tupper10

Most cruise lines are great with food allergies though as another poster stated here I do find that desserts are an issue since many are made with almond paste and if your son has a severe nut allergy this can impact him.  If I want dessert there is always ice cream and  I bring a box of my favorite cookies with me when I travel to satisfy my sweet tooth, my motto with food allergies is better safe than sorry.  

10 hours ago, Nitemare said:

Considering the constant sanitizing of the boots every time you return to the ship, we didn't find that they were at all disgusting.  I rented boots, my wife bought and brought her own and happily brought them home packed in a grocery store plastic bag and has used them many times since then.  Also on Silversea, which does take sanitizing and safety seriously

I did not mean to imply that Silversea did not sanitize their boots.  They did which is why we felt fine wearing the 'ship boots'.    We found that most people on our cruise used the 'ship boots' that were available to everyone and that hardly anyone brought their own boots.   We even called Silversea before our cruise and we were told we didn't have to worry about bringing our own boots - perhaps things have changed since our cruise.  

  I was amazed at how many boots our Silversea ship had for us. We wondered why there were so many - we were told that , the people who had brought their own boots ended up leaving them on the ship since they were too disgusting to pack up and take home, so they just keep adding to their collection.  I think you will be fine with the ship selection but if you are really worried then find the cheapest pair of rubber boots to bring with you,  since you also will not be taking them home.  

The drive by Antarctica cruises are fabulous - and also depending on the line they sail the glaciers in Patagonia.  I am not sure if Royal Caribbean does this cruise but Celebrity and Holland America have these cruises.

Our suggestion is to do BA to Santiago.  The ship port is further away in Chile so you can't use the ship as your hotel in Santiago. In Argentina you can use the ship as your hotel and visit BA.  We think there is more to see in BA - if you you just want to stay in the city, but maybe that is just us.  There really isn't much scenery to see in Ushuaia unless you leave the  city area and go to the national park.   I would not use this port to make a decision on which way to go.  We are hopeful that the drive by cruises will go below the 60 degree mark in Antarctica - if they don't there will not be much to see on any of these drive by  cruises. So far none of us who are booked have gotten a firm answer on this question which has been discussed many times on the boards in cruise critics.  

We are scheduled for a 22 day cruise in January 2022 - if we are restricted to Hal's tours we will absolutely cancel our cruise.  We know that some people like the excursions but we like to explore on our own and if we want to go a long distance we rent a car or hire a driver and go with a very small group. Every tour I looked at on our cruise includes 'shopping' and a stop for lunch neither of which ever hold any appeal to us. While we do understand the necessity to be cautious if there are these restrictions we will content ourselves with other forms of travel.    

Thank you all for telling me to call back. I did and got the free wifi with no price change. Now all we need to do is to be able to actually go on this cruise scheduled for Jan. 2022. Here is hoping.  

I did ask and got a resounding no. I had the Have it all offer and really just wanted the free internet since I don't care about the upscale dining or free drinks.  Oh well - perhaps I should try again with a different agent.

I tried to get this deal on an existing booking. The price of my cruise has gone way up so unless I agreed to the new higher price I could not get this promotion. In the past I was always able to switch promotions and keep the initial price - I guess in the age of Covid this is no longer the case.  

We booked directly with Holland America  - on our now canceled cruise to Antarctica,  we had an aft balcony on deck 8.  When we re booked for the  2022 Antarctic cruise the agent said to grab the deck 5 aft cabin stating that those are the most requested of all the aft cabins for this cruise.  I have been to Antarctica  (small ship)  and I would get the most protected aft cabin you can since it is the wind that makes you cold vs the temperature.  From what I can tell the deck 5 aft cabins give you the most protection and you still get the view.   You want to be outside as much as you can despite any bad weather you may encounter since the wild life and scenery are spectacular.  

The same thing happened to us on our cruise-we had a promotion that we would actually use , free internet as well as tips etc. Now the one we have offers free drinks - we don't drink at all so it is worthless to us. I asked Holland America to give us the free internet they said no. We re booked but I was not pleased. As it looks now we will be canceling this cruise as well. I don't want to only be allowed to leave the ship on a Holland America excursion. I do understand why they want to do this, it is just not what we want to do on our planned trip.  Sad to say that I don't see how many of the cruise lines are going to recover until there is a decent vaccine for Covid.  

2 hours ago, Nitemare said:

We booked "run of ship" to save a few dollars and they issued us a great balcony that we were thrilled to have. 

 

Here is a video we took that shows what Tupper was describing

 

Other Antarctic videos on that channel.  All nice and short!

O

Thanks. Your video brings back some great memories.

