as19111

We notify Princess in writing under special requests that we will need an extension cord. Princess does provide a heavy duty orange cord. We also pack a surge protector 6 plug cord. If the outlet is behind the bed, we usually don't need the Princess cord. If the bedside (that needs the cpap) is next to the desk, we can usually plug it into the outlet there, and use the other sockets for charging our camera battery, ipad, kindle etc.

Understandably, Princess wants to ensure that your cpap cord is not frayed and in good condition, so don't bring a machine that is a fire/safety hazard.

Also, if you require a sharps container, Princess will supply that under your "special requests".

When we took the tour on the Coral back in 2012, there were a number of sea days, and they actually had two tours on different mornings. It was a great tour, and we really enjoyed it.

We walked onto the ship and right to the pursers desk to sign up. There was already a list! It seems that some travel agents were able to sign up their customers before boarding the ship.

The answer to the question about Princess is that they will supply an extension cord for medical equipment (e.g. Cpap) but it a 50 ft long orange industrial cord.

Bring your own multiple outlet/surge protector. All of the ones mentioned here work really well.

Princess takes the current cruise offline about 5 days before your sail. So, you can make any changes on-line up to that cutoff.

When you board the ship, your excursion tickets should be in your cabin. On each ticket is a cancellation date, usually 48-72 hours before the port. If you choose to cancel, there is a box nearby the excursion desk on the ship. You can simply drop the tickets in the box, if the line is long. If you feel more comfortable handing them to the cruise employee, you can do that as well. There is no charge for cancelling the excursion IF you meet the deadline posted on the ticket.

The excursion is not charged to your cabin statement until the date of the excursion. It is not paid for in advance of the cruise, unless you made special arrangements to do this.

That about sums it up!

I don't recall it being uncomfortably cold in any port, but you do need the layers and rain wear. We are used to cold weather, so it really has to be freezing to get a reaction from us.

On the ship, around the horn was quite cold and quite windy. That's where the hats and gloves were handy.

The packing can drive you crazy but just pack a couple of nice tops for dinner and wear the same skirt/slacks the entire trip. I agree about the formal wear, too...repeat and don't apologize.

I've started going monochromatic (think Simon Cowell in black tops and khaki slacks) except I wear white tops and denim or khaki in the daytime and black slacks at night. Is it the same outfit every day or multiple outfits that look the same!?!

I would suggest that you book before you cruise. As I mentioned on another thread, I booked a private tour for the Falklands. We also booked another Princess tour in Puerto Madryn. We made it to the Falklands. Puerto Madryn was cancelled due to a labor strike! We sailed from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires.

So, from the sound of it, you are sailing from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. If you miss the Falklands, Punta Arenas is your back up. You should have enough port/sea days in between to cancel the Punta Arenas tour IF you make it to the Falklands. If you are sailing the reverse route, you'll take the Punta Arenas tour AND the Falklands, if you so choose.

We love the mini suite for the extra cabin space and especially the larger bathroom.

That said, on our Royal sailing, we are trying the deluxe balcony. It includes a sofa, and we enjoy that seating area on the mini for reading and room service. Don't know what we will think of it until we sail next June!

Penguins are a must see on a cruise around the horn. Which port/ports you choose is your personal choice. We had determined that our first choice to see penguins was The Falklands. Second choice would be Puerto Madryn...just in case the ship missed The Falklands. Well, we did make it to The Falklands and had a fantastic tour to Volunteer Point. Unexpectedly, we missed the port of Puerto Madryn due to a labor strike in Argentina.

My point is if we had missed The Falklands and counted on Puerto Madryn, we would have missed seeing the penguins!

The Punta Arenas tour I mentioned earlier in this thread was a ship tour. Our guide was a native of The Falklands.

Depending on how late you sail in the season makes a difference in each port and how many penguins may be there.

