Our day in Boca Da Valeria day 12 of 25

This was an interesting port stop, no excursions and it was a town of ~100 people. We were told there really wasn’t anything in the town except people wanting your money by having you pay to have your picture taken with them. I have no idea why this was a stop other than some deal may have been made with Brazil to help subsidize the town people, we opted to stay on the ship. Glad we did as there was a pod of Pink Dolphins hanging around the ship. They are very hard to get pictures of as they weren’t staying on top of the water or breaching like the dolphins we see in Florida. The color on the photo is pretty bad, not sure if it was due to the sun or the dark chocolate color of the water. I added a second picture from the internet that gives you an idea of what they look like. The picture I took looked like two baby dolphins next to each other.

Well tomorrow is Manaus and this was supposed to be our only stop with a dock but the ship was notified that the dock was not suitable for our use so we are back to tenders. Hope they do the same thing they did today and put a portable dock so the river boats will pick us up from the ship. Not much else going on tonight except the singers and dancers have a show at 9:30, we have a an early excursion tomorrow so we are going to order room service for breakfast.

Our excursion goes from 8:45 AM to 1:15 PM, Meeting of the Waters, this is where 2 rivers of different colors join together and flow side by side for a couple miles. This trip is also supposed to travel to a lake where the giant Amazon Lily Pads are floating, hopefully the water is high enough there.

We then have our night time excursion where we go out trying to spot Caiman it leaves at 7:45 and returns ~11:30 PM, so its going to be a long day. I’m going to post this days blog tonight and not do the Manaus days until we start heading back down the river. So just because I haven’t posted in a couple days that doesn’t mean we were eaten by a Caiman.

 

SANTARÉM (AMAZON RIVER)

We arrived in Santarem and had a river boat cruise excursion, this was a Tender Port and we were expecting to get onto the Tender and then pick the excursion on shore. But a nice surprise they had a portable dock attached to the ship and we got onto our excursion boat right from the ship. The Tender boats were picking people up on the opposite side of the ship.

The river cruise was supposed to take us up the river and end up at Maica Lake but this is the dry season and there was not currently a lake to cruise on. So we headed up until we couldn’t go any further and then they gave us fishing lines to fish for piranha, none were caught on our boat.

Returned from our River Cruise and headed to lunch and after lunch Lisa got her afternoon nap in while I watched World Cup Soccer. We showered just in time for Glen to bring in our nightly Canapés and we had a drink with the spring rolls, very relaxing day. Went to the lounge and listened to the band and had a drink there and then headed to the dining room. Asked Trisha for a shared table tonight and we ended up having another British couple join us for dinner, this couple was from the Manchester area. I was struggling on what to eat and they suggested the Dover Sole, it was delicious and a great show when he deboned the fish.

And lastly it’s not a real cruise without a great sunset, so this was our first Sunset on the Amazon!

First day on the Amazon

We woke up this morning and looked out the window to see the muddy Amazon, no more blue water for a while. We have been asked to conserve water as much as possible as the particles in the Amazon would clog up the desalination machinery. The lady speaker that does the talks on the ship explained if you took a glass of water from the Amazon in 15 minutes all of the particles would sink to the bottom and the water would be clear. We stopped in Macapa at 9 this morning to pickup the Pilots and the authorities who would be making sure all the paperwork was correct. This took a couple hours and we were then on our way to Santarem. We had our breakfast and decided to make this a pool day, to kill time until the restaurant opened up Lisa decided to walk the deck and get her steps in, I have already completed my 10 days so I decided to sit this one out. While she was walking she spotted some moths that were on the ship and had me come over and get some pictures.

So with that task taken care of Lisa finished her walk and I went back to what I was doing…

We hit the pool for a couple hours and then changed for lunch. After lunch we were pretty worn out by then and we went back to the room to catch up on some sleep. They had a Cocktail party for returning Regent Cruisers, not exactly sure why we got invited but we went anyway. The dinner choices kind of sucked, so we went to the every night menu, Lisa got the Lobster Tails and I ordered the Rib Eye.

This was the night that we scheduled a dinner with some couples that Mike has been conversing with over the past year on Cruise Critic. This time we got a picture!

We had a great time at dinner but had to head to the show as it was the cruise dancers and singers, just a terrific group. Like usual after a 9:30 show it was time to hit the bed, we did have an early excursion in the morning.

