LIVE FROM EXPLORER - FEB. 17 - MARCH 9

[Master Echo]

Sir and Madame had by now decided that they were all “templed”and “castled” out, so handed their tickets for Chan Chan, the City of Palaces back to the Destinations Desk, hopeful that someone on the waiting list would be able to avail themselves of this excursion.

 

 

Grateful for the later arrival into Salaverry, Sir and Madame were ready to utilise the first shuttle, which left the port at 11.30 am promptly.  The journey into the centre of Trujillo, founded by the Spanish in 1534, took about fifty minutes, due to traffic, (the return taking only 30 minutes),  were dropped about a ten minutes walk from the main square Plaza de Armas.  Seemingly on a previous visit to this port, Regent’s shuttle had dropped off passengers in this square where the proclamation of independence of Trujillo was made in 1820.  In view of the amount of coaches utilised for Regent shorexes, it was obvious there would not have been room for the shuttle bus to have parked as well.

 

Feeling they had been let our of school, Sir and Madame felt elation at being free to wander at will, without the necessity of being tied to a tight schedule and the inevitable climbing on and off coaches - such is the nature of organised ship’s tours.

 

With their newfound freedom, they visited the cathedral situated on one side of this lovely square, and thought that a mass was taking place, however it turned out to be a wedding.  This 17th century cathedral, the Basilica of St Mary is very grand and imposing with beautifully painted ceilings. Situated in the centre of this square, is the Freedom Monument, built in Germany,  by the sculpture, Moeller, the first stone being laid in 1925, and completed four years later, when it was inaugurated in July 1929 by the President and his daughter.

 

There are many marble bench seats, dotted around this square, and many of the buildings which are clustered around are historic structures, giving an idea of the colonial architecture of Trujillo.

 

They had been told that there was a “hop on hop off” red bus which operated from Plaza de Armas, which in fact turned out to be a one hour excursion round the old town, crisscrossing many of the surrounding streets, before venturing further afield to some of the outskirts.  Although the commentary was only in Spanish, Sir and Madame  managed to get the gist of what the guide was saying, and it was an interesting insight into this second biggest city in Peru, although apparently the third largest in terms of population.

 

To contrast Lima with Trujillo is difficult, the former being the capital city.    However in the latter it was noticeable that the cars driven were a great deal older and more dilapidated and the distinction of wealth was also more marked.  Undoubtedly both cities have their poor parts, but en route back to the port, some of the side roads off the main road, were little more than dirt tracks with tiny dwellings, and possibly open drains.

 

Sailing from Callao to Salaverry and onwards during our subsequent sea day, the ship had no need for anything more than eight to twelve knots.  The sea state was essentially calm, with a light following breeze, and with a daytime high of about 80F.  Around lunchtime today (24th), we were followed for over an hour on our port beam by a sizeable pod of dolphins.

 

Finally for this post, on behalf of TC2, I would like to thank those who have shown appreciation of our lengthy posts on this thread, because their composition is quite time consuming.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

 

 

 

 

[Travelcat2]

Good to see that the photos whetted some appetites.  Correction to a photo that I called prosciutto.  Upon closer inspection,  it is salami. They do have prosciutto (and many hot dishes that I didn’t photograph) on the buffet.   We will also be on for two Sunday’s and am not sure if they do it once a cruise (when there is a sea day on a Sunday) or every Sunday that is a sea day.

 

Tonight is Miso Glazed Sea Bass (always the night of the Seven Seas Society cocktail party).  We will not attend but likely with attend the Gold and above event.

 

Trivia question: How many Seven Seas Society Members are there?

[RachelG]

I will testify that the canyon ranch coffee creme brûlée is outstanding.

 

i am much enjoying reading all the posts as we did many of the ports on this cruise several years ago.  Crazy that they would only let you have one Pisco sour on the very pricy extra cost excursion. 

[Travelcat2]

Tonight was the showing of the Academy Awards.  I would say that most people could care less and others were interested.  There were photographs being taken and ballots with a prize.  

 

Had dinner with a PBS producer/director - it was most interesting.  Tomorrow is lunch in Guayaquil (our third time there - second by cruise ship).  Then we have two sea days that will be most welcome.

