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scubacruiserx2

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Posts posted by scubacruiserx2

  1. 3 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

    I hope you both have fully recovered from Covid, and thank you for this wonderful travelogue!

     

     You're welcome and thanks for going along for the ride . Here's a few photos from Torres del Paine from our last trip there when it wasn't so windy . This was the Large waterfall this time with a video and the last time when it wasn't so windy that we could hike to the water fall for a better view of the Masstif .

     

     

     

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    Salto Grande Waterfall connects Lake Nordenskjold and Lake Pehoe

     

    Zapatito de la Virgens near the waterfall

     

    Virgin's slipper

     

     

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    Porcelain Orchid

     

     

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    Torres del Paine

     

    Upland geese and chick

     

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    Gunaco playa

     

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  2.   After our gathering of the bags at MIA we had some problems with our Global 1 machines . They told us to see the Customs and Immigration officer and he breezed us through . A rogue cabby found us and we were off to the Brightline station in Miami where I recognized the streets , but not all of the new buildings sprouting up like mushrooms . 🍄

      We had enough time to grab a bite to eat in the Brightline lounge before our pre booked train . Fortunately for us it was a semi express train to Orlando with the only stop in Palm Beach . 

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlPdE9-C0Zo

     

     We had picked up a dry cough on our flight and we were coming into a cold front moving through in Florida . Since we  retained our sense of smell , and didn't have chills , we thought it was just a cold from the flights and the weather change . But our oldest Grandson who picked us up and took us home also tested positive for Covid as we did . He only had it 3 days but had the chills and a fever and ours was more just a prolonged cough for almost 2 weeks .

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  3. 3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

    It wasn't quite that bad but it certainly wasn't what we had booked.

     

      Most of the time we have been quite happy with our private tours , and they like our cruises have met or exceeded our expectations . We mentioned one or two gone astray and ultimately we just want what we have booked and paid for like you and most people . 

     Today is the last day that we have given Aerolineas Argentina to refund the money that we paid for Business Class from El Calafate to BA , which we have not received in terms of their promise kept by performance as promised or a refund as they promised . 

     It's been more than a month and our TA who is a native Spanish speaker has spoken with AA more than once is trying again today . It appears that the charge will have to be disputed with the credit card and we can no longer rank AA at the upper level and recommend them as we have done in the past .

     

  4.  The flight from El Calafate wasn't comfortable but it was short and we were soon back at the Sheraton Convention just 15 minutes from Jorge Newberry Airport . We even had the same room so it was Deja Vu all over again . There is a driver rental in the hotel so we set an early morning time . We had hoped to get to EZE early to eat breakfast at the AA club as we were flying Business Class again ? 🙏

      The driver was 1/2 hour late and we got in a logjam at customs and immigration and PSA . So breakfast would be on the plane . The last final act before boarding the plane is putting your carry on luggage on an exam table so the PSA doctor can probe around or have you remove everything that you had nicely packed . We were finally seated on the big bird and ready for the lights out flight . But unlike Pavlov's bell , we were trained to salivate when the overhead lights came on .

     

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    The flight was mostly listening to my oldie favorites on my wired noise cancelling headphones . A USB outlet kept my antique Ipod and I Touch alive like Dr. Frankenstein's creation of spare parts .

     I had some good music to snooze to between feedings . 

     The next meal I broke tradition .

     

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     I was desiring a Malbec from Bariloche to go with my pasta but I enjoyed it anyway .

     

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      On the flight down we saw the remake of the 1991 movie Point Break and it was a decent action movie . But on the flight home it just music and the information station .

     

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     We did hedge our bets this time by befriending a nice single elderly lady who was bilingual . The last time that we returned from EZE to MIA they made an announcement in Spanish only that the luggage carousel had changed , even though the sign said that it was at the original carousel . Miami Dade County is currently officially more Hispanic than Anglo .

      

  5. 12 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

    We too have found there is often a communication/ interpretation issue in countries where English is not the first language. We booked a private tour in Chile for 4 of us, only to find we were with 1 other private tour group of 4 and 2 small groups in a larger mini bus for 12 pax. There was no seat for the guide, so he stood up in the van the whole tour. When queried, we were then told that the bus was shared but the actual tour of the winery and city were private. The winery had 2 more small groups  join our group (now 20 strong) and the city tour had (16). Sometimes you just have to laugh it off and just roll with it.