Last Day at sea approaching the Amazon

Today was a relaxing day as a whole went to have our breakfast and this was our day to start taking the Malaria drug. I took my pill and within 5 minutes I had a SVT episode where my heart is racing, I’ve had these before and at worst case there is a pill that gets the heart back into a proper rate. I looked up the side affects of the drug and an issue with heart rate is noted. So when we went to the Speakers series she  mentioned that you really don’t need to worry about Malaria in the Amazon River region. So with that said and the side affect I had with the drug we won’t be taking that drug.

We had a small lunch because we were scheduled to have dinner at the steak house at 7. So we headed back to the room to watch the World Cup match USA vs. England, they also had it playing in the theatre on the big screen. We opted for the comfort of our room, the theatre was pretty packed because there are a bunch of Brit’s on this voyage (right now some very unhappy ones).. It’s funny most Americans considered this a win as to the Brit’s they felt it was a loss, either way what a great battle.

At 6:00 they had a cocktail party where King Neptune made an appearance to welcome all individuals sailing across the Equator for the first time. This was a really mild ceremony from what I have seen on YouTube, basically they had a chute that they shoved a stuffed animal down and you had to hit it with a King Neptune Triad. The triad broke after the first 5 people so they replaced it with a small broom.

After the King Neptune ceremony we headed to dinner at Prime 7, service and food was excellent as always. I opted for the Crab Cake, Onion soup, Lobster Tails and onion rings. Lisa went for the Crab Cake, Salad and Smoked Salmon, presentation of the Smoked Salmon was worth the price of admission alone. The salmon came out with a glass lid and the container was filled with smoke. 

To finish off our Prime 7 experience we were told we needed to order the Carmel Pop Corn Sundae. Lisa was filled with anticipation when we ordered this famous desert, she could hardly contain her feelings!

Now the big day has arrived the famous Carmel Pop Corn Sundae, Lisa could barely contain her joy, it was delicious!

Well we head into the Amazon tonight and will pickup the pilots that will help guide us up the river, they are picked up in Macapa and they will stay with us until we reach Manaus. When we depart Manaus for our return trip we will get 2 new pilots. That’s it for tonight, we are have a day on the river Saturday and then reach Santarem Sunday at 9 AM.

Day at Sea, Thanksgiving Day off the Coast of French Guiana

Well it’s thanksgiving Day at sea, Lisa seems well rested since she hasn’t had to prepare a meal for the family. We had breakfast in the Compass Rose and I had my Eggs Benedict for breakfast. 

 Had a great talk this morning where the speaker dispelled all the normal rumors of the Amazon. She mentioned the average distance across the Amazon is 20 miles wide and that we won’t be seeing Amazon Indians as they are hundreds of miles from the river. She mentioned we will pickup 2 Ship pilots at the head of the Amazon and they will help navigate up to Manus and then we will get 2 new ones for our return trip. They said the flow of the Amazon changes the shipping channels on a weekly basis so a pilot is a requirement. They also filled us in a bit more on why we skipped our last port. The urgency was getting into the Amazon at high tide as there is a shelf formed from sediment from the Amazon to the Atlantic and may not be passable for a ship of our size during low tide.

 

We had dinner in the Compass Rose and they had the traditional American Turkey dinner (Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans) and Pumpkin Pie as a choice. We sat down with a British couple at our table, we asked to be seated with others as it wouldn’t seem like Thanksgiving without other people at the table. They of course didn’t think much of our traditional meal and ordered something else. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of my meal so that’s why the picture looks like my meal was half eaten. I’m not much of a mashed potatoes person so I asked for extra stuffing. Lisa got her Pumpkin Pie fix and as usual I opted for the Cheese Cake.

They have a new comedian/magician onboard and he did a show tonight, was OK hopefully gets better as we cruise up the Amazon.

They also mentioned we would be cruising across the Equator tomorrow afternoon and King Neptune would be aboard to initiate those who have not crossed the Equator in the past. They are doing this at 6 PM and we have dinner reservations at 7, will not be able to participate but will get some pictures to share. Well it was a pretty relaxing day as the seas are still a bit rough for a ship of this size, hopefully things will calm down a bit as we head into the Amazon tomorrow night. They asked that we conserve water as we get into Brazil as they are not able to collect water while on the Amazon. They also mentioned that anything purchased aboard while in Brazil was subject to a 25%, they also said anything purchased on shore may be required to be quarantined until the end of the cruise.

