January 7th NCL Star cruise to Antarctica , Argentina and Chile with a 10 day stay photo travelogue

[scubacruiserx2]

  Tomorrow is 4 weeks from our departure day to Travel to Buenos Aires . We hope to spend the night in Miami for an early morning departure to B.A . where will spend the night before boarding the NCL Star on Saturday January 7th for a 2 week cruise . We had considered the holiday cruise that leaves on December 22 but at twice the price we decided to spend the difference on a 6 day Patagonia stay after the cruise . 

 The last time that we went to Antarctica was on the HAL Zaandam during the holidays with Christmas scheduled in Ushuaia ( cancelled because of wind ) and we left Antarctica on New Years Eve 2018 . 

 

The NCL Star 

 

 

Wikipedia

 

The fireworks leaving Antarctica on the Zaandam at midnight , NYE 2018/2019

 

 

 

[tncruiser11]

Im on the same sailing and getting excited.  It may just be a typo but shouldnt it be 3 weeks til departure?  At 4 weeks we should be sailing.  Please dont make me spend an extra week at work.  Im even excited for check in Saturday night at midnight.

Edited December 14, 2023 by tncruiser11

[ColdCruise]

You two have a great cruise. I did an expedition cruise to south of the circle in February. The Antarctic is just surreal and awesome. I hope you get close enough to shore to see the penguin rookeries!

I’m trying to convince my husband to do a mainstream cruise line (he doesn’t want to do the Drake in a small ship, or maybe not at all).

 

I’ll be following your thread @scubacruiser2 and hope to use it to convince him….just have smooth sailing!

Edited December 14, 2023 by ColdCruise

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, tncruiser11 said:

Im on the same sailing and getting excited.  It may just be a typo but shouldnt it be 3 weeks til departure?  At 4 weeks we should be sailing.  Please dont make me spend an extra week at work.  Im even excited for check in Saturday night at midnight.

 

 You are correct , it is 3 weeks ! To quote the great fashion icon Barbie , " Math class is tough ". I knew I should have paid attention . ☺️

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

10 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

You two have a great cruise. I did an expedition cruise to south of the circle in February. The Antarctic is just surreal and awesome. I hope you get close enough to shore to see the penguin rookeries!

I’m trying to convince my husband to do a mainstream cruise line (he doesn’t want to do the Drake in a small ship, or maybe not at all).

 

I’ll be following your thread @scubacruiser2 and hope to use it to convince him….just have smooth sailing!

 

 Which cruise line  did you do the expedition on ?  We were going to go on the Seabourne Quest but it left from and returned to Ushuaia , missing some of our favorite ports on S.A. So for the same price we got a nicer cabin ( Neptune Suite ) and stayed 9 days in Patagonia . Plus we made the Falkland Islands with their Penquin rookeries . So no boots on the ground in Antarctia , but thrilled with our cruise and the mountains in Patagonia . And we did an up close cruise to 5 glaciers in a smaller boat where you could almost touch the ice . We were going to Iceland this year in the Summer but when we saw the price on this cruise we changed .

Edited December 14, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[cruiseny4life]

21 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

We were going to Iceland this year in the Summer but when we saw the price on this cruise we changed .

This sentence made me take a look. HOLY COW!!!! If I had the vacation time, I'd be joining you now. A suite can be had for $2,499 per person. Y'ALL retired folks on Cruise Critic better get booking and having a party onboard. For that price, you get to see so much for pretty much sneezing. If you couldn't tell, I'm more than super duper jealous!!

 

 

[ColdCruise]

@scubacruiserx2 

 

 I booked my polar dream vacation on World Explorer, which was operated by the Portuguese ship owners/company and the expedition part was operated by Quark expeditions.

I am definitely hooked and need to go back to Antarctica - it’s even more awesome than Greenland and Svalbard … penguins over polar bears!

 

Since my husband didn’t want to go, I was looking for a single share option to avoid the single supplement (expensive enough at the twin share rate - we cancelled 2 NCL cruises to offset the cost). I specifically only considered expeditions that were planned for crossing the circle and getting “feet wet” on the actual continent. At the ever escalating cost, it might have been my only opportunity and, if so, I wanted the whole shebang!  

