BTimmer's Almost Live Antarctica Redux - Oosterdam 1/7/24 to 1/29/24

[0106]

@Btimmer I have been enjoying your blog in addition to your posts here.  I am unable to make comments on your blog so I am posting here.  You stated that you are missing the lecturers on sea days.  I was very much looking forward to them too.  @NorbertsNiece on the previous cruise said they were spectacular.  I wonder what happened to them.  I appreciate a naturalist giving commentary, not a ship’s employee reading a script.  I hope a lecturer joins the ship for the remainder of your journey .  

[perrysburg]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

@Btimmer I have been enjoying your blog in addition to your posts here.  I am unable to make comments on your blog so I am posting here.  You stated that you are missing the lecturers on sea days.  I was very much looking forward to them too.  @NorbertsNiece on the previous cruise said they were spectacular.  I wonder what happened to them.  I appreciate a naturalist giving commentary, not a ship’s employee reading a script.  I hope a lecturer joins the ship for the remainder of your journey .  

Where do I find the blog? Thx

[0106]

https://timmer2024osa.blogspot.com/?m=1
 

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

@Btimmer I have been enjoying your blog in addition to your posts here.  I am unable to make comments on your blog so I am posting here.  You stated that you are missing the lecturers on sea days.  I was very much looking forward to them too.  @NorbertsNiece on the previous cruise said they were spectacular.  I wonder what happened to them.  I appreciate a naturalist giving commentary, not a ship’s employee reading a script.  I hope a lecturer joins the ship for the remainder of your journey .  

We have Antarctica team members boarding today, so I am expecting we'll get a redux of what we experienced on the Zaandam.  Stay tuned.

 

Yes, this is the place to post questions.

[Btimmer]

Punta Arenas today is cold and windy with a few rain showers.  We've still walked over 14k steps so far.  Here's a few pictures.  Details will be in my blog later.

Lord Lonsdale wreck

 

 

Magellan monument in the town square

 

saea Braun house

 

 

 

Sara Braun tomb

[Btimmer]

It's 6pm in Punta Arenas and the Captain just announced that our departure will be delayed for 2.5 hours to await the return of a HAL shore excursion.  I suspect it is the excursion that went to the National Park by air.  We've had very cold termperatures and strong winds all day.  He indicated that tendering had to be halted mid day due to sustained 40knot winds and rain.  

 

As for us, we met my goal for today and actually exceeded it.  We visited the wreck of the Lord Lonsdale, the Sara Braun House, the Cemetary where she's buried, the Maritime Museum and had fish soup at La Luna Cafe in downtown.  We walked over 14k steps and did a lot of shopping.  As I write this, there is another storm cloud coming in from the south.  It's definitely colder today than it was in November and this is supposed to be summer.

 

Are we having fun yet?  Yes we are loving it.

[NorbertsNiece]

15 hours ago, 0106 said:

@Btimmer I have been enjoying your blog in addition to your posts here.  I am unable to make comments on your blog so I am posting here.  You stated that you are missing the lecturers on sea days.  I was very much looking forward to them too.  @NorbertsNiece on the previous cruise said they were spectacular.  I wonder what happened to them.  I appreciate a naturalist giving commentary, not a ship’s employee reading a script.  I hope a lecturer joins the ship for the remainder of your journey .  

Graeme Ayres and his team were due to embark in Punta Arenas. Am betting lectures will start imminently  

[Btimmer]

29 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Graeme Ayres and his team were due to embark in Punta Arenas. Am betting lectures will start imminently  

Yes, they start today at 9am like they did on the Grand South America.

 

However we had 3 sea days before Punta Arenas with ample time for lecturers.

[NorbertsNiece]

5 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Yes, they start today at 9am like they did on the Grand South America.

 

However we had 3 sea days before Punta Arenas with ample time for lecturers.

