Mary loves to travel

I am sure this was very stressful for you, especially being so sick, worried, and running on next to no sleep. I think I'm missing something, though, when you refer to being "treated like criminals". Did you feel this way because you were escorted from your room? Glad to hear you are better now. Mary

Thank you so much for your detailed info & photo of your attire for your Antarctica cruise. We're just back from the Jan 20th Sapphire cruise; I followed your clothing example and happy to report we had just the right clothes & were nice and warm all the hours we were outside, either on the Promenade, or on the top decks (where views are excellent, but it can get *very* windy and cold. Best, Mary

Great photos, Ken! and you’re right - pretty amazing close up of the bumble bee 🐝

Exactly! Which is why plastic bottles are no longer allowed to be brought on board. The 12 containers of soft drinks (including water) must be cans Or cartons

I believe the issue is with people smuggling alcohol in plastic bottles and the time needed to inspect each one for tampering, not the plastic bottle itself.

I strongly second this!! We had a lovely midship port side balcony, and it was great, especially for dawn viewing of Glacier Alley. BUT we also dressed very warmly and spent several hours each day out and about - top decks, above the bridge, promenade deck. You miss too much confining yourself to your cabin.

I have to agree!

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

We really lucked out with the weather-it’s been 90’s and forecast to be back that way starting tomorrow. But today should be lovely walking around weather in Montevideo 😊 just finishing our last lovely breakfast in the Reserve dining room, which we tried for the first time this cruise based on your recommendations on these boards. Thanks, Ken! Mary & Peter

We haven’t seen him either, and bungled our schedule so missed the platinum & elite cocktails with the captain. I will say Captain Ravera has done a masterful job with our wind & sea conditions, avoiding the worst of it both ways through the Drake. Mary

People on this trip have shared a lot of photos, and from what I’ve seen, yes, there are more Kings at Volunteer Point. But the 2+hour ride each way, some of it bone-jarring, was a deal breaker for us. We were really pleased with the number of Kings at Bluff Cove, as well as the many Gentoos and easy ride. It’s what you prefer.

We didn’t walk through when leaving, but our van driver sprayed disinfectant on the soles of our shoes as we entered the van.

at Bluff Cove yesterday morning, they had us walk across some type of a “bath” that disinfected the bottom of our shoes. It was mentioned that this was for bird flu. Similar to Ken, we had an excellent time at Bluff Cove. I saw on their website they’ve used the pandemic shutdown to finish the road, so it was a very smooth ride in. There were plenty of Gentoos and a flock (?) of about 30 Kings. We finally got our penguin “fix” 😊🐧 I should note that we were on the 8:30am tour. We watched the penguins for awhile, then headed to the cafe to warmup. Then went back over to the penguins, and had them almost to ourselves for about 15-20 minutes until the next group of buses arrived. Mary

I’ve seen other guidelines that say $5 per person for a half-day, and $10 per person for a full day. We’re usually in that ballpark.

I agree with all of this, and would also suggest rain pants - great at blocking the wind and keeping your legs warmer. Don’t forget a knit hat and scarf. We like to be up on the top deck sometimes, as viewing is great from the top of the bridge, or just to get a different perspective from the opposite side of the ship on Deck 15. We also enjoyed strolling around the Promenade- it can get cold and windy even there on a moving ship. Our midship port balcony was wonderful for viewing Glacier Alley; we could step back into the cabin as needed. We have a mini with a completely uncovered balcony - the benefit here is a totally unobstructed view from inside the cabin. We’ve also found Hot Hands to be helpful when up on deck. The big issue for us was taking a glove off and on to use the iPhone camera. Our hands can’t re-warm enough after a few “off and ons” of the gloves. We ended up putting the Hot Hands packets in our pockets, would just quickly rewarm our hands. Works great 😊 Mary

Ken, loving your photos! One thing the naturalist mentioned about the “log behavior” is that’s how the whales sleep; one part of their brain focuses on breathing, the rest sleeps, and they just float along looking like big logs 😊 Mary

We’re not much more active “club hoppers” than Ken 😂. But we did hear the Supersonics one evening in the Piazza, and also went to Club Fusion when they were having an “oldies” night with music from the 50’s and 60’s. They’re very good & it was a fun time. Mary

It’s surprising how many ships show up as being here! My understanding is that times in each location are carefully choreographed, so we all feel we’re the only ones here. I don’t know how schedules are coordinated or by whom, but it’s been great. Mary

Ken, here’s another angle on the iceberg with penguins on the ledge (lower right)

Being used to seeing prices in USD, prices shown in AUD are eye-popping. But, after the conversion the prices are roughly in line with other parts of the world. Yes, I’m often finding a similar excursion for about 50-60% of what Princess charges But, in some cases, due to timing or distance travelled, the Princess excursion is the one we pick.

Ok, very similar to photos we got from above - nice! Are you using a real camera? I have an iPhone only, so far it’s been pretty good.

Ken, we were up on 14, Starboard side. Got there early enough to be right at the rail, so good viewing. A couple of times the fog/mist lifted enough to make out the iceberg, even seeing the arching holes worn into the side by the ocean. curious (for future reference) what your views of A23A were from your nice aft balcony? Mary

Hi Ken, as far as the Captain's announcements, they as you know can be heard at noon over all the PA systems; all of his announcements can be heard from your stateroom if you tune the tv to the Bridge Cam (and, as I learned, good to unmute 😉). But, I'm with you: seems it would have been easy for Arrrrrmando to do a quick itinerary update before or after the show, since I doubt you would have heard the captain's announcement from the theater. FYI, on an alternate social media platform, there is a group for this cruise; the moderator of that group writes down and posts the captain's noon announcement daily; one of the ship's naturalists, Rob Raincock also provides excellent updates. Really enjoying following your trip post, as always 🙂 Mary

AUD.

We have been very happy to have him.