this is a very popular and crowded place, and the railway cars come at fairly long intervals.  And since it is essential that the tour group stay together for the ride up and the ride down, there are very long times standing around waiting for the train, which may be problematic for some.

Búzios, Brazil

 

Búzios was a sleepy fishing village until 1964 when Brigitte Bardot decided to vacation there for some reason.  After that, everyone who was anyone wanted to go there.  Today, it is an upscale beach resort.

Our tour was “Búzios Highlights”.  We tendered to the pier,

 

 

 

 

and boarded a bus.  The highlights were several scenic lookout spots, a drive by of several beaches, and a view of 2 monuments.

 

The scenic outlooks were nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately for me, the views of the beaches that we drove by were all on the left side of the bus, and I was sitting on the right side of the bus.  Which for this tour was the wrong side of the bus.  This is the best that I could do

 

 

 

We only got a glimpse of several beaches and got off the bus at one of them.  We stayed for 20 minutes, not quite enough time to take a relaxing dip and dry off, but too much time to stand around and gawk.  Although surely @irishwitchy would have been in the water!   😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the monument in honor of the town’s fishing heritage

 

 

 

 

There is also a monument to honor the aforementioned Brigitte Bardot.  Our tour guide told us that the road was closed that would allow our tour bus to go by, but fortunately, it was only a 10 minute walk from our drop off point at the pier.  Surely, to be in Búzios and not visit Brigitte would be akin to being in Copenhagen and not visit Den Lille Havfrue.  Inconceivable!  The walk was a pleasant one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were 2 other excursions available here,  one was called,” Beaches of Búzios by Trolley”, which I believe would pretty much repeat the one that I took with no stops, and “Beach Sail and Swim by Schooner”, which is a bit  misleading,  as the description says “the tour does not stop at any beach, only scenic sail by.  It is not allowed to swim from the schooner to the beaches”.

 

If one finds oneself in Búzios, the tour that I took is not a bad way to spend some time, but another option would be to take a taxi to one of the beaches.  Or both, as the tour is only 2 hours.

 

1 hour ago, broccoli robin said:

Did you use Regent air into Buenos Aires, boblerm? Maybe you already said and I missed it. But I am particularly interested in how this works, especially if you did not pay for the air deviation. I find that word "deviation" to be a strange one in this regard. I certainly would not book an airline that called itsself Deviant Air!

I booked my own flights, as there was only one non-stop flight that I could find from JFK to BA which was on AA, and I was able to use miles.  For my return flight, there were no non-stops on the day of debarkation, so I left the ship on the last night to get a non-stop, also on AA and also using miles.

The down side is that I >shudder<< missed my last dinner in Compass Rose!  Oh, the agony!  But I think that it was a reasonable trade off to be able to fly home non-stop.

 

 

Ilha Grande, Brazil

 

There were only 2 excursions offered for this port.  The first was a walking tour (no vehicular traffic on Ilha Grande).  It was a 3 hour hike through the state park, described as strenuous; one is advised to bring plenty of water to stay hydrated as it is likely to be very hot and humid.  Also there are no restroom stops on the tour.  What can go wrong?  And oh, yes, you should bring bug repellent and wear long pants, lest you get eaten alive by horrible, toxic, carnivorous insects.

  OK, I made up the part starting with “lest”.     But that is how I interpreted it.

 

The other was a snorkeling trip with “limited snorkeling equipment available”.

 

We took a hard pass.

 

I did, however, did take the tender to the pier, which was a very nice area to walk around for a while.  There were shops, restaurants, booths selling tours.  It was a beach there, I did not see any chairs or umbrellas for rent, but there were shade trees. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 3/27/2023 at 9:32 AM, ysolde said:

I would have been a bit frustrated going to a coffee museum and not being able to sample the world-famous coffee. Oh, well . . . 

It's like visiting Hershey's Chocolate World and not sampling any chocolate!😄

17 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Back in the day it was common knowledge that this was the least interesting segment in South America

That knowledge was not so common to me before I booked this cruise!🙂

But I really have no basis for complaint although it may seem like I am doing a lot of complaining😊.  It is incumbent on us to research the ports of call on an itinerary before booking it to make sure that it would likely be something that would interest us.  If we don't, then we have no one to blame but ourselves if the itinerary is not to our liking.  One of the reasons that I am posting these port reviews is so that others will have some idea as to what they are like before booking this itinerary.

 

17 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

At this point we think of the ship as the destination

One of the advantages to this is that when the ship is in port, there is no problem getting prime seats on the pool deck.  We only did half day tours, and on the half that we were on the ship, it was a pleasure to not have to deal with chair hogs.

