Live from the infinity - Antarctica

[cle-guy]

strange...but I wrote about chocolates missing (confirmed with others on the cruise) and tonight chocolates appeared....????

 

 

Are they normal X branded with the big x chocolates, or some smaller imposter generic ones that say something like Good Night with a moon...

 

I noticed on my last connie they were not X brand and recently saw a photo in a review of same on another ship....

[Christine Frances]

These are the ones we got this month on the Millie in Asia

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[cle-guy]

These are the ones we got this month on the Millie in Asia

[ATTACH]303073[/ATTACH]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Thats what I'm used to seeing....

[rubysue]

Thanks for the live updates! Sorry you're having all the itinerary changes. We were on the February 2 sailing. Service was outstanding across the boards we loved Qsine and Bistro on 5, were very unimpressed with Blu.

 

Interesting that you mention the concern for hygiene. In spite of precautions (I don't shake hands, for example, and use towels or tissues on doors), I came down with influenza (respiratory) and was put into 48-hour quarantine on the last two days. Tamiflu worked well, I must say! And, yes, I did have a flu shot. It is a variation of the H1N1 strain that is now making the rounds.

 

Hope you have a Drake Lake!

[KirkNC]

strange...but I wrote about chocolates missing (confirmed with others on the cruise) and tonight chocolates appeared....????

 

See my new thread "Infinity stuck in Falklands" because we are not leaving until they fix a massive part...so who knows what the rest of the voyage will be.

 

We are ultra sensitive since we were on the Century that had a mechanical breakdown in Villefranche....so this might be our second canceled cruise.

 

BTW...the damage was caused by a fuel bunker coming to tie up to our ship. Our captain should have had those davits pulled in....and yes, the bunker should not have hit them....but I think it's actually a failure on Celebrity's part to safeguard the ship. Of course celebrity will deny that....but it's my view.

 

more later.

 

The casino was dead for the previous cruise as well! I did end up with a permanent loan from them! ;):D

[kjfrozen]

Thanks for posting this thread... I just found out about and have read through all of your LIVE posts. I think had I been able to come, I may not have had the weather delays (depending on my route) because I would have been coming from Germany. Sure wish I was on there with all of you, but between the furlough days (Govt Employee), having to put a new roof on a house I own, and now having the Govt take $600 a month extra out (they said they overpaid me my first 2 years here in Germany)... it just wasn't financially feasible to come. I'll get there one of these years. Anyway... in the meantime I sit here and wish I were there with you, and will have to settle for being with you there in spirit. Hope you are able to post pictures. I *am* disappointed you had to miss the Falkland Islands... seeing the Penguins was going to be a highlight of my trip, had I gone.

 

Keep up the good work and the posting. I sure appreciate it!

 

- Kris Jenkins

[ghstudio]

After our day of cruising the Beagle passage in both directions and viewing the beautiful glaciers, we spent yesterday in Usuaia. Took the Piro tour which takes you to the island with penguins (20 persons only on the island at one time). Saw gentu, megellan and two emperor penguins….wonderful tour…worth every cent. Sailed from Ushaia last night and arrived at cape horn this morning at daybreak…5:50am in calm waters and high clouds. We circled the cape and the captain also turned the ship so everyone could see cape horn from their balconies….even though most were on deck somewhere…..cold but seas were relatively calm. Finally, we are on our way south in calm (probably 10’or so) seas. This is the same area where an arctic expedition ship had to turn back due to high seas and winds a few days ago. Weather is very variable. This ship is very stable. No mammals, but many birds here…as expected. The sun is shining with very high clouds…it’s really quite beautiful just watching the water…from inside; it’s cold out there J You definitely need a ski jacket for cape horn and below.

As far as the ship goes, not much to report new…..food remains good, but not really seasoned enough (expected since they have all kinds of tastes on board). There seem to be no berries on board….but that’s not a big deal. They are selling hot chocolate in thermal mugs for 9.95 on deck. ½ price drinks late at night (menu items, whatever that means). The captain does not seem to wander around the ship….but of course we have had a few course changes and these aren’t the easiest waters, so likely he’s busy. I believe we had at least on passenger removed for medical reasons in Ushuaia….par for the course on any cruise.

