valemart_1

Thanks for the information. What a difference in price! But we couldn´t do without our balcony, we use it a lot and on warm days we like to sit outside and have our breakfast there! I must sign out now – I have some serious researching to do for our TA and we haven´t booked any shore excursions yet! Enjoy your next cruise!!!

Magnificent photos!

We´ll have to wait and see… We´re a month away from embarking in Rio for the TA to Lisbon, and we chose the Star because of the itinerary. Having usually sailed on Celebrity or Princess I´m afraid we´ll be disappointed. But I´ve decided to take it philosophically and enjoy the ports, which is why we´re there! My husband´s ancestors came from Portugal and we´re looking forward to our time in Porto and the Douro valley.

STOP PRESS! https://en.mercopress.com/2024/03/05/falkland-islands-progresses-port-facility-project-with-harland-and-wolff Falkland Islands progresses port facility project with Harland and Wolff Tuesday, March 5th 2024 - 11:05 UTC In a bid to enhance its infrastructure, the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) has taken significant steps towards the replacement of the Stanley port facility, known as FIPASS. Following recent executive council meetings, two pivotal papers have been approved to advance the project. The first paper greenlights negotiations with Harland and Wolff, a preferred development partner, for the marine-side elements of the new port facility. This move allows authorized government officers to commence discussions on contract terms and project timelines. Pending final pricing and negotiations, this phase of the project is estimated to cost between £100-£120 million. Harland and Wolff's selection holds historical significance, as the company previously constructed the existing port facility over four decades ago, demonstrating a longstanding relationship with the Falkland Islands. The second approved paper paves the way for the launch of an invitation to tender for the access road and causeway, integral components of the project. The tender will utilize existing designs and studies, with refinements to accommodate the marine-side specifications. This process underscores FIG's commitment to ensuring a seamless transition to the new facility by the end of 2027, coinciding with the end of FIPASS's functional life. Mark Pollard, Portfolio Holder for Commercial Services, emphasized the project's importance, stating, “The port, along with the power station, is right at the top of our priority list as an Assembly. It is vital to the future of our economy.” John Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Harland & Wolff, expressed pride in being chosen as the preferred bidder, highlighting the company's commitment to delivering modern, efficient, and sustainable port infrastructure. While details of the ExCo papers remain confidential, local businesses and individuals interested in the tender process are encouraged to reach out to the Port Project Team directly.

Very useful review! For us who are booked in standard balcony staterooms, the Star doesn´t sound too promising... I like older, smaller ships, but reading your review and others it would seem the food on the Star is disappointing.

It´s nice to get to know a bit about our CC friends. It´s lke a prequel! Pat is gorgeous and I love a good love story…

You were lucky to make it to the Falklands. I´ve been close three times and we were never able to disembark… Around the Cape we had a cloudy day and heavy seas:

Yes, that´s us, several years ago. Seeing that video I guess I do look a bit like Susana Balbo… She´s a legend! Funnily enough, if she´d followed her original calling and studied physics at the Balseiro Institute we probably would have met – I was technical secretary of the Physics Department before I retired…

Bonus track, in Egypt: 1. Resting at the foot of the Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara. 2. Repairing the pyramid. 3. Donkey ride. 4. Locals enjoying a shisha water pipe in Cairo. 5. Luxor Temple. 6. King Tut´s mummy (forbidden photo!)

Those are so good!!! Perito Moreno glacier is on my list of favourite places. And I particularly enjoyed the penguins in Antarctica! Continuing with snapshots of South America, here are some more: 1. Two Indian children leaving school in Susques, north of Argentina, at almost 4,000 meters´ altitude. 2. A Bolivian lady wearing the traditional bowler hat in the main square of La Paz. 3. Our hostess on the Isla de los Uros, the floating islands of the Uro tribe, Lake Titicaca, Perú (alt. 3,810 m). 4. Out on a reed canoe with her little daughter. 5. Off the main square in Cuzco, Perú. 6. The adobe city of Chan Chan, unearthed in Northern Peru. 7. Crossing the Peruvian desert. 8. Pelican in Arica, Northern Chile. 9. Vicuñas crossing the highway. They´re related to guanacos, llamas and alpacas, much more elegant, but their fine fur left them on the brink of extinction.

