Infinity Antarctica 31 January 2010

[AMScruiser]

Hello everyone,

 

Anyone else booked on this cruise? My (travel) friend and I just finalised our booking, cruise and flights.

 

Bas, from Amsterdam

[Bayotter]

If you are able to change your plans on the Infinity to 14 February, there is a very large gay group going, including me. I don't think I am allowed to post the link here, but do a search for Pied Piper gay group cruises and check their calendar for 14 February. I hope you will be able to join us.

 

Here is the link to the other Cruise Critic thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=926134

[AMScruiser]

If you are able to change your plans on the Infinity to 14 February, there is a very large gay group going, including me. I don't think I am allowed to post the link here, but do a search for Pied Piper gay group cruises and check their calendar for 14 February. I hope you will be able to join us.

 

Here is the link to the other Cruise Critic thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=926134

 

Thank you for the invitation. I did come across that thread when I did a search for the 31 January cruise. And I did see it was so big because of the Pied Piper group booking. But unfortunately we are not able to change our sailing date, due to fixed vacation dates.

 

Have fun!

[mikelam]

Hi,

 

My partner (Michael) and I (Lam) will be on this cruise. We are living in London UK.

 

We are preparing for sailing on Azamara on 31st Oct. Then we'll prepare for an Antarctica cruise at the end of January.

 

L&M

[AMScruiser]

Hi,

 

My partner (Michael) and I (Lam) will be on this cruise. We are living in London UK.

 

We are preparing for sailing on Azamara on 31st Oct. Then we'll prepare for an Antarctica cruise at the end of January.

 

L&M

 

Welcome Lam, and Michael.

 

My name is Bas and my friend is Rudolf.

As we only booked this cruise last week, we are just starting to look into the possibilities for excursions and hotels and such.

 

Enjoy your Azamara trip and maybe we see see you back on the boards on your return.

 

B.

[bostom]

Mike and I will be joining you. This will be our second time in the neighborhood and hopefully this time we'll get to Antarctica.

 

We looked at the later (02/14) date and the group prices aren't any cheaper. In fact, given the incentives from Celebrity and our regular TA, the 01/31 cruise was a few hundred dollars less. Plus the later in the southern summer you go, the more likely the weather won't cooperate. It's always dicey and I don't know how much two weeks matters, but the earlier the better, I think.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

 

Cheers, Tom

[AMScruiser]

Mike and I will be joining you. This will be our second time in the neighborhood and hopefully this time we'll get to Antarctica.

 

We looked at the later (02/14) date and the group prices aren't any cheaper. In fact, given the incentives from Celebrity and our regular TA, the 01/31 cruise was a few hundred dollars less. Plus the later in the southern summer you go, the more likely the weather won't cooperate. It's always dicey and I don't know how much two weeks matters, but the earlier the better, I think.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

 

Cheers, Tom

 

Hi Tom & Mike,

It seems like we are getting quite a group together. I also discoverd a few Friends on the Roll Call for this cruise.

 

Very busy now organising excursions, have you looked into those yet?

 

BAS.

[downundermatt]

Hiya

 

Matt and Juan (Aussie/Mexican) Couple have just booked this cruise yesterday. Looking into excursions now.

 

See you on board !!

[AMScruiser]

Hiya

 

Matt and Juan (Aussie/Mexican) Couple have just booked this cruise yesterday. Looking into excursions now.

 

See you on board !!

 

Hi Matt & Juan. Nice to have you on board. I am BAS, travelling with my friend Rudolf, both from Amsterdam.

 

Let me know if you need help with the excursions. Have you checked out the Roll Call for this cruise as well?

 

B.

[downundermatt]

Hallo Bas and thanks for the welcome !

 

Have been reading the Roll Call threads for a while and am getting things together.

 

As for the shore trips, have emailed Patrick Watts and await a reply re the quote and some info (couldnt see it on line)

 

The other trips we may well decide on the day and the weather on arrival.

We have checked some sites on line, and with my partner fluent in Spanish I trust we will have no issues.

 

Famous last words....

[mikelam]

Hi,

 

We booked with Patrick Watts tour as well.

 

We will stay in BA for three nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise in Marriott Plaza Hotel.

 

L&M

[AMScruiser]

We have decided on what to do where. Including Patrick Watts in the Falklands.

We will spend three nights pre- and two nights post-cruise in a gay hotel in Buenos Aires.

 

Sail date is approaching fast now. See you all soon,

B.

[bostom]

1: Who (and about what) is Patrick Watts? A tour operator? A fellow passenger? Sorry, but here I'm clueless. I'm familiar with a vendor we've used before in SA - PortCompass, and whose services we found to be both good and good value for money (about half the cost of those offered by the cruiselines) - but not Patrick.

