Smithy's Cruise Blog

Montevideo is on the north shore of the River Plate (which separates Uruguay from Argentina) with Buenos Aires being 140 miles to the west on the southern shore.

We were here back in 2006 on Queen Mary 2 and took an organised tour on that occasion, so this time we decided to go on Smithy’s Walking Tour. The capital of Uruguay was just across the road from the berth and as a Holland America ship, Zaandam, was also in port the locals were out in force with their market stalls.

Museums were plentiful, but sadly they were not equipped with lifts (elevators) and we were restricted to the ground floors.

What a great day! This was probably our best port visit ever. Carole Gordon was recently in S America with Ian, and told us that the Brazilian jewelllery firm H Stern offered tours of the City incorporating a visit to their headquarters.

We went ashore at 9.30am. It was a beautiful day and almost immediately we were introduced to a young man, Hugo, from Stern’s, and were told that he would be with us for the day. A new black shiny Toyota then appeared driven by Philip. Getting the folding wheelchair into the boot/trunk was tricky because the car was fuelled by natural gas and the gas tank was located in the boot! But we managed to do it.

Hugo asked us what we would like to see. As we had been up Sugarloaf in the cable car on a previous visit and as we could see the statue of Christ the Redeemer from most parts of the City, with Hugo’s help we decided on the route we would take. First stop was a private boys school which had formerly been a monastery. The chapel was almost completely built of gold. The walls and ceiling were gold as was everything else. An incredible building.

By then we were ready to face the H Stern selling experience. It was not a hard sell and we felt no pressure to buy, although Jane did buy a smallish piece. After an hour there we returned to the car and were then driven to the massive botanical gardens. Hugo knew his trees and plants and the history of the gardens created by King John VI of Portugal in 1808 and opened to the public in 1822. We spent an hour in the beautiful gardens before returning to the ship. By then it was 6.00 pm and we had been out, courtesy of Stern, for 8 hours.

John McCarthy was on board for the second segment and gave two lectures and also took part in a Q&A session. You will recall that he was kidnapped in Beirut in 1986 and held as a hostage for 5 years. He is a brilliant speaker and talked about his capture and imprisonment, his time in solitary and his relationships with others – Brian Keenan, Terry Waite and three Americans.

He spoke without a note and kept full houses enthralled on each occasion. It came out during the Q&A session that he had been at school at Haileybury. Janes brother, Nigel Atkinson was also at Haileybury and when we spoke to John later, it appeared that they overlapped for 2 years, Nigel being his senior by 3 years.

Fortaleza was a maiden call for QV. The first time here and probably the last. QV is apparently the largest passenger ship to call, but that is not surprising because the facilities were poor. We moored in the commercial port (which in itself is not unusual in a port where there are no passenger terminals). It was dirty and uneven with railway lines crossing the dockside. The locals appeared to be totally disorganised and unable to cope with the large number of coaches and people.

The 40 minute ride was interesting. Fast and furious with frequent lane changes and close shaves took us to the massive market on four floors. Dan decided to stay in the car with the driver despite no common language. The market was clean and the sellers surprised to see Europeans in their city. Jane managed to find some miniature dolls but we spent very little.

On Sunday we crossed the Equator. King Neptune and his Queen boarded just after lunch and sentenced the Pollys who had not crossed the line before for a series of offences. Punishments were carried out ruthlessly on men and women alike. In the main they ended up covered in gunge extracted from the kitchen refuse bins. When we actually crossed the Equator later elderly passengers were warned to hang on to the handrails in case the ship lurched as it went over the line and others were to be seen looking out over the ocean hoping to spot the red line.

I woke to see the sun rising over Bridgetown, as we approached the island of Barbados after three days at sea.

After we made fast on the main berth, I noticed a large crane bearing the name LIEBHERR and was reminded of Nicola Cortese’s fallout with Katharina Liebherr a few hours earlier. Southampton Football Club appeared to have achieved stability but in hindsight I suppose it was inevitable that the owner of a multi million pound business could not allow the existing regime to continue to run it as their private fiefdom. But I digress! Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas followed us in and moored against the harbour wall. She was on a 7 day voyage from Puerto Rico around the Caribbean.

My favourite place for watching us arrive and depart is just above the bridge. Few passengers know of it or how to access it. I regard it as my private deck and tell very few people how to find it!

Once ashore, our plan was to find a taxi and head off to the Orchid Farm that we had not visited before. Outside the terminal building a driver spotted the wheelchair, said that he had a 12 seater and 2 spare places and a wheelchair lift. He agreed to take in the Orchids as part of the tour. Perfect. Once we were loaded in we headed north, up the West side of the island, past the Kensington Oval, out of the Parish of St Michael and into the Parish of St James. We passed the luxury hotels where many of you will have stayed and arrived in Holetown. Jane and I remember it because we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary there at the Glitter Bay and Royal Pavilion both of which have apparently seen better days, according to a local lady.

The first settlers landed at what is now Holetown in 1626 and a wooden church was built there almost immediately. It was replaced by a coral-stone building in the early 1680’s and it is still there today as the Parish Church of St James. We then headed inland through lush farmland and rose up to one of the highest points on the island. From Highland we had magnificent views of the east coast, known as the Atlantic Coast. The cattle in the fields around us looked to be very well fed beasts in terrific shape. The roads were steep and narrow and we passed sugar plantations – sadly no longer a major source of revenue for the island. Although we did not visit it on this occasion, we were near to the Francia Plantation owned at one time by our friends the Sisnett family.

We then travelled south to Orchid World. Set on a hill, it was not easy to negotiate with a wheelchair, and to put it mildly, the orchids were not very impressive. The display at Asda, Chandlers Ford is always better than this! Jane will report separately in her blog on accessibility.

We then headed south to Bridgetown and back to the ship to hear the Captain announce that we had 1735 nautical miles to cover before reaching our next port Fortaleza, Brazil.

Apologies for the lack of photos, but the internet is very, very slow today and it is impossible to download the Barbados photos which will follow in time!

This is a better photo of the City Hall. After lunch we took Roger to the Miami Seaport where we spotted Carnival Glory and on arriving at the terminal found Roger’s brother Larry and the rest of their group. They had about 10 minutes in which to board their ship, but all seemed very laid back about it. Had it been me I would have been there 4 hours earlier!

The immigration authorities at Fort Lauderdale performed as they usually do – very slowly. There were not enough of them and some of our fellow passengers had to wait three and a half hours before they could leave the ship. We were lucky because Jane was in her wheelchair and the US authorities do give preference to those in wheelchairs, but despite that it still took us just over an hour to get through.

Chris and Jenny Branston were waiting for us as we emerged from the terminal building. Then it was off to the Intercontinental Hotel, Doral in Miami to locate Roger Bialcik. That was easy and Roger emerged from the hotel as soon as we arrived. We think that it was 17 years since we last met but our memories are not as good as they were. Chris drove us to the old Pan Am Terminal building on the waterfront – now the Miami City Hall. an Art Deco buiding. It was by the water because the original Pan Am planes were seaplanes and the would taxi across the bay to the terminal ashore.

Jane and Roger

Chris Branston

Jenny Branston

Typical Art Deco at South Beach