Live From!: South America - Rio to Santiago

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I am running this thread in the Princess board but thought that those on other cruise lines heading to SA would like to read it too:

 

Okay, so here it goes. After reading many “Live From”s, I thought I would give it a try. I’m not much of a writer but hopefully you will enjoy this and get some benefit from it.

 

We are a married couple in our late 40’s (one may already be past 50 but we’ll say we are both late 40s-ish). My husband is “5:00 Somewhere” on this board. This is our 23rd cruise with Princess mostly sailing in the Caribbean. We have also sailed in Alaska, French Polynesia and the Panama Canal. We would be what you could consider “bar people”. We like to visit the different bar around the ship both before dinner and after. Our favorite spot is the Wheelehouse, having a martini while listening to the band play and watching the passengers dance. Sorry, no dancing for us. We don’t attend the shows and will only catch a comedian or game show from time to time. We have started to venture away from the ships excursions while in port choosing instead to hire a private tour guide or walking around on our own. This cruise, we are doing a little of both.

 

On to the cruise: We are doing the 14 day South American Around the Horn cruise on the Golden Princess. We chose this itinerary as there are only two sailings that hit Rio de Janeiro whereas most stop at Beunas Aires. We arrived in Rio on January 1st having spent New Year’s Eve on the plane. I know that most people would want to see the festivities of Rio for New Year’s but we decided that we aren’t that kind of people anymore as we are usually in bed long before the ball drops in NYC!

 

I won’t spend too much time in Rio since not many cruises stop here, but I’ll give the basics. One thing I can say about Rio is it’s Hot, Hot, Hot! And I’m not talking about that song you hear ad nausea on any Caribbean cruise!! I was sweating from the time we landed until the ship started moving 2 days later. But I had a lot of fun and it was great to check that off my bucket list.

What is important to know is the embarkation process. It’s not very organized as they don’t do it very often and the signage is lacking but if you just relax and patiently wait in line things go pretty smoothly. When you get to the port there are two long read buildings. One is for the luggage retrieval and one is for checking in. Again, since there are no signs it’s a little confusing at first. But basically line up along the one building and give them your luggage when you get to the end. It’s a very small tent set up to take your luggage so that could have gone quicker if they had a bigger area. But again patience and sparking up a conversation with your new best friends waiting in line with you makes the time go smoothly. Once inside the other terminal it can be chaotic. But once we found the Preferred Check In line, it was again an exercise in patient line-waiting and conversation.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Once onboard, we explored the ship a little but mostly just got our obligatory beer and pizza that we have every time we get on a ship. No need to explore too much as we’ve sailed on Grand Class ships many times. Whereas I thought that with this being a 14 day cruise we would be on the “younger” side of the demographics of the passengers, it was not the case. There are a lot of families from South America on this ship. In fact, there was a special muster drill done in Portuguese held about an hour before the main one. And the main muster drill was done in both English and Spanish. For a natural born eaves-dropper like myself (my husband always catches me “paying attention” to another conversation) it was actually nice to turn that off. English is definitely the least of the languages spoken by the passengers.

 

Sail away was delayed by 30 minutes or so which was the perfect time to get in nap #1 out on deck. They say that cruising out of Rio is one of the most beautiful sail aways and I have to agree. You pass so many beautiful parts of the city. But partly because of the delay, it was already getting dark by the time we sailed past Copacabana so we heading inside before we passed Ipanema. Everything was late® that night as evident by people still entering the dining room at 9pm. The ship does not seem that full and we pick up more passengers in Buenas Aires.

 

I was pretty disappointed that they didn’t show the NFL playoff games on MUTS on Saturday (nor on Sunday) but luckily we ran into bartender of the cigar bar (Players) and he was showing them. I had a talk with Sammi, the cruise director (the US one, not the British one) about this as I saw her in the hallway and the conversation went right over her head. She barely knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the football games. I thought being from the US she would understand my frustration. I understand that there are a lot of non-Americans onboard but they showed Moonraker instead of one the games on Sunday. How old is that movie?!? I am going to a make a formal request to see my beloved Patriots next weekend and see if that helps.