Santos, Brazil

 

We have all from time to time found ourselves docked in an ugly industrial ship terminal.  This, of course,   is no reflection on the port of call; it’s just that you have to travel a bit to see something that doesn’t hurt your eyes.  If a trophy was to be given out for the epitome of this type of terminal, the port of Santos would surely be a strong contender.

And it is endless! From the time that we stepped off the ship to the time that we finally exited the port area had to be about a half an hour.  But it felt like eternity.

It turns out that this is a function of where in the port the ship is docked; we happened to be in the furthest dock in the port and there were several behemoths docked there that day.  A crew member told me that on another occasion they were docked much closer to the exit, and getting in and out was much easier.

When we exited the port, things improved significantly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour was “Highlights of Santos”.  Our first stop was at a Botanical Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pleasant enough there, although nothing super impressive.  The sign on the entrance read “Orchidario”.  Assuming that this implied that there would be orchids there, we asked a park guide where they might be found.  She told us that they only bloomed in September- October.  We were there in the March.   O-K.

We spent an hour here; a half hour would have been sufficient.

 

 

We got back on the bus, and our tour guide told us that we would next visit a soccer stadium.  Why, I wondered, were we visiting a soccer stadium?  It turns out that we were not really visiting the stadium, we were visiting the trophy hall and memorial museum that is enclosed within.

 

It would appear that Team Santos is a pretty big deal in the world of futebol. Even if you are not a fan of the sport, you are no doubt familiar with Santos’ most famous son

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are tons of trophies here, and proof that Santos is very proud of its team’s achievements is that this is one of the few places in Brazil that a sign was displayed in any language other than Portuguese.

 

 

We got a glimpse of the field.

 

 

 

We spent 45 minutes here, 15 would have been fine.  Including using rest room.

 

 

Then it was off to our final stop, a Coffee Museum.  It was housed in a 1922 landmark building

 

 

The interior hallway was impressive with a domed ceiling with beautiful stained glass.  Very nice murals surrounded the hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide led us through the hall, and then through all of the displays about the making of coffee. 

 

We spent 45 minutes here, and it took the full 45 minutes for the tour of the museum displays.  However, as our tour guide explained little as we went through, and all of the signage was in Portuguese with no translations, in retrospect , my time would have been better spent admiring the central hallway  for about 10 or 15 minutes , and the rest of the time having some coffee in the coffee bar.  Sadly, I did not notice the bar on the way in, and our tour guide only pointed it out as we were leaving the building to board the bus.  Muito obrigado, senhor.

 

Then it was back to the port. Upon reaching the port entrance, the ride back to the ship was every bit as “charming” as was the ride out.

 

 

47 minutes ago, slidebite said:

Not sure if I missed it (or it is yet to come in your great posts) but what is the entertainment like in the theatre for evening shows? Who is the current CD? We're on board in 10 days.

I was very impressed with the theater evening entertainment, and thought that it was as good as I have seen on past Regent cruises.  I provide a little detail about that in  post #1 under "Entertainment".

 

The CD for our cruise was Andy Heath.  I thought that he did a good job in keeping things organized, keeping us informed, and doing all of the normal CD stuff.

 

I didn't mention while discussing entertainment that Andy, along with his wife, Social Hostess Tammy, did a show in the Horizon Lounge paying tribute to the great singer-songwriters from the 70s.  The show was simultaneously fun and poignant, if it is offered on your cruise, I would recommend catching it.

I find that all of the fish preparations in Compass Rose to be suburb, whether on the daily special side or the always available side.

Porto Belo, Brazil

This was an anchor port, we tendered to the pier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our excursion was “Camboriu Highlights and Cable Car”.  We were bused to a resort city called Balneario Camboriu, where we took a cable car up to Atlantic Forest station for some really nice views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Not our ship)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went down by cable car on the other side of the mountain to a beach, where we spent about a half hour.  We had the option to bathe or sit at café, have a drink, and enjoy the atmosphere.  (I don’t think that anyone in our group chose the former option).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then up and down the way we came to our busses and back to the pier. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide, Fabio*, was energetic, enthusiastic and entertaining.

 

 

 

 

We did enjoy this excursion, the only problem was that it was a very long tender ride to the pier, and a very long bus ride to Balneario Camboriu.  What was supposed to be a 4 hour excursion turned out to be 5 ½.  Happily, they kept La Veranda open late, so we did not starve.

 

 

*Not his real name, but he reminded me of Fabio.

 

 

As an aside, in this type of tour where there are crowds and a lot of different meeting places, it is a challenge for the tour guide to keep track of everyone.  “Fabio” did a good job, but he had this little quirk in that when he counted the group, (I think that there were 40 of us), he would often skip the number “35”.  He would say, “33,..34,..36..” and we would have to point out to him that he skipped 35.  And he would say, “I DID????”   It was interesting that he had no trouble with 15 or 25, but somehow 35 eluded him.  Also not sure why he needed to count in English rather than in Portuguese, I don’t think that would have been a problem.  It was all good, as we returned with the proper number of passengers, no more, no less.

