Boarding the Holland America Oosterdam and first Sea Day

 

Tuesday was embarkation day!!   Holland America took us on buses to San Antonio where we boarded the Oosterdam.  Such a smooth and streamlined process. We are staying in a Neptune Suite.  Had a very good lunch in the buffet. I live the salad station on HAL ships.  They have a very tasty sesame dressing.  Dinner was in the main dining room. I had a very tasty corn and chile soup, lasagna and Peruvian chicken.  Great paprika and cayenne seasoning in the chicken and crispy skin!   No dessert. 

Angie and I played a game which was called Movie Title Password.  Similar to the TV show and Name That Tune combined. You had to bid on how many words you'd need to use to have your team guess a movie title.  Very fun!!  After that we listened to a jazz band for a couple of songs.  We were tired so it was back to the cabin.  And we both slept great!!  I think the best sleep for me since we got to Panama!!  I just missed sleeping on a cruise ship. 

Today we have a sea day as we head down to Puerto Montt tomorrow.  While Angie had a Fire and Ice pedicure, I went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. A very tasty quinoa bowl with veggies, jalapenos, avocado, poached egg and a tasty miso sauce!!   It's foggy and the ship's horn has been blasting intermittently.  We'll have better weather tomorrow for our excursion.

Santiago - Wine, Andes, Stars, City Tours

A great day visiting three wineries.  Fascinating to learn that they have a very different wine making process here in Chile. For many of their wines, they use concrete "eggs" during the fermentation process.  Most wineries I've visited use stainless steel.   And some wines are made using all of the grapes.  Including stems.   I'm only familiar with stems being used for making grappa.  

Our first stop was Bodegas Re - a boutique winery preserving "old" methods for wine making including these clay pots. They put the grapes in whole and the weight of the grapes crushed them. 

Our next visit was Casas del Bosque - a larger winery that exports to the US. We had a wonderful tour and wine tasting. 

Had a fantastic lunch at Casas Del Bosque. Tasty tuna tartare, seared octopus, conger fish and squid ink ravioli.   All paired with some of their delicious wines. One of the best seafood lunches I've ever had.   The tuna had some dehydrated lime zest that really elevated the dish.   And the squid ink ravioli was stuffed with shrimp and ginger, covered with a delicate bechamel.  And the fish!!  Perfectly cooked on a bed of saffron orzo. 

After lunch, we visited Kingston - another small winery. They only make wine to showcase their grapes. 

The next day we booked a hike in the Andes mountains. It was a fail. The altitude got to me (Angie) so we didn't make it far. I did get one nice photo. 

On Sunday night we had a terrific late night stargazing excursion. Our guides picked us up at 7 PM for the ninety minute drive north of Santiago. There we met an astronomy professor from Valparaiso. He has built a fascinating complex. The buildings and structures are perfectly aligned for the summer solstices and the constellations. 

 We learned and saw so many things. How to find the Southern Cross which helps you determine "true south". Looking at Jupiter with its dark "rings". A close up of the Sea of Tranquility.

 And he had all kinds of artifacts from the Inka and Mapuche tribes. Including several instruments. And he played all of them. 

 Just a fascinating person. I think he would have talked to us until the wee hours and made us breakfast. But our guides knew better and we left about midnight and got back to our hotel at 1:30 AM. 

On Monday we had a tour through Holland America. We had a great city tour visiting some of the government buildings and even saw the changing of the guard!!

We had a great lunch at the Fish Market. 

 Then we went to Santa Rita winery. They have a "famous" Sauvignon Blanc called 120 that is widely distributed in the United States. The wines were okay but we had better ones on the wine tour on Friday.  

And then, it was time to board the ship. 

Westin Playa Bonita

After three nights at Dreams, we moved over to the Westin Playa Bonita for two nights. The food at the Westin was much better. I was glad we did the all inclusive package. We also had access to the Executive Lounge, but that was a bit of overkill. 

The resort was pretty. It was empty. One day the swim up bar was open. The next day it wasn't. 

This resort also has a sloth. 

The last two dinners were at the steakhouse and the Asian restaurant. Both pretty good meals. An edge to the Asian restaurant where we had a very good dragon roll, some curry shrimp and sweet and sour pork.

 The skirt steak at the steakhouse was too chewy. But they had a very good mushroom carpaccio with truffle cheese and some delicious mussels.

 It was a starter portion but could have been a main.

Today we'll be picked up at 8 AM and head to PTY. We have an 11:44 AM flight to SCL. Santiago is two hours ahead of Panama. We'll arrive at about 8:20 PM local time. Head straight to our hotel and get ready for a few days of adventure before boarding a South American cruise.

