Sunday, March 12, 2023

Welcome to Uruguay!

Overnight, our cruise ship sailed across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Montevideo, Uruguay. It’s hard to believe we’re now in Uruguay — this is a country I never imagined our family would see.

Sunday morning, Andi and I got up early to go to the fitness center on board the ship. The gym was filled with people exercising on the machines, treadmills, and taking a stretching class. I reminded myself that Day 1 on the cruise ship is probably like January 1st of a new year — everyone is at the gym checking it out. Hopefully, the gym won’t be as busy in a few days. Andi found an open treadmill to walk while I squeezed into the free weights area to lift. It felt so good to lift weights again after taking the past six weeks off!

Andi and I returned to our room around 8:00am & woke Tory and Aden up for the day. We have two adjoining rooms on the inside of the ship, and the rooms stay very dark without any windows. Last night was the best night of sleep we’ve had on our entire trip! The rooms are very quiet and cool. Yesterday, Andi asked Guest Services about moving to staterooms with balconies, but honestly I don’t mind the inside rooms. I think it’s more important to be close to the places we go most often on the ship — the pool, gym, and kids club. We can always walk on the outside deck to see the view.

For breakfast, we walked up the stairs one floor to the Oceanview Cafe. This is the only buffet on the ship, and it was packed with people this morning. We did, however, discover a side wing that served a few food options we didn’t see yesterday + it wasn’t nearly as busy. Andi and I designated this as our family’s “zone” to sit when we eat at the buffet, so the four of us will always know where to find each other.

The Oceanview Cafe serves every kind of breakfast food desired — eggs cooked to order, cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, carved meats, eggs & sausage, an English breakfast station, fruit, and more. Aden was delighted to learn he has unlimited access to bacon, and filled his plate with the crispy strips of meat. All the fruit tasted fresh and juicy. I read in one of the Celebrity Cruise documents that the kitchen uses 8,500 lbs of watermelon per voyage! After traveling the past six weeks in Argentina, it comforted us all to eat food that tasted like “home.”

None of the buffet lines are self-serve so it was a little hectic getting food again. I hope this gets better once people figure out the ship and start to spread out to more restaurants.

At 9:15am, the cruise captain announced over the loudspeaker that the gangplank was in place and passengers were invited to disembark the ship in Montevideo. The four of us made our way to Deck 3 and scanned our individual key cards as we left the ship. The disembarkment process was quick and easy.

The port sidewalk led to a downtown Montevideo courtyard. On a Sunday morning, the plaza was quiet except for a few locals selling city tours. Andi had already pre-arranged for our own city tour with a guide named Alberto this morning. We waited there in the courtyard for him to arrive.

We spent the next two hours walking the streets of Montevideo’s “Old Town,” learning about the history of the city. Because it was Sunday morning, most of the shops and cafes were closed downtown. The benefit of this was that it was easy to wander the streets without contending with a lot of people or noises.

The Portuguese originally founded “Montevieu” in 1683. Then, one-hundred years later, the Spanish conquered the Portuguese and renamed the city Montevideo. Controlling Montevideo was a defensive move for the Spanish, with the goal of protecting the larger Spanish-controlled city of Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata. Montevideo became a strong naval base for the Spanish, and they fortified the city with tall walls built around it. The walls around the “old city” no longer exist, except for a Citadel (or, gate) to the city which at one time included a drawbridge over a moat.

The architecture in Montevideo’s Old City is beautiful. The streets are full of colonial homes, museums, and historical buildings.

Montevideo is often thought of as Buenos Aires’ “little brother” across the Rio de la Plata, but the city is anything but dependent. Montevideo is considered one of the safest cities in South America, and is consistently ranked highest in quality of living. The city has a reputation for being progressive, being the first South American city to have running water and recently, the first city in Latin America to legalize cannabis.

Alberto told us that Montevideo also has a cooperative program for citizens who live similar lifestyles. As part of the program, the government renovates run-down buildings, then leases the housing to single mothers, teachers, and other similar groups for free. He said the programs helps revitalize areas of the city and helps support community members who need the assistance. I’m sure there are program qualifications, etc., but it sounded like a neat way Montevideo supports its citizens.

Political leader and past military general, Jose Gervasio Artigas, is considered a national hero and “father of Uruguay.” The Plaza Independencia features a large statue & mausoleum of Artigas in its center.

One way Montevideo reminded us of Buenos Aires is the temperature — it is hot & humid here, too! After walking around the Old City for the morning, all four of us were hot and tired. Plus, Tory and Aden can only take so much history talk before the complaining sets in.