Rio Grande, Brazil

 

There was only one excursion offered for this port, called “Sights of Rio Grande”.   I have to stipulate that my impression of this tour may have been impacted somewhat by the fact that we were there on a very hot and humid afternoon, and it was mostly a walking tour. But I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed it all that more if the weather was perfect.

 

As we got off the ship, we received a nice greeting, off to a good start 

 

We drove to the town square.  We passed a few nice structures along the way

 

 

 

 The town square was ….well, a  town square

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guide pointed out what she seemed to think were interesting buildings surrounding the square, here is the only one that I photographed, only because I have to photograph something 

 

 

We then visited a museum of the city, an un-air conditioned building that hosted a veritable cornucopia of artifacts related to the city’s history, none of which interested me in the slightest. But the museum was well worth the visit, as there were restrooms. 

 

We visited 2 churches nearby, the first is actually a former church, now a museum

 

 

The guide told us that if we went up to the top floor, we would see a beautiful view, here ‘tis.

 

We than visited the Cathedral of São Pedro, the oldest church in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

 

 

Then, back to the bus to visit an Oceanographic Institute, which was billed as the highlight of the tour.  OK, I figured, at least now I will get to see some pretty colorful fish, right?

Wrrrrrrrrrrrrongo! 

Here is what there was

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then….and then…. we encountered some Magellanic penguins.   4 of em!   And they were actually alive; I know this because the second one on the left moved his head a little, see? 

 

The saving grace was that the grounds were pretty

 

 

 

 

 

In discussing this tour with my fellow passengers  I did not encounter even one person that thought that it was worthwhile; many had wished that they had remained on the ship 

 

But ya  gotta admire the local pride.

 

The Highlights tour was also very enjoyable.  We drove around the city, and stopped at a few places

 

Legislative Palace

 

 

 

 

 

Monument a la Correra

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plaza de la Armador (Memorial to the Fallen at Sea)

 

 

 

 

Some other sights along the way

 

Monument to the last Charruas

 

 

 

"La Diligencia"

 

 

Obelisk of Montevideo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished the tour with another Tango show, as one can never get too much tango.  Unlike the one in Buenos Aires, this one was more up close and personal.  We were greeted by one of the dancers, who I believe is also the owner of the establishment.  She treated us to a drink called “uvita”, a sweet liqueur with a secret recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the dancers performed, 2 ladies and 1 lucky gent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our neighbors in Montevideo.  Happy to be aboard the Seven Seas Voyager.

 

 

Montevideo

We did 2 excursions here, “Jewish Heritage of Uruguay” and “Highlights of Montevideo”.

 

The Jewish Heritage tour started with a visit to the “Memorial to the Holocaust of the Jewish People “, which is an outdoor memorial on the shores of a river.  This is a simple, but powerful exhibit, and it was very helpful to have a guide to explain its various aspects- broken walls representing the Holocaust; the Bridge of Doubt, a walkway simulating a railroad track.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are tombstone like granite slabs with quotes from Elie Wiesel, Maimonides and others. The Spanish words are formed as if they are Hebrew letters

 

"Seven times the righteous falls and seven times he rises again"

 

 

"Sadness should always go hand in hand with hope"

 

 

"In memory there is redemption"

 

 

"Always choose life and the good, because the choice is in our hands"

 

 

 

We visited 2 synagogues.  The first was an active day school, in which we met with 2 emissaries from Israel who were there to help teach the children and to help in organizing community events.  The passion that these 2 remarkable young people showed was truly inspiring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited another synagogue where the caretaker explained some of the history

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then visited Independence Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

José Gervasio Artigas, national hero

 

 

 

 

The best aspect of this tour was listening to our guide discuss the emergence of a strong Jewish community in this city, and relate some of her experiences facing down anti-Semitism.

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are going to call on a couple ports that were not your favorite, Santos and Ilha Grande. Any recommendations for shore excursions that might have been better than others there? 

In Santos, the only excursions that were available were the "Highlights of Santos" that we took,  a trip to São Paulo, and a transfer to Guaruja Beach.  I cannot recommend the "Highlights of Santos", as IMO, there were really no highlights.  São Paulo is a major city, I've never been there, it may be worth while doing some research on it to see if it looks like a place that you would enjoy visiting. It is a full day of touring.

The beach transfer is just that, only transportation to and from a beach, I don't know how nice the beach is, but if you are beach lovers, it might be a pleasant way to spend the day. 

