Live From the Sapphire, 30-Day Antarctica/SA B2B, Jan 20 - Feb 19

[Ken the cruiser]

Good morning from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile heading towards Puerto Montt! 
  

 

 
At least this time around, the Pacific Ocean isn’t nearly as rough as it was when we were cruising southward along this path almost a month ago! 😁

 

 

Edited February 16 by Ken the cruiser

[Mary loves to travel]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

There is an easy fix to notify guests when the ship plans to cruise through Glacier Alley. Put it at the top of page 1 on the Patter, which everyone receives the prior evening. Kind of like they did for announcing the cruising time for the Amalia Glacier Scenic Cruising, Cape Horn, and other notable cruising events. Problem solved.

 

 
For some reason they chose not to do that on either leg of our cruise.

I have to agree!

[effinaround]

10 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

We were on the first part of this cruise, from Santiago to BA.    I’m trying to remember how we knew when we were going through Glacier Alley.     We tended to be outside often, so heard most of the commentary from the naturalists, and anytime we were in our stateroom we had the tv tuned to the Bridge Cam so we’d hear any announcements.     

But we knew Glacier Alley was coming up early, and were up before 5 am.    Watching the sunrise, then the sail along Glacier Alley was an amazing experience!

People in the next cabin also knew, as they were out on their balcony at 5 am, too.   
 

I think the issue might be that some announcements from the captain and the naturalists were made in the early evening, and of course couldn’t be heard by folks in the shows.     Not sure how to solve this.   
 

Mary

I know I set my alarm for some ungodly hour like 430 or 5am and I think I may have done that after learning from a post on the Facebook group about the timing. I'm glad I did as it was worth getting up early:

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I was on the sailing before this in December.  The captain told us the timing of where we’d be and when during his noon announcement. As we were usually in MDR having lunch we heard it clearly. 

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I was on the sailing before this in December.  The captain told us the timing of where we’d be and when during his noon announcement. As we were usually in MDR having lunch we heard it clearly. 

But at the same time, if you were on your balcony or in your cabin and went to lunch a few minutes after the Captain spoke, you would not have heard him mention anything about Glacier Alley nor probably have any idea what Glacier Alley was let alone that it was somewhere along the Beagle Channel. I know we didn’t until I accidentally woke up at 5:30 am that morning and looked outside.

 

That’s why it should have been posted in the Patter, which I’ll be making reference to in our post cruise surveys.

[azbirdmom]

Just for grins I checked my old trip folders. I keep the Patters and here is one page from the one delivered on February 9, 2012. This was a South America cruise on the Star Princess. They used to make a big deal about Glacier Alley and it was an unexpected highlight. 

[effinaround]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But at the same time, if you were on your balcony or in your cabin and went to lunch a few minutes after the Captain spoke, you would not have heard him mention anything about Glacier Alley nor probably have any idea what Glacier Alley was let alone that it was somewhere along the Beagle Channel. I know we didn’t until I accidentally woke up at 5:30 am that morning and looked outside.

 

That’s why it should have been posted in the Patter, which I’ll be making reference to in our post cruise surveys.

That's a good point.  I know many people missed Deception Island because we were about an hour later than planned and I guess they didn't look at the Antarctica voyage map that was distributed to the cabins for the timing. I kept racing out of the dining room and going up to deck 7 to take photos since it was lunchtime when we passed by.  I mentioned in the survey that it should be mentioned in the patter. 

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, effinaround said:

That's a good point.  I know many people missed Deception Island because we were about an hour later than planned and I guess they didn't look at the Antarctica voyage map that was distributed to the cabins for the timing. I kept racing out of the dining room and going up to deck 7 to take photos since it was lunchtime when we passed by.  I mentioned in the survey that it should be mentioned in the patter. 

And those were great pictures too I might add! 😁

 

[brucedodge]

17 hours ago, Carnevale said:

 

 

 I will just add one tidbit to what you have mentioned as I know that we do different things in the evenings.  We love to dance and have been so pleased with the experience on this sailing every evening so far. There are two duos with the Moondance Duo playing nonstop dance music during their sets and the talented Fountain Duo doing about half dance music and half other things.  So if there are any readers who are dancers looking forward to being on Sapphire soon I think you will have a great time.

Carnevale,

Thanks for posting this.  We are also avid dancers. We board the ship March 18th and wonder if either or both of the duos will be on board.

 

Don't know if you've been on Coral, but it has the best dance venues of any Princess ship, with the Wheelhouse near the theater with a bigger dance floor than the usual Wheelhouse, the Explorers, and the aft lounge.  The Island used to have all three, but Princess got rid of the aft lounge on that ship.

[Ken the cruiser]

You know your cruise is coming to an end when you see this on your bed when you get back from dinner. 
 

 

 

[LACruiser88]

10 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know your cruise is coming to an end when you see this on your bed when you get back from dinner. 
 

 

 

This always brings a couple of tears... 😪

[ocean sounds]

33 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know your cruise is coming to an end when you see this on your bed when you get back from dinner. 

Booo. If I don’t return to my cabin, can I stay ? 😂

 

This has truly been one of my favorite cruises.   
 

Edited February 16 by ocean sounds
Typo

[Golden Gater]

Ken - We will be on the March 4th cruise from BA to Los Angeles in a port side cabin.  Will we be able to see many glaciers from our cabin or do we need to go out onto a forward location?   Thanks for posting all your beautiful pictures!

[EDVM96]

 

25 minutes ago, Golden Gater said:

We will be on the March 4th cruise from BA to Los Angeles in a port side cabin.  Will we be able to see many glaciers from our cabin or do we need to go out onto a forward location? 