 

NOW I could be happy with a “sail by” hence trying to talk hubs into the NCL Star, which seems to do this trip once a year. But if he isn’t convinced, I’m also planning a 2024/2025 season expedition with a friend. It’s already built into the travel budget 🙂 Did I say I was hooked?

 

Unfortunately we just came back from a 17 day vacation (incl Viva’s TA) or else I would be jumping on that family suite at $4998 that @cruiseny4life posted! But can’t do January - just got back from that long vacation, changing jobs, and have a paid for 14 day cruise end of February. We have an annual travel insurance plan, so it doesn’t include CFAR….

 

BTW, a coworker (well not exactly but in same office) went to Antarctica the same time I did (well a couple days off) and he went on the Greg Mortimer with an Australian company. We compared experiences and if possible (aka affordable) I’d go with his expedition operator over Quark - they had way more time expeditioning and viewing wildlife than we did. About same number of pax but more time in the zodiacs (and more $$). He had some great whale photos.
 

I started learning to kayak this summer cuz I want to do that in Antarctica. I canoed a lot as a teen/20-something but never tried a kayak. On my trip, a group of either kayakers or SUPers came across 2 sleeping whales and hung out watching them breathe and bob up & down in the water. It would make my trip!

[ColdCruise]

Oh, btw @scubacruiserx2 some Antarctic expeditions offer opportunity to scuba dive. There’s a hefty price ($600?) and you have to prove a certain number of dives & I think have dry suit experience. But … Scuba 🤿 with possibly penguins seals and whales!!  (Not scuba qualified myself although I started a course then broke some ribs & collarbone falling off a horse)

[scubacruiserx2]

  We just checked our Iceland ( May 18th ) cruise price and the same room is available as we are booked in currently - at almost twice the price . The flights for us are much better to B.A. than to London . It's an 8 hour flight instead of 10 hours and they are both day flights - no red eye flight , both were from MIA . The cruise before ours was like the one that we did on HAL . But the Holiday cruise on the Star is a minimum of $ 1000 less and no kiddos on Holiday Vacation ! 😊🙂

  We love the kids and grandkids but our next vacation will be with them next Thanksgiving back on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam - on of our favorite ships . We did an Alaska to the Caribbean trip on her last year and you can see our photo review here if you would like .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

42 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

Oh, btw @scubacruiserx2 some Antarctic expeditions offer opportunity to scuba dive. There’s a hefty price ($600?) and you have to prove a certain number of dives & I think have dry suit experience. But … Scuba 🤿 with possibly penguins seals and whales!!  (Not scuba qualified myself although I started a course then broke some ribs & collarbone falling off a horse)

 

   We love to vacation in colder weather , but not to dive . The coldest weather that I dove in was in the upper 50's - looking for Moby Lobster . So no dry suit experence , only wet suits . There's and old divers adage that  says roughly , There are 2 kinds of divers . Those who pee in their wet suits and those who lie about it . 

 FYI , we did dive with whale sharks and Manta Rays in Cancun . The Whale Sharks are the largest fish in the world .

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

16 hours ago, tncruiser11 said:

Im on the same sailing and getting excited.  It may just be a typo but shouldnt it be 3 weeks til departure?  At 4 weeks we should be sailing.  Please dont make me spend an extra week at work.  Im even excited for check in Saturday night at midnight.

 

Have you signed up for our Roll Call yet ? I don't remember seeing your name there . Here's the link

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

Oh, btw  (Not scuba qualified myself although I started a course then broke some ribs & collarbone falling off a horse)

 

 So sorry about your injury and we hope that you are better , but a point well taken . This is the tour that we are scheduled to take on the day before we board the Star . And guess who will not be riding a horse .

https://www.iconicbuenosaires.com/gaucho.php

 

 Being from a warm climate and a bit older this is more our speed . A deep dive to cool us off . About 100' deep we see an upside down Queen Angel fish and a Wife fish .

 

 

[TQuila]

We're following you in Feb, so I'm interested in your experience - in particular, I'll be fascinated whether you dock or tender in Punta Arenas. The website says tender, but cruise confirmation says dock. I'm guessing tender is correct, but would not object in the slightest if we dock! 

