scubacruiserx2

Congrats on the new house, :D

I think.:p

I think :p , is right as it can be a mixed blessing !

Just yesterday I had pleasure of putting up some hurricane shutters in anticipation of a possible tropical storm/hurricane event this weekend . Although , as of today , it will probably miss us , but we have entered our 'terrible two's' , the two month period of time when we are most likely to have a hurricane . We do like to prepare some things in advance so that we have less to do - if the real thing does comes . :eek:

We will be on this cruise (Seabourn Quest) Dec 19- Jan 12 Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. It is the only Seabourn itinerary that includes South Georgia Island, which all of my friends who have been to Antartica said was the highlight.We have cruised entirely on Seabourn for the last 15 years and cannot say enough about the wonderful ships and personal service. We have some friends going with us so we have made private tour arrangements for Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia. We are flying into Chile well before the cruise to spend a week hiking in the Torres Del Paine (we are staying at the cool looking EcoCamp) and a few days in Easter Island. Anyway, now that our planning is almost complete and all of our cold weather gear has been purchased, all we have to do is wait 3 1/2 months!!! I will report back. But if you have any questions about Seabourn itself please ask.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

WOW , your trip sounds amazing - a dream come true , so :

We hope that you enjoy your trip , take lots of photos , and please share them with us ! For us , Antarctica and Seabourn would be a once in a lifetime trip , so we would love to learn more about them and your trip . :) :D

 

 

Wow......When are you thinking about this cruise? Will certainly look forward to your review!!

 

We would like to go in November this year but we can't afford it so November or December of 2017 is possible - if we save ! :) :D

Cool. looking forward to it unravelling.:D

LOL , and I think that I've unraveled quite a bit , already ! :) :D

ha I just signed closing documents on my first house this morning! going to be a longgggg time for me. :|

Congratulations , and 2 thumbs up from us !

Perhaps not , you are young ( I peeked at your photo reviews - great job btw ) , and things can change fast ! :) :D

And the only thing that moves faster when you get old (like us) - is time !

LOL! This had not crossed my mind, but now I am sure that when I see the Little Mermaid next year in Copenhagen, I will think of you. :D

Thanks for this detailed cruise report, all the great pictures and videos, and all the relevant links. It has been so helpful in planning for my first Baltic cruise. Sad that the thread must soon be coming to a close.

You're welcome , we're glad to help .

I hope that you won't be too disappointed , but with a week's post - cruise stay in the UK , there's still more thread on the old spool ! :rolleyes:

US Secretary of State , John Kerry was in town and so there was a large police presence .

As we drew closer to the Opera House , we could see that something was going on

They were camera blocking for the Red Bull Cliff Diving event , to be held the next day .

After turning into another canal we saw the Black Diamond , the Copenhagen library .

Followed by the old stock market

And , a return to our starting point , Nyhavn .

A video clip of the Nyhavn canal cruise :

Water view of Amalienborg

French cruise ship Le Boreal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_du_Ponant

The Eclipse

Danish warships

Le Boreal close up

A fish out of water ?

Great shot.

Here's another great shot - Scandinavian Aquavit

Aquavit is an important part of Scandinavian drinking culture, where it is often drunk during festive gatherings, such as Christmas dinners and weddings, and as an aperitif.[3] In Sweden, Denmark and Germany aquavit is cooled down and often sipped slowly from a small shot glass. Wikipedia

Some Russian friends gave us a present of Linie and suggested that we drink it " Russian style " - a ice cold shot .

Linie Aquavit – an amazing journey

Linie Aquavit has quite an amazing journey behind itself, both an actual journey and one as a brand of Akvavit. Each bottle travels for about four months across the seas of the world, usually from Norway to Australia but each route is a bit different. This is also how it got its name, by passing the line (equator) the Linie Aquavit was named after this line, linie meaning line in Norwegian.

