Our sailaway from Rio was beautiful. The weather cooperated yesterday and we had glorious sun and blue skies. Sailing around Sugar Loaf and past Copacabana and Ipanema with Corcovada high on the hill as we left Rio was just breathtaking.

Last night we enjoyed the churrasco-themed dinner in Portofino's. Everything was buffet until you got to the meat. A grill was on the back deck of Portofino's with lamb, beef, chicken, shrimp, lobster and swordfish cooking. The grill chef would come around the tables with long swords of meat and you could get all you want.

Roberto had made up small cards with Samba dancers on one side and the Brazilian flag on the other. We kept the Samba dancers side up as long we wanted meat and when full, we turned it to the flag side.

All of this wonderful food with Caipirinhas. The desserts looked good, but I didn't have any.

It's hard to think that the Discovery Collection is almost over. This had been such a wonderful experience and we have made some great friends along with way. Crystal and I are in denial for the moment. :mad:

The sailout yesterday was beautiful!! Hardly a cloud in the sky.

We sure do miss all of our LCT friends that left us yesterday. I hope all of you had a safe and smooth trip home, wish all of you were still with us.

Carolyn :lct:

I am so glad that your exit had such nice weather! Thanks for checking in, I am loving the reports.

We've met Sandee and Brian yesterday. I was on the computer and wondering if this lovely looking redheaded woman next to me was Sandee. I looked away and back again at her and finally she said, "Are you Beth?" Aren't lct avatars wonderful!!!

Sandee joined us for Pooch and won her first game. What luck!!!!!

We had a power outage early this morning. I'm not sure how long it lasted--I was aware of it for at least an hour. The ship sat without moving during that time, so I'm not sure how much time we've lost and whether that will have an impact on upcoming ports. I suppose we'll know more later in the morning when the captain gets on the loudspeaker. It's about 7:00 am here right now, so too early for announcements.

We woke up before 6:00am because there was dead silence and no sense of motion and when we looked outside we were dead in the water. There was no electricity or water and we opened the curtains for light so we dressed and went up to deck 11 where several others were loitering around. Fortunately the water was smooth as glass, the sun was shining and the temperature was mild. Capt John came over to us on his way back to the bridge and said it was a power failure of unknown causes but he wouldn’t make any announcement that early with most guests still asleep. The emergency generator on deck 11 was running to provide emergency lighting and essential communication but the propulsion engines were shut down because, without electricity, hydraulic pumps to operate rudders etc were out of commission. We were in sight of land but hadn’t yet dropped anchor. We used the time for a deck walk and around and after about an hour of stillness the generators came back on line, the main engines started up and we were on our way. We’ll find out later if the delay will affect our planned stop in Fortaleza tomorrow.
Back in the room at 7:30, TV & toilets are still non functioning.
Jim

I've posted several times in the last few days and had it go to the ethernet, so I'm going to keep this one short. The power is going on and off--the biggest inconvience is that the toilets don't work while the power is off. This reminds me of our first Regent/Radisson cruise on the Song of Flower--an interesting adventure. We had a fabulous time in Rio and had a great guide. I'll post his information in the Port information section in case someone needs a guide there.

My goodness I wonder what the issues are. Captain John is always very forthcoming with information so I am sure you will learn more soon.

I am now pretty much caught up with everything so wanted to post to say how much I enjoyed the group on GAME and SAMBA. People do make such a difference and this was indeed a wonderful group. Thank you to you all for making everything so much more enjoyable.

First seeing Todd again and meeting Mike on the AMA Waterways River Cruise. They made the trip so special for us. Mike is a super person, he would fit into an LCT group like a glove. This is one really nice man.

Then the safari with so many great people and the joint gathering of Madikwe Hills and Mateya at a lookout I have never seen before was super. The green made Madikwe so beautiful.

Moving onto the Navigator back into the food, comfort and relaxation of a Regent ship. Like slipping into your favorite clothing. Drawing Marc and Arlene's names as the winners of the free cruise for 2009 was a highlight for me. They deserve this after their up and down year in 2008.

I am still crying in my rack of lamb about not winning trivia once. Close but no win. At least Jim's team won a couple of times, and it was fun trying.

I think Capt M said the problem was a broken-down water-cooled generator--the engineers among us will probably remember better. We had a couple more outages before the problem got resolved. We will be skipping the Fortaleza port call, however, because of the time lost. We've been pretty fortunate in the ports that we've had to skip on the DC: Salalah and Fortaleza. Neither the greatest garden spots of their respective countries from what I understand.

Glad to hear that the ship is back in business!! While I've never been to Fortaleza, I hear you're not missing much.