We were given celebrity bags in aqua, but they are the cheap all cloth ones that everyone gets. Not sure if that’s a permanent change, temporary change or just an oversight….but I’ll find out. Yes, the chocolates are “sweet dreams”, not the old ones that were so good.

On that wine I bought at lunch….they are special wines so they are immediately recognized by the sommelier’s at dinner. Our sommelier in dinner did open the bottle for us, but told us we really weren’t supposed to do what we did.

Our cabin door to the balcony moans in higher winds….I’ve called to see if they can fix it because it is quite loud….and I can’t brace it to stop the noise. I put some paper in to jam the manual latch on top of the door since it accidentally closed once when we were inside (fortunately).

Comment on elite plus: four laundries and 200 minutes of internet time really do make a difference. Some have complained that they can’t get on the internet…we only had a problem once. I can send/receive mail, update quicken and post to CC in about six minutes.

What to bring: good 8x binoculars, 300mm zoom lens (if possible), sunscreen. There are a few trying to use their ipad for pictures. That works, but it’s really awkward. Many new cameras and lenses, as expected.

[AC Stew]

We were on the previous sailing, and I realize how very fortunate we were ... didn't miss a single port. Except perhaps for our sail around Elephant Island, but all else went off without a hitch.

 

Yes, our sailing was also a diverse international mix with large groups from China, Korea and Germany, just to name a few.

 

Service was wonderful, but I have to say, we were all commenting about the disappointing food in the Main Dining Room. Perhaps it was the provisioning at Buenos Aires (rumours about crates of bad fruit and veggies). Still, the dinner offerings were most often only average at best. Rarely did we enjoy a "good" dinner entrée. Food is subjective, I know, but still; we expected much better from Celebrity. Did Blu get all the best fruit and vegetables?!

 

All things considered though, the total Antarctic experience far eclipsed the mediocre dinner offerings. I'm sure that you'll all come away with the same assessment!

 

Wishing you all lots of penguins and whales and dolphins and more!

 

AC Stew

[rubysue]

Hi, AC Stew!! Hope you had a good trip home. We never did eat in the main dining room, but as I noted above Blu was very disappointing. We ate there three times and the only thing I liked was a classic strip steak. Qsine was awesome, though, and we enjoyed the soups and sandwiches in Bistro on Five.

 

I think it probably was a provisioning problem. We noticed they put on a lot of food at Montevideo (I was in "flu jail" and could only see the port from my balcony), so the problem might be from there.

 

To GHStudio - sounds like your Drake Passage was similar to ours, although a storm came in just before we reached the Schollaert channel and we had 70 knot winds. I commiserate with the moaning balcony door! Thanks for the update!

[ghstudio]

A real failure…..

We had the captain’s club “senior officer’s party” tonight. What an incredible display of “we don’t really want to meet you”. The captain, head of the hotel and other senior officers stood by the bar and then behind the bar. We were greeted by the captain’s club hostess and two junior officers. The rest of the officers didn’t circulate…they just gathered, talked among themselves and ignored the guests…and the purpose of the party. What a failure…and a first for us. You know, I generally don’t really care who’s in charge…..but I think I’ll remember this group of officers. I mentioned my observation to the head of the hotel who said…oh the captain is over there (behind the bar talking to another officer) if you’d like to talk to him. Celebrity…you get an F for this one.

Blu remains a problem…there seems to always be a wait or you have to dine with someone. It’s unusual because we have been on the millennium and the infinity when there was no problem. Perhaps it’s the fact that the maître d’ will not seat two at a table for 4….so they sit empty while couples wait for twos. In any case, it isn’t working….and it isn’t working consistently enough that we are reconsidering our choice of booking aqua again….and we are die hard aqua fans.

Apparently, according to the head of housekeeping, we are supposed to receive nicer carry bags. As of now, we and others we’ve talked to in aqua have the simple cloth ones, but she took our cabin number and we’ll see what happens.

