LIVE! HAL Oosterdam 1/7-1/29 South America & Antarctica—Let’s Cruise!

[FLCruiser97]

Last night on board is my least favorite night of the cruise. 

[caneable]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:17 PM, TravelBluebird said:

 

We are watching the NFL playoffs in our room right now; very glad that Holland America has them available.

 

I can never bring myself to use the S word so just hope this doesn’t lose something in translation! Do you know whether HA show the English Premier League football?

Thanks Dee, it’s been a privilege following your adventures around South America and Antarctica. Tomorrow it’s our turn in reverse order. If it’s half as good as you’ve told it it will be a blast, so thanks for setting us up. Safe travels.

Steve

[TravelBluebird]

25 minutes ago, caneable said:

Thanks Dee, it’s been a privilege following your adventures around South America and Antarctica. Tomorrow it’s our turn in reverse order. If it’s half as good as you’ve told it it will be a blast, so thanks for setting us up. Safe travels.

Steve

 

@caneableThank you! It’s been a true privilege for me to share this journey with everyone.  Have a FANTASTIC time on your cruise!   If you are live blogging it I will be sure to follow your trip!  

 

ps: the terminal here in Buenos Aires is very hobbled by the destruction from the storm, but today, at least for disembarking for tours, it was fairly organized.

Edited January 28 by TravelBluebird

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird...how are you feeling today, aches subsiding I hope?

[NorbertsNiece]

Safe travels home Dee. It's been a blast.

 

Linda

[0106]

8 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

the terminal here in Buenos Aires is very hobbled by the destruction from the storm,

We still have not received official word about where to embark!  The terminal as stated on our boarding pass or the Costa Salguero facility to drop luggage and then be bussed to the terminal.

[TravelBluebird]

6 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Last night on board is my least favorite night of the cruise. 

 

Mine as well. Sigh.

 

We are fully packed except for putting our clothing we are currently wearing in our suitcases, then we shall put the cases in the hall.  We are Group 3 tomorrow since we have a HAL all day excursion with transfer to the airport.

 

We managed to have all 3 of our suitcases under 50 pounds by putting heavy things in the smaller case…we purchased some souvenirs for family, and so some shuffling around had to be done.

 

Today we toured around Buenos Aires a bit, and visited Recoleta Cemetery which really is quite something, and has the tomb of Evita, and we also visited the Ateneo bookstore and coffee shop that is in a 100 year old theater.

 

We spent the late afternoon packing, then had our final MDR dinner, I had to revisit my favorite Miso Glazed Salmon, and DH had the Lamb Adobo, plus we really like the Salmon Tartare appetizers.  

 

We are watching the NFL play offs, and I am going down shortly to save us seats for the Gaucho//Tango show at Main Stage.

 

Bittersweet to be leaving, LONG trip ahead of us, but its mostly sweet tonight, not bitter, because its been such a wonderful trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

7 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@TravelBluebird...how are you feeling today, aches subsiding I hope?

 

Leg is still a little wonky, but much better than yesterday, so I’m hopeful that it will be a little better again tomorrow for travel.

[NorbertsNiece]

19 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

@caneableThank you! It’s been a true privilege for me to share this journey with everyone.  Have a FANTASTIC time on your cruise!   If you are live blogging it I will be sure to follow your trip!  

 

ps: the terminal here in Buenos Aires is very hobbled by the destruction from the storm, but today, at least for disembarking for tours, it was fairly organized.

Which terminal are you at Dee? Doesn’t look like Quinquela Martin Cruise Terminal...... much confusion for the passengers boarding tomorrow.....

 

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Which terminal are you at Dee? Doesn’t look like Quinquela Martin Cruise Terminal...... much confusion for the passengers boarding tomorrow.....

 

We are at a cargo pier…there are buses that take us from the ship to the cruise terminal since it would be a far walk.

 

Tomorrow we will board the shuttle buses again as soon as we disembark, to be taken to where our luggage will be.  

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Safe travels home Dee. It's been a blast.

 

Linda

Thank you so much, Linda!  

 

I feel like my trip started when I started following your LIVE blog!

 

It has been a blast indeed!

[TravelBluebird]

We had a final show this evening on Main Stage with some well danced Tango and a couple of gauchos.

