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

[debi56]

Ken, safe travels home and thank you so much for sharing, so enjoyed your reviews and pictures!

we are on the ship on March 4th after seeing your pictures, can't wait.  Truly appreciate your input.

Debbie

[Ken the cruiser]

It was a fun 9-hour tour which dropped us off at the Santiago Airport a little before 6 pm, near where our luggage was sitting outside waiting for us. Here’s some of what we saw today.

 

I have to say pretty much all of the tour buses we’ve rode in this cruise have been quite comfortable.

 

 
This was what most of the countryside looked like as we left San Antonio on our way to our first stop, a winery in the Casablanca Valley.

 

 

 
That also had quite the variety of flowers at the winery as well! 😁

 

 

 
And grapes of course!

 

 

 
This wine vat was made of concrete! 
 

 
This vat used some type of special freezing technique, first developed in New Zealand, to intensify the flavor in certain types of wine.

 

 

 
Of course, we had to sample a few of their various wines! 😁

 

 
This red was quite tasty and for the most part is only available from vineyards in Chile.

 

 
Then it was time to head to the Puro Caballo Equestrian Center for the horse show and lunch.

 

 
Sheep!

 

 

 

 
Also had a private welcoming committee of Chilean flies while we watched the show! Cute little guys aren’t they! 😂 
 

 
There were also no shortage of honey bees in the area.

 

 
Our final stop was a tour of downtown Santiago.

 

 

 
Old Santiago Post Office with a cool looking chandelier inside.

 

 

 
We naturally had to go check out the inside of the old church while we had about 30 minutes to walk around.

 

 

 

 
Of course, I could resist taking a photo of the not so elusive Santiago pigeon! 😁

 

 

After arriving at the Santiago airport around 6 pm, we were finally able to drop off our bags around 8 pm and were finally sitting at the gate after a little after 9 pm waiting to board our 11:20 pm flight! 😁

 

 

[ringers0815]

Safe travel home @Ken the cruiser. Thank you for a great cruise review.

[Ken the cruiser]

And we be home! Yay!! What a great adventure with a bunch of awesome memories! 😁

 

Thanks everyone for following along as well as providing some wonderful photos and thoughtful insights along the way!

 

Our next adventure will be a 22-day “glacier rich” cruise to Alaska on the Grand Princess starting April 30. Hopefully on this next cruise we will see more unique wildlife as well as a bunch more whale sightings! 🤞
 

As I mentioned earlier once I start my Live From thread for that cruise, I’ll post the link on this thread. 

Edited February 20 by Ken the cruiser

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

And we be home! Yay!! What a great adventure with a bunch of awesome memories! 😁

 

Thanks everyone for following along as well as providing some wonderful photos and thoughtful insights along the way!

 

Our next adventure will be a 22-day “glacier rich” cruise to Alaska on the Grand Princess starting April 30. Hopefully on this next cruise we will see more unique wildlife as well as a bunch more whale sightings! 🤞
 

As I mentioned earlier once I start my Live From thread for that cruise, I’ll post the link on this thread. 

Thanks, I just read most of it yesterday, as I was on a cruise myself.  I enjoyed it and it reminded me why, if I ever do another Antarctic drive-by it will be on Princess, rather than Celebrity.

[MustBCruzn]

2 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Thanks, I just read most of it yesterday, as I was on a cruise myself.  I enjoyed it and it reminded me why, if I ever do another Antarctic drive-by it will be on Princess, rather than Celebrity.

 

I couldn't agree more (thank you Ken!). After following along on Ken's wonderful adventure, we booked a Princess Antarctic cruise for 2025. We've been long time Celebrity cruisers, but have recently branched out to Holland and Princess. You can't beat thier itineraries. @Ken the cruiser you should be getting a kick-back from both Princess and HAL! 🙂

Edited February 20 by MustBCruzn

[Ken the cruiser]

47 minutes ago, MustBCruzn said:

 

I couldn't agree more (thank you Ken!). After following along on Ken's wonderful adventure, we booked a Princess Antarctic cruise for 2025. We've been long time Celebrity cruisers, but have recently branched out to Holland and Princess. You can't beat thier itineraries. @Ken the cruiser you should be getting a kick-back from both Princess and HAL! 🙂

LOL!! That would ruin all the fun I have posting to my Live From threads. 😂

[silkismom]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:51 AM, brucedodge said:

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.

Hi Bruce and Gail, haven't seen you in a long time. ANN

[Travelexpert35]

Thanks Ken for doing this live post. Have followed along and have enjoyed all of your photos. Will be looking forward to your Alaska adventure.

[dreaminofcruisin]

Really enjoyed your live post!

I think both @Ken the cruiser and @ocean sounds, you went on the Gentoo Penguins Expedition at Newan's Station from Stanley? In the Princess description, it lists Restroom availability as NO for all pieces of the excursion. Was there no restroom availability for the 2 1/2 hour excursion? DH would not be happy with that and if so, I won't be booking it. I thought I would check with you two since you have first hand experience if this is the case.

Thanks.

[Ken the cruiser]

44 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

Really enjoyed your live post!

I think both @Ken the cruiser and @ocean sounds, you went on the Gentoo Penguins Expedition at Newan's Station from Stanley? In the Princess description, it lists Restroom availability as NO for all pieces of the excursion. Was there no restroom availability for the 2 1/2 hour excursion? DH would not be happy with that and if so, I won't be booking it. I thought I would check with you two since you have first hand experience if this is the case.