 

2: Making plans pre/post as well: two nights pre-cruise and five after we return at the Park Tower in the Recoleta/Retiro neighborhood. We leave the States on the 28th and fly out of BsAs on the evening of the 19th. Has anyone made arrangments for a driver and/or transfers? Argentine friends are particularly admanant in urging me to arrange something in advance and that taxis - even the radio cabs so long the standard - are no longer as secure as they have been.

 

3: Mike and I have been to BA, Stanley, Ushuia, and Montevideo before and to the extent we can, would be happy to answer questions about them.

[downundermatt]

Patrick Watts is a tour operator who comes highly recommended. Many Cruise Critic people on our cruise have booked a day trip to Volunteer Point in the Falklands thru him. I am still awaiting a email reply and have just sent a second email - this is the one tour I want to pre-book. (I gather about half the cost of the cruise offered shore excursion !)

 

We plan on deciding the other trips on the day, hoping to pick a deal on the wharf as it were. My partner Juan is Mexican, and obviously speaks fluent Spanish which I hope will help us.

 

We have only booked the cruise last weekend, and are yet to work out our plans in Argentina, both pre and post the cruise but are open for suggestions for BA and elsewhere so would appreciate any ideas....

 

Thanks Matt

[downundermatt]

To Mike and Lam,

You may want to join the Group on the Roll call for our Cruise.

There is a group of 38 booked thru Patrick Watts and we are hoping to leave the ship on the first tender together. (that way more time with the penguins...)

 

To Mike and Tom,

Thus far we have only arranged the Falklands. The other ports we were going to arrange on arrival, dependant on the conditions and weather.

From your experience do you think we will find things to do waiting to the last minute ....? Appreciate your advice from your previous trip.

 

Ta Matt and Juan

[mikelam]

Hi Matt & Juan,

 

Good idea to join the Roll call group to get off quicker but I don’t think Celebrity will let us leave the ship on the first tender in a big group. When we were on Azamara Quest in November, the first off were their own excursion groups. I think it will be easier to get on the tender if you are a small group.

 

Are you Captain Club Elite’s member, in Concierge Class or in Suite? They all get a priority tender ticket so we should be OK as we are Elite status.

 

L&M

[downundermatt]

Hi Lam and Mike,

 

Yeh I heard back thru the Roll Call they wont give our group (of 38) any priority. We have only just joined the Captains Club so very few perks thus far damn it.

 

See you on board !

[downundermatt]

To Mike and Tom et al,

 

Has anyone made plans for Montevideo ? We are thinking of a trip to Punta Del Este and are looking into options, possibly with a driver.

 

Do think this is risky ? I note we are in port 9 hours, and the tour runs for 8 hours, obviously assuming a private vehicle would be quicker.

 

Appreciate any feedback, Matt

[bostom]

Matt et al

 

Sorry for the absence - lots of work, then Christmas. I'm not the best person to ask as we've seen what there is to see in the Falklands and then more than most anyone else - the former Governor was a friend so he organized a tour then had our table on the AMSTERDAM to lunch at Government House. He's now retired to Scotland so that's not on this time. Montevideo is, um, in a word, "Sad." It's a sleepy little town that time and the world seems to have forgotten. My Lonely Planet guide is even more dismissive, saying that one "can see Uruguay in a day." If you only need a day for an entire country you must be done with the capital by what, 11 in the morning?

 

Puerto Madryn is the only port we haven't seen before. Here I'd like to go see the penguins, but honestly find with all these things that when there's a will, there's a way: not with the ship's tours, neccessarily, although a drink or two with the tour staff can often work wonders if you want to take the Celebrity-organized excursions, but rather making a deal at the dock if something hasn't been set up in advance. We've never missed seeing something we really wanted to see.

 

I am leary of all-day private-car tours when the possibility of delays could mean a real problem. That's not the case in Uruguay - it's a ferry ride to BA and frankly, if you missed the boat in Montevideo you'd be waiting for the INFINITY when it docked the next morning. Anywhere else (especially the Falklands) if you missed the boat the ship could be on it's next cruise before you got back to Argentina. The only flights are weekly, operate subject to weather conditions, and are either to Chile or the UK via Ascension Island.

