Live From -Star Princess Antartica 2/2/10

[ccrain]

We´re back...cruising again...this time to the great white south. (Forgive the typos, I´m on a different kind of keyboard here.)

 

Currently in the Hilton-BA anxiously awaiting the delivery of a lost piece of luggage which contains the "stuff". You know, all the "stuff" that isn´t clothes, but that you can´t live without. Unfortunately it also include all of other shoes, dance, evening and extra.

 

My "brilliant" plan to arrange travel with loooong layovers worked quite well as far as snow goes. However, it ran afoul of the black hole of luggage, otherwise known as Dulles International Airport. Have a 20 minute connection, your bag will probably make it. Have a connection with enough time for the gravitational mass of the black hole to engage your luggage and it will go missing, transported through the event horizon into a different plane of existance.

 

Not much to report, other than that. The 10 hour flight, with 2 hours on the ground pre-flight really hung us out to dry, that plus the dread feeling of totally helplessness as, in your 25th hour of sleeplessness, the luggage belt stops, the luggage attendent says " no mass" and you are standing there, completely stuffless.

 

Oh well, there at least is the thought of that triple whiskey sour awaiting me at the end of the road.

 

So, for those of you who know me, I will try and get answers to your questions and will log as much as the satellite and free minutes allows on this 16 day cruise. Its a 16 day roundtrip Buenos Aires to the Falklands, Antarctica, Cape Horn, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Montevideo and back to BA. We chose it because of the round trip to BA and the 16 day. We have an aft balcony cabin, which we´ve been looking forward to.

 

We hope to sign up for Chef´s Table, try the steakhouse and dance our you know what´s off, if we can just get our stuff bag back with us. Otherwise, its tango shoe shopping time!

 

So off the internet to google some shoe stores. The engineer in me just has to have a plan A, B and C along with threads of a D, E and F. Part of my OCPD (Obsessive Cruise Planning Disorder).

 

So for as long as the computer connection holds up...let´s cruise!

[Sunviking]

CCrain, take heart! Sometimes bags do make it through that Black Hole. Last October we arrived in Venice on a non-stop flight. We had watched our bags go down the conveyor belt after we checked in. Naturally, one didn't come and, naturally, it was the one with our "stuff" as yours is. I obsessed about getting replacement things before we boarded the ship 3 days later. On our second night we came back to our hotel room to find, standing in all it's glory - our bag. It was none the worse for wear, despite having made it's journey via JFK to Madrid to Rome then to Venice as the tags on it chronicled. It clearly just wanted to see more of Europe.

[landnsea]

Hello Charles, we will be keeping an eye on your postings, we are booked on the Jan.2011, Star Princess Antartica sailing, give a hello to the lovely wife for us.

Have a wounderful vacation.

 

 

John,Laura and Gaby

Seattle,Wa.

[Minoushka]

If you are still in BA

Go to RODI"S bar and restaurant near Recoleta .very reasonable EXCEllent meal ...ask people there .That's how I found it or Google it .It was about 2 blocks in from cemetary

Do not miss EL CAMINITO for Tango and lunch ....Watch your stuff ...uhhhhhhh the ones you still have

Visit Pink House

Walk on Florida and Lavalee street at night ...interesting

I hope you have better weather then we did ...we saw VERY little of South America

Be careful in BA .Keep belongings tucked away ...front pocket ...deep do not carry anything

Enjoy

[ccrain]

Hello Charles, we will be keeping an eye on your postings, we are booked on the Jan.2011, Star Princess Antartica sailing, give a hello to the lovely wife for us.

Have a wounderful vacation.

 

 

John,Laura and Gaby

Seattle,Wa.

 

Long time no sea!

 

I will try and be thorough for you guys. Give Gaby a hug from us. Bet she´s growing up way too fast!

 

Eýa all later!

[ccrain]

If you are still in BA

Go to RODI"S bar and restaurant near Recoleta .very reasonable EXCEllent meal ...ask people there .That's how I found it or Google it .It was about 2 blocks in from cemetary

Do not miss EL CAMINITO for Tango and lunch ....Watch your stuff ...uhhhhhhh the ones you still have

Visit Pink House

Walk on Florida and Lavalee street at night ...interesting

I hope you have better weather then we did ...we saw VERY little of South America

Be careful in BA .Keep belongings tucked away ...front pocket ...deep do not carry anything

Enjoy

 

Yes, must protect the stuff we still have...

