January 7th NCL Star cruise to Antarctica , Argentina and Chile with a 10 day stay photo travelogue

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Ships this size are not allowed to enter, but we stayed near to the large Chinstrap colony for several hours. Off to Hope Bay for tomorrow's viewing.

 

Hopefully the seas and wind will lay down for the evening . We had one sunny day and one cloudy and bumpy .

[scubacruiserx2]

Paradise Bay

 

 

The penquins left their calling card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

The grand parade of lifeless packaging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one glistened in the afternoon sun

 

Edited February 7 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Was there life here ? Some

Nap time

 

 

Tale of a whale or two

 

 

Humpbacks

 

 

 

 

 

Lemaire Orca only in Anarticia

 

 

 

 

Flying penguin

 

 

A buffet of people 

 

 

And a the mother of our children

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Star in Ushuaia

 

 

The Chilean Base

 

 

We almost hit this humpback whale

 

 

More icebergs 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another ship

 

 

 

The mainland

 

Edited February 7 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our idea of a selfie is an usie . Note the watertight door that we had to open to exit to the front balcony . We had another deck between us and the Bridge .

 

 

 

The forward balcony

 

 

An across the Bow sun shot 

 

 

 

 

The forward furniture was secured about 90 % of the this trip and thus unusable 

 

 

A side balcony shot

 

 

 

 

We always heard strange music everytime before a knock on the door . I wonder why ? 

 

 

 We have many of the iconic red British phone booths . The first time that I saw one I asked my model wife to hold the phone to her ear with the caption of " London Calling " under our thread on CC .

 But it seems like the Norwegians have taken the phone booth concept to a whole new level with the addition of another fixture . It may be needed when put on hold for extended periods of time like talking to some cruise lines .

 

Edited February 7 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 We've been doing these photologue threads for more than 15 years because we like helping and sharing with others . We have found a maker of guide books that inspired us to travel , push our boundries and share .  Here are 2 older ones that we still use and their old motto inspired us . To show you what others only tell you . Talk is cheap and we've heard lot's of BS and condsending tudes - usually with no evidence during our travels . We have no blog and make no money from this .

 You will see our photos later , the Lord willing , of the cover photos . Mount Fitzroy from Argentina and Torres del Paine , Chile . These cannot be seen from a cruise ship , but needed to be flown to and driven to in person , sometimes with the help of guides and or drivers who help make this thread possible . This will be our last trip there . We can't afford it and our bodies are wearing out more rapidly every day . The newer versions of the guides are not as through as the older , but are more up to date . But even in the newer ones things change and sometimes before the ink is dry .

 

Edited February 7 by scubacruiserx2

[DCGuy64]

Your photos are simply amazing. Thank you so much for taking and sharing them!

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Your photos are simply amazing. Thank you so much for taking and sharing them!

 

 Thank you very much for writing in and your kind words . Where we went is a very beautiful and photogenic place . And we're glad that NCL made it very affordable with a much nicer suite than we have ever had before .

[scubacruiserx2]

 More shot of Glacier Bay . A pano shot cut down .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sailboat under a glacier

 

Edited February 7 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Reflections of Paradise Bay

 

 

 

This was the only time that we saw the people from the Port side owners suite together . Usually it was only the lady taking selfies .

 

 

Lunch came from Cagneys as we didn't want to leave the view

 

 

Chicken soup good for the soul

 

 

And my favorite desert . 7 layer cake with milk .

 

 

The wake show was mesmerising

 

 

 

 

[stonepebble]

Just incredible pictures!! Thank you so much for sharing!

Where were you on the ship when you saw whales? From your balcony?

I seem to have the worst luck seeing them...so trying to make a plan to find some on our 2/18 sailing!

Thank you so much!

Chris

 

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, stonepebble said:

Just incredible pictures!! Thank you so much for sharing!

Where were you on the ship when you saw whales? From your balcony?

I seem to have the worst luck seeing them...so trying to make a plan to find some on our 2/18 sailing!

Thank you so much!

Chris

 

 

 Well it won't be long now Chris for your turn ! We are thrilled that you are going , but we will miss you , your input , kind words and encouragement .

 We saw whale from both balconies , but mostly the Starboard side . The only one that I remember from the front was the one that we almost ran over . Plan on seeing whales , but every trip is different . Vonn the butler told us that they had to stop the ship because they saw almost 200 whales on the cruise before us ! We didn't see as much life as on previous trips but see may see much more than we did . Because we are getting older we sometimes forget things . Some more important than others .

 My wife forgot her beloved Nikon binoculars at home . She likes and uses them more than her camera . She helps me to spot animals , like whales so that I can shoot them with the telephoto camera , kinda like a sniper/spotter team works in the military .

 With our next long time anniversity coming up we got the new ones that she wanted on the ship as an early present . There is only one person in the universe that I love more than my wife . We saw a Hallmark movie yesterday called Harmony from the Heart that we really liked that distracted us from the thread . The older couple ( and the younger couple ) were a lot like us and our relationship . It's a great Valentine's Day movie .

