Around The Horn Review-Part 2

[Smooth Sailing]

On Tuesday evening (After our day in Puerto Montt) - we had dinner at Le Bistro - Surf and Turf - the Lobster tails were very good - the fillet was not - we hardly ate any of it - we heard the same feedback from others - some complained and were refunded half of the $20.00 per peson charge. The food and sevice at Le Bistro was good, but not really any better than the free Seven Seas Dinning Room - not worth paying the extra money - this got around to most passengers and Le Bistro was empty most nights after about half way through our cruise.

Day 4 - Puerto Charcabuco - We were scheduled to arrive at this Port at 10:00AM - we arrived at 8:00AM - again the morning started cloudy and very cool - we walked around town for a bit - really there is nothing here - not even a resturant or a bar to be found - one large, expensive, brand new hotel - can not imagine anyone staying here. Even though this town(??) was almost nothing - there were still many vendors just off the pier offering small or private tours. We did the Simpson Valley and Coyhaique Tour - again a very nice tour through the mountains - great views, lots of flowers, very scenic - again the sky cleared by late morning and it got quite sunny and warm (almost hot) - we crossed over the Andes and down into the quaint and very pretty small town of Coyhaique. Our tour guide was a very cute 22 year old girl that was from this small town - she spoke excellent English and had a great sense of humor - she had been doing tours since she was 13 years old. We walked around for a bit and had a beer at the local pub - headed back - stopped at a nice little place close to a waterfall for lunch/snacks - they had many tables filled with local delicatcies for us to sample - this was a stand up, buffet style lunch - included wine and pisco sour - a very potent local alcohol drink. We returned to the ship and had dinner at the Seven Seas - I had steak - it was pretty good, but no comparison to the ones we had at Vina del Mar. I can't tell you about the shows - we did not go to even one - spent most of our evenings at the Lido Bar with our great bartenders Marcia and Komang also the bar maids Clarrisa and Maria - they were all great. We are not night owls so off to bed by 10:00PM every evening

Day 5 - At Sea - Patagonian Channels and Fjords - The day was mostly cloudy and cool - snow capped mountains on both sides of the ship - very scenic - seems like we saw about 100 waterfalls pouring down the steep mountain sides and into the sea - late afternoon we saw our first glacier.

Daily at sea activities on board were pretty similar to all other cruises - bingo, art auctions, trivia games, destination and excursion talks - guest lectures were very good. The casino was really bad - the slots just took your money - did not see anyone win anything - the casino was empty most days and nights since everyone could see how tight the machines were - not even anyone playing roullette or black jack - the casino staff was always falling asleep for lack of any action. Tonight was Formal Night (Optional) - most passengers dressed up a bit - most of the men put on a sports coat - a few were still resort casual and a few were really dressed up. We had the Lobster again - very good.

Day 6 - At Sea - Patagonian Channels and Strait of Magellan - Today was very similar to day 5 - mostly cloudy and cold - still snow capped mountains on both sides with lots of waterfalls - today, however, the mountains were mostly bare rock - the trees were gone. At 7:30 in the morning we entered a deep fjord - the water was covered with small chunks of ice - at the end of the fjord was the famous glacier Amalia - very impressive - beautiful blue color. Not much wildlife so far - some albatross and terns.

More to come later -

[Smooth Sailing]

Wanted to let you all know about the mix of passengers on this trip - most passengers were 50 years old and over - many way over - very few young couples - maybe a few in their 30's and 40's. We were told there were 2 children on this cruise - I saw only one - no problems here. The break down was 50% USA/Canada/UK - English speaking - 30% German/Swiss - 10% French - 5% South American - 5% all others. All announcments were made in English and German - never in Spanish -Tours were divided into English, German, and French speaking.

[CAinTO]

Delighted to read your reviews. We are on the Crown in a few weeks doing the reverse trip to yours. Friends told us not to lug along winter coats etc. Did you need them? Also, did you find that the local currency was expected or USdollars? Really like that you did your own tour organizing, was communication a problem? Lots of questions...Hope you don't mind.

Thanks

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi CAinTO

Your freinds are misinformed - It gets very, very cold in the middle of this cruise - It was always very windy and this just added to the cold. To be comfortable you will need, at the very least, a warm shirt - a hooded sweatshirt - a med weight hooded wind breaker - a warm hat - warm gloves - heavy socks - hiking boots. We wore jeans outside on most of the cold days - this seemed to work fine - thermal underware may also help. You don't need to ware all of this at the same time - but, some comfortable combination.

We had no problems using US dollars - we did however exchange some money at each port for the local currency - it was not really necessary, but more convient and you fared a bit better - example - if lunch was 80 Argintine pasos - they would charge you $30.00 - if you had puchased pasos at the rate of 2.94 to $1.00 - you would get 88 pasos.

Communication with the tour operators was not a real problem - most could speak and understand some English

Communication with almost everyone else - like in the resturants, bars, and stores was often very challenging and often amusing. The general population speaks no English at all - Katie can speak quite a bit of Spanish and this was a great help -

[NewCruiseFan]

Hi CainTo,

 

like Dave & Katie I did the Crown Valpo - B.A. cruise (a couple of weeks before Dave. Once we left Valpo it got progressively colder - I was just looking back over the dailies and giggling at their listed temperatures. I wouldn't call it heavy winter coat weather but definitely layers of warm clothing.

 

As we progressed south I would wear layers of the following, and was always quite comfortable:

Silk undershirt (first a tank then the long sleeve)

Long sleeve sweater or tee-shirt

Fleece jacket

Alpaca or wool muffler (the first from Lake Esmeralda, the second from the Falklands - by which time it was too late to be buying warm clothing)

Rainjacket (when it was wet out)

long pants

 

What I didn't have and regretted not taking:

Simple warm hat

gloves

 

 

lisa