Experiences Posted February 20, 2012 #1 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Hello- hoping to get some opinions. We are looking at doing the Valparaiso to Buenos Aires cruise. We are looking at a couple of itineraries. One includes a stop at Stanley (Falklands) and the other does not. The Stanley stop is more expensive. Is it worth the money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted February 20, 2012 #2 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Yes. Interesting port. The remains from the war between the UK and Argentina and the penguins make it a great port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredT Posted February 20, 2012 #3 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Just got off a Val/Antarctica BA cruise. I would put Port Stanley a close second behind Antarctica, and WELL beyond any of the other ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnbfrank Posted February 20, 2012 #4 Share Posted February 20, 2012 We really enjoyed our walk to Gypsy Cove, Magellanic penguins there, van ride back to town and a short time to walk the "main" street along the harbor. You should know, however, that this is a tender port, and that stops have often been cancelled due to high winds/weather which made tendering impossible. So it's rather a gamble whether the ship will make the stop or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarEagle76 Posted February 20, 2012 #5 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Agree with all of the previous posters, great port and several different options to view penguins if that interests you. Like cnbfrank said, sometimes the port gets missed. We were lucky and got in, the cruise after us did not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie MeMe Posted February 20, 2012 #6 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I enjoyed the port of Stanley and enjoyed walking about the town and poking into the West store (an entire shopping mall in one small store). We did the shore excursion that went from the ship (Star Princess) by boat to the private property that had a gentoo penguin rookery. Excellent fun with a rough and tumble landrover ride over the rocky and deserted landscape. It takes 3 acres per sheep to provide enough food-- stark. It was a good stopand a good stop to drop into the conversation since most folks have heard of it but have not been there:p and the people are very friendly and helpful. I would NOT expect that you would get DIY tour to see penguins as the ship has more people than the town does and most everybody works "the ships" as our guide told us. Go for it if possible -- you probably won't be in the neighborhood again. That being said it is one of the ports that I said been there and so glad I don't live there. A bit far away and lonely for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Experiences Posted February 22, 2012 Author #7 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Agree with all of the previous posters, great port and several different options to view penguins if that interests you. Like cnbfrank said, sometimes the port gets missed. We were lucky and got in, the cruise after us did not. WarEagle - when did you go on your cruise? Which month? We are going end of January 2013. Hope the waters are calm then????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Experiences Posted February 22, 2012 Author #8 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks to all for your comments. I booked the cruise which included the Falklands more because my hubby wanted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timetravelers Posted February 22, 2012 #9 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Glad you made the decision to go to the Falklands. We were fortunate to make it to Stanley a few weeks ago (early Feb) on the Silver Spirit however only two tenders could land (rough water) so many people were VERY disappointed. The penguins at North Pond were fabulous!!! I could have stayed there all day. I only saw a little of the town but incredible drive for 2 hr. Can't image British troops walking across the island!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarEagle76 Posted February 22, 2012 #10 Share Posted February 22, 2012 WarEagle - when did you go on your cruise? Which month? We are going end of January 2013. Hope the waters are calm then????? We were on the December 24, 2011-January 7, 2012 cruise. We had a pretty smooth cruise but Mother Nature is hard to predict. We've missed three ports in our cruising experiences (Grand Turk, Marseille, and Catalina Island) but it is a part of cruising and you deal with it and look forward to the next port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthnlarry Posted February 25, 2012 #11 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We just returned a few weeks from our fantastic Rio to Valparaiso cruise on Oceania's Insignia. We stopped at the Falklands and took Patrick Watts' tour to Volunteer Point. Unbelievable! Don't pass up the opportunity. Some ships do miss this port because of weather conditions. However, according to info posted on this site, the frequency of missing the Falklands is not high. Moreover, Patrick Watts does not charge if the port is missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougH Posted February 27, 2012 #12 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I thought it was a great stop. The Patrick Watt penguin tour rates at the top of any tour anywhere, just fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted February 27, 2012 #13 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Today, demonstartions against their calls on the Falklands (AKA the Malvinas) prevented the Star Princess and a P&O ship from docking in Ushuaia, Argentina. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted March 8, 2012 #14 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Best place for seeing penguins other than Antarctica. Volunteer Point is far but best, Bluff Cove is good. As many have mentioned, rough seas can making landing difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted March 9, 2012 #15 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharmca Posted March 12, 2012 #16 Share Posted March 12, 2012 We are just back from a HAL cruise Rio to Valparaiso and we were not able to get into the Falklands. According to the crew they miss it more than they make it. So if it is penquins you are looking for make sure you have a backup plan if you do opt for that itinerary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no fuss travel Posted March 20, 2012 #17 Share Posted March 20, 2012 As stated above do the Patrick Watts tour out to Volunteer Point. We saw penguins at another port of call, but it was nothing in comparison to Volunteer Point. The Falklands were the highlight of our cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitl Posted March 20, 2012 #18 Share Posted March 20, 2012 We are just back from a HAL cruise Rio to Valparaiso and we were not able to get into the Falklands. According to the crew they miss it more than they make it. So if it is penquins you are looking for make sure you have a backup plan if you do opt for that itinerary. The notion of a backup for penguins is good, but the crew misled you as the failure to get into Stanley runs at less than 20%. The Falklands are certainly worth a visit. We thoroughly enjoyed our day there when we called in on Fram on our way back from Antarctica. Bluff Cove is an excellent excursion as it provides a trip (with commentary from a 'local') across a typical part of East Island and has a great cafe and museum down at the lagoon with gentoos, kings, dolphins and cattle(!) wandering freely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susiesan Posted March 22, 2012 #19 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Today, demonstartions against their calls on the Falklands (AKA the Malvinas) prevented the Star Princess and a P&O ship from docking in Ushuaia, Argentina. . What was this all about? Was this the only time a ship was stopped from docking because it went to the Falklands? Is it only the Princess and P&O ships? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonflk Posted April 18, 2012 #20 Share Posted April 18, 2012 The prevention of a cruise ship docking into ushuaia only happened once this season (2011/12). It was for any red ensign flagged ships, though I haven't heard much more about it recently. As for ships not getting in well, the veendam had the worst record this season, for one reason or another when they decided to visit the weather turned bad (though once it was because they hit bad weather on route weather in Stanley was fine), so this season it was bad for them, other ships were less if not affected at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare brazilgirl Posted April 18, 2012 #21 Share Posted April 18, 2012 On our trip to Antarctica , our ship (the Infinity) missed the Falklands due to weather. So sad , as I had made arrangements with Patrick to go to Volunteer Point. It is still on my "list/' of places to go....looks fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.