 

Our bags are in the hall and we’ll be turning in early.

 

HUGE THANKS  to all who have followed this LIVE!

 

I’ve tried to answer as many questions as I could, but some I know have remained unanswered, such as the Panomax question and the embarkation question re where to go to start the process, and for that I am sorry.

 

I will continue the blog through our excursion//transfer tomorrow and our trip home.

 

Once I am at home and can start uploading videos from the trip, I will link to them here.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Safe travels home it has been a blast following from my recliner here in Yuma!

 

 

[Haljo1935]

Glad both you and hubby are feeling better. Safe travels! I look forward to your final photos and your next LIVE!

 

[FLCruiser97]

Well Dee and DH, I have had the best time living vicariously through you on the sailing. Who knew that I would fall in love with penguins. Have a safe trip home and I look forward to seeing your videos after you are home. Thanks again for the adventure.

[TravelBluebird]

Everything has gone swimmingly well so far today!  Except for the immigration line at EZE airport.  We’ve been in it for 20 minutes and have barely moved.  

[TravelBluebird]

So I have time to rewind the day for you.  
 

We had final breakfast at 6:45 in MDR.

 

good thing we had it early as our group—Pink 3 — was called 20 minutes early!

 

Quite the line to disembark with Pink 3–10 buses doing this particular  excursion with airport transfer!

we shuttled over to the tour buses, and that was it! We had no immigration or customs and we didn’t have to pick up our bags since they were going straight to the airport. Very convenient.

 

Our guide was Amelia and she was very efficient as was everyone on our bus we were always the first bus of the 10 to leave because everyone was always on time.

 

 

 

 
 

 

Edited January 29 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Buenos Aires Highlights & Tango Show with Airport Transfer was the name of our tour.  
 

it was eight hours. Honestly I was sort of dreading it such a long day before embarking on a long air flight but we really enjoyed it.

 

We saw quite a bit of the city more than we did yesterday and there were three stops the cemetery, which we saw yesterday the main square of the city, and we got a chance to visit the beautiful cathedral and La Boca.

 

After driving around and our three stops, our final stop was Madero Tango where we had an excellent meal of empanadas,  a huge off the chart in taste in size steak with roasted potatoes and vegetables plus flan for dessert . Red wine was included and was also free

 

Photos in next post!

[TravelBluebird]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

We really enjoyed La Boca!  So colorful and so much history.  We felt completely safe in La Boca—just don’t stray too far from the main tourist area, as it gets sketchy just a couple blocks away.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29 by TravelBluebird

[SUESEABE]

Have a safe journey home.

[TravelBluebird]

No time between flights and no internet on planes! But we made our first connection fine in Lima—just had 1.5 hours between the two flights. We arrived at the gate just as boarding started—it really helped that we could check our luggage through to Atlanta in Buenos Aires so did not have to pick the bags up in Lima. There was a bus from the plane on the tarmac in Lima, and security in Lima again, but the line was short, and it was special security for ongoing flights.

 

Our flight on Delta in Comfort Plus was flawless—on time, and even had tiny little foot rests which really helps my legs! Managed to sleep quite a bit. Dinner was chicken or ravioli, and after that giant steak in Buenos Aires, couldn’t even look at meat, so picked the ravioli. Breakfast sandwich and fruit before arrival (6 hour 45 minute flight).

 

Customs in Atlanta was very quick; re-checked our luggage and have been in the Delta Sky Club awaiting our last flight!  

 

Easy ending to a great trip! 

 

 

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird...wonderful news uneventful flights so far.  Continued safety for your final legs of travel back to your home and recoup time.

 

Our cruise starts today, so we are up super early with excitement.

[mawvkysc]

Thanks so much Dee. I’ll be on my first HA cruise this May on Zuiderdam ( sister ship) so this was really helpful. I’m a subscriber so I’ll look forward to more of the vlog. 

[TravelBluebird]

Hi everyone! I’ve had a heck of a week catching up on work, and catching a cold (probably from the air travel home, as DH has long been over his!).

 

Here is the next video from the trip—I taped this on the ship, and it covers the Antarctica Experience prior to Deception Island. More to follow as I catch up with all the videos I couldn’t upload on the ship.  This one is a bit out of order since I wanted to do an Antarctica focused one first; the rest of the trip to follow.