Gixer

Hiya Ellen,

I wouldnt worry too much about the penguin poop, walking boots or sturdy footwear will be fine, you wont need rubber boots. Drop me an email hun at samantha.john@yahoo.co.uk and I will give you my phone number so that when you get back from your penguin trip I can come meet you :)

I'm going to be taking a break from the forum for a while, I am still in the middle of moving house (hope to be finally in by the end of next week) and we are then off to Florida for the Easter holidays and will be out of the Islands for over 6 weeks.

Happy cruising to all xxx

Disclaimer - With regards to this statement in the above post ''Anyway, mistakes do happen, but I am confident that all the other info I have posted is 100% correct.''

I just want to make it clear that I am of course confident in the info I have posted in a non tourist board official way ;)

I dont want to get into any forum arguments, I use these boards for research, for fun and to keep in touch with cruise friends. However I now feel the need to defend myself, as it was never my intention to mislead anyone.

The inacurracies quoted seem to be with Rockhoppers at Bluff and North Pond. I have checked back through the thread and cant actually see where I have said there are Rockhoppers at Bluff, but if I have then it is most definatley a Typo. There are several posts in which I have described many of the tours in detail and what wildlife can be seen at each, here are a few examples -

Taken from post 14 on page 1, as you can see no Rockhoppers at Bluff are mentioned -

Bluff Cove is a great tour, but Im going to be perfectly frank here, it cannot in any way compare to Volounteer point. At Bluff cove you will see nesting ***** penguins, Gentoos and a few visiting kings. Volounteer point has the second largest breeding colony of kings in the world, and also an abundence of ***** and gentoo's, that really is quite some sight. Bluff cove is a great experience, really wonderful, and you wont be dissapointed or travelling for a significant period of time so you will still have time to explore town.

Also, futher on in the thread post 227 on page 14 has the actual cruise ship info on where Rockhoppers can be seen -

View over 400 rockhopper penguins in their natural environment with stunning views of Berkeley Sound in the background. This is your one and only opportunity to photograph these cute penguins on your ships itinerary. You'll be picked up by your experienced local driver/guide in Port Stanley and driven 60 minutes to the penguin colony. Your journey will be in a comfortable 4 x 4 vehicle and will begin on the road to the Murrell Farm where it will then become an exciting overland experience, driving over the rolling peaty moor. This exclusive tour will take in views of your ship and Stanley also. These penguins have never before been available for viewing by cruise passengers. It is merely the building of the road that has now made them accessible. Youll have one hour 20 minutes to photograph these penguins with only a small group of people along. A guide will accompany you throughout your visit at the penguin site. Refreshments and snacks will be served.

The situation with North Pond, this tour is a new one on me and one I havent been on yet. When I asked my neighbour if he knew where North Pond was, his reply was ''Well the only North Pond I know Che is the one where we go fishing on the Murrell'' Having since dragged out an OS map and looked for North Pond, I was shocked at just how many ponds there actually are! There are hundreds! The only North Pond I can see that might be the new excursion is the one up past Elephant Beach, and above that is also a Swan Pond, which isnt to be confused with Swan Inlet pond.

As it stands at the moment I can hold my hands up and say I have honestly no idea where North Pond is or what wildlife is there, I quoted what I thought was a reliable source at the time, in all other instances where I have been unsure of something then I have said so in the thread, have checked out the info and then come back and passed it on. I apologise that the North Pond info got lost in the thread and I didnt check it out sooner (possibly due to having a house built and spending 5 weeks in the UK recently having surgery?)

Anyway, mistakes do happen, but I am confident that all the other info I have posted is 100% correct.

Bennies, the last thing I want to do is mislead people or cause problems for local guides, but staying on top of a thread like this isnt alway easy, in just the couple of posts that you yourself have made, you already have inaccuracies, the cost of the Gypsy Cove tour is now actually $20 and not $10 like it was last season. Chloe Kitty asked your advice on a tour to North Point - in your reply you have assumed she meant North Pond, so going on your reliable information, she might well have got off the tender thinking she was heading to North Point only to end up bitterly dissapointed and taking it out on the guides as to why on earth she is at a Pond.