 

Some interesting observations. They must have the death penalty for running a red light. Large truck, yellow light, much tire left on road. In the states he and the four behind him would have run the light. Not him.

 

On the other hand our driver yesterday cut off a cop car with no flashing blue as a result. Interesting city, very friendly people. I really regret only getting to CD4 of 6 of Spanish in 10 minutes a day...it must mean either lots of 10 minute segments a day or lots of days. In any event I´m either looking stupidly at the person in front of me trying to say something suave and debonaire in spanish, she´s invariably cute, or I just revert to hick american - duhhhhh stupido norte americano de estados unidos.

 

And its not las servicious or las sanitarious, its banos, just like in Mexico.

 

Hmmm is it siesta time yet¿ Gotta love this spanish keyboard¿¡?

 

So like Cabesa de Vaca, love that name, or Ferdinand Magellan, my bosses name is Fernando, I head south to survey the riches of the antartic, unsure of my return to civilization, braving high seas, stuffless...another long island por favor...to push the boundaries of human knowledge, to bravely go where only 10´s of thousands have gone before...hey, we all have to have an irreverant and rambling hobby...

 

I´ll update before we go to the ship tomorrow. My OCPD is kicking in. The email from Princess says don´t show up before 1300. The last review from CC says don´t show up before 1300, but my OCPD is saying 11:30, 11:35, 11:40...

 

Anywho, we´ll jaw at you later...

[bookworm1]

We are on the next sailing on the Star, BA to Santiago on the 18th. We certainly will be looking for your posts. Who is the Capt on this Cruise ? and will that person be on board in a couple of weeks? Is Remo still the Executive Chef? If so, you will love Chef's Table. We were on the Star in early September and made it to the chef's table. Will await your postings from the Cape.

thanks and bon voyage!

Michael and Jeralyn

[DougH]

Hope you have a great cruise. I'm sailing on the Star on 3/2 for 32 days back to Ft Lauderdale so make sure you leave some food and booze for me :)

 

Did the Antarctica trip last Jan and really enjoyed it. Take lots of photos. Stayed a couple of days before the cruise in BA and watching the pedestrians cross streets was great. Seemd like a big game to see how much before the light actually changed the wall of peoplecoudld start to cross. Never saw anyone hit but it was fun to watch.

[Kempa]

Call United (if that is your airline) and find out if they know where your baggage is. Their local phone numbers are: (11) 4316-0777 and toll-free within Argentina: 0810-777-UNITED (0810-777-864833).

 

Your baggage might be on its way from some other South American airport and it will arrive today, or it will arrive tomorrow on the next flight from Dulles.

 

If they can't locate your baggage yet, the good news is that Buenos Aires is a great shopping destination for leather goods. Ask United when you can start spending your allowance considering that you have to be on board tomorrow.

[Cruisin Sal]

Charles,

Enjoy your cruise. We did a simular trip a few years ago - Santiago to BA. Hope you got a chance to see the tango. The Faulkland Islands are interesting. Look for penguins swimming out to the ship for barnacles.

 

Sally

[ccrain]

Hi Sally! Great to hear from you. We really have to schedule a cruise together again...

 

The luggage is here, we are rearranging stuff, had our breakfast and will leave around 1200 for the port. Sort of cutting the time between 11 and 1.

 

We stayed at the hilton. Judy really likes this hotel. Very open, airy, close to shopping, food, safe to walk, great people, nice rooms. For all of us HH members its our only choice but it is a great choice, even if you not a HH members.

 

So yesterday the "stuff bag" arrived. We took it dancing, just kidding. So my stress factor went down about 65.3%. Only after I have arrived on the ship and are sipping an adult beverage does the stress factor reduce to near zero.

 

We went to the Marriot to do pre-registration and to meet the CC group for dinner at El Mirasol. Pre-registration was quick, painless and hopefully will save some time and effort at the port - about 15 minutes, which left us plenty of time for drinks before meeting up with the walking group to El Mirasol. About 10 of us walked and the rest cabbed with a total of about 26 at the dinner tables. This meat was incredible, but the prices are not that cheap - very reasonable but not inexpensive. We had a cheaper cut of meat, the cheapest actually, for 50 pesos each, 300 grams, sirloin tip, I believe, and it cut like butter. This beef was tender, tasty and plentiful. Order salads to share, not one each and even the steaks can really be cut down for two. Plenty to eat.