Day at Sea instead of Trinidad and Tobago

 Well as I said in the previous post our stop to Tobago was cancelled due to heavy winds and rough seas slowing down the ship. So we have spent the day at Bingo, again not enough to play for money, so we went down to the Casino and won a small amount that way.

It is so hard to believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving this is normally a busy day for us, cleaning the house and prepping the dinner for tomorrow.

Today we did very little, caught up on sleep. In preparation for dinner we ate the appetizers that were delivered to our room, they were some delicious Spring Rolls. Headed to the lounge and listened to some music and then headed to dinner, we had both decided on the Chicken Parmesan, it was delicious. Lisa of course had ice cream for desert I had the apple tart it was wonderful!

After dinner we headed back to the Casino and this must have been our day as we came back with an extra $380 so now we are up for the cruise, that is a position we have never been in before. After cashing out we headed to the show, the Cruise Director Ray Solaire did a one man show with several of his puppets, sounds really cheesy but this guy has a wonderful voice. He was trained in the theatre and was part of the entertainment staff on the first crossing of the QE2, he eventually worked his way up to the Cruise director at the age of ~27.

Tis the day before Thanksgiving and not a creature is stirring in our house, at least we hope not! No potatoes are boiling in preparation to be mashed, no celery is prepared to be stuffed with peanut butter and cream cheese. The turkey remains at the store waiting on another well deserving family, no pumpkin pie or cheese cake being cooked in time for desert. It is nice to be resting on this day before Thanksgiving, but our family will be missed as we sit down for dinner on this ship. So we toast one and all, have a Happy Thanksgiving from the middle of the Atlantic off the coast of French Guiana.

Third stop St. George’s Grenada Glass Bottom Kayak

Well this is what I believe is our third time to Grenada, we scheduled the Glass Bottom Kayak excursion, sounded like a good idea…. First we arrived in Grenada on time and a bit of rain to welcome us to the island. We had breakfast early in the La Veranda and then went back to the room to get ready for our tour.  We headed over to the Kayak location to start our adventure about a 15 minute ride from the port. After a safety presentation and getting our Life Jackets we headed out with the rest of the guest, it was pretty amazing what you could see through the clear bottom. I had my OSMO video under water capable camera but unfortunately there wasn’t much to see, then I noticed a green colored human sitting in the seat in front of me. Well the waves were a bit rough as we had 20 MPH winds and Lisa wasn’t doing very well with this situation. I got the guides attention and he called over one of the motor boats they were using to tow us back to the dock. Just as we got hooked up another elderly couple decided they might have taken on too much with this excursion, so they got them tethered to the motor boat also. So we then puttered our way back to the office, I have video’s but haven’t figured out yet to attach them to my Blog, just screen grabbed some of the images. We ended up waiting around for an hour before our van arrived to take us back to the ship, Lisa went in and immediately went to bed. I crashed on the couch for a while and after a 3 hour nap Lisa was as good as new, so not a big loss today and we were able to keep our dinner reservation.

They brought a Steel Drum Band on the ship for tonight’s entertainment from 6-7, we left port at 8:30.

Tonight was our first reservation at the Prime 7 Steakhouse and it didn’t disappoint, I had the Seafood Platter and Lisa stuck with the Filet.

Earlier in the evening they announced the sea currents and the swells were going to slow our progress to the Amazon, so in order to make up the time they were cancelling tomorrows stop in Trinidad and Tobago. We were supposed to port in Scarbourgh Tobago and had a Beach Break scheduled so we weren’t too upset with that decision, the trip is about our time in the Amazon.  The seas are pretty rough as I am typing this, probably the roughest seas we have been on ever, hopefully will calm a bit as the 4 days at sea goes on, will let you know tomorrow how the night went.

Second stop St. Lucia - Zip Line Day

 We arrived in St. Lucia on time at 11:00 AM and have a 12:15 PM excursion that will take us into the rain forest where we have our Tram and Zip Line excursion, on the way up the windy roads it started pouring, not looking like a great day for Zip Lining. As we arrived the rain let up and we got fitted with our gear and caught the Tram up to the Zip lines. This trip is unlike any others we have taken, you get to the top after a 30 minute ride it stops quite often to let people off and on. We hiked down hill probably 3/4 a mile to the first line and the whole time I’m thinking we are walking down hill to this line and Zip lines pretty much always go down hill, so that means the walk back to the Tram is going to be longer and all up hill. Oh well put that out of my head for now and enjoyed the eight lines.