I havent brought this to your attention to cause any bad feeling between us, just to show you how very easily errors can occur. You gave Chloe Kitty advice with the best of intentions, even though a simple typo has rendered that advice inaccurate, but I would never have accused you of misleading her.

I hope you enjoy helping out cruisers as much as I did, it is very rewarding, especially when people post after their cruise has ended what a wonderful time they had in the Islands.

Thank You forum member for all the support, I'm glad that some of the advice was useful to you and enabled you to have fantastic experiences in the Falklands, ultimatley that was all I ever hoped for.

Happy cruising to all xxx

Hello all :)

Sorry I havent been active in the forum for a while, I have been out of the Islands, I broke my hand just after Christmas and had to go to the UK for surgery as the joints in my fingers were smashed and needed pinning (You would think I of all people would remember about the dangers of high winds and vehicle doors right?! :eek:)

Glenys & Alan, thank you so much for the cute Koala bear! I cant believe you guys brought that all the way from Australia for me! That was really kind, thank you :o

Bob & Karen, so glad you enjoyed your trip - its lovely to be in contact with you now via Facebook!

I havent had a chance to read back through the thread yet, but I did see a post from someone asking about Penguins in April - TBH April is not a great time, its right at the end of the season, if you want to see penguins then you need to be thinking about booking a tour to Volunteer point to see the kings or Bluff/Sparrow cove to see the Gentoos as they are resident all year round, the magellanics and rockhoppers will have mostly left by then apart from a few late hatching chicks.

Hi Karen!

So sorry I havent had a chance to email you back yet, the new house is taking up all my time, I am supposed to be looking at Blinds for the conservatory at the moment but the styles and colours are giving me a headache trying to choose so I thought while Im on line I would just pop into the forum for 5mins :o 300 pounds for 4 people sounds about right for a tour, North Pond is part of the Murrell, so lots of Birdlife and penguins to see.

Deb - If back problems are an issue then I think Bluff would suit you better, the bus ride is easy along track road, and the journey by landrover is quite short and ''well worn'' so not quite as bumpy an experience as some of the others, and transfering from bus to 4x4 would definatley be easier than the boast option at Sparrow. :)

Tgetz - Its great that you will have some time in town after your penguin excursion, the 26/27/28 of Dec is when we have our annual horse racing, everyone from town will be up at the Racecourse which is just past Goverment house and up on the left, its a really fun few days and would be nice for you to see, its a carnival atmosphere and Im sure your kids would enjoy it. If we are in town my girls would love to show your kids around the stables etc We usually go out to camp at Christmas as Shearing and Lamb marking happens that week, it all depends on if our new house is finished or not, if its finished we will stay in town, if not we will head out to the farm, I will email you and let you know where we are :)

Hi Tammy,

Your boys will have a great time here, my girls will be back in school on the 23rd Jan which I think is a Friday? They start back after the summer break on 19th Jan, quite early this year, the have almost all December off instead, last year it was all January! They dont get out of school until 4pm if your ship doesnt leave until a little later then it would be lovely for us all to meet up! :)

Right, I must get back to choosing blinds, hope those of you cruising soon have wonderful trips! :D

Layers is definatley the key! January is our peak summer month, so you have picked a wondefrul time to visit, having said that you may experience blazing sunshine, fierce winds, snow showers, or all 3 at the same time :D The weather is the most difficult thing to predict at the best of times, but down here we dont know whats going on one moment to the next so an acurate forecast for the next hour is impossible to give let alone a week or so in advance lol

First things first is make sure your feet are taken care of, good walking boots come top of the list. I would wear a t-shirt as it can get very hot, bring a sweater and a wind/waterproof jacket. Also something to cover your ears, the wind can be so strong during the summer and after 2 mins of it whistling down your ears you will end up with awful earache. A fleecy hat that pulls down or some earmuffs are essential. And dont forget the sun cream, we are right under the hole in the ozone layer, even on cloudy days the sunburn risk is HIGH.

