Explorer Feb 1-17 Buenos Aires to Santiago Live

[RachelG]

Sitting here in in the Admiral’s Club at DFW enroute to Buenos Aires (aka escaping the Arctic vortex), so I will set the table for this cruise, as my friend MrRumor likes to say.

 

This voyage involves two new countries for me, Argentina and Uruguay, as well as a new island, the Falklands.  George has been to Argentina previously.  We have both been to Chile and Patagonia on a land trip while we enjoyed immensely.  

 

This trip involves a couple of bucket list items, namely visiting the Falklands, rounding the southern tip of South America, and seeing more of the Chilean fjords.  George is a big war history buff so very interested in seeing the site of the Falkland conflict.

 

As usual before any big trip, we had our share of drama.  No fractured bones or ruptured hernias this time, but instead, someone hacked my checking account.  I have spent literally hours on the phone and in person at the bank over the last week trying to get things straight.  I think it is mostly fixed, but i have been very stressed out.

 

Very much looking forward to seeing old CC friends and meeting new ones.  And I will try to figure out how to post pics with the new format. 

[poss]

Have a most lovely cruise, Rachel and George!    And sorry about the pre-travels drama.

[RachelG]

Forgot to add, any of my fellow CC cruisers on this voyage are welcome to chime in and add their thoughts.  I have done some fun joint blogs in the past.  The more the merrier.

[1982CruzStart]

looking forward to following your posts.  Have a great cruise. 

[Travelcat2]

We are also looking forward to your posts as always.  We are particularly interested in this cruise since we board when you disembark so anxious to learn about the Asst. C.D..  Apparently his show is wonderful so if you go to shows, it might be something that you would want to see.  

 

Hopefully there will no more stress and you can enjoy the cruise 100%.

[WesW]

Fair Winds and Following Seas Rachel and George.  Hope y'all have a terrific South American voyage.  And hope the seas are following for your Falklands port stop--last year at this time we missed the Falklands due to the tenders not being able to operate with the sea conditions as they were then (Feb 2018).  

 

Rachel, know y'all especially George would enjoy the Tierra Mayor Trekking (read hiking) excursion in Ushuaia.

[forgap]

It is inevitable that something happens just prior to a trip!   Last year for us it was a tree falling on our mountain cabin.   Still waiting for the shoe to fall this year as we leave the 19th for Bangkok (Mariner, Bangkok to Hong Kong).   

 

Safe travels!   We loved Buenos Aires.  Good wine and tango!   Looking forward to your blog.  

 

Jennifer

[Hambagahle]

Hope you have a lovely cruise and I am looking forward to your posts and photos.  Ken and I were in the Falklands in 2008 (Mariner lima to BA).  Although it is a very desolate place we really enjoyed our day there.  Great guide who ran the radio station under the Argentinian occupancy - he is a Brit and was forced to...  dress warmly.  It was very windy and cold.

 

 

 

 

[Zqueeze1]

Rachel:

I am thrilled to hear you guys are on this cruise and saddened that we are not.  We had to cancel our booking a while back due to having too many cruises booked and so little time. Sorry we won’t meet George this time. We are very much looking forward to you comments about your adventures.  Enjoy the cruise, the South American wines, and the Explorer. 

Z and TB

[liptastic]

Have a wonderful cruise. Safe travels. Looking forward to your posts, thanks for taking us along.    Jean.

[flossie009]

@RachelG,

Have a great cruise and hope you get to see the penguins on the Falklands 😄

[boblerm]

Rachel and George,  wishing you a wonderful cruise, no doubt it will be.  I'm looking forward to following along.

Bob

[RachelG]

Poss,1982CruzStart, forgap, liptastic, hambagahle, Flossie, boblerm, thank you all for the well wishes.

Jackie, I will definitely check out the show and report back.

Wes, I too hope the weather cooperates.  George will be devastated if he misses the Falklands.  And yes, we have that hiking tour booked.  I read your blog from last year when I was picking excursions.

zqueeze, I am so disappointed that you and TB had to cancel.  I had already told George he would have a kindred spirit onboard.

 

Since we are using FF miles for this cruise, we are taking the scenic route.  TUL-DFW-JFK-EZE.  Currently at JFK.  While inflight, I received an offer from Regent, full cash refund plus future cruise credit (amount undisclosed) to cancel this trip.  Actually if they had made it yesterday, I would have probably taken it as I have just been so stressed out about the bank thing, and George and I have plenty of work to keep us busy at home.  But since we were already in route, I consulted with George, and he said no, we need to go and get away.  So here we are.

[RJ2002]

Always enjoy your posts Rachel, and looking forward to your reports on this great itinerary.