 

So we´re doing the final pack, shuffle of bags and then off to the port to see what embarkation is like. We´ll let you know tonight or tomorrow morning how everything is going.

 

Eýa all later....

[ccrain]

Woke to find we are still on the river this morning. Must be one big river. I gotta google map this thing.

 

Embarkation was a zoo here in BA yesterday. Actually not as bad as I was expecting. With very few embarks here in a year, its not like a regular port with trained personnel. It was hot and humid in the terminal and you had the choice between power for the computers or power for the fans. It took about 1.5 hours hours to go from drop off to the ship. The entrance was probably the worst with little or no organization from the local port police. Once inside the main doors we dropped our bags in this huge stack and go into one of many lines.

 

We did pre-register at the Marriot the night before and that saved at least 30 minutes in the other lines. We did have to leave our passports with Princess. That was a surprise, but not a total shock since we've heard of this practice before. After going through security we sat in the terminal (warehouse) and waited for a shuttle (bus) to take us to the ship. We left the hotel at 12:30 and got onboard just before 2pm.

 

Dropped our CC M&G invites at the purser's desk. Due to the information from Princess, I had pre-printed names on the invites, but apparently cruise critic knows more than Princess as Captain Kent has left and Capt Perrin has joined. (I also had a blank "dear captain" invite just to make sure.)

 

Our exit from the port was delayed until 9pm last night because of river traffic. So there was no sailaway, or at least any that we heard of. Being the first night of the cruise, we always hit the burger bar and pizza along with several libations as a cruise starter. But wouldn't you know it, the bag that shows up late at the cabin (around 6pm) is the "stuff" bag that got lost in Dulles. After that bag arrived, I completely decompressed and we went in search of some serious dancing.

 

So we have the cruise babies in the explorers and David & the orchestra in the wheelhouse. the crusie babies are more rock and roll, which means freestyle, cha-cha and hustle. We did actually get a foxtrot in with David and group, but then they quit for the night. Alex Karpenko, a solo with a keyboard, alternates in the wheelhouse, but we didn't get a chance to try him yet. Both bands are 5 piece which we really like. the cruise babies are 2 lead female singers, the lead has great range of voice, keyboard/piano, base guitar and drums. David's group is piano/keyboard, base guitar, lead guitar, drums and sax.

 

We did the welcome on board show. Only one and the theatre was not full at all. Met JJ Ulrich, the CD, for the first time. We have not sailed with him before. I've heard good and bad on the boards, so let's hope its all good.

 

We did not get to the dining room for dinner. Once again, too much to do, not enough time to do it. We hit the buffet late and had a snack before turning in to our wonderful aft cabin.

 

Yep, its D735 with "beam", and it is one great cabin. No vent smell that I can detect and I hope it stays that way. The balcony is about 25% bigger than a normal caribe balcony. Very deep. And very private. To our right is a walkway for crew only and to our left is the balcony for the adjacent suite. We have 4 chairs and a table and will have minimal wind for sure. The beam protrudes 12-16 inches into the balcony, but creates a little nook that will further serve to protect from any wind. There is a large PA speaker just over our balcony, so I hope that we get a good feed from the naturalist when we are sailing through the antartic.

[ccrain]

The "gem class" upgrade that the Star received was incomplete compared to the Golden. Either princess is experimenting with different configurations or they had schedule problems in San Fran or they are just trying to confuse us all.

 

The Golden's upgrade was a mixed bag. Moving the casino to deck 7 was our least favorite, but the piazza and the Crown Grill on Deck 5 were absolutely magnificent. On the Star, the Crown Grill is in the same location as the steakhouse on Deck 7. (The casino remains on Deck 6.) A little remodeling, but not nearly as striking as the dark wood on the Golden's Crown Grill. Vines, the Piazza, the international cafe, are all just as beautiful on the Star. I haven't got a chance to check out the suites on deck 6 or on deck 15, but I should get a chance sometime in the next few days.

 

This morning is line dance at 10:15, a whole bunch of lectures in the Princess theatre, ballroom at 2:15. Cinematastic is on tonight and we will defintely be sitting in the front rows for that one. (If you read my 9-09 Hawaii travelog, you'll know why.) And of course dancing. It is formal night and like the Golden, they have moved the champagne waterfall to earlier in the evening.

 

So that's it from the Star this morning. We'll yack at you all later...