Crossing the Drake passage has been very calm….hope this keeps up. Tomorrow in Antarctica…..should be a great day.

The texas hold’em machine is broken…no idea when it will be fixed.

Since we will be doing scenic cruising for the next two days, they issued vouchers for elite drinks. A nice touch….

[C 2 C]

Would you be able to list the senior officers?

[ecslady]

Would you be able to list the senior officers?

 

They are listed on page 1 of this thread. And I must say, they do not sound familiar at first glance. How about anyone else???

 

Captain: Michael sympouras

Staff captain: matthaios karandreas

Guest relations: Mario Tavares

Hotel director: mark zeller

Cruise director: alejandro tortorelli

Food and beverage: john-paul lamb

Executive chef: andy bouchard

Edited February 24, 2014 by ecslady

[lara68]

Thank you for your continued wonderful reports, spending the time AND internet minutes is greatly appreciated! We don't sail for another year, but are getting very excited!

[ghstudio]

I am looking out my balcony window at icebergs, penguins and whales....incredible place to visit. Helipad open....not that much wind. Just wonderful....

[saatuk]

]We now seem to have a destination concierge….i don’t have a clue why or what she does vs the excursion desk, but seems like she has some special tours and private things.. I’l find out more….and who has access to her.

[/font]

 

Some of us used her (Marina) on one of the earlier cruises for the Lima stop. We booked a van with driver and guide with her and the price was very reasonable ($40 per person).

[dodger1964]

Here is the current info(from great website..can find info on any ship):

 

Current position of GTS Infinity: Under way from Elephant Island to Port Stanley

Departure was 22 hrs 34 min ago. (at 18:00 h local time)

Arrival will be in 15 hrs 26 min. (at 08:00 h local time)

Traveled distance since Elephant Island: 360.44 nm (667.53 km)

Remaining distance to Port Stanley: 244.59 nm (452.98 km)

Traveled distance since Buenos Aires: 2,834.76 nm (5,249.97 km)

Course: 352°

[ghstudio]

Approaching elephant island….we’re sort of rocking and rolling….15’ seas, 30-40 knot winds with weather deteriorating…..rough seas and low clouds, although we can see some islands off to our port side. Not sure how the elephant island part is going to go….but we had a nice afternoon viewing Antarctica yesterday. Weather on this cruise is always a shot in the dark. Our whistling/moaning door has been fixed….but we can hear the wind.

Dinner last night in SS United States. Mushroom soup, risotto for appetizers and steak diane and lobster tail for my DW and I. Excellent although a little underseasoned. Good service altlhough a fair wait for the cheese cart which a very nice selection of cheeses and crackers. As elite plus, we paid $35pp and we had a 20% off wine coupon which we used.

They aren’t discounting the specialty restaurants (AFIK), but they are offering a new package or two dinners plus a lunch in SS United States for $90pp. We also now have the correct celebrity bag…not sure if others got it, but I mentioned it to an asst housekeeping manager a couple of days ago and it appeared today after leaving a reminder at guests services.

I should mention that one perk of elite plus that I and everyone else pretty much missed commenting on on CC is free cappuccino’s (or equivalent)….which really means teas and coffees. The regular coffee is really not that good…but all the expresso based coffees which normally cost $’s are pretty good and you can get decaf. That’s especially nice on a cold cruise like this one.

Funny stuff happens: Last night, they left the Celebrity today in English and an Attention to detail card…in Spanish J Not sure if there was a message there, but it was sort of funny.

Did I mention that I went to the buffet yesterday and they always have some meat they are carving. I did a double take….they had just brought out a whole suckling pig and started to carve it. I’ve never seen that before on a Celebrity (or any) ship. The indian food (plated by a server) was really very good…..desserts were easily passed on….sheet cake stuff again. I’ve discovered that on this cruise, they have excellent elephant ears at café baccio. Didn’t see them at all on cruise 3 months ago on the infinity.

Coupons worked well…any drink up to $8, beer and wine had different limits. I easily convinced the bartender to give me kettle one rather than absolute even though it was $8.50. I joked, don’t fill the glass….of course he did and he gave it to me in a martini bar size glass. I was happy (I think). Coupons again tonight.

