South America Cape Horn on Emerald Princess February 28, 2018

[PurpleTraveller]

We made it just in time to see the glaciers before dusk and as we kept on slowly sailing the scenery after Glacier Alley was just as lovely. There were dolphins swimming alongside the ship for short time. A beautiful evening!

 

[ATTACH]418516[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]418517[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]418518[/ATTACH]

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[t&atravel]

We are taking this cruise next year and are quite enjoying your review and pictures!! I have a question regarding Ushuaia. I have been reading that you can get an “end of the world” passport stamp at that little post office or at other spots around town. It looks like the post office was closed in your picture. Is it closed permanently or just the day you were there? Did you have time on this tour where we might find another place to get one (we’re taking the same ships tour). And the big question, did Princess collect your passports before this port stop?

 

Thanks.

[laughing husky]

Thank you for posting....Now this trip has made it to the top of the list, thanks to your photos...and descriptions of the penguins and the horn....I had met that couple when they came through Alaska. A very nice couple...

[PurpleTraveller]

I see that some of the photos in my last post didn't load properly so I am trying again.

 

We are sailing the Beagle Channel after Glacier Alley.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[PurpleTraveller]

We are taking this cruise next year and are quite enjoying your review and pictures!! I have a question regarding Ushuaia. I have been reading that you can get an “end of the world” passport stamp at that little post office or at other spots around town. It looks like the post office was closed in your picture. Is it closed permanently or just the day you were there? Did you have time on this tour where we might find another place to get one (we’re taking the same ships tour). And the big question, did Princess collect your passports before this port stop?

 

Thanks.

 

Thank you. As we were so early the Post Office at Ensenada Bay opened just after I took my photos. The man who runs it was actually opening the shutters when I was on the jetty taking photos. I do not know of anywhere else on this tour to get a stamp as most stops were at scenic points. There may be somewhere actually in Ushuaia. We did not have our passports as Princess collected our passports when we embarked at Buenos Aires and we didn't get them back until the last sea day before we disembarked at San Antonio. Hope you enjoy the rest of the review and have a great cruise.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you for posting....Now this trip has made it to the top of the list, thanks to your photos...and descriptions of the penguins and the horn....I had met that couple when they came through Alaska. A very nice couple...

Thanks. I'm pleased that you have been enjoying the review. It is a great cruise with wonderful scenery and penguins. Hope you enjoy the rest.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[anthonyy7]

We had Julio Delgado as a port lecturer in the Mediterranean. Perhaps he’ll be on board in 2019. Loving the photos and I’m taking notes [emoji404]. So if I understood correctly, your ship sailed around the Horn in a counter clockwise position?

[dchip]

Your photography is wonderful. Thanks for answering so many questions! Very helpful, since we will also be on the 49 day sailing in February on the Royal Princess.

 

Cheers, Denise

[DivineMST]

Was your Maitre d Rui Pereira, affectionately known as Buby.

[madmacs]

Brilliant blog - the great pictures are making me very excited for next February when we go the opposite way i.e San Antonio to BA

[PurpleTraveller]

We had Julio Delgado as a port lecturer in the Mediterranean. Perhaps he’ll be on board in 2019. Loving the photos and I’m taking notes [emoji404]. So if I understood correctly, your ship sailed around the Horn in a counter clockwise position?

We also had Julio as our destination expert on two previous Mediterranean cruises. We like him as he gives good information and has a sense of humour. I had a chat with him and he told me that he usually does the Mediterranean or Baltics during the northern summer and then South America during their summer season.

 

When we got to Cape Horn the ship turned so that both sides could see the research station and memorial. When we sailed around the island we went counter clockwise and the port side was on the land side. It was a great experience.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Your photography is wonderful. Thanks for answering so many questions! Very helpful, since we will also be on the 49 day sailing in February on the Royal Princess.

 

Cheers, Denise

Thank you. I'm glad that the review has been of some help to you. Have a great cruise next year.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Was your Maitre d Rui Pereira, affectionately known as Buby.

Yes he was. I only saw him a few times as we didn't eat a lot in the dining room.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Brilliant blog - the great pictures are making me very excited for next February when we go the opposite way i.e San Antonio to BA

Thanks. You should have a great cruise. So many things to see and wonderful scenery!

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Friday March 9 - Punta Arenas

 

Today our day did not go to plan!

 

More than a year before the cruise I had booked a speedboat tour going to Magdalena Island to see the penguins and lighthouse and to go around Marta Island to see the sea lions with GV Tours. The reasons we wanted to do this tour was in case we didn't get into the Falklands we would still get to see penguins, so that DH could see penguins as he was doing the battlefields tour in the Falklands and going by speedboat in the morning would allow us to see some of Punta Arenas in the afternoon. Even though some members of the roll call reported having problems communicating with GV Tours I had no such problem with all my emails responded to by Victoria Stein, the daughter of the owners, within a few minutes to a few days. At the beginning of the year Victoria contacted me asking me to pay in full via PayPal as their payment policy had changed since I booked the tour, so I did as I really wanted to do this tour.