 

Not much else to report on the first day as it was mostly spend docked at the pier. It was a quiet ship at night as a lot of people came in that day. I think it’s going to be a lot livelier as these South Americans catch up on their sleep!

 

See you tomorrow? Any questions welcome.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Our first sea day was an absolutely gorgeous one. When I first woke up it was pretty cloudy out but still warm. After some coffee and breakfast in the international café, we decided to head topside. Since we are on vacation and nothing says laziness like a sea day we slept until 9:00. With no dogs to wake us up at 5am (even on the weekends), it was a nice break! We headed back as the aft pool is my favorite spot any Princess ship. Not too crowded and we had the choice of sitting in the sun or the shade. Oh, did I mention that by the time we got up there the clouds were burning off and it was a beautiful blue sky. I had downloaded the Sunday Boston Globe so spent a good hour or two catching up on the goings on in the world and at home. Margaritas and sun were the words of the day. It was a very relaxing and wonderful day. Highs were in the mid 80s.

 

I would mention that they were not enforcing the aft pool as adults only as there were a few families there with their kids. But there was no sign up stating that it was adults only so I couldn’t blame the passengers. Normally I would speak to someone but I was so relaxed and they mostly well behaved that I decided not to care. I did see a couple of passengers have “words” with a deck attendant here or there but couldn’t hear the conversation (remember the eaves dropping comments from yesterday?). But then I realized why. I got a little hungry so I ventured forward to grab a burger and fries from the main pool grill. BOTH the main pool and covered pool were empty with the netting over them. Basically this aft pool (never checked the spa pool) was the only pool that anyone could swim in!! So then I’m thinking, this pool should be WAY more crowded than this if it’s the only one.

 

Overall, this ship doesn’t seem very crowded. I heard the official count is 2,381 (We’ve become friends with some of the staff) so it should be more crowded than it seems.

 

At 4:00 we headed to the cigar bar again to watch the NFL game (again, NOT showing on MUTS) after a quick stop to change out of our bathing suits. OUCH! I got a lot more sun than I anticipated. That is going to hurt later! I am usually very careful about that. But I’ll be fine.

 

So again we are sitting in the dark smokey bar watching the playoffs. Many passengers came in asking where else it was being shown only to find out that this was the only place. You couldn’t even get it in your room. Most didn’t want to stay because of the smoke and were very frustrated. I keep telling them to complain to passenger services in the hopes that they show next week’s game on the big screen or at least in a lounge somewhere. I packed my Pats jersey for just such an occasion!!

 

After the first game it was back to the room to change. It was formal night but the hubby and I decided a long time ago that we were done with getting that dressed up. So we went with business casual and had dinner at The Crown Grill. But of course we had to stop at The Wheelhouse for a pre dinner martini first. As with the night before (not sure if I mentioned it) there was a band called Tango Sur playing all South American music. I really enjoyed it and got me in the mood for the ports ahead. A few folks were dancing and it was a nice time.

 

Crown Grill was again a wonderful meal but like everywhere else on the ship it was pretty empty. I would say there were not more than 6-10 tables occupied. Still unsure where everyone is. Since the waiters have to go to the cigar bar for drinks I had them check on the score on the late game from time to time. (Don’t worry, the NFL games are over for this week so I won’t be fixated on them again until next weekend!) I was very proud of myself at dinner. We both had a nice meal and were full by the end of the entrée so we passed on dessert. While not a diet on this cruise I am trying to listen to my stomach and stop when I am full and not eat so much I’m uncomfortable.

 

Other things worth mentioning:

 

• The sea looked very calm but the ship was rockin’ and rolling’. I guess there were more swells that we could see cause the ship to bob up and down.

• It didn’t get dark until around 9:00. It was very different for us to be sitting in the Wheelhouse and it being bright and sunny outside.

• Pizza and burgers are very good as always. The Grill does turn into the BBQ stand at night like on the Royal/Regal so I’ll be checking that out on this cruise. The pulled pork on the Regal was so good!

• Outriggers bar (by the aft pool) has a Mexican theme with special margaritas and “regional bites” (as described in the Patter) but I am not sure what those bites are. I’ll find out for you all.

• I don’t eat at the buffet if I can help it so I won’t be any help there.

