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

[MicCanberra]

10 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Thank you sir . It appears like you are on the way back to South America . How was Antarctica for you and Rosie ? Best wishes for a smooth ride back . Have you tried the Pisco sour ? They repackaged it and you can get it at the store in Chile , just chill and shake .

 

Antarctica was wonderful, we had 4 days of scenic cruising around various bays and such. Lots of icebergs, glaciers, ice shelves, etc. Tons of wildlife, whales, seals, penguins and birds. Visits to several stations dropping supplies, and other ships.

Another amazing trip.

The swell is around 3m but relatively smooth so far.

[scubacruiserx2]

7 hours ago, CruisnHallelujahs said:

I believe this is her.  Did she have beautiful long wavy hair? Of course she may have cut it by now. Lol

 

 Yes , it was long and wavy . 🙂 😊

[scubacruiserx2]

39 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Antarctica was wonderful, we had 4 days of scenic cruising around various bays and such. Lots of icebergs, glaciers, ice shelves, etc. Tons of wildlife, whales, seals, penguins and birds. Visits to several stations dropping supplies, and other ships.

Another amazing trip.

The swell is around 3m but relatively smooth so far.

 

 It sounds wonderful . We heard it through the grapevine that the Captain on the Star had changed the hours by shortening the time of future visits especially Antarctica which caused some frustration on various social platforms like CC . The Star's response was to allegedly turn off the WIFI .  We have no live thread as you have , so who knows ? They appear to be entering Glacier Alley and Ushuaia at a good time early in the morning with good weather and slight winds currently as we had in 2013 .

[scubacruiserx2]

  We've noticed that we have digressed with previously used photos so  we will get back to our most recent visit in Stanley , Falkland Islands .

 

 Some Gentoo some of which we woke up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A family outing

 

 

Someone needs a hug

 

 

Returning home from fishing

 

 

 

 

Buzzard strut

 

  

[scubacruiserx2]

A penguin panorama

 

 

Queen  of the Kings

 

 

A watering hole

 

 

The amazing penguins . Kings can dive to the depth of 300 M ( 900 feet ) to search for food !

 

 

A pair of Kings

 

 

 

 

A bumpy walk to the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

A South Georgia Pipit

 

 

Sea Cabbage

 

 

Gentoo on the beach 

 

 

 

 

More people than Penguins on the beach

 

[ziggyuk]

14 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Thanks guys , any cruise plans in the works ?

 

We just booked a "quickie" MSC Euribia for a weekend across the channel to Hamburg, it was only $25 a night ($55 with premium drinks package), couldn't say no for a weekend away. We are flying straigh home, the trip is all about the ship.

Plus MSC reset your loyalty if you don't sail in three years so had to be done to maintain Diamond level.

Next after that is 17 days in November on NCL Jewel LA to Tampa via the Panama canal.

[ziggyuk]

14 hours ago, CruisnHallelujahs said:

I believe this is her.  Did she have beautiful long wavy hair? Of course she may have cut it by now. Lol

 

Monica is about 5' 5", with shoulder length light brown wavy hair she keeps tied back, she would be about late 30's.
We first met her in May 2023 on the Star, she told us she returned home and came back for another contract on the ship when we met her again in February. I can't add any more than that I'm afraid.

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

We just booked a "quickie" MSC Euribia for a weekend across the channel to Hamburg, it was only $25 a night ($55 with premium drinks package), couldn't say no for a weekend away. We are flying straigh home, the trip is all about the ship.

Plus MSC reset your loyalty if you don't sail in three years so had to be done to maintain Diamond level.

Next after that is 17 days in November on NCL Jewel LA to Tampa via the Panama canal.

 

Have you been through the Panama canal before ?  On our last trip through it in the Fall we saw these guys a couple of times on the ship . This song reminded us of some friends of ours from the Isle of Mann that we first met on the NCL Dream in South America in 2007 . When we went to London later we met them and saw the Phantom and Jersey Boys both in London .

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 After our walk on the beach we decided to make one last trip to the Kings round table to look for eggs or chicks  before grabbing our box lunch and heading back to the Stanley . Some of the penguins were still napping oddly .

 

 

 

 

 

We did spy this one checking it's egg 

 

 

More people were crowding in so we had hoped to head back .

 

 

 

 

Even the Kings seemed to feel crowded and 3 of them engaged in a 3 way slap fest .

 

 

 

We drove back a different way near the water

 

 

 

Edited February 10 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  Whale bone graveyard and the Christ Church Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Whalebone  Arch 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral_(Falkland_Islands)

Edited February 10 by scubacruiserx2

[ziggyuk]

59 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Have you been through the Panama canal before ?

 

Never, we went to central America recently on a land trip an sat at the canal watching the ships go through the canal, at that point we said we would return on a ship.... now we do, the old locks on a small ship 🥳

[scubacruiserx2]

7 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Never, we went to central America recently on a land trip an sat at the canal watching the ships go through the canal, at that point we said we would return on a ship.... now we do, the old locks on a small ship 🥳

 

  We did do our longest single cruise from Alaska to Ft. Lauderdale which included the original Canal and lasted 6 weeks . You may like to read about it and get some ideas if you would like . You can find it here but on a different cruise line , HAL .

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 The interior of Christ Church Cathedral we loved the Stained glass windows . The first 2 were Jesus as the Good Shepard and Jesus loves the little children .