As I suspected we had a walk back up hill for I would guess a mile to get back to the Tram, very exhausting but we made it. Kenny was our guide and we learned a lot about the people of St. Lucia during the tram rides. 

We had a very nice dinner in the restaurant and the comedian was back for his last show, will be changing entertainment in Grenada. We have a reservation at the Prime 7 Steak house on Tuesday, looking forward to the menu!

First stop Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Arrived in St. Maarten about 45 minutes late, strong head winds through the night slowed our progress. We had a later excursion at 10:15 while the early ones were at 9:00, by the time they got to our excursion they had pretty much caught up. We did the Pirate Sky Ride and 360 degree views, this was basically a chair lift up the mountain and fantastic views of the Island. Coming down you either rode the chair lift back or took the Zip Line down or they had an innertube ride, we opted for the lift. We have a Zip line scheduled in St. Lucia our next stop so it didn’t seem like it made sense to do that here. We have been to St. Maarten many times and this was the first time we were the only ship in town. I guess when you start sailing South on Thursday you have a jump on all the other ships that leave on Saturday and Sundays. Had a great show last night with the Dancers and Singers, Regent is big with the cast and crew getting to know the passengers almost every time we have sat in a bar we see and talk with at least one member of the cast. When they run Bingo on most big ships the Assistant Cruise Director normally runs the game, on this ship it’s the singers and dancers. When we saw the show we felt like we already knew many of the cast so you almost felt as if you were watching your family.

Second sea day

 Not much happening today, went to play BINGO and again 4 of us showed up, we bowed out this time and let the other couple get the free beach bag. Spent some time with the one armed bandits and minimal losses, which I consider a win as I budgeted $100 a day in losses, so with that in mind we are $150 up. This was Block Party night where everybody comes out of their rooms with an empty wine glass and the waiters are coming by to fill them and bring appetizers. The Captain and the Cruise Director run down the halls and shake every bodies hands and then head to the next hallway. We had decent participation in our hallway, we talked a bit then the Captain and Ray the Cruise Director came by after that it was pretty much over and we all went on our ways. Our way was to eat at Sette Mari which is the Italian restaurant I had the Cioppino Soup for dinner, Lisa had the Lasagna of course. We were seated with a nice couple from the UK and had a very enjoyable conversation. Ended the night at the theatre where they had a fantastic guitarist named Greg Rodman very enjoyable listening. I spent most the day getting camera equipment out and preparing for our first shore day in Philipsburg St. Maarten.

Embarkation Day, Sail Away and first day at Sea

 The day we have been waiting for has finally come as we boarded the Seven Seas Navigator. Was a very smooth process with a bus taking us from the hotel to the ship. Processing onto the ship was a little slower than what we were use to with Royal but it was pretty painless. As we boarded a glass of champagne awaited us and then off to a 1 minute safety briefing and we were then free to roam the ship. This is a very small ship, pretty much the size of the NCL cruise we did out of San Juan back in the early 1990’s, I think the tonnage is ~28,000 as compared to the Mega Ships today are ~200,000 tons. We were let into our room at 1:00 PM and what a room it is!

 

After checking our new digs and unpacking our suitcases we wandered around the ship to get a lay of the land, stopped by the Compass Rose to get an understanding of how dinner seating was handled. Afterwards we checked out the pool deck to see where we were going to meet up with some of the members of the Cruise Critic Forum that we have had going for the past year and a half. As I figured we had 8 members show up (actually thought it would be 4-6) it was nice to meet face to face with this group. Now we have people to talk with as we wander the ship. 

It was time to sail away and as always was a great time watching the ship leave the port. We headed back to our cabin to shower before dinner as I got out of the shower I saw a look that I knew wasn’t good. The sea had 6 foot swells and this ship was a rocking and that wasn’t good for Lisa. So this ended our first day, Lisa in bed and Mike watching Sheldon rerun’s, oh well such is life.

