Punta Arenas Closed?? Schedule Adjustments??

[TLCOhio]

Have a friend getting ready for some sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to the areas of South America, including stopping in Punta Arenas. There they will depart this one cruise, be in that areas and then catch onboard another cruise on another line heading south to Antarctica. Question? Any recent reports if Punta Arenas would be fogged out and/or facing weather conditions that would not allow their ship to dock there? What are the options? What happened? How were those adjustments made? Appreciate any experiences as to how the cruise lines adapted and the options offered?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 166,623 views for this posting.

[davwen81]

Terry, there have been several posts over the years that Punta Arenas can be closed due to high winds or rough seas, as it's a tender port. I think that is a very high risk strategy!

 

 

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[Northern Aurora]

We missed it in 2015. Port authorities closed the port due to high winds.

[TiogaCruiser]

Terry, there have been several posts over the years that Punta Arenas can be closed due to high winds or rough seas, as it's a tender port. I think that is a very high risk strategy!

 

 

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We docked in 2013. Perhaps there is more than one place that the ships come in to????

[maryann ns]

I would not risk this without a couple days in between. Punta Arenas is frequently windy.

[capriccio]

Are they on a ship that will require tenders or be able to dock? We were there on Christmas Day. There was no dock large enough to handle the Crown Princess (but a Seaborn ship was docked at a location outside of town). We were able to tender in but, as our captain had warned us, there is absolutely no guarantee that a ship will make it.

Edited January 13, 2017 by capriccio

[TLCOhio]

Are they on a ship that will require tenders or be able to dock? We were there on Christmas Day. There was no dock large enough to handle the Crown Princess (but a Seaborn ship was docked at a location outside of town). We were able to tender in but, as our captain had warned us, there is absolutely no guarantee that a ship will make it.

 

Appreciate ALL of these nice and helpful follow-ups with your various experience for this unique part of the world. My friend is on the Cunard Victoria that is due in the far south port on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2107. She is aware of the questions and risks!! That ship carries up to a little over 2,000 passengers and a crew of 900. Not a smaller ship!!

 

Keep share any experiences, both successful and those not working out.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 46,852 views for these postings.

[J-D]

Another reason why a ship could miss getting to Punta Arenas (or any other port) is the occurrence of a delay elsewhere on the cruise. In February 2010, our scheduled stop at Punta Arenas (aboard Star Princess) was cancelled because our departure from Ushuaia the previous day was delayed for several hours by high winds at Ushuaia.

 

John

[Terpnut]

Our most recent sailing nearly missed Punta Arenas but the weather forecast was apparently overly pessimistic! I did see a few people disembarking so I assume many people do the redirect to Antarctica!

 

I wonder if the cruise line, in the event she cannot anchor near Punta Arenas and must cancel the port stop, has an alternate, less windy location in the Beagle Channel just to disembark certain passengers? This would allow the captain to safely skip the port stop and disembark the handful of passengers. I think it's one thing to commit to safe, full-day tendering services for 4,000+ passengers and crew, and a whole other thing to disembark just 6 people. Of course, only the cruise line would be able to confirm this.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Terpnut

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate these added follow-ups. Just wanted to update that everything worked fine for my friend yesterday in being able to get into this port. The ship captain arrived a little earlier than originally scheduled as higher winds were expected later in the day. She got off of the Cunard ship fine and will be able to hook up with the Silversea Explorer ship in order to go down to Antarctica. Success for her and her husband!!! BUT, the whole situation does make one aware of the challenging weather in this part of the world.

 

THANKS for the sharing and postings! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 208,950 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923