Thinking of going to South America and Antarctica on Princess ?

[scubacruiserx2]

For those who may be thinking of going to South America or Antarctica on Princess 

 

 

 

Patagonia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gottagocit]

We are on one of these voyages in January.

What are you trying to say in this post?Am I to assume these photos were taken by you on a recent trip? 

[NavyVeteran]

No one is sailing "to" Antarctica on Princess - you may be sailing "by" Antarctica. If you want to sail "to" Antarctica, you have to book a ship with no more than 500 passengers.

[waltd]

If you want to be exact , according to the Princess website , it Antarctica Peninsula.   

Sun, Jan 12	Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) View excursions in Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) on Sun, Jan 12	12:00 PM
Mon, Jan 13	Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) View excursions in Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) on Mon, Jan 13
Tue, Jan 14	Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) View excursions in Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising) on Tue, Jan 14
Wed, Jan 15	Antarctic Peninsula (Scenic Cruising)

 

[rkacruiser]

Having sailed on such a cruise aboard the Zaandam, the use of the words "view excursions" is a stretch of the definition of what most cruisers would expect.  There will be NO landings on the Continent itself.  Ice and weather conditions permitting, you will easily see the Continent.  To actually make a landing on Antarctica, one needs to book on a small excursion type vessel such as what is offered by Lindbland National Geographic Expeditions.

 

From my experience on the Zaandam, the expert commentary that we had, the sights we saw, the days we spent in the Antarctic waters are memorable.  Of the Princess fleet, Coral Princess is the best to provide such a good experience, in my opinion.

[scubacruiserx2]

5 hours ago, gottagocit said:

We are on one of these voyages in January.

What are you trying to say in this post?Am I to assume these photos were taken by you on a recent trip? 

 

We would like share photos and information about South America and Antarctica including some of the ports that you may visit . The photos were taken in South America and of Antarctica in December of 2018 and January 2019 . On the Zaandam a shore excursion is offered from Punta Arenas to those who wish to land on Antarctica .

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/shore-excursions/1010069/antarctica-landing.html

[chengkp75]

13 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Having sailed on such a cruise aboard the Zaandam, the use of the words "view excursions" is a stretch of the definition of what most cruisers would expect.  There will be NO landings on the Continent itself.  Ice and weather conditions permitting, you will easily see the Continent.  To actually make a landing on Antarctica, one needs to book on a small excursion type vessel such as what is offered by Lindbland National Geographic Expeditions.

 

From my experience on the Zaandam, the expert commentary that we had, the sights we saw, the days we spent in the Antarctic waters are memorable.  Of the Princess fleet, Coral Princess is the best to provide such a good experience, in my opinion.

And, depending on when Princess' ships go into drydock over the next couple of years, there will be no Princess ships even doing "drive by" cruises to Antarctica.  The total "drop dead" date for passenger ships not Polar Classed is early in 2021, but when a ship has undergone their statutory drydocking since 2018, the ship loses its certification to operate south of 60*.

[gottagocit]

14 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

No one is sailing "to" Antarctica on Princess - you may be sailing "by" Antarctica. If you want to sail "to" Antarctica, you have to book a ship with no more than 500 passengers.

 

I get this. I really do. And I see this purists response pretty often on these boards. And that’s okay. 

 

However I find it fascinating that no one considers a visit to Glacier Bay National Park during an Alaskan cruise to be a “drive by” even though most know you can opt to kayak or take small boats into the park from the tiny nearby town of Gustavus and camp or otherwise go ashore. In this case it isn’t a requirement that one tramps ashore and further impacts wildlife or the land environment in some way before being the visit can be considered legitimate?

 

Same for the fjords of Norway or New Zealand. Believe me I’ve asked many times not once did someone refer to those destinations in that way. Lol. 

 

Oh and anyone who has cruised down the Nile knows it’s simply an amazing experience and doesn’t require that you wad into the waters from the river bank to qualify as having been there although most of the boats do stop 2-3 places between Luxor and Aswan for temple site visits. 

 

Just food for thought. 

Edited October 7, 2019 by gottagocit

[mek]

I've been around a long time and frankly I don't get these kinds of comments or the need to post them.  It's kind of like correcting grammar, which is a no no on these boards.  

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

We cruised to 3 glaciers on a small boat before boarding the cruise ship

 

 

 

We got very close to icebergs and glaciers

 

An ice cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lois1112]

4 hours ago, gottagocit said:

 

I get this. I really do. And I see this purists response pretty often on these boards. And that’s okay. 

 

However I find it fascinating that no one considers a visit to Glacier Bay National Park during an Alaskan cruise to be a “drive by” even though most know you can opt to kayak or take small boats into the park from the tiny nearby town of Gustavus and camp or otherwise go ashore. In this case it isn’t a requirement that one tramps ashore and further impacts wildlife or the land environment in some way before being the visit can be considered legitimate?

 

Same for the fjords of Norway or New Zealand. Believe me I’ve asked many times not once did someone refer to those destinations in that way. Lol. 

 

Oh and anyone who has cruised down the Nile knows it’s simply an amazing experience and doesn’t require that you wad into the waters from the river bank to qualify as having been there although most of the boats do stop 2-3 places between Luxor and Aswan for temple site visits. 

 

Just food for thought. 

I agree- see you in January

 

[cruisebie]

Scubacruiserx2, your wonderful trip report and beautiful pictures are one of the reasons I decided to do a SA/Antarctica cruise next year before it's too late to do one on the mainstream cruise lines.  Since I'm not retired yet, the 15 day Princess cruise next Dec is perfect for me.  I would love to do more SA ports, but that will be a good excuse to return there on a future cruise! As if I ever needed an excuse to cruise! 😂

 

Thanks again for for all the time and effort you took in putting your blog together and sharing it with all of us.

