JohnandEllie

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/wrong-theres-reason-old-people-102001382.html

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I highly recommend the Ventures zodiac excursion in Milford Sound.

Dade County and the City of Miami offers  free pcr and rapid testing at various places around the city.  We got our results by email within a few hours. 

In mid February this year we boarded the Quest to start a 42 day cruise from San Antonio Chile down the fjords to Tierra del Fuego on to Antartica stopping at the Falklands then Montevideo and Buenos Aries.  The second half of the cruise up the coast of Brazil and into the heart of the Amazon never happened due to the coronavirus. As we approached Uruguay all the borders were closed to us and we sailed with uncertainty for a day until Argentina let us in so we could fly out.  We were lucky to get home in mid March as the whole world shut down.  Seabourn fully refunded the canceled half of the cruise, unprompted with no drama.  I hope we can cruise with them next year.

Anyway this was our third time in Ushaia so I opted for a helicopter tour.  Due to the pandemic I was the only passenger.  Highly recommended.

3 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Given that Seabourn (other cruise lines are available) must plan several months ahead, and given the total uncertainty vis-a-vis flights, ports of call etc, especially in the Americas, I really cannot see any cruises being run until deep into 2021.  I now believe the Quest's last trip to Antarctica was the Quest's last trip to Antarctica. 

That's too bad, we were on that last sailing when our onward journey to Brazil was cut short by the pandemic on March 15.  We so enjoyed our second trip to the Antartic on the Quest we were considering the March 2021 cruise that includes So. Georgia.

The Quest Antartica voyage is the best of all trips we looked at.  We have been on the 100 passenger expedition cruises (not Antartica) and the 2+ landings per day are frankly exhausting coupled with a decidedly less comfortable voyage.  I just read through the Scenic Eclipse maiden voyage to Antartica thread as I thought it or the Venture might be an alternative but the smaller ships crammed with entitled cruisers vying for too few helo/sub rides is not appealing at all.

Actually Ryan was a featured performer on our cruise from Santiago to Manaus on the Quest when it was cut short in Buenos Aries by the closing of the borders in mid March. If you read the article it states that the European crew members of both ships were transferred to the Quest which then headed for Europe.  The Western Hemishere crew members were waiting for permission to disembark in Miami while having to ride out the pandemic in Barbados on the Odyessey.

A big thank you to Captain Alex and the crew of the Quest for getting us off safely in Buenos Aries, we only sailed without a disembarkation port for one day and managed a flight home before the airports shut down to US flights.

This is from our itinerary:

Seabourn offers a two day excursion to Igauzu for $2000 pp on our upcoming sailing Santiago to Manaus.

I booked it myself with a stay in the Melia hotel, looking forward to this.

Here is a picture of Niagara Falls from this past July, from what I can tell the Melia won't be so close to the falls.

On 9/15/2019 at 2:57 AM, Fletcher said:

 

Thank you highplainsdrifters -  I look back fondly to those Antarctic landscapes but I'm not sure I would ever go back there.  However, I would happily go back to South Georgia and always look in vain for a cruise that also visits the South Sandwich Islands.  As for the South Pacific, I've just booked a back-to-back on Ponant's Le Soleal visiting the Marquesas and the Austral Islands.  I'm also likely to book another Ponant trip next March sailing from Recife in Brazil to Fernando de Noronha then Bissagos Islands in Guinea-Bissau and ending in Dakar in Senegal.  Hopefully when Seabourn gets its expedition ship we might find itineraries like these. 

We loved this so much we are booked to do it again this time from Santiago to the Amazon in Manaus Brazil.  We spent a week in the Amazon by land eco-tour this past Ferbruary so seeing by air-conditioned cruise ship may be a let down. I wanted to do the So. Georgia cruise on Seabourn but the holiday sailing does not work for us this year.  I'm hoping that the March timeframe in Antartica will allow us to witness the elusive aurora australis. I looked at some of the other lines' offerings but the Quest really gives a lot for the fare.  I know you are an avid photographer so I am posting two of mine for your perusal:

From our Antartica cruise Jan 2018 the captain with cruise director:

21 hours ago, Thecat123 said:

 

Willi you have your priorities wrong

You should have gone to Waiheke Island as there are plenty of vineyards  there instead of playing golf

https://www.fullers.co.nz/destinations/waiheke-island/

This is sunset last night at Thomas Bach Winery from the Waiheke Island wine and dine twilight tour - highly recommended. 

When I see questions like this I am am reminded of the story of the Japanese family who were hiring a 4WD in Cairns for a 3 day weekend.

When the booking guy casually asked "So, where are you off to ? " they replied " Kakadu, Ayers Rock and back here to go out to the reef" :)

(The above would be a 2 to 3 week road trip, and that would be rushing it!)

Australia is the size of the continental U.S. and people underestimate the vast distances involved, over often poor 2 way roads.

Also December is the wet season, roads can be closed for days at a time after a downpour.

JohnandEllie, please do your research throughly, to avoid disappointment.

Thanks to everyone for their ideas. No worries about my outback plans and under no illusions of the distances involved. Darwin to Alice Springs is a two hour flight and same from there to Cairns. A day in Darwin to Kakadu, two days outback, a day back to the ship in Cairns. It's a bit rushed for me but better than sitting around the boat for three days.

Hi all, we are doing the Bali to Auckland this December on the Encore. There are three sea days after Darwin and an overnight in Cairns. Is it possible to go touring on our own at Darwin and get back on in Cairns? It's the best time we will be able to see the outback. Also what is the best way to experience the Great Barrier Reef? Does the ship offer snorkeling from the marina? We sailed the Quest in January to Antartica, looking forward to this one.

All my photos from the Seabourn Quest trip to Antarctica and South Georgia in Dec 17-Jan 18 are now up on Flickr. 155 photos in all. For those interested here is a link -

 

 

I hope you like them. If you haven't done this trip then maybe these little memories might encourage you to do it yourself.

We were on the trip after you (voyage in reverse). Nice work.. Here's my humble offering:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/61793243/ANTARTICA-2018