Gizmosmum

If you are sailing on the NCL Escape March 25, 2017 cruise, come to the Roll Call and join the fun.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2206742

 

Information on the Meet & Greet can be found on this LINK

 

For some general information I have also added some information & menus on the NCL Escape restaurants. Just click the Restaurant LINK drop down in the upper right corner. (The main dining menus take a little while to open as there are seven menus on that page). I also included a sample NCL Beverage list.

Hi FanDubG

I am organising the meet & greet on our April sailing on the Sun, where did you get the information from?

Hi Budget Queen

The drive to both these location is an ugly dismal ride. Very little to see most of the time, a lot of "brown". I have seen armadillos, one I unfortunately hit.

Thanks Budget Queen. I'm still in two minds as to what to do and where to go when we are there.:confused:

Absolutely NOT true. What are you basing this "recommendation" on??? I have gone there numerous times 5++, ALWAYS independent. There are numerous reports of independent vendors offering excellent tours. I've not of ANY that caused cruise passengers to miss a ship. Add to my experience of also driving there several times.

 

Punto Tombo is an excellent location- in season- for viewing Magellanic Penguins in large numbers.

Punto Tombo is an excellent location- in season- for viewing Magellanic Penguins in large numbers.

Hi Budget Queen

My DH & I are hiring a car in Puerto Madryn (14th April)and I am debating going to Valdes Penninsula vs going south to see the Dinosaur Museum. I am pretty sure neither spot will have any penguins that late in the season. when you drove to Punto Tumbo did you see any wildlife on the way?

Hello everyone. This is a review of our 14 night Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Sun. What an absolutely fantastic vacation that I will share with you through my words and photos!

 

Originally this was supposed to be an 11 night Mexican Riviera cruise but that was cancelled by NCL and we were given the option to take this 14 night cruise instead.

 

The itinerary was as follows:

 

Cruise started in Miami, FL

At sea

At sea

Cartagena, Colombia

Daylight Transit of Panama Canal

At sea

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Corinto, Nicaragua

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

At sea

Acapulco, Mexico

At sea

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

At sea

Cruise ended in San Diego, CA

My DH would like to cruise the Panama Canal. After reading your review and looking at your photos it has gone up higher on my bucket list. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your reviews.

The Bill – aaaaarrrrgh! How MUCH!!??? Delivered to our room overnight, the printed document was quite lengthy. Each of our trips to the bar were itemised (for our convenience) but it took me a while to figure out that two larger numbers were the Viva Vino packages (not actually named, but identified as Seven Seas MDR). It’s a good job I stopped to think before charging off to the Customer Services to demand an explanation! And then what’s this? There’s a 3% margin included in the exchange rate! I bet that’s in fine print somewhere! How do you avoid paying that? To add a final insult there is a random $1 video arcade cost – what the…? It’s such a small amount, but how did that get on the bill? What is it for? Did either of us buy/do anything to attract such a fee? No idea! But can you imagine how that can add up per room and per sailing if each bill has such an item on it?

AquaMarineFerret I feel your pain. My DH & I were shocked by our bill on our 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise a few years ago. When we went on our Alaskan cruise we booked everything independently, a huge saving. We flew and landed in a fjord from Ketchican and over Glacier Bay. The absolute extravagance was a helicopter flight up to a glacier and a dog sled(ridiculously expensive but worth every cent). I worked two jobs to pay for the trip and paid everything up front so no nasty shocks. Would I do it again, in a heart beat. The monkey photo looked more like a sloth but maybe that is because we are off to South America next year:)

I booked it independently and due to computer changes since 2010 I don't have my usual spreadsheet where I could look up the information. But here is a link to where I posted about the excursion on our roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=22968161&highlight=valdes#post22968161

 

I discovered I was all washed up on my dates...we left on March 29th....so we were about a month earlier than I remembered.:eek::confused::)

Thanks Clay. Picked up some extra information from your link.

Julie

[quote name=Clay Clayton; we didn't see hordes of penguins' date=' we did see a few (along with seals and elephant seals) during our stop in Puerto Madryn...we went to the park that is north of the port.

In the Falklands, we did the Bluff Cove through the cruise ship (one of only two excursions I have ever done through the ship) and it was GREAT! Again not hordes of penguins but several different types and probably 200 or so....in the fields with cattle. That excursion includes a 15-20 minute ride on a 4 wheel vehicle through rutty fields...it was quite a ride. Part of what made the experience so memorable, since we were the last ship of the season (and the only one still cruising), the folks at the cove were having an appreciation party for the drivers (all of whom have day jobs on non cruise ship days - our driver was the engineer charged with keeping the wind turbine working) so we got to have much more than the "tea and cakes" that was listed in the excursion description. We had grilled fish, grilled bird (the one that is only found in the Falklands) and cakes, cookies, and a warm alcoholic punch. I highly recommend the excursion even at the exorbitant prices.[/quote]

Clay did you book the tour to the Valdes peninsula through the cruise ship? If you did it independently did you go to Estanzia San Lorenzo for lunch and how long did you take to drive out there?

Julie

My only regret is I didn't book the cruise for February or March. We are traveling in April and I understand the penguins will be gone from Magdalena Island.

Forevertravel:o

Hi forevertravel

My DH & I are also sailing SA in April(Gizmosmum & Skittysdad on the rollcall). I also want to see penguins. I have been in contact with tour operators in Stanley and Punta Arenas. I contacted two companies in Stanley

penguintravel-falklands.com -they said

This is quite late in the season to be going to Volunteer Point. Depending on how wet the ground is at that time of year, the track can be closed and if the track is open, the penguins have already started leaving so you won’t see as many as you would if you came in January for example. Tours can be booked independently to Volunteer Point.

and

http://www.Falklandpenguins.com -they said

We have three species of penguins on our farm. Only the Magellanic penguins migrate. The Gentoo penguins and the King penguins do not leave. If you join us you will see thousands of penguins. Visiting Bluff Cove can only be booked through the cruise ship.

Of course there is a risk on not being able to tender.

In Punta Arenas I contacted

http://www.gvtours.com/tours_puntarenas.html#pat4 -they said

the penguins of Otway Sound did not show up last year during the 2015-2016 cruise season.

Every year it varies,(if there will be penguins) however, I can let you know by the beginning of April (first week) what the status is!

we have a new excursion in Punta Arenas to Magdalena and Marta Islands, penguin and sea lion islands, respectively. This excursion includes a 4.5-hour excursion to two islands, a snack, and bilingual guide. You will not be stuck on ferry boat for two hours, but rather in a comfortably seated leather seat on a powerboat that only takes 45 minutes allowing us to reach two islands rather than just one. We only have 16 spots available total for this excursion! The cost is $170 USD p/p, but if you book in both ports the price is $140 USD p/p.

Julie