2010 Solar Eclipse Cruise?? (Easter Island)

[Tony8489]

I'm back from the successful Costa Classica cruise, report here: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8112. Classica had sea days before and after the eclipse with lots of leeway where to go based upon weather forecasts. We did end up at the max totality point and had 6 minutes 42 seconds in the moon's shadow (3 seconds extra due to ship speed of 7mph to best utilize the stabilizers). That was the only sunny day in a 2-week stretch of my 3 weeks total in the Far East. My son and I left the cruise in Kobe July 24 to spend 9 days in Japan. At the bottom of the link above are links to my time in Japan, including a climb of Mt. Fuji in inclement weather.

There was cheaper cruise offered on Costa Allegra, but that cruise ended in Shanghai the morning after the eclipse and was thus constrained where it could be. So it was clouded out, like nearly everyone in Shanghai. Farther west in China it was clear in Chonqing. In between it was hit or miss, and some land tours with flexibility saw at least some totality, while many at pre-arranged sites were clouded out.

I did respond a couple of times to last October's questions, but I now realize those responses must have been deleted because I mentioned the 2 travel agents that chartered the Paul Gauguin for both 2009 and 2010 eclipses. The Paul Gauguin was also successful this year, though they had makes some last minute maneuvers to avoid clouds. I know we don't want advertorial posts on these boards, but I'm hard pressed to see why my posts were taken that way. As I understand it, when a ship is chartered like Costa Classica or Paul Gauguin for an eclipse, you have to go through the people who chartered it if you want to be on that ship. So I thought I was providing helpful info to interested readers.

2010 is shaping up to be a very difficult and/or expensive eclipse. LanChile is gouging unmercifully for the limited flights to Easter Island, which doesn't have great weather prospects anyway.

More info on the 2010 eclipse:

http://xjubier.free.fr/download/TOTALITY/TOTALITY_Issue_9.pdf

[Staceyfc]

I previously went with Winco Eclipse (www.wincoeclipsetrips.com) tours a number of years ago to the Caribbean for the 1998 eclipse and it was an amazing cruise and tour. The tour operators are a Meteorologist and his wife and they nail every detail of the tour - location, food, eclipse lectures, location, location, food, food :-)

 

I went looking for another one last year and hooked up to their China eclipse tour that cruised down the Yangtze river. It was so warm and friendly - a comfortable small ship almost all to ourselves.

 

So, now we're hooked on eclipses and lo and behold ... eclipse and the South Pacific - a match made in heaven for us cruisers. I checked with Winco to see if they were planning a tour for this eclipse and, sure enough, they've got a cruise eclipse tour with what looks like a fabulous itinerary - Tahitti and Bora Bora ... AND a 14-day cruise in the Tuamotus on a group of three private yachts just for the Winco tour group (with crew TG - I can't sail :-)).

 

Best of both worlds, the eclipse AND a great cruise! We can't wait.

 

I don't know if they have any open space this late but I'm sure they can tell you. FYI - a couple on last year's tour signed on about a month before it started and Winco bent over backwards to make sure all their travel docs were authorized before they left the states. As they told it, it was very close :-)

 

Hope you find space,

 

Stacey