Live From -Star Princess Antartica 2/2/10

[IECalCruiser]

ccrain,

 

Thanks again for taking the time for your live posts!

 

• You mentioned ballroom dance class at 2:15 PM on Wednesday but no comment after that. Was wondering about the instructors, no Vian and Jane I'm sure but sadly now they are retired from the Golden.
  
• Did you try to get a CC Chef's Table?
  
• Saw from the wave height forecast that your seas should get smoother after today.
  

[ccrain]

I knew this would be a rough cruise for Judy, but she is actually fine as long as she stays horizontal. Dramamine (Gravol), sea bands, ginger, ginger ale and bitters, zap watch, nothing worked today and we are only in 10-12 foot seas.

 

But being an engineer, we're on plan B - stay in bed. So I'm wandering around the ship, had a really good spiced duck dinner, oyster bisque, a fantastic salad with vinigarette, and the smoked duck appetizer. My downfall is the bread. It is just sooo goood and fresh and warm and it talks to me, beckons to me, taunts me until I just have to get rid of it.

 

So we did skip ballroom yesterday. (Yes, Vian and Jane have moved on to their rose farm in South Africa.) It was either that or no power nap. Today of course I skipped both since Judy was flat on her back. Just isn't the same without her around, but I can amuse myself up on the open deck with the binocs.

 

The rough seas are slowing our progress into Port Stanley and the captain is hopeful that this patch of rough water will improve over the next couple of hours. He thinks about 10:30 tomorrow morning, maybe later. Judging our current speed, I would guess later. We didn't have anything scheduled anyway.

 

Had a nice talk with JJ at lunch. Yes, it was Visa problems with the Star Drydock. A real shame. I doubt princess will do the work in the US ever again considering what a good job they got out of Victoria. I haven't seen the CP yet and the results of her drydock in the Bahamas. As I understand it, its the same company, just different locations around the globe.

[ccrain]

Instead of the dance classes today, I wanted to go the lectures, so I attended the "Guide to the Falklands" (Chris Gunn and Tony Walker) and "My Friends the Penguins" (Bernard Stonehouse). Both lectures were great. Enjoyed both of them as they gave a lot of personal perspective of their experiences. Makes me even more excited to see all of this stuff.

 

So tonight we'll see. Not much is up. Ryan Ahern, a pianist, and a comedy mental show, Alan Chomo. If the seas calm down, I'll let Judy drag me down to the dance floor, but otherwise we might just have an early night and I can start wildlife watching early in the morning. As we get closer to the Falklands I suspect we'll see more and more sea life.

 

A crab or lobster boat crossed our stern this afternoon, so there must be something out here.

 

So that's the update for now...I'll yack at you in the morning.

[billet]

I am glad to hear you are enjoying the Tango. Please say hello to Cecilia and Fernando from Paul who really appreciated her Dulce de Leche and ask her for a dance.

[ccrain]

Seas stayed rough during the night. It is a little better this morning. The chill in the air definitely is there. The balcony door gets closed from now on. It was great and refreshing for the first few hours, but got downright chilly after midnight.

 

We were able to dance for the first hour last night, but then a large gap in the dance music from 830 to 1015 left us with not much else to do. It was a good opportunity to get to bed a bit early. We have no plans for Stanley this morning. Its a tender port and if you think Judy gets motion sick on a big ship in slight seas, you ought to see her in a small enclosed tender boat. We will wait until the crowds thin a bit and then maybe go ashore for a little walk around town. Depends on the weather and the wind.

 

Tonight we have another one of those gaps in the dance schedule. Rumor has it that another dance band is coming aboard today. (Princess is flying them in to Port Stanley.) We will see. We are scheduled into Stanley at 10:30 and then leaving around 7pm. So we're going to switch up on dinner and do a couple of different things, then hit dinner late during the break, and then go back to dancing. Weather and sea state permitting.

 

Not much else to report. We'll yack later...

