Rare TLCOhio Posted January 12, 2017 #1 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Have a friend getting ready for some sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to the areas of South America, including stopping in Punta Arenas. There they will depart this one cruise, be in that areas and then catch onboard another cruise on another line heading south to Antarctica. Question? Any recent reports if Punta Arenas would be fogged out and/or facing weather conditions that would not allow their ship to dock there? What are the options? What happened? How were those adjustments made? Appreciate any experiences as to how the cruise lines adapted and the options offered? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139 for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 166,623 views for this posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davwen81 Posted January 12, 2017 #2 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Terry, there have been several posts over the years that Punta Arenas can be closed due to high winds or rough seas, as it's a tender port. I think that is a very high risk strategy! Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted January 12, 2017 #3 Share Posted January 12, 2017 We missed it in 2015. Port authorities closed the port due to high winds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare TiogaCruiser Posted January 13, 2017 #4 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Terry, there have been several posts over the years that Punta Arenas can be closed due to high winds or rough seas, as it's a tender port. I think that is a very high risk strategy! Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app We docked in 2013. Perhaps there is more than one place that the ships come in to???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryann ns Posted January 13, 2017 #5 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I would not risk this without a couple days in between. Punta Arenas is frequently windy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capriccio Posted January 13, 2017 #6 Share Posted January 13, 2017 (edited) Are they on a ship that will require tenders or be able to dock? We were there on Christmas Day. There was no dock large enough to handle the Crown Princess (but a Seaborn ship was docked at a location outside of town). We were able to tender in but, as our captain had warned us, there is absolutely no guarantee that a ship will make it. Edited January 13, 2017 by capriccio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare TLCOhio Posted January 13, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Are they on a ship that will require tenders or be able to dock? We were there on Christmas Day. There was no dock large enough to handle the Crown Princess (but a Seaborn ship was docked at a location outside of town). We were able to tender in but, as our captain had warned us, there is absolutely no guarantee that a ship will make it. Appreciate ALL of these nice and helpful follow-ups with your various experience for this unique part of the world. My friend is on the Cunard Victoria that is due in the far south port on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2107. She is aware of the questions and risks!! That ship carries up to a little over 2,000 passengers and a crew of 900. Not a smaller ship!! Keep share any experiences, both successful and those not working out. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at: http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696 Now at 46,852 views for these postings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-D Posted January 14, 2017 #8 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Another reason why a ship could miss getting to Punta Arenas (or any other port) is the occurrence of a delay elsewhere on the cruise. In February 2010, our scheduled stop at Punta Arenas (aboard Star Princess) was cancelled because our departure from Ushuaia the previous day was delayed for several hours by high winds at Ushuaia. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpnut Posted January 21, 2017 #9 Share Posted January 21, 2017 (edited) Our most recent sailing nearly missed Punta Arenas but the weather forecast was apparently overly pessimistic! I did see a few people disembarking so I assume many people do the redirect to Antarctica! I wonder if the cruise line, in the event she cannot anchor near Punta Arenas and must cancel the port stop, has an alternate, less windy location in the Beagle Channel just to disembark certain passengers? This would allow the captain to safely skip the port stop and disembark the handful of passengers. I think it's one thing to commit to safe, full-day tendering services for 4,000+ passengers and crew, and a whole other thing to disembark just 6 people. Of course, only the cruise line would be able to confirm this. Edited January 21, 2017 by Terpnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare TLCOhio Posted February 12, 2017 Author #10 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Appreciate these added follow-ups. Just wanted to update that everything worked fine for my friend yesterday in being able to get into this port. The ship captain arrived a little earlier than originally scheduled as higher winds were expected later in the day. She got off of the Cunard ship fine and will be able to hook up with the Silversea Explorer ship in order to go down to Antarctica. Success for her and her husband!!! BUT, the whole situation does make one aware of the challenging weather in this part of the world. THANKS for the sharing and postings! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 208,950 views. http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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