 

Internet has slowed way down (on 2nd sea day as I type this) so I’ll be delayed in answering questions. I type this offline and copy it in. I’ll then grab the questions and answer them on the next day.

 

I hope people are finding this beneficial. We aren’t the normal cruisers I guess as we don’t go to shows, eat at the buffet or sit by the main pool. My main goal is to help those folks on future SA cruises get an idea of the weather and ports to help them with what they need to pack. From what the crew is saying, you’ll need more long pants than shorts. The Chile side is on the chilly side and doesn’t get back to the hot days of Brazil. Tomorrow it’s already starting to cool off with highs in the high 70s.

 

Now where’s my sun screen!?! Time to go up top again!

[tartanexile81]

Thanks for posting here. We set sail tomoro so I'll try to catch up most days to get ideas. I've also started tweeting about my travels which is so much easier than your live from. Well done

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Another gorgeous day at sea! Bright sunny skies and a comfortable 78 degrees. But thank you for the shade of Skywalkers. We got too much sun the first day so spent the entire day out of the sun. We always stay at the aft pool and like the option of sun or shade with the shopping cart handle. We even got the prime real estate between the aft pool and the railing. No one between us and the view of the wake!

 

Oh and I forgot to mention that after leaving the cigar bar at 11:30 (after the late game) we passed both Explorers Lounge AND The Wheelhouse and they were both still hopping! Lots of people dancing in both places. Very nice to see as the carpet is usually rolled up on Princess when we head to bed.

 

And I do have to apologize to anyone from our roll call reading this (Please add your comments!) but we missed the meet and greet. The Hubby was doing a little ironing and I was reading on our deck and the time just went by. Again, my apologies especially after I was the one that started the roll call!

 

And about the time; with the extended sunlight it is throwing off our schedule. Last night it was bright and sunny well past 9pm. We ended up staying at the pool until 6pm! We never stay that long in the Caribbean. It’s nice to have so much daylight. And it’s just going to get better and we continue to head south.

 

Pub lunch was today as well but we were just so comfortable doing absolutely nothing by the pool that we decided to wait for another sea day. It was again pizza and a hot dog for lunch. Heck if we didn’t do that we wouldn’t even see any other part of the topside of the ship! They did open the main pool today but the covered pool was still empty. They continued to allow kids in the aft pool and for some strange reason it really didn’t bother me. I guess all these sea days have mellowed me out! Well, that was until the kids club got out at 5. Then we were infested with teenagers who completely took over the pool. But again, I let it go… For now…

 

We got invited to the most travelers passenger lunch! That has never happened before. We didn’t make the dinner but I guess the lunch is nice too. I’ll let you know.

 

The island part was also tonight but again we didn’t go. We ran into two bartenders that we had met on other ships and so we had to visit them. Luckily one works at The Wheelhouse where we spend a lot of our time!  It is so amazing when they remember us. Of course we remember them. We have pictures at home and we had a great time on the cruise. But they see thousands of people every week. I am always so honored that they remember us, months or years later.

 

Not much else to report on this sea day. Although I do want to say that the deck party was tonight and we didn’t go. I would tell everyone to go and check it out on future cruises! We were on our deck and could hear the music from South America that they were playing. This wasn’t the same old deck party in the Caribbean with the same music you can hear at home. It was music from the places we are visiting specifically on this cruise. When trying to immerse yourself in this culture we really should be trying everything. The only regret on the cruise so far.

 

One part of the culture that I am trying to ignore are all the speedos. YIKES! I’m so glad that that didn’t catch on the US. But to each his own!

 

On to Buenos Aires tomorrow! (Now that I have the patter I even spell it right!) We have an 8 hour private tour guide that is meeting us. It’s supposed to be 88 and sunny. Until next time.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Oh man! Big lunch and no dinner make for an unpleasant morning! If you ever see me on a cruise and I tell you that I MUST go to the casino, please take me back to my cabin! Ouch!

 

But let’s back up. We were awoken (is that a word) by thunder as we approached Buenos Aires. We passed Montevideo around dinner time last night and the slowly (I mean REALLY slowly) crept down the river to Buenos Aires. One word: GO! Probably one of the best cities that I have ever visited. If you can’t get there by cruise ship, take a plane, a car a water taxi and go! A really wonderful city.