We took the tour to the cemetery, Sara Braun house, a outdoor museum of old buildings and machinery, and the town square. I could do without the outdoor museum. The cemetery was interesting. The Sara Braun house was interesting only in that it was built from 100% European materials and the surrounding area was filled with primitive people...have to imagine it then vs. now...interesting but not a must see. The town square is a great people watching location.

I think you would do fine to wander around on your own. Check out some cafes and you can walk to the Sara Braun house from the town square if you choose to see it.

You may be able to fly direct from Houston and that will drive your decisions. We flew through Miami. Our American Airline flights were ok and weather was our biggest complication. Our LAN Peru flights were a total nightmare! The LAN flights were constantly cancelled on short notice e.g. while standing in the check-in line, while boarding a bus to the plane. We flew LAN three times (Lima to Cusco to Lima to Valparaiso) and not one segment went well. We will NEVER fly LAN again! The 4th LAN flight left without us (Miami to Lima).

We did splurge on business class for the long segments (Miami to Lima and BA to Miami) for comfort! You may catch a good price on that too!

I'm looking forward to trying this venue on the Royal:

Tea Tower

Featuring a tea sommelier and a choice of 250 blends, tea lovers will revel in Royal Princess’ unique tea tower located in the ship’s central Piazza. Here passengers can enjoy pre-blended tea varieties or create their own custom flavors. The ship’s tea sommelier, an expert on tea blends, hosts tea tasting events and a new Royal Afternoon Tea Experience, inspired by some of the most famous tea spots in London.

One of my fondest memories of our very first cruise (which was to Alaska) was sitting up on the top decks, covered in warmed wool blankets and sipping "flavored" hot chocolate served from the urn. On that cruise it was the drink of the day. One day amaretto, next Sambuca, etc. Yes, there was a charge, but it remains a soothing memory.

The worst place to watch is behind the plexi-glass on the upper decks. Go out to the viewing decks on decks 10 and 11 in the front and decks 9, 10 and 11 in the rear. Look over the side on the promenade deck. Try your balcony for a bit. Most definitely watch one lock from the International Café windows...it was the best view of all and we got warm chocolate chip cookies to eat while we took it all in! In the middle of Gatun Lake, the QE passed us in the other direction. I got it on video and my grandson still likes to watch it, two years later. Ships horns a blowin', passengers cheering on both sides and so close you can't imagine!

We had a mini on the port side heading north to Ft. Lauderdale. We avoided the afternoon sun in our cabin until we transited the canal, then we kept the drapes closed to keep the cabin cool. The sun is intense.

When I connected with my TA yesterday, she had the reduced fare in 5 minutes, no questions asked.

Any travel agent that considers $400 penny pinching, is only looking out for their own commission. I'd take my business elsewhere.

Before you transfer the booking, make sure you won't be charged for the cancellation by this travel agent. This "deal" does not sound very good for you, and I would hate to see you out even more money by moving the booking.

I am currently awaiting a confirmation on my price drop...after two emails and a phone call. This is after I saw the sale on Saturday and the agency was closed for the rest of the weekend. If I booked directly, I would have received the discount as soon as I caught it. For us, it's a saving of almost $600.

I'm not saying that it's a poor agent or agency. Some of us are control freaks that need to make sure it gets done asap! :o

We got the glass one in January on the Golden. They are also included in the after dinner drink in the dining room e.g. Lemoncello.

You could book a car of 4 people and agree that you will have the front seat (maybe offer to pay part of their fare?). You could book a private car (but this will cost you a lot more). If you book a car and ask for two others to join you from roll call, you can make that an understanding and condition of their joining you. If there are just two of you and you are placed in a car with another two people, you can try, but expect that someone may want that seat on the way back!

Our driver really tried to minimize the bumps compared to some of the other cars in the caravan, but I strongly recommend that you not be in the center rear seat. On the side seats you can use the hand strap but in the center, you have to reach across the other passengers to grab something to hold onto. It's an awkward position to be in for a rather long ride.

Our PW tour was also in a Toyota, but as mentioned, he recruits the locals to drive and they use their own vehicle.

