due2 cruise on star princess feb 2009 antartica

[due2cruise]

Any tips please re: excursions ,what to take re: weather etc.very excited .Have been on Regal Princess Panama Canal,but not big cruisers -feel a bit intimitated by you 'BIG' cruise people !!!!

[mii]

Any tips please re: excursions ,what to take re: weather etc.very excited .Have been on Regal Princess Panama Canal,but not big cruisers -feel a bit intimitated by you 'BIG' cruise people !!!!

 

What might help you is go to the Roll Call section on the Home page and find your cruise. You get to meet people that will be on the same cruise as you and they might have ideas for excursions. Just go back to the home page, scroll to Princess, then the Star and then find your date.

 

Marilyn

[jimpod]

We were on the Star to Antarctica in January this year. We were very lucky with the weather - no rain and one slight snow flurry while sailing in Antarctica. Most days it was sunny and you could stay on deck if you were wrapped up. We took rain jackets with a fleece lining and wore hats, scarves and gloves on deck in Antarctica. We are from Scotland so didn't feel that it was too cold. Some people were affected more by the cold than others. All in all we had a wonderful time and would recommend it to anyone. We went to see the Rockhopper penguins in the Falklands - a long bumpy journey in a 4WD to an isolated clifftop. The facilities were pretty basic and thankfully the weather stayed fine or it could have been pretty miserable. Apparently this was the first year that visitors had been taken to this penguin colony so perhaps there are better facilities now.The upside was seeing the penguins up close and the driver was very friendly and told us a lot of anecdotes about the conflict with the Argentinians. There was an other penguin colony trip available but it was for a longer duration. Not sure what other ports you will be visiting as there a couple of different itineraries.

[due2cruise]

thanks for reply -as we live on side of Malvern Hills hopefully we won't feel too cold !!!

[Sea Fan]

Any tips please re: excursions ,what to take re: weather etc.very excited .Have been on Regal Princess Panama Canal,but not big cruisers -feel a bit intimidated by you 'BIG' cruise people !!!!

 

Oh you will be going on my dream cruise! I have followed several roll calls on this and as everyone says there is great information. This one was especially informative;

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=591815

 

 

Don't feel intimidated here you're talking about our favorite thing:D

 

Dianne

[Pam in CA]

I was on the Golden Princess a couple of years ago in February '07. Buenos Aires was quite hot and humid, Montevideo was hot and much dryer. By the time we got to the Falklands, it was getting a bit too chilly to be outside for long and as we went from the Falklands to Ushuaia (we weren't on the Antarctica cruise), it was downright cold. I lived near Boston at the time and was used to the cold but it was still pretty darned cold to me and didn't warm up until after sailing from Puerto Montt towards Santiago.

 

This January, I'm on HAL's Amsterdam, going from Rio to Santiago with four days of cruising in Antarctica. We specifically booked this cruise on HAL based on my experience on the Golden where I felt that the ship was not designed for cooler temperatures nor are the other Grand-class ships. There is a lot of outside space on these ships but when it's too cold, everyone is inside, crowding every single public space. People held tables in the buffet from early morning until late afternoon. And, at least a couple of ports were completely overwhelmed by the number of passengers, i.e., Stanley and Puerto Montt. Bring your patience and be flexible.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that this is vacation time for South American families and you'll find a lot of them onboard -- at least half the passengers. Also, make sure you've pre-booked a tour in the Falklands; the port can handle only about 1/3 of the passengers on a ship the size of the Star so many people will be left without a tour or anything to do. We had literally hundreds of very angry people on our cruise who thought they could book a tour when they boarded. Nope. Everything was sold out ahead of time. (FYI, this is also true of the excursions through the Amsterdam with only 1200 passengers.) Be patient when re-boarding the ship in Puerto Montt; we had lines that snaked around the dock area and waits of well over an hour (in the rain.)

 

For clothing, plan on layers, layers, layers. I'm packing some very lightweight clothing for Rio, B.A. and Montevideo, and for the rest of the cruise, I'll have layers of shirts and light sweaters as the weather gets cooler, some fleece tops, a coat with a button-out fleece lining, a hat, gloves, warm socks and shoes.

[DGSFlorida]

If you want a real good look at what this cruise is all about, read Amber's blog here. It covers everthing in detail with great pics... http://www.cruiseresource.com/2-2-08.htm

[CruisenOne]

Any tips please re: excursions ,what to take re: weather etc.very excited .Have been on Regal Princess Panama Canal,but not big cruisers -feel a bit intimitated by you 'BIG' cruise people !!!!

 

We took this Cruise a while back -- Great Cruise.

 

IF they offer an Antarctic Fly Over -- Read the fine print when you book the excursion.

On our Cruise, if the flight was cancelled for any reason, your money was not refunded.