 

It does take a while to dock after we crept down the “river”. A very wide river but I’ve been told that the water coming off the Iguazu falls (spell check says that’s right but I kind of doubt it and too lazy to look it up) ends up in what I’ll call the BA Bay but they tell me that it’s a river. Anyway, we dock in a working port with TONS of cargo containers a round so they bus us from the gangway to the end of the port. No big deal and there are lots of buses. They open deck 6 and deck 5 to let people off. We all wait in line to exit deck 6 while they take the excursion folks off of deck 5. Could we have gone down to deck 5 and walked right off? Probably. But we are all about patient line waiting this cruise. Maybe someone else can offer advice about whether jumping the line and going down to deck 5 was advantageous. We stayed in the line and got off the ship at 9:30 (the line started at 9:00 when we were cleared and we got in line right at 9). Our private guide was there with a sign with my name on it and off we went.

 

We hit the touristy places as evident by the tour buses outside but we always seemed to stay just ahead of them. And then we went to places where no one was and that was awesome. As someone who has been singing “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” for the last 3 days, I have to say that Evita’s grave was anti-climatic compared to the entire cemetery. I could have spent the entire day there. Make sure to check out the stained glass windows. They are meant for those INSIDE the mausoleum and not us on the outside. What looks like a plain glass window is absolutely amazing from the view inside. Please find as many as you can where you can see the view from inside and take a peak. Again, I could have spent all day here.

 

Also do not miss the memorial to those that went missing during the revolt of the early 70s. Such a sad story and a great memorial.

 

One thing to note, bring USD with you. We had pesos to pay for lunch and tip the tour guide but lunch ended up being more than we thought so we ended up using our credit card and then spending the cash on the tip. But we could have paid the meal in USD and got a good rate as well. And then we had no money to spend on souvenirs as the items we were looking at were at such a low price as to not use credit. Also didn’t want to risk giving my number out very often. We left all our USD in the cabin thinking that we wouldn’t need it only to then be worried about not having enough local currency.

 

We had a HUGE Argentinian lunch (ie STEAK) at the local tour guides favorite café. Much nicer than the touristy places. But that then stopped us from having dinner on the ship as we were still full. Let’s just say that the pretzels and peanuts at The Wheelhouse do not counter the many martinis we had there! We have met a nice couple and spent the entire night laughing with them. But none of us ate and while they all (smartly) went to bed, I thought it would be a good idea to go to the casino! And I was up. I was up big. For a while. :) But I had fun and wasn’t too hurting in the morning so all is good.

 

Again, lots of dancing in The Wheelhouse late night which is so unlike Princess. It’s good to see.

 

The weather was raining and low 80s with a prediction of sunny and 70s in Montevideo. The crew keeps warning us that it’s about to get much colder so I’ll keep you informed.

[Merlinite]

"wasn’t too hurting in the morning so all is good. "

 

that's what sea days are for :D

 

keep them coming, we are right behind you!!

 

m

[t60]

I'm glad you enjoyed BA, we love it there, well, all of South America actually. Recoleta is huge and no doubt your guide told you of it's history and of the events leading to Evita's final resting place.

 

Hope you like Montevideo and the BBQ warehouse. It's so good to read other peoples impressions of places. Yes it will get cooler as you head south, so be prepared.

 

For anyone else reading this blog do take US $ to BA to use the rate of exchange is way better than if you use cards or exchange in your home country.

 

Sandy in Spain

Edited January 9, 2015 by t60

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

(Sorry, I'm a little behind on posting here!)

 

Another beautiful day in South America for us. Bright and sunny with temperatures in the mid 70s was the theme of the day. We had another private tour with the guide picking us up right outside of port.

 

Disembarkation was very easy today as we didn’t need a bug to get out of the pier. We could just walk off and proceed 100 yards or so to the port entrance. Montevideo is a beautiful seaside city with water almost everywhere. As expected there was much less to see than in Buenos Aires but it was still a nice tour. You MUST see the parliament building as it was spectacular.