We sailed on Silversea to Antarctica and would highly recommend it.  We did not have a suite but rather one of the porthole rooms. To be frank that was fine since we spent the majority of time on deck or in the zodiacs. We only used our room to sleep.  Most of the time on our ship you could not open the veranda doors due to the wind so everyone regardless of their rooms were  'on deck' to see the sights.  It is a small ship and you get to meet everyone which makes for a friendly atmosphere amongst the guests and also the crew. Our captain allowed the entire staff to come and view some of the spectacular sights we saw -  meals were interrupted to run on deck or to the large viewing windows by essentially the entire staff and guests - it was wonderful.  We were the only ship to cross the Antarctic Circle so far that season ( late Feb.)  which was due to the spectacular weather we had.   The Captain invited us all to see as we crossed the latitude of the circle - since by the scenery we could not tell the difference.  

Part of the beauty of Antarctica is the absolute quiet you have sitting in a zodiac with the engines turned off listening to the sound of ice popping, the birds screeching, and enjoying for a moment the spectacular world we live in.  We don't kayak but I imagine that would be fabulous as well.  

Whatever you decide enjoy one of the most spectacular trips you will ever have.  

I agree with rkacruiser - essentially the people I spoke with at HAL know nothing at all.  They were not even aware there is 'a treaty'.  I think HAL knows it can change the itinerary re Antarctica if it needs to since that is what the cruise contract says. The price since we booked our January cruise has gone way up so we will keep our current reservation and hope for the best. It we can't go south of 60 degrees we will cancel this cruise prior to final payment.  

I called Holland America about this and essentially I was told that a cruise itinerary could change based on things like the world situation, changes in treaties etc.  Per the person I spoke with, who spoke with a supervisor, as far as they know at this time only, the cruise description is correct but of course that is always subject to change.  In December to be frank there is less to see, the optimum time is January to February so for now we will leave our Jan 2022 as is.  I would hope that  we will be able to find out if we go south of 60 degrees prior to final payment.  I don't feel like sailing around open ocean for 4 days and I would hope Holland America would not do this given the reasons why many of us are booking this cruise.

North of 60 degrees you will see only ocean so to say you are visiting Antarctica in any sense of the word is deceptive.  We did an expedition cruise with Silversea but the prices are now double what we paid. We thought this cruise would offer us some of the 'sights' but no landings, it seems we will not even see the sights - so if the restriction is accurate we will cancel this cruise.  

Please let us know the answer you get re these cruises. I have a reservation but since it is so far in advance I will keep it for now and cancel if we can't get south of 60 degrees.  

2 hours ago, Mandalay1903 said:

After reading through this very helpful set of posts, and "with eyes wide open", yesterday I booked this cruise for 1/2022. Today I posed the polar certification question to my PCC (the remaining PCCs are now working 32-hour weeks) and she had to forward it to her supervisor to research. I'm interested to see how they respond.

 

Also, I'm attaching for reference the narrative from the online itinerary materials describing the "Antarctica Experience" for this cruise in January 2022. Either the polar certification question needs to be resolved, or the cruise itinerary needs to change significantly.

 

FWIW, we took the Santiago to Rio cruise on the Zaandam last November and loved it. Would definitely go again, but for a cruise with this Antarctic itinerary the certification question needs resolution.  It's a long way off and a lot of other HAL and CCL questions to be resolved first.

 

"In Partnership With AFAR
After a day and a half crossing the Drake Passage, which separates South America from Antarctica, your Holland America ship will arrive at the White Continent. On your Antarctic Expedition you will sail through the bays and islands of the Palmer Archipelago, off the northern tip of the long Antarctic Peninsula, which reaches out toward South America.Encircled in a landscape of snow and ice in every direction, your ship will slowly navigate the iceberg-dotted waters. The surroundings are hauntingly quiet as well, an aspect of the continent that comes as a surprise to many first-time visitors. Along the way, the ship's naturalists will point out the birds—terns, petrels, and gulls—found on the coast and on small islets at stops like Dallmann Bay. As you pass dark, rocky Cuverville Island, you’ll see some of the 6,500 pairs of gentoo penguins that make their home there, the largest known colony in the world. Continuing on to Paradise Harbor, you'll have a chance to observe not only gentoo and chinstrap penguins but possibly humans as well: Both Argentina and Chile have manned research stations here."