     

      That sounds similar to a number of experiences that we have had in a number of countries . Since we do mostly semi private/private tours with local guides we've seen lot's of variation between guides , partly

    communication/ interpretation and partly cultural . 

     This cruise on the NCL Star to Antarctica began last year as a cruise to Northern Europe . U.K. , Norway and Iceland in May of this year with a week in Iceland to finish the cruise . In some ways similar to avoid the crowds and go to cool places . But the devil was in the details and the guides in the Nordic countries refused to book or talk with us until after the New Year . And the cruise / stay would have cost double what this trip cost . We have run into some intransigent behavior with a lack of cooperation when it comes to requesting photo stops - even with mostly solo guides . They seem to know what's best for us as they are the experts - at twice the price .   Your tour sounds like a Chicken Bus tour in the words of our guide in Guatemala .

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  6.   Meanwhile back in the El Calafate airport , the man at the counter spoke very good English and we commended him on his skills . He said that he worked for 10 years on NCL . When we told him that we had just been on the Star his eyes lit up with fond memories . We were the only ones in the Business Class line so as  soon as he finished with us he moved over to help the very busy other 4 lines . 

     When we looked at the plane we thought that it was larger than the one we flew down on .

     

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     As we boarded early we noticed that we were in aisle 11 instead of aisle 2 and that it was 3 seats across instead of 2 . I stowed the luggage and Pat talked to a flight attendant who told us that there was no business class . She tried to move forward to talk to the head attendant and she was like a fish swimming upstream . She piggybacked behind an attendant to move forward and sure enough there was no business class . We still wanted the aisle # 2 that we had long ago prepaid for . Instead of moving us forward , they offered us aisle #22 with 3 seats . By the time that Pat told me that aisle was filled . Their next offer was to bump us to another flight 2 hours latter that may or may not have a business class . They did say that they would refund the difference in the price of seats and since they were closing the door , we were off .

     

     

     

     

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  7. 4 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

    Wow! a 3 Km walk... not for me! Thank you for the link.

    On a road trip we got to Cabo Vírgenes, where Ruta 40 begins, and there we could walk freely among 100,000 penguins. The noise and the stench and the wind were tremendous! But we were the only people there, and it felt good to have reached the southermost point of the American continent…

     

     That does sound amazing . It's about 5 1/2 hours from El Calafate and we noticed that you can cross over from Route 40 to Puerto Natales , near Torres del Paine perhaps making a loop on the way back . We would need to spend a couple of nights . 

     Have you heard of The Long Way Up ? An actor named Ewan Mc Gregor from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and a friend of his ride electric motorcycles from Ushuaia to Los Angeles , California .

     

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

     

    We streamed it on Apple TV and it was very interesting to follow . It took 14 weeks as their motorcycles could only travel 72 miles on a charge .

  8. 22 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

     

     

     Yes it is quite a ride followed by quite a walk . We were fortunate to get there early before the heat and the crowds and it gave us a chance to get to know the other couple that we also toured with to see the penguins with . I read an account of the Punta Ninfas tour and he said that it was a 3Km walk to see the penguins . You can read about it here and see some photos at post # 90 .

     

     

     

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  9. 21 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

     

    Great pics of Mount Fitz Roy! The peak is too often shrouded by clouds.

    I love El Chaltén, it´s pretty unique: it was founded only 40 years ago, although mountain climbers had discovered the Fitz Roy years before. Slowly it began to receive an influx of young people looking for a simpler way of life close to nature. It became known as the Trekking Capital. Then Lonely Planet discovered it!

     

     Thank you , but it's hard to take a bad photo of it in the morning ! On the days that we were there it was clear in the morning but cloudy and a little rain in the evening . To our eyes and mind it's still not spoiled yet ( like we are ) . We are reluctant to share sometimes because we like to keep it nice . On more than 1 occasion we have shared and less considerate people can overdo it . We didn't see it in Lonely Planet but some other travelers shared it with us originally .

