 
Subscribe to this blog's feeds!
Share this page:
Global Travel Destinations BLog
|
A Journal with 11 chapters. Last posting on Thursday, January 13, 2011 by Randy10-night voyage from Puntarenas, Costa Rica to San Francisco, Calfornia. Posted on Monday, January 3, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Puntarenas to San Francisco Itinerary |
We've just arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica after an long day of travel from Denver. The entire day has seemed to occur in darkness. Preparing for a 7am flight from Denver, we opted to overnight at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites near the airport. With a 4am walkup call and a 5am airport shuttle, it's a short night and a very cold start (9 degrees) to our day. The Continental flight to Houston departs on time and arrives Houston about 10:30. Our connecting flight to San Jose, Costa Rica is about an hour late and instead of arriving in San Jose at 3pm, we land about 4:10pm. We're not sure if it's " Read full story >> Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Constellation Theater |
Tuesday brings a much needed day to relax as we sail toward our first stop in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. Puerto Chiapas occupies a narrow strip of land bordered between the Pacific Ocean and Guatemala and is rarely visited by mass-market cruise lines. We're looking forward to taking our first "inclusive" Regent shore excursion. This morning we spend about 4 hours working...setting up our onboard internet account, catching up on email and posting yesterdays blog entry. The pricing for internet services starts at .75/min and drops to .25/min for a 800 minute package. This rate is comparable " Read full story >>Posted on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Puerto Chiapas, Mexico |
After a day at sea, we've arrived in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. This southernmost cruise port in Mexico is just a few miles from the Guatemala border. Before meeting for our 8:30am shore excursion we try out La Veranda, the buffet dining venue aboard the Voyager. In typical cruise ship layout, this buffet is on the top and rear of the ship utilizing a fantail outdoor area for al-fresco dining. We find the selections of fruit and pastries to be fairly extensive, however the selection of potatoes, breakfast meats and eggs seems very limited. The only egg selection appears to be at the omelet " Read full story >>Posted on Thursday, January 6, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Huatulco - Santa Cruz Bay |
This morning we've arrived in Huatulco - one of the newest resort areas in Mexico. Taking what they have learned about "growing" resort areas such as Cozumel and Acapulco, the Mexican government is building Huatulco into a model of eco-friendliness, winning awards not just in Mexico but worldwide. Set on 22 miles of coastline, the 9 bays of Huatulco offer beautiful sandy beaches, lush vegetation and rugged rock formations with fascinating caves and blow holes. We've scheduled a late excursion "Huatulco by Land and Sea" and expect to get some work done and have a relaxed breakfast before " Read full story >>Posted on Friday, January 7, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Acapulco Bay |
Just past sunrise we quietly sailed into the large, beautiful bay of Acapulco. The nights passage from Huatulco has been calm and pleasant. So far, we've had exceptional weather - calm seas and warm, sunny days in the mid-80's and low 90's. A great change from the teens and single-digit temps recently in Colorado. Acapulco is perhaps the first city in Mexico that experienced the tourist boom - starting with US and Canadian celebrities building homes on the dramatic cliffs and hills that surround the semi-circular bay. Today, with over 1 million inhabitants and 360 days of sunshine each year, it Read full story >>Posted on Saturday, January 8, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Voyager Pool Deck |
Today we're at sea, enroute to Cabo San Lucas, our last stop in Mexico. Sometime during the night or today we'll pass by Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta. With continuing mild weather, the Pool Grill area has been turned into a "Pizza and Pasta" extravaganza. They have placed huge (maybe 4 feet around) pizza pans around the grill area where several varieties of pizza, create-it-yourself pasta and wonderful salads are presented. The ship is still asleep by 11am, everyone must be enjoying relaxing in their stateroom except for a few ambitious guests doing laundry. The Voyager has self-service " Read full story >>Posted on Sunday, January 9, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Tender Operations in Cabo |
Located at the very tip of the California Baja peninsula, Cabo San Lucas is a fishing, golfing and sun worshipers premier destination in Mexico. Throw in a bit of spring-break with fun but rowdy nightlife and you've got the idea of what Cabo is all about. The Regent Voyager glides quietly into the bay of Cabo around 7am, drops anchor and sets-up tender operations. Without a cruise ship pier in Cabo, all ships anchor off shore and drop several of their lifeboat/tender boats to transports crew and guests ashore. Our shore excursion, "Tequila Aficionado", is scheduled to meet for a group " Read full story >>Posted on Monday, January 10, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Compass Rose - main dining room |
We're watching the news about sub-zero temperatures in the northern states and even snow in Georgia, we feel very lucky to have experienced high 70's yesterday in Cabo San Lucas. But, today is a completely different story. Having left the relative "safety" of the temperate Baja of California the forecast is now only into the mid to upper 50's. And, with a headwind of 15mph combined with our forward speed of about the same, the 30 mile per hour wind across the deck puts a real bite in the air. As has become the routine, we order coffee to the room and work for a few hours on this day " Read full story >>Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Hotel del Coronado |
Ahead of schedule, we are alongside at the downtown San Diego pier by 9:30 this morning. It's a bright sunny day in San Diego, with forecast highs near 70. Since this is our first re-entry into the US, customs officials are onboard for face-to-face meetings with all passengers and collection of our customs declarations. The inspection is complete (at least for the passengers) by about 11:30 and the ship is cleared, allowing passengers to go ashore. We're in port until 11pm, so there's plenty of time to wander around the gaslamp quarter or explore the nearby maritime museum. Our excursion, " Read full story >>Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyagerAfter the late evening departure from San Diego, we once again enjoy room service delivered coffee while attempting to catch up on emails and other work-related issues. But, apparently due to the ships position and course, the internet services are horribly slow and unreliable. Even the ships cellular phone network and several TV channels have been lost due to unreliable satellite data. The Internet Manager isn't much help, explaining the positional issue and the fact that there are no plans for upgrades onboard the Regent Voyager in the near future.
After finally giving up on the internet " Read full story >> Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 by Randy tagged as regent voyager Under the Golden Gate Bridge |
On sea days, the captain makes a positional and weather announcement at noon. Yesterday he announced that we'd meet the harbor pilot and pass underneath the Golden Gate bridge at approximately 6am. The requirement to set an alarm on the last day of vacation wasn't very pleasant, but we had decided that a great way to end the trip would be up on deck as we passed under the bridge. I'm sure we've viewed the bridge from the harbor on sightseeing tours, but we'd never been onboard a large cruise ship arriving at San Francisco. So, after an alarm at 5:45, we join a handful of other passengers on the Read full story >>
|
|
|
Post a Comment