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Live from Star Princess, Buenos Aires to Los Angeles

nreeder

By nreeder,
in Princess Cruises

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nreeder "Live from...." Rare

nreeder

Posted
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I hope to post some of our live adventures as we go around South America from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles. I know there have been other live threads on this itinerary, but I’m planning on sharing a little bit different information. Don’t look to me for info on movies, shows, comedians, etc. Almost all of those will not be on your future cruise so it doesn’t make sense to take the space and time to post it.

 

On this trip we have mostly booked Princess tours, but with 3 “private” tours at the Falklands, Puerto Montt, and Santiago. I hope to give you a feeling for these, as previous threads haven’t seemed to cover many of the Princess offerings. On tour of special interest is on the second “leg” of this cruise--Santiago to Los Angeles, we will get off for three days on a Princess tour of Maccu Picchu.

 

We spent a week in Buenos Aires. Upon landing we spent overnight at the Hilton in the Puerto Moderno district, the newest part of the city. Then we flew to Iguassu Falls and spent two nights at the Sheraton which is within the National Park. We had an absolutely wonderful time there and the views, trails, and the boat trip where you get very wet were all a lot of fun.

 

We then flew back to Buenos Aires, and three days of walking tours through the historical areas of the city. The tour guides were great (Buenos Aires Walking Tours). We learned a lot of history and about the culture of the people.

 

Getting on board was pretty easy only the Argentinean passport check took a while. We are unpacked and that’s a really nice feeling as we are now settled in for 28 days. The ship is mostly familiar to us as we have been on the two other duplicates of this one. We did eat at the steakhouse restaurant last night which is a new addition and is a copy of the ones on the newer Princess ships. Had a relaxing, yummy meal with just the two of us so it was romantic!

 

Yesterday we had a great Princess tour in Montevideo, Uruguay.. We took a bus to the train station and we got on board a restored 1950’s Pullman car pulled by a 1901 steam locomotive. Was a lot of fun and even people along the tracks waved as thiis train is only used about 5 times a year so it’s unusual for people to see it. We ended up a winery where they took us on a tour and then we tasted 4 wines along with a platter of Parma ham, salami, regular ham, and olives. Then came lunch. It was a platter of roasted steak, sausages, and pork. Then they poured glasses of their wine to go with! We bought some of it. Argentina is famous for wines made from the Malbec grape which in France is only used as a blending grape for Bordeaux. But Uruguay uses another French blending grape called Tannat which we never had tasted before, but it was just as good as the Maalbec we had earlier.

 

Today is a day at sea and we are headed further South. The more we go that direction, the cooler it will get. Tomorrow in Puerto Madryn,, the high will be in the 50’s. We travel around the countryside there and hopefully will see some penguins.

 

Norm

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HJH

HJH

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Our daughter and son-in-law will be boarding in Valpariaso for the remainder fo the cruise back to Los Angeles. They have been on a round the world trek since January 28, 2012 and this will be their 5th Princess Cruise between continents.

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OCruisers

OCruisers

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Thanks for doing this LIVE! Especially interested because I have a friend currently on Star and was on the last sailing as well.

 

In fact I just received a brief email from her a few minutes ago. She said that they were on Code Red and the seas were tough .... It didn't seem to bother her but she did mention it.

 

Continue having a great time and I certainly will be looking forward to your live reports.

 