[brian1]

5 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

We cruised to 3 glaciers on a small boat before boarding the cruise ship

 

 

 

We got very close to icebergs and glaciers

 

An ice cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks impressive.

[mek]

The photos are beautiful - thanks for sharing.

[scubacruiserx2]

16 minutes ago, mek said:

The photos are beautiful - thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you and you're welcome . If you would like to see the entire travelogue it can be found here :

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, cruisebie said:

Scubacruiserx2, your wonderful trip report and beautiful pictures are one of the reasons I decided to do a SA/Antarctica cruise next year before it's too late to do one on the mainstream cruise lines.  Since I'm not retired yet, the 15 day Princess cruise next Dec is perfect for me.  I would love to do more SA ports, but that will be a good excuse to return there on a future cruise! As if I ever needed an excuse to cruise! 😂

 

Thanks again for for all the time and effort you took in putting your blog together and sharing it with all of us.

 

You're welcome and we're glad that you enjoyed it . There's nothing like seeing the real thing in person and we hope that you will enjoy your trip . And as you say , you can always return . This was our 3rd cruise to SA and we had some common and some different ports each time . We are so glad that we got to see Antarctica and stop at the Falkland Islands as they were our first visits there and they made quite an impression on us .

[ksm77]

10 hours ago, gottagocit said:

 

I get this. I really do. And I see this purists response pretty often on these boards. And that’s okay. 

 

However I find it fascinating that no one considers a visit to Glacier Bay National Park during an Alaskan cruise to be a “drive by” even though most know you can opt to kayak or take small boats into the park from the tiny nearby town of Gustavus and camp or otherwise go ashore. In this case it isn’t a requirement that one tramps ashore and further impacts wildlife or the land environment in some way before being the visit can be considered legitimate?

 

Same for the fjords of Norway or New Zealand. Believe me I’ve asked many times not once did someone refer to those destinations in that way. Lol. 

 

Oh and anyone who has cruised down the Nile knows it’s simply an amazing experience and doesn’t require that you wad into the waters from the river bank to qualify as having been there although most of the boats do stop 2-3 places between Luxor and Aswan for temple site visits. 

 

Just food for thought. 

Totally agree with you.  We will be doing this cruise on the Coral in January.  We looked into doing the landing type cruise, with the difference in price I am ok with doing the "drive by" cruise.  I never thought I would even get close to Antarctica must less get to see it up close.  I am so happy to get to see these amazing sites. 

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, brian1 said:

Looks impressive.

 

2 hours ago, mek said:

The photos are beautiful - thanks for sharing.

 

The photos are just from Patagonia . If you would like to see the cruise on the Zaandam the full review is here :

 

 

 

[Greg4502]

When I cruise South America in Feb 2018, there was an excursion you could take to Antarctica. Very pricey. Some people from the ship did do the excursion. There were special things they had to do for the trip. Which was an all day one. But, just like cruising around Cape Horn, it all depends on the weather. It is a 50/50 chance. The person I knew who took the trip, told me when they got there, they were given an emergency food pack. As the weather could change so quickly, that they could have been stuck there for a period of time.

[Steelers36]

It's nice to share, but this is a Princess board and the trip was on HAL???

[Globehoppers]

We selected Hurtigruten's Fram for our Antarctic adventure two years ago February.  Really nice ship for traveling south of the Antarctic Circle and making landings in a dozen locations.  Being in Antarctic waters for 10 days was a real treat providing travel through ice flows, viewing wild life in their natural habitats (including orcas tormenting seals sitting in ice flows), the red "midnight sun" reflecting in the waters, and of course magnificent views of ice capped mountains, fjords and coastlines.  As interesting was the different grounds we visited, from volcanic to very rocky.  Plus, the naturalist guides were exceptional.

 

We made our decision to go "full monty" in part do to the expense of flying to Usuaia to join the ship.  For just a little more we were able to see and experience so much more.  For us it would have been akin to doing an African safari (in our case two weeks in Kenya and Tanzania) via a 50 passenger bus and never getting off the bus!

[scubacruiserx2]

8 hours ago, Greg4502 said:

When I cruise South America in Feb 2018, there was an excursion you could take to Antarctica. Very pricey. Some people from the ship did do the excursion. There were special things they had to do for the trip. Which was an all day one. But, just like cruising around Cape Horn, it all depends on the weather. It is a 50/50 chance. The person I knew who took the trip, told me when they got there, they were given an emergency food pack. As the weather could change so quickly, that they could have been stuck there for a period of time.

 

Princess offers that excursion from Punta Arenas for $3600 and it can be found here :

 

https://www.princess.com/ports-excursions/punta-arenas-chile-excursions/antarctica-landing-expedition

 

We did consider the excursion but we were concerned that as you said it's a 50/50 chance and the alternate itinerary was  to Paine National Park . We did visit that park pre cruise and we'll show some photos . It's beautiful but we didn't care to go twice in the same cruise . Did the person you knew mention how they liked it ? And did they feel that it was worth the money and time ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lorri111]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 11:57 PM, lois1112 said:

I agree- see you in January

 

I second that sentiment!

[scubacruiserx2]

On 10/8/2019 at 8:25 AM, steelers36 said:

It's nice to share, but this is a Princess board and the trip was on HAL???

 

This was started to share a destination , South America and Antarctica . It doesn't matter if it's on the Coral or the Zaandam .

[Greg4502]

I was on the Emerald Princess, while taking this cruise. The people that did take this excursion said it was worth the money and liked it very much. A once in a lifetime thing, if you are never going back that way.