Port side is the wrong side to see the Avenue of Glaciers from your cabin when traveling westbound from BA to LA. The 5 glaciers are on the north side of Beagle Channel, fed by Cordillera Darwin ice field.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17 by EDVM96

[HaveDogWillTravel]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But at the same time, if you were on your balcony or in your cabin and went to lunch a few minutes after the Captain spoke, you would not have heard him mention anything about Glacier Alley nor probably have any idea what Glacier Alley was let alone that it was somewhere along the Beagle Channel. I know we didn’t until I accidentally woke up at 5:30 am that morning and looked outside.

 

That’s why it should have been posted in the Patter, which I’ll be making reference to in our post cruise surveys.

Agreed.  We had a little bit of a change to our itinerary from the map they provided us at the beginning. But once we got back on schedule that helped as it gave the times we were to be in each area. Yes I think it should have been in the patter and on journey view. I had such a jaw dropping good time. I used google maps to see where the little blue dot was. But we did have to be proactive in making sure we knew how early to set our alarm. And sometimes we had to stay up late. 

Edited February 17 by HaveDogWillTravel

[EDVM96]

2 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

But we did have to be proactive in making sure we knew how early to set our alarm. And sometimes we had to stay up late. 

So you went eastbound, which means getting up early to see them before reaching Ushuaia. On westbound voyages, you can see them in the late evening.

[hpeabody]

@Ken the cruiser  Hi, I have been loving following your cruise.  This thread is epic!  My cruise is not until Dec 1st, on the Sapphire also.  It's a long time to wait.  I would like to know if on this itinerary we would traverse Glacier Alley?  I am intrigued   Here is a link to my itinerary.  https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=H435  and the map

[EDVM96]

7 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

 I would like to know if on this itinerary we would traverse Glacier Alley? 

Yes you will. Going from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia, you will see them in the morning on port side.

Funny, Cape Horn is listed on the map but not in your itinerary.

 

Edited February 17 by EDVM96

[Ken the cruiser]

41 minutes ago, Golden Gater said:

Ken - We will be on the March 4th cruise from BA to Los Angeles in a port side cabin.  Will we be able to see many glaciers from our cabin or do we need to go out onto a forward location?   Thanks for posting all your beautiful pictures!

Thanks! Since you will be heading in a westerly direction from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas, all of the glaciers and most of the smaller ice formations along Glacier Alley will be on the starboard side, so you’ll probably have to find a spot either on the promenade on deck 7 or up on deck 14 to see them. However, the Captain does a full circle of the ship at the Amalia Glacier, so you shouldn’t have any issues there seeing it from the port side.

[hpeabody]

6 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Yes you will. Going from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia, you will see them in the morning on port side.

Funny, Cape Horn is listed on the map but not in your itinerary.

 

I know and that is perplexing to me.  I missed Cape Horn on a past cruise.  Due to weather and sea conditions the captain took some kind of cut across.  I do hope we will get to see Glacier Alley, that would be great.  PS thank you too for your contributions on this thread.

[Ken the cruiser]

48 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

@Ken the cruiser  Hi, I have been loving following your cruise.  This thread is epic!  My cruise is not until Dec 1st, on the Sapphire also.  It's a long time to wait.  I would like to know if on this itinerary we would traverse Glacier Alley?  I am intrigued   Here is a link to my itinerary.  https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=H435  and the map

On the detailed itinerary at the link you provided, which is very similar the our first leg, you should start entering Glacier Alley a little after 5 am on your way to Ushuaia.

 

  
On this Cruise Mapper screen, we were just leaving Glacier Alley the other evening headed to Punta Arenas. This is pretty much where you will be entering it on your early morning arrival heading eastbound towards Ushuaia.

 

 
Here's the CM link that will always show you “close” to where the Sapphire is based on its last reading.

 
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9228186

Hope this helps.

 

Update: This is all predicated on the assumption the Captain will cruise through the more protected Beagle Channel to get to Ushuaia rather than like your itinerary map suggests where he might take a more exterior route from Punta Arenas back out to the Pacific to see Cape Horn bypassing the Glacier Alley route.

 

Edited February 17 by Ken the cruiser

[EDVM96]

4 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On the detailed itinerary at the link you provided, which is very similar the our first leg, you should start entering Glacier Alley a little after 5 am on your way to Ushuaia.

No, I don't think so. They plan to arrive in Ushuaia at 12:00 PM, so Glacier Alley will be not earlier than 8 or 9 AM I guess.

It's a new Antarctica itinerary from Princess from/to BA.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

No, I don't think so. They plan to arrive in Ushuaia at 12:00 PM, so Glacier Alley will be not earlier than 8 or 9 AM I guess.

It's a new Antarctica itinerary from Princess from/to BA.

 

FWIW we were scheduled to arrive in Ushuaia coming from Punta Arenas on Jan 25 at noon as well. On the return run the other day it took us about 4.5 hours to get to the eastern entrance of Glacier Alley coming from Ushuaia, which takes about an hour to cruise through.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight after a tasty dinner, we headed to see the production show Do You Want To Dance.

  

 
followed by the always hilarious Liars Club.

 

 

[EDVM96]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

FWIW we were scheduled to arrive in Ushuaia coming from Punta Arenas on Jan 25 at noon as well. On the return run the other day it took us about 4.5 hours to get to the eastern entrance of Glacier Alley coming from Ushuaia, which takes about an hour to cruise through.

Oh, ok.

 

I just checked my 2017 itinerary, and you are absolutely right.

 

2017-02-21 Punta Arenas, Chile (7:00am - 7:00pm) [Tender] 
2017-02-21 Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego), Argentina (12:00pm - 8:00pm)

So still the same. I just didn't remember, sorry.
We were in the Glacier Alley also in the very early morning.
 

Edited February 17 by EDVM96