As far as I can tell from this board the Holland America cruise will not actually go near the Antarctic peninsula - so what will we see?  I ask this because we did do the expedition cruise with Silversea and it was fabulous.    We don't really care about seeing the penguins to be frank but we are more into the scenery and the larger wildlife - the ice bergs, the crackling ice, whales, seals, etc.  We are doing this cruise to see some of this again along with Patagonia. If we have no chance of seeing any of these things please let me know as I think we would then cancel and just do another Alaska cruise when cruising resumes.  We were supposed to go in Jan 2021 but I did not see us being able to safely go on  that one so we re booked for January 2021.  Any help is appreciated.    BTW if you can afford an expedition cruise it is well worth your while, as others have said here,  it is truly the trip of a lifetime. 

I apologize to all of my fellow cruisers for the Florida governor's statements.  Luckily he is not the one who makes the final decision. 

I want to know why our federal government is not assisting Broward County in dealing with all of the cruise ships coming in with people who are sick and need to go home, whether they are crew or passengers. We have loads of empty hotels that can be used to quarantine everyone for 14 days.  Yes we are having a surge here so let us bring in more resources to address this, not leave people stranded on ships at sea w/o adequate care.  

Please if you are a US citizen write to your Senator and Congress person so this nightmare can be over for the staff and crew of these ships.  Here is a link to do this.  

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

I am very glad that the ships are going to be allowed to pass through the Panama Canal and make their way to a US port.  I live in  South FL and it is getting to be a total mess  here with all of the Covid-19 cases. We are now doubling our #'s and many cities and counties in South Florida are under lock down with people only allowed to leave their homes for basic necessities. Our hospitals are getting full of Covid-19 patients.  If I were  this cruise, I would want to be in a  place where I could be assured of medical care if I needed it, and I could safely quarantine.  At this time I am not sure that Ft Lauderdale or anywhere in South FL is that place.  Here is the latest information for South Florida.https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-florida-coronavirus-palm-beach-testing-20200327-crpjllcg2jcwncvytpa3ttji6a-story.html

3 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

<snip> with apologies to your lovely photos, but this thread will become 11 miles long if quoted photos within quotes continue 

 

Sorry I wasn't clear.  I meant could *YOU* personally get a real feel for some sort of size/majesty from the deck?

And regardless, did you "have that sensation" several times while cruising in the area those few days?

Do you get somewhat "up close and personal" to *any* serious icebergs?  I assume they can tell with sonar/radar/whatever how big the underwater portions of the icebergs are so there is no untoward event, etc.

 

It's probably impossible for us to get a sense of it without "being there" !

 

Thanks again.

I *am* looking at Antarctic cruises now, though DH may not know we may be about to make some sort of refundable deposit for way in the future!

 

It looks like HAL is the way to go for a "once ever" trip.

 

GC

 

 

 

 

If you can there are still some aft cabins available on the January 30th sailing on deck 7 - with cabins above and below - which is the price of a Veranda cabin.  Some of the aft cabins are suites and we didn't feel we needed the upgrade. You get a bit more noise but it gives you the best view if you get one in the middle.  It is very windy down south - the issue  isn't the cold - it is the wind - so it will be nice to come in from up on the deck to our room and still be able to run outside on our verandah and see 'both sides'.  BTW no need for heavy winter coats - the trick is layers and start with long underwear - hats, gloves, and neck warmers essential, with wind breaker type jacket.  If you book this cruise let me know would love to meet fellow cruisers.

Interesting we just had to make the same choice.  Celebrity was out because it doesn't really spend enough time sailing in Antarctica - if you look at the times/dates it is there you only get a few hours total. The choice was between Princess for the 16 days and the one we looked at for 2021 for 20 days with HAL.  We have been to Antarctica (expedition ship) and this time we wanted to see it again as well as see the glaciers etc in Chile.  Princess essentially doesn't go there so for the price differential and seeing the glaciers we chose HAL.  We have not been on either cruise line but selected it solely based on the itinerary.  We also got an aft cabin - we have done this in Alaska and you don't have to run from side to side you get the entire view point from your rear facing balcony.  . 

We just booked this cruise going from BA to Santiago.  I don't think it really matters which way you go - we did it based on the room choice since we wanted an aft cabin in a decent location and there were none left on the prior sailing.  We also wanted to see a bit of Patagonia vs just Antarctica since we did the expedition cruise with Silverseas.    I do agree though with the previous poster - if you can afford it do the excursion  cruise with the zodiacs.    It is well worth it and you will not be sorry you did it.

Go near the Tulip restaurant for 10.00 per person you can get a chaise and use the bathrooms at Tulip. They also have an outdoor shower and changing room. It is by a small motel but you won't see that sign. The bus stop is essentially right by Tulip which is near the Amsterdam Manor but a less crowded beach. If you get there early enough you can get some shade if there are palapas still available. Otherwise in the back there are some trees but be careful there is lots of broken glass so it is better to be closer to the water.