Ushuaia to Cape Town Feb 25th 2019

[carefreecruise]

A little update on ships boots to borrow. They do have boots in all sizes but only have a two hour time for you to come down and try them on. After one hour of them being open they ran out of two sizes. So really don't plan on the ships boots. Also the landing consisted of you stepping into about 10" of water, then you need to walk up to the beach area. If you ordered them to be delivered to the ship from the outfitter, the outfitter will be on the docks before you depart if your boots don't fit for about two hours. 

[rich48100]

LittleRedJohn:

 

We, Rich and Barbara from Tulsa, will also be cruising the Cloud from Capetown to Lisbon.  Haven’t seen a separate thread for that cruise, so sorry to bust into this one to introduce ourselves to LittleRedJohn.  Looking forward to meeting you on that cruise.  Not long now.

[LittleRedJohn]

23 hours ago, rich48100 said:

LittleRedJohn:

 

We, Rich and Barbara from Tulsa, will also be cruising the Cloud from Capetown to Lisbon.  Haven’t seen a separate thread for that cruise, so sorry to bust into this one to introduce ourselves to LittleRedJohn.  Looking forward to meeting you on that cruise.  Not long now.

 

[Fletcher]

Click on this link below to see the Cloud alongside at Ushuaia before it sets sail for South Georgia, Tristan etc.  This is a fabulous itinerary and here's wishing everyone well . . . and hoping we get to hear all about it.  

 

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/argentina/tierra-del-fuego/ushuaia/ushuaia.html

[carefreecruise]

Getting ready to pull out. We are hopping the weather stays good. The first Drake passage was a little rough but settled down on our way back to Ushuaia yesterday. Reports are it to be calm tonight and no broken dishes on our way to the Falklands. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by carefreecruise

[carefreecruise]

Bad Luck Update

Ships doctor has been busy on our back-to-back voyages; on the first leg and the first landing in Antarctic a woman broke her wrist and a temporary cast was put on till emergency surgery could be done in Ushuaia. On the second leg and the first landing at the Falklands a second woman dis-located her elbow and had to be emergency evacuated with a jet waiting at the Falklands airport. We did have to stay in port a few hours to make sure she and her husband had all their luggage off the ship and the aircraft was on its way to the mainland.

 

We really feel bad for anyone getting hurt is such a remote locations. A bunch of passengers are upset because we will miss our first days landing at South Georgia due leaving the Falklands later than planed. But we are wishing the best for both those woman...

[jpalbny]

Ouch! Those elbow dislocations can be really nasty. Not an injury I'd wish on anybody.

 

Hope the rest of your trip is drama-free. Or carefree... 😉

 

Best of luck for the crossing! 

[carefreecruise]

24 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Ouch! Those elbow dislocations can be really nasty. Not an injury I'd wish on anybody.

 

Hope the rest of your trip is drama-free. Or carefree... 😉

 

Best of luck for the crossing! 

On our way going around a storm from the Falklands to South Georgia. Should be there tomorrow night, just behind the storm.

 

We had two days in Ushuaia and I decided to see the Hospital for a few hours, so I could be better informed if needed at a later date and met two other ladies besides the one with the broken wrist.  One additional lady with a broken wrist and a New York Judge with a brain aneurysm. She had a specialist flown in to stabilize her and Medjet was standing by to take her back to New York. Both of these ladies were on some other expedition ship.

 

After this trip we are not  worried anymore about trip cancellation insurance and will spend that money on emergency evacuation insurance and private hospitals. 

Edited March 11, 2019 by carefreecruise

[RachelG]

I agree on the insurance.  We don't buy trip cancellation insurance, but have emergency medical evacuation insurance.

[petlover]

Yikes, what a trip with these injuries. To the best of my recollection , we had none of what you've experienced on our 2016 South Georgia/Antarctica cruise.  Hopefully this is all behind you and you'll have and a wonderful rest of your cruise.

 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, petlover said:

Yikes, what a trip with these injuries. To the best of my recollection , we had none of what you've experienced on our 2016 South Georgia/Antarctica cruise.  Hopefully this is all behind you and you'll have and a wonderful rest of your cruise.

 

 

No worries for our January 2020 trip, petlover. We will have enough doctors on board to run a small hospital.

[Stumblefoot]

19 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

No worries for our January 2020 trip, petlover. We will have enough doctors on board to run a small hospital.

Exactly!  No need for emergency medical evacuation insurance.  We have friends that own an airline.  😉

[Silver Spectre]

1 hour ago, Stumblefoot said:

Exactly!  No need for emergency medical evacuation insurance.  We have friends that own an airline.  😉

That reminds me of the poor lady who didn’t take anti malarials on her husbands advice (he was a dentist), went on safari in a bad malarial area in Southern Africa and flew home in a box from Dakar! Her daughter worked for a company that allowed her the use of a company jet, but that didn’t help.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Silver Spectre

[jpalbny]

I heard about that, Silver. Bad news.

