Around The Horn Review-The End

[Smooth Sailing]

Day 13 - At Sea - Sunny and warm - Typical Day at sea - Debarkation Talk - For the first time since embarkation day the crew fired up the barbecue grills. The barbecue grills are located aft on deck 10 by the hot tubs and Cafe Italia - this was also only the second time for the Cafe Italia to be open. This is a poor location for the grills and the Cafe - since both are outside and this top deck is very windy all of the time - there is no enclosure to calm the winds - napkins and food flying all over the place - my plate ended up upside down on my lap. This was also our second formal night - good food.

Day 14 - Montevedeo, Uruguay - We arrived in port at 7AM - Sunny and Warm - It was almost 9AM before we were cleared to leave the ship - Since several hundred passengers were sick with the stomach virus the Uruguay officials were reluctant to let us off the ship at all. We did not need an excusion at this port - walking through this city is an excursion in it's own right and costs nothing extra. We walked for miles and miles - a very nice city - very European flavor - lots of parks and monuments - great architecture - sidewalk cafes. The only drawback was the city was a bit on the dirty/trashy side - especially off the main streets. We once again found a great place for lunch - the resturants in this city mostly have a large open pit grill that is fueled with burning wood - the grill is covered with steaks, chicken, ribs, etc. - Of course, we had Mixed Grill - very good. This is also the city of leather goods - I made the mistake of pointing out the leather factory store to Katie - will I not ever learn. We stopped at a very small local bar across from the leather factory - very primitive and very warm inside - no air conditioning here - the beer was real cheap. Back to the ship - this was our last night and had to finish packing. Tips were automatically added to our onboard account at $20.00 per day per couple - we felt some of the crew deserved a little more. An extra $25.00 for each of our favorite bartenders - Marcia, Komang, Rohenia, and Bernard - an extra $25.00 for our room stewart and an extra $15.00 for our favorite bar maids Maria, Clarrisa, and Nimfa. We had let our bartenders know early on that sometime would be coming and we always got great drinks with an extra half shot or so. Our bartenders had told us early on not to add an extra tip to the check - said they would never see it or maybe get an extra few cents since the extra tip goes into the pool for everyone to share after NCL takes theirs off the top.

Day 15 - Buenos Aires - Cool and Rainy - We were already docked when we woke up at 6AM. We had booked the Buenos Aires tour since our flight home did not leave until 11PM. We debarked at 8:15AM for our tour - our luggage was taken to airport - We toured the city - this is one huge city - saw all the famous buildings and sights - very European - really to big for our liking. The only place we actually liked here was La Bocca - this is a very quaint old area of town - mostly Italian - very colorful - lots of shops, sidewalk cafes, and bars - It is located at the old port area. Lunch was included with our tour, but not so great - I'm sure we would have found a better place for lunch if we were on our own. Our tour ended at the airport a bit after 3PM - collected our lugguge - the Delta desk for our flight did not open until 7:30PM - we just sat there - very boring - finally checked in - security was very tight - finally made it to our gate - sat some more - very long overnignt flight to Atlanta - then on to San Antonio - finally home around 1PM on Monday - What a trip.

I know I must have left out something - I welcome any and all questions.

 

THE PATRIOTS WON THE SUPER BOWL - AGAIN - New England fans have been truly blessed this year - Almost time for the Red Sox again.

[HALGirl]

Thanks so much for your review, enjoyed it very much. Lots of helpful information. Winds and cold aside it appears you had a great time. Looking forward to my cruise this March.

 

HALgirl

[Aussie Gal]

Smooth Sailing,

 

Thanks again for your great review. I have learned so much from it, especially regarding the shore excursions. I think we will wait until we dock before committing ourselves except for the Falklands and perhaps Montevideo. We have already organized a private tour in Buenos Aires.

 

Jennie.

[goodshape]

Smooth Sailing:

Having your last 3 cruises with NCL how did you compare them with Carnival and Princess who I also see on your past cruise list. I have been with NCL on their bigger ships, this will be a small ship for me compared to the others.

How was the movement of the ship compared to these larger ships ?

Have they kept the Crown in good shape ?

