URAGUAY

                                                             URAGUAY

We are now in the early days of our 27th cruise.  We started cruising in 2008 and hope to be able to continue for a few more.  Seventeen of our cruises have been with Oceania and about half of those have been on this ship, the Marina.  The Marina in now one of the older ships in the fleet, but still elegant.   Because of its age the prices on Marina are slightly lower than on its newer sister ships.  We like the size and a particular oddity in that there are 12 staterooms at the front of deck 7 that have "extended" balconies.  Thus, we can lie on lounge chairs in privacy and not compete for space by the pool.

Oceania offers the best food at sea and equally good wines (included with meals).  The clientele is older and there are no children.  Smaller ships are easier for Betty to navigate and we do not need a huge assortment of bars and late night disco places.  Also, Oceania has the best loyalty program of the various cruiselines.  As "platinum" members we get many perks including credits to spend on board (more than we can spend).  When we got our "platinum" status a few years ago we were awarded a free cruise.  There is a very slight chance that we will be able to amass enough trips to achieve "diamond" status and get another free cruise.

Marina has 8 restaurants, four of which do not require reservations.  These are the main dining room, the buffet, the poolside grill which converts to a pizzeria in the evening, and a vegetarian restaurant that we love to boycott.  Depending on the length of the cruise guests are guaranteed a minimum number of reservations at Red Ginger (Asian), Toscana (Italian), Polo (steaks and more) and my favorite restaurant Jacques (named for Jacques Pepin).  For those of you who don't know Jacques Pepin he is now still active in his early 90's.  Jacques first became famous as the personal chef of Charles deGaulle.  He got even more fame when he turned down Jackie Kennedy's invitation to be chef at the White House.  He was also Julia Child's TV partner.  In addition in being the chef who planned the food for Oceania he is an excellent writer.  I have 3 signed copies of his books (Christmas presents from Oceania).

On our first day of the cruise we docked in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.  Uruguay is a wonderful country with a high standard of living, and very little crime.  We were told that men could carry their wallets in their rear pockets without fear of being pickpocketed.  The climate is good.  One can buy a nice 2 bedroom apartment here for under 200k.  If we were younger Betty and I could consider living here part of the year.

Uruguay is a tiny country and its economy is based exclusively on the export of very high end agricultural products.  Uruguayan beef is the best in the world (even better than Argentina) and so much better than Canadian beef.

On our first full day of the cruise we were docked in Montevideo and took a tour of the city.  The first picture is of the Canadian Embassy, the 2nd is an older downtown apartment building.  The uniformed young man is standing guard over the ashes of the national hero, the sculpture shows how settlers first moved across the countryside.

Our tour of Montevideo ended at a brew pub where we did a "steak tasting".  I expected little pieces of meat, but instead we each got three complete steak meals cooked and served in cast iron frying pans.  All of the steaks were flank steaks but came from different breeds of cattle.  These steaks were not necessarily more tender than what we are used to at home but they are much juicier.  When one bites into the meat there is a burst of juice and flavor than can't be described.  Both Betty and I managed to eat our three steaks, accompanied by four different beers.  Back on the ship we collapsed on our bed and didn't bother going to supper.