billco

38 minutes ago, phabric said:

There is a 14 day Mediterranean August 8, 2026 coming out May 23, 2024.

Shush

I backed off on the extra tipping when I realized a lot of the wait staff were playing me.

Been to a few. Not sure I would accept if invited to another one. Usually end up sitting next to a ship's officer who would rather not be there. Also, there are those who won't shut up talking about all their cruises. Food is pretty good, but being vegetarians, we have to check in advance.

Well, we departed Oosterdam in Ushuaia this morning due to medical reasons. I can’t say enough about how Patrick, our connoisseur made the departure efficient and easy. He took care of all the details including flight arrangements and getting us to the airport. This morning Patrick and a steward got our luggage and accompanied us to the tender. Patrick stayed with us to get our passports and get us on the van. The van driver and his assistant didn’t just drop us at the airport, but stayed with us to get checked in. Also, the medical staff was outstanding.

47 minutes ago, billco said:

I made a huge mistake with Uber. I put Quintella Benito Martin as the address. Should have put Quintella Benito Martin Passenger Terminal. Driver spoke no English. Took us to a place a few miles in the opposite direction. Used Translate to get it straightened out. He was a bit grumpy, but had a big smile when I gave him a $20 tip

Whoops. Meant Benito Quinquella Martin

9 hours ago, 0106 said:

After hearing many stories from people on board about being over charged by cab drivers, I recommend Uber or a similar app.  As I stated earlier,  our Uber for a 15 minute ride from Palmero to the port cost $2.86.  I have met people onboard who paid anywhere between $40 and $120 for a similar ride.  I like Uber because I see the cost prior to getting in the vehicle and it cannot be changed by the driver.

 

I made a huge mistake with Uber. I put Quintella Benito Martin as the address. Should have put Quintella Benito Martin Passenger Terminal. Driver spoke no English. Took us to a place a few miles in the opposite direction. Used Translate to get it straightened out. He was a bit grumpy, but had a big smile when I gave him a $20 tip

4 hours ago, 0106 said:

No NFL football in Buenos Aires, not in bars or on the hotel TV.  Followed on my phone.  Disappointing, I thought this was the year.

 

@slewis7 I encourage you and anyone else onboard with us to add to this thread.  I think different viewpoints are important.

 

The coffee in Buenos Aires is delicious!

I have an app called Channels DVR, which allows me to watch my local tv channels wherever I am as long as I have WiFi. I’m a 49er fan. It started out fine last night (the hotel internet not the game) but started cutting out. I had to resort to texting with my son to keep up. At any rate the end result was fine. Hope internet is better on ship.

2 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Definitely go early. They call by card  number.... you get your number as you drop off your bags. At the terminal there is plenty of seating. It was a bit of a scrum at bag drop and after being called we had quite a long line to wait in before reaching the desk. You're in for a fabulous cruise.

Thanks! We enjoyed following your blog. We recently accepted an upgrade offer to Neptune. I wonder if that was why our time was changed from 2:40 to 12:00.

59 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@exodususa199Bag drop is no longer available at the terminal because of the damage caused by the storm @NorbertsNiecewitnessed immediately after her embarkation.  The process is different until the roof of the terminal has been repaired.  Although we have received conflicting information, based on the many threads I have read about embarkation since the terminal was damaged, you first report to the convention center.

 

Once again, thank you for this thread and your willingness to share your experience and answer questions.

If I print my boarding pass on the web site, it says Benito QuinQuela Martin Checkin 2:40 PM /Group F

If I look at my Navigator App, it says Benito QuinQuela Martin Checkin 12:00 /Group F.

Think I'll go with the Navigator App.

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Thanks for the reminder—I don’t know where//who the internet person is on this ship, but I will figure it out for you! 

Thanks so much. Perhaps somebody at Passenger Services desk would know. 

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

I am currently up in the crows nest as I had some questions for the excursion desk about our tour and transfer to the airport. Soon be heading downstairs to get our passports back which is ship has held since Santiago.

Did you have a chance to inquire about the Panomax 360 webcam?

https://hal.panomax.com/oosterdam

I would imagine the internet person might know something. Thanks

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

Great room service breakfast —All American egg breakfast and egg frittata (no e tea charges).

 

we are now at Main Stage for Coffee With Ed with 2/3 of our Antarctica team—Ed is not well today.  
 

3 more presentations we want to see later today!
 

If you get a chance, could you ask why the Panomax Webcam is down?  I was really looking forward to viewing the past two cruises and my upcoming cruise.

https://hal.panomax.com/oosterdam

On 1/3/2024 at 4:08 PM, OlsSalt said:

Depends on whether you value the much larger cabin first, or the location by the Neptune Lounge first. We do love Neptune suites, the Neptune Lounge an especially love their huge balconies.  

