The Grouch on Seabourn Quest January 12, 2020 San Antonio to Buenos Aires via Antarctica

[whogo]

Sun, Jan 12 Santiago (San Antonio), Chile 5:00pm

Mon, Jan 13 At Sea

Tue, Jan 14 Puerto Montt, Chile 10:00am 8:00pm

Wed, Jan 15 Castro, Chile 7:00am 3:00pm

Thu, Jan 16 Chilean Fjords (Cruising)

Fri, Jan 17 Sarmiento Canal (Cruising)

Sat, Jan 18 Strait of Magellan (Cruising)

Sat, Jan 18 Punta Arenas, Chile 6:00am 6:00pm

Sun, Jan 19 Beagle Channel (Cruising)

Sun, Jan 19 Ushuaia, Argentina 3:00pm 9:00pm

Mon, Jan 20 At Sea

Tue, Jan 21 At Sea

Wed, Jan 22 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Thu, Jan 23 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Fri, Jan 24 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Sat, Jan 25 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Sun, Jan 26 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Mon, Jan 27 Antarctic Peninsula (Cruising)

Tue, Jan 28 At Sea

Wed, Jan 29 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands 7:00am 4:00pm

Thu, Jan 30 At Sea

Fri, Jan 31 At Sea

Sat, Feb 1 Montevideo, Uruguay Noon 8:00pm

Sun, Feb 2 Buenos Aires, Argentina 7:00am

 

We have pretty much stuck to cruising on Holland America since 1999, have moved up this time to Seabourn. Moved up? Seabourn is supposed to be a more luxurious line. We'll see, not sure we are luxury cruise types. Our fellow cruisers will spot that we are the wrong kind of people.

 

I will try another blog. As always, future posts depend on internet reliability and my mood. I will try to narrate my experiences honestly, except for when I exaggerate for comedic effect. I'll tip off the Holland America forum that I am blogging here, may bring more of the wrong kind of people to the Seabourn forum.

 

Saturday, June 11, 2020. Santiago. Skip to Sunday if you are not interested in our pre-cruise experience.

The overnight flight to Santiago was not bad in coach, lots of empty seats, Mrs. Whogo and I had a row of three to ourselves, still did not manage much sleep. Managed the taxi ride to Hotel Ladera without being ripped off or murdered. Nice, modern hotel, too early for check in, we walked a few blocks to Cerro San Cristobal Park, took the gondola ride up, made a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception (not really a religious experience for us), and rode the old funicular (inclined railroad or elevator) down and back up just for the fun of it. A brass plaque tied local boy made good Pope John Paul II to the car we rode in. He might have ridden in the car, I don't read Spanish. Lots of families, picnickers, bicyclists and kiosks selling tourist tat and food. We bought postcards. Nice views over the city and to distant mountains from the height in spite of some haze. We had ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Empenadas were widely available, did not appeal to us in 90 degree heat. It's summer on this side of the equator. Rode the gondola back down.

 

Ate dinner outdoors at a local sandwich shop, tongue sandwich for me with a local Kross Pilsener beer. Walked through the the sculpture park, Parque de las Esculturas. Answered a call from our son there. We've had a smart phone for four days and are loving it, never had international calling before.  Trouble free travels so far, advance planning worked.

[whogo]

Sunday, January 12, 2020. San Antonio, Chile.

 

Slept well and ate an excellent hotel breakfast. When was the last time you saw nice, soft scrambled eggs on a breakfast buffet?

 

Our arranged driver was right on time, better and cheaper than I expected. We are traveling with suitcases that are the airline's maximum size, nicknamed Black Behemoth and Blue Behemoth. They fit, along with two carryon bags in the trunk of the Mazda sedan, thank goodness. Embarrassing to travel with so much stuff, but we are going from summer heat to Antarctica. Excellent car and driver again. Both our drivers played English language pop hits from the 1980's, assume for our benefit, doubt it's their favorite music. Hour and half to the port, we arrived at 12:30 and waltzed through checkin and were aboard in no time.

 

Our guarantee verandah cabin ended up being in the lowest verandah category, we got what we paid for, no amazing upgrade for us. Lovely cabin, plenty of room for all our stuff with room left over. Our stewardess introduced herself and offered a selection of soaps to choose from. This brought open mouth blank stares from these Holland America cruisers. We're not used to this. She's a woman. She's not Indonesian. She's offering us strange soaps. We are not on Holland America. We made uneducated guesses at what we'd like and it wasn't long before she returned with a couple of flutes of champagne and some hors d'oeuvre. This far, I will say we have moved up to Seabourn.