It’s a new day now and like clockwork, Lisa was better after a rough night and finally some sleep. We headed to the Compass Rose for breakfast at 8:15 and there was not a sole in the place, I guess everybody else were late sleepers. By the time we finished breakfast several other tables were full. Since I didn’t get dinner the night before I decided to combine the meals at breakfast, Lisa could barely eat and had a few slices of bananas and a danish.

Decided to try Bingo, weren’t sure how much it was but decided to head up anyway, pretty much like breakfast except this time there was another couple. They waited and nobody else showed up so we played a coverall game and the winner won a free Regent beach bag. We played until there were probably 5 or 6 numbers left and Lisa and the lady from the other couple both got Bingo on the same number, so they both got a new regent beach bag to go with the one we already had, can’t have enough beach bags 😁 

So we decided to try our luck at the casino and again there was nobody else there, so we had the pick of machines, we basically lost $30 by the end of the day. We had a quick lunch at the Compass Rose and then headed to the pool since the sun had finally come out. After a couple hours headed back to the room to get ready for Formal Night (Optional) we waited for the Butler to bring our canapé for the night. He didn’t show until we were ready to leave for the Captain’s welcome aboard party. Since he brought 6 wonderful Jumbo shrimps we made time to give them a go, just heavenly tasting!

The Captains reception was held in the small theater and the bottom section was pretty much full, had drinks and appetizers but we just had those jumbo shrimps and wanted to savor that taste so we opted out on the appetizers. After the introduction of the crew was completed the Cruise Director did a one man show and he is very talented. His name is Ray Solaire and is of the age where he blends in well with this crowd, I would estimate he is in his mid 70’s. He seems to have been around Regent as I have seen many post about him and his one man show.

Next was dinner in the Compass Rose and we had a wonderful meal, Lisa had the Filet and I couldn’t pass up on having a lobster tail with my filet. For those that cruise a lot they will understand how awesome this is, the Filet and Lobster Tails are both on the Always Menu in The Compass Rose.

After dinner there was a Comedian, Darrell Joyce he was excellent, definitely was spot on with his audience of mostly 60-70 year old passengers. That’s it for now Saturday is another Sea Day, they will be doing the Regent Block Party, will post some pics after that!

Pre-Cruise night at Miami East Hotel

Well it was quite an early morning, waking up at 2:30 to catch a 5:30 nonstop flight to Miami, what we won’t do to fly nonstop now days.

Arrived in Miami 9:00 ET, got to the luggage carousel and our driver was waiting for us. I could get use to this type of cruising, just don’t think my savings will, oh well it’s that once in a lifetime cruise. Very nice place and a great location, close to the port so will be a short shuttle ride to the port tomorrow.

One week before Embarkation

GRACE & GRATITUDE IN PARADISE November 17-December 12, 2022

 Depart Miami at 5:00 PM November 17, 2022

 At Sea November 18-20, 2022

 Philipsburg, St. Maarten (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM) November 21, 2022

 Castries, St. Lucia (11:00 AM – 8:00 PM) November 22, 2022

 St. George’s, Grenada (8:00 AM – 9:00 PM) November 23, 2022

 Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago (7:00 AM – 4:00 PM) November 24, 2022

 At Sea November 25-26, 2022

 Santarem, Amazon River (9:00 AM – 6:00 PM) November 27, 2022

 Boca Da Valeria, Amazon River (7:00 AM – 2:00 PM) November 28, 2022

 Manaus, Amazon River (8:00 AM – Overnight) November 29, 2022

 Manaus, Amazon River (Overnight – 4:00 PM) November 30, 2022

 Parintins, Amazon River (11:00 AM – 7:00 PM) December 1, 2022

 Alter Do Chao, Amazon River (8:00 AM – 4:00 PM) December 2, 2022

 At Sea December 3-5, 2022

 Bridgetown, Barbados (10:00 AM – 7:00 PM) December 6, 2022

 Roseau, Dominica (8:00 AM – 6:00 PM) December 7, 2022

 Gustavia, St. Barts (8:00 AM – 6:00 PM) December 8, 2022

 San Juan, Puerto Rico (10:00 AM – 7:00 PM) December 9, 2022

 Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (8:00 AM – 3:00 PM) December 10, 2022

 At Sea December 11, 2022

 Arrive in Miami (7:00 AM) December 12, 2022