 

Ilha Grande- there was only 2 excursions- a strenuous walking tour, in a hot humid climate, in which there are no bathroom breaks and you must bring bug repellent,  and a snorkeling excursion. We did not do either for reasons that I will discuss when I  review the port.

 

The tango show that we saw in BA was fabulous, but I a not certain as to whether it is the same show that you get in a port visit, mine was on an overnight pre-cruise.  If you have a day to spend in BA, I would suggest touring the city.

1 hour ago, maryogreen said:

@boblerm How fun to relive our time in Buenos Aires through your terrific photos! It was six years ago already, but reading your trip report made it seem like we were there last week 🙂  So glad your tour spent time in the ever-fascinating Recoleta Cemetery. Thanks for sharing...looking forward to the next installment!  

 

Mary

Travel Blog: https://www.themodernpostcard.com

For anyone who is interested in a deeper dive into the Recoleta Cemetery and Buenos Aires in general. you may want to have a look at Mary's excellent reports here

 

https://www.themodernpostcard.com/buenos-aires-day-1-la-recoleta-cemetery-la-casa-rosada-a-starry-touch-of-russia/

 

and here

 

https://www.themodernpostcard.com/buenos-aires-day-2-el-ateneo-grand-splendid-teatro-colon/

 

Mary, you remind me of just how much of BA that I missed, I may need to plan a return trip!

10 hours ago, PatriciaF said:

 I had planned to do a live from post but that requires a working internet.

@PatriciaF, please feel free to add any comments or pictures that you have, it would be great to see what you experienced on the cruises! 

Pre-cruise in Buenos Aires day 2

The next day was a tour of the city of Buenos Aires.

 

We started with a visit to the Recoleta Cemetery, where the rich and famous of Argentina like to go to rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t cry for her.

Or, cry for her if you’d like.  It’s fine either way.

 

 

 

They brought us to an historic café where we were offered coffee and a donut filled with dulce de leche or a croissant.  Or both.😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the Cathedral Metropolitana

The remains of General Jose de San Martin, liberator of Argentina are guarded by soldiers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casa Rosada or Presidential Palace, where Eva spoke to the people from the balcony, and  Madonna sang to them

 

 

 

Plaza de Mayo

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a visit to La Boca, a funky colorful neighborhood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other sights in BA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the evening we were taken to a tango hall, where we had dinner, (not so great) and a tango performance (ultra- great!)  The dancers, singers, musicians, and other performers were top notch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a truly memorable performance to top off a memorable day.

 

 

 

 

56 minutes ago, ysolde said:

  I will admit, though, that I have never really enjoyed an old-fashioned Argentine parrillada.  The meat itself is fantastic, but I don't like the way they are prepared.  Just a matter of taste, really.

I found the sausage too salty, the chicken dry, and the beef on the tough side. 

Still enjoyed the experience! 

Pre-cruise in Buenos Aires day 1

 

We were put up in the Sofitel Buenos Aires Recoleta, which was very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first day of touring took us out into the countryside to visit an “estancia”, or cattle ranch.  We first stopped for a walk around a pretty little town called San Antonia de Areco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to the estancia, we were met at the edge of the property by gauchos, who led the way in. 

 

 

Our host, Francisco “Pancho” Guevara , greeted us as we got off the bus.  (Our tour guide told us that it is rumored that Pancho is a distant relative of you-know-who, but that he does not like to talk about it.)

 

 

 

Pancho and son #7 (he has 8 ) were very gracious hosts.

 

 

 

As we entered, we were offered fresh hot empanadas

 

 

 

 

First we viewed a demonstration of gaucho skills in the form of competitions. 

 

In the first one, a small ring is suspended from a crossbeam, and the rider has to gallop at high speed, and spear the ring with a thin stick

 

 

 

 

 

In the next one, they had to ride past a post, and throw their bolas around it

 

 

 

 

The last was an old fashioned horse race

 

 

 

 

The show was a lot of fun, punctuated with commentary by Pancho and son.

 

They cooked us a lunch of grilled meats.  The lunch was nothing to write home about.  So I won’t.

 

 

 

 

While we ate, we were entertained by dancers demonstrating traditional folkloric dances

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pancho joined in with the singing

 

 

 

 

Everyone seemed to have a really nice time on this tour.

6 hours ago, maryogreen said:

@boblermSo happy to see you and Jeannie traveling again! Your review was delightful and wonderfully informative, as always. Herb and I were glad to hear that the Voyager lived up to your past expectations, in spite of the carpeting 😊. The disappointing ports would have upset me as well. Itinerary is always the driver for us when selecting a cruise. I will be interested to read more in your upcoming posts!

 

Mary

Travel Blog: https://www.themodernpostcard.com

Mary, the saving grace was that I got to see a part of the world that I haven't seen before, we did visit some great ports, and lived the life of luxury on board!