 

Late lunch at the Colonnade (buffet) restaurant featured seafood items, I had shrimp and scallops and green beans, declined wine. Explored the ship without getting well oriented, except that cabins are up front toward the pointy end and public spaces are at the back, rounded ended. Now if I can just tell the front from the back, I keep getting turned around.

 

Muster drill was painless, everyone's assembly station is in the deck 4 restaurant, no life jackets needed for the drill. Great meet and greet right after at the Sky Bar on deck 9 overlooking the pool, beautifully arranged by Carol, aka carolroad, with name tags for everyone. It's handy to order drinks and not have to ring anything up, any drink we would order is included in the cruise fare. Congenial gathering, really great group of fellow cruisers. Most appeared to have cruised Seabourn before, but they treated us nicely, although they see we were really not their kind. We might as well have been wearing Nascar caps.

 

Conversation flowed at dinner, good thing, dinner was delayed. The crash of dishes we heard were our dinners hitting the floor, took a while for them to pick the broken china out and replate our meals. (They claimed they remade them. Yeah, sure.) Food was excellent, although a table mate got my rare lamb chops and I got her well done ones. Close enough. Will still say that we have moved up to Seabourn.

[lvog]

Interested in your perspective since we will embarking as you disembark in BA.

[teamflames]

Not sure if you are a drinker but if so I will be interested in your views on the differences of the 2 lines with regards to bar service and quality of drinks. In my limited experience HAL wins hands down.

[dogs4fun]

Following - looking forward to your next post. 

[ski ww]

Looks like an interesting itinerary. Looking forward to your posts.

[puppycanducruise]

Looking forward to reading all about your adventure.

Thanks for taking us along.

[AncientWanderer]

Following along...enjoying your sense of humor.

Have a great cruise!

[kazu]

Oh good - a live thread from the grouch 😉 

Enjoying your reports and looking forward to following along with you on your cruise.

[whogo]

 

 

January 12, 2020. Continued.

 

The official Seabourn report from our cruise is here: https://my.yb.tl/seabournexpeditions/9743/

 

Our captain is Joost Jan Bernard Eldering, from the Netherlands and from Holland America and other lines. Really leaned on the horn, which was aimed right at our sail away meet and greet.

 

Bumpy ride last night, don't remember the last time we felt this much motion on a cruise ship. The seas don't look that rough, might be the pitching of a smaller ship. It doesn't help that we are way forward in the pointy end. Mrs. Whogo got up in the middle of the night for a moment. I got up a little after that and found the cabin door ajar. Must have shaken loose. I threw the deadbolt.

 

Live music yesterday at sail away; Brianna and the Band (guitar, keyboard, sax, bass, percussion, and a female singer). They sounded great, assume the same group were playing in the club after dinner last night.

 

Our bathroom has a tub a separate small shower, too narrow to bend over and touch my toes. No ledge to help in leg shaving, will not shave my legs this trip, no big lifestyle changes for me. I think it was in 1975 that it was decreed that every company offering lodging on land or at sea must have unique shower controls. Seabourn's shower has two knobs. The bottom knob controls temperature, turn left for hotter water. Turn the top knob left to control how much water flows out of the shower wand, turn it right to control how much water flows from the shower head. A sweet spot in the center turns the water off. Maybe. I have not found the sweet spot.

 

Amusingly, Mrs. Whogo kept a bedside travel alarm clock on top of her smart phone. I would not have noticed if did not go off at 5:30 AM. Will talk to her about a possible way to quit traveling with an alarm clock.

 

More later. Probably.

[islandchick]

Really glad to see a live blog. For some reason there are not many Seabourn cruisers on cruisecritic. We just recently went on a Seabourn cruise for the first time (our previous preferred line was Celebrity) and loved it. I hope you have a great experience too. 

[Missabby]

3 hours ago, whogo said:

Our captain is Joost Jan Bernard Eldering, from the Netherlands....

Captain Eldering is one of the best captains with which we have sailed. He was our captain on the Quest when we crossed the Atlantic Ocean back in April 2017. We were on this same voyage last year (w/Captain Golubev); Captain Eldering came on board when we stopped at Punta del Este to take the Quest upon its departure from Buenos Aires. I had a chance to talk with him by the Sky Bar as we left Punta del Este. A very approachable captain and he takes time to speak with guests when he is out and about. It is our understanding that he will command the second of Seabourn's new expedition ships.

[clskinsfan]

Really enjoying this live review. Had me chuckling a few times. Looking forward to more.

Edited January 13, 2020 by clskinsfan

[SLSD]

I'm enjoying this live thread as well.  The humor is an added benefit.  Keep it coming!  