Dreams Playa Bonita

We flew from Miami to Panama City. It's an easy 3 1/2 hour flight. On the way from the airport to Dreams Playa Bonita, we crossed the Panama Canal on a bridge we've sailed under. That was fun. 

We had an issue with our reservation, but when all was finished we received an upgrade to a Master Suite. It was great having a living room. 

The resort is beautiful.

We really enjoyed the adults only Preferred Club pool. Room service had the best food by far. 

It was so interesting to watch the large tides come in and out. The biggest highlight was the 5 sloths - 3 adults and 2 babies who hang out in the trees at the back of the resort.

It was a dream come true. 

Nassau, Bahamas

Yesterday was our last full day on board the Symphony of the Seas. We had a stop in Nassau The Bahamas. Angie had some videos to complete but before that we wanted to try Johnny Rockets for breakfast. This is an included option onboard which serves your breakfast staples. And it has outside seating which is a nice perk. There are a few upcharge items you can purchase. During lunch and dinner, this restaurant has an upcharge for all items. We had some tasty vegetable scrambles and a side of pancakes.  

After Angie finished her videos, we walked off the ship into Nassau about 11 AM. On a normal day in Nassau there can be as many as eight ships. The Symphony was joined only by the Carnival Freedom. They've made a great improvement to the port since the last time I visited. Many more shops. After a short stroll we headed to Pirate Republic Brewing. We've been here several times before. We were hoping to try some of their IPAs which have been very good but unfortunately they only had a stout, porter and kolsch available. I had the stout on a prior visit in 2016 and it was just as good. Angie went with the porter and it was also very good. 

Hopefully when we return here in seven weeks they will have a few more beers. Also had an order of Sriracha honey wings and chicken nachos. When in Nassau eat like a Bahamian!! :-

We headed back to the ship for a mandatory rest period. Then we got ready for dinner. We had a cocktail on the Rising Tide bar. This is a bar that is an elevated platform that travels from deck 5 to deck 8 on the half hour. It's quirky and fun!! We weren't super hungry after our snacks at the brewery so we went to Vintages which is the wine bar. They have a small menu of snacks from Jamie's Italian available for an upcharge . We tried the meat platter and the avocado and crab dip. Both satisfying and just enough.  

We then saw an ice show which was a chance for the skaters to showcase their talents. It could have had more skating for my taste. Some of it was just dancing on platforms to popular rock songs. But still some talented performers 

After the show we had one last visit to see Imade and Lamarsha at Trellis Bar. They made our neighborhood really fun.I would never deliberately book this type of cabin again. But I did enjoy having the balcony and watching the neighborhood. I'd consider a Royal Up bid in the future if we had an ocean view (no balcony) cabin. Some balcony is better than no balcony. And I may have used the balcony more than a normal one since it was shaded all the time.  

Today we are on our way to MIA with a final destination of PTY (Panama City Panama). We'll stay at two different all inclusive resorts over the next five nights before starting the next leg of this adventure.

Sea Day

Yesterday was our last sea day. After breakfast at our neighborhood cafe across the street, we headed up to watch guests challenge the Flowrider. Pezz, who appears to be the crowd favorite, was there again. He probably needs an agent. At 11:15 we headed down to 150 Central Park which is the seafood restaurant on board. We had prebooked a lunch called "Taste of Royal". They feature signature dishes from the different Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants.  

We started with an amuse bouche which was grilled scallop on a butternut squash puree. Really fresh scallop, cooked medium rare with the slightly sweet and smooth squash. A great start! Next was spicy tuna tartare. This was a delicious dish!! Usually they tone down the spice on cruise ships. But not here. It had a nice hint of siracha but not enough to overpower the fresh tuna. 

Up next was a marscapone risotto with crab. This wasn't a successful dish. Firstly, the rice was still too al dente. And there needed to be a bit more broth to give the risotto a bit more soupy. A great risotto should be able to move a little when you tilt the plate. And unfortunately there wasn't any crab flavor. Now initially I thought that was because of the mere dusting of claw meat. But the real problem was that whatever broth they used to make the risotto didn't have any flavor. I would have expected some sort of crab or lobster stick. Instead it was more like a muted chicken broth. A very disappointing dish. Especially knowing that only a little more attention to detail could have made it better.  

The next dish definitely changes the trajectory. It was surf and turf with filet mignon and spicy shrimp. The shrimp were perfectly cooked with a slightly spicy seasoning. And they let you pick your temperature for the filet. I picked rare half expecting it would be medium. But it came out perfectly rare. The steak did need more seasoning. It just seemed to have only kosher salt. A bit of pepper or the spice they used in the shrimp would have helped. But it was tender and delicious. 