For those of you going off on tours it would be wise to carry some water with you, once your out of Stanley there are no shops at all, just miles and miles of empty nothingness.

Hi everyone :)

I just want to reassure you all that the damadge done by the oil spill in Berkely Sound wont affect your wildlife experiences when you visit. The spill has been contained and conservation have been working non stop cleaning the place up. Lots of penguins were brought into town to have oil cleaned off, and everyone helped with the efforts from all the school kids to people donating towels, detergents etc. Some of the coast line around the sound is still affected, but none of your tours go anywhere near that area. Fortunatley the main breeding grounds of Volounteer, Bluff & Sparrow have come away from the tragedy remarkably unscathed (Although I was saddend to see an oiled penguin at Gypsy Cove yesterday) Conservation will be keeping a very close eye on the number of breeding pairs this year and how many chicks are hatched, we will then be able to better assess the impact and damadge caused by the spill.

Anyway, onto the next question - Bluff or Sparrow cove? There isnt much difference in the tours, both will afford you plenty of time to look around town as well as close encounters with the penguins. Sparrow cove last season most definatley had the most friendly chicks, I have seen some wonderful photos and videos from cruisers who were sat on the floor and had penguins climbing over their legs. Both tours are great and it would be very difficult trying to pick one over the other.

Hello Cruiser's!

I am so sorry I havent been around for a while, we are in the process of having a new house built and it has been very time consuming! I havent had a chance to read back through the thread yet so aplogies that I havent been able to answer any recent questions. Now that the tourist season is about to begin I will try my best to check in on the thread once every few days, so if you have any questions fire away, but it may take a few days to get a reply. We are desperatley trying/hoping to be in the new house by Christmas so I appreciate your patience :o

I hope your all excited about your up-coming trips and looking forward to visiting the Islands! :)

Hi S&B,

2 hours is plenty of time to have a look around town and do a little shopping. When you get off the tender turn right and walk down the street about 50 yards and on the left hand side is the Waterfront gift shop, they have the best selection of fridge magnets. Carry on to the Catherdral and have your photo taken under the beautiful whale bone arch.

Next you will come to the West Store where you can stock up on snacks and opposite that is the Capstan gift Shop they have some lovely things in there.

Carry on down along Victory Green past the Ship Mast and cannons, keep walking down until you get to the little white clapboard church. Just past that on the left is the Falklands war memorial. Carry on straight along and you reach Goverment house. Just past that is the 1st World war memorial and the ship wreck.

On your way back take a right turn at the West store and you will see Deano's bar, turn left and you will see the Pink Shop, and futher along the Falklands wool shop, carry on down the road look to your left at the junction and at the bottom of the hill is the tender pier (about 30 yards) and POD gift shop. Stop in at the Globe as you head down the hill for a quick beer on your way to the tender.

You could do all the above in an hour :)

Hi Don,

BurBunny is right, there is no way possible that you could do this excursion on your own. You are off road for the best part of the trip, the tracks are sometimes visable and sometimes not depending on weather/flooding etc, you could be following a track that you think is the correct one only to discover your heading in totally the wrong direction and are actually following sheep gathering tracks left by farmers. The chances of you getting lost/bogged are very very real. There are no markers, so sign posts, no maps, just miles and miles of nothingness.

I have only driven it twice myself, always with a landrover infront of me and one behind me, Im pretty confident off road but I wouldnt attempt that journey unless I was with the guys who know the way/ground conditions better than anyone else, and even they sometimes make mistakes and get bogged!

Its a brilliant trip and highly recommended, a real ''once in a lifetime'' type thing :)

Hi Bluesea777

WOW what I wouldnt give to be in Bermuda right now, its COLD here at the moment!!!

Bluff Cove is a great trip, you get to see the Penguins and still have enough time to explore around town. I would recommend the Brasserie for lunch, when you get off the tender go straight up the hill infront of you, only about 100 yards and its on the right hand side of the road, they always do a gorgeous local Lamb dish, the one they have on at the moment is Lamb shanks cooked in a sort of tomato/veg/beans stew with mash potatoes, its lovely!

