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Back from the Star around the Horn!

Denisern2

By Denisern2,
in Princess Cruises

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MGnut

MGnut

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Wow what an amazing vacation/ship. I will post a full review when I rest up. If you are going to be sailing on the Star you are in for a treat!

 

I can hardly wait for your review. We, like Vickie, are on the Star Feb 18th for 30 day sailing.

 

Howard

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Bowie MeMe

Bowie MeMe

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Got back today from the amazing trip around the Horn. This was one of the best Princess cruises I have had in many years. We were smiled on in the weather department having calm seas and brilliant sunshine on the Cape Horn day and the scenery was truly outstanding. Much better than I had hoped. Princess needs to do a better job of "selling" the sea days on this trip. The Chilian fjords and glacier alley are so much more than just "sea days" -- they should borrow the verbage of Oceania and Celebrity describing these wonderful days on the deck . Joe May the port lecturer and Jules T. the naturalist were absolutely fantastic and added so much to the cruise. The lectures were so well attended that the Princess theater was packed! Sammi Baker was the cruise director and she is a hoot. I miss her "bedtime" stories -- grinning just thinking of them. She kept it all together and all fun. Most diverse group of cruisers I have ever been with: over a 100 of French, French Canadians, English, Argentinians (came on in BA!), Brazilians, Chinese, Japanese, Germans, English speaking Canadians. All together might have outnumbered the NA Americans. The English language was the primary with Spanish (asst. cruise director and much programming including Joe May lectures and deck comments and most important announcements). Each language group had a host and interpretors and guides provided or so it seemed (being very much a one language gal!). It seemed to work out well and other than a bit of a challenge with lines for tenders and etc added a rich cultural mixture to the cruise. Met some really neat people would not have met if all passengers were Americans.

 

Food was good! Very good. When people talk about the food slipping I wonder where these folks eat at home. My kitchen tends to run to much less variety than what Princess gives me:p. The beef on this trip and the sea food were both better than good. And the desserts oooolalala. Ate every night in the main traditional dining room (early) and enjoyed the company and the food. Our tablemate was the coolest and prettiest 83 yo lady who had twice the energy of anybody at the table. She met a man at the singles tea 85 yo man who raises buffalo in Idaho! We were taking bets on whether we would be trying out the wedding chapel before the two weeks were up:D:D

Just delightful -- I want to grow up and be just like her!

 

Shore excursions were well done for the most part. Loved the Montevideo ranch and barBQ. The whole family met us on horses with flags flying then a hayride then open fire roasted meats with good wine and sides. So much fun -- it was like visiting friends for a special celebration. The Tango show in BA was excellent as was the meal. The traffic jam around the cemetary and the tourist shops not so much! Falkland Islands Sparrow Cove was the best 4X4 rock and roll show with penguins at the end! Best excursion because the boats transfer you from the Star and you don't have to wait for tender. Gentoo penguins. I loved the scenic cruising. We had very good weather and the glaciers, the birds and the beautiful mountains and seas were food for the eyes and the soul. The naturalist delighted in showing us the birds and (whales --it seemed I always just missed them:( ) and one evening I was just standing at the rail with another passenger and we watched for 2 hours as the world slipped by. We were rewarded with a double rainbow over a partially sunken ship with a beautiful fjord in the nine PM sun.

 

My warnings. Take coats (more than one!) hats and gloves and a rain poncho. Sun hats with good ability to tie on. Thick socks. Layers. It is really cold on the moving ship with the winds that sweep off Antartica. The weather changes faster than a woman changes her mind! Half the ship in sun the other in a rain or sleet storm. Sleet hurts your face head for shelter.

I don't use a cane often but it helped on some of the excursions that were on rough ground and on the ship when the waves got to going and the Captain was making time. The Falkland Islands souveniers were made in the USA (tickles me because not much is anymore:) )/ You can go to the end of the earth but the Republicans and the Democrats are still fussing on the CNN and Fox news shows. No getting away from them. The internet at the bottom of the world is so slow that turtles riding snails would get there before the email would open up. I NEVER could get into my verizon.net email and others were having trouble with their own providers. Gmail was the easiest to get into and facebook worked better than most other things. My intention was to do some live updates but that idea died in the 27 minute wait for one sign-in. I would have croaked if I were paying for the minutes but my platinum status and a non-emailing husband let me at least read some email. Think Slow and then glacial just like the ice outside the window.

 

Definitely this cruise on the Star Princess was great fun and one I would recommend. Had a wonderful time and I am really grateful that the weather gods and Mother Nature and the good crew of the Star got it all together to make this an outstanding cruise. Wish I was back on the Star instead of unpacking and doing laundry. Barbara

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caribill

caribill

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Posted
The internet at the bottom of the world is so slow that turtles riding snails would get there before the email would open up. I NEVER could get into my verizon.net email and others were having trouble with their own providers. Gmail was the easiest to get into and facebook worked better than most other things.

 

verizon.net has ads and photos on its home page, so it takes more time to load. Gmail does not have that extra stuff and thus can load faster.

 

For those with a provider such as verizon.net, try using mail2web.com

 

This is a free service. You give it your e-mail address you use with your provider and your password. You then see your messages.

 

You can respond and it will be as if you were doing it from home. If you do not delete your messages, they will be there when you sign on at home again.

 

You can try it at home if you wish to see how it works.

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WarEagle76

WarEagle76

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Barbara, sounds like your trip was almost a carbon copy of ours. The family at La Rabida ranch in Montevideo was the best, one of our favorite excursions in a long time.

 

Agree with you wholeheartedly that the beauty of the glaciers were the best surprise we had. It was great sitting on our balcony and hearing Joe May's narration as we passed them.

 

Regarding the internet very interesting as for the first 11 days of the December 24-January 7 cruise we had the best connection of any cruise in the past, including using VPN at work. Wondered if they had done something during dry dock to enhance it but guess we were just lucky. Welcome home!

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beachsea&sail

beachsea&sail

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Thanks in advance for your review of the Star. While we aren't doing the South American trip (still on my short bucket list), we are boarding next month in San Francisco to Hawaii, and I have been waiting for a recent review since she has come out of drydock. The only reviews I have seen so far have been the first trip right afterwards, so I have definitely been waiting with baited breath.

 

Meanwhile, the excursions you took sound absolutely FABULOUS! They make the kayaking excursion that we plan on taking in Hilo just pale in comparison ;)

 

Elissa

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