Dessert was a fried cheesecake served with "whipped cream". The cheesecake was very good. Fried in a tempura-like batter. The "whipped cream" was really just Cool Whip (or similar). Overly sweet and dense. Real whipped cream could have made this dessert a home run. But it was a stand up triple. 

After lunch we headed back to our cabin balcony and did some people watching. Then it was time for a mandatory rest period. A great two hour nap!!  

We got ready for dinner and headed to Wonderland. This is a specialty restaurant onboard that is themed, as you might expect, to Alice in Wonderland. Very whimsical dishes and presentations. We ate here on the Odyssey of the Seas a couple of years ago. Tonight we weren't here for the food. They are the only restaurant on board that has a bar. And interesting cocktails. 

So we had pre-dinner drinks before heading to the Solarium Bistro for dinner. 

Today we are in Nassau in The Bahamas!! We're staying on board for the morning. About mid-day we will get off the ship so Angie can do some filming. We haven't been here since they expanded the piers. Then if we have time, we'll walk over to Pirate Republic Brewing which is only a few minutes from the pier. We've been here a few times and they have some interesting IPAs.  

Tonight is our last night on board. We'll dock in Port Everglades tomorrow. We have a midday flight to Panama City, Panama where we'll spend five nights at some all-inclusive resorts. Then we'll be flying to Santiago to catch another cruise. Stay tuned!!

Labadee, Haiti

On Monday we saw Hairspray in the main theater. I had seen the original 1988 John Waters film and snippets of the musical starring John Travolta but never the stage musical. What a great show!! Fantastic cast!! Great choreography and sets. And at an hour and a half run time, it's close to the version you'd see on Broadway or the West End. And included with your cruise fare.  

On Tuesday we docked in Labadee which is Royal Caribbean's "private island" experience in Haiti. I hadn't been here since I took my first Royal Caribbean cruise on the Monarch of the Seas in 1996. At the time the largest ship on the sea. So what's changed twenty seven years later? A lot! Back in 1996 I just remembered a beach area with a space for lunch. And a barbed wide fence that separated the area from the main part of the island. Now they've added two zip lines. They have four beach areas. Lots of water activities. A water slide. An "alpine slide" type of ride. And places to just relax. After a short morning walking tour, we found some comfortable couches near a stage where the ship's band was setting up. I may have taken a short nap. 

After the band's first break, we headed to the lunch area. They had a really good assortment of items. Watermelon and tomato salad, pesto bowtie pasta salad and Caesar salad. Then you usually beach cookout staples of hamburgers and hot dogs. They also had some very good jerk chicken. Now it wasn't close to Scotchie's in Jamaica. They tone down the level of seasoning so that it's a bit more approachable. Still well seasoned and perfectly grilled.  

We started heading back to the shop about 1 PM just as we saw the rain clouds clinging to a mountain in the other side of the ship. The rain was imminent so we picked a good time to head back. We had a mandatory rest period in the cabin. Being outside apparently makes you tired. The captain made an announcement during this time that due to high winds and 15 foot swells, we'd have a late arrival into Falmouth Jamaica on Wednesday. A bit later I grabbed a snack from El Loco Fresh which is the Mexican quick service onboard. Some good pulled pork!! They also have make your own nachos and burritos. And they have all the toppings and sauces you could want. Although I would have liked a couple of different choices for salas such as a watermelon jicama like they have at Blue Iguana on most Carnival ships.  

We got ready for dinner. We had a 7 PM comedy reservation but decided to hang out at our "neighborhood" bar, the Trellis Bar. We can see it from our balcony so we can see if our favorite bartenders are there and if seats are available. We talked to Imade who is from Indonesia. We have a Celebrity cruise in December that visits three ports in Indonesia so we chatted about those.  

It was then time for dinner. We hadn't eaten in the main dining room yet so that's where we went. Started with arancini in a tomato sauce, beef carpaccio and a vegan Bolognese. All pretty good. The Bolognese was my favorite. Such an amazing sauce full of vegetables and just enough heat. And the "meat" was crumbly tofu. Mains were chicken parmesan and filet of sole. Angie said the chicken was just okay. I tried some of the pasta and the sauce was very bland. It was surprising to me that we had three dishes with some kind of tomato sauce and all three are completely different. Bolognese for the win!! The sole was well cooked and served with a lush lemony butter sauce!! And the rice was the perfect accompaniment for the dish to soak up the sauce. It rivaled the sole I had a couple of weeks ago on Murano on the Reflection b of course Royal Caribbean knew to use a butter sauce.

Today we'll dock in Falmouth about 11 AM. No plans to get off the ship. Angie plans to do her ship filming today while so many will be off in port. I grabbed a quick breakfast at our neighborhood Cafe across the street. They have a good selection of breakfast sandwiches, fruit and bagels.