LuLu

~~~

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2Canucks

2Canucks

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Hi Norm...

 

We board the Star on March 26th and have a question for you...

 

What Movies are playing in the "theater" and MUTS? I'm hoping to see ARGO onboard.

 

Enjoy Your Cruise & Thanks for any info you can share with us!! :D

 

Pat :)

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nreeder "Live from...." Rare

nreeder

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Ok, its a sea day so I have time to write. I'm not going to cover most sea days because we usually work out at the gym, walk around the deck, read books etc.

 

I've posted a separate thread on the withdrawl of the wine package on Star Princess so I won't go into that here, but so far this the only negative on this ship. The ship looks great, crew is outstanding. They had novovirus on the previous cruise but have sanitized everything over and over again. They served all of us in the buffet instead of us touching the serving spoons. The good news is that for four days there has been no reported novovirus cases so this afternoon in the buffet, we got to serve ourselves, so that's a very good sign. Thanks again to the hard work of the crew.

 

Puerto Madryn

 

We took a whole day Princes tour up to the Valdez Penninsula. It's a two hour trip through some fairly boring scenery as we are in Patagonia which is a very flat landscape with just a few shrubs. There were three major stops. We went to a sea lion birthing area which was very interesting. We've seen an elephant seal birthing area on the central California coast near Cambria and this was similar. The male sea lions had already left the area because the pups were born probably two months ago. Only the females and their young were on the beach. There we about 150 or so of them mostly sleeping on the beach. It was windy and seas looked choppy and angry.

 

Then we went to an Estancia (ranch to you and me). On the grounds of this ranch is an area where Magellan penguins come to give birth to their young. These penguins are about 15 to 18 inches tall. This was fascinating and different than anything we've pictured about penguins. There's no ice here! This an area somewhat like Southern California, only 8 inches of rain per year. So there's small scrub brush plants scattered around. The male penguin hollows out a little cave usually under a scrub plant. He then waits for the female to arrive and lay the eggs. They take turns covering the eggs before they hatch. When the baby penguins are born the two take turns feeding them. One parent spends a week in the ocean feeding, then comes ashore for a week feeds the chicks while the other parent goes back in the ocean to get more food. We could walk up to the penguins on designated paths and some were only 2 feet away. They just looked at us and wern't scared and there were thousands of them scattered around the land.

 

So even if we don't get to go to the Falklands tomorrow where the giant penguins are, we've gotten to see some. The good news from the Captain however is that we are in very calm seas today and supposedly for tomorrow. If it stays calm tomorrow, we will be able to get the tender boats off to Stanley on the Falkands. We have a private tour with Patrick Watts, which we picked up from CruiseCritic recommendations. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Norm

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TracieABD "Live from...." Rare

TracieABD

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I just got off of the Star on Feb 12th. We did not make it into the Falklands. I hope you do better!

 

We loved the crew of the Star! The waitstaff were the best!

 

Have a wonderful cruise! Looking forward to hearing more!

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nreeder "Live from...." Rare

nreeder

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It’s another relaxing day at sea so time to post.

 

Stanley, Falkland Islands

 

OK, so the reputation here is:

1. You won’t get to go on land because it’s usually too windy which makes large waves and the tender boats can’t take us off, and we can’t dock because the dock can only hold small boats.

2. Even if you do get on land, you will find it windy, rainy, cold and you will go visit the penguins and walk on penguin poop.

 

So……..

 

We made it and it was truly spectacular!

1. The seas were glassy smooth so tendering was no problem.

2. The weather was clear skies and sunshine that was so bright it forced you to wear sunglasses.

3. But, yes we did walk on penguin poop!

 

Getting to the penguins is half the fun. It’s a two hour ride on a land cruiser 4 wheel drive with the driver and 4 passengers so it’s cozy. The first hour is on a mostly gravel road. The second hour is on no road---you just drive through the marshy fields like bogs in Ireland. You go over hills, down valleys, over fences (they just push the fence down temporarily).

 

Finally, you get to the shore where the penguins are. There are three types gentoo (the smallest), Magellan, and King or Emperor, the tallest. They all congregate in three separate groups and you can walk around the edges of each group taking pictures. There were lots of baby penguins within each group. The most fun however, I thought was going down by the ocean where the waves were emerald green and rolling in and watching the penguins go into the water. First one would go in, and then a whole bunch would follow. Even more fun was watching them come out. They ride the waves on their stomachs and just “body surf” in to the beach. As soon as it gets shallow enough they just pop upright and begin waddling up the beach back to the group. So this was a very special day and we felt very lucky to have experienced it. We stopped at the Globe Pub for a pint just before boarding the ship.

 

This afternoon we have begun the approach to Cape Horn, the most southern point in South America. Understand as the South American continent comes to a pointed end at the bottom, there are lots of islands just offshore. Cape Horn is the southern edge of the most southern island. There is nothing between this island and Antarctica. We will go by Cape Horn, which should be outside our balcony, and then stop and do a 360 turnaround so the balconies on the other side of the ship can see it too. Then we will dart North into the Beagle Channel, named after Darwin’s ship which discovered it which is like the inside passage in Alaska. Overnight in the Channel will take us to Usuhaia tomorrow the most southern city in the world and the last port for us in Argentina. Again, today, relatively calm seas, and sunshine towards the shoreline although cloudy further south.

 

More later!

 

Norm

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jnc411

jnc411

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Thank for your posts, very interesting. This cruise is on our "to do " list , hope next year. It sounds great. And it seems like you are having good seas and good weather. Thanks again , keep the good info coming .

Cori

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SailinC2C

SailinC2C

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I looked at the Bridge cam that day and couldn't believe what a gorgeous day you had for the Falklands. Glad to hear you enjoyed all the penguins and the Jeep ride. I would love to see some pictures of the King Penguins if you are able to post them.

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