Loved your pics! IYou´re a great photographer, regardless of what camera you´re using! I enjoyed this Tribute to Pocket Cameras! I began with a modest Olympia and ended up with a nice Sony with a very good zoom. I use it for everything: castles and cathedrals, landscapes, people, and wildlife. But I get the most satisfaction with snapshots that capture the moment! Like these in South America: 1. Sea lions in Isla de los Lobos, Beagle Channel. 2. Tour guide retrieving a football at Estancia Harberton, Ushuaia. 3. Guanaco on salt lake by RP 41 in Santa Cruz province 4. Choique 5. Family of guanacos 6. Puerto Natales, Chile 7. An ice floe in Lago Argentino 8. Cave of the Hands 9. Historic narrow gauge train “La Trochita”, Esquel.

Great photos of Torres del Paine! They made me want to take a look at my old pics once more, and it´s funny to see that sometimes we´ve taken the same photo, but yours are much better quality - I just use a pocket camera… Here are a few to complement yours. Back in Argentina we stopped at a gas station where we saw a mechanic working on a truck, and his two young guanacos kept nudging him, attracting attention. He told us he´d adopted them as babies when their mother died in the Patagonian steppe, and bottle fed them for months. Here´s a pic…

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

I will try to sum up our feelings after taking the time to visit Cape Vírgenes 12 years ago: We were on our way back from Ushuaia, returning home to Bariloche via Route 3. We´d already done about 4,000 Km and an extra 260 Km there and back to Rio Gallegos seemed insignificant. It´s a gravel road and it wasn´t in great shape… BUT to have set foot in Cape Vírgenes, with all its history, had a special mystique. It was discovered by Magellan, who named it in honour of the Day of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins!!! It was absolutely unspoilt, not a tourist in sight - the land belonged to the penguins. The lighthouse was empty and the little museum likewise. Would I recommend it? If you´re a history buff, maybe… But it entails about five hours on a dirt road, six hours without a restroom, and staying two nights in Rio Gallegos, an unattractive town. For widely travelled people like you and your readers, who´ve got to see some amazing places, maybe it isn´t worth the sacrifice, especially if you´ve been to Punta Tombo and/or Volunteer Point.

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 endless walkway in Punta Tombo is rather off-putting. I read in one of the messages here that one can see lots of penguins in Punta Ninfas – we´ve been to Puerto Madryn three times and no one told us that there was a closer alternative to Punta Tombo!!! It also looks as if one can get nearer to the penguins as well… The trouble with Madryn as a cruise port is that it´s too far from the main sights: 2.5 hours each way over rather dreary, boring roads. And the very top attraction, which is whale watching, is between June and November, before the cruise ships arrive.

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!

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…

Lovely trail, and lovely pics! We couldn´t face that hike, but then we´re oldies compared to you...

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

I´ve been following your trip avidly! We´ll be on the Star´s TA departing Rio April 10th and I just popped in to learn a bit more about the ship, but I got hooked! Especially because we went to Antarctica last February on Celebrity Infinity but the weather was cloudy, misty and bitterly cold in Paradise Bay and we missed the Falklands (yet again! third time for me…). So I particularly enjoyed all your photos and descriptions enormously – I read all 20 pages in two days. Your penguin pics are amazing! We live in Argentina´s lake district and have done three 6,600 Km road trips to the “deep south”: typically Chaltén, Calafate, Torres del Paine, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia plus side trips, but you´ve managed to see in a short time all that we´ve seen taking all the time in the world! Your wonderful photographic record brought back fond memories... As an Argentine I felt embarrassed when I read about your luggage being opened and when you had to go out and buy a new suitcase, but you have the right attitude: not to let that affect you and spoil your day. Thank you for sharing your trip with us, and best wishes to you both on your travels! Madeleine