 

Had to laugh at your scenic route comment.  We too travel on points whenever we can snag those precious business saver seats.  One of our more interesting routings for an Africa land tour a couple of years ago:  LAX-DUB-ADD-JNB-CPT, on Ethiopian!  Never again.  We changed our return flights to Lufthansa when some last minute seats opened up, after we were already on the trip.

 

Enjoy your travels and try to put the pre-cruise issues aside for a bit.  That welcome aboard champagne will help!

[Stumblefoot]

52 minutes ago, RachelG said:

While inflight, I received an offer from Regent, full cash refund plus future cruise credit (amount undisclosed) to cancel this trip.

 

What?  That is crazy!!!  I would be stressing out all the way to BA worrying that the ship is oversold and they can't accommodate everyone.  Ships are not the same as airplanes or hotels. 

Good luck and keep us posted as to why they sent out a cancellation request at such a late date.

[RachelG]

RJ2002, that is indeed a creative routing. This one seems really straightforward in comparison.  But business class saver tickets require creativity.

 

Stumblefoot, this cruise has been oversold for quite a long time.  They started sending offers to switch to something else about 3 months ago, and the offers have gotten more and more generous.  Problem now is that most people are already enroute unless they live in South America.  They should have been more generous with the offers sooner.  We are in a G2 as all D and F suites were waitlisted when I booked, and that was a year ago.

[ronrick1943]

Well, hope all is well with your Bank.  And getting an offer while you're flying in?????? Now settle back and enjoy your trip, I'm looking forward to reading about your good (or bad) comments about the trip.  Hope all goes good for you.

[mrlevin]

12 hours ago, RachelG said:

This trip involves a couple of bucket list items, namely visiting the Falklands, rounding the southern tip of South America, and seeing more of the Chilean fjords.  George is a big war history buff so very interested in seeing the site of the Falkland conflict.

 

Rachel, are you sure you are "rounding the southern tip of South America?"  Last year on Mariner we went through the Beagle Channel.

 

Have a great trip! 

 

Marc

[Mr Rumor]

Rachel, think of that nasty hacking episode as being in your wake now and have a fabulous cruise with George!  We haven't been to any of these ports so I'll be avidly following along.   Hi from Ginny!

 

Rich

[Gilly]

I'm looking forward to reading your posts as you sail "the other way round" from usual, Rachel!  Thanks for taking us along.

[mom0f3]

Current offer for cancelling is a full refund plus enough future cruise credit to take a very nice cruise in the future...AND Regent will fly you home if you booked you air with them. How high can they go?  No worries for those with a guarantee, I’m sure eventually they will make an offer to good to be refused....

 

Buenos Aires is sunny and beautiful today.  We look forward to meeting our fellow cruisers tomorrow.  Sue

[mom0f3]

Wow... they just DOUBLED the cash offer...so tempting!   If we had Regent air, we’d be so taking this offer!

 

[RachelG]

We just got the very large cash offer too.  If we had done Regent air, we would take it.  I am surprised there have been no takers yet.

 

Marc, not quite the tip of South America correct, but down at the bottom, so pretty close.

 

gilly, Ronrick, MrRumor, thanks for the well wishes.  I am still gettin account overdrawn messages twice a day from the bank even though the account is closed. I am just going to ignore.

 

our flight from JFK was delayed over an hour for de icing, so we arrived in Buenos Aires around noon.  Customs line looked long, but moved rapidly.  We had a driver waiting to take us to Hotel Anselmo in the San Telmo district.  It is a boutique hotel on a square.  Rooms are smallish but very comfortable bed and stylish decor.

 

after a quick shower and clothing change, we headed across the square for lunch at an Italian restaurant that was oh so good.  Then we walked all over, looking in little shops, going all the way down to Plaza de Mayo then back up to the modern art museum, which is small and has a lot of bizarre art that I hate, but also some really good 3-D art installations.  Now time for a nap.

 

 

[RJ2002]

RachelG and mom0f3, those bump offers sound really tempting.  I'm sitting on the edge of my seat to hear how this all unfolds tomorrow when you board the Explorer.  Keep us posted!

Edited February 1, 2019 by RJ2002
spelling

[RachelG]

Someone took the offer for full refund, plus additional cash which was more than the amount that I paid for this cruise for the two of us, plus airfare changes if they booked air with Regent.  The ship is full, but everyone will get on.

 

after our nap, we walked some more.  There were tango dancers on the square outside our hotel.  We had some not so great pizza, and some really good ice cream.  

 

I am am going to try to post a few pictures of our day as an experiment.

Cat art at the modern art museum

 

 

 

Interesting heart

George in front of some big government building.  It looks important.  Why is he wearing long sleeves when it is 80?

Edited February 1, 2019 by RachelG