I'm booked on the Feb 27th South America Cruise

[Smooth Sailing]

The Crown is showing her age - you can only paint over the same places so many times - she does have some rust in places. We did not experience any more movement on this ship compared to any of the others we have been on - Overall the inside is in pretty good shape - but you can not compare this ship to the newer and larger NCL ships - As I mentioned the barbecue grills are poorly located - But no other choice. We are looking forward to our aft balcony cabin on the Sun in Oct. - As you noticed - we have been on Carnival and Princess - After our last cruise on Carnival - I swore never again - too many ill behaved kids - we are not Carinval fans at all - I did really like Princess - however, we had very nice balcony cabins on both of our Princess cruises - I did like the refrigerator in our room on Princess. We choose our cruises based more on itinerary and price rather than on the Cruise Line or Ship. I would like to try Celebrity in the future - overall Princess would be our favorite right now. I don't believe I would choose the Crown again - but, for this itinerary she worked out fine - for a warm weather cruise I don't think so - the pool is on the 7th deck aft and not enough room here - NCL will be transfering her to Star in Asia in a year or two - probably this is for the best.

[goodshape]

Thanks, it's about what I expected. Did you have any bad sea conditions around the Horn at all ? ie- more than 10-15' waves ?

Re cruising - I do the same - I take the cruise based on where it goes and the price I can get. I took the Carousel (older RCI ship) with MyTravel out of the UK, it went from Palma to around the western Med including Casablanca and Gibraltar. It went to 5 ports I hadn't been to, so we made do with the ship.

I booked this Crown cruise back last summer when I got a 60% OFF deal on an owner's suite (AA) on deck 10 with a balcony, otherwise I wouldn't be on it. I'd be with HAL or RCI or Celebrity.

Do give RCI and Celebrity a try. In my opinion they are the best value for money when they have a 50% off deal or better, especially on their newer ships.

[relevart]

Thank you so much for your great review. It will make our trip better knowing what to expect!

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Goodshape

You will love your AA owner's suite - they are now calling these cabins apartments - very nice. The seas around Cape Horn were rough but not too bad - maybe 10 foot swells - We were on the NCL Sea in Sept when she ran into Ivan - up to 50 foot swells - stuff flying all over the place - all the bottles in the Booze store broken on the floor. I noticed you are on Empress of the Seas on next Feb.13th - we are booked on this same cruise on the Feb.27th sailing - once again great itinerary - all the ports in the Southern Caribbean that we have not been to - only Barbados and Aruba are repeats. Once again we got a great price for a junior suite with balcony.

[maly]

Hi - I have just become a member of this board, but have been reading all of your postings. We leave on the Crown this Sunday for the same trip and it has been wonderful to read your views on the ship and ports. Thanks so much. It's a challenge to pack for such weather extremes. Is the air conditioning on the ship set at a very cold temp.? We have a pkg. with 3 days in Santiago and then 3 days in Buenas Aires where we signed up for a few tours. The only one we signed up for from the ship is the catamaran in the Beagle channel. thanks again.

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Maly

All of the cabins on the Crown have individual termostats - you can set your room temp as warm or as cool as you kike. In the inside public areas we were always comfortable - never felt is was too warm or too cool - now on the outside decks - that's a much different story as I'm certain you know - be prepared for any and all kinds of weather. Also remember the $100.00 per person entry fee into Chile that you will pay at the airport in Santiago even before you go through immigration and in Buenos Aires there is an $18.00 per person departure tax also collected at the airport - Have a great trip.

[maly]

Hi Maly

All of the cabins on the Crown have individual termostats - you can set your room temp as warm or as cool as you kike. In the inside public areas we were always comfortable - never felt is was too warm or too cool - now on the outside decks - that's a much different story as I'm certain you know - be prepared for any and all kinds of weather. Also remember the $100.00 per person entry fee into Chile that you will pay at the airport in Santiago even before you go through immigration and in Buenos Aires there is an $18.00 per person departure tax also collected at the airport - Have a great trip.

 

You have been so helpful. I do have the money for Santiago and will save $18. for B.A. I have packed everything from a warm coat to shorts - It's in the 90's in Santiago! Will write when we return.

[NewCruiseFan]

Dave - how wonderful that you lucked into Nimfa as well! She was such a delight. Judging from her experience with you and I, it's entirely possible she gets very well paid!

 

Sounds like your visit to Montevideo was very similar to mine, with the exception we were there on New Years day so everything was closed. With the exception of a couple of shops working with the ship. But, it is a city with beautiful bones and tons of potential. Loved the walk from the port over the hill to the main beach area with residents fishing, playing and so on.

 

Welcome back, again, and hope to meet you on one of your future cruises.

 

lisa