We are off again. We are on a 22 night cruise to the Amazon roundtrip out of Miami. This cruise interested us because it is a cruise line we have wanted to try and going to a part of the world we have not been before. My cousin and several of his friends are also on this cruise.

We started on our journey on Friday November 6th when we rented a car to drive down south. Our plan was to visit some people along the way and did not want to fly to Miami and then rent a car and have to backtrack.

For our first night we stopped to visit with Kathy and Michael who we know from both world cruises. They have a beautiful home and we stayed the night there after a great Italian dinner. We spent time catching up and hearing about their preparations for their 3rd world cruise. We were also anxious to lay eyes on him since we last saw him in May disembarking from a Viking Cruise in Greece with chest pain…

After breakfast on Saturday we drove to Ft Lauderdale and checked into our hotel and I went to JoAn’s house to visit and play Mah Jongg. JoAn was my Mom’s best friend and they lived very close to each other. The group that my Mom used to play Mah Jongg with was kind enough to get together both Saturday and Sunday so we could all play for several hours. Kathy stayed at the hotel during the day while I played but joined us for meals. JoAn picked some great local places for dinner both nights.

On Monday we had breakfast at JoAn’s and then drove to port of Miami and dropped off our luggage at the cruise port. We then turned the rental car in, which was about 2 miles from port but with traffic took 15 minutes. The rental car agency had a shuttle which took us back to the port. Our embarkation time was 2pm and we were the only ones in the terminal. So easy breezy check-in.

Like Viking we were treated to a glass of champagne as soon as we got onboard. We checked in at our muster station and then headed up to our room. My cousin Kip and his wife Barbara were already on board so after we check out of room we went to the buffet to say hello and meet some of the people we would be traveling with.

It was perfect weather, minimal wind, so the blimp kept circling the port of Miami. The ship in the middle picture is Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas which is about 4 times the size of our boat.

The Seven Seas Mariner was originally built in 2001 and every room is considered a suite. The SS Mariner is a part of Norwegian cruise lines and it is their upper tier cruise line. Then Oceania and then Norwegian.

This map does not show where we left from but does show where we are going in South America.

Leaving the port of Miami

Here is our room and every room has a seating area and then a balcony with very plush chairs on it.There was a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us. The orchard on the table is a live orchid.

This is looking back towards the door and you have a walk in closet first with lots of space and then a small vanity set up. The bathroom door is right by the entrance. I will get a picture of that later. I will say that both the bathroom and the walk-in closet are bigger on Seabourn.

We watched sail-away on the main deck and then met the gang in the upper lounge for drinks and more introductions.

The SS Mariner has 2 specialty restaurants, Chartreuse which is French and Prime which is the steak house. You supposedly get 1 reservation for each during the cruise. Kip, my cousin, went down and got a reservation for the 1st night in Chartreuse for all of us but they have no big tables so we did 5 and 5. Kathy got the Dover sole and I got the Kansas City strip. Both were excellent and with my steak came an assortment of butter.

I don’t remember what all the sticks were but the first was butter with a red wine reduction. The green, which I ate half of, was butter and garlic and I have to remember what the other 2 were so next time we go to eat there. On the right is my dessert which is their version of a flaky Napoleon.

There is entertainment on board but as usual we just went back to our cabin and watched stuff on the iPad.

Tuesday Nov 9th

This was our first sea day of 3 before we get to Barbados. We did not do much except explore the ship and I did go to see who would show up for Mah Jongg at 1pm. We actually had enough players for 4 tables. Some experienced and some newbies. I got in with a nice table and I was listening at some of the other tables and there was lots of complaining about boarding and other things but my group was good. Hope we can all get together again today.

We met for cocktails and then went to the dining room for dinner. One couple wanted to eat earlier so we were 8 and the main dining room did have a table for 8. I got another steak which was excellent. Kathy got an Alaskan crab and avocado app & scallops for a main course.

After dinner they had a comedian on so we actually went to the show and she was pretty funny.

We are now on our second sea day and I will get more pictures around the ship for the next post. My cousin did manage to get us reservations at the steak house tonight so trying to eat very little today so I have a big appetite.