 

Any suggestions as where to have a great margarita in Cabo San Lucas would be appreciated.  We were bumped from horseback riding due to my DH’s age (he could outride people 20 years younger than he is but that doesn’t count

Edited February 25, 2019 by Travelcat2

[Master Echo]

Feb 24 - postscript

 

Further to my post earlier today when we were ambling along at 12 knots, during my visit to the gym in late afternoon at the aft end of the ship, it was evident from the wash that speed must have increased.  I doubt that this was connected to my hearty effort on the bike at the time!  On checking using the on-screen facility on the bike, Explorer's speed had rocketed to up to 23 knots!!  Just why such a change of pace had occurred in a such a short space of time was inexplicable.  Returning 'home' after dinner in Chartreuse (more later),  I found a note advising that our arrival time in Guyaquil, Ecuador, had been put back from 8.00 am leaving at 20.00 to 09.00 and sailing an hour earlier at 19.00.  So the change of speed is even more mysterious.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master  Echo

 

[kjbacon]

Those brunch pictures are just fabulous! One was better than the next and a meal I will look forward to for the next few weeks.

 

I am thrilled with these Canyon Ranch menus. Not sure how they can top this latest one with so many of my favorites ... tuna, quinoa, and scallops. C’mon!

 

Thsnk you so much for your posts!

[DaveFr]

8 hours ago, Master Echo said:

Feb 24 - postscript

 

Further to my post earlier today when we were ambling along at 12 knots, during my visit to the gym in late afternoon at the aft end of the ship, it was evident from the wash that speed must have increased.  I doubt that this was connected to my hearty effort on the bike at the time!  On checking using the on-screen facility on the bike, Explorer's speed had rocketed to up to 23 knots!!  Just why such a change of pace had occurred in a such a short space of time was inexplicable.  Returning 'home' after dinner in Chartreuse (more later),  I found a note advising that our arrival time in Guyaquil, Ecuador, had been put back from 8.00 am leaving at 20.00 to 09.00 and sailing an hour earlier at 19.00.  So the change of speed is even more mysterious.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master  Echo

 

While the Regent website shows the time in Guyaquil as 8 am to 8 pm, the Welcome Aboard issue of Passages showed an arrival at 10 am and a departure at 7 pm.  Last night, as you noted, our arrival time was changed to 9 am.  So yesterday’s increase in speed makes sense as it gets us to Guyaquil one hour earlier.

 

Dave

[Travelcat2]

Dave - good morning - good to “see” your on this thread.

 

Sitting in La Veranda - the ship is barely moving and has at least 4 pilot boats around. Very polluted water the area is beautiful and green (no photos).  This is our third visit to Guayaquil - the first time was on our way to Galapagos.  At that time we were told not even to leave our hotel as it was not safe.

 

The second time was with Regent and there was very heavy police presence - both escorting the buses and around the city.  It is lovely to walk along the Malecon.  Today it will be quite hot (87 degree and thunderstorms).  For me that is melting weather.  One can only hope that the restaurant where we are having lunch is air conditioned (unlikely)

 

Before I forget yet again, Dennis has been loving the French press coffee (which may only be offered on Explorer -  not sure as things change).  He is able to get it the strength that he prefers (strong) and the filtering system somehow prevents him from getting the feeling of acid in his stomach.  

 

So, no one wanted to guess how many Seven Seas Society members there are.  I’ll tell you anyway ....... over 600,000.

 

Really appreciate DaveFR and Master Echo’s observations in general but particularly the arrival and departure time changes is most even more helpful.   Thank you!

 

It is 9:05 a.m. and it appears that we are docking.  No idea when the excursions are really going to leave but I guess we’ll find out.

 

More later.

[UUNetBill]

43 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

So, no one wanted to guess how many Seven Seas Society members there are.  I’ll tell you anyway ....... over 600,000.

Well, I wouldn't have guessed that high...but looking at it, it makes sense.  It'd be interesting to see how that breaks out since you hit Bronze with a one-week sailing.  Given the passenger capacity, the average length of a cruise and the number of years Regent/Radisson has been sailing, that number makes sense.  I'd like to see the number of members in each category - that would give you a good idea of the number of repeat customers.

 

But not in this thread - I don't want to hijack an awesome live blog...

[ronrick1943]

27 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

Well, I wouldn't have guessed that high...but looking at it, it makes sense.  It'd be interesting to see how that breaks out since you hit Bronze with a one-week sailing.  Given the passenger capacity, the average length of a cruise and the number of years Regent/Radisson has been sailing, that number makes sense.  I'd like to see the number of members in each category - that would give you a good idea of the number of repeat customers.