 

As the tour was due to start at 9.00am and we were not due to moor until 8.00am, we queued at the Michelangelo Dining Room for our tender tickets at 7.30am. We were tickets 4 and 5 so we were in the first tender that got to the pier at about 8.20am. We met up with another couple from the roll call who were also booked on the same tour and found the GV Tours representative in the terminal building. To our shock he told us that the tour had been cancelled. When we asked why he told us it was due to the bad weather and that we had been sent an email. The other couple checked their phone immediately and they had not received an email and as of 7.30am I had also not received an email. We were astonished at this as we had just been in a tender on calm, flat seas and there was almost no wind. DH went to ask a Princess rep if the Princess tours were going to Magdalena Island and was told that they were. We went back to the GV Tours rep and told him this. He then told us that the larger boats were able to go to Magdalena Island but that the Port Authority had not given permission for the smaller speedboats to go. I then checked with a Princess rep to see if the Princess speedboat tours were going and they were. I also checked with an independent operator and was told "Of course we are, the conditions are perfect". So we went back again and told the GV Tours rep this. He got on the phone and then told us that it wasn't the weather but a problem with the speedboat that was supplied by a third party and also told us that we would be sent an email regarding a refund. He did not offer to put us on one of the bus tours that GV Tours were running or offer any other assistance. We were less than impressed with GV Tours customer service! Two days later after still not receiving an email I sent an email to Victoria at GV Tours asking for an explanation and a refund. I received a one line email from her saying that a refund had been done within 24 hours and to contact her if I did not receive it. No explanation and no apology. I did receive an email from PayPal a short time later with a full refund but due to the currency exchange was left 25AUD out of pocket. More on GV Tours when we get to Puerto Montt.

 

So this is what you can do in Punta Arenas when you have been let down by your tour operator. We were determined that GV Tours would not ruin our day, so we went back through the security in the terminal building and got a map from the tourist information booth. Fortunately I had done some research on this port, read a number of threads on Cruise Critic and gone to the Destination Presentation on the ship so I had some idea of what there was to see in Punta Arenas.

 

We left the terminal building and walked a brief 5 - 10 minutes to the Plaza Munoz Gamero. The plaza is lovely with a statue of Magellan with a mermaid and two Fuegian Indians at his feet. Apparently if you rub or kiss the big toe of one of the Indians you will return to Punta Arenas.

 

 

We sat in the plaza for a while and listened to the music that was being played. After a while we walked across the road to visit the Cathedral.

 

 

We walked around the plaza passing the Palacio Sara Braun which was built between 1895 and 1905 and now houses the Hotel Jose Noguiera and a museum. The Braun family arrived in Punta Arenas from Latvia in 1873 and Sara Braun's husband Jose Nogueira was a wealthy Portuguese businessman who had interests in shipping, sheep farming and sea lion hunting. When he died in 1893 she inherited his estate and built the Palace.

 

 

We walked past the Regional Museum of Magellan which is housed in Palacio Braun Menendez built in 1903.

 

 

We then walked for 15 minutes to the City Cemetery past a couple of attractive churches.

 

 

The Regional Museum Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatelli is housed next to this church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

Edited April 4, 2018 by PurpleTraveller

[PurpleTraveller]

When we arrived at the cemetery there almost no one there. We were able to wander around looking at the mausoleums and graves in complete peace. The cemetery is lovely with Cypress trees lining many paths and a mixture of elaborate mausoleums and ordinary graves. I was surprised to see a number of graves with English inscriptions.

 

[ATTACH]418604[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]418605[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]418606[/ATTACH]

 

We saw the statue of the little Indian, Indicito, which represents deceased indigenous groups and is considered good luck.

 

[ATTACH]418607[/ATTACH]

 

Just as we were ready to leave many tour groups arrived and the cemetery became very busy. I was very glad that we were able to see it when it was almost empty. As we walked towards the entrance vestibule we noticed that the sky was getting very dark and ominous and it looked like it was about to rain so we decided to take a seat in the vestibule and wait for a while before we headed back to the centre. This was a very good decision as a few minutes later it started to pour. We were dry and comfortable but many of the tour groups got very wet and the vestibule became very crowded.

 

When the rain stopped we walked back to the plaza past the Regional Museum Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello where we saw a lot of tour groups and back to the Plaza. Once again we sat in the plaza and listened to the music before heading up to the Mirador Cerro de La Cruz, a lookout over the city. It only took ten minutes to walk to the lookout from the plaza and there was a great view of the city.