[CruzinNoony]

I'm enjoying reading your "live from". Thanks so much for taking the time to do it. We sailed from Buenos Aires to Santiago in Jan of 2008 and loved it. Embarkation in BA was the worst ever! It was so unorganized. I remember thinking at the time that if there had been some Princess reps there assisting it would have really helped. :)

[captainron]

The "gem class" upgrade that the Star received was incomplete compared to the Golden. Either princess is experimenting with different configurations or they had schedule problems in San Fran or they are just trying to confuse us all.

 

The Golden's upgrade was a mixed bag. Moving the casino to deck 7 was our least favorite, but the piazza and the Crown Grill on Deck 5 were absolutely magnificent. On the Star, the Crown Grill is in the same location as the steakhouse on Deck 7. (The casino remains on Deck 6.) A little remodeling, but not nearly as striking as the dark wood on the Golden's Crown Grill. Vines, the Piazza, the international cafe, are all just as beautiful on the Star. I haven't got a chance to check out the suites on deck 6 or on deck 15, but I should get a chance sometime in the next few days.

 

This morning is line dance at 10:15, a whole bunch of lectures in the Princess theatre, ballroom at 2:15. Cinematastic is on tonight and we will defintely be sitting in the front rows for that one. (If you read my 9-09 Hawaii travelog, you'll know why.) And of course dancing. It is formal night and like the Golden, they have moved the champagne waterfall to earlier in the evening.

 

So that's it from the Star this morning. We'll yack at you all later...

 

Glad toi hear that Ed Perrin is back onboard Star as Master of the vessel. He took a break after our trans-Pacific from SYD in Oct/Nov and is a true gentleman who cares about his crew and passengers both.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[ccrain]

A little bit of rock and roll this morning. We are trying the zapper watch for Judy on this trip. It's supposedly the "only" FDA approved motion sickness device. Today will be a real test since the motion is much more noticeable.

 

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. Line dance with Melissa. (she is one of those cute bubbly full of energy ACD's from England. I just love english line dance instructors - their attempt at southern drawl is hilarious.)

 

Our CC meet and greet was a great success with almost all of us showing up in Skywalker's. The matre de showed up, then JJ and his deputy, then the captain and the director of hotel services. The captain stayed for at least 45 minutes. As it turns out, written invitations do indeed help.

 

The naturalists on board seem to be a great group. We have Dr. Bernard Stonehouse, Dr. Tony Walker, Chris Gunn and our Ice Captain, whom I just don't have his name handy. Dr. Stonehouse has a good sense of humor. I guess you would have to be if you spent three years in Antartica with various groups of female grad students - that's a story you have to hear for yourself. The lectures got us excited, although we didn't make any live they replay them on the TV, to see the sites. We all hope the weather holds.

 

After a quick lunch, we headed down to the Piazza to see the first of three Argentine Tango demonstrations. The perfect couple. Very energetic, very polished, much fun to watch. We really, really like Argentine Tango. It's not stiff, or "proper", its simply dancing to dance - from the heart.

[ccrain]

So after the Tango demo it was time for the obligatory watch the TV and take the power nap time. Then it was up and get dressed for dinner.

 

We had reservations for 2 on Deck 5 at 530. Dinner was the Captain's Welcome. I had the caesar salad, smoked duck appetizer, cream of asparagus soup and the halibut. For dessert I had the cheesecake along with the Nutella and Rasberry ice cream. Judy had the smoked duck, the salad, the fetticune alfredo, the pork roast homestyle item, the cookies and cream parfait and the grapefruit sorbet.

 

My caesar salad with the little salty anchovy goodness was great. We love having duck and lamb on cruises because a) its way too expensive at home and b) we don't know how to cook it. As usual, the asparagus was different than that on the Golden. It was less creamy and more of an asparagus purree. Different ships, different cooks. Judy did not care for her fetticune alfredo. Not enough sauce and the sauce wasn't alfredoey enough. she's spoiled from the stuff on the Golden.

 

But all in all a very good meal.

 

After dinner it was time to change. Yeah, I know, we are supposed to stay in formal gear all night, but I can't dance in formal wear. So I changed back to smart casual and we went dancing to the groove babies until about 9:45. Again mainly rock and roll, cha-chas, hustles a few rhumbas, swing and freestyle, but lots of fun.