I still see very few officers walking around….but I’ve seen groups having coffee together or dining together. Someone really should tell them to mix with passengers…..

Went to a talk in the theater and after the talk, tried to walk through to midship. Problem….the photo area is right there and they were teaching some sort of class (or selling something) and there was no way to get past the class without walking between the teacher and those listening. We went to a different floor…but that’s a pretty poor choice of where to have a class….use a conference room or something that doesn’t block a deck.

Excellent service in the elite breakfast….good coffee comes quite quickly, platters are refilled and tables cleaned quickly.

[crusingnut]

It sounds like you took a cab from the BA airport to your hotel, is that right? If so, did you reserve in advance or just get it upon arrival? I've read reviews about Tienda Leon, Taxi Ezeiza, VIP and WorldCar. Which did you use? Thanks for your review, we will be taking the SA cruise in Jan 2015 on the Infinity. Your posts are very helpful with the planning.

[LuAnn]

It sounds like you took a cab from the BA airport to your hotel, is that right? If so, did you reserve in advance or just get it upon arrival? I've read reviews about Tienda Leon, Taxi Ezeiza, VIP and WorldCar. Which did you use? Thanks for your review, we will be taking the SA cruise in Jan 2015 on the Infinity. Your posts are very helpful with the planning.

 

and it is easy and very inexpensive to get a cab from your hotel to the port...if you are in the main portion of BA!!! In fact...the taxis are amazing inexpensive!!! I did pre book the airport to hotel transfer and then the hotel to airport transfer....but the rest of the time we depended on the excellent taxis provided by the companies in BA. But...beware....that is going TO THE PORT. When you arrive back in BA...if you have not made prior arrangements to your hotel...then take your bags and walk up a couple of blocks and get a cab...as the taxis will say "Only 25 US dollars" for a short drive to the city if you are going to a hotel!!!! LuAnn

[grayjay]

It sounds like you took a cab from the BA airport to your hotel, is that right? If so, did you reserve in advance or just get it upon arrival? I've read reviews about Tienda Leon, Taxi Ezeiza, VIP and WorldCar. Which did you use? Thanks for your review, we will be taking the SA cruise in Jan 2015 on the Infinity. Your posts are very helpful with the planning.

We used Taxi Ezeiza for the transfer airport-hotel: excellent service! We reserved online, when arriving we found our name already posted at the booth, paid in US-$ and were accompanied to a waiting taxi that brought us to the hotel. The hotel concierge called a taxi for us to go to the port 2 days later - really cheap. Going back to the city/airport after your cruíse is the tricky part . If you want to evade the taxi mafia you have to book private transfer to meet you at the terminal.

[deeva211]

We used Taxi Ezeiza for the transfer airport-hotel: excellent service! We reserved online, when arriving we found our name already posted at the booth, paid in US-$ and were accompanied to a waiting taxi that brought us to the hotel. The hotel concierge called a taxi for us to go to the port 2 days later - really cheap. Going back to the city/airport after your cruíse is the tricky part . If you want to evade the taxi mafia you have to book private transfer to meet you at the terminal.

 

What did you pay from EZE to your hotel? Thanks.

[ghstudio]

Did I say there was a made to order pasta bar….who me? Apparenty, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t have a pasta bar. When they don’t, they have bins of prepared pasta dishes. This was fish and chips day for lunch…(not for me, but it looked halfway decent). The egg drop soup was very good, the vegetable dumplings weren’t. Two scoops of ice cream for dessert….banana rum and peach. Good..

We got to elephant island and while it’s not crystal clear, it’s clear enough to see the glacier…and there is a hole of blue above it. No, it’s not the hole in the ozone layer (although I’m sure we’re under that hole. It cleared enough for some good pictures and the sky is a glorious combination of pink and turquoise near the sun which remains hidden. Oh yes, there were 60 mph wind gusts when we arrived…..interesting standing on deck to get a picture. We’ve been sitting stationary for viewing and the winds have died down considerably. As we got close, the ship was actually leaning from the wind. Not a problem once we were stationary and the captain could turn the ship to the wind and use his thrusters to keep us in place.