Your coming at a great time of year, your going to see loads of cute fluffy penguin chicks!

p.s - I gave up on the Independance idea, we have done Europe to death and in April the weather can still be pretty cold, so we switched and are doing Liberty of the Seas Eastern Caribbean instead ;)

Is it absolute fact that everything on board is going to charged in Euro's? That not British immersion - if it was British immersion everything would be charged in £££

I wish RCCL would just come out with an official statment of what changes we are going to have to face on board, at least then people can make an informed descision.

WOW, I think your ticker has the longest count down I've seen yet!!! I'd drive myself insane if I had to wait that long, 3 months was enough for me to become certifiable, lol. :D Well worth the wait though, I'm sure!

Tell me about it! the biggest draw back of living where I do is that we only get to vacation once a year, but I count myself lucky too, some people never get the chance to do even that. Its a heck of a long wait, but we have a 14 night Indepencance cruise booked while we wait for our Liberty trip so it's not too bad :)

I am over the moon with the Liberty itinerary, its one of the best I have seen on 7 night cruises - Belize/Costa Maya/Cozumel/Grand Cayman and a couple of relaxing sea days - Bliss!!! I thought we would be stuck with the usual St Martin/St Thomas so it was great to see something different offered (not that Iv got anything against those Islands I enjoyed them very much but variety is the spice of life!)

Hi everyone,

thought I would say a quick hello and that I booked a cruise on Liberty yesterday :D I still have quite a wait though, we dont sail until 2010 but its never too early to start planning!

Quick question about the ice shows - once you have a ticket is it a free for all as to where you are seated or does your ticket correspond to a specific seat number?

If someone is 'in the know' as how to scan & post, they could possibly post on here and we could all print them at home? I would also be interested if anyone could post on here the Mediterranean Treasures cruise dining room menu.

 

Many thanks:p:p

Ohh yes! Me too! dont forget the menus!

I have a favour to ask.....:o

If anyone is sailing on the Indy soon, would you be kind enough to save all the daily compasses and scan them and email them to me when you return from your cruise? Or even better - if there is anyone who doesnt want to keep the compasses as keepsakes and would be willing to post (snail mail) them that would be fantastic :D

Hello folks - really really needed to see this thread again to cheer myself up - There is 2ft of snow on the ground and it was -12 last night.... Brrrrrr its getting cold!!!! Its dark by 2pm and it looks like its going to be one heck of a long winter :(

Reading this thread and dreaming of our cruise is all thats keeping me going at the moment! :o

Thank you for all the information you have supplied others. It has been very helpful. We, party of 4, will be visiting in January 2009 via Norwegian.

 

If Gypse Cove, via mini bus, only takes about an hour, and the trip to Spanish Cove is only 3 hours, is it possible to go to Gypse Cove in the morning and then find a local tour operator to go to Spanish Cove, after he is finished with ship tours? What would the approximate cost be with a local?

 

What would be the approximate cost be for a taxi for a couple hours?

 

Also, how far is Gypse Cove form the post in either Miles or Kilometers? Is it possible to take the Mini Bus to the cove and walk back, or is 45-minutes enough time there?

 

Again, thanks for all your help - Ken

Hello :)

It is most definatley possible to do Sparrow cove and Gypsy cove in the same day. Local Taxi's run to Gypsy cove all the time on cruise ship days, so that isnt an issue, however getting someone to take you to Sparrow cove is a different matter entirley, I would seriously consider booking this through your cruise excursion programme. Personally I would do Sparrow cove in the morning, and then in the afternoon have a wander around town and take a taxi to Gypsy Cove. It is possible to hike back, maybe 45 min walk if the weather is nice.

I do understand since taking my first cruise the desire to boycott ships excursions in favour of local tour guides, but that really just doesnt apply in the Falklands, our community is too small to cope with locals being booked by the ship AND still have private tour operators available for bookings. The only real exception to this is for Volunteer point.