 

But not in this thread - I don't want to hijack an awesome live blog...

 

Actually it's not important how many members they have, because as soon as you cruise you're become a member without joining.  The real number that would be of interest is how many active members of the club.

[1982CruzStart]

On our Explorer cruise Nov/Dec 2018 we had a couple of Sunday sea days but there was only 1 Sunday brunch.   the other Sunday had the usual caviar and champagne breakfast. 

[OrthoCruiser]

Jackie,

 

You'll remain in warm weather climes for most of the remainder of your trip.  We will be traveling back in the direction from which you came next cruise.  On our last Navigator cruise into the Caribbean our travel mates could never get their rooms to cool down to a comfortable temperature.  Have you had any trouble getting your room to cool down nicely or heard of others with same problem on the Explorer?

 

Skip

[RachelG]

54 minutes ago, OrthoCruiser said:

Jackie,

 

You'll remain in warm weather climes for most of the remainder of your trip.  We will be traveling back in the direction from which you came next cruise.  On our last Navigator cruise into the Caribbean our travel mates could never get their rooms to cool down to a comfortable temperature.  Have you had any trouble getting your room to cool down nicely or heard of others with same problem on the Explorer?

 

Skip

we had no difficulties getting out room cool enough, even the day it was 96 F outside.  But we do make sure to instruct the cabin steward to leave the drapes pulled on hot days.  That makes a tremendous difference in keeping the room temp reasonable..  If we want to open them when we are in the cabin, we do it ourselves.

[OrthoCruiser]

11 minutes ago, RachelG said:

we had no difficulties getting out room cool enough, even the day it was 96 F outside.  But we do make sure to instruct the cabin steward to leave the drapes pulled on hot days.  That makes a tremendous difference in keeping the room temp reasonable..  If we want to open them when we are in the cabin, we do it ourselves.

Thank you Rachel.  

[Hambagahle]

Sounds like a LOT of SSS members world wide!  Good for Regent.  BUT we here in Switzerland are "ignored".  We do not get the magazine or mailings from Regent that others report.  I can live without those but it would be nice to have them.

[UUNetBill]

18 minutes ago, Hambagahle said:

Sounds like a LOT of SSS members world wide!  Good for Regent.  BUT we here in Switzerland are "ignored".  We do not get the magazine or mailings from Regent that others report.  I can live without those but it would be nice to have them.

Personally, with the exception of the big annual catalog, I'd be happy to get all of their mailers electronically.  I spend more time online than most, and I'm comfortable reading the information in a pdf format rather than the mailers...and good Lord, we get enough dreck in the mail already.

[Travelcat2]

Skip,

 

We have no air conditioning issues on Explorer (we keep the suite around 68 degrees).   It does help that we are on an itinerary where the sun sets on the other side of the ship as that sun can really heat up a room (particularly of the drapes were open.

 

Navigator does seem to have some air conditioning but thankfully this is not an issue on Explorer. 

 

Really hope that they do the Sunday buffet on Sunday for other cruise.  This is our fifth Explorer cruise and all have. Had one Sunday buffet when it is a sea day).

 

Jackie

 

Two quick comments and then I need a rest badly (too much heat and humidity outside).

 

1.  Everything that I do not like was evident in our excursion today.  Details later.  I do have animal photos.  We are cancelling our next animal related excursion as the way animals are kept in most places that have visited in South America. 

 

2.  People always question port vs. starboard in terms of selecting suites on the ship.  As mentioned above, selecting the side where the sun does not set is a good thing.  However, this cruise reminds me that being on the starboard side of the ship, does not mean that we are not docked facing the very noisy ports.  

 

Kinda grumpy so going to stop now and continue later.

[Master Echo]

 

Sir is a light sleeper and was awoken at 5.00 am by a loud rumbling noise and bright lights outside.  Going on to the balcony to investigate, he found a fishing trawler close by with many others not too far away.

 

The timing of his investigation proved most unfortunate, because it coincided with the commencement of cleaning Deck 11 pool deck immediately above!  This mean that Sir received an unexpected and unwelcome cold shower.  It did however answer a puzzle as to why every morning both the rail and half of the balcony floor are wet!

 

Thanks DaveFr concerning the timing into Guayaquil.  Perhaps a factor might be the presence of Cruise Maritime’s Marco Polo, berthed ahead of us in the port; our tour guide said English people had flown in from the UK yesterday.