[ebth2306]

Thanks so much for your reports. We board the star on March 2 in Santiago! I have sea sickness issues two but have a prescription patch I hope will help. If I get sick I hope at least we get to round the cape and tender in the Falklands to make it worth it<grin>. Only sad no Antarctica this trip. Enjoy and keep the updates coming.

 

Elizabeth

[Josie2]

of all of you who get to see the Cape (we saw clouds, rain, sleet, 20 metre waves, 100 km winds and the ship couldn't get close enough because of fear of rocks). It could have been any rock really. And, we missed the Falklands. :(

[lollypopj]

Sorry to hear some had bad weather(Josie2).:(

 

We are really enjoying this live report. ccrain /Thanks kindly..:)

 

How long ago was the fire on The Star? There is a You~Tube video..one man had a heart attack..will check once again..:D

 

Took the Golden to Hawaii,last year.. but came back just before re~furbishment..water running down walls, from above, metal door swinging in gale~ force winds , dirty furniture near elevators,false fire panic at midnight..(oil spill in engine~room it turned out)phones near elevator didnt work to report problems, missed ports,too late to shop in Ensenada either..

 

Too much time on boat..5 days getting there..5 back..next time we will fly and enjoy more time on land

 

I dont think the elderly or handicapped minded so much ship time but we really like to get off in ports..

Dale and Laura in Alberta

[rdsqrl]

I'm really enjoying your Live From -- I'm thinking seriously about doing this cruise in December and I'm looking forward to reading everything you have to say. No detail is too small! Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to share with us, and I hope someone trustworthy is looking after the two gorgeous pupsters in your avatar!

[fathercop]

Thanks so much for the updates! Enjoy!

[ccrain]

I'm really enjoying your Live From -- I'm thinking seriously about doing this cruise in December and I'm looking forward to reading everything you have to say. No detail is too small! Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to share with us, and I hope someone trustworthy is looking after the two gorgeous pupsters in your avatar!

 

They are at the breeders who will ensure they are spoiled rotten when we get them back. Just like kids. Sure miss em though...

[ccrain]

Yesterday was, apparently, a gorgeous day in Stanley. We got in about 1030 and tendering began around 1130. The NCL Sun was already at anchor. Hit a patch of snow/hail/puffballs on the way in. Now that was a first for me at sea, and the wind was a bitterly cold 30 knot breeze.

 

After yesterday's bought with motion sickness I really didn't want to subject Judy to a tender ride, or the people in the tender to her motion sickness, so we chilled on the ship. Turns out the wind died down after a while and it got quite pleasant. (Oh well, sometime you guess right and sometime you guess wrong.) But we had a really good day anyway. Went up to an empty gym and worked out for about an hour, which made for a really good power nap later.

 

But the island itself and the town are pretty stark. This island is not only in the middle of nowhere, its a loooonnnnnnggggg way from the middle of nowhere. With two ships in port, the tourists easily outnumbered the residents. We talked to several people who took the various penguin tours. (One of the main reasons we didn't was that we heard the land rover part of the tour was long, bumpy and, sure to kick Judy's motion sickness in high gear.) One couple on the Princess tour remarked about how rough the 4x4 part of the tour was, although it was short. I think Patrick Watts' tour is like 2 hours in a 4x4. Judy would end up walking back instead of riding that long offroad.

 

A lot of people must have had a great time because they all came back and disappeared, probably exhausted.

 

We changed up our routine a bit last night. Because of the 1+ hour gap in dance bands we went to Skywalkers for drinks and a snack at 5, and since we were parked at the time, motion was not an issue that high up. The guacamole was great as was the selection of cheeses and the view was pretty incredible.

[ccrain]

The Groove Babies did not start until 730PM, so we hung out at skywalkers chatting with some of our fellow CC members, swapped rumors, talked about cruising, just great conversation.

 

The Groove Babies are in Explorer's. They are the rock and roll band and have been on for less than a month. Arnold is now our favorite waiter in explorer's. He sees us show up and then goes and gets two large plastic glasses of water for us. We always make sure that when we order drinks in Explorer's he gets the order.