Loved Copenhagen, My wife has Danish heritage (one of her many lines, along with English, Scottish, Swedish and German) and I have Dutch heritage so when our tour guide first met us and looked us both up and down and said, 'You two are Viking' and he was probably right.

That's quite a mix , Mic ! ;)

We have an English surname , but mom is 100 % Polish and Pat's mom is 100 % Irish , so that's our taproots . After the birth of our son and his sisters , in the 80's , we affectionately referred to their unique heritage as Mcski . And when I did a search on the net for that word , it yielded this :

Ski up fast food in Sweden !

Our next stop was Nyhavn ( New Harbor ) , for a canal cruise .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyhavn

Some of us were experiencing the afternoon doldrums , but a quick visit to the Polsevogn ( Sausage Wagon ) , fixed things right away .

I tried the Ristet . This isn't my photo , but it was what I had . Grilled onions and pickled cucumbers = YUM

Backing out

Heading out

Skuespilhuset - The Royal Danish Playhouse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Danish_Playhouse

beautiful pictures! still following and still yearning for a European cruise!

Thanks for the compliment and hanging in there ! :) :D

We never thought that we would could afford Europe - until we first went there . I was 55 on our first trip , and paying off our house sure helped our vacation fund !

The climb to the top of the church was a tiny , dark , steep , circular stairway in which you couldn't see anything except the shoes of the person in front of you . And when one person stops , the whole group stops . So , were the views worth the climb ?

In the distance , we could see the Church of our Savior

And the Eclipse

And almost below us , where we had been .

:) :D

Our guide Adam was quite tall at 2 M ( 6'7" ) , and was at one time , one of the Palace Guards . Here he's telling us about our next stop , Frederik's Church .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik%27s_Church

The words on the front are 1 Peter 1:25 the word of the Lord endures forever .

Adam had made arrangements for us to go up above the dome for a view of the city .

At our next stop , several sites were all aligned

The Copenhagen Opera House

Amalie Garden on the Waterfront

The King Frederik V statue

Which sits in the middle of Amalienborg , the Queens Winter Palace .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalienborg

It's also where you can see the changing of the guard

There is a police presence there during the changing which has prompted a saying : The Danish Army is the only Army which requires police protection !

LOL, at least it is warm in the suit.:rolleyes:

I'm sure that warm would have felt good . It was about 12 C (55 F) in the pool that day !

Ironically, when were there, the mermaid was off to china for the world expo, so we saw the replica at the Tivoli Gardens.:cool:

Do you think that China made any cheap copies ?

Our first stop in Copenhagen was at one of the most famous and popular places - The Little Mermaid .

Some people were climbing the rocks for photos

I successfully resisted the urge to shout out to the mermaid 'What's the best tuna ? ', fearing an unscheduled trip to the insane asylum .

Some of the American readers may recognize the line from a popular advertising jingle :

LOL, maybe throw in some vegetables for the soup although no one likes too many peas in the pool.:eek:

Or in your wet suit ...

Photographic evidence of why you shouldn't have too much to drink before swimming . :eek:

please

 

They most definitely would not, Mic! :eek: They spend hours in the pool floating on their pool noodles, or sitting in a seat made from their pool noodles. They could swim laps if they wanted to.

With the warm temperatures and all of the noodles - it sounds like a big bowl of Ramen noodle soup . :)

One last early morning view of the bridge

We had a fairly small private tour booked with some of the folks on the Eclipse . We tied up at Langelinie along the road where we met our guide and driver , Adam .

A nice vehicle with plenty of room

thank you for this wonderful review. i hope you take another trip very soon. judy

Thanks Judy and we're glad that you have enjoyed it . We do have an Alaskan cruise booked in May , however we have looked at Antarctica for next November and we can only afford one of those ! ;)

 

We have actually booked the HAL cruise departing Valparasio on Jan 28th 2018 which does cruise to Antarctica......So we are on same the line of thought with you regarding Antarctica!

 

Your photos from your trip to SA were gorgeous, hopefully we will be lucky enough to have nice weather too.

