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 the late flight or just incomplete arrangements, but our arranged pier transfer never materializes. From the San Jose airport, the Puntarenas cruise ship pier is about a 2 hour drive. Getting close to 5pm (with a ship departure of 8pm) we opt to hire one of the airport drivers and sort out the problem with the Regent transfer later.

We arrive (in darkness) at the very long cruise ship pier and after a bit of negotiating with security, our driver is allowed past the barricades. This 2 hour drive has run up a $140 "taxi fare" which is now payable on a cash-only basis. Not having quite enough cash, one of us quickly boards the ship to get a "loan" from reception. After paying the driver we complete the check-in process and are warmly welcomed onboard and shown to our "suite". Located on Deck 9, our Category D room is perhaps the largest 'standard' room we've ever enjoyed, and the smallest onboard the Regent Voyager. With over 350 square feet the room has a large bathroom with separate shower and full size bathtub, a huge walk-in closet, and the main room complete with a vanity, a large desk area with a 40'ish inch flat screen TV and a full sized couch. The balcony is fairly standard, with two chairs and a small table.

With advance reservations, dinner tonight will be in one of the specialty restaurants onboard. Signatures is one of only two in the world that are operated at sea under the auspices of the famed Le Cordon Bleu of Paris. We enjoy a great meal beginning with snail ravioli and mussel soup followed by our entrees of rack of lamb and beef tenderloin. A wonderful chocolate torte and a caramel brulee complete this exceptional dinner.

Following the 4am walkup call and too many hours onboard airplanes and small cars we're ready to call it a day around 11pm. More tomorrow as we further explore the ship while spending a day at sea along the west coast of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala. We're in route to our first stop at Puerto Chiapas, Mexico.