Information from anyone onboard Sapphire Princess in Antarctica

[HaveDogWillTravel]

We did not get scenic cruising at Cape Horn due to weather. We got to view iceberg a23a that recently broke free. The largest iceberg in the world. And we got to Antarctica earlier too so great trade offs. 

Edited January 1 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[HaveDogWillTravel]

There you go OP @Old Sea Dog  These should give you the information you’re looking for regarding entertainment offerings. Sorry I can’t review any of the shows, activities or music other than the outstanding Diamond Strings Duo. 
maybe someone from this sailing will eventually see this thread and pipe in. 
There’s also a FB group for this sailing that’s pretty active so you might try asking questions there too. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

The Bluff cove excursion thru Princess was outstanding. The snacks and beverages served were excellent. A short 15 minute drive from the pier. 

 

 

 

Edited January 1 by HaveDogWillTravel

[Old Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

The Bluff cove excursion thru Princess was outstanding. The snacks and beverages served were excellent. A short 15 minute drive from the pier. 

 

 

 

 

[Old Sea Dog]

Once again our sincere thanks for your time and postings

One final question 

How many passengers onboard & What were New Years Eve Celebrations?

Thank you again

[EDVM96]

3 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

No but captain Paolo Ravera is doing an excellent job.

 

He’s been great with his details at the noon announcement and others as needed. 

Yes thank you, I had found the info in this thread.
I know him well, travelled with you on the Sapphire in April / May 2023 in Alaska. 😄

 

[beanbeaner]

On 12/29/2023 at 5:42 AM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

We just finished our 3rd day in Antarctica, a long day of scenic cruising in Charlotte bay, Wilhelmina bay and Neumayer channel 5 am to 7:30 pm with short periods of transition allowing for naps and eating. 
I have been able to text all along but photos stopped sending after our first day at elephant island. I probably could have tried reducing their size.  
Thank you @CruiseRaider for posting my pics and comments. 
 

To specifically answer your questions 

Christmas had a big ginger house display in piazza, lots of caroling and Christmas songs/music.  The Christmas dinner was excellent it was called Around the World and had many great choices. I didn’t take pictures of the menu. 
 

idk what’s planned for new years and I’m the wrong person to ask about entertainment. We haven’t gone to a single activity or show. The enrichment lectures have been excellent and all of those are on the TV so no need to go to the theater. I’ve learned from personal experience that to stay healthy on these long sailings (34 days for me and 16 for Adam) it’s best to avoid crowded spaces. We are here for the ports and the scenery.  
 

We have gone to MDR most days for lunch and every night except one for dinner. By the time you board there could be entirely different crew and food/wine supplies so take all of my impressions knowing that your experience could be wildly different. 
 

The tables in International ding room (lunch) and Pacific Moon have been well spaced. I am very pleased by how spread out they are. The restaurant managers we had Marius, Vitor and Borys have been fantastic as well as our server Arpan.
 

The new lunch menu was nice at first but after a while having only 3 (maybe 4) new items to choose from is boring. For shorter sailings it would be fine. 
 

The dinner menus have been fine, some better than others but always something good to have. Overall we’ve been happy with the MDR dinners.  
 

Here’s some additional information some may find useful.

 

We did the west to east route.  While the best side is outside on any scenic sailing, our starboard side emerald deck fully covered mini had by far the best views during our Antarctica scenic cruising days. Sapphire has a plethora of outdoor public spaces from the extra wide full promenade deck to the upper decks. The top of the bridge has also been open. After getting around all those spaces we’ve been able enjoy the views from our room. We also have an emerald deck aft facing balcony and it has not had the best views most of the time. Although it is a tad warmer. 
 

Speaking of cold…I’ve been to Alaska 8 times….out of SF, Seattle, & Vancouver…Voyage of the Glaciers 3 times.. all except once in April or May. This past April (on this ship) I was at Hubbard when it was snowing on us.  I grew up in NY skiing upstate every winter.  I know cold.

 

None of the following matters if you don’t plan on staying outside.  But the scenery is beyond gorgeous.  It is very different than Alaska.  I thought this would be a one and done but it is clearly not. 
 

The temps aren’t too bad 28-32 degrees F but it’s that 30-40 knot winds that just cuts right thru you. We came well prepared and have been fine. We have parkas (the one that I wore at Hubbard with just a shirt under it) that we layer over heavy sweaters and long sleeve shirts, I have a warm head band under my hat, Adam just wears a wool hat but we both will pull the parkas hood over it and zip up to our noses to protect our chins. Basically just our noses and tops of our cheeks sticking out. I found that any exposed skin would get red and feel burnt from wind and the hole in the ozone layer allowing so much UV. N95 mask helped and eye protection is a must. Of course there are a lot of folks who wear less but then they have to not stay out for more than a few minutes. 

Sunscreen and protective sunglasses are essential against the UV and glare from the arctic snow.

We have two layers of pants on and heavy mittens where the top flips down so we can operate camera and binocs.  
 