We sail next week on a 22 day Antarctic cruise. We have only been on one 4 day HAL cruise and we accepted an upgrade to a Neptune Suite Of course, we loved it. On this cruise, we started out with the lowest cost Oceanview and upgraded after buying Club Orange for the same price the upgrade would have cost. Not too long after, my wife started saying she wished we had booked a Veranda, so we moved up to the cheapest Forward Veranda. Then we got an upgrade offer to a signature suite. Well, we only live once. Today, we got an upgrade offer to a Neptune Suite. I was waffleing on that one until they told me they would take our cost of the Club Orange off the price of the upgrade. They offered a choice of three cabins fairly close to the lounge. We picked the one directly across from the door. We were going to buy unlimited laundry. 

50 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

I feel the same exact way and I'll go one step further....ventriloquists. Just a little bit scary! 

I'll go two more steps - hypnotists and vulgar comedians.

5 hours ago, Alphen said:

Excellent tip, thanks, not only for cold areas, but also getting from AC ship inside, to hot and humid outside, never thought of that!

Just to be on the safe side I bought a Neewer USB Lens Heater for my telescope.

19 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The Nikon is well above the price point that I will pay for binoculars. If I wanted to get into that price point, I would be buying Swarovski.

Agree. At $3000+ Swarovski binoculars are quite above that price point.

23 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Personally, I use 10x50 Permafocus binoculars with a 7.5 angle of view, giving almost 400' at 1,000 yds. I also have 12x50 and have also used them on board ships, but I used binoculars on the bridge for over 35 yrs.

A woman on another Roll Call posted the following: "I use Nikon Monarch M7 10 by 42. I love them. I use an OUFABE harness to hold them. It’s elastic and takes all the pressure off my neck so I can wear them comfortably all day long. Binos are only good if you can have them with you always and have fast access to using them." I imagine they are pretty good as they are pretty expensive for binoculars.

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/binoculars/16766/monarch-m7-10x42.html

I'll be bringing a Dwarf 2 telescope that I bought for taking photos of the Total Solar Eclipse in April. Hope it won't be too cold for it.

https://dwarflab.com/products/dwarf-2-smart-telescope

7 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Current view

 

In room listening to lecture on Antarctica’s Terrestrial Ecosystems-  Life in the Freezer by Dr. Ed Butler

 

 

 

Striking photos show arches and cavernous hollows carved into world’s largest iceberg

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/climate/iceberg-a23a-erosion-photos-scli-intl-scn-climate/index.html

4 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

We did the afternoon lecture in the room. That worked perfectly.

 

The lecture was actually about Antarctic Exploration.  I love history; it was quite good. SO many books I want to read about Antarctica now.

 

Sometimes I double post—that seems to be happening when the internet is slow; apologies.

 

 

 

Have they mentioned Richard E. Byrd who was first to fly over the North and South Poles and headed several Antarctic expeditions among his many accomplishments? I served on the commissioning crew of the USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23) from 1963-65.

On 11/18/2023 at 3:15 PM, Blackduck59 said:

As I mentioned on another thread if you need streaming TV perhaps cruising isn't the vacation for you. Keep in mind you are at the mercy of the ship's satellite service. Leave the TV at home you're on vacation.

Actually, we are not on vacation. I have been retired for over 30 years and have sailed on over 50 cruises. Cruising is just an extension of our daily life and how we do it is our business.

7 hours ago, SaltyDoggg said:

I knew of the reputation of Princess cruises was pretty legendary in the cruise world. They are the Love Boat after all. But I didn't know if they could stand up to the stellar track record I had previously sailing with 2 of the leaders in the industry, Disney and Celebrity. Let me cut to the chase... they do not. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

 

I chose Emerald Princess because it was an older ship, which I love and the Itinerary was epic! I watched every Emerald Princess ship walkthrough video, read all the reviews and I was sold that Emerald Princess was a great ship to try. I ca't begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

 

The food overall was awful, even putrid, but the food at the buffet was just horrific. The crew overall were great but everyone really lacked basic training and that rolls over to a bad guest experience. There is also a major communication problem between the crew and the guests. The language barrier is really frustrating to overcome.

 

Buffet. They were serving powdered eggs for breakfast at the buffet. You had to wait 20 minutes at the omelet station just to place your order, then another 15 minutes to get your omelet. And the Omelet was mediocre at best, not worth the wait. By day 2, I resorted to cereal and fruit for breakfast because everything else was just so awful. Same for lunch and dinner at the buffet. Items on the line looked gray and unappetizing. I ended up eating pizza and burgers outside at the Salty Grill and Slice for lunch because oddly, their pizza was phenomenal and that's coming from a NYC pizza snob.

 

The operation on how they managed that burger line at the salty grill was a joke. The idea of hot dogs and burgers are so you can get a bite quickly. It was literally keystone cops behind that line, trying to get food out to guests waiting 20 minutes for one burger with only 3 guests waiting. I would show up exactly when they opened at 11am, first person in line and still wait 20 minutes for a cheese burger because they were cooking everything to order. Not because they weren't trying, because they had no training and no backup. Management was oblivious. It was a joke. Ridiculous. No idea on how to deal with volume on a grill line.

