MACEIO, BRAZIL - DAY 12

   

                              

        Our location today is Maceio.  At noon it is 91 degrees with 75% humidity.  YUK!  In the lower photo our position is at the circle.

Historical/Background Info:

        This is a new port for us.  The city began in an old sugar mill and plantation complex around the 19^th century.  Its development started with the arrival of ships taking wood from Jaragua Bay.  Later sugar mills started to export sugar, then tobacco, coconut, leather, and spices.

        The name “Maceio” is an indigenous term for a spring (water way).  There are numerous springs and lakes in this part of Brazil. 

        Maceio has a population of nearly 1 million.  Local industry is based on chemical products from brine pumped from deep wells on the outskirts of the city.  Another industry is the production of ethanol and sugar from sugarcane grown in the region.  In the last 30 years the tourist industry transformed the coastal areas of the city into vibrant centers of entertainment for both Brazilian and foreign tourists.

LAST EVENING

                                           First of two bottles of Makers Mark gone.

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                                          Kax, presenting the zinfandel wine I ordered.

Our special order of osso buco.  Very good. The sides of polenta and zucchini was  very good.

                                         This is an apple buckle with ice cream.  Super good!

   Again, I was the first to enter the theater when they opened the doors and got our front row seats.

        Rebecca doesn't come down until about 10 minutes before the show starts at 9:30  I order a chardonnay,

and for me, amaretto on the rocks.

                                                                        Great show!

TODAY

        

        We woke up at 7am and turned on the tv to see that the US and Israel are attacking Iran.  The Iranian regime has to be taken out.  The regime supports terrorism and their nuclear weapons program HAS to be eliminated.  Praying for our and the Israel forces.

        At 10am the Captain made a PA saying due to a docking problem we cannot call on the port of Belem on March 4.  Instead we will be stopping at Fortaleza, Brazil, on March 3rd.

    The water is an aqua color this morning.  We had smooth sailing last night and this morning.

                                           We approached the pier in Maceio just after 11am.

               Tug boat standing by just in case ship was to lose power.  Just a precaution.

                             This is the pier the Captain will back the ship up along side to.

                                     We will have a view of the city from our balcony today.

Well, after we got all the backed along side of the pier, we actually had this view of a cargo ship.

                                                                La Veranda lunch menu.

                  Took these photos from our table in La Veranda.  The buses look very old.

                   Started with my usual:  shrimp, anchovies, blu cheese, and gravlax.

                       The brandy-glazed ham at the carving station looked very good.

                                                                So I had to have a piece!

        This penne alla vodka had smoked salmon and a creamy tomato sauce.  I added some chili flakes to spice it up.  Loved It!

        I was scheduled to go on a 1:45 "Maceio Highlights" 3 1/4 hour tour with a 5pm return to the ship.  After seeing the old buses and the heat & humidity, I cancelled.  I then considered taking the shuttle bus into town and then right back to the ship.  Decided against that plan also.  Crowded buses are good way to catch a bug.  I do not want to get sick.  I was told last night that some of the production cast and the drummer are sick.  Not sure what they have.

                They were practicing with the emergency boats this afternoon.  This one is different.

                             Here is tonight's Compass Rose menu.  Turkey looks good to us.

        We are not sailing until 8pm as it is just a short hop up to Recife, our next port of call.  Cocktail hour at usual time and place followed by dinner in CR.  The guest entertainer in the theater is Isaac Rico, a classical pianist.  Count us out!!

SALVADOR DE BAHIA, BRAZIL - DAY 11

 

        We are docked at Salvador today.  In this photo you can see our next two ports of call: Maceio and Recife.  It is cloudy and 77 this morning.

Historical/Background Info:

        The first Portuguese established Salvador in 1549.  It was the first capital of Brazil and remained so until 1763.  Many Dutch and Jewish settlers entered Brazil here in the 17th and 19th centuries.  Brazil had few indigenous people for the Portuguese to use as laborers so they brought over slaves from Africa to work on their plantations.  This is why about 70% of the people here are descendants of African slaves and hence black.  Brazilian music and dancing, the samba, came with them from Africa.  Salvador is the third largest city in Brazil (2.5 million people) behind Sao Paulo and Rio.  Salvador is second in Brazilian tourism behind Rio.  Ford has a large car manufacturing plant here and Monsanto manufactures raw materials for its Roundup (herbicide) production line.  The port exports fruit and agricultural products.  The Salvador coastline is the longest for cities in Brazil with 50 miles of beaches. The beaches range from calm inlets, ideal for swimming, diving, sailing, and underwater fishing, as well as open ocean inlets with strong waves used for surfing.  The city is on two levels: lower, where the commercial part of the city is, and upper part, where the Cathedral and administrative building are.  There is a huge elevator near where our ship will be docked that will take you the 236 feet between the lower city square to the upper square in 20 seconds.  The city has 365 churches, one for every day of the year.  We were here in 2012.

