Live From Nova South America Grand Voyage

[JSR]

Setting a goal to catch up today starting with Salvador de Bahia. 2/17/2024 Salvador De Bahia, Brazil. An amazing day filled with exploration of this Afro-Brazilian city. It is a vibrant city full of colors and energy. Had a wonderful day and guide, Sayuri from Tours by Locals! We wanted an Afro-Brazilian perspective, music, and no tourist shopping.  She planned an amazing day. Even balanced as best she could keeping us out of the heat., Started at a photography exhibit, then Acaraje (typical street food) and Visited the shrine to Yamenja, the old town area, street drummers, night life and more!

 

Many people who Took the ship Tours had a totally different experience. They found the city poor, scary, and uninteresting. Our experience was quite the opposite except for learning that it is a poor area economically we found it vibrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by JSR

[JSR]

Success. 

Edited February 22 by JSR

[JSR]

I just wrote a long post about Fortaleza which disappeared. I will try again in a bit. 

[flyers]

Dear JSR, Have been loving your posting of this amazing voyage. Still can`t fathom spending 71 days on a ship but maybe one day!......

We are looking at boarding the ship for a tour when she arrives in Port Castries on the 8th March and we are wondering if you can give us the names of the Captain and Cruise Director who are presently on board so that we can make contact . We plan on bringing the mother of Nina Compton ( ships God Mother ) Lady Janice Compton with us so that she can visit the ship for the first time.

Any information would be most appreciated and maybe we just might run into you on board if you are not doing a St.Lucia tour?

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, JSR said:

I just wrote a long post about Fortaleza which disappeared. I will try again in a bit. 

 

Oh no! That does happen. I've learned to do "select all" then "copy" before I submit my post. It's super annoying! 

[JSR]

Fortaleza 2/20/2024. We took a wheelchair accessible van ship tour. It was only Nick, I, the driver and the guide. The supervisor for the tour company made sure we were all set. He tried so hard. Our guide was good at pointing things out but not insightful. The van was small and could navigate many streets that the bigger buses could not. The ship offered two city tour itineraries and one tour to the beach as well as a shuttle bus to and from a mall. On our tour we saw blocks of burnt-out buildings with squatters and a very impoverished city. We then drove through the local shopping area of small shops carrying household goods, appliances, etc. we then arrived at the tourist area where everything is walking distance from each other though I suggest you remain with the tour. We opted to tour the theatre and the Fort. The fort is not offered on the big bus tour as the public areas are small. We saw the church’s glass windows radiating light through them from the van. We opted out of going to the cultural center and the multi story tourist mall. We drove back along the ocean which had more middle-class apartments and hotels. Others said the cultural center was not much and some people bought leather sandals at the central market. One your allegedly went to the botanical gardens. Some people went to the beach about an hour outside of town and reported it was nice though full of vendors. A couple people had photos taken by a very creative photographer who used perspective to create interesting images. I would do that if I went to the beach. 

[Fletcher]

Thanks for that @JSR.  Fortaleza is now our only stop on the Brazilian coast since two other stops and most of the Amazon have been cancelled, apparently due to the Wind's inability to collect fresh water on the river.  Fortaleza looks like a dump and because we are now there on a Sunday we can't even see that rather nice looking theatre.  They are just offering a beach day which isn't what you expect from an expedition cruise.  

 

I'll be interested to learn how the brand new, hi-tech Nova gets on in the Amazon towards Manaus and back.    

[Lirio]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Thanks for that @JSR.  Fortaleza is now our only stop on the Brazilian coast since two other stops and most of the Amazon have been cancelled, apparently due to the Wind's inability to collect fresh water on the river.  Fortaleza looks like a dump and because we are now there on a Sunday we can't even see that rather nice looking theatre.  They are just offering a beach day which isn't what you expect from an expedition cruise.  

 

I'll be interested to learn how the brand new, hi-tech Nova gets on in the Amazon towards Manaus and back.    

The best thing to do in Fortaleza is going to the beaches outside the city. Some are very very nice. The Theatre is also interesting. @Fletcher do you know which beaches are offered?

[Lirio]

4 hours ago, JSR said:

Setting a goal to catch up today starting with Salvador de Bahia. 2/17/2024 Salvador De Bahia, Brazil. An amazing day filled with exploration of this Afro-Brazilian city. It is a vibrant city full of colors and energy. Had a wonderful day and guide, Sayuri from Tours by Locals! We wanted an Afro-Brazilian perspective, music, and no tourist shopping.  She planned an amazing day. Even balanced as best she could keeping us out of the heat., Started at a photography exhibit, then Acaraje (typical street food) and Visited the shrine to Yamenja, the old town area, street drummers, night life and more!

 

Many people who Took the ship Tours had a totally different experience. They found the city poor, scary, and uninteresting. Our experience was quite the opposite except for learning that it is a poor area economically we found it vibrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am glad you liked Salvador. The historical area is very nice.

[JSR]

As many of you may know we had a medical emergency with a crew member in critical condition. The Captain has been amazing at keeping us abreast of the situation and we are all praying for the crewman’s recovery. We diverted to get close enough to land for Brazilian Coast Guard to deploy a helicopter. Due to the size of the ship a helicopter can not land. 2 coast guard were lowered onto the pool deck followed by another coast guard with a tabagoon style stretcher. Then they reversed the process. Took about 45 minutes. They are now headed to the coast guard station and from there to the hospital. Please keep the crew member in your thoughts and prayers.  

[Fletcher]

Sorry to hear about the medical emergency and hope things work out OK.