 

 

Next were the Disciples , brothers and fishermen Peter and Andrew

 

 

The great Commission

 

 

The windows behind the alter

 

 

The Alter woodwork detail

 

 

Pipe Organ

 

 

The church from the Alter

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 It looks as though the NCL Star and the HAL Oosterdam may pass each other this evening or early tomorrow morning going in opposite directions .

[scubacruiserx2]

 Like  2 ships that pass in the night . The Hal Oosterdam headed  North to Ushuaia from Antarctica passed the NCL Star headed South toward Antarctica from Ushuaia . Good sailing and fair weather to both of you .

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9221281

Edited February 11 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Meanwhile back in Stanley , after touring the church we noticed that the Queue for return tenders had passed the church and it was nearly 2 pm , the cut off date for the last tender according to the Freestyle Daily 

 

 

 

We decided as all good cruisers do to allow our stomach to regulate our actions and headed for the Victory Bar , Neil's choice for a pint and some fish and chips . 

 

 

The gent seated at the Bar helped us and posed for a photo while the video took in the scene .

 

 

 

 

 

 

And since the line was still blocks long after the Victory , we went to where we had wanted to go on our last trip here , the Globe Tavern to compare the experience  ( besides , we had 60 GBP to spend ) .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

   Instead of heeding the words of some new friends from the ship we just bit the bullet and joined the line . About 1630 , 2 -1/2 hours after the posted time we boarded our tender . It was a 1 hour wait in line .

 

 

 It seems like we were not the only ones waiting 

 

 

 

Pat had tried earlier for a priority tender boarding that was in the NCL suite literature but that didn't work here .

 

 

The last time that we were here they had used both docks to load tenders including the one where the sea lions were . More tenders and docks could have speeded up loading time . The other dock in use .

 

 

 

 

 

We did pick up a little penguin for later

 

 

 

 Recovering the tenders

 

 

 

We were scheduled to pick up our passports before dinner but we were leaving and I wanted to take some photos of the sail out .

 

Pat agreed to pick them up while I took photos . She said that there was a large , well attended Mass being celebrated in Portuguese , next to the Library where our Bible study was held . We were curious how they got the word out since it was not posted in the Freestyle Daily .

Edited February 11 by scubacruiserx2

[MicCanberra]

A relatively smooth crossing, swells did increase for a while to around 5m but it was still smooth. They then subsided and now it is a drake lake as we head towards Cape Horn.

[stonepebble]

Thank you so much for all of the photos and information! We opted to do something other than Volunteer Point in Stanley...Your photos make me feel like I at least saw it through your lens!

Getting so very excited!

Chris

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Falkland sail out

 

Town Cemetery

 

 

Beaches with penguins

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lighthouse

 

 

A Blue Petrel

 

[scubacruiserx2]

6 minutes ago, stonepebble said:

Thank you so much for all of the photos and information! We opted to do something other than Volunteer Point in Stanley...Your photos make me feel like I at least saw it through your lens!

Getting so very excited!

Chris

 

 

 You're welcome . Mic and Rosie did do something different perhaps they can offer some help if you haven't chosen yet . Have you heard the rumors or anything official about reduced time in Antarctica Chris ?

[scubacruiserx2]

12 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

A relatively smooth crossing, swells did increase for a while to around 5m but it was still smooth. They then subsided and now it is a drake lake as we head towards Cape Horn.

 

 Excellent , when and how long in Ushuaia ? Any plans ? The only photos we got from Cape Horn was in 2013 . We made a sprint and missed it on our Zaandam trip to Antarctica , the last trip .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

17 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Never, we went to central America recently on a land trip an sat at the canal watching the ships go through the canal, at that point we said we would return on a ship.... now we do, the old locks on a small ship 🥳

 

 

 Have you made any plans for shore excursions on the Canal cruise ? It may seem like an off the wall question but I just read something about Queen Elizabeth II today . We don't hear much about the Royals here so we wondered how the new King has been received .

[stonepebble]

All of these cruises having such great weather is really making me worry!! It can't last forever! Haha.

 

Yes, we are aware of the change in itinerary. NCL sent out an email with the changes.

 

My uneducated guess that it was a result of the passengers on the Jan 21st sailing being very upset about missing the Falklands for no apparent reason. Two other ships were in port that day so you would assume that it wasn't too terrible to tender. They changed our port date for Stanley and substantially increased our time in port there. I am wondering if that was a result of so many passengers being upset about the return tender difficulties. 

 

In addition to changing our port date in the Falklands they removed Paradise Island all together and now we will sail Elephant Island & Admiralty Bay on the same day. I'm not exactly sure why they did this as it resulted in us having an extra sea day after the Falklands...it could be the timing since we'll be spending more time in at Stanley.

 

Of course we are disappointed. I plan to call NCL and lodge my complaint but we tend to not get too worked up about things we can't control. We also believe that we will still have an incredible journey. 

 

I do understand everyone being upset though and if we don't get into the Falklands which as you know is quite possible, I'm afraid of the backlash NCL will receive.

 

Also, sometimes I think the cruise lines aren't up front with their passengers which causes more anger. I have seen this on multiple cruise lines. I don't think the passengers on any of these NCL impacted sailings have been given an honest explanation. 

 

Chris