Edited February 8 by scubacruiserx2

[PhillyTravelBug]

Thoroughly enjoying these stunning pictures. This trip is on my bucket list!

[scubacruiserx2]

  This was the only time that we saw the people from the Port side owners suite together . Usually it was only the lady taking selfies .

 

 

 I'm sorry that I made a mistake with this caption yesterday . The couple in the other corner suite is the distant couple in this photo of all hands on deck 9 , posted below .

 C and D are in the foreground in this photo . We gave them our bottle of white wine and did a cabin crawl with each other . Their forward balcony is larger than ours and we enjoyed some white wine and a chat together in their cabin .

 

Edited February 8 by scubacruiserx2

[stonepebble]

We must be about the same age....the same thing is happening to us! We never used to forget things! 

Hoping & praying I see some whales!! The binoculars are in the to be packed pile!

Sounds like a great anniversary gift! We will be celebrating our 40th going through (hopefully) the Drake Passage!

Thank you for the movie recommendation! It is hard to find a good movie these days!

Chris

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Thoroughly enjoying these stunning pictures. This trip is on my bucket list!

 

Thank you and the best is yet to come . Unfortunately our bucket is getting more empty as the years fly by . Interesting screen name . My last duty station in the Navy was the Philadelphia Naval Hospital before I was discharged from the Navy . It was also the first place that I saw snow fall from the sky . Travel bugs I can live without though . We got Covid traveling and now my Sarcoidosis has kicked in and the pine trees here are in full pollen stage so breathing isn't easy anymore . Sarcoidosis is not uncommon in Figefighters as I was for 28 + years in Miami where I was born .

 

Sarcoidosis is a disease characterized by the growth of tiny collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in any part of your body — most commonly the lungs and lymph nodes. But it can also affect the eyes, skin, heart and other organs. From the Mayo clinic .

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, stonepebble said:

We must be about the same age....the same thing is happening to us! We never used to forget things! 

Hoping & praying I see some whales!! The binoculars are in the to be packed pile!

Sounds like a great anniversary gift! We will be celebrating our 40th going through (hopefully) the Drake Passage!

Thank you for the movie recommendation! It is hard to find a good movie these days!

Chris

 

 Perhaps Chris , my wife is 6 years younger than I and we celebrated our Sapphire Anniversary last year and our Amethyst is on the day that your cruise ends ! I'm concurrently writing my last requests in case I don't make our Family Cruise planned for Thankgiving week this year on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam with our favorite aft corner cabin . We hope to dive in Grand Turk again while the family snorkels - one of our favorite dive and lunch spots , if the Lord wills !

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Some outakes . We hope that we aren't repeating ourselves, repeating ourselves .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stonepebble]

So, so beautiful! So peaceful! Awe inspiring!

Chris

[DCGuy64]

I'll say it again: these pictures are simply stunning! I never had an urge to visit Antarctica on a cruise, until now. OP's pictures are worthy of being used in advertising for NCL. Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for posting these.

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, stonepebble said:

So, so beautiful! So peaceful! Awe inspiring!

Chris

 

 

Thank you Chris .

 

Our last shot from Paradise Bay away from the crowd on the Bow , I forgot to apply sunscreen so I got a face tan .

 

 Some good food after leaving the bay . The next day the light and clouds had changed and so did the quality of the photos .

 

 

 

 

A largeTabular iceberg and pack ice .

 

 

Approaching Elephant Island on the Port side and and semi circumnavigating the island . Photos from the bow .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A unknown named glacier

 

 

For a brief moment there was some  light

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

4 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I'll say it again: these pictures are simply stunning! I never had an urge to visit Antarctica on a cruise, until now. OP's pictures are worthy of being used in advertising for NCL. Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for posting these.

 

Thank you again @DCGuy64 . It's a fun hobby that I enjoy doing since retirement and reliving it through the cameras eye . Plus it has a lot more memory than we do . I did have a concise journal that I did misplace in transit , so I'm using the photos as a memory aid .

[CruisnHallelujahs]

Stunningly beautiful. Ditto what dcguy said.  How would you compare this to an Alaska cruise?  Your pics make it look a million times more impressive than the Alaska reviews. 

[scubacruiserx2]

20 minutes ago, CruisnHallelujahs said:

Stunningly beautiful. Ditto what dcguy said.  How would you compare this to an Alaska cruise?  Your pics make it look a million times more impressive than the Alaska reviews. 

 

  Thank you @CruisnHallelujahs .We have been to Alaska twice and South America 4 times , the first with NCL in 2007 . Antarctica twice , the first time after our first Alaska visit . We are glad that we went to Alaska first as we did enjoy it , a lot . But to us we would have been disappointed had we been to Antarctica first . It's on a different level as we have gone to Patagonia as an add on both times . I don't usually answer so quickly but I was working on a Dinner at Cagneys photos , coming up next .

Edited February 9 by scubacruiserx2