Semi Live from Celebrity Eclipse - Antarctica 14 nights from Buenos Aires

[GatorMomInNC]

Is this related to weather issues at all?  Even for a tender port this seems like an especially long wait. 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I wonder does Celebrity use its own lifeboat or does the port supply them

 

[floridafolks]

1 hour ago, Kos123 said:

Totally. I just don’t get why we are being told to collect tickets at certain time when it clearly doesn’t work when people camp those lines before the announced time. A lottery of random numbers a day ahead would make more sense than camping the line 2 hours before the announcement time. 

 

4 hours and still waiting. We missed our private tour hopefully we will be able to taxi to gipsy cove and get a refund. 

How about cabins that come with benefit of priority tendering- was this done or were they not given that benefit?

[twangster]

I was recently in Port Stanley with another cruise line.  We used the ship zodiacs to ride into town. 

 

Stanley is known for its winds.  Wind makes waves.  It was the wettest zodiac ride of our cruise.  It was so splashy from the waves that one guest on my zodiac had his automatic life jacket inflate because it got so wet it thought it was in the water.

 

We anchored just outside the harbor despite being in a much smaller ship than yours so we had the long ride to the town dock.  The channel into the harbor is narrow and with any sort of a cross wind it was too much for even our little 17.4k GT vessel so we stayed out of the harbor.

 

Swell and waves complicates loading tenders (and zodiacs).  It slows the process down.  It's a frequently missed port due to wind.  

 

How was the weather during your visit?

 

Edited January 29 by twangster

[DesertRat46]

Did this cruise pre-pandemic and the weather was perfect. The Captain said it was the best weather he had ever had on that route, Even Port Stanley was easy ,,,,except for the totally hosed up tender process. We too missed our booked tour. But we did ok with walking a local cab. 

Would love to go back, but this time on HAL or Princess for more time in the area.

[Kos123]

The weather was as perfect as it can get - sunny, about 20C and no wind.
 

Basically Retreat and Excursions were tendered first and that’s why everyone else was left behind waiting for hours. We picked up our tender ticket roughly at 7.30 and were at the pier around 12.20 - almost 5 hours in total. We are trying to get a refund for the private excursion we missed but it doesn’t look promising. 
 

we rushed to a gipsy cove shuttle ( about $20 round trip) and sprinted to the penguin colony beach. The beach was fantastic, we did enjoy the small amount of time we had there before getting back to the port - unfortunately no time to do anything else. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29 by Kos123

[Dancing Shoes]

9 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Most tender ports are a Sh$t show 

That is why I would never ever book a private tour for any tender port.  We are bottom of the barrel.  So many things can happen on any cruise line.  We had people waiting hours for a tender on HAL in Norway.  Bummer.......  I should say, unless I see something in port.

Edited January 29 by Dancing Shoes

[BlerkOne]

8 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I wonder does Celebrity use its own lifeboat or does the port supply them

 

The port doesn't have any tenders.

[CruiserN1]

I'm really sorry it hasn't been a good cruise for you. Antarctica is on my bucket list, but I plan to go with an expedition company that has permission to land on the continent. I hope your cruise gets better from here. Those penguin photos are wonderful. I'm so happy you at least got to see them.

[Gardenbunny50]

Unfortunate to not get the full experience of Antarctica but since only 1% of the population ever experience it, 2 days was still not so bad.  

We took Princess in January 2020, just before Covid reared its ugly head.  It was an absolutely incredible trip.  I could hear the quiet and feel the cold looking at your photos - brought me right back.

And I absolutely fell in love with penquins at Falklands.

We always take ship excursions - we know all the pros and cons, but we just prefer the no hassle

[Kos123]

A couple of more pictures from yesterday and the sunset. Just really amazed by penguins. 
 

Again I’m a newbie and have to nothing to compare this cruise against. Just doesn’t feel right pretty much be blackmailed to buy an overpriced tour by Celebrity or be at the risk to miss a lot of valuable time at unique places like Falkland Islands. I guess it’s just the part of cruising on mainstream cruise lines. 
 

We did book a penguin roastery tour for our next stop at Puerto Madryn when it was on sale on Black Friday. Couldn’t find a cheaper option to get there anyway. 

[GatorMomInNC]

Great pictures!