Gixer Thank you so much for the info . I am sorry to say I will not be able to take you up on your most generous offer. We will be on the Feb7th sailing . All the suites seem to show N/A for our sailing so I was just curious as to the cost . I am sure you will have a wonderful time with all the extra room

Wow Frannie its not just the suites that are a no show for your 7th Feb sailing, I ran a search and couldnt find anything! Zilch! not even a stowaway cabin in steerage! :D I guess that must mean that the entire cruise is sold out?! I wonder if your sailing at a school break time in the UK? either way Im sure your going to have a fantastic cruise.

I did read somewhere about a website where you can find out how full your ship is, much the same way as you can find out how full your flight is, it would be interesting to find out if your sailing really is totally booked out. Id quite like to know how mine is doing too, Im the only person on the roll call so far :(

Gixer Congrats on your new cabin I went on the RCCL web site and all the suites show as N?A does that mean they are all sold out . I am very curious as to what RCCL were charging for the large suites . The RCCL book I picked up at the TA did not have any pricing tables like most cruise lines . I do not think I would be able to afford such luxury . Glad to know it will not be empty on the cruise

I had a quick look at an online travel web site -

At the moment there are 4 owners suites left and available on my sailing (25th Apr 09) $6468.00 pp. We have our 2 kids sailing with us and they paid a reduced rate.

There are also 7 Grand suites available to book and they come out at $5118.00 pp

Are you on the same cruise as me Frannie? If so please come up to our cabin for a look around and a glass of wine you will be most welcome :D

Hello everyone -

Do you mind if I share my excitment with you? nobody else is home at the moment and Im about to burst.....I just switched our Grand suite to Owners suite 1340 - centre hump! Its my dream cabin and I am very, very lucky to be able to book it :D

Hi everyone....just home last night from the Indy Pre-Inaugural cruise! What a beautiful ship. We had a fantastic time. :) Still a bit jet lagged, but I did manage to post my photos on webshots if anyone is interested, here they are: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563288702TpMeic

 

Forgive the blurry and bad shots, I've not had time to weed them out.

 

Liz....it was wonderful to meet you! :)

Brilliant photos thanks for sharing!

Ohhhhhhhh I saw them pics elsewhere last night and thought how fabulous they are - Cool plane pics too! ;)

 

Brill!!!

Ste ''from the Dibb Ste'' by any chance? I just booked Independance today for Apr 09 cant wait :D

Gixer............we are on the Independence 26 July to the Med and we have booked early - simply because 8.30-8.45pm is too late. A nice compromise would be 7.15pm!! It's a pitty the don't introduce My Time dining in one of the dining levels for those of us who would prefer to be more flexible? A very subjective topic I know, but last year on Princess, we thought it was marvellous. We are travelling with two teenagers 15 and 14 (boys)

 

Not sure if this helps!:p:confused:

Yes that helps a lot thanks for your input, I think that 8.45 is way to late for me let alone my 11 year old, I think I will definatley change it to early, if we are shattered on port days or running late we can always skip dinner and eat at the buffet. I know my kids would prefer to be doing other fun stuff in the evening and not stuck in a dining room.

I also would love my time dining, I was dissapointed it wasnt offered as an option, Im holiding out hope that before we sail next April I might get an email or phone call asking if we want to change to my time :)

For those of you that are sailing the Med which dinner seating have you picked? Initially I thought late would be good and give us more time because some of the port days are pretty intensive, especially the Italian ones, but Im not sure I want to be still in the dining room at 10.30 - 11pm?

I have booked late but I think maybe I might change it to early, what about everyone else?

Hi everyone, thought I would check out this thread because I just booked my first RCCL cruise this morning, sailing around the Med on Independance, Im so excited I dont know how Im going to survive the wait until next April!

Here's a thought that keeps buzzing around my head - how on earth are you all planning on keeping in touch with each other on such a huge ship? Im worried that we will get split up and not find each other again :o

Im thinking maybe of giving the Kids a walkie talkie or something? would they work? or possibly buying a sim card for my cell and my kids cell phones in the UK so I can text them to find out where they are? (my kids will be 11 and 13 when we sail)

Hubby wants to know if they will have any real ales or draft beers in the pub thats in the promenade?

Thanks :)