 

We went to the second show of Cinematastic, and sat in the second row, and we brought some of our CC friends to the front rows. Its just a whole different show from up front. The facial expressions and interactions with the cast are just great. Those that hadn't sat up front before thoroughly enjoyed this new perspective. The show was great fun and one of our favorites - lots of dance, lots of good music. Unfortunately they won't be showing Caliente on this cruise. That's our favorite show.

 

After the show we went back to explorer's, which was full already. Apparently everyone got enough sleep the night before and was now partying hard. We danced for another hour and hit the bed after midnight. Took about 30 minutes to come down and we noticed a much cooler temperature on our balcony. We are definitely getting into cooler waters.

 

I also noticed the Star does not have the Deck 15 suites. its still the Kid's area. Not sure if that will change in future drydocks. I haven't checked on the Deck 6 suites, but will later. It appears the Golden now has the more modern layout of the original grand classes. I'm sure hoping the Grand gets the whole treatment at her next drydock.

 

Well she's starting to really rock and roll now. This will be a good test of Judy's new gadget.

 

We'll yack at ya later...

[mycruz]

Thanks for taking us along, this is one of the next "big" trips on my bucket list! Everythings sounds really good so far, safe travels.

[Minoushka]

Do not miss the production shows .They are VERY good .I particularly enjoyed ports of call COSTUMES are GORGEOUS .You have to congratulate the dancers for keeping their balance while I could not walk straight WE rocked and rolled and bobbed a lot ....a lot a lot .I had the last cabin on Caribe deck completely aft .I swear by GRAVOL ....we never got sick half or a quarter tablet did the trick .

If you like beef go to CROWN GRILL ...I loved it .Service was A1 so was food

To avoid problems ....we had NOROVIRUS ....only use your private facilities .We ran back to cabin all the time .We did not get sick ..plus of course lots of handwashing

Hope your cruise will be better than ours

[DougH]

Keep up the great reports. Dr Stonehouse was on my cruise last year, he has some nice lectures. I'm not a dancer at all but if you want to really have some fun you need to cruise with an assistant cruise dircetor named Frenchie. She is a real beauty and a hoot to listen to. Sailed with her a a couple times and she is loads of fun.

[Phyljim]

Enjoying your posts very much. This has been one of our very favorite cruises, we were on the Star for the 07/08 sailing. So much a favorite, we are booked to do it again in 10/11.

 

So glad to hear Dr Stonehouse is still the lecturer. Wonderful lectures, and you are so right, he does have a great sense of humor:D We have fingers and toes crossed that he will be on for our next sailing. He had quite a following on our sailing, if you were not in the theatre about an hour prior to his lectures you needed to sit on the stairs or stand along the walls.

 

Our worst weather of the trip was sailing back into BA, on the river Platt. That was rough:eek:, we were couple hours late in docking, too rough to dock.

 

Enjoy your cruise, and we will continue to enjoy your posts. Thank you so much for doing the Live From!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the updates.... :)

 

The Star upgrades were not completed in the San Francisco drydock due to an immigration fiasco with the incoming workers, hence no window suites/no casino move/no suites on the upper deck etc. :(

 

Thats why the others were done in Victoria.

[caribill]

Judy did not care for her fetticune alfredo. Not enough sauce and the sauce wasn't alfredoey enough. she's spoiled from the stuff on the Golden.

 

If you try it again, ask for extra sauce when you order it. If it still needs more sauce, they can bring it back to the kitchen for more.

[vickie_bernie]

The "gem class" upgrade that the Star received was incomplete compared to the Golden. Either princess is experimenting with different configurations or they had schedule problems in San Fran or they are just trying to confuse us all.

 

So that's it from the Star this morning. We'll yack at you all later...

 

We were on the Star just after it's upgrade. It was the first gem class to get the facelift, it was done in San Francisco a year and a half ago. There was issues with equipment not getting there, contracts, and getting workers. We were on the Golden last May just after it's facelift and i agree I love what was done to the Golden and hope the Star gets it finished. (see this was answered above, didn't read far enough sorry)

 

any idea when the Grand will get her facelift

[senior lady]

We were told by the CD on the Star on our cruise last Oct/Nov that the reason the Star didn't get all the upgrades was that Princess ran into problems in San Francisco.

 

I guess the full drydock was scheduled but they had labour problems and they couldn't bring in the workers they needed and such. So it was a modified remodel. Richard didn't say if they plan on doing anymore or just leaving it until the next "drydock"

 

They did the Golden in Victoria BC and had no problems and got everything done as planned.