[erewhon]

Enjoying your live review, thank you.

[cat shepard]

Bon Voyage! Great itinerary!

[tjcox9]

22 hours ago, whogo said:

Our stewardess introduced herself and offered a selection of soaps to choose from. This brought open mouth blank stares from these Holland America cruisers. We're not used to this. She's a woman. She's not Indonesian. She's offering us strange soaps. We are not on Holland America. We made uneducated guesses at what we'd like and it wasn't long before she returned with a couple of flutes of champagne and some hors d'oeuvre. This far, I will say we have moved up to Seabourn.

I must say Mr Grouch, that you put a big smile on my face regarding the soaps. As quite veteran HAL cruisers, we stuck our toe in the water with Seabourn about a year and a half ago and had the same response with the soap offer! 

 

We have now completed three Seabourn cruises, just disembarking the day you embarked. We so enjoyed our South Georgia and Antarctica adventure because they make it so easy! The captain on down are all wonderful. Even with this being our third cruise, there were several crew members that knew us from previous cruises. 

 

BTW, the captain is returning to HAL later this year after his three year "rotation" to Seabourn. I believe he will be on the Zaandam, however as we know that is all subject to much change although we heard it from him directly.

 

On our previous cruises, we had gone the rather formal approach to dining, however, this seemed like the time to make this a real expedition! We ate in Earth and Ocean many evenings in our lovely orange parkas. The staff there is wonderful working in the climactic conditions and the food is totally new and different. High marks to the crew of the Patio and Earth and Ocean for their ability to carry on in the cold! We ate in the dining room only three nights, TK Grill two, and the rest al fresco. Loved it!

 

Looking forward to your continued new experiences, but don't tell everyone, cuz we'd kinda like to keep it to ourselves.

[whogo]

January 13, 2020. At sea from San Antonio to Puerto Montt.

 

Slept too well, normally up by five, I slept until 9:30, perhaps I am still on central standard time. Blackout curtains were effective. Breakfast in the Colonnade (buffet), scrambled eggs, English bacon, a strip of streaky bacon, lox and a bit of excellent corned beef hash, all good. Serve yourself, lots of people handling the serving spoons, I did not see any finger lickers. Took a long time for our tea to be delivered. Yogurt is a little too sweet for Mrs. Whogo, I was completely satisfied.

 

Expedition leader Chris introduced his team in the Grand Salon (showroom/theater). He called them up on stage and it seemed like half the auditorium stood up, eighteen of them in all. That's one for every two dozen passengers. Their expertise is in biology, geology, birding, ice, Kayaks, Zodiacs, climate, whales, penguins and who knows what else. Impressive group from all over the world. All dressed in black, they looked a bunch of Johnny Cash impersonators (Chris' joke, not mine).

 

Yesterday, our stewardess asked what newspaper we would like, we decided on the New York Times. Did not receive one, she was probably just snooping into our political leanings. We may not be right leaning enough for a luxury line.

 

Groups of eleven (!) for team trivia at noon, points accumulate each day until we leave Antarctica at which time we will start a new game. Three rounds of four questions, after each round answers are reported orally by each team, extra points for having the only correct answer. Good, tough questions. There were two teams worse than we were. I turned down an offer to drink alcohol.

 

The captain's noon announcement was and will be at one o'clock. Don't ask what this does to an ocd individual.

 

Lunch in the Colonnade, Greek day, I had octopus ragout and lamb skewers. Excellent. Turned down an offer to drink alcohol. We are subsidizing the boozers on this cruise.

 

2:30 pm found us at “A Conversation with Giada Cestari: The Cultural Fusion of Natives, Spanish and Germans in the Archipelago of Chiloe” in the Grand Salon (showroom). Had to miss the Robert Coin jewelry seminar at the same time. Chiloe, which holds our second port of Castro, is the second biggest island in South America after Tierra del Fuego.

 

I found Will Wagstaff's presentation on the birds of Chile more interesting, might help me identify a skua, if not the type of skua. I did learn that the bird we saw in Santiago was an Austral Thrush.

 

Missed the detox seminar and the complimentary gaming lessons. Did I mention that I am not interested in the casino, spa, acupuncture, Tanzanite, detox, quackery, wine, or cocktails?

 

We arrived late to the Parisian high tea, had to wait a moment for a table to be cleared in the Observation Bar (deck 10, pointy end). Polished service brought us herbal teas in china pots and a rack of savory treats, sweet treats, and scones. Loose leaf teas came in wire screen balls. We declined the Crepes Suzette. Calm, pleasant way to spend some time. I saw one woman doing needle work, the needlepoint social ran at the same time.