 

We have recently returned from a Baltic cruise on the Silhouette. We were unable to make port on our first day at St Petersburg and it rained all day the following day, but we were able to make the most of it and see quite a bit - just didn't get to Peterhoff or St Catherine's Palace......We did luck out with weather in Norway afterwards though, the day we arrived in Geiranger was 27C and beautiful blue skies - a sight to behold that for sure. Weather certainly makes an impact.

 

 

Congratulations on your cruise ! We really did enjoy the HAL experience . And the weather , like in the Baltics will probably change dramatically during the cruise , so be prepared !

 

We're sorry to hear that you missed Peterhoff but we skipped Catherine's intentionally . Did you miss both the day and night in SPB ?

 

Your booking has got us looking at Antarctica , and our eyes are on this prize !

 

 

 

 

 

They make shore landings in zodiacs and spend a week in Antarctica !

 

 

 

 

P. S . Bring lots of money !! :eek:

 

It is nice when you have a smaller tour group with similar interests and helps share the costs as well.

That was our original attraction to CC ! :) :D

That is the one reason why we didn't do the Berlin shorex tour.

Our original plan in 2006 was similar to yours and included the Molli train in Warnemunde . But we met a nice couple on CC , who we shared a private tour in SPB with (DenRus) . They then invited us to Berlin with a small group tour with them and some friends , which they had booked . :) :D

Since this thread has been recently bumped up, I wanted to thank you again for your wonderful review! :) It is because of your photos of the Perito Moreno Glacier that my 2-week cruise eventually turned into a 6-week trip. :D I considered going to El Calafate on my own, then looked at tours to Patagonia. I chose a 15-night tour with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) that went to BA, Bariloche, Puerto Varas, Chiloė Island, Torres del Paine, and El Calafate! I was in Argentina for a week before my land tour started, so I spent 2 nights in BA, 2 at Iguazú Falls, and 3 in Salta. It was a fabulous trip! :)

Thank you Nancy for the OAT reference and it sounds like you had a great adventure ! :cool:

We would love to return and maybe do a land based trip like you did and/or a trip to Antarctica ! But for the time being , I'm still reviewing our recent Baltic cruise on the Eclipse ( http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2372103 ) . And in May we have Alaska planned , and we would love to spend about a 6 week visit / cruise to Australia and New Zealand , in the future !

We just returned from a 14 day cruise on the HAL Zaandam from Santiago to Buenos Aires. All we can say is WOW ! We will review the ship , the ports and be glad to answer any and all questions. And of course pictures :)

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I just stubbled upon this review while researching cruises to SA.

Wow, wow, wow, your photos are truly spectacular and I loved your blog.

Thank you so much for sharing...

 

My husband and I are looking at one of these round the horn cruises for early 2018 and can't decide between the various cruise lines, we're thinking we might go BA to Santiago. We've cruised with Princess & Celebrity before but not HAL, but I'm wondering if the smaller HAL vessel would be better for this trip, the itineraries look identical but I'm not sure if they are.....I really liked that you got to cruise Beagle Channel in the daylight too. Any thoughts and observations would be greatly appreciated.

 

We're planning to have a few days in Torres del Paine prior to the cruise - it's been a bucket list item for some time and I'm not sure one day would be enough for me. If only we could be so lucky as you with the weather I also love the idea of having time in El Calafate & El Chalten.

 

Again, thank you for your wonderful post.

 

Hello Cathy , and thank you for the kind words . With any of the 3 cruise lines HAL , Celebrity or Princess , we're sure that you'll have a great time in this beautiful area of the world . Once again , those are our favorite cruise lines but , who's the best fit for you ?

 

Have you been to , or considered Antarctica ? The Infinity goes there on February , 18th . That's one that we would also consider if we were there at that time . It is the Summer and the cruises only go a couple of times a year . In that region the weather is always changeable , but probably most stable then , making Antarctica both doable and affordable . :) :D