 

@Lirio We are offered a full beach day with lunch at Cumbuco Beach, to the west of the city, and a half-day at Futuro Beach with dune-bashing and some sort of eco-walk in a mangrove park.  We'd stay on the ship were it not for the fact that we will have had five days at sea (ie, the Amazon) and face another five days at sea crossing to Africa.  

[Lirio]

41 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Sorry to hear about the medical emergency and hope things work out OK.

 

@Lirio We are offered a full beach day with lunch at Cumbuco Beach, to the west of the city, and a half-day at Futuro Beach with dune-bashing and some sort of eco-walk in a mangrove park.  We'd stay on the ship were it not for the fact that we will have had five days at sea (ie, the Amazon) and face another five days at sea crossing to Africa.  

These are good beaches. Sunday those beaches will probably be crowded Futuro Beach is close to downtown and Cumbuco is bit away. Cumbuco is popular for kitesurf and windsurf. Beaches in Fortaleza are all very windy so, be smart and do not underestimate the sun!

Edited February 22 by Lirio

[flyers]

• •  124
• February 16, 2001
• Highland Beach,Florida

• #129  

Posted 22 hours ago

Dear JSR,

Unfortunately seems that my post was unseen due to the late post and the medical emergency so I am repeating it here

Dear JSR, Have been loving your posting of this amazing voyage. Still can`t fathom spending 71 days on a ship but maybe one day!......

We are looking at boarding the ship for a tour when she arrives in Port Castries on the 8th March and we are wondering if you can give us the names of the Captain and Cruise Director who are presently on board so that we can try and make contact . We plan on bringing the mother of Nina Compton ( ships God Mother ) Lady Janice Compton with us so that she can visit the ship for the first time.

Any information would be most appreciated and maybe we just might run into you on board if you are not doing a St.Lucia tour?

[JSR]

@flyers sorry for the delay. Trying to gather the information you asked for. The cruise director is JP. The Captain is changing in a couple days. 
 

Have you made arrangements to board. I am told that you need to contact Silversea and fill out a form so that the authorities can clear you to board. 
 

I will update the Captian’s name as soon as I can find out. 

[JSR]

This the information I know fir making arrangements. @flyers
 

You must obtain a Visitor Request Form from Silversea. the names, nationalities, driver's license, and passport information of the guests. You should contact specialservices@silversea.com as soon as possible or call Silversea. Some special service reps are better than others so best to try again if you don’t get the help you need. 

Edited February 23 by JSR

[flyers]

Thank you JSR.Much appreciate this information and I have now been able to obtain the Form and provide all the requested information so hopefully I will hear back from them this coming week.

[JSR]

The Amazon

2/23/24 Amazon River. Well, I had some trepidation as to what the Amazon would be like after some of our other Brazilian experiences especially in terms of weather. It has turned out to be amazing so far. We have had lovely sunsets and wonderful balcony time. It has been scenic and comfortable in the mornings. The afternoons are quiet hot and the further up river we get the hotter it gets. 

 

[JSR]

 

2/23/24

2/24/24

[JSR]

The Amazon

2/24/24 Santarem, Brazil. 

We started the day by seeing the meeting of the rivers from the ship. The brown color is the Amazon River and the blue is the Tapajos River. We had hot temps but a lovely morning with a breeze.

 

We had a wonderful tour  guide, Pierre, from Tours by Locals. He was well prepared, informed and fun. His mom was our driver in a comfortable clean Toyota with great Air Conditioning.  Went to Henry Ford’s town of Bellaterra which was built as a company town during the rubber boom. Nick very much wanted to see an example of Terra preta soil. He found it and he had fun digging in the dirt. We then preceded to the National Forest of Tapajos. We arrived there and were assigned a Forest Ranger for a guide who lives in a community in the Forest. You cannot enter the forest without a Ranger. We drove 10 Kilometers into the park, had a picnic, then our guide, the Ranger, and Nick went on a 45 minute hike. Then I joined them for a short hike to this young (150 year old) gigantic tree. We learned too much to share here. We ended the day with best Acia we have ever had. It was very comfortable in the Forest but extremely hot when we arrived back at the pier. We did tender as the port can only hold one ship and there was a cargo ship in port. 

 

Everyone we talked to enjoyed their various tours. We also learned that we probably could have done the boat tour even with the wheelchair. This is unofficial but what we learned from another guest. 

 

[JSR]

 

 

 

 

[poinsettiaplate]

Hello JSR:

 

Now that you have been on the Nova for a while, can you tell if the casino is very active?  What tables do they have?  I will be boarding on March 15 and would really like to play poker every night when it is possible.

[JSR]

@poinsettiaplate I think you will be disappointed as there is no poker. They do have a 21 tournament with a $50 buy in at 3 pm on sea days and 21 seems to attact a few players at night. Sometimes more sometimes less. There is also roulette and slots. 

[poinsettiaplate]

Thanks, JSR.  Guess I will save a lot of money on my next trip.  Or go to LaDame more!

[JSR]

@poinsettiaplate always a silver lining 

[BBGrace273]

On 1/14/2024 at 11:54 PM, Move said:

Love your posts..thank you.

 

Any chance you can get hold of a photo of the verandah bathrooms...1 without tub and 1 with tub?  Trying to find out which would be better and cannot find ANY online.  Would appreciate your help. Thnx

Same.  I have seen a lot of videos online that cover the bathroom that only has the shower, but I am also curious about the verandas with the teardrops, to see how much tighter the space is in the double style bathroom.