Live-ish -- Dec 20 Thru Jan 5 South America/Antarctica on Coral Princess

[lstone19]

14 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Are you posting from your stateroom or from the Internet Cafe?  If in your stateroom have you tried propping your door open?  I know that the Medallion Net satellites yield poor coverage in Alaska and was expecting the same down south.  In Alaska it helped if I opened the door though and was kind of hoping that would be the case in Antarctica.  I'm sure the weather isn't helping - heard it is wet, windy, and very cold!

 

Keeping the door open might help with you reaching the ship's Wi-Fi access points but will do nothing regarding any issues between the ship and the satellites. Your Internet traffic goes from your device to an access point on the ship via Wi-Fi, then via the ship's internal wired network to the satellite dish, and then to the satellite. Performance with one part of that is independent of performance elsewhere. Your overall throughput will be the slowest of those various parts.

[erber]

We have been warned internet will be spotty due to satellite location. If I can send photos , I will. I've sent some to family via WhatsApp and every once in a while it cooperates. I've already tried multiple times and so far nothing works to get them to send to  cruise critic.  I'll try again in a while. 

[villauk]

On 12/22/2019 at 5:18 PM, martinitime1 said:

We were booked on the same cruise and the Discovery option was just too late, even if she sails on time in 11/2021. We ended up (as well as two other couples were coordinating with) booking the Celebrity APEX for 10/29 Barcelona>Spain>Portugal>Canary Isl>FL. Would have rather stayed with Princess however, the APEX will be very different vibe, booked Aqua Class. Never been on a Celebrity cruise before.

 

At least being on a TA, you won’t miss having a proper balcony on Apex and I believe they have made several improvements to the ship since the inception of Edge 😉. X have also started to drop the outrageous pricing - good news at last.

 

 

OP,

Thank you for starting the review; it’s an itinerary we’d love to take. Look forward to more 👍.

[azbirdmom]

2 hours ago, lstone19 said:

 

Keeping the door open might help with you reaching the ship's Wi-Fi access points but will do nothing regarding any issues between the ship and the satellites. Your Internet traffic goes from your device to an access point on the ship via Wi-Fi, then via the ship's internal wired network to the satellite dish, and then to the satellite. Performance with one part of that is independent of performance elsewhere. Your overall throughput will be the slowest of those various parts.

 

Understood.  Even with the door propped open, it only helped to get me to the extender / repeater.  But it did make a difference in terms of my ability to upload photos or not.  And even standing right under the repeater, at best it was similar to the old internet speeds.

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, erber said:

We have been warned internet will be spotty due to satellite location. If I can send photos , I will. I've sent some to family via WhatsApp and every once in a while it cooperates. I've already tried multiple times and so far nothing works to get them to send to  cruise critic.  I'll try again in a while. 

 

That's helpful!  Glad you can send them to family.  I very much appreciate that you are taking the time to report on what's going on since you're on the first Princess voyage to the region in quite some time!

[CTGirl]

6 hours ago, erber said:

Internet is slower and so far we have tv reception. I was in  the process of trying to upload photos of maps and other information sent to our staterooms regarding the Antarctic part of our cruise. All uploads failed. So at least for now I cannot post photos. I'll try later. If I can'tger anything to upload,  I'll try to catch up after we are further north again. 

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your vacation to post all of this. We get on when you get off so I am reading every word. You mentioned the TV. Is it the on demand type or is it the older type where you an just go up and down on the different channels?  Thanks in advance. 

[gottagocit]

Have you seen any info indicating how far south into the Antarctic region you will be sailing? 

[erber]

we haven't had internet in the last few hours. Sporadic. Tv is not on demand . Coral is not updated with on demand tv yet.

 

I'll try to post our route when I can get photos to work.

 

We are going as far south as Neumayer Channel on day 3 of Antarctic cruising. That's around 64°S, close to 65°S.

[erber]

Tried to post patters. They won't upload. And I forgot to take a photo of tonight's dinner menu. Sorry everyone. 

 

I'll just say today was marvelous. Elephant island and it's many glaciers and surrounding clouds -- just fantastic. I saw large groups of penguins on the glaciers but they look like black dots and were too small to show up in photographs. Saw some whale spouts but no flukes so far. 

 

It's cold. About 30°F right now. Wore my packable down jacket today and ear warmers. I did not need my long underwear. It's a lot colder than Alaska cruising! 

 

[gottagocit]

1 hour ago, erber said:

We are going as far south as Neumayer Channel on day 3 of Antarctic cruising. That's around 64°S, close to 65°S.

If that’s the southernmost point of the route I have to say it’s disappointing that the voyage won’t pass below the Antarctic Circle which is at about 66° 33’.  Have you seen anything indicating you would cross it?

 

We crossed the Arctic Circle a few years ago went sailing north of Iceland and it’s at the same location but obviously N vs S and I had assumed this voyage would do the same. 