 

Good tour today, details will follow.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[Travelcat2]

Happy to learn that Master Echo had a good excursion. Ours was mediocre. We went on an excursion where you could see rescued animals and also have an authentic Ecuadorian lunch (the lunch was wonderful).  However, due to the fact that four buses (100 passengers) were.going to the same place and we were on the last bus (more interesting given the fact that we booked 12:01 a.m. when bookings opened.

 

They tried to delay our excursion by stopping downtown at the iguana park.  This is an amazing place that we have visited previously that has many, many iguanas - very mellow and even allow pigeons to land on them. Our butler felt that it was the best thing that he has ever seen.  There were no parking spaces so we went to the park that supposedly rescues animals (which sounded like my thin 100%).  

 

When we arrived at the park, a major announcement was made that there were moquitos. If we wanted to purchase mosquito spray, it would be $5 that later became $7 and then $10.  Fortunately, we did not encounter mosquitos but were subjected to extradinary heat while we ventured further into the “Park”.  To be fair, mosquito repellent was strongly suggested when we booked the excursion.  However, it was not mentioned in the onboard description of the excursion and we simply forgot about it.

 

As extreme animal lovers, it hurt our hearts to see some of these animals in enclosures that they were clearly unhappy with.  They paced back and forth with little to do other than sleep or lay in their specified areas. Photos will be posted tomorrow.  As the result of this excursion, we cancelled an animal excursion in Costa Rica.

 

Dinner at Chartreuse was great.  The escargot is not served traditionally but rather is serve in a burgundy sauce.  It was excellent.   

 

As I likely mentioned, Dennis came down with a cold/cough after 36 hours on board.  Then, I caught a cold.  Dennis recovered at 4 days (partly due to my doing Reiki every day.).  My cold Is notbadbut I have conjuctiiveness (misspelled). While this is a major challenge, I will do whatever. It take to make Dennis’s birthday tomorrrow wonderful.  Our butler is so excited about tomorrow but neither of us have a clue as to what will be going on.

 

The next two days are sea days and I will catch up with photos. For now, I will post the Canyon Ranch menu (not working - will try again.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Travelcat2

[Master Echo]

Birthday wishes to Mr TC2 for a wonderful day.  Sorry to hear about your conjunctivitis - hope you can get some eyedrops.

 

Kindest Regards 

 

Master Echo

 

[UUNetBill]

Jackie, sounds as if you've hit some hiccups on this cruise...but I'll venture a guess that even with flight issues, colds, conjunctivitis, etc. you're STILL having a much better time on board than I'm having in the office!!

 

Hope you feel better soon and many happy birthday wishes for Dennis.

 

Bill

[Travelcat2]

25 minutes ago, Master Echo said:

Birthday wishes to Mr TC2 for a wonderful day.  Sorry to hear about your conjunctivitis - hope you can get some eyedrops.

 

Kindest Regards 

 

Master Echo

 

 

Mr. TC2 (aka Dennis) appreciates your birthday wishes.  Not sure how you knew about my eyes.  I immediately started treating it with antibiotics - it doesn’t hurt and it gives me the opportunity to around in sunglasses

 

Master Echo - have we met (at the Meet and Mingle or ???).   Just curious!

 

Bill, one almost expects to get something (cold or ??) in this part of the world.  After all, this is the area of the world where Mariner has had gastrointestinal issues an d had to put the ship on Code Red a few times.  Thankfully, passengers sound better now that hen we boarded the ship (much better).  Dennis’cold is “99%” over and I feel real - just a residual stuffy nose.  

 

Now for some boring photos:

 

 

[Travelcat2]

Not sure what the pictures are. I recognize the wolf, the owl photo should not be here.  The lasts little critter is so cute but they are in small enclosures and walk around in circles - looking so bored.

 

A few more and then we have a Culinary Class.

 

 

[Travelcat2]

To anyone that knows about tapirs, is the middle photo or the last photo a tapir?  Okay, I’ll do monkey photos later only because they are cute and then briefly discuss the excursion.  

 

P.S.  The bottom photo above makes the animal look dead.  It was flicking its ear - just taking a nap.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Travelcat2

[MalbecWine]

Tapirs are very endangered species as they are hunted by villagers.  If not protected they  would become extinct.  We must protect all animals.