Have a word with Graeme about that. Am guessing that their contract was restricted. He was trekking in Patagonia when he disembarked in  Punta Arenas from the previous cruise and his previous colleagues left and the new ones stepped in. He's very approachable and open to feed back

[Btimmer]

6 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Have a word with Graeme about that. Am guessing that their contract was restricted. He was trekking in Patagonia when he disembarked in  Punta Arenas from the previous cruise and his previous colleagues left and the new ones stepped in. He's very approachable and open to feed back

On the GSA, the Antarctica Experience team boarded in Ushuaia just like this cruise. Prior we had a totally different set of lecturers who covered history and cultural topics. 

[NorbertsNiece]

46 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

On the GSA, the Antarctica Experience team boarded in Ushuaia just like this cruise. Prior we had a totally different set of lecturers who covered history and cultural topics. 

Ah. Yes totally agree. The lack of alternate speakers was apparent. ALSO would have been great to have had the talks enabled subsequently in the in room TV

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Ah. Yes totally agree. The lack of alternate speakers was apparent. ALSO would have been great to have had the talks enabled subsequently in the in room TV

Unfortunately rebroadcasts of lectures have not been available for many years.

Edited January 14 by Btimmer

[NorbertsNiece]

3 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Unfortunately rebroadcasts of lectures gave not been available for many years.

Too bad. It's on my list of deal breakers for cruising again with HAL.

[Btimmer]

We're on approach to Ushuaia after having sailed through Glacier Alley earlier this morning.  The first Antarctica Expedition lecture on geology was great!

 

French Glacier

 

Coat & hat?  Who needs them?

 

[Btimmer]

2 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Too bad. It's on my list of deal breakers for cruising again with HAL.

Paper port maps are gone as well.  We did have them on the GSA though.

[NorbertsNiece]

1 hour ago, Btimmer said:

Paper port maps are gone as well.  We did have them on the GSA though.

Would help if they were on the TV to grab a pic of...... but then getting your phone out in some places ........

[Btimmer]

We just visited Cape Horn (much closer this voyage) and have special permission to now sail the pass.  Pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

We just disembarked our Chilean pilot.  Onward to Antartica!

 

 

[Btimmer]

As of 6:09am this morning, 16JAN24, we are officially south of 60º.  We've already seen a few icebergs and the one below was the closest one to the ship and it's at least as long as the Oosterdam.  We've been having lectures by the Expedition team these past few days and they're different from those on the Zaandam.

 

 

The Drake Passage is what the Captain calls the "Drake Lake" as it is totally flat with barely one meter seas.  The Oosterdam has been a much smoother ride than the Zaandam was in November last year on the GSA.

 

Edited January 16 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

A FEW MUSINGS

[Btimmer]

A FEW MUSINGS

 

Now that we've been at sea for a week, I thought I would share a few comparisons between the Grand South America (GSA) cruise on the Zaandam and our current cruise on the Oosterdam.

 

1. CROWDS - This cruise is sailing at capacity of near to it.  This results in significant crowding in virtually every venue (LIDO and the MainStage are the worst).  For any lecture or evening show, one must be there at least 45 minutes early to get a decent seat.  In the LIDO, there are insufficient staff to serve the quantity of people.

 

2.  FOOD - While food is a very subjective topic, I think the food in the LIDO on the GSA was several notches higher than the current cruise.  I miss the jumbo shrimp every night and the ceviche & sushii bar & chef at lunch.  There are not as many food stations on the Oosterdam which is a challenge for the large numbers of people.  The Caneletto this cruise is busy every night compared to the ghost town it was in the GSA.  We've not yet been to the Main Dining Room or the Pinnacle Grill for a meal.  

 

3.  WINE TASTING - Comparable

 

4.  LECTURES -  On the current cruise, there have been a absence of historical and cultural lectures on the sea days leading up to Antarctica.  This was time lost.  Other guests have commented on it to me.  The Antarctica Expedition team of three is comparable to those on the GSA, but with slightly different topics related to their expertise.  All of the Antartica lectures are live streamed to the Rolling Stone Lounge AND to the stateroom IPTV because of crowding.  They, however, are not saved for later viewing.

