Impressions of our recent Voyager cruise, Buenos Aires to Rio

[maryogreen]

16 minutes ago, boblerm said:

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!

That's so kind of you, Bob...many thanks! 🙂

 

[WNcruiser]

@boblerm Thanks for the great review on Voyager. We look forward to our first cruise on her in August to Iceland and Norway. 
 

We were slightly concerned about the age of the ship but your review has made this a non-issue. 

[kjbacon]

On 3/20/2023 at 3:57 PM, boblerm said:

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!

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? 
 

We will also be calling on Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, and Buzios. I had ruled out the Tango show but it looks like you really enjoyed it. Your review has been so helpful, thank you!

[boblerm]

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.

Edited March 22, 2023 by boblerm

[boblerm]

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.

[boblerm]

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.

 

 

[boblerm]

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.

 

[cwn]

Thanks for the pictures. We have been there twice on Different Regent cruises but stayed on the ship…. We no longer do walking tours in hot climates! You are right, we didn’t miss much! Thanks for sharing. Enjoying you report.

[slidebite]

Well, at least... it looked clean?

 

 

Hey, seeing Penguins always brightens my day! Bonus of being alive!

 

Thanks for sharing.

[Ladys Mom]

Bob, I loved your pictures and your travelogue, especially of your Jewish tour of Montevideo.  We took a private tour of Jewish Rio de Janero that also was moving.  Hope to do more of South America one day.  We found that the Amazon cruise is not as good as one hopes it would be.  Maybe coming in from the Ecuador side would be more interesting.

[eirelaVCW]

Thanks for your post.  We are scheduled on this same cruise March 2024.  Love hearing your feedback and look forward to your port posts.

Valerie

[boblerm]

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.

[irishwitchy]

I would have been in the water!  

[slidebite]

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.

[boblerm]

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.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Glad to hear Voyager is standing up well.  Now almost a grand old lady! Not surprised about the itinerary.  Back in the day it was common knowledge that this was the least interesting segment in South America, so sorry you had to experience that.  As part of the circumnavigation, it would be fine--something we aspired to but never managed the Lima to Rio portion, ha ha. Rio to Miami was quite nice, as was Miami to Lima.

 

At this point we think of the ship as the destination, and as such, don't hope for exotic locations, just somewhere easy to get to.  Like the Caribbean, Alaska, or Canada/New England. We hardly got off the ship on our January Splendor trip.

[Camillus112]

Wendy, we think very much like you.  Since DH has had to travel inland so much, we have enjoyed many sights.  Nowadays when we cruise, we prefer to spend leisurely time in the ship.  Food, Wine, Service, Activities and Entertainment are our benchmarks for a happy cruise.

[boblerm]

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.

 

 

[boblerm]

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.

[ysolde]

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

[boblerm]

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!😄

[boblerm]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[broccoli robin]

3 hours ago, boblerm said:

 

I like this one as I like all things Disney, and I like your enthusiasm also! ❤️

 

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!

 

 

[Pcardad]

On 3/20/2023 at 4:43 PM, Kwaj girl said:

Paying for the upgrade absolutely does NOT give you any extra speed or bandwidth.  The only thing it does allow is streaming.  Do NOT waste your money.  Just saying...

Technically, it puts any request from your login at the front of the queue so you connect faster and are able to maintain a better connection....at the expense of those around you. By prioritizes your connection, it (hopefully) prevents you from timing out and allows you to stream. The good news is that Starlink is confirmed and coming soon to a Regent ship near you!

[boblerm]

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.