Hotshot80

We were on the Ambience in September 2022 and the make up of the crew was as follows:

Out of a total of 595 crew

India - 217

Imdonesia - 155 

Philippines - 89

Myanmar - 49

Other 25 countries - 85

On 6/27/2019 at 12:09 PM, little britain said:

We booked morning as wildlife is usually more active then. If it is really good then DH may go back out in the afternoon one.

We did the ships excursion in February 2019 from the P&O Oceana, as it was going to be the only way to get to see the wildlife on the Island.

I was really disappointed with the vehicles they used. They were fully enclosed 7 seater vehicles, 2 in the front, including the driver, 3 in the middle row (meaning one of the passengers had to sit in the middle of that row, not having direction access to a window,, and 2 in the very back of the car, with no window at all to open..

We nearly ended up being placed in the very back of one vehicle, but I waited for the next vehicle to pull up and sat in the front passenger seat so that I could open the window and try to take photo's from that side of the vehicle. My wife sat in the middle of the second row, so at least those passengers in that row could access a window each for the photo'd they wanted to take.

I did feel sorry for the couple that had to sit in the very back of the vehicle as they had paid exactly the same price for the trip as the rest of us, but without an opportunity to take pictures from that location. We paid £66 per person for that trip to P&O, which only lasted one hour. I did eventually get some decent images of wildlife, but they were effectively in a "Zoo" so I would not do the trip again.

Hopefully they will eventually replace these vehicles with more traditional open sided safari type vehicles, as I am sure there would have been a lot of disgruntled passengers, especially the two in the very back of the vehicle, commenting about the inadequate vehicles for a trip of this type.

If you walk a short distance up the Main Street, you can take the public bus into Dunedin. It leaves every 1/2 hour and costs $6 each way, drops you off in the middle of town and you can pick it up where the shuttle buses pick up passengers to take them back to Port Chalmers. Just ask the driver for guidance, they are very friendly people there

You can stand on the Heli-pad of the Radiance of the Seas to enjoy the panorama of both sides of the Sounds at the same time, rather than just seeing one side from a Balcony Cabin

The shuttle also stops at the Aquarium too

You should see Jan. 25, 2020. HAL, Princess and Azamara will be in Stanley on the same day. On the chance that we might actually follow through on this deposit and take the HAL cruise, I’ve already booked with Estancia for Volunteer Point.

IMO the HAL Cruise is far better than the Celebrity Cruise. Great decision to book now, lots of passengers will be disappointed if they leave booking that trip too late. Enjoy the experience of getting there and back as well as seeing so many penguins when you arrive there

A minimum of £2400 (US$3100) for a one day sail-by in Antarctica in an inside cabin with 2,850 passengers! Anyone wanting to travel to Antarctica could find far better value. A quick check came up with £4900 (US$6300), 13 days, Hurtigruten's Midnatsol, and it includes landings! OK, twice the price (so save up for another year?) but infinitely better.

 

The Celebrity cruise does include the Falklands but 2,850 passengers dumped on Stanley? Good for businesses in Stanley, but the town they would see would be far from the Stanley we have visited on a ship carrying far fewer than 10% of the Celebrity Eclipse!

Our friends went on a Hurtigruten cruise down there and because of very poor weather they only got ashore twice not the twelve they were hoping for.

If you like wildlife, and penguins in particular, Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands is in my personal opinion, the best wildlife excursion from a cruise ship anywhere in the World. Hundreds/thousands of King, Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins all in the same place, an amazing sight.

Indeed. It seems from descrition that they plan to land people at Cape Horn, weather permitting (which is actually pretty awesome), so that will take at least half a day. So then there are 3,5 days left to cross the Drake, cruise around the Peninsula, cross back to Falklands, lets say about 90 hours. 30 hours crossing each way (in good conditions), so that's actually a little over a full day in Antarctica. Better not go sleep to make the most of it.

Celebrity ships cannot land passengers at Cape Horn, it’s just a “sail by” there too

Thanks.

 

Is there any cushioning on the seats?

That is, is it like a school bus with some but limited cushioning?

Or more like an excursion bus with somewhat more cushioning?

Or... more like bench seats?

Or....??

 

And do you happen to remember if they are "sharp jolts" or just very uneven movements?

(Yes, that can be very subjective, but perhaps you have some sense of this?)

 

Also, how long? 30 minutes? 2 hours one way?