 

 

 

We returned to the Plaza and were surprised to see that five hours had passed since leaving the terminal so we returned to the dock and got the 2pm tender back to the ship where we had a late lunch.

 

All in all even though our day was not as planned we ended up having a pleasant visit to Punta Arenas.

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Arghh! Here we go again with photos not posting properly. When I post I check that all is OK with the post but then a short time later the photos don't show properly. Sorry.

 

Here are the photos of the cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Still having problems with photos. Going back to Taparalk.

[PurpleTraveller]

Saturday March 10 - Amalia Glacier/Sea Day

 

At 10.00am we went to the Enrichment Lecture by Angela Kelly at the theatre. The topic was "Charting the Uncharted - How Magellan conquered the most treacherous straits in the world" and was very interesting.

 

At 3.45pm we arrived at the Amalia Glacier. We slowly glided through the channel and up to the glacier. The water was like glass and there was little wind. Even though it was overcast we could clearly see the glacier and the colours in the ice. It was very cold up on the top deck but worth it to see the glacier which was very beautiful. I was amazed at how close the ship got to the glacier. The ship slowly turned so that both sides of the ship got a view of the glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

A tender was put down into the water to get photos of Emerald Princess at the glacier. We could hear sea lions but couldn't see them. When the tender was back on board the ship slowly turned and glided away from the glacier. It was a wonderful experience!

 

 

 

We were at the glacier for more than an hour. The Captains Circle cocktail party was at 5.00pm in Club Fusion. We dashed to our cabin to drop off our jackets and cameras and made our way to the party. When we shook hands with the Staff Captain he laughed as our hands were so cold.

 

I forgot to take a pen and notebook with me so my apologies if I have any of these numbers incorrect. 72 percent of passengers were Captains Circle members with 532 Gold, 358 Ruby, 777 Platinum and 550 Elite. The most travelled passenger had 1097 days. When the prizes were drawn we won a bottle of champagne!

 

After the party we went to dinner - it was Italian night night in the Horizon Court and then went to the production show "I Got the Music" in the theatre.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[PurpleTraveller]

Sunday March 11 - Sea Day

 

We didn't do much on this day. We went to the Destination Presentation on Puerto Montt at 9.30am in the theatre. At 2.00pm in the Piazza we went to the performance of the Princess Pop Choir. They were great and it was fun to watch.

 

 

We had dinner at the Crown Grill and took along our bottle of champagne that we had won at the Captains Circle party. We had an excellent meal and ate far too much. The champagne was also lovely.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Tapatalk

[Madison3]

Great pictures. We were on the cruise with you. Probably one of our best trips. Loved Captain Todd McBain.

 

Debbie & Jim Liss

[PurpleTraveller]

Great pictures. We were on the cruise with you. Probably one of our best trips. Loved Captain Todd McBain.

 

Debbie & Jim Liss

Thanks. We also really enjoyed having Captain Todd McBain as our captain.

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[PurpleTraveller]

Monday March 12 - Puerto Montt

 

Today we had booked the Bus Promo Tour with GV Tours. After what had happened to us in Punta Arenas we were a bit apprehensive but knew that the bus tours had gone ahead in Punta Arenas so were fairly sure all would be OK and it was.

 

We were due to moor at 8.00am and the instructions from GV Tours asked us to get off on one of the first tenders and the tour would leave at 9.00am. We got tender tickets 110 and 111 and were on the 8.00am tender. We met GV Tours at the gate at the port exit and were taken to our bus. We were a group of 18 in a small 24 seat bus. Our driver was Carlos and our guide was Annie, the older daughter of the owners, who was on holiday from Los Angeles and helping out on the day.

 

We set off at 8.45am and drove to Petrohue Falls through lovely countryside. The countryside was very green and Annie told us that it rains on 300 days a year. The weather was very changeable with sun, cloud and rain. Luckily we didn't get wet at all as it only rained when we were in the bus.

 

Petrohue Falls was very crowded and the water was a dirty brown from all the rain they had recently had. We walked downstream to some rapids and found a small pond that had the green water we were expecting.

 

 

 

We were unable to see the top of the volcano due to the clouds and this was the best view we were able to get.

 

 

We left the falls and drove back along the lake. We stopped at a farm to feed the llamas.

 

 

 

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

[Ferndale Girl]

I'm enjoying your trip report and photos very much. I can't seem to fine the website for Estancia Excursions. Would you be so kind as to give it to me? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

[MWcruiser]

I just am so thankful that you posted your experience with GV Tours. They were one of the companies I was considering for Punta Arenas in January 2019. I had read some other very positive and very negative reviews and now I know to avoid them, at least in Punta Arenas. Sorry that you missed your excursion.