Cabin comment: I decided to see what was above our cabin because it seems that starting around 7am, there is noise from above. Ahah….we are under a service room where all the dirty dishes seem to go….so they are rolling carts. If you are on the starboard side of aqua, you want 2129 or higher…..not our cabin. They did fix the door so it doesn’t whistle and moan….unfortunately, now it just leaks air so the cabin is cold. I’ll try to get it fixed again….sigh!

The naturalists are broadcasting occasional announcements from the bridge which are also on channel 16 on the TV…..so you can view from your cabin (if you are on the right side for viewing of course). No way to tell which side to recommend on this cruise because there is no way in advance to know what your real course will be. For example, we’re doing the Antarctic cruising in the opposite direction as the original itinerary.

Packing hint: make sure that you have one left and one right glove for the cold weather. You can gather from the hint what I found when I took out my gloves. Actually they are selling thinsulate leather gloves for $10.

We’ve left Antarctica. It’s an interesting place quite beautiful but we had low clouds and some mist at times. Still worth the trip. We saw a number of whales, but of course all you can really see is their water spouts and their back; we saw pods of penguins…a pod of orcas, lots of Albatross…..but no seals or other wildlife. Not quite what I expected, but my expectations were not based on much. Still enjoyable. Most of the music on the ship is provided by a singer/piano player, a guitarist and a string duo. Two of the three are really very good….but all are enjoyable. I have not heard any disco type music in the martini bar area….and I thought that was the one area that they insisted on being loud…..note: I am not complaining.

The coupons worked well the past two nights…..first night I was able to get kettle One even though it was 50 cents over the limit…and the second night, our waiter took our coupon at 7:30. The crew is incredibly friendly and leans over backwards to go the extra mile. I still don’t see officers around….but that continues as an observation, not a complaint.

The Drake Passage was a bit rough last night, but really less rough than the transatlantic on this ship around spain. Now that we are in the Atlantic again, the water is smooth with low wind (no breaking whitecaps). We are heading to Montevideo. Puerto Madryn got lost in the weather changes….oh well,, we can do that on a Buenos Aires to Valpariso cruise…I’m really glad we got to Antarctica on this one.

Catch 22: the naturalists asked us to give them pictures for a final show. That’s great and I spent an hour this morning going through my pictures to give them some of the best (albeit,not processed at all….these are just right from the camera)…and there is apparently no way to find the naturalists to give them the pictures. Guest services has no idea where they might be….etc. Oh well…….we’re at sea so not much going on…I didn’t really miss anything.

We seem to be the only ones who received the heavier weight cloth bag for concierge/aqua passengers…..others only have the cloth bag given to insides, etc.. I guess you have to ask…or in my case ask twice.

[ghstudio]

Martini bar and casino were both much busier last night. The wait at blu has really become old....every night a 15 minute or so wait. Staff in Blu is excellent, but that wait really turning me off.

 

Here's someone trying to improve on celebrity policy. B2B cruisers who are changing cabins were told that they had to stay with their luggage as it's moved. Not exactly clear what the celebrity person was thinking (or if they were thinking at all), but the folks we spoke to talked to their cabin steward who said they would take care of the move...as always. Imagine if you had to stay in your cabin and wait until the other cabin was ready...and so on. It couldn't work....

[grayjay]

What did you pay from EZE to your hotel? Thanks.

I'm not quite sure as it was in 2013, but we thought it a fair price, something around 40 $. I have just looked up the prices at their website: it is 300 Arg.pesos now = around 38 US. It's per car, not per person!

[floridatravelersforlife]

GH Studio your comments remind me of our 2010 Antarctic cruise. With regard to the itinerary, there are no givens. The storms are luck of the draw. We encountered 75 knot winds and 30 ft seas when we sailed. The sliding doors were humming. We missed the Falklands and the Argentinians on board had a little mutiny and some were kicked off at Ushuaia. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.