 

Mrs. Whogo took part in a free sound meditation class, normally $15. That is sound as in auditory, not sound as in well grounded. She thought it was pretty good, doesn't know if she will do it again.

 

Teamflames, I have had little experience with the bar service. I asked for an IPA and the barman fetched a Lagunita IPA from storage quickly, poured it beautifully into a tall glass. Couldn't get an IPA on Holland America, advantage Seabourn so far. The bartender looked like a pro, waited on customers in order, quickly mixed some blender drinks, uncapped beer bottles with the edge of his stainless steel shaker, fun to watch him work. Whether he makes mai tais, Singapore Slings, and banana daiquiris as anyone likes is beyond my ken, I heard no complaints and saw no abandoned drinks. It's still early in the game.

 

Formal night. I was late arriving to the captain's reception, missed shaking his hand, his loss. He introduced his staff. Cruise director Jan has been with Seabourn 25 years, started out way, way back on Royal Viking.

 

Excellent company at dinner with a couple from South Africa. Conversation flowed, they are as interesting as we are. I had a shrimp and scallop dish. Sundae dessert was odd, I had trouble finding a dibble of ice cream under all the whipped cream. I heard the gelato machine is broken, can't believe regulatory agencies and the insurance company would let a ship sail without that critical piece of machinery.

 

Skipped tonight's show by the singers and dancers, opted for the Observation Bar. Piano man Joseph was excellent, I ended the night there. Lots more live music available on Seabourn than Holland America.

 

[teamflames]

10 hours ago, whogo said:

 

 

Teamflames, I have had little experience with the bar service. I asked for an IPA and the barman fetched a Lagunita IPA from storage quickly, poured it beautifully into a tall glass. Couldn't get an IPA on Holland America, advantage Seabourn so far. The bartender looked like a pro, waited on customers in order, quickly mixed some blender drinks, uncapped beer bottles with the edge of his stainless steel shaker, fun to watch him work. Whether he makes mai tais, Singapore Slings, and banana daiquiris as anyone likes is beyond my ken, I heard no complaints and saw no abandoned drinks. It's still early in the game.

.

 

Skipped tonight's show by the singers and dancers, opted for the Observation Bar. Piano man Joseph was excellent, I ended the night there. Lots more live music available on Seabourn than Holland America.

 

Thanks for the reply Grouch, Mrs flames will be very happy that there is some IPA although off memory the Lagunitas is very strong (alcohol strength). Good to hear about the professional bar service (something that was sadly missing on our one and only SB cruise). I am always impressed by the bar service on HAL, good value drinks package.

 

interesting note about the music, our last cruise was on the Niew Statendam and there is so much live music it’s crazy ... Bb kings, duelling pianos, classical, new rock bar.

 

Enjoying the report and looking forward to trying SB again.

[whogo]

Tuesday, January 14, 2019. Puerto Montt, Chile

Slept well again last night, seas were calmer, still knew I was at sea. Went up to the Observation Bar for the view, found visibility reduced by fog and rain. May have to rethink walking around the town. Coffee, tea, pastries and muesli were available, only one other person there.

 

The dining room was deserted a little after 8:00 opening, only one couple seated before me. I read my Kindle and enjoyed a delicious solo breakfast of bacon and eggs, nice, calm setting, although the place filled up with two more couples by the time I left. I know Seabourn regulars are concerned about the jelly situation, it was served in factory sealed jars, best before May 2021 from Austria.

 

Seabourn regulars are also concerned about the change to reusable plastic bottles instead of single use, factory sealed bottles. The new botttle of water tastes good to me, but then so does the tap water (remember, Seabourn cruisers, that I am really not your kind). I can see the new heavy plastic is not for toting around town, glad I saved light weight ones from Santiago. Although Seabourn cruisers are concerned about how they are cleaned, I am not investigating the process, assume Seabourn will not risk making us all sick.

 

I have not noticed any fewer PA announcements on Seabourn, the cruise director has made two this morning warning that this is the only opportunity to exchange the provided Antarctica parkas for the proper fit.

 

I was late pulling out my notepad during the captain's toast last night, but think he reported that we had 416 passengers aboard from 23 countries and crew from 45 countries with the Philippines being the most represented.

 

Our cabin is so far forward that I heard and felt the anchor drop a little after 9. I think the anchor chain runs through the wall of our cabin. Quite a racket

 

Stepped outside for my daily lifeboat inspection and found that all four were ferrying people to Puerto Montt. All the lifeboats were. I am onboard and none of the life boats are. Don't let anything happen, don't let anything happen, don't let anything happen.