 

For those of you staying in BsAs either before or after the cruise, allow me to recommend two places we liked and the guides still say nice things about. The first is a sort of mall with dining, the Patio Bullrich across from the Cesar Parque Hotel. It was the office of a cattle baron, has been turned into an upscale mall, and the food court has some terrific lunch and early dinner places with meals for a song and domestic (Argentine) champagne produced by the local operations of the leading French houses (Krug, Heidseck, Mumms, etc.) for about $2 a flute. It's in the Recoleta district so if you go to Evita's tomb, here's a good place to chill out afterwards. Located at the intersection of Avenidas Libertador and Libertad.

 

The other is a small restaurant where we've had Christmas dinner on one occasion and several other memorable meals. It too is in the Recoleta and the name of the place is Lola. I see that their website is under reconstruction, but check some of the "best of BA" lists and you'll see it usually tops 'em. The food is superb. Our only complaint for that Christmas dinner, a $40 US (those were the days!) per person prix-fixe extravaganza with unlimited champagne, was that we had to make the waiter put the sixth bottle back in the ice bucket as it was only the two of us and we'd had a few snifters before dinner anyway.

 

Is anyone else at either the Sheraton Buenos Aires (not the Libertador which is a different property) or the Park Tower which is joined to the Sheraton by an exhibition/convention complex? There or not, it'd be great to get together for dinner Saturday night and/or a drink beforehand if anyone wants to do so.

 

Cheers, Tom

[felloship]

Hi all...

 

My name is Matt and I know Bas and Rudolf (hi guys!) from a transatlantic cruise on the QE2...just thought I would join in and say I got home yesterday from a similar itinerary on the Star Princess. We did the Patrick Watts tour in the Falklands...it was 50% less than the exact same tour as Princess offered. Having said that, I must say I was thinking I was going to actually have a chance to hear Patrick give a little talk about his role in the Falklands conflict and do a little sightseeing along the way...I guess I made some assumptions. Patrick basically acts as a facilitator - on our day in port, he had about 20 jeeps lined up with local drivers. When you get off the jetty he is standing right there in the parking lot and all of the drivers are standing with signs as to who goes in their jeep/landrover. Each driver takes four passengers...IF YOU WANT TO TRAVEL TOGETHER BUT BOOKED SEPARATELY YOU SHOULD LET PATRICK KNOW IN ADVANCE. Seating is one person in front seat and three seated cheek to cheek in the back seat. The drive is unlike anything you have ever experienced in your life. The first 1/2 hour is on the main island road, past some landmines being cleared. THen you hit a gravel road for another 45 minutes/hour and then, literally, you start going across farm pastures in 4 wheel drives to see the penguins. It takes 1.5-2 hours to go 12 miles...the land is barren, without trees, and looks like a lunar landscape covered in peat. We got stuck once in a rut and had to be pulled out by another jeep. All cars travel in a caravan with a leader and a follower. This will be the bumpiest car ride of your life - guarenteed. If you have ANY back troubles of note, I would think twice. Not trying to discourage, but want to make sure you realistically know you WILL be bumped around in the car. Once you get to the penguins it is TOTALLY worth it...thousands upon thousands of them walking around (with the odd sheep, which I thought was funny) - they are in the boggs, the grass, the beach...everywhere! You have about 2 hours there and they provide a sack lunch (ours was an egg sandwich, a chocolate bar, a bag of crisps and a juice box...if you have a hearty appetite, I would take some snacks or fruit and definitely more to drink in your daypack!). After the visit, your return the same way you came...which means over 3 hours of off road traveling in one day! Again, totally worth it, but be prepared! There are restrooms at the dock before you leave, at a farmhouse an hour into the drive where the road goes from gravel to pasture, and at the rookery. All were maintained and clean, but each less nice progressively. Patrick will collect payments in cash at the rookery before everyone heads back (this will make sure you want to pay...no one would want to be left there it is so remote!). I was also worried about getting off on "first tender" but I found that Star Princess, with over 3500 pax, separated disembarkation by tender - groups on ship tours gathered in one lounge, independent travelers in another - all the Patrick Watts people were able to get on the first "non-Princess" tender, so we all arrived together on the jetty. I was panicked about this, but turns out we didn't need to be.

 

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me at matt@mjkdesigns.com if you have questions. It IS windy in the Falklands...dress in layers, take plenty of film/memory, throw some gloves and hats in your bag too, just in case. And if you are curious, think about the questions you want answered - we found the drivers to be just that - drivers. They were local, most were shy, but happy to answer questions if you asked them. You will find you will want to ask questions during the first part of the drive so the driver can concentrate 100% during the off-road time!

 

We got back with an hour or so before sailing and had time to walk down the main street to see the monument to the British soldiers who died (at the intersection of Thatcher Ave!) - about 10% of the population died in the conflict. I thought that sounded high, but heard it from 2 sources - but maybe it was 10% of local male population? Not sure...but definitely put a dent in the population. There is also a cool stone church on the same street with 4 giant whale tusks outside....