 

As I’m typing this (I always do it the next day) I am hanging out on my balcony with long pants and a sweatshirt on. While not cold yet, it was cool enough with the wind to switch out of shorts. I’ll let you know when we go above deck as to whether it’s warmer in the sun.

 

There has been very little movement of the ship other than the first day that I mentioned. It has been a very flat sailing so far. A little too flat for me! I like laying in bed at night and feeling the motion of the ship.

 

Also, the evening on this sailing really comes fast as I have mentioned before. It doesn’t get dark until well after 9pm and we often find ourselves not getting to dinner until after 8:30. In the Caribbean our schedule has us at The Wheelhouse right at 7 and in the dining room at 8.

 

The next two days are more sea days before we hopefully arrive at the Falkland Islands. I really want to see some penquins!!

 

As I try and log in to post this, I will say that the internet is extremely slow now. Even inside the cabin on my laptop (which is where I get the best speed) is very very slow. My posts may take a little longer to get to you…

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

So where did we leave of? Oh yes, I’m on my balcony have coffee and wearing jeans and sweatshirt. Well, as soon as I closed my computer a pod of about 50 dolphins (probably more like porpoises due to their size) came swimming up to the side of the ship. We watched them for about 20 minutes until they had enough of us and swam on by.

 

So with coffee in hand we head topside to see what people are up to. Again we head aft and can’t believe that there are people in their swim trunks laying out in the sun! So we grab a couple of deck chairs in the sun at the top deck and start reading our books. Well, soon after that the sweatshirt comes off. And some time after that hubby is heading back to the cabin to get our shorts. It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day! The captain came on the loud speaker at noon and said it was 65. I’m sorry sir, but I must disagree. It seemed more like 75!! We spent most of the day up there just reading and relaxing, stopping only once to watch a few whales go by. A truly wonderful (and warm!) day.

 

Two words though: SUN SCREEN! We lathered up with SPF 30 and I still got a burn on my face on top of the burn from the first sea day. Be very very careful out here in this sun. The tour guide in Montevideo said that the hole in the ozone is right above them so we must be very careful. I pass that wisdom on to you all.

 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as that is exactly what you want from a sea day. We have started making new friends on board and spent most of the day and evening chatting with them. As it was formal night, dinner was in Sabatinis. And while it was a great meal, I am starting to get tired of large meals every night. I think tonight’s dinner will be at Vines with small portions!

 

Speaking of formal night, I will say that most people do dress up. While there weren’t as many tuxes on the men, they were still dressed in jackets and ties. We are just over that so we hit the specialty restaurants instead.

Oh and a very interested sign outside the Captain’s Circle reception stated that “Shaking of hands is politely discouraged.” I hope we aren’t on the brink of a Noro incident and that that sign is just common place now.

The night ended watching folks dance the night away in the Wheelhouse, listening to wonderful music and laughing with friends.

 

Again the day brings me sitting on my balcony in jeans and a sweatshirt but it is beautifully sunny again so maybe I end up in shorts for one last day. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

 

As to the movies being shown on MUTS, here is the list from day one of the Patter:

 

Blended

Delivery Man

Dolphin Tale 2

Edge of Tomorrow

Gravity

Grudge

The Lucky One

If I Stay

Veronica Mars

The Lone Ranger

Oz, The Great and Powerful

Guardians of the Galaxy

The LEGO Movie

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Winter’s Tale

When the Game Stands Tall

 

Not sure that I am familiar with most of these. I also didn’t list the movies shown during the day (like Moonraker) but can peruse the different Patters and provide that list tomorrow.

 

As for the adult pool, I didn’t see many kids there but I also don’t see the “Adults Only” sign up. I think they just moved back to the main pool and the covered pool as the aft pool was mostly in the shade. The covered pool was definitely where most of the kids have decided to swim.

 

There are a lot of families from South America because this is their summer vacation time. Not sure about February but they are not back to school yet so you might still have a lot of families.

 

Until next time…

[cirman52]

What did you do in Montevideo, did you walk around or tour by cab ?

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Sorry but I seem to have falling behind. Luckily there are so many sea days on this cruise! I don’t know how folks on port intensive cruises keep up with a Live From!