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  10.   We wanted to gas up the car before returning it and Pat remembered a gas station close to the airport . It was further than she thought and we had to go thru a police crossing to get to it . They just waved us thru and the station was before the city of El Calafate . 

     

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     On our way to the airport we were stopped for a license check but we didn't need our passports as usual . We parked and grabbed a luggage trolley and loaded it and I got in a long line while Pat went to return the car . They were closed and she need to use the restroom . So I returned to the car rental and tried to slip the paperwork under the door and put the key in a locked drop box . The paperwork wouldn't fit so I asked the guy at the other car rental if we could leave the paperwork with him which we couldn't . He dropped the key in the box and tried to put the paperwork in the small box which wouldn't fit and  returned to his office , I crammed the paperwork all the way in the box . Returning to the trolley the line had now moved up to the ATM , still almost a block from the Airline counter .

     

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    We were last in line and it seemed as though it would stay that way . We still didn't have our boarding passes so I decided to abandon the trolley and walk up to the counter to see if they had a business class line , which we were flying . They did and it was empty so I showed the man there our old paper work and he said to go get our luggage which I did . Just before Pat walked up an English gentleman who seemed irate asked me " How do you get to skip the queue ? " . I explained that we were flying business class and away he went as Pat arrived just in time to hear the exchange .

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  11. 14 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

    Thanks, that more or less is what I was getting at, which is why I didn't put traditional dining in with open dining. We prefer open and do not expect the waiters to know our likes or dislikes prior to them meeting us.

    We do however expect to have water and bread within 5 minutes of being seated. We do expect to have drink orders taken within another 5 minutes after that. we do expect to have our food orders within 5-10 minutes after that, which means with 20 minutes of sitting down. Once we ordered we expect a 10-15 minute wait between courses.

    I do not think that is unreasonable and some nights it was delivered, others it was even quicker but some nights it was no where near being like that.

     

     We don't think that a greeting , bread and water is too much to ask on a cruise ship , even prisoners get that . 🙂😊

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  12.   We have found that most ship worker like routine including servers . If they see the same people at the same time at the same table they establish a rapport and routine with you . That's why when we eat in the MDR we choose a fixed time . The same goes for the room attendants if know when we're out they usually tidy up when they know that we're gone . 

      The advice from @VMax1700 works well also to help correct issues . But we mainly use it to commend good service which helps deserving people move up in pay scale with promotions . It may help if you with future HAL cruises , while you're on the cruise .

     Cheers Mic and Rosie 

    • Like 5
  13.   The day that we had dreaded had arrived , Saturday  January 27th - time to head North for the Winter . The night before our water looked a little suspect which the front desk gladly exchanged for sealed bottled water .

     

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    They were having some trouble with Aerolineas Argentinas both checking us in and printing the boarding passes at the front desk . It was still the same during breakfast and when we left El Chalten . We had paid extra to drop the car at the Airport in El Calafate instead of downtown where we rented it . The man at the desk helped us with our bags , again refusing a TIP . It's about a 3 hour ride to the airport if I don't take too many pictures , which I always do , but look where we are !

     

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    The Puerto Bahia Tunel turnoff

     

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  14. 12 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

     

    That´ll be a great family holiday – the best possible investment!

    Has your son had the chance of travelling through Peru at all? It´s a fascinating country, and as well as Cuzco, Machu Picchu and Lima, their archeological digs North of Lima have unearthed remains of precolumbian and pre-inca cities like Chan Chan.

     

    I coincide with your choices for future trips, although sadly the Middle East is going through a terrible time, and your “Big Boy” is too far for us. But I recommend Switzerland, it´s totally doable!!! Let me tempt you:

     

    As we have to take expensive flights to get to Europe we usually combine several trips in one. In late September 2014 we went on our absolute favourite trip, 26 days starting in Switzerland: 4 days in Zermatt, the Glacier Express train over the Alps (glorious scenery) to St. Moritz, Bernina Express train to Lake Como and 4 days in Varenna, Trenitalia to Venice and 5 days there, ending in a 7-day cruise to Athens and the Greek Isles.