 

5.  PORT TALKS - These are ONLY being presented live and are not saved for later viewing on TV.  There are no paper port maps distributed like we had on the GSA.  

 

6.  ENTERTAINMENT - The current cruise has the Step One Dance Company plus other entertainers similar to and also repeats from the last cruise.  Tonight's comedian was also on the GSA.  The entertainment has been good.  The Oosterdam has the Billboard Onboard and they have rolled it out with only one piano as a test.  We really like the pianist, Adam, and have spent many hours there listening to his sets.  He's been with HAL since the days of the HALCATS.

 

7.  CAPTAIN & Senior Management - Kevin, our current captain is very personable and quite funny at times.  He's been good at explaining delays and this morning gave a presentation about the first two days in Antarctica and will do another in a few days about the last two days.  He's not very visible around the ship but is quite approachable if seen.  We've never seen the Hotel General Manager since the introductory Captain's Toast.  He's totally different than Florian was on the GSA.  

 

8.  SHIP - For the current voyage, the bow has been open many times and is expected to be open in Antarctica (weather permitting).  This is different than the GSA which did not have an open bow that much.  Condition wise, both ships are quite comparable.  The Oosterdam does seem to be exhibiting far less motion.

 

9.  CORDIALITY - We have found that we met far more people and interacted with them frequently on a daily basis.  Of course, on this current cruise, we aren't doing many shore excursions and the design of the CC M&G was not conducive to meeting lots of folks even though it was well attended.  

 

10.  CROW'S NEST - This is a hubbub  of activity.  There is no "Happy Hour" up here like on the Zaandam.  It's pretty crowded much of the time.

 

11 STATEROOM - We have an obstructed window cabin on this cruise and it's worked well for us to provide sunlight.  For the $100/person upcharge it's been definitely worth it. On tender ports we have a nice view as tender #13 gets deployed. On the GSA we had a deck 1 window cabin that we also liked.  Both cabins have a tub, and I would certainly prefer a shower as that's all we take.

 

That's about all for now.  If you have any comments or questions, please post them here and I'll try to respond.  We're totally enjoying ourselves.  

[0106]

@Btimmer I really appreciate this thread.  Happy to see the lectures are now being broadcast in the cabin.

 

Since you have been to many Meet & Greets…what makes I good one?  How can it be made to be conducive to meeting people?  I will be running my first one on the Oosterdam during the next sailing.  I would really appreciate your insight.  If you would prefer to email me, my address is on the Welcome page of the Oosterdam spreadsheet in my signature.  

[Hogladyrider]

@Btimmer...one question with regards to your Few Musings.

 

Price comparison of GSA vs current sailing?  Apples to apples?  Wondering if the price may contribute to some of the food differences.

[Btimmer]

3 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@Btimmer I really appreciate this thread.  Happy to see the lectures are now being broadcast in the cabin.

 

Since you have been to many Meet & Greets…what makes I good one?  How can it be made to be conducive to meeting people?  I will be running my first one on the Oosterdam during the next sailing.  I would really appreciate your insight.  If you would prefer to email me, my address is on the Welcome page of the Oosterdam spreadsheet in my signature.  

I've led many M&G's and the key that I've found is to get people to mingle not just sit at one table.  Things you might consider are having a list of questions like Favorite Port, Favorite Itinerary, Most distant port from their home, Most unusual excursions, etc.  Then call everyone back together and ask them to share their findings.

[Btimmer]

9 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@Btimmer...one question with regards to your Few Musings.

 

Price comparison of GSA vs current sailing?  Apples to apples?  Wondering if the price may contribute to some of the food differences.

Price is not even comparable and I totally realize that going in. But the current cruise feels much more like an Expedition cruise for the Antarctic portion.  We are entering Antarctica from a different direction but still visiting pretty much the same locations.