 

(And I didn’t proofread this so please excuse any typos!)

 

Anyway, we are having a wonderful time! It’s now Sunday and I can’t believe we don’t even fly home for another week!

 

So back to it. When we last left, I was again on my balcony in jeans and a hoodie. We aren’t getting the sun on our balcony in the morning so it’s kind of cold (we are starboard). We decided to go up top and again and see if it was warm enough in the sun to lay out, read and watch the sea go by. After 3 or 4 attempts, we found a spot out on open deck that was shielded from the wind and was in direct sun. I won’t bother about where because it will depend on so many factors that you will need to find “that spot” on your own. Be patient and find the spot with no wind and no shade and it will be perfect. And perfect it was. The temp was about 65 degrees but when the sun was not behind the clouds, it was almost hot! Off would come the sweatshirt and up would roll the sleeves. When the sun went behind a cloud, the sleeves would be rolled down and if it was too long then the sweatshirt would go back on. The theme here is layers. I never did put shorts on that day but thought about it a couple of times.

 

We took a break from reading and sea watching to attend the Most Traveled Passengers lunch. We would normally never get invited to such a thing but with all the South Americans onboard, I guess we qualified. We ended up sitting with Sammi, the cruise director and of course I HAD to bring up the issue of watching the NFL.  She assured me that it would be on the screen in Explorers lounge and since the second game started at 10:15, she was promoting showing up in your pajamas and have a big slumber party. (More on that later)

 

After lunch we changed back into Jeans and a sweatshirt and spent the rest of the day on a deck chair trying to finish at least one of the books that I brought. My goal is 3 but I’m not sure how long that Stephen King is yet so maybe it will only be 2. It was an absolutely beautiful day with only partly cloudy skies so we got to enjoy the last warm(er) weather day for a while.

 

Because of the big lunch we had, we skipped dinner. But of course we didn’t skip pre-dinner cocktails. We met our new friends at the Wheelhouse for a bit and then we headed to vines for a light dinner. They stopped serving the tapas at 8:30 and since it was 8:25 we ordered that first. I’ve never heard of them stopping it so “early”. Remember on this ship, everything seems to run later. Both because of the South American’s on board and the late sun setting. Then we had some sushi to finish the night. Not impressed this time. I love the sushi onboard normally, especially the ceviche and the whole plate being made to order. But here, the plates were pre-made and stored in the fridge. When you wanted one, the waiter would unwrap the saran wrap and bring it out to you. I am not a big fan of “pre-made” sushi.

 

After a nibble at Vines (and a pressed ham & cheese croissant from the IC to fill the sushi void!) we headed to Explorers from some Liars Club. It’s my second favorite besides Majority Rules. Will be keeping an eye out for that one too!

 

The night ended with drinks at Crooners (called the Promenade Bar on this ship) to visit with the lovely bartender Tess. She’s another crew member we’ve sailed with before. We are now bouncing between The Wheelhouse, Crooners, and Players trying to make all our bartender friends happy. They get very grumpy if we don’t come see them every night!

 

Oh yeah, a swing through the casino made for a very lucrative night. While I usually can end up paying off one of our cruise fares with my blackjack winnings, that won’t happen with this 14 day cruise fare! Luckily I used points from my Princess credit card and one of our fares was completely “free”.

 

Lastly, the outside pools were completely empty (of people) by this day but with the covered middle pool, the kids were still getting in their water time. The covered pool idea is a wonderful concept for these cold weather itineraries.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

What did you do in Montevideo, did you walk around or tour by cab ?

 

We hired a private tour guide who took around around by mini-van. Someone drove and she would narrate the tour. I don't think i can post the TOURS company BY name name but they use LOCALS to provide this exprience. (Get it?)

 

We use them everywhere we go, not just in South America.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We woke up to “Port Stanley Day” (barely remember what day of the week it is anymore!) to cloudy skies and light rain. I guess that is the day you want in Stanley because when it’s bright and sunny, that means that winds are higher and you might not get in. But we are here and that means only one thing: Penguins!!!