Around Noon, we thanked Alberto for his time and information, and walked to a restaurant called La Pasiva to cool off with a drink and a snack. The first thing Andi noticed was the prices — we are not in Argentina anymore! The price of two smoothies, four bottles of water, and a plate of French fries cost nearly 4x as much as it would have across the border.

We rested in the cafe for an hour while we decided what to do next. Alberto told us about a large Sunday street market happening several miles away in the neighborhood district of Cordon, so Andi and I considered going there for the afternoon. The idea nearly had Tory in tears; she was hot and ready to be done adventuring for the day. A quick Google research told me that the market was more of a flea market anyway, so Andi and I decided to skip it and walk back to the ship.

On the way, we visited a small grocery store to buy two bottles of wine. We didn’t realize it yesterday, but Celebrity Cruises allows passengers to bring two bottles of wine with them when initially boarding the ship. This is a real cost savings as alcohol is expensive to buy on the boat! For most people, taking a two-week cruise is probably their vacation for the year, and adding extra drink packages & excursions are part of the splurge. But for our family, this cruise is a small part of our larger travel plan — it’s less of a vacation for us, and more of an outside-the-box way to get from Point A to Point B.

Getting back on the ship was an easy process. Cruise attendants were waiting for us at the gate with water and cold towels which was a treat. We walked up the gangplank, scanned our key cards, and went through a quick security screening. No one flagged our two bottles of wine which was a relief.

We made it back on board just in time to have a late lunch at the Oceanview Cafe.

Next, Tory, Aden, and I went to the pool to cool off while Andi went to the computer help desk to see about getting our electronic devices hooked to the ship’s internet. Guests have to pay for internet on the ship, and it’s not a simple process getting connected. We overheard several passengers complaining about the cumbersome system. Before we boarded the ship, Andi and I warned the kids that they wouldn’t have internet access for the next two weeks. We paid for the basic internet package, but it only works to check emails and texts; it isn’t fast enough to stream Netflix or FaceTime their friends back home.

There are three pools on the ship — the two outdoor pools are salt-water which was a surprise. Tory and Aden weren’t very excited to discover this as it makes swimming and diving more difficult. The indoor pool is Adults Only, unfortunately. Still, they had fun swimming and rinsing off in the misting showers. It’s a fun, energetic vibe by the pool with people socializing and a live band performing all afternoon.

Around 5:30pm, the ship’s horn sounded a few short blasts and the boat started moving. Aden and I raced up to the top deck to watch the city of Montevideo fade away into the distance. I had one of those “pinch me” travel moments watching the happiness on Aden’s face — he’s been so excited about this cruise, and now we were finally here experiencing it.

As we pulled away from shore, we saw the small hill Montevideo is named for in the distance (Montevideo = mountain I see).

Aden and Tory decided they were hungry after swimming, so we ordered a cheeseburger, hot dog, and fries from the Pool Grill. “You mean I can come here whenever I want to get a hot dog?” Aden exclaimed with eyes open wide. Yep, welcome to cruise life! We carried the plates of food back to our staterooms and lounged there until dinner.

Andi was stil at the computer help desk getting our devices hooked to the internet, so he met Tory, Aden, and I at the Celebrity Theatre at 7:00pm. Every night, the ship hosts two live shows for guests to attend. Tonight’s show was a singing and dancing performance by The Broken Strings. It was really entertaining! My favorite part about the show was that it was a short and easy thing to do with the kids. The performance lasted 45 minutes and didn’t require any logistics to get there — just walk in, find a seat, and be entertained.

After the show, the four of us walked to the main dining room for dinner. There was a 30-minute wait to be seated, so we waited in the Rendezvous Lounge and listened to live music while we waited for a table.

The ship’s main sit-down restaurant is expansive with two floors of white-linen tables. We were seated at a table for four, and introduced to our waiters named Milton and Gloria. Both had super friendly personalities, and loved on the kids. Andi ordered shrimp cocktail and pork loin for dinner; I had tomato bisque and a chicken dish. Tory ordered Mac & Cheese and Aden had spaghetti. The food was very tasty & the kids were impressed with the elegant ambiance.

Dinner lasted until 10:00pm. We were exhausted after our busy day, so the four of us headed back to our cabins for the night. There was dancing, music, and social activities happening on the ship until the early hours of the morning, but fortunately we couldn’t hear any of it from our rooms.

The ship continues moving throughout the night — next port is Punta Del Este, Uruguay tomorrow.