Mumbling about Marina

[ORV]

We are in Punta Arenas 2 hours early. Cruise here was quite uneventful. 
 

another beautiful day, should be low 60s and 🌞. I think I’ll take a walk around town. No plans today. 

[cbb]

Orv...thank you so much for posting. We embark Marina Feb 14 in Santiago and appreciate your mumblings and musings.

[AnnieNHenk]

Might be a bit late, but some comments were made about huge USA style portion sizes versus the smaller portions preferred by (lots of) the rest of us, and the fact that you CAN ask for small portion sizes. Good advice, that.

 

I discovered on the last Oceania cruise that you can also ask for "slow service", which is a great tip for those who don't like having their meals served at ninety miles an hour. The waiter said that they always serve food very quickly, because that seems to be what Americans want, but it isn't necessary. Whoo hoo!

[tunaman2011]

23 hours ago, ORV said:

So we’re in Ushuaia today, the southern most city in the world. Fun little town. We went for about a 3 hour walk in the woods on our tour. It was a 3 hiker icon. First time one of those was any type of challenge for us. Or maybe it’s been the 20 or 30 pounds I’ve put on in the last year or so. Soon as I get home I’m going to get on the Drew Carey/ Kelly Clarkson/ Oprah plan, whatever that is. 
 

Weather once again was great. The naturalists are very worried about that hole in the ozone and what it means to this area. 

Greetings

 

Puerto Williams Chile which lies on the south side of the Beagle channel is further south. Argentina claims it is not a city but it contains a navy base, an airport and a cruise ship dock. Chile claims it as the most southern city.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[SophieM]

On 2/6/2024 at 7:47 PM, shepherd really said:

The Marina is in the Beagle Channel (named after the famous Charles Shultz Peanuts character, Snoopy) on the way to Punta Arenas.  

 

This message was brought to you by my sponsor, Drunk History.

 

 

 

Snoopy would love the gorgeous scenery of his namesake!

[ORV]

Today is a sea day, or as our itinerary says Cruising the Chilean Fjords. So far I’m not seeing any Fjords. It is pretty foggy here at almost 8am. 
 

We are having a Brunch today between 9-1 in the GDR, so for you folks that are interested in those, yes they are still having them. I’ll try to take some pictures. 
 

Last night was dinner in the GDR and it was really good. Teresa had prime rib and I had Weiner schnitzel with German potato salad. Contrary to some other reports on the board I find for the most part the food in the GDR is good. This is after being on almost 3 weeks. 
 

I have noticed that the Terrace has been a zoo for most of this trip. I’m personally a little more disappointed in it than the GDR. But maybe I just don’t want to fight the lines. 

I got an Oceania Cuban in Waves yesterday. Didn’t that used to be called a Cubano?  At any rate it’s still about twice as big as it needs to be, and there were no pickles. I only ate half. They have changed the meat and the bread, but it still tastes good. I don’t really think it’s that authentic. 
 

They have definitely added additional wine servers to handle the extra demand for wine. We only had a couple of times where the wine service was slow. So for those that have been worried about that, don’t be. 
 

Any one with questions feel free to ask. 

[ORV]

16 hours ago, tunaman2011 said:

Greetings

 

Puerto Williams Chile which lies on the south side of the Beagle channel is further south. Argentina claims it is not a city but it contains a navy base, an airport and a cruise ship dock. Chile claims it as the most southern city.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

I believe our tour guide mentioned this and said it’s a town and Ushuaia is a city. I’ll let them duke it out. 

[shepherd really]

@ORV  Did they restock the strawberries and blackberries yet or offered any compensation for this?  It's really mindboggling that a luxury line would run out of anything that critical.  

 

Are the cookies still dry and the lounges all hogged?   

 

And my actual, real question, have they offered that galley tour again? 

[ORV]

12 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

@ORV  Did they restock the strawberries and blackberries yet or offered any compensation for this?  It's really mindboggling that a luxury line would run out of anything that critical.  

 

Are the cookies still dry and the lounges all hogged?   

 

And my actual, real question, have they offered that galley tour again? 

No strawberries 🍓 or blackberries. There have been plenty of lounges the last few days. Can’t imagine why. I had a nice crisp cookie the other day. Most are too soft in my opinion. 
 

Haven’t noticed that tour offered again. But it was never in the Currents, only on that placard at guest service. So keep an eye out there. They really could use some marketing people on board, or maybe they can fill these without promoting them. 