LAST EVENING

   At 5:45 there was a Seven Seas Society Cocktail Party in the theater.  The theater was packed.

        Here are the numbers on board for each of the SSS tiers.  We are in the "Diamond" tier with 1098 nights so far on Regent cruises.

        We left the party a little early so we could enjoy our cocktail hour in the Meridian Lounge.  Grey Goose martini for me and La Crema chardonnay for Rebecca.  Also enjoyed some "pigs" and chips.  Only thing missing is Marcia Rector! 

        At 7pm we went to Compass Rose for a wonderful dinner.  Here Kaz is presenting a bottle of Rombauer chardonnay that I ordered.  Love this chardonnay that is $88 on the wine list.  On our last cruise it was $80 so price went up 10%.

                           We both started with the Mykonos (Greek) salad.  Very good!

                                                 Watching the busy station again tonight.

        Our favorite entree on Regent is this miso glazed sea bass with sticky rice.  The sea bass melts in your mouth.

                                                 We had some green beans and asparagus.

                                   This is white chocolate croissant pudding for dessert.

        Again I was the first one to enter the theater when they opened the doors at 9:00.  Got our usual front row seats.

                                         Peter had a great voice and really enjoyed his show.

      His wife, Inna, joined him for a few numbers.  She will have her own show tomorrow night.

                                             Great violist and not hard on the eyes either.

The ship's trombone, trumpet, sax, and both electric guitar members accompanied them.  The ship's orchestra members are outstanding!

TODAY

        We were scheduled to be docked in Salvador by 8am but the Captain made a PA saying we would be about an hour and half late.  A revised tour schedule was sent out to all the suites.  Basically all the morning tours will depart 2 hours late,  

        Alarm clock went off at 7am as usual.  I went down to get us a couple Americano coffees and a bran muffing for me.  Room service showed up at 7:35 with Rebecca's omelet and more coffee.

                     There is a channel on our tv with a view forward from a bridge camera.

                                                    Seas are smooth again this morning.

                                                                  At 8:45, "land ho"!

                                                      A tug standing by as we dock.

   Our luck ran out with good view from our balcony.  Today we have this view of a small fortress.

                                                           Tour buses waiting for us

                   I went to the other side of the ship to get these photos of us docking.

                                   They are always cleaning the ship.  It is immaculate.

        The crew's emergency drill at 10:15 was cancelled due to our late arrival.  Instead I saw many crew going ashore.

        While Rebecca was on the treadmill I went to see Gudrun to book some more cruises.  I booked another Alaska cruise for 2027.  It is 2 back to back cruises.  September1st we do Vancouver to Anchorage (actually the dock is at Whittier).  Then September 8th we stay on board and cruise back to Vancouver.  The main reason we do this is so we can take our son, Jeff, with us.  I booked him from Vancouver on 1st to Whittier.  He is still working so cannot take two weeks off.  We are doing this same cruise with him August this year.  So now we have 7 cruises on the books.

        Getting rid of some garbage today.  They compact it so there really is a lot of trash.  Nothing is dumped in the beautiful oceans.

                                                                       Enough said!!

                                                              Very nice fruits here.

                                                  Good lunch menu today in La Veranda

                          My usual starter:  anchovies, blu cheese, and smoked salmon.

                                        Our favorite today.  Salmon in pastry.  Very yummy.

        Oh my, Can't believe it.  Rebecca eating something for lunch.  She ALWAYS has an Atkins meal bar for lunch.

                                     Here are some photos to give you an idea about the city.

                                                 Looking up from port to the upper city.

                                                                        Light house

                                                Lift from lower city (port) to upper city.

                                                        Church--Rosario dos Pretos

                                                 It was 88 muggy degrees this afternoon

   

        Tonight's menu in Compass Rose.  Nothing appealed to us so last night I put an order in for veal osso buco, polenta, and zucchini with garlic & parmesan cheese for the two of us.  At lunch I also ordered a special Zinfindel red wine to go with the osso buco.

        We are sailing again at 6pm.  Another short hop up to Maceio, Brazil.  That is our usual time to head down to the Meridian Lounge for cocktail hour followed by dinner in CR.

        We plan on seeing Inna Tolstova's dynamic violin show at 9:30 in the theater.  We saw some of her talent last night when she performed a few numbers with her husband. We plan to be on the front row again.