 

We also were in Rio, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Ushuaia (loved it!), Punta Arenas and Santiago. Would be happy to answer questions about all.

 

Buenos Aires DOES have a jump on/jump off bus (like London/New York etc.) that might well suit independent travelers avoiding ship tours.

 

In Ushuaia, we did a wonderful cruise of the Beagle Channel (3 hours, $69 on ship - could have probably done for less by booking it on the pier once we got off the ship). Lots of wildlife. Other passengers highly recommended taking the cable car up the mountain that sits behind the city. Another gay couple on board loved doing a kayak excursion that was offered in Tierra del Fuego park. If you have time - plan on eating lunch at one of the steakhouses (parillos) that line Ave St Martin (the main street one block up the hill from the port, runs parallel to the shore) - I had an AMAZING steak in black pepper sauce with a glass of local Malbec and thought I had gone to salivary heaven! Saw lots of other passengers doing the same! Very cheap and delicious! I would love to do this cruise again because I found every port had an alternative shore excursion that I wanted to go on.

 

In Montevideo we did a wonderful day excursion (through the ship because it was Christmas Day) to a local estancia (ranch) with all three generations of the family working...they were very hospitable and we did everything from horseback riding to a hayride around the property to sheep shearing to local dancers and a delicious barbeque. Best shore excursion I have ever been on (and I HATE organized shore excursions!). Two gay couples went to Punta del Este (I think I am a bit off in the spelling) - but it is the big summer resort. They said it was like a South American Hamptons. They loved it and found some wonderful shops - got some cool shoes for all of $12 and said it was fabulous. If I hadn't been with my parents, I probably would have done this instead - but like I said, the estancia tour was an amazing experience and one of the highlights of the trip.

 

This was a hard trip to pack for - hot/cold and formal/informal - although I found Princess to be a lot less formal than I was expecting - maybe Celebrity will be different...layers are the key! The scenery is beautiful and I am envious that you all still have it ahead of you (and wish I had included Antarctica - another reason to go back!)

 

Have fun with Bas and Ruud - they are AWESOME!!!!

 

Bon Voyage -

 

Matt

[AMScruiser]

Good to hear from you Matt, and thank you for your kind words.

 

Thanks for posting this detailed review and your tips here. Do you mind if I copy/paste it to our Roll Call? (maybe edit it a bit? ;) )

 

Seems you had a good time on your cruise. Pity we keep missing each other by a few weeks each time; we should coordinate next cruise better!

 

Take care and hope to see you, some where, soon again.

BAS.

[AMScruiser]

Hello everyone,

 

I guess you are all packing by now, or at least planning to. Not long before we will leave for Buenos Aires (Wednesday).

 

I'd like to wish all of you a safe trip to Buenos Aires and a good stay there or in Argentina.

 

We will probably all meet at the FOD meetings. From experience on the Celebrity Millennium, they are usually held at 19:30 (7:30 pm) in the Champagne Bar (and occasionally in Constellation).

 

I did read somewhere on the Celebrity Forum that they discontinued publicizing the FOD meeting in the daily Celebrity Today, but haven't seen it confirmed yet. If that is the case, one is free to set up meetings oneself and post them on the activities board near the Purser Station.

 

BAS.

_____________

[downundermatt]

Hola Rud and Baz,

 

On the very off chance were you in La Boca today, and do you know a Shane from Sydney. I could have sworn I saw you today.

 

Look forward to Sunday regardless..... Matthew

[AMScruiser]

Hola Rud and Baz,

 

On the very off chance were you in La Boca today, and do you know a Shane from Sydney. I could have sworn I saw you today.

 

Look forward to Sunday regardless..... Matthew

 

 

YES! On both accounts. We did a quick trip to La Boca today and yes we know Shane.

Ruud has been saying to me from your very first post "I wonder if this is the same Matt that I know in Sydney thru Shane." He even vaguely remembered you having a Latino partner. So, it turns out he was right all along. Sorry we missed you in La Boca but we will see you a lot start Sunday.

 

What hotel are you staying at?

 

See you soon,

BAS and RUUD.

[downundermatt]

SMALL WORLD

I mentioned to Juan I knew a Ruud ifrom Amsterdam but figured it was unlikely the world was that small. My email address is matthewderekm@yahoo.com and we are at the Imperial Park (on Av 09 Jul) til the cruise. Tomorrow is my birthday, be fun to catch up fo a drink if you guys are free ??

 

See ya Sunday if not before.