[haptrav]

We are starting to pack to go on the Marina next week.  I feel pretty prepared for the outdoor weather we expect, but I was wondering what the indoor temperature usually is during the day, particularly when you've been in the colder areas.  I've seen posts of people saying they wore tee shirts and shorts on board when in Antarctica, and I'd appreciate knowing what it's like on the Marina.

[ORV]

8 minutes ago, haptrav said:

We are starting to pack to go on the Marina next week.  I feel pretty prepared for the outdoor weather we expect, but I was wondering what the indoor temperature usually is during the day, particularly when you've been in the colder areas.  I've seen posts of people saying they wore tee shirts and shorts on board when in Antarctica, and I'd appreciate knowing what it's like on the Marina.

Depends on what room you’re in and how close to an open door you are. In Terrace this morning I was cold with jeans and a sweatshirt. Then went up to Horizons and was warm. It truly varies. I’ve seen people today in tees and shorts. Today is about the rocking and rolliest we’ve had the whole cruise. Bags out by the elevators. 

[ORV]

We’ll see if this will work. 

[ORV]

More

[ORV]

One more

 

Edited February 8 by ORV

[ORV]

And this. 

[shepherd really]

14 minutes ago, ORV said:

And this. 

All that food is nothing to sneeze at.  Seriously, don't sneeze at it.

[SophieM]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

No strawberries 🍓 or blackberries. There have been plenty of lounges the last few days. Can’t imagine why. I had a nice crisp cookie the other day. Most are too soft in my opinion. 
 

Haven’t noticed that tour offered again. But it was never in the Currents, only on that placard at guest service. So keep an eye out there. They really could use some marketing people on board, or maybe they can fill these without promoting them. 

We did, at least, have blueberries again this morning! Apparently, part of the problem was that the fresh berries that were delivered earlier on in the cruise were already nearing the end of their prime and didn’t hold well. I heard that from a reliable source. Don’t know why they couldn’t reprovision sooner, but I’m guessing it had to do with the ports. 

[Snaefell3]

4 hours ago, ORV said:

I believe our tour guide mentioned this and said [Puerto Williams is] a town and Ushuaia is a city. I’ll let them duke it out. 

I'm not sure if population 3k is a "town" or a mere "village".   

Ushuaia is around 80k so it's tour guides have room to sneer.  😉 

[ORV]

Oddly enough they’ve removed the plastic from the buffet station but posted people outside the GDR to remind you to use the sanitizer. Ok

 

We’ve been without internet most of the day. Don’t plan on internet working good on this itinerary. 

[shepherd really]

Looks like the Marina is moving through the Chilean Fjords.

 

[ORV]

Definitely sentinels by both entrances to the Terrace reminding you to use the sanitizer. 
 

Hopefully the weather will be clear enough to enjoy the fjords tomorrow. 
 

Code Mike, now what does that mean?  One of my biggest fears on cruises is to be in a remote area and need immediate attention. 

[shepherd really]

20 minutes ago, ORV said:

Definitely sentinels by both entrances to the Terrace reminding you to use the sanitizer. 
 

Hopefully the weather will be clear enough to enjoy the fjords tomorrow. 
 

Code Mike, now what does that mean?  One of my biggest fears on cruises is to be in a remote area and need immediate attention. 

Code Mike indicates a medical emergency requiring urgent attention.

 

Hopefully no one needs a helicopter evacuation

[EJL2023]

1 hour ago, shepherd really said:

Code Mike indicates a medical emergency requiring urgent attention.

 

Hopefully no one needs a helicopter evacuation

We had one on our recent cruise  on the Pool deck on day two.  Did not hear anything else about it. Definitely did not require a medevac for us. I figured some chair hog had too much to drink and took a tumble. 

[shepherd really]

2 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

We had one on our recent cruise  on the Pool deck on day two.  Did not hear anything else about it. Definitely did not require a medevac for us. I figured some chair hog had too much to drink and took a tumble. 

We had two helicopter evacuations on the Queen Mary on the first two nights.  After that we were out of range, this was a Southhampton to NYC crossing.

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, shepherd really said:

Code Mike indicates a medical emergency requiring urgent attention.

 

Hopefully no one needs a helicopter evacuation

If they do, *much* better in the Chilean Fjords than the out-of-range Palmer Peninsula, and much better, too, if they have *adequate* evacuation coverage.

 

"Mike" is Oceania's.  Most other lines use "Alfa" (Yeah, with an 'f').  The two to worry 'bout are "Bravo" (fire) and "Echo" (collision/allision/loss of stability).