[gfkcruiser]

Your photos are amazing.  What camera are you using?  
We had this planned for next week but decided not to go.  Maybe in the future and maybe on a small ship. 
 

[Kos123]

A small ship is definitely a way to go to Antarctica! 
 

No camera, just an iPhone 15 

[Kos123]

We are at Puerto Madryn. Unfortunately no time to go out to the city itself, although, I couldn’t find much to see there online anyway. 
 

We booked a Punta Tombo rookery tour today and it’s pretty much took the whole port time. This is probably the only time I would recommend get an excursion through Celebrity because the time is super limited — it takes about 2.5 hours to get to the rookery so it takes all day pretty much. I booked with 50% off during Black Friday dunno if I would pay the full price that Celebrity charges though. 
 

the excursion itself is amazing, we got to see a lot of penguins, chicks, dolphins, birds, etc. we had about 1.5 hours there, which was enough but definitely felt rushed. wish we had an hour more. Highly recommend it. I’m attaching some pictures. 
 

Also an observation - I have never seen so many rude people who get mad that people don’t speak English, are super loud and complain about every single thing they see. Sure, you are white and rich retiree but the world is not your bubble you live in, there are other people around, other cultures, languages, etc. We have visited about 40 countries, but never encountered so many such people in one place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by Kos123

[wynkys]

What a great report, refreshing and honest!

Your photos are terrific and imagine how many memories, good and bad, they will provide you in the future.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

More great photos! Those penguins are sooooo cute.  We are sailing on the Eclipse in April but I am concerned we won't see Penguins since it is past the peak season. 

[TrixieBel]

On 1/26/2024 at 1:10 PM, Kos123 said:

The library is just a nice place to grab coffee/tea and people-watch elevators. 

 

I’ve not seen anyone mention the library before. It looks lovely! 

[Kos123]

7 hours ago, GatorMomInNC said:

More great photos! Those penguins are sooooo cute.  We are sailing on the Eclipse in April but I am concerned we won't see Penguins since it is past the peak season. 

yes, we read that penguins are leaving Punto Tombo in the end of March / beginning of April. But the tour guide mentioned yesterday that this year they arrived a month later so that may shift timing a bit! 

[GatorMomInNC]

7 minutes ago, Kos123 said:

yes, we read that penguins are leaving Punto Tombo in the end of March / beginning of April. But the tour guide mentioned yesterday that this year they arrived a month later so that may shift timing a bit! 

Oh, that would be so great!  Fingers crossed.  Our flight to Santiago (we go from Santiago to Buenos Aires) leaves 9 weeks from today. 

[BuckeyeMark]

On 1/28/2024 at 5:20 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Am on same cruise doing live review

And doing a great job, I might add!

[BuckeyeMark]

Tremendous report. Great photos. Super helpful!

[jimbo5544]

16 hours ago, BuckeyeMark said:

And doing a great job, I might add!

Thanks!

[Kos123]

Montevideo is our last stop and our last day at this cruise. After researching it didn’t seem like there are much to see/ do here, so we just walked around the touristy part of the city. Not much to share to be honest, we just wished we had another day somewhere else instead. The only thing we noticed is that prices for everything are somewhat on the higher end. 
 

excited to be back to Buenos Aires as we have a late flight back home tomorrow and plan to spend a day in the city. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2 by Kos123

[the penguins]

On 1/29/2024 at 1:23 PM, Kos123 said:

So our Falkland Island experience is the second ***** show with Celebrity. We were told to come at 7.30 to collect our tender tickets. When we showed up at 7.29 we got #25. So it has been 3 hours since then and they are at number #12.
 

I know logistics is not easy but I’m pretty sure there is a better way to organize this since they know the # of people with excursions, # of boats they have, # of people on board, but they chose to trying to sell us spas and special restaurants while we wait for their mistakes and our #. 
 

Now the emotional part - f Celebrity for ruining our experience and I will make sure I never get on board Celebrity cruises in the future. And I will make sure all my friends know about this. 

Sorry for your problems we missed the port completely when we went with X.

The long tender ride, shallow water, and changeable weather conditions make Port Stanley the number 1 port that cruise ships cancel or where there are huge delays.

The only answer is to cruise on the small expedition type ships which get right in to the port which is what we did on our second trip.