 

It was a quick tender ride into town, arrived at 11:00, wore my raincoat while it rained, took it off when it stopped. Put it back on when it rained again. The sun came out while it rained. Thought that walking into town might have been a mistake. We did identify some birds thanks to yesterday's lecture – we saw the brown one that that is like a crow, the white gull that might have a distinctive bit of black by it's eye, and some ducks that weren't the ones that don't fly.

 

We passed some fruit and vegetable stands, all the produce looked good except the strawberries which were magnificent.

 

Stopped in to the tourist information center, were advised that the best sights were the way we had come. Did get directed to the post office. It was one of those foreign ones that seems to process pension payments and utility bills and people wait forever like at the DMV and you have to punch a computer screen to get assigned a number to the proper desk. Thankfully, a security guard punched the number after I held up our postcards, we were assigned A-7 and after five minutes were at desk 4.

 

The clerk at desk 4 was baffled by our six postcards to the USA. She asked a senior clerk for help. She stared blankly at her computer screen. She asked a senior clerk for help. She stared blankly at her security. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Finally something clicked and she asked for CLP$4,080. I paid, six little stickers were printed and we were dismissed. There is a chance that those stickers are for postage and will be affixed to the cards and sent and delivered, but kids, I would not race out to the mailbox. Fascinating way to spend twenty minutes.

 

Our day in Puerto Montt improved tremendously. We stopped in a cafe named Sherlock. One of us had a pot of tea, one of had a dark Austral beer, I won't say which of us had which. Great place, we were next to the local guys' table. They were regulars, a couple would leave, a couple more would take their places. Some customers exchanged greetings with the waitresses with cheek kisses. Fun place and to top it all off Mrs. Whogo told me that Susan Sarandon was sitting right behind me. I could have poked her with my elbow. I gave her some privacy, would have been rude to turn to stare. Susan was joined by a woman who wasn't Geena Davis.

 

The sun came out, I stowed the raincoat and we headed back to the tender via the shady side of what must be the main street with little shop after little shop and sidewalk vender after sidewalk vender and shopper after shopper with an occasional busker thrown in. Everyone in town who wasn't selling something was shopping for something. It was great, the town has not yet been Walmartized. These were all locals, no other cruise ship passengers and no Diamonds International or other cruise tourist obscenities. Absolutely wonderful.

 

Back aboard, only The Patio (little poolside buffet) was still open for lunch I had a mini gyro in beef and one in chicken, there was no lamb.

 

Sorry this post is so long, didn't have time to make it short.

[Walfam]

Sorry this post is so long, didn't have time to make it short.

 

1 hour ago, whogo said:

Tuesday, January 14, 2019. Puerto Montt, Chile

. . . .

Sorry this post is so long, didn't have time to make it short.

Do not apologize!  I enjoyed every bit of it.  Thank you!

[brenecke]

Thank you for your witty observations.  It is so refreshing not to hear all the whining about how bottles are sanitized, who might had touched a shampoo bottle before you, etc.  Sometimes I wonder why people who have issues with such things ever leave their hermetically sealed bubbles.  Whogo, Please enjoy your trip and continue with your amusing commentary!

[Been There, Planning That]

While financially, we cannot even aspire to a Seabourn Cruise, good friends who were LONG time HAL cruisers moved 'up' and encouraged us to do the same, because, "You meet the right kind of people."

 

We were flattered that she even considered us worthy of hanging out with the right kind of people.  But we continue to find those 'right kind of people' on every cruise, no matter the line.

 

I'm so enjoying your self deprecating humour.

 

Ruth

[frantic36]

3 hours ago, whogo said:

Seabourn regulars are also concerned about the change to reusable plastic bottles instead of single use, factory sealed bottles. The new botttle of water tastes good to me, but then so does the tap water (remember, Seabourn cruisers, that I am really not your kind). I can see the new heavy plastic is not for toting around town, glad I saved light weight ones from Santiago. Although Seabourn cruisers are concerned about how they are cleaned, I am not investigating the process, assume Seabourn will not risk making us all sick.

 

 

Whogo I am enjoying your humour and from what I have read as a long time Seabournite, not sure that's a word😁, you and your good wife are definitely my type. 

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the Antarctica section as this is still on our to do list.

 

Julie

[Covepointcruiser]

Don’t remember hearing any PA announcements in our cabin on Seabourn except for the mandatory lifeboat drill the first day.   I hope this has not changed.    The anchor chain noise is one of the “benefits” of a cabin guarantee.   You do save money but you usually get a cabin no one else would select.