 

Tendering was non eventful as we are Elite and can go right down to deck 4 four and get off right away. We don’t need to go to the dining room and get a number. We were on the first tender and met with Patrick Watts right on the pier. He has everyone already assigned to a 4X4 before we got there and each driver has a sheet of paper with your name on it. But, our Wheelhouse best friends were also on the tour so we asked if we could switch and they were very accommodating. A little juggling and the four of us were off on a 2 hour drive to go see the penguins.

 

The first hour is very easy as it’s all on paved road. Our driver talked a lot about The Falklands and their history and other knowledgeable things. We had many laughs and learned a lot. He was the perfect driver for the four of us.

 

The second hour is nothing like the first. It takes another 1 hour to travel 11 miles as there is no road what-so-ever. We are traveling over wet, grassy plains on our way to the coast. We travel as one big group as you are likely to get stuck once or twice along the route. Especially with the rain, the land was wet and muddy. But as soon as you were stuck another car came around, took out a rope and up pulled you to dry land. They were very quick about it. The rain was coming down quite heavy at times and it made for a long ride. But it was so much fun! Our driver was very good and 4-wheeling and this ride was an adventure in itself that I would have paid money to do even without the penguins. (Maybe the bottles of wine we brought for the ride back helped a little!)

 

Seeing the penguins was awesome! They had Kings and two other types (that I can’t remember how to spell so I won’t try). Big colonies of them, in fact! We could walk right up to them and come within about 5 feet of them. The rule is 5 meters, but I don’t know the metric system so I just guessed!  We were very respectful and as the driver told us, let the penguins decide. If they walked away we stopped. If they stood there looking at you, crouch down and look back at them. It was a great experience.

 

Oh, with one slight problem. It was raining very very hard! We had about 90 minutes with the penguins but after about 2 minutes we were soaked to the core! There was very strong winds and heavy rain and within minutes, even our underwear was already wet! Bring good quality rain gear!!! I’ll say it again. Bring good quality rain gear. Not saying that everyone will have rain in Stanley, but if you do, be sure to stay drive. I had a good rain jacket that I forget to zip all the way up and so my sweatshirt underneath was soaked. I also have great rain pants that I left at home!! If I had them with me, it would have been no problem at all. So bring good quality rain gear!

 

The ride back was just as much fun only were doing it while sitting is soaking wet jeans! But more laughs and more Falklands info and we were back to the port in no time. (okay two hours again, but it seemed like no time.) Alan, our driver also gave us a tour of the town, even swinging by his house so we could see his Lab sitting in the window waiting for him to come. A truly beautiful dog, and with two of our own at home, it was a nice little reminder of our two boys staying with our dog walker.

 

The tender ride back was not much fun as we were now freezing, trying to stay warm as we sat there in wet jeans. Once on board, we grabbed coffee and went to our room to get out of the wet clothes!

 

We waited around with nervous energy waiting for our beloved Patriots to play and when it was time, we put on our Pats jerseys and headed to the cigar bar. Yes, the cigar bar. “But you told us it would be on the big screen in Explorers bar” you’re thinking? Yes it was. But again, since we were making friends with the bartenders, they wanted us to visit them. Miles, the bartender has promised a spread of food and decorations in his bar so we wanted to support him and so off to Players we went. He really is a great bartender so it was not a problem.

 

As we passed Explorers the crowd was starting fill up and all the wait staff was dressed in referee shirts. We got to Players and Miles didn’t disappoint. He had a spread of chicken wings, pigs in a blanket and some chips and salsa. Also, he put out bags of popcorn at halftime. I am what you might call a “loud fan” and was screaming and clapping for most of the game. Maybe it was better in this setting than in explorers with a lot of other people! Luckily my team came out victorious after a very tense game! I also really enjoyed watching the game at a bar setting instead of in a lounge. The only down side of the night was that we were inundated with smoke. An older couple came and sat right behind us and chain smoked the entire game. Even the Wheelhouse friends who were with us, who smoke, said that they were too much. Our clothes wreak of smoke and even my hair smells like tobacco. But we knew that going in and really wanted to support our bartender friend who went through so much trouble.