 

Seeing penguins would be very high on my list (especially) :)

 

And is this an area where season is important, in the sense (pun intended!) of smell, such as the rookeries getting, er, ripe?

If so, which would the better timing be, in terms of not being *too* early and missing any chance of seeing the young ones?

Seeing "only adults" would still be fine!!

 

GC

Hi GC, the only way to get to Volunteer Point is by using 4x4 vehicles (which travel in convoys), whether it is on a ships excursion or on a privately arranged tour. The vehicles used by the locals are usually older second hand ones so they may not be particularly comfortable, especially for the 3 passengers in the back of the vehicle. It takes about 2 hours each way, mainly over boggy, undulating ground. There are not many miles of tarmac road on the Falkland Islands, but lots of miles of gravel track before you then go "off road".

There can be sharp jolts as well as uneven movements, as some inexperienced drivers may take the wrong line over the poorly defined tracks and occasionally some of them can end up getting stuck and having to get pulled out by one of the other vehicles in the convoy.

Port Stanley is not a Caribbean Island with lots of taxis waiting to pick you up, so I would strongly recommend that if you are fit enough to travel to Volunteer Point, either book a ships excursion ASAP or to get in touch with a local private tour operator there. Bear in mind though that a private trip could be considerably cheaper than a ships excursion, as the ship knows that there is limited availability of vehicles and lots of passengers wanting to do this "one in a lifetime" trip.

Most "sail by cruises" take place in January and February when there should be chicks about, but if you specifically want to see chicks, then possibly consider a February sailing.

Thanks.

 

By the "bad back" warning, is this about walking/climbing, or a very bumpy ride?

Or something else?

 

GC

It is a very long and bumpy ride, but as I love penguins, it has been for me the best wildlife excursion I have ever been on anywhere in the World

I’ve seen a few Celebrity sailings that listed more than two days of scenic cruising in Antarctica. This one has four days, hoping to visit Schollaert Channel, Paradise Bay, Gerlache Strait, and Elephant Island:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/itinerary-details?packageID=EC14F084&sDT=2019-01-20&cCD=CO&aCB=false

Hi, the above itinerary confirms that the Celebrity ship visits the Schollaert Channel, Paradise Bay and the Gerlache Strait on Day 7 and then reaches Elephant Island on Day 8 of the cruise, so only 2 days in Antarctica, whereas the Holland America and Princess does stay down there for 4 days. I have done a "sail by" on both the Celebrity Infinity and the Holland America Zaandam and personally prefer the Zaandam's itinerary as it did stay down there much longer, sailing down Channels that the Infinity just cruised past.

If you like Penguins, and want to see the up close consider going to Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands if you want to get up close to hundreds/thousands of King, Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins all sharing the same space. Don't go if you have a bad back however. We also saw some King Penguins, as well as many more Magellanic Penguins on Martillo Island on an excursion from Ushuaia

It is one of our stops on our Oct. 2016 Oceania Insignia cruise from Lima to BA.

I have read that weather can make or break this stop. I hope we are lucky.

Hi portofinoitaly, I am led to believe that 96 out of every 100 ships get to tender their passengers ashore at Port Stanley so you will be really unlucky if you do not get to land there. If you like wildlife, please consider going to Volunteer Point where there are 100's if not 1,000's of King, Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins to be seen , all in one location. It's a bit of a roller coaster ride to get there and back, so the journey is not recommended for anyone suffering from a bad back. In my opinion, it is one of the best excursions to see wildlife anywhere in the world. Hope you enjoy your time there, regards, Harold

Visiting Recife down to Uruguay and Argentina. What currency do I need plus can I buy it before I go from the UK ?

Hi, you can buy Brazilian and Argentinean currencies from some branches of Marks and Spencers before you leave. If they do not have any in stock, they can usually obtain them for you within a reasonable timescale. I don't think that there is a minimum quantity so you could just as much as you think you need. Small denominations of US$ are also very useful in South America

Hi, we are sailing on the MSC Opera for a 21 night cruise from Southampton to Cape Town shortly. Does anyone know how many formal nights there may be, thanks, Harold

Why not transfer the booking to a good TA and get even more savings?

Princess in the US will not even speak to us Brits if we have booked through a TA. I only wanted them to remove a "NA" which appeared, in error, as my middle name on the Cruise Personalizer, but they refused to talk to me because we had used a TA!!!!