We took a ship tour that delivered us to the airport after the tour. Our luggage was on a truck along with all the other people on our tour. However, it took us an hour to locate our luggage on one of the several trucks dropping off all the baggage (and it was mixed in with a different tour). Anyway, once you get inside the terminal, the overseas flights do not have anyone staffing the desks until about 5 p.m. So, you are pretty limited in what you can see and do in the airport with luggage in tow. Seats fill up with everyone waiting, just like you, for the check-in desk to open. These are the couple of hundred folks on your flight and a few hundred more on other US bound flights. There are kiosks to speed the process, but you still have to wait in line to hand over your bags. So, see if you can book a tour that really takes most of the day, stay on the ship until final call, or get a day rate at the nearby hotel as someone suggested.

Once you get through security, there are places to eat, duty free shopping and if your lucky, spot a celebrity! I saw the Lidia Bastianich, an American celebrity chef, television host, author, and restaurateur.

Also, the gate may not be posted, or changed unexpectedly, so keep an eye on more than one monitor. Someone from our cruise almost missed their flight because they were unaware the gate changed!

After all this, our flight was delayed another hour because of a thunder storm! Hang loose and think about the great cruise you just had. :)

Ushuaia had many tour booths outside the dock area. I would think you could book something there with little problem...unless you have something very specific in mind. We did the Patrick Watts tour in the Falklands and it was HALF the cost of the exact same tour with Princess. You have to book early with him and waitlist if needed. We got lucky and joined a tour from the waitlist. Montevideo offers free walking tours from the town square. The leather store shuttle drops you off right at the square. Do your research and determine what you really want to see. That ensures you have an idea of time, distance and cost when connecting with someone at the pier.

Check out your estimated time to sail around the horn. We went from Valpariso to BA and passed through quite early in the morning (8-9am on the schedule, but it was earlier than that on approach). The reverse trip was set to arrive there in late afternoon. Also, the scenic glacier/Amalia glacier timing can make a difference. Once again we were there in early morning(7-8am but there are lots of glaciers to see on the approach) and had some haunting pictures based on the sunrise and sunlight. The time of day can impact what you are seeing. We did have a very full day in Ushuaia(noon-8 pm)

I sat in the middle back seat on the way out to Volunteer Point. The next day I had a kidney stone!

If you can wrangle the front seat both ways, you probably will be fine. But if you have serious back issues, give it some extra thought. It was a great tour.

Look on-line for Frio insulin cooling wallets. They come in a variety of sizes. I needed to carry a 3 week+ supply on our trip to SA and they work very well. I carry the small size in my purse/backpack for injections with meals, and kept the larger one in the fridge in the cabin for the extras and evening dose. As mentioned, be careful that it is stored on the lower part of the fridge. If it is up top, it could freeze. If you keep the wallet "charged", you won't need to put it in the fridge if your trip is shorter in length. By charged, I mean soak the inner bag in cold water for 10 minutes and it will last a week. You can repeat this as often as needed.

Also, ask your cabin steward for a small sharps container. You place your used needles in it and it will be destroyed as medical waste at the end of the cruise. The container is marked with your cabin number.

I had over three weeks worth of meds with me and the only problem I encountered was going through the airport checkpoint in Lima for the flight to Santiago. My needles for my insulin pens caused a bag inspection. The person doing the check kept asking me to show the syringes. I had to demonstrate how the pens work and that there were no syringes. He finally gave me clearance. Other than that, no one questioned me about the "healthy" quantity of meds in my carry-on bag. I did bring copies of my prescriptions but since most of my meds are 90 day mail order size bottles, it would have been too much bring all the bottles.

I'm in agreement with all of you. I enjoyed the previous version more than this blatant marketing tool. It was nice to hear that Capt. Tony is enjoying retirement and I'd like to know how a few other crew are doing too. Does this replace the 2015 Cruise Atlas? If yes, it doesn't do it very well.