Port Stanley. Able to land or not?

[Hemi001]

I am interested in the percentage of time that cruise ships are able to stop at Stanley vs being forced to cruise the sound due to inclement weather. I want to know what my chances are in Jan 06.

[sirtom]

We were on the Infinity leaving Buenos Aires on Feb. 13, 2005. We arrived at Port Stanley on Feb. 17. Weather was perfect. Sunny, clear and 70 degrees. In fact we had great weather the entire cruise. As you know it can be very unpredictable in that part of the world.

[Bill S]

We arrived at Port Stanley on Dec 31, 2003 in comparatively benign conditions, but by the time we left that afternoon, there was a stiff wind a'blowing and the tender ride back was sporty. We considered ourselves very lucky to put ashore there!

[HALGirl]

We had a perfect day in Port Stanley on March 22 aboard the Amsterdam. I understand several cruises before us were not as lucky.

[cands]

We visited Port Stanley on 27 December 2004 aboard the Royal Princess. No problems with tenders and a beautiful day all day - 70 degrees F. The locals did mention that it was an unusually good day - not a cloud in the sky.

 

The Princess itinarary for our cruise left from Cape Town and sailed to the Falklands via Tristan de Cahuna. We were unable to tender off there. There was lots of angst about that. Some passengers were claiming that Princess had never tendered there on any of it's cruises. Tristan's landing is much less protected than the harbour at Port Stanley.

 

Good luck!

 

Chris

[Hemi001]

So far no negatives, it seems that landing at Stanley mostly happens. Anyone out there that hasn't been able to land?

[Aussie Gal]

Hemi001,

 

My sister was on the Christmas/New Year cruise on the Amsterdam this year. The Falklands were not on their itinery but it was on the next cruise of the Amsterdam, from Valperiso to Rio.

 

When it came to the Falkland Islands, the Captain got all the passengers ashore, but the winds came up during the afternoon and they couldn't get them back on board the ship. The 800 or so passengers who were ashore had to spend the night on the island.

 

The Falklanders were very hospitable and put them up in their homes, Scout Halls, Churches etc. It would have been a great adventure except that some passengers hadn't their medication with them etc. which was a bit of a worry.

 

There was a writeup about it on the HAL Board in January, soon after it happened and there could have been something on this Board as well.

 

We too are looking forward to seeing the Falklands as we want to see the penguins there and as we are all part of the British Commonwealth of Nations we well remember the Falkland war and what the people went through at the time.

 

Jennie

[Host CMLA]

We had a perfect day in March 2002 although the captain did say that he had only been able to make the Falklands three times all season because of weather. We were quite lucky. Beautiful place. I took this picture on the island. Something about the colored roofs drew me in.

[Hemi001]

Thanks everyone for the great comments, it is really helpful to me I am keeping my fingers crossed for our trip in January, I chose this itinerary particularly for the Falklands, so far no comments from anyone who missed landing. Aussie Gal, I don't think I would mind getting "stranded" on the Falklands for a night I am English and there are very few opportunities to visit this place.

[Aussie Gal]

I agree with you. As I said it would be a great adventure and we too have always wanted to visit these islands. That is one of the reasons we took this cruise.

 

Jennie

[Splinter]

We were there on Thanksgiving Day (late November) in 2001 and had a perfect day with light wind, not a cloud in the sky and temps in the 70s. I think you just take your chances here. I had a great time.

[BCHappyGal]

We were there on the Infinity Jan 25/05 and although the weather was not perfect (we enjoyed both sun & rain along with a wind all day) we really enjoyed that visit and would like to return. In fact viewing the penguins was a very cold excersie but one well worth it.

[blossiem]

Amsterdam sailing of Feb. 26th 2005 did not land (boo hiss), nor did we even make it to the Falkland Sounds! Due to rough seas in the area of the Falklands, we stayed in the sheltered coastal waters in lovely sunny weather with smooth/calm seas. We subsequently met with people from the Norwegian Crown who were a day ahead of us and they had had a very rough time (but did land).

 

We were led to believe before sailing that only 50% of cruise ships make it in, but I think in reality it is probably higher than this.

 

We also missed the Amalia galcier on this trip due to high seas in the Pacific so we sailed a more inland route up the fjords - not that you could see that much - it was quite a wet and grim day! Overall however the weather and sea conditions were excellent. Just a shame about the two itinery changes.

 

Hope you make it there and have an enjoyable cruise.

[Hemi001]

Great info guy's. blossiem - very sorry to hear that you didn't make it to shore, I am keeping my fingers crossed that the good weather fairy smiles upon us in January 06.

[franu]

We had a glorious day in Stanley. It was quite warm, sunny and clear. The next day we went to West Point, a privately owned island which has been owned by the same family since 1879. The weather was gray and windy with occasional sprinkles but we were happy to see the penguins and other birds nesting.

 

While going from the ship to the dock our tender was surrounded by playful dolphins for over 10 minutes. What a joy.

Fran

[NewCruiseFan]

Was on the NCL Crown landing at Stanley 28 Dec 2004. The Falklands were shrouded in fog and the tender was a bit bumpy but we were able to land fine. It was windy and chilly but had a great time!