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

[scubacruiserx2]

19 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Safe travels, we are setting off tomorrow.

Edited January 26 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

3 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

3 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Fun with the internet in Patagonia. Save travel s to you and Rosie also and have a great trip on HAL . 

[scubacruiserx2]

 If you fly to EZE in BA you will have to give a right thumb print and have a photo or a retinal eye scan . We also had to do it at the domestic airport . After you are cleared , you have to have all of your bags scanned thru an X ray machine at both flights . Welcome to Argentina . We are due to fly at 1400 but the airline will not allow us to check in or print boarding passes yet . We have a 3 hour drive to get to the airport so we hope that the airline gets it together before we drive at 0900 .

[scubacruiserx2]

 It is 0430 and we are getting ready to leave EZE for home . Miami first the train to Palm Beach County second and our grandson picks up last . We can’t wait to sleep in our own bed tonight and share our day by day review tomorrow. The photos of Patagonia in near hurricane force winds are spectacular.

[MicCanberra]

Safe travels we have finally arrived at our hotel around 4pm local time, a 3 hr siesta and a meal and now ready for a good night's sleep.

[scubacruiserx2]

18 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Safe travels we have finally arrived at our hotel around 4pm local time, a 3 hr siesta and a meal and now ready for a good night's sleep.

 

 That's great news Mic and Rosie . We were awake at 0400 to meet our driver at 0500 . He didn't get there until 0500 which meant that by the time we were processed it was close to boarding time and we couldn't try out the AA lounge but went directly to the gate . We had to have our carry on bags opened at a table and so they looked looked at our meds , cameras , and some dirty underwear . It's a 9 hour flight to Miami that left at 0900 . Global one wasn't working and they only had 2 machines in MIA !  We found a cab driver who wanted as much to take us to the Brightline station for the same price as the driver in Argentina . It's a 1 hour ride to to EZE but only a 10 minute ride to the train station in Miami . 

 You should be boarded by now but we heard that you overnight in BA on the Oosterdam . If you change money in Argentina look for the Blue market price . We found out there that we were Argentian Millionaires if we tradeded all of our dollars ! We only traded $ 100 and got back 117,000 in funny money for later in Patagonia . Later we tried to get money at a bank ATM in El Calafate and they would not allow us to withdraw the max of 50,000 , about $ 50 dollars . They only allowed 10,000 per withdrawal with a fee of 7,000 ! Thus , a $10 withdrawal would yield only $ 4 . Such a deal . A dollar is worth a $1000 Pesos on average .

 So Bon Voyage Mic and Rosie , and  we hope that your internet service was better than ours . We each had 300 minutes and it didn't work well on the Star for us and only got worse as we sailed south .  The Falkland Islands was the worse for internet , even for the locals as it is a different system . We felt like we had stepped back into the 70's as they had to rely on CB radios to talk between vehicles going to Volunteer Point but we had good weather and the Penguins were there . We had heard on CC that only 1 cruise in 5 makes it there , but our guide at Estancia said that it was more like 70 % . 

[MicCanberra]

I'm sorry to hear how stressful you trip home was. we have boarded and we are here overnight, we do not plan on getting any cash Pesos here, the cards will work fine at  a decent rate and USD works fine elsewhere.

[scubacruiserx2]

10 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I'm sorry to hear how stressful you trip home was. we have boarded and we are here overnight, we do not plan on getting any cash Pesos here, the cards will work fine at  a decent rate and USD works fine elsewhere.

 

 We would not have used Pesos if  we could but as we were staying for a week in Patagonia we need to . The stressful part was being exposed to a sick person in a small area on our glacier cruise in El Calafate . She was nice but sick people shouldn't go on day trips or at least wear a mask . Consequently we both got sick and are going to the docter today this morning . She got into an argument with a lady for the UK who currently resides in Spain . It was quite warm in the boat and the sick lady wanted it that way as she had the chills . Everone else wanted the door open to cool the room except the sick lady from Mexico .

[MicCanberra]

Goodness, I should know by now but people are always amazing me at how selfish they can be. 

[scubacruiserx2]

   We are experiencing some computer glitches as it has been idle for almost a month and it keeps trying to give us upgrades that we don't want . We think that we have returned it to a simi normal mode so let's try to post some photos before the doctor visit . 

 We stayed a day before in the Sherton Convention hotel with a view of the ships leaving the port and a large building next to us .

 

We had a club pass on the 22nd floor with afternoon munchies .

 

 

The next morning sunrise .

 

 

1st bus ride from a large boarding area after about half an hour . They announced Blue # 1  ( Suites ) and White # 1 so there was a rush to the bus . It was packed and a lady next to me scolded me for carrying on a carry on bag .