Happy sails,

Nancy

There is a single cooling water system for all the main generators and it failed causing all to be shut down. The emergency generators basically run emergency lights, communications, PA system and (hopefully) winches to lower lifeboats. The full power outage began at 5:00am and lasted until about 7:00. The two other outages were partial so there were some lights but no air conditioning or toilets. Things are back in shape now.
I've been to Fortaleza 3 times before and we aren't missing anything except a crummy market by cancelling a 4 hour stop.
Jim

This afternoon there was the first run of “Navigator Idol” a singing competition among crew members. There were 19 contestants and we had to vote for 12. 3 or 4 were definite winners and 4 were definite NO votes and it took some thinking to choose the other 3 NO votes. There is some wonderful talent among the crew and contestants ranged from bar & restaurant staff to housekeeping to below decks maintenance workers. It was very entertaining and the semis & finals well be well attended. Unfortunately it was held during the scheduled Pooch time and I doubt if anyone showed up for Pooch.
Jim

No Pooch for Crystal and me today as we were also at the Navigator Idol competition. There was some very good talent singing. David didn't pooch today either as he was the "gong" judge.

Did Mona Lisa compete? Sounds like fun!

Mona Lisa wasn't in the competition this year. Christopher, Ronald and Den Den from the bar staff participated as did Ronald and Seth from the wait staff. Maggie, the 7th floor stewardess, sang and she was dynamite. Tomorrow is supposed to be another round. We'll keep you posted.

editted to correct: Maggie works on deck 8.

I loved Seth as a waiter! We had him night after a not so good experience the night before! One of the best I've ever had on Regent.

When we got on in November, we were seated in Seth's section the first night, totally by accident. He was taking the order of the couple next to us; he excused himself, came over and gave me a big hug and shook Mark's hand, then went back to the other table. We sat at that table every night, and he made sure that what little food Mark could eat, was prepared in the tastiest possible way. He is absolutely wonderful, remembered us from the previous cruise.

This afternoon, we had our second Equator Crossing Party. Our own David(englishusa) played the part of King Neptune (good job, David) and Cody was his lovely queen. Everyone got into the act and Capt. McNeill had just as much fun as the rest.

During the party, Jim spotted a whale and we enjoyed the show off the port side of the ship, too!!

Life is good on the Navigator. The past two days, Crystal and I have enjoyed the water activities in both Barbados and Dominica. Yesterday, we swam with the sea turtles, sunned on our cataramaran and drank fun rum drinks. Today Crystal and I took the Fun Cat excursion, a 2 person cataramaran ride along the Caribbean side of the island and did some swimming on a reef that unfortunately has been effected terribly by ash mining. Frank and Wendy were with us also. No rum today!!!

Our entertainment on this segment is a magician named Martin John. He was picking audience members to assist him and chose our own Sandee (who he called The Amazing Pam). She did a fabulous job on the teetering stool and looked great on stage.

We had our 2nd Chocolate talk today with tastings. Good stuff, plus interesting info about the history of chocolate and the industry around the world.

Unfortunately, we have begun packing. Crystal and I are both in denial about the whole thing and have mixed emotions about leaving. Hard to believe our 71 night adventure is almost over.

Oh Beth, please say it isn't so. Your wonderful cruise can't be winding down. Thank you all so much for all your reports. You've done a marvelous job.

Beth, I'm sorry it's nearly all over but so glad you had a wonderful time. I can't even begin to imagine being able to cruise for as long as you have. Alaska needs to move further away from Vancouver - it's far too close!! Lee

Today we are in lovely San Juan. Crystal and I jumped on the free ferry across the bay and took a taxi to Casa Bacardi. (More rum!!!!)

We came back across the bay just as the Independence of the Seas was docking. It sure is huge compared to the Navigator.

We walked around Old Town, ate lunch and came upon a wonderful photographic exhibit called Earth From Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand on Paseo La Princesa. It was an amazing exhibit showing photographs of different locations on Earth, many of which we have visited on the Discovery Collection. I felt this exhibit culminated our adventure. It was quite moving.

Tomorrow, snorkeling on T&C.... plus more rum. :pass:

Betty K, Thanks for your kind words. We have had a fabulous time and have wonderful memories for many years. So glad to share them with you all.

Lee, I so agree about moving Alaska further somewhere to extend our cruise next year!!!

Beth, isn't that photo exhibit great? We stumbled upon it in London a few years ago. What a great finale to your trip.