Have cruised with Thomson four times but are doing the Solar Eclipse cruise with Fred in March on the Boudicca. Any advice or photos would be most appreciated. We have booked a junior suite as the cruise is to celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Check out "soccerref"s review of a recent cruise on the Boudicca to Iceland and Greenland, on the following link

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2077759

Hi Paul,

We are a party of 4 who will be arriving in Pto Chacabuco with the HAL Zandaam on Thursday, NOvember 27th, 2014, for 8 hours total.

I have read your posts, so I am taking the liberty of asking a few questions and would appreciate your input.

1. Is it possible to book a taxi ahead of time to take us from the port through the Simpson River Valley, maybe all the way to Coyhaique and back? If so, are there fixed prices? How much, approximately. And how much time would this trip take.

2. We heard that Juani Salinas is connected with entertainment - Chilean singing and dancing. I emailed him twice but he did not respond. Is this worthwhile going to? Do you know of any other way to contact Juani?

3. And last but not least we were hoping to include your kind offer and hear from you about what life is like in Chacabuco.

We realise that all this may be too ambitious.

We would like your advice about what is less worthwhile: for instance, maybe going to Coyhaique does not warrant the time and effort.

My email is beilakut@gmail.com, if you prefer to email me.

Thanks so much Paul.

Bilha

Hi, have you looked at the possibility of a tour with Enpatagonia. We took a tour with them along the Simpson River, where we saw Condors overhead, and we also saw a couple of waterfalls too, before having a great lunch at a small farm which consisted of a couple of delicious Empanadas, a meat one and a cheese and ham one. It was preceded by a lovely freshly baked starter which was accompanied by a plentiful supply of local wine too. They also provided piped music to accompany local dancers dressed in lovely costumes who gave a demonstration of traditional Chilean dances. It did cost $105 each earlier this year. They may need to get a minimum number of passengers to make the trip viable. On the HAL Zaandam Roll Call we were on we managed to fill 2 x16 seater buses

Our cruise does not go to the Falkland so I am looking at penguin tours in Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia, and Punta Arenas. Does anyone know the main differences in these and is there a port listed here that you wouldn't visit the penguins because you'd be missing out something else unique to one of these stops?

Hi, no-one seems to have mentioned Pira Tours in Ushuaia. If you are Port for preferably 8 hours or more, then there is sufficient time to get to Martillo Island where there are a lot of Magellanic Penguins, a small number of Gentoo Penguins, and on my last visit in February this year, there were even a couple of King Penguins too. There are only 20 people allowed on the Island at any one time, so it is a real privilege to get there. Check them out on Trip Advisor etc.

I would also endorse all of the positive comments about Patrick Watts too on the Falkland Islands. if a ship is due to be there for less than 8 hours (I think) he does not offer to go to Volunteer Point, as he considers it too short a time to be able to fully enjoy the experience there, after the long roller coaster of a ride to get there (and back). If you do have a bad back it is not advisable to go there.

On those occasions, Patrick usually offers to take passengers to Bertha's Beach, where there is a small colony of Gentoo Penguins, and there was even 4 King Penguins there in January 2014 too. He then can take you to Gypsey Cove where there are some Magellanic penguins and if you are lucky, you might be able to see some Peales Dolphins too. Look out for them anyway when you sail into and out of the Outer Harbour. He usually rounds off the trip with a tour of Port Stanley

Any UK cruisers on here who have completed this voyage, I would appreciate your input.

 

We booked onboard so still deciding whether to appoint a travel agent or leave booking with Celebrity.

 

Thinking British Airways would be good from Heathrow to Buenos Aires with an internal flight to Santiago. Ship returns to Buenos Aires.

 

Thanks

As we live in the North East of England, we flew from Newcastle with KLM via Amsterdam and São Paulo to Santiago and then back from BA with Air France via Paris back to Newcastle. It cost about £80 more than a return flight to BA.

I use sky scanner to check out options.

Last time we visited Olden we did the Briksdal glacier excursion.Looking for suggestions for an excursion or DIY trip to do this time.

Hi, the Kjenndal Glacier is very impressive. Although it is only about 15 miles from Olden, we could only get there using a ships excursion, as there was no public transport option.

We are docked in Torshaven from 9 -16.00.

dsrdsrdsr -What bus route did you take?

Hotshot80 good tip on the senior rate. Is there a website where I can get bus routes/schedules?