[Skyline110]

On 12/22/2019 at 5:08 PM, jrblach said:

thanks so much. we look forward to all of your posts. we join the ship Jan 5 and then stay on it Jan 21 for two  B2B cruises. we figure this gives us extra chances at seeing everything since weather can be a problem down there.

Would love to find you and get your experiences on the first cruise. We start 1/21. Hope you can continue to post while on your first leg! 

[traveling psych nurse]

Thank you for posting about your trip. We are booked for January 2021.

[erber]

No, gottagocit,  as I said, we are going as far south as Newmayer Channel. This is according to maps provided to us. I cannot upload them to the thread at this southern location. The captain said everything is dependent on weather and ice as well. He stresses the actual path may differ from the proposed path due to weather issues. I'll let you know what happens as we continue to cruise the Antarctic peninsula area. 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by erber

[CTGirl]

6 hours ago, erber said:

Tv is not on demand . Coral is not updated with on demand tv yet.

Thanks and darn.  My last several cruises have been with on demand tv.  I got spoiled.  Oh well small price to pay to see Antarctica.  Enjoy your cruise.

Edited December 27, 2019 by CTGirl

[erber]

Have had internet difficulty but it seems to be working at the moment. Captain is trying to get us to Esperanza Station, the next point on our itinerary. There are ice pack issues so he is rerouting and trying again. If not he said we will still see some incredible icebergs and then we will move on to Admiralty Bay, our location for the afternoon. 

 

 

[gottagocit]

What’s the general temperature like onboard, specifically in the atrium area where the doors to the promenade deck are certainly getting a workout? Do you need a jacket or sweater even if inside there?

Do the common areas seem overcrowded?

 

 

[erber]

Window of internet, but still can't upload photos.  It's a little chilly near doorways out to deck. People run in and out to see the amazing scenery. We have seen some amazing icebergs. 

 

I don't tend to hang around atrium but that probably is less chilly than some public areas on 6 and 7. Also, the library and card room on deck 8 are great spots to get a view or relax and read. Since we have a balcony we have spent more time in our room than on Trips where we needed to be out on Deck for a good view. 

 

In general,  common areas don't seem overcrowded. Ocassionally when an event let's out there is a crowd. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by erber

[erber]

We couldn't go to Esperanza station due to weather and icepack. So we maneuvered around some giant icebergs instead. The captain is now on course for our scheduled afternoon location of Admiralty Bay.  We are a bit further north so at least I can post text. Tomorrow we go further south again so I do not expect to be able to look at cruise critic, let alone post. 

[WichitaCruiser]

You are so helpful!  We board on the 5th.  Thanks so much!

[erber]

We are in Admiralty Bay. It is pristine beauty. We have seen Adelie penguins swimming near the ship. I tried uploading photos again and it just won't work. 

 

[HS2BS]

We were on the Coral this past summer in Alaska and on deck 10, at the end of the front left side is a door. This door is to the outside and an observation deck - most cruisers do not know it exists! We had this area out front to share with two other couples, but what a great view of the glaciers!

 

Hal

[gottagocit]

19 minutes ago, HS2BS said:

We were on the Coral this past summer in Alaska and on deck 10, at the end of the front left side is a door. This door is to the outside and an observation deck - most cruisers do not know it exists! We had this area out front to share with two other couples, but what a great view of the glaciers!

 

Hal

Doors leading to this area are normally locked when the ship is moving due to excessive wind pressure on them and the forward facing area. They will also unlock them at very slow speeds like in glacier bay park etc. I am curious if they’re open during these Antarctic scenic cruising days. 

[azbirdmom]

9 minutes ago, gottagocit said:

Doors leading to this area are normally locked when the ship is moving due to excessive wind pressure on them and the forward facing area. They will also unlock them at very slow speeds like in glacier bay park etc. I am curious if they’re open during these Antarctic scenic cruising days. 

 

My guess is that they would be locked.  Aft, however, should be open.  Hoping that Erber can confirm that.  She has been so helpful to those of us on subsequent Antarctic cruises!

[lois1112]

On 12/25/2019 at 1:52 AM, Andrew J. Cat said:

Thanks for the great pics and info!  We're doing this in Jan '21.  You've really got us excited now!!!

Merry Christmas!

andrew, join our roll call, we have a great group going

[lois1112]

20 hours ago, erber said:

Tried to post patters. They won't upload. And I forgot to take a photo of tonight's dinner menu. Sorry everyone. 

 

I'll just say today was marvelous. Elephant island and it's many glaciers and surrounding clouds -- just fantastic. I saw large groups of penguins on the glaciers but they look like black dots and were too small to show up in photographs. Saw some whale spouts but no flukes so far. 

 

It's cold. About 30°F right now. Wore my packable down jacket today and ear warmers. I did not need my long underwear. It's a lot colder than Alaska cruising! 

 

I just want to thank you again for taking the time to post (especially the penguin pictures) I'm so excited