 

I buy my Malarone by the bottle, 100 at a time. No way I'm running out!

[RachelG]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

No worries for our January 2020 trip, petlover. We will have enough doctors on board to run a small hospital.

And we have just about every specialty covered.  There will be more doctors onboard than were on the entire staff of the first hospital I worked at.

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

And we have just about every specialty covered.  There will be more doctors onboard than were on the entire staff of the first hospital I worked at.

 

Radiology and Pulmonary/ICU here. Plus we're bringing along an anesthesiologist. Just in case you need to do any surgery... 

 

[RachelG]

45 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Radiology and Pulmonary/ICU here. Plus we're bringing along an anesthesiologist. Just in case you need to do any surgery... 

 

I am good for emergency appendectomy,  anything Gyn of course, plus random urology or general surgery.  Can do a small bowel resection in a pinch.

[carefreecruise]

12 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

No worries for our January 2020 trip, petlover. We will have enough doctors on board to run a small hospital.

 

11 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Exactly!  No need for emergency medical evacuation insurance.  We have friends that own an airline.  😉

You would also need a small bank. The lady with the brain aneurysm i saw that a Medjet waiting for her, was not released from the hospital until an $88,550.00 bill was paid in full.  The broken wrist cost $9,988.00 before she was released to get back on the Cloud. Something more to think about...

[Stumblefoot]

16 hours ago, RachelG said:

I am good for emergency appendectomy,  anything Gyn of course, plus random urology or general surgery.  Can do a small bowel resection in a pinch.

 

‘You and JP have me in stitches (pun intended) today.  Any chance the two of you could put a skit together and perform each evening prior to the Voices of Silversea performances?  Since you’ll be in town for two weeks, I bet performance would be sold out.  I could act as your carnival barker, should you need one.

[Fletcher]

It looks like the Cloud has decided against going to Gough Island and is now steaming straight for Tristan da Cunha.   Possibly rough seas down there . . . 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Fletcher

[carefreecruise]

14 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

It looks like the Cloud has decided against going to Gough Island and is now steaming straight for Tristan da Cunha.   Possibly rough seas down there . . . 

Its a change that started in South Georgia, not rough seas but high winds. Winds stopped two days of landings and they decided to leave South Georgia a day early and head for Tristan Islands. Then winds again changed plans and we are going to Tristan de Cunha first for the whole day. Then we will go to Gough if the winds die down so they can safely deploy the zodiacs.  At this point nobody know if we will see any other islands other than the one today... Only good thing is we are one day ahead of schedule, so we have some time to figure things out. 

 

Just FYI: If winds get up to 35-45 Knots, they cannot use the zodiacs.  

[Fletcher]

5 hours ago, carefreecruise said:

Its a change that started in South Georgia, not rough seas but high winds. Winds stopped two days of landings and they decided to leave South Georgia a day early and head for Tristan Islands. Then winds again changed plans and we are going to Tristan de Cunha first for the whole day. Then we will go to Gough if the winds die down so they can safely deploy the zodiacs.  At this point nobody know if we will see any other islands other than the one today... Only good thing is we are one day ahead of schedule, so we have some time to figure things out. 

 

Just FYI: If winds get up to 35-45 Knots, they cannot use the zodiacs.  

 Thanks for the update.  Here's hoping for calmer weather.

[carefreecruise]

2 hours ago, Fletcher said:

 Thanks for the update.  Here's hoping for calmer weather.

Winds are a big deal at the little port town of Edinburgh on the Tristan Island. They told us today we are only one of three ships that was able to get passengers from the ship to shore in the last year. And I believe them, our zodiac ride was the worst ride ever, got completely soaked with 9 inch's of standing water in the zodiac bottom also.

 

One guest fell between the platform and a zodiac while trying to board, right into the ocean. Spent the morning in the medical center. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by carefreecruise

[Stumblefoot]

Thanks for the update carefreecruise.  I can only imagine how disappointed everyone was to be at the South Sandwich Islands and be unable to go ashore.  And, wow, what an incredible experience you're having at Edinburgh of the Seven Seas!  Hopefully the winds will lie down as you sail the 200 miles south-southeast to Gough Island.

[Fletcher]

13 hours ago, carefreecruise said:

One guest fell between the platform and a zodiac while trying to board, right into the ocean. Spent the morning in the medical center. 

 

 

Oh dear, that sounds frightening.  As someone who has landed on Tristan four times I know how tricky that little concrete platform thing can be.  This seems like a rather accident prone cruise.  Anyway, I hope you got to see the potato patches.  Far more impressive than stuff like Machu Picchu and the Colosseum don't you think? 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Fletcher