Voyage II Southerly Sojourn - Day 16

NOTE: Pictures include dinner at Silk Road last evening with Waiter Alberto who is in between Keith and Anne Marie and Assistant Waiter Sonny, a picture of sushi and sashimi, Nina a concierge who we have known since 2007 when she worked at the reception desk and a picture of the two of us from last evening.

Once again, we wanted to note how much we enjoyed dining at Silk Road last evening. Since we learned that there was open seating in the Main Dining Room given that many passengers planned to be off the ship last evening in Rio and we didn’t want to go to the special dinner buffet we added in this reservation at the last minute. It was fairly quiet in Silk Road. We enjoyed sushi and sashimi; we each ordered a bowl of sobu noodles with soup and a few scallops added to it and we each enjoyed a nice fruit plate. Keith also had the cup of Japanese green tea while Anne Marie enjoyed a cup of decaffeinated coffee. We spoke for a while with waiter Alberto who we have now known for several years. He knows what we enjoy. We also spoke with Sigi as well who is a headwaiter at Silk Road. We remember him when he was the waiter and is always so very nice to see and talk with.

A few minutes after we sat down one of the sommeliers, Oleg, who previously worked in the Main Dining Room came up to us to say hello. This is an example of the memories of the crew. He just boarded the ship yesterday in Rio to begin a new contract. He had not seen us since 2008 when we had him for the last two voyages of the World Cruise. He not only remembered us but also remembered that we had our daughter, Jennifer, and our son in law, Gui, on board for the last voyage of the 2008 World Cruise and remembered that Keith prefers Red Wine and Anne Marie prefers white wine. Oleg will now be in Silk Road filling in for someone who has just departed the ship and is looking forward to this new experience since in some cases it will involved different pairings of wine and/or sake.

Last evening while we were eating it started to rain and there was a big lightening and thunderstorm so we were pleased to be back on the ship and also glad that we had wonderful weather for our tour.

This morning marked the end of Voyage 1 of the World Cruise and the start of Voyage 2. As we understand, approximately 70 or so fellow passengers have left the ship today and around 35 new passengers have joined the ship.

During this voyage we sailed from Miami to Rio de Janeiro. We sailed a distance of 6,012 nautical miles or the equivalent of 6,914 land miles.

Voyage 2, Southerly Sojourn totals fourteen days. This voyage has plenty of sea days. After departing Rio we have two sea days followed by stops at Montevideo and Buenos Aires. This will be followed by eight (yes eight) consecutive days at sea until we arrive at Cape Town.

During yesterday’s tour, we had a drive of about one hour each way between the cruise ship terminal and each of the places we visited. Our observation is that there have been few changes in Rio since our last visit in 2007. We passed many areas with graffiti all over the outside walls of buildings and we passed many pour areas. Many of us wonder whether or not there will be significant changes when this city serves as the home for the Olympics.

We decided not to go off the ship today. As we have been here before we did not book any additional shore excursions and we didn’t want to deal with some of the issues of getting around Rio. Unlike many cities that we have visited we think Rio is best to see with others, whether that is by a private tour or on a group tour as opposed to trying to go it alone. We think that going it alone that if one does not know where they are going that they can end up in an area where trouble can occur.

With this in mind, we enjoyed a nice day on the ship.

Keith still awoke early in the morning and enjoyed a nice workout at the Fitness Center. He worked out for 90 minutes on the Elliptical Machine and then he used some of the weight lifting machines. There was only one passenger who was working out and that is our friend John. Keith spoke with John for a portion of the workout, which was great. On his way back to the room Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring some coffee back with him. He chatted with a few of the Lido Deck Stewards who are truly amazing. Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill and around the time she got back to the room we had breakfast.

After breakfast we both took a nice walk on the top deck of the ship. From this vantage point we had a very nice view of the city and we walked for quite a while. Afterwards, we did a couple of washes.

We had lunch at the Lido Café where we each made a nice salad entrée.

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis for a fairly long time. Talk about hot, hot, hot. It was quite humid playing out on the open deck, but it was truly wonderful exercise. A little while after playing Keith chatted with two fellow passenger in their continuing efforts to look for solutions to world-wide challenges. J Anne Marie took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck and rather than solve world-wide problems she went to see a movie in the cinema. She saw the movie titled “I Hate Valentine’s Day.” After falling in love onscreen in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos and John Corbett reteamed for this romantic comedy about a florist (Vardalos) who persuades a restaurateur (Corbett) to take a gamble on a no-strings-attached relationship.

This evening we dined in the Main Dining Room and had a wonderful dinner. We started with a salad, and then for our entrée we each tried the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Local Dorade, which was yummy. We ended the meal with a bowl of blueberries for Anne Marie and mixed berries for Keith.

From 7:45 PM to 9:00 PM in the Palm Court there will be a Rio Sail Away with live music with complimentary champagne and cocktails.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained.”

Keith and Anne Marie