So, in a few different places I’ve asked after port safety in Montevideo, especially around the port / Mercado area and in general the advice is “we were there a few days ago and it was fine but as usual in a big city…” etc.

In Buenos Aires of course the advice is different – do not walk from the port area.  The recommendations are to get a taxi or Uber to where we are going or at least as far as Plaza General San Martin, but much of Buenos Aires is still safe for people who look like better targets than Julia and I.  Generally, but not always, we’re not the first target, especially on a Holland America cruise.  Until recently neither of us wore jewelry or watches worth stealing either.

One of the things I end up doing every time we travel is I try to figure out if it’s safe for myself or a marathon runner to run outside.  There is a fun little assessment I do regarding local weather conditions, traffic assessment, and comfort level.  You’d be surprised where people aren’t comfortable running outside!  For instance, sometimes places like Avignon, France, are lousy places for runners even in the wee hours of the morning because everybody is calling out for you!

So far, Puerto Madryn was one of our favorite places anywhere we’ve traveled for running (with obvious exceptions like Boston and New York City). Puerto Madryn has La Rambla along the sea which continues in some form or another more than three miles out to the point and to the ecological center.

An obvious turn around point for most guests when they walk or run from the ship is Monumento Indio al Telhuelche on a point of land at the end of the main beach.

This is a monument to the labor movement of the indigenous peoples in Patagonia several decades ago. It also has a lovely view.

View from the ship from three miles away.

The view beyond. I would have loved to keep going, but there was plenty to do. We turned around and ran back the other direction where I stopped near the pier for a large beer while waiting for The Boss to double my mileage.

This was a prelude to some souvenir shopping followed by lunch at Náutico Bistró Del Mar.

This was officially Mariscos de Golfo Nuevo with Golfo Nuevo being the gulf around Puerto Madryn.  I’m not totally certain all of it was directly from the gulf itself but it certainly seemed fresh, cooked as appropriate, and seasoned with lemons, onions, and vinaigrette appropriately.  

Perfect as we were planning to attend the Cellar Master’s dinner yesterday evening, a lunch to share with papas fritas and more large beers.

Eventually after some shopping we returned to the ship.  Our original plan was to run, have a beer, return to the ship, and then head back out, but Puerto Madryn is the type of place where when it’s summer you walk around casually as you are.  We felt comfortable in our fitness wear in open-door souvenir shops as well as dining outside.  

We returned in time for the tango sail away!

Last night we attended the Cellar Master’s dinner.  This appears to be focused on wine but is also one of the best meals available on an Oosterdam cruise.  Food and beverage staff spoke at length and we were introduced to the entire Pinnacle Grill team – although we’ve met them all at some point.

The menu was great.  Somehow we had a mix-up and two of us had scallops instead ofthe foie gras but we were both fine with that especially after yesterday’s bonus lunch.

The Pumpkin Sage Cappuccino is a delightful cream of pumpkin soup paired with a flavor-forward Pinot noir to offset it’s sweet and spicy nature.

For us the warm lobster salad was the star of the show.  If it were twice the size of us then it would be perfect for a meal on a day like yesterday.  This was paired with a rosé which actually wasn’t the greatest in our opinion, but we do think we would have enjoyed it better as stand alone on a sunny summer day.

The filet with the beef tenderloin and grilled shrimp was the best beef I’ve had on the ship so far but the shrimp were even better.  This was nicely paired with the same MTC Syrah I had with dinner a few nights ago!

Dessert was decidedly not a tuille BUT it was the perfect size!  Not huge!  And Graham’s Six Grapes was a perfect accompaniment.

We both enjoyed this meal better than the Konigstafel but I actually think that’s the point.  Konigstafel is to display a variety of what the king wants, Cellar Masters is to share food to pair with wine in more of a best-of.  We also dined by ourselves.  We’re at the point on a 22 day voyage where we are happy to not socialize as much.

One complaint?

Often it seems as if HAL glasses have spots on them.  They need rinse aid of some sort.

So, a few other things to talk about:

We’ve spent a fair amount of time playing table card games, mostly blackjack, and a little bit of craps.  We haven’t lost a ton of money – essentially we are even aside from an hour where I played about twelve days ago where I lost several hundred dollars and stepped away from the casino for four days as a result.  In the meantime, we’ve gotten to know the casino staff really well especially while playing craps.

Last night we decided to curtail our visits to the casino as we’re winding down the trip.  We spent a couple hours with our casino staff friends and gambling buddies playing craps.  It was actually the latest we’ve stayed “out” on this trip so far (we’ll likely stay “out” later on the last night when we go to a closed door restaurant).  It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday I mentioned running in port.  I’ve largely curtailed my treadmill activities although I may pay a visit tomorrow morning.  Instead, I’ve been walking an hour or more on the promenade.  I’ve had some interesting step totals –

Yesterday – 21,589 (Puerto Madryn)

Sunday – 11,468 (Sea Day)

Saturday – 16,519 (Falkland Islands)

Friday – 7,991 (Sea Day)

Thursday – 15,334 (Antarctica Day 4)

Wednesday – 16,212 (Antarctica Day 3)

Tuesday – 17,667 (Antarctica Day 2, with treadmill time)

Monday – 16,944 (Antarctica Day 1)

I had planned to do a number of yoga and pilates classes, but early in the cruise after my first class I couldn’t get motivated to attend because I didn’t enjoy the instructor’s style, so I never went back.  I’ve practiced yoga on Carnival and Cunard cruises, the last time being back in 2017, but I haven’t found any on this or my past two cruises that I truly enjoyed.  I almost think decent fitness classes were a casualty of the Covid era.

One thing they mentioned last night which I never would have known – HAL canceled their bottle stewards after Covid.  They still have a sommelier around and they have one full time in Pinnacle Grill, but not so much visibly; they just have a beverage runner in the MDR, at least on this ship.  You order through your waiter.  I wonder if HAL pushed bottles of wine versus elite beverage package more prior to Covid.  This, by the way, is one thing I like more about Cunard; HAL has a decent wine list and I think it’s better than our experience on Celebrity nearly four years ago now but you have to ask for it.  Cunard is a little more forward with their wine list.  And we enjoyed (again, this is four years ago, right before all of the cuts) Celebrity’s beverage service in Blu a bit better.

But again, especially in the dining room, Pinnacle Grill, and with food in general, HAL has surprised us.  The variety of food and drink available is stellar.  The MDR menu isn’t as generic as we had on our Celebrity Silhouette cruise a few years ago – and thus we didn’t dine in the main dining room. Here there are often more interesting dishes offered.  When you get to know the system and get to know your dining room staff, things are really in your favor.  And the Pinnacle Grill breakfast experience is top notch; to think we almost missed it because our goal had been to skip breakfast every day.

Now, speaking of the Lido Market buffet – we still haven’t returned for buffet dining, even though today is Cake Day (it’s hard to handle Cake Day after a few days of a lot of eating).  We’ve learned that they do not have an Asian corner on this ship as they do on Noordam and Westerdam (someone please correct me if I’m missing something regarding info and availability this winter please).

Also, today, without eating breakfast, I was craving a typical sandwich, something like a club sandwich, so we ordered room service lunch.  They warned us it would be a 45 minute wait; it was a ten minute wait and the sandwich was great.