Hi, it looks as though you may not be docked long enough in Torshavn to be able to "do your own thing" there with regards to seeing the Vestmanna Cliffs, as you are scheduled to leave at 4.00pm, so that may mean that you may have to be back on board by say 3.30pm, so it might be cutting it a bit tight

The timetable to get to and from Vestmanna is at

http://www.ssl.fo/Default.asp?sida=2951

It does look like buses are "free" to ride in Torshavn itself. There was some information and links about this on Tripadvisor at

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g190335-i6708-k7237875-Scenic_bus_ride_from_Torshavn-Torshavn_Streymoy.html

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip there

Anyone used the public buses in Torshavn?

Hi. just found my notes from the cruise we had in August/September 2011 on the Crown Princess which called in at Torshavn on its way from Southampton to New York.

We got up at 6.00am that morning to make sure we had breakfast before going ashore on the tender, as we were due to arrive at Torshavn at 7.15am and the bus to Vestmanna was due to leave at 8.00am. I thought we had plenty of time. Wrong!!!! Although there was only a party of 4 passengers in the lounge ahead of us to get on the first tender off the ship, because of delays in getting clearance from the Faroese Authorities, and by the time they lifted 2 motorised scooters onto the tender and teas and coffees etc, we arrived on the dockside 10 minutes late for the bus.

We sent the boat trip skipper a message on our mobile phone explaining what had happened about the late arrival and he said he would make space for us on the 11.00am trip. We got the 9.05 bus and paid the pensioners rate of 25 Danish Kroner each (about £3/$5) to get to Vestmanna. It was an interesting bus ride, past lots of waterfalls, sheep and tunnels. We paid 275 Kroners (about £32/$50 each) to go on the boat trip. The cost of the ships excursion was $127 each (about £80).

I had taken a couple of seasick prevention tablets thinking the sea was going to be rough when we left the fjord to see the Cliffs, but in hindsight the water was remarkably calm and we were able to go in an out of sea caves along the cliffs. We managed somehow to get first onto the boat and got great seats, upstairs at the front. When we got back we had to wait for 1 ½ hours to get the return bus so we walked into the village and found the bus stop. Not a memorable village, although we did see a row of about half a dozen dead cormorants hanging from a house in the village!!!!!!!!.

The bus came on time and we got back into Torshavn at about 3.30pm, about one hour before the last tender back to the boat.

Thanks everyone.

What about hiring a car from Akureyri and going to those places at your own pace. There are not that many roads so it should be easy to do a DIY trip. As an alternative, what about going Whale Watching on the Ambassador boat in the Fjord if you are interested in getting relatively close to these magnificent creatures

Anyone used the public buses in Torshavn?

Hi, about 3 years ago, we used the Public bus from Torshavn to go to Vestmanna where we were able to go on the boat trip to see the Vestmanna Cliffs.

It depends of course what time you arrive in Torshavn, what day of the week it is, how long you have in port etc. We found the buses ran on schedule and were reliable and the drivers spoke enough English to tell us where to get off, where to change the bus, etc. The cost of the bus fare and the boat trip was a fraction of the cost of the ships excursion to see the cliffs.

I find using public transport when cruising into ports a bit of a "challenge" and they often run to places that the ships excursions go to, at a fraction of the price, especially in Norway, where they also "respect" seniors and give discounts to them when travelling on public transport.

The only confusing thing in Norway is that in different regions, there are different rules for the age at which a "senior"rate is available, but as we are over 60, we always ask for a senior fare and mostly qualify for that rate. Good luck in organising your travel plans

Hi all,

 

We're on a cruise in a couple of weeks visiting 3 Icelandic ports; Akureyi, Isafjordur and Rejkavik. We've decided to explore Isafjordur ourselves. The cruise ship offers tours, but we are interested in a couple that we can source much cheaper directly, and wonder if anyone has had any dealings with the following companies:

 

Elding Whale watching (Akureyki)

Rejkavik Excursions (Golden Circle tour)

 

Many thanks

 

Martin

Hi Martin, we used Elding in Rejkavik, if you book online, they will pick you up from the ship, just make sure you know where your ship will dock..

At Akureyri, we used Ambassador for a whale watch there. They are only a couple of hundred yards fro where your ship will probably dock. Again, we booked online and paid much less than the ships excursion, which was on the same boat. The ships excursion staff walked their passengers to the Ambassador and did not provide any "added value" as far as I could tell to justify their much higher charge. We got to the Ambassador quicker than the ships excursion and got the best seats on the higher deck at the front