 

 

The second smaller holding room at the port this time .

 

 

The same overcrowded busses to the ship this time .

 

 

Boarding the Star . The suites boarded in the farther ramp an we walked to the front of the ship to our cabin . But we were on now !

 

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Goodness, I should know by now but people are always amazing me at how selfish they can be. 

 

 I wanted to try to help the lady but we have no medicine and I can't tell her what is wrong so she need's to see a Doctor as we are going to do in about half an hour . Fortunately we didn't begin to feel sick until Sunday as we were flying home . It made for a very long day beginning at 0400 and ending after midnight on the wristwatch . They are 2 hours ahead of us on EST . BA is currently 79 F and we are 49 F , quite the change in weather .

Edited January 30 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 It is offical , we both have Covid . No meds given so we tried to buy a generic Dayquil and Nightquil , but they are out of it at the local supermarkets . As the pharmacist said " Tis the season " . Just ordered it from the big smile company , thank you same day service .

Edited January 30 by scubacruiserx2

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 It is offical , we both have Covid . No meds given so we tried to buy a generic Dayquil and Nightquil , but they are out of it at the local supermarkets . As the pharmacist said " Tis the season " . Just ordered it from the big smile company , thank you same day service .

Yikes! Wishing you both a speedy recovery, @scubacruiserx2!

[MicCanberra]

A shame, hope you can recover quickly 

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yikes! Wishing you both a speedy recovery, @scubacruiserx2!

 

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

A shame, hope you can recover quickly 

 

Thanks , much better at home than on vacation . We did a lot of travel in Patagonia by vehicle and we're glad that nothing health related occured there . 

[scubacruiserx2]

 A rough video clip of us boarding the NCL Star .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We tried to upload a video of our cabin 2 times today . It timed out the first time when we went to the Doctor . The suite was so big that it took 15 minutes to video and more than an hour to upload ! The second time we were here and moving around on youtube helped it to upload , again more than an hour , but they said that they couldn't process it even though it was captured . Youtube said : Processing abandoned

Video is too long. Learn more .

 

 We followed their instructions and are trying a 3rd time .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  We were in a suite and were escorted to Cagneys for lunch . The Menu didn't change if we ate lunch there .

 

 

 A look at the cruise 

 

 

And the Owners suite ( aka the deuce suite )

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 bath rooms

 

 

Master bath and walk in closet

 

 

 

2 washing areas

 

 

 

 

2 views of the bedroom . Notice anything weird ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Azamara to the Port

 

Edited January 31 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Thanks for going along @stonepebble and @MicCanberra !

[scubacruiserx2]

 This video of the cabin was done live in one take with all of sounds and sights left intact as we first saw this amazing suite . We never thought that we could afford it but had originally booked it for Iceland and the UK in August of this year . But with NCL's generous 10% Vetereans discount , it's location and a last minute purchase , we changed trips and saved about 50 % . It is the same cabin that we had booked for August . We hope that you will be as amazed as we were with this dated , but beautiful suite . However , we would recommend the Starboard side for this trip if it is available - which it wasn't . A warning , the video take 15 minutes to try to show it all .

 

 

 

[stonepebble]

Beautiful!!!

Know you loved every minute of that cabin!

Chris

[scubacruiserx2]

24 minutes ago, stonepebble said:

Beautiful!!!

Know you loved every minute of that cabin!

Chris

 

 Thanks Chris . We did milk that cow at a bargain price , just not dry . 🙂😊

[scubacruiserx2]

 We have had a concierge before with HAL Neptune Suites , but never a butler !  Our first request was to change the 3 bottles of hard liquor and soda for water . The second was to request a dinner menu and to have dinner in the suite for sail away .

[stonepebble]

I'm so sorry you got sick after your vacation! 

We're just off of a Southern Caribbean on Symphony of the Seas.

First my husband got really sick...cold, Covid or the flu...we're not testing anymore.

Now I'm sick!

Hoping it means our immunity will be very high for Antartica!!!🤞🙏☘️

Chris

I know you are very Thankful you didn't have it on your great vacation!

[scubacruiserx2]

5 minutes ago, stonepebble said:

I'm so sorry you got sick after your vacation! 

We're just off of a Southern Caribbean on Symphony of the Seas.

First my husband got really sick...cold, Covid or the flu...we're not testing anymore.

Now I'm sick!

Hoping it means our immunity will be very high for Antartica!!!🤞🙏☘️

Chris

I know you are very Thankful you didn't have it on your great vacation!

 

When and who are you going with to Antarctica , if we may ask ? We hope and pray that you feel better soon . 🙏