 

Main dining room's food was Tasteless. Presentations were great but the food was just not good. Service was decent and crew were great. I only ate in the main dining room 3 times on a 14 night cruise because I was continually disappointed in the quality of food. I did an up-charge steak one night and it was terrible. You could taste the char on the steak and the vegetable, plus the texture of the steak was like mealy. The kicker??? The mashed potatoes were obviously instant. No butter, no salt. What kind of company does this?

 

Specialty restaurants were better, but bot great. Casual specialty restaurants also were better, but again. Nothing memorable. Thank God I had the Premium package because I could eat at the casual restaurant were were somewhat better but again, they had allot of issues with the quality of the food

 

Does Princess even have a corporate culinary program that ensures consistence across their entire fleet? If they do, they are failing. One ship's mistakes affect how their entire brand is perceived.

 

Entertainment sucked. Steel pan player was trying to play to backing tracks and all you could hear was steel drum with so much treble it was like sticking an ice pick in your ears. This guy was all over the ship too. I was running away from him because it was just not enjoyable. Could not find one band on the ship that played good ole rock and roll. This party band who just joined the ship with us did an 80's night on the pool deck and they were playing air guitar and lyp syncing because they did not know the material. It was pathetic. Even the guys who were mixing the band were embarrassed.

 

The constant upselling. The cruise director is so in love with himself that they have thing they do on the big screen called the wake show. Like a Good Morning America where they are constantly trying to get you to go to the art auctions, the jewelry sales, etc.. It's so in your face and obvious and ruins the chill pool deck vibe Between running from pool deck to pool deck to avoid the steel pan player and having to endure this Wake Show on the other pool deck. It was really annoying.

 

Mechanics. Everything is broken on that ship. Elevators were not working. Auto doors would close on you while you are half way through. Light sensors in the room going off for no reason in the middle of the night. etc. etc. etc.

 

Pool decks. There are 3 of them, each very narrow. It's challenging moving through those areas because all the loungers take up the space needed to walk from one end to another. Why do you need 3 small pool decks? They pack it in so tight, you cant navigate.

The ports were the best part of this cruise. Everything went off without a hitch. The excursions were so great. If it weren't for the ports and excursions, this cruise would be an EPIC fail. It's the only thing that kept me from rating it a 1.

 

In short, I would never sail Princess again. I took a chance and it really disappointed me. This cruise was not cheap either. Traveling as a single, I was paying double occupancy on a 14 night cruise in a balcony cabin. Do the math.

 

Princess does not know who they want to be either. They have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

 

Also I spent allot of time getting to know some of their Elite guests with 15 or more Princess cruises under their belt. They seem forgiving of the inconsistencies on Princess because of all the rewards they are earning. That's a dangerous place to be for a brand. Princess feels their guests are happy, but they are really just complacent. Most I talked to are so brand loyal they they would never consider sailing with anyone else. Why should Princess try if their legacy guests don't care? I think Princess knows of the complacency and allows the ball to drop. It's so obvious for me where they are failing.

 

But what they are really doing is alienating the new generation of cruisers. Your legacy guests are gonna be gone someday soon and you will be left at the mercy of pulling in new blood, but i think it will already be too late by that time.

 

I'll be back on Celebrity and Disney if you need me... cheers!

Posts like this used to be attacked almost unanimously. Shows the direction princess is going, I think.

Have you looked at Virgin Voyages. I think their approach might suit you. 

5 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Ah ok, got it. Eclipse is in the USA. Nice.

We will be watching the eclipse off the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico on the Discovery Princess. Also, looking forward to Spain on August 12, 2026.

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

Oh, you have a solar eclipse coming up?

We had a partial one on the Crown Princess in 2017 on a sea day between Puerto Madryn and Montevideo.

This was my trick:

Polymeric solar filter from Thousand Oaks Optical (10 bucks on Amazon)

 

I worked pretty well.

 

 

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

36 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Amazing. A much easier way to see king penguins than the long and expensive travel to Volunteer Point. I think it's half the price.

We cancelled our private tour to Volunteer Point and booked the ship's tour to Bluff Point. We were lucky as there were only two seats available.

Glad I found this thread. We sail on a 22 day Antarctica cruise on HAL Oosterdam on January 29. I have been following a blog

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2978886-bit-of-a-blog-hal-oosterdam-south-america-antarctica-decjan-202324/

on the current cruise, which is the same as ours (Buenos Aires to San Antonio with 4 days Antarctic cruising). She has posted lots of photos, so I don't think internet has been an issue. They don't show lectures on room tv citing copyright issues. Info on what to wear was really helpful, especially N95 masks and ozone layer. Never would have thought of that.

I will be bringing a Dwarf2  telescope that i bought for the upcoming total solar eclipse. It's also supposed to be great for wildlife.

@HaveDogWillTravel You always post a lot of good info.