 

We danced for about an hour, then headed for dinner - and it was French/Med dinner. So I did the only thing one can do on that night - order two snail appetizers and a duck a'lorange. Almost did a french onion, but decided the two snails would make up for it. As usual, the snails were great, the garlic butter even better to dip the bread into. Judy had the cold cucumber soup and the fetticine alfredo. She did order extra sauce, and our waitress brought a whole gravy bowl of it. Still not as good as the one on the Golden in September. Needed salt, pepper and a bit more parmesan. Too much cream in the mix I think. We hit the dining room at the right time just between rushes (8:45) so we got to spend a lot of time chatting with the waitress who was superb. For dessert I just had the maple walnut ice cream and Judy had the raspberrry creme brule, which was all very good.

 

On the way out, Bepe Castillo, the matre de, was at the front desk so we got to talk to him for a while. He's kind of a temp matre de, subbing for other matre de's that are on holiday. Nice man, as they all are.

[ccrain]

So after chatting with Bepe, we headed for the Vista to see Alan Chomo, an argentinian mentalist. Interesting show. I think his playing with numbers and his memory manipulations were much better than his "tricks". Although I have to admit, his getting the duck tape off his eyebrows without losing all his eyebrows was a pretty good trick as well. Needless to say it was interesting but not that great.

 

After dinner we hit the dance floor again with the Groove Babies and danced till after midnight upon which my dancing feet turned into two left ones and we went to bed before I permanently injured someone.

 

Even though we didn't get off the ship and probably should have given that the weather turned actually quite nice, we had a very good day on board.

 

So this morning, we are rocking and rolling somewhat, Judy has yet to make an appearance down in the Piazza, but we are headed to Elephant Island. I'm going to change things up a bit and go to the lectures today. We will skip ballroom class. There is a Shackelton lecture by Chris Gunn and then Part II of Tony Walker's Bird Island lecture.

 

We might make the Tango lesson after lunch. Tonight is a lot of movies and an argentinian comedian. 50's and 60's night at 930 in explorer's.

 

Lots of things to do on the way across the drake passage. Keeping my fingers crossed for calm seas.

 

We'll talk later...

[High C's]

Thank you so much for doing this wonderful Live From thread. This particular itinerary is definitely on our "bucket list"!!!

[abbydancer2003]

Hi

 

Very nice "Live from" I feel as if I'm there.

 

Oh wait, I am. I'm writing this from the International Cafe enjoying a cup of coffee, and contemplating updating my blog.

 

I've been attending the ballroom classes, and Ben and Veronica are as good as any of the the teachers I've seen on Princess, although their waltz patterns were interesting.

 

Keep up the good work.

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoying the live!! Thanks.

[vickie_bernie]

Sorry to hear some had bad weather(Josie2).:(

 

We are really enjoying this live report. ccrain /Thanks kindly..:)

 

How long ago was the fire on The Star? There is a You~Tube video..one man had a heart attack..will check once again..:DDale and Laura in Alberta

 

Can't remember the date of the fire but it was quite a while ago, we sailed on the Dawn on a 11 day Mexican cruise about 4 years ago (can't remember but it is in my signature) and we sat with a couple at dinner and they were on the Star and the husband said that he had a heart attack when the emergency call happened. They were not directly involved with the fire, but when they were rushing to evacuate the area and go to their muster he started experiencing the effects of a heart attack. He was taken care of right away by the doctors and of course lived thru it and thankfully continued sailing.

[lollypopj]

I see from You~tube the fire was at 3 AM in Oct/2006..they renovated a number of cabins..;)

 

Does anyone know if they do china~painting,crafts etc.classes on the Star?

 

I dabble in a bit of that..having scoliosis I'm no tango dancer..lol..one higher hip and knee..