Thanks.

I just asked my DW and she’s pretty sure they had a bathroom in the small building that was down near the beach where they offered snacks, coffee and tea. I personally didn’t use it, but she’s pretty sure there was one in there.

[Ken the cruiser]

If anyone is on the fence trying to decide whether or not to book one of Princess’ Antarctica cruises, I’ll just say this. If you have the time and your budget can handle it, go for it! You will not be disappointed as there is no place in the world like this, even if the weather isn’t as favorable as it was for us. 
 

But I will add this. If at all possible, book an aft-facing balcony cabin if the cruise you’re considering is on a Grand-class ship. Why? The “wind factor” is pretty much eliminated when you walk out on the balcony, even if the ship is heading into a 50+ knot wind storm. Besides that, the awesome scenery you will see will be visible on either side, the sunsets can be awesome, and there is no better place to be on sail away IMHO than an aft-facing balcony cabin. But I will also mention this. You need to book it early, as they do go fast. 😁

[ocean sounds]

On 2/21/2024 at 6:54 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

I just asked my DW and she’s pretty sure they had a bathroom in the small building that was down near the beach where they offered snacks, coffee and tea. I personally didn’t use it, but she’s pretty sure there was one in there.

Hi, Ken.  Yes, your DW is correct, I remember seeing one in the refreshment building.  
 

Thanks again for an awesome Live report. 

Edited February 25 by ocean sounds

[Ken the cruiser]

22 minutes ago, ocean sounds said:

Hi, Ken.  Yes, your DW is correct, I remember seeing one in the refreshment building.  
 

Thanks again for an awesome Live report. 

Thanks! Of all the photos I posted covering the 30+ days of our adventure, this one taken at Kelp Point in the Falklands is my favorite. On many of our other excursions, we were able to get relatively close to the wildlife, but being able to get within 10 feet of these Elephant Seals with them really not caring all that much was as they say priceless! 😁

 

[ringers0815]

On 2/21/2024 at 2:54 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

I just asked my DW and she’s pretty sure they had a bathroom in the small building that was down near the beach where they offered snacks, coffee and tea. I personally didn’t use it, but she’s pretty sure there was one in there.

@dreaminofcruisin as Ken noted above, there is a bathroom in the small café where they offer a snack. I did this excursion a few years ago and remember it as my DH had to use it. 😊

[abbydancer2003]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If anyone is on the fence trying to decide whether or not to book one of Princess’ Antarctica cruises, I’ll just say this. If you have the time and your budget can handle it, go for it! You will not be disappointed as there is no place in the world like this, even if the weather isn’t as favorable as it was for us. 
 

But I will add this. If at all possible, book an aft-facing balcony cabin if the cruise you’re considering is on a Grand-class ship. Why? The “wind factor” is pretty much eliminated when you walk out on the balcony, even if the ship is heading into a 50+ knot wind storm. Besides that, the awesome scenery you will see will be visible on either side, the sunsets can be awesome, and there is no better place to be on sail away IMHO than an aft-facing balcony cabin. But I will also mention this. You need to book it early, as they do go fast. 😁

Very sound advice.  We had an aft on the Star Princess on our first Antarctic cruise, and it was fantastic.  Not that when seeing the glaciers in the Beagle channel, we had the naturalist on, describing the glaciers and about 6 minutes later, they'd come into view.  But we could see them on both sides.

[brucedodge]

On 2/21/2024 at 7:59 AM, silkismom said:

Hi Bruce and Gail, haven't seen you in a long time. ANN

Obviously completely of the subject, but yes, that Azamara cruise was one of the best.  We're at lastname at Comcast point net

 

Bruce

[cadien]

On 2/14/2024 at 4:42 PM, EDVM96 said:

Do you know if the Torres del Paine National Park Princess ShorEx (10.5 hours PUQ-155) was available today? Did they go?

It was canceled. We had dinner with a couple who had booked it. 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 2/20/2024 at 1:57 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

And we be home! Yay!! What a great adventure with a bunch of awesome memories! 😁

 

Thanks everyone for following along as well as providing some wonderful photos and thoughtful insights along the way!

 

Our next adventure will be a 22-day “glacier rich” cruise to Alaska on the Grand Princess starting April 30. Hopefully on this next cruise we will see more unique wildlife as well as a bunch more whale sightings! 🤞
 

As I mentioned earlier once I start my Live From thread for that cruise, I’ll post the link on this thread. 

For those interested in following along on our upcoming 22-day Alaska cruise on the Grand Princess, which we will be leaving for next week, I just started my Live From thread! 😁

Edited April 22 by Ken the cruiser

[phabric]

I will following along.

[that]

@Ken the cruiser

 

love reading your Live posts.  Thank you.

please

can you share if the Sapphire Princess had propulsion issues on your cruise?

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, that said:

@Ken the cruiser

 

love reading your Live posts.  Thank you.

please

can you share if the Sapphire Princess had propulsion issues on your cruise?

I remember on the cruise from BA to Santiago just before we boarded her on Jan 20 seeing on Cruise Mapper where it was dead in the water for a couple of hours on the way from BA to the Falkland Islands. Don’t know what the issue was, but she ran great the entire 30 days we were onboard after particular cruise. 
 

Someone on the Jan 4 Sapphire Roll Call might have a better idea what happened. 

Edited May 14 by Ken the cruiser