My Golden Princess Andes & Cape Horn Grand Adventure

[KarateMan]

For those who know I was on this cruise from 1st March to 1st April and had a wonderful time on this ship. I flew to Buenos Aires before hand and spent three nights in the city. On the first day I arranged a day trip through Viator to Santa Susana Ranch.

 

 

 

Overall a good trip with outstanding food and wine for lunch and good entertainment. There is a video of a bollas demonstration here.

 

The following day I had time on my own to explore Buenos Aires.

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

On the 2nd March the ship remained alongside in Buenos Aires with some shore excursions on offer. I took a trip to the Tigre Delta.

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of young tourists on the river being paddled around by much older people. This was a very common site. I can only assume the younger person is a tourist as I can fathom no reason as to why a young person would be kicking back in a boat being rowed by a much older person.

 

[KarateMan]

The photo was taken around sail away time from Buenos Aires.

 

The first port of call was Montevideo. I did a tour here called City Drive and Santa Rosa winery. The winery lunch and show was outstanding however the city drive was quite dull and mundane. I felt it was a disappointment and I could have had a better time exploring on my own. If you are into food and wine it is a great tour and the day ended on a high note and the food and show at the winery was top notch.

 

I did get a photo from the city tour.

 

Of special note is the Amiral Graf Spee memorial from the German panzerschiff that scuttled itself in the opening year of WWII. It was never a battleship and that was just British propaganda. Despite the war it is good to see important pieces of naval history such as this. Particularly for someone with interest in Naval history. It got even better in the Falklands as in Stanley's Christ Church Cathedral there is a Naval Ensign on display, burnt, torn and tattered that was flown during the Battle of River Plate by the HMS Ajax.

 

 

The next port of call was Puerto Madryn. I again did a worthwhile tout to Punta Nortes on the Valdes Peninsular. It was expensive but worth it and interesting to see nature up close.

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

The next port was Stanley. In the morning I did a city walking tour. In hindsight the city is so small I would just recommend to others to do your own things. Just get off the ship and wander around if you want to see the city. It was not worth the money paying for a walking tour here.

 

 

As mentioned the flag flown by HMS Ajax during the Battle of River Plate.

 

 

[KarateMan]

In the afternoon I did the Sparrow Cove Penguin excursion. This was a great excursion but a very bumpy 4WD trip to the penguins. By bumpy I do mean bumpy so multiply any expectations of bumpy by 100 and your probably still not thinking how bumpy it was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be aware that the weather does change quickly here and you do get all four seasons within minutes of each other. It can go from intense rain to bright sunshine in minutes but it is terribly cold. The Falklands are controversial as Argentina still claims them with signs all around Argentina stating "Isla Malvinas De Argentinas" tourist maps and postcards reflect this opinion. In my honest opinion I cant see why the British want these islands. There are no bees there and they cannot grow fruit and have no use at all.

[KarateMan]

Here is the fantastic Golden Princess at anchor in Stanley.

 

The next port of call was Ushuaia. Again all four seasons in one day and expect snow.

 

 

 

 

 

I did two excursions in this port and cant complain about either, it is very scenic and beautiful.

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

The best part about being in Ushuaia was the sail through the Beagle Channel. Quite an experience indeed. It is well worth missing dinner for this evening.

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

The next day was Punta Arenas, Chile. This port for me the only option was the Princess Excursion to World Heritage Site Torres Del Paine. There was another excursion Antarctic Landing Expedition, however upon research this excursion did not enter the geographic Antarctic circle, it did not touch the continent of Antarctica and only went to an outlying island with a research station. So better judgement told me it was not worth it. Torres Del Paine is extremely expensive and involved a private charted jet to get there.

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

Next day was scenic cruising to Amalia Glacier in Chile. We did not get that close to the glacier and you could tell on sight that it was massive.

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

The next port was Puerto Montt, Chile. Here I did the ships excursion Petrohue Falls and German Settlers museum. It was a very interesting and scenic day. Lunch at Frutillar was great and you were well fed and given plenty of wine and their famous pisco sour.

 

On my tour there was one unruly passenger who got too drunk became out of control and was kicked off the ship. I was witness to everything from his fall from grace to his outburst at the dock, his arrest by security staff, his trip back to the ship in a tender all by himself, then to the waiting arms of the ships doctor.

 

The event became quite the talk of the ship. He was put off in Valparaiso.

 

 

The closest contact I had to the unruly passenger was when he took my photo. He was not drunk then but quite crude.

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

One of the benefits of being elite.

 

 

 

The next port was Valparaiso for Santiago. I did the city tour that day. I did not get much sleep the night before as I was physically up all night burning the midnight oil. Met another girl on the ship who joined me. Caught up on sleep on the bus the next morning.

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

Next port was Coquimbo where I did the Ancient Petroglyphs tour and Vina Tabali Winery.

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

The next port was San Martin, Peru. I did not want to do the overland trip to Machu Picchu as I considered the time frame too short so I was happy to tour locally.

 

From this port I went to Tambo Colorado.

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[KarateMan]

 

 

 

 

 

[cruiselover53]

Thank you.

[pacificlover]

thank you for taking us on your wonderful journey.........great photos