 

Have there been any good "Movies At Sea" shown in the evenings yet?:)

 

Laughed about your duct tape post CC..lol..:D cute dogs..we have one short~ legged clingy, rescue cat named Boo..hopefully she takes to the house~sitter as she has abandonment issues and cries if we leave the room..lol..I call her "Mommys little terrorist"..;) Wants to be brushed or fed snacks constantly,or sleep w/ us..:p

 

Thanks for the updates..

Is there a Rollcall for Feb.15~March 1?

[ccrain]

The next few days will simply necessitate a drastic change in schedules. We are due to arrive at Elephant Island in about 3 hours. That combined with a rather amibitous late night schedule over the past few nights led to our early demise last night, but finally a really good night's sleep. Daylight hours are now really extended. Light before 5am and after 9pm. Should give a plenty of sight seeing lights and we are really looking forward to seeing this in person.

 

The Drake passage was in sea state slight. That was a welcome surprise. I seem to remember a few bumps and jolts last night, but nothing really bad. Because of Judy's motion sickness, we've been spending a lot of time in the Piazza. Not a lot of motion there. Coffee from the bar and breakfast from the international cafe. We didn't do that on the Golden's cruise in September, so its a nice change of pace.

 

Yesterday was lectures on Bird Island and Shakelton's ill fated Endurance expedition. I read Shakelton's "Valiant Voyage" when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Always fascinated me. The bird island lecture about 2.5 years on the island with a research team was equally good. Its amazing how dedicated some people can be to their work in staying so isolated for so long.

 

We tried the dining rooom for lunch yesterday. Again, low and centered keeps the motion to a minimum and enjoyed a nice light lunch. We attended Fernado's and Cecilia's standing room only Argentine tango lesson. Talk about packed and crowded.

 

Then we decided to do something totally different. Vines on the Golden had a Stammtisch (tasting), Vines on the Star has those and select "flights". Purchase 3 -2oz pours of selected wines for $8 or $9. Not being wine people, we wanted to try it. Along with sushi, sashimi, tapas and cheeses, it was a great little snack. We tried a Pinot Noir, a Reisling and something else I can't spell or pronounce. I ended up liking the Reisling the best, Judy preferred the unspellable one.

 

After that it was ballroom dancing in Explorer's, then the Groove Babies came on. After which Judy and I looked at each other and mutually agreed to head off to bed, stopping to get some fruit in the Horizon court on the way, and skipping dinner entirely. After all you don't have to eat everything on a cruise.

 

So this morning is Elephant Island and the start of 5 days tooling around the antarctic penninsula. the binocs are ready, the cameras are charged, the layers of coats and jackets are laid out. Time to find some coffee and some wildlife...

 

Talk to you all tomorrow...

[Colo Cruiser]

[Seal]

I've also tried all the seasick remedies you've mentioned including the zap watch--I really thought that was going to do the trick--West Marine convinced me that the watch-zapper would work--well--after all these items I'm back to the patches--dry mouth, enlarged pupils etc. and then a week of seasickness after being on land after the cruise--

Wish you the best on this cruise--love the aft cabins

 

Nancy:D:D

[ccrain]

Pretty darn cool. Never thought in a million years we'd ever see antarctica, or even get within thousands of miles of it. Yet here we are, on a comfortable multi-million dollar ship, looking out over landscapes that very few people have even seen and only a handfull have walked upon.

 

Yesterday was the perfect viewing day. No fog, a high marine layer giving way to breaks of sunshine, incredible ice bergs. We were able to see almost all of Elephant Island, Camp Wild (the Endurance expedition's survival camp), ice bergs that make the Star Princess look like a toy, whales, seals, penguins, huge albatrosses and a glacier that makes glacier bay seem like a bathtub.

 

I can't get over these ice bergs. I know they are pieces of the ice shelf, hundreds, if not thousands of years old, deep, deep blue styrations, hundreds of feet high, thousands of feet long and I've seen video of them, even blue ray dvd of them, but nothing prepares you for the real deal. Sheer awesomeness, if there is such a thing. Its something you can only see in person. No photograph, no video, no artwork can capture the scale, the absolute sheer grandeur of the view.

