Bill S

HI Ine! Thank you for the translations--interesting!

We are down to our last stroopwafel for the delicious pack that you gave us! We may have to visit the Netherlands again to re-stock!

Greetings to Ton and enjoy the warm weather while you can!

Judging from the length and breadth of this thread, it looks like we've really gotten to the bottom of this issue! :eek:

OK Heather: where did you get my baby pictures?????????????:p

OUCH!!!!! :eek:

Yeah, life is hard on a HAL cruise!;)

I think tomc is correct: the HAL tp is designed for the ships' delicate plumbing and waste treatment systems-seriously. As much as we like Charmin Ultra, too, we "rough it" while on HAL ships.

Ziggy - that is too much!!!!!!! Co-workers are looking in my office wondering what in the he## I am laughing out loud about!!!!!! That piece is a keeper!!! Copying it to my pda!!!:D

dave: now I just dumped coffee on two keyboards!!!!! :D

This is one thread which I hope the folks at HAL and on the ships DON'T read . . . . . . . or put on the bulletin board! :eek:

Imagining an announcement in the HAL daily programs:

"Friends of Mr. Whipple meeting will be held in the aft unisex public restoom

at 1pm each day. Roll call optional."

Kayelache: I agree with the above poster. We took the Lake Elizalde excursion last year and it was the absoulute worst excursion we have ever endured! VERY overrated, extremely long, miserable bus ride to a severely overcrowded lodge with mediocre food, and no other activities. Save your money and take a local bus/cab to Cohayhique (sp?). There is NOTHING in the port itself. I can't believe that HAL is returning to this port again this year. Chile is a beautiful country and we would like to return for more sights but, we will skip Puerto Chacabuco!

The entry fee is $100 US Dollars, CASH, per person. We had to pay it at the airport in Santiago before passing through their immigration check point. I think there are old posts here which address the entry fee issue for those persons arriving by ship and I don't recall how that is handled.

ALady-Puerto Montt is well protected from the open ocean-I think there would have to a major storm or really high winds to affect tendering operations.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, the Falklands can be dicey. It was fairly calm the morning we put in there, but by late-afternoon, it had gotten very windy with whitecaps as we caught the next-to-last tender back to the ship. Luckily, we had the full day there and really enjoyed our visit. We took the city tour in the morning, which included the museum and then the afternoon excursion to Long Island Farm, a sheep ranch, and it was very interesting. Hope you make it in to the Falklands ok.

Bill S

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If your itinerary includes the Falklands, you will tender there. The only other ports we used a tender were Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Montt. Our cruise was from Valparaiso to Rio, and we did not stop at Puerto Madryn, so I don't know if that is a tender port or not. Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas and Valparaiso are all "pier" ports. Hope this helps you a bit--you are in store for a great cruise!

Bill S

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