 

Now that I could relax, we headed to Explorers for the second game. They also had the pigs in a blanket and chicken wings plus some little pizzas. It was a nice time. And I guess I should mention that there was no reason to show it on MUTS as was too cold to be out there anyway. The experience at Explorers was a very nice event.

 

(Oh, I should mention that in the middle of the 4th quarter of the Pats game, the screen went blank and we lost the satellite feed! Luckily it was only for about 5 seconds and came back on before I time to panic!!)

 

The seas definitely started to get rougher as the night went on and we heard a couple of bangs against the hull while in players. But between the stabilizers and it calming down a little, it was a very quiet night sleeping once again.

 

I have taken note of all your questions and will answer them later today some time. But I’ve spent over an hour already on this and want to go explore the ship. I will tell you that it is now cold. Stepping out on the balcony in a shirt and pajama bottoms lasts for no more than 20 seconds! We are approaching Cape Horn and just passed a beautiful mountainous land mass but I’m enjoying it from the comfort of my bed with the curtains pulled all the way back! And yes, football will be shown again but this time in the Vista lounge. It conflicts with the scenic cruising period so I’ll be ducking in an out. I didn’t come all this way just to watch Peyton Manning. I see enough of him on the commercials!

[Coolcruise02]

love your review.........brings back great memories! We also viewed the penguins at the Falklands in tough conditions, sleet, wind, etc....but loved it!

[t60]

We were lucky we had a beautiful sunny day non rainy/windy day when visited the Falklands. We had to cancel our Patrick Watts tour because OH has a bad back and the bumpy overland trip might have been too much. We picked up a shorter tour at the dockside and saw smaller penguins but we did enjoy our day, esp walking around Stanley. However visting the Falklands led to Ushuaia not letting us in to their port!!!. On our next visit to Sth America the weather was too bad for us to get into Port Stanley but we did get into Ushuaia...Just love Sth America (and your reviews)

 

Sandy in Spain

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

And now for the day that we’ve all been waiting for. We are sailing around the horn!!

 

But first we get to enjoy a lovely sea day. WAY too cold to go outside today. Pretty rough seas so the ship was bouncing around a little, but they keep it as level as they can. But very windy. No one was out on deck at all except for the poor security woman that needs to make the rounds and some kids with nothing to do but run around and expel energy.

 

So we both grabbed our books and headed to Skywalkers from some relaxing.

 

At around 3pm the NFL football game was shown in the Vista lounge so we headed down there. Nothing special this time, just the game on and a few waiters to serve cocktails. But the real show started at 4:30!

 

We approached Cape Horn around that time and so we headed up to our balcony to watch the beautiful scenery. We are on the Starboard side but the Captain decided to circle the island from the ships Port side. DO NOT WORRY! You are not in a speed boat. We go nice and slow that you can view everything from all different areas of the ship. After ordering champagne from room service, we watched from our balcony with our Wheelhouse best friends. Then we headed up top for some pictures with Cape Horn itself. Then on to their balcony for some more beverages as we went viewed the horn from the south. It was really cool to look straight ahead and think about where we were! The whole world (almost) was right in front of us.

 

As for weather, it was quite cold and windy while all the north side but seemed to calm down a little while on the south side. There were storm clouds all around us and you could see showers happening everywhere. But surprisingly the rain didn’t catch up with us until the very end. But it was getting dark and time to go in anyway. Seriously I only wore jeans and a hoody and was for the most part just fine. It was extremely windy at times and those with thinner blood would want to bundle up a little more.

 

Nothing much else to report. We headed back to the Vista lounge for the second NFL game and then a couple of drinks in the Wheelhouse and we called it a night. Excursion starts at 7:40 AM tomorrow! Dinner was from the BBQ grill up top which is what the hamburger grill turns into at night. The pulled port sandwich was terrific!!

 

I have all your questions written down and will answer them when I return to the ship after my excursions today.

[Toady]

I've enjoyed reading your report - but I'm waiting for more! Is it somewhere else or have you not had time to write any more?

[Suzez]

I have really enjoy your blog so far, thank you.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Sorry! We lost Internet while on the ship which is why I went silent. I did keep the live from going offline so I will post the rest here when I get a second. I completed it on the Princess page but need to update the thread here too. Just trying to catch up.