Good binoculars are required to really see the wildlife. And boy is there wildlife. The birding has been stunning, penguins on land, iceburgs and porpoising in the water and so many whales we don’t even get excited anymore. I got a video of a Humpback lifting full body out of the water flipping on its back and splashing back into the ocean……right next to the ship by my balcony. 

Thank you for the wonderful post! If you're able to share that video at some point I'd love to see it.

 

Also, I know nothing about binoculars, although I've been reading a bit. Can you share what you use?

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, Old Sea Dog said:

Once again our sincere thanks for your time and postings

One final question 

How many passengers onboard & What were New Years Eve Celebrations?

Thank you again

We have a full ship at just a hair under 2600 souls. 
For Adam & I the NYE celebration was in our mini suite with our good friends watching The Next Generation Season 1’s best episodes that we downloaded before boarding. 
 

The patter will show what the rest of the ship was doing. And hopefully someone on this sailing will pipe in on those events. 
 

Adam has the premium package and tried to get a glass of the Hasslinger premium champagne last night around 8 pm and gave up after being told at wheelhouse and crooners they were out. 
 

I had purchased the sparkling 3 bottle wine package so I shared my Veuve with him and friends.
 

I thought it rather sad that at least at those two bars there was no premium champagne for NYE. Passengers shouldn’t have to run around from deck to deck trying to find what’s included in their package. Especially not champagne on NYE!

Edited January 1 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

7 minutes ago, beanbeaner said:

Thank you for the wonderful post! If you're able to share that video at some point I'd love to see it.

 

Also, I know nothing about binoculars, although I've been reading a bit. Can you share what you use?

I use Nikon Monarch M7 10 by 42. I love them. I use an OUFABE harness to hold them. It’s elastic and takes all the pressure off my neck so I can wear them comfortably all day long. Binos are only good if you can have them with you always and have fast access to using them. Adam carries his in a backpack. Guess who sees more cool stuff? 

[beanbeaner]

26 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I use Nikon Monarch M7 10 by 42. I love them. I use an OUFABE harness to hold them. It’s elastic and takes all the pressure off my neck so I can wear them comfortably all day long. Binos are only good if you can have them with you always and have fast access to using them. Adam carries his in a backpack. Guess who sees more cool stuff? 

Thanks for the info! 

[billco]

Glad I found this thread. We sail on a 22 day Antarctica cruise on HAL Oosterdam on January 29. I have been following a blog

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2978886-bit-of-a-blog-hal-oosterdam-south-america-antarctica-decjan-202324/

on the current cruise, which is the same as ours (Buenos Aires to San Antonio with 4 days Antarctic cruising). She has posted lots of photos, so I don't think internet has been an issue. They don't show lectures on room tv citing copyright issues. Info on what to wear was really helpful, especially N95 masks and ozone layer. Never would have thought of that.

I will be bringing a Dwarf2  telescope that i bought for the upcoming total solar eclipse. It's also supposed to be great for wildlife.

@HaveDogWillTravel You always post a lot of good info.

 

Edited January 1 by billco

[EDVM96]

6 minutes ago, billco said:

I will be bringing a Dwarf2  telescope that i bought for the upcoming total solar eclipse.

Oh, you have a solar eclipse coming up?

We had a partial one on the Crown Princess in 2017 on a sea day between Puerto Madryn and Montevideo.

This was my trick:

Polymeric solar filter from Thousand Oaks Optical (10 bucks on Amazon)

 

I worked pretty well.

 

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

[EDVM96]

5 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

The Bluff cove excursion thru Princess was outstanding. The snacks and beverages served were excellent. A short 15 minute drive from the pier. 

 

Amazing. A much easier way to see king penguins than the long and expensive travel to Volunteer Point. I think it's half the price.

Edited January 1 by EDVM96

[billco]

36 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Amazing. A much easier way to see king penguins than the long and expensive travel to Volunteer Point. I think it's half the price.

We cancelled our private tour to Volunteer Point and booked the ship's tour to Bluff Point. We were lucky as there were only two seats available.

[billco]

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

Oh, you have a solar eclipse coming up?

We had a partial one on the Crown Princess in 2017 on a sea day between Puerto Madryn and Montevideo.

This was my trick:

Polymeric solar filter from Thousand Oaks Optical (10 bucks on Amazon)

 

I worked pretty well.

 

 

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

 

[EDVM96]

4 minutes ago, billco said:

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

 

Ah ok, got it. Eclipse is in the USA. Nice.

[billco]

5 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Ah ok, got it. Eclipse is in the USA. Nice.

We will be watching the eclipse off the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico on the Discovery Princess. Also, looking forward to Spain on August 12, 2026.

[EDVM96]

5 minutes ago, billco said:

We will be watching the eclipse off the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico on the Discovery Princess. Also, looking forward to Spain on August 12, 2026.

Fun thing was, nobody of the Princess staff on the Crown knew about the eclipse. Serious. Likewise most passengers. Only a handful of CC members did. 😎

[gam888]

We will be sailing on the Sapphire Princess in February. Could you please tell us if there is any venues that we can do some ballroom dancing? Are there certain days that Princess offer a pre-recorded ballroom music dance hour in one of the lounges?  If anyone can post some more of the daily programs, it would be very helpful. Thank you.