Dena

enjoy your last few days Beth! All kinds of holiday chores await you :angel2: :angel2: But I know all of your shopping at least is currently in that cabin.....Oh!! we found Amarula at our local liquor store (job one for David). We miss you both!
xo

Beth and Crystal enjoy your last few days on the Navigator. It has been a pleasure sailing with you through your Sea Mail! :)

Last night we had our Full Cruisers Farewell Dinner. All dressed up in our finery, we meet on Deck 7 in the Show Lounge with champagne and good bye hugs and kisses from the staff. Florian and his staff turned the bottom of the show lounge into our dining room. We had a wonderful dinner, intermingled with videos and photos from our cruise. Our entertainment included Guiseppe, Roberto and the doctor signing and playing their guitars, the Captain dancing with all his female staff and our finale was Mona Lisa singing Time to Say Good-bye. That brought tears to my eyes as it always does. Then we gathered for a group photo. Afterwards, the crew had less than 35 minutes to get the room back into order for the PGT Motown Gold show.

It was a great way to bring our last 71 days and nights together. We have met some wonderful people on this cruise and have life long memories. All of us agree, this certainly has been a Voyage of Discoveries..... in many ways!

Hate to see your journey end, Beth. It was fun traveling with you both virtually and in person. Safe travels home.

Thanks Beth for sharing your wonderful journey with us. I'm sure you will remember this for a very long time. Welcome Home.

I can't believe it's almost over! I would like to thank you for sharing, too, Beth!

Thank you thank you for sharing your adventures.
It has been enjoyable reading everything about your cruise. :app:

Well, it's over. I arrived home around 5:00 and have been digging through mail and calling friends ever since. What a great time it was! This morning before we left, the full cruisers were given a DVD of videos from the cruise--ports of call, shipboard fun, Dancing with the Navigator Stars, and Navigator Idol. A great memento of a great trip.

It hardly seems possible that I won't be seeing everyone tomorrow or the next day or the next. We had a great group--both crew and passengers. The ports were fabulous, but the people really made it special. And it was great to finally meet and get to know so many LCTers.

Welcome home Crystal. It was great sailing virtually with you and Beth on the DC! :)

Sorry I didn't post more. Every time I prepared a post of any length, it disapeared into cyberspace when I tried to execute the post. By the time I got around to trying again, another of my fellow cruisers had already said it. You'd think I'd have learned to copy my posting before hitting "add reply," but having left my brain on the pier in Piraeus, I was operating at a distinct disadvantage.

Welcome home Crystal. It was great to meet you and Beth. After being aboard for so long it will be an adjustment. You did a wonderful job of reporting and I am sure everyone appreciated sharing your adventures.

WOW what a great trip and cruise we had. The safari, the beach in South Africa and then the 27 wonderful days on the Navigator. It will be hard to top this adventure but that won't stop us from trying.

We enjoyed meeting all the LCT folks and catching up with the ones we have sailed with before.

Merry Christmas to all our sailing LCT friends new and old.

Carolyn and Don

This really was a cruise of discovery, not only in the unique places we visited but also in meeting new LCT people whose post's we've read but hadn't met in person. That happened on every segment and continued to the very end when we met Margo for the first time just outside Customs where she was waiting to pick up friends. We look forward to new acquaintances on Koala.
Jim & Pat

We're home too, only slightly the worse for wear. We had a wonderful time on our 47 days on the Navigator although we seem to have brought that nasty Navigator crud home with us. We're both still coughing and hacking. It was really nice to meet several LCT'rs we hadn't cruised with before. It was like old home week after everyone got on in Capetown.
We're also cruisaholics. We leave for another cruise with friends on Princess on Jan. 14, then we're headed over to Bonita Springs to see the other half of the Wolfpack at the end of January. We'll go down to to Key West with Al and Betty and then we get back on the Navigator on Feb. 6 for 10 days in the Western Caribbean. Hopefully we'll be well by then :rolleyes:

Hi All,

I made it back to Wilson this afternoon, all unpacked and doing laundry. Next I have the mounds of mail to go through. Leaving tomorrow to go back to Chapel Hill to enjoy the holidays with family.

It was wonderful meeting everyone and now be more than virtual friends. :lct:

Crystal and Beth, so glad you are home, and we thank you so much for both your friendship and your great trip reports. We loved meeting all of you, Peggy and Jerry, we will hear from you again on a cruse very soon. Stay well.... Carolyn and Don, we loved meeting you, our safari together was certainly a highlight! Jim and Pat, enjoy Koala!
Merry Christmas and the most joyous of New Years.
Cindy and David

Jim and Pat...it was wonderful to actually meet you in Fort Lauderdale!

Of course I recognized both of you from your cruise reports and photos. I hope I'll actually be able to cruise with both of you and many other LCT friends some day soon!

I'm late in posting this but Cindy, David, Alan and I enjoyed our guide, Madson, who had us laughing throughout our day in Rio. I'll post his info in the port information section.

Glad to see all of you arrived home safely. Some of you will be cruising again before I finish catching up from this one. Can't wait for the reports. Enjoyed meeting everyone.