 

Then we have the islands themselves. Sheer and jagged rock outlined with blindingly white snow, punctuated by glacial flows and the ubiquitous dark chocolate of a penguin colony.

 

Distances are deceiving in this clear air. (I learned that in Thule Greenland. What looked like a 1/2 mile walk was actually 3 miles. what looked like a 10 foot ice berg was actually 100 feet tall and a half a mile wide.) Same here. With no good scales of reference its hard to judge. If we are 2 miles from the shore, that glacier had to be 150-200 feet high or higher.

 

Today it looks like we will pay for our good weather yesterday. Fog, low clouds, a bit of a chop, we are just now entering ice berg alley. One just went by the window. The ship is crawling along. Dead slow and manuvering. The wind is howling on deck right now, so there will not be a lot of people out and about for sure.

[ccrain]

I see from You~tube the fire was at 3 AM in Oct/2006..they renovated a number of cabins..;)

 

Does anyone know if they do china~painting,crafts etc.classes on the Star?

 

I dabble in a bit of that..having scoliosis I'm no tango dancer..lol..one higher hip and knee..

 

Have there been any good "Movies At Sea" shown in the evenings yet?:)

 

Laughed about your duct tape post CC..lol..:D cute dogs..we have one short~ legged clingy, rescue cat named Boo..hopefully she takes to the house~sitter as she has abandonment issues and cries if we leave the room..lol..I call her "Mommys little terrorist"..;) Wants to be brushed or fed snacks constantly,or sleep w/ us..:p

 

Thanks for the updates..

Is there a Rollcall for Feb.15~March 1?

 

yes, they have the ceramics at sea program to paint and fire ceramics.

 

No real good MUTS movies. Cirque de Soleil, and a couple of others, but nothing to pique our interest in getting really cold watching the movie.

 

Air temperature is about 30F, (-1C) in the evening.

[ccrain]

We stayed up on deck most of the day. We went to bed early the night before and it did wonders for us, well that, plus a power nap while the ship left Elephant Island and headed to Gibbs Island.

 

Our aft balcony is great for viewing. Very little wind, but it is cold for sure. I spent a lot of time in the morning up at the Sports Deck behind the stack. A great viewing platform with the ability to get from one side to the other quickly and easily - although it was very windy on the Port side, there was some wind break on the starboard side on the stairs. But after getting chilled in the wind, it takes a while to warm back up.

 

After the days sight seeing we retreated indoors to the Ballroom Dance Music hour in Explorer's, then danced to the Groove Babies before heading to dinner. Cosmopolitan was the menu and lamb shanks were on it - and I love shipboard lamb. I was not disappointed.

 

For those of you who read my Hawaii thread, you know we ran into Mario, a head waiter who made it his goal for the cruise to give us a wonderful dining experience, and succeeded greatly. On this cruise, Mario is not here, so we are taking this opportunity to change things up a bit. With a standing reservation, we feel obligated to show up at 530 promptly every night. This cruise we're kind of wandering in to the dining room around 830PM during the 830 to 1000 dance break. Or we call and make reservations at 530, or we go to the Horizon Court, or we skip dinner altogether.

 

We saw Ports of Call last night, a show we'd never seen before. It was ok. It got much better later in the show as more and more energetic dancing was associated with other ports such as Russia, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. The superbowl followed - we went dancing instead, then dinner, then dancing then bed.

 

Latin night in Explorer's was a bit of a downer, as is the canned ballroom music. The canned ballroom music is 4-5 Waltzes followed by 4-5 cha-cha's, followed by 4-5 swings, 4-5 salsa's, 4-5 foxtrots, and on and on. Latin music was merengue, salsa, merengue, salsa, salsa, merengue, cha-cha, merengue, salsa - pretty darn one note. Someone needed to put the CD, or the IPOD, on random play. It would have livened things up a bit. (Although I have to admit, seeing electric slide performed during a salsa was a new one on me.)