Falklands - Open or Not?

[ALD18]

Wondering it anyone on recent SA or Antarctica cruises were able to stop at the Falklands?  Documentation looks like still strictly essential business, no tourism.  Just wondering, thanks.

[scottjeanne]

We stopped at several landings in the Malvinas/Falklands.  But not  Port Stanley.

[ALD18]

1 hour ago, scottjeanne said:

We stopped at several landings in the Malvinas/Falklands.  But not  Port Stanley.

Cruise ships can send passengers ashore in other Falklands ports other than Port Stanley?  Didn't know that.  Were you on a small capacity ship?  If so were excursions to see the King penguins available?  Thanks😀

[GeorgeCharlie]

On 4/13/2022 at 1:25 PM, ALD18 said:

Wondering it anyone on recent SA or Antarctica cruises were able to stop at the Falklands?  Documentation looks like still strictly essential business, no tourism.  Just wondering, thanks.

 

Information I have posted on a roll call for a upcoming SA cruise.

 

Have now heard back from Estancia Excursions regarding Falkland Islands tours.

 

Thank you for your enquiry. 

 

Right now, I cannot guarantee what is going to happen with the next cruise season in the Falklands.  We are so far a community covid free country, due to open our borders on 4 May.  There are still after that a lot of visitor restrictions that would need to be lifted to allow the large cruise ships to visit.  However, for now, we are offering tours for next season.

 

I am happy to offer you a tour to Volunteer Point for GBP£140.00/USD$200 per person payable in cash on the day, in a shared vehicle of 4 passengers.

 

This price includes a light packed lunch, and your entrance fee to Volunteer Point which is part of a privately owned farm. 

 

Please click on the following link to my website for a full description of the tour.  http://estancia-excursions.com/tour/volunteer-point/  There are also many photos on my website and Facebook page for you to view.

 

Seeing all of the King Penguins together really is amazing, and a totally different experience to seeing just one or two. You will also get a short tour of Stanley on our return to town.  The King Penguins don’t migrate so are there all year round. 

 

If you choose to book you would need to be queuing at the tender station as you anchor so that you can get ashore on the first tender.  The ship will tell you repeatedly that their tours get tendering priority, but as long as you are there early you can nearly always get ashore then. 

 

If you have any further questions (most questions are answered in the FAQ’s on my website) please don't hesitate to get in touch again.  

 

A similar response was received from another Falkland Islands tour company (Adventure Falklands), which included the following statement.

 

"Currently they are planning to lift all COVID quarantine restrictions here and this is an unpopular decision. It has also been announced that larger cruise ships will be permitted to call next summer. We can only wait and see what the outcome will be."

 

Both responses were received Apr 09/22.

 

 

[Shella73]

I got a similar reply from Patrick Watts tours. 

 

T

 

[scottjeanne]

[scottjeanne]

The above picture is Bull Point on the Falklands.  We stopped at several different landings on the Falkland Islands, but no where where there was humans.  Plenty of penguins though.

[scottjeanne]

We were on a small expedition ship-it can take 199 passengers, but we had only 68.

[ALD18]

6 hours ago, scottjeanne said:

We were on a small expedition ship-it can take 199 passengers, but we had only 68.

Ahhhhhh, so that is why you had access.  Lucky you😀  Seems like they area being hyper cautious in regards to opening up to the big ships.  Can't blame them.  But thought with Britain's mandate dropping they may have adopted them too, obviously they are being much more cautious in their approach.  We don't go until January 23 on NCL so hopefully they are letting the bigger ships in then.  Regardless, thanks for the pictures and envious of your adventure😀