     

    We could have called it a day there and then, but as we always try to finish a trip relaxing in some dreamy place we took a train from Venice to Salerno and then a private car to Ravello, high up overlooking the Amalfi coast, one of our favourite places in the world. We stayed one night in the Hotel Parsifal, an ancient monastery dating back to 1288, and then moved to a cottage with a view of Amalfi Bay for 4 days before taking a flight from Naples Airport and heading home…

     

     

      Our Son , DIL and our grandson Dante gave us a facetime call from Machu Picchu on December 27th , not long before we left on our trip . Carmen's family lives in Lima and this was their 3rd or 4th trip there .

     Switzerland sounds like the best bet in 2025 if we're still around . Fall is a great time for us to beat the heat and Hurricane season and we like to see the leaves changing . We do have time to plan add on stops .   BTW I'm 73 and the hike to the waterfall was only about a mile total and mostly flat . Much less than Punta Tombo .

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  15.   Passing by our hotel to lunch because we knew that we had a free dinner there we went back to try lunch at La Tapera . The menu was the same as the night before but we were the only people there which gave us time to interact with the staff who are very laid back . 

     

    We sat next to the firepit the night before .

     

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    Here's the ladder on the right ( the naval term for stairs ) which led to the washroom .

     

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    We forgot that they collected plates or we would have brought a Florida one . Here's one from where we spent our 46th marriage birthday .

     

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    I ate light with soup and an empanada

     

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    We split a dessert skyscraper

     

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    We really like this place and would recommend it . We did indulge in a siesta as an old tradition from my Firefighter days when we worked 24 hour shifts . It works well in Florida to stay out of the hot midday sun .

     

     

     

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  16. 14 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

     

    Thank you! I wish we´d had your advice re finding a cruise with 4 days in the Antarctic… We tend to make one “big” trip a year (around 35 days) but after the pandemic we did two cruises and saved money booking the Infinity at a very good price but only one day in Antarctica!

     

    On our land trips we usually spend several days in each place in an Airbnb, alternating between “cultural” trips and wonderful scenery. Thank you for recommending Inside Lisbon, we´ll certainly keep it in mind! We´re going to stay 3 days in Lisbon (we´ve been there before), 2 in Obidos and 4 in Porto where my husband Martin´s family come from, ending up in Rome for a week. We´re going to indulge in what is now known as “Slow Travel”…

     

    I´m already reading your Eclipse thread! We did a west-bound TA on her sister ship Equinox and loved it. I´m also looking forward to getting to the Moscow part to compare notes, as we did an independent trip to Russia in 2015. On that occasion we were happy to have stretched our budget and booked private guides in Moscow and St Petersburg, and we did so again on a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land. But normally we do our own thing.

     

    I´m way off topic, so let me add that I´m enjoying your Chalten photos and also your captions! Thank you again for sharing!

    Madeleine

     

      We thank you for sharing your input and ideas . The BIG 3 trips that we would like to do is Egypt and the Holy Land . Switzerland and the countries of the Alps and the Big boy . That would be Australia and dive the Barrier reef on a liveaboard for a week and cruise to New Zealand and back through Tahiti and Hawaii to the West coast of the US .

     We haven't been to Rome but our son and DIL with their son have and loved it . She is from Peru and they were down there for Christmas , and her brother's birthday . The last time that they were down they wanted our son to give a 30 minute speech at his niece's speech at her Quinceañera . Needless to say they are all fluent in English and Spanish .

      Our next cruise will be our annual family holiday which falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas . We do it then because our oldest daughter and our DIL are both nurses and usually have to work on one or the other holiday . It's only a week on the Neuiw Amsterdam but there's 4 stops including Grand Turk , Bahamas , the DR and Key West .

    • Like 1
  17.  After breakfast we decided to take a short hike because of the wind and our old knees . Additionally being flatlanders our breathing is not as easy as someone who lives at altitude .  So slow and steady it was with hiking poles .

     

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    We enjoyed it when we were told to go take a hike 

     

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    It had warmed a bit but was still very pleasant

     

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    My mom's parents lived in the country and had no running water in their house so they had an outhouse like the one that we used in the woods , only not elevated . And this one was more fancy , a 2 seater !

     

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