[scubacruiserx2]

54 minutes ago, TQuila said:

We're following you in Feb, so I'm interested in your experience - in particular, I'll be fascinated whether you dock or tender in Punta Arenas. The website says tender, but cruise confirmation says dock. I'm guessing tender is correct, but would not object in the slightest if we dock! 

 

We've been there 3 times and it was always a dock . The first 2 downtown and the last one was a cab ride to the city . The wind was so fierce that the Captain was afraid that it would snap the lines so 2 tugboats pressed it to the pier .

 

 

 

 

One of the tug boats

 

[ColdCruise]

10 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

   We love to vacation in colder weather , but not to dive . The coldest weather that I dove in was in the upper 50's - looking for Moby Lobster . So no dry suit experence , only wet suits . There's and old divers adage that  says roughly , There are 2 kinds of divers . Those who pee in their wet suits and those who lie about it . 

 FYI , we did dive with whale sharks and Manta Rays in Cancun . The Whale Sharks are the largest fish in the world .

 

 

 

OMG @scubacruiserx2 - you filmed that yourself ! That had to have been an awesome encounter !! And the whale shark was at snorkel depth too -  💃 

Being in the water with the whale sharks has been on my bucket list ever since we went to the Galapago. On our 2nd part of the cruise, we got a new naturalist on board. He had served in Ecuador’s navy as a diver, had a ton of diving certs and had helped film shark week I think off Wolf Island. He shared some video he took free diving with whale sharks…..another surreal experience. He was the person who inspired me to learn to scuba. I should go back to the dive school and retry wearing the BCD & tanks - it’s been several years and I’m not getting younger! (6 broken ribs & collar bone - hurt when I tried the tanks on a year after my riding accident, the scuba shop gave me a prorated refund …. Really nice guy).

 

I think we’re sisters 😉 from different mothers. I love traveling to cold weather areas, nature is so much more present and unspoiled. I loved Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Alaska and especially Antarctica. 
 

OTOH, now all my horses have gone over the rainbow bridge (at 26, 29 & 35), I have no interest in going outside when it’s sub-zero at home … I like visiting cold, not living it. 🤣
 

Thanks for sharing your video and photos!!

[scubacruiserx2]

7 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

OMG @scubacruiserx2 - you filmed that yourself ! That had to have been an awesome encounter !! And the whale shark was at snorkel depth too -  💃 

Being in the water with the whale sharks has been on my bucket list ever since we went to the Galapago. On our 2nd part of the cruise, we got a new naturalist on board. He had served in Ecuador’s navy as a diver, had a ton of diving certs and had helped film shark week I think off Wolf Island. He shared some video he took free diving with whale sharks…..another surreal experience. He was the person who inspired me to learn to scuba. I should go back to the dive school and retry wearing the BCD & tanks - it’s been several years and I’m not getting younger! (6 broken ribs & collar bone - hurt when I tried the tanks on a year after my riding accident, the scuba shop gave me a prorated refund …. Really nice guy).

 

I think we’re sisters 😉 from different mothers. I love traveling to cold weather areas, nature is so much more present and unspoiled. I loved Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Alaska and especially Antarctica. 
 

OTOH, now all my horses have gone over the rainbow bridge (at 26, 29 & 35), I have no interest in going outside when it’s sub-zero at home … I like visiting cold, not living it. 🤣
 

Thanks for sharing your video and photos!!

 

 The Whale Sharks and Manta Rays were done with a mask  , snorkel and fins - No Scuba allowed and we took our oldest grandson . Here's a couple of photos with Scuba in Cozumel - our favorite dive place . You are not suppose to handle the wildlife but the wildlife can handle you .

 

 

 There's a reclusive fish found only in Cozumel but our friend found a way to lure them to the light . The lure is only a skirt - no hooks .

 

 

When we saw the Whale Sharks in Cancun we also saw Manta Rays as they both feed on Krill .

 

 

 

 We consider diving more easy that snorkeling as when you are in the water you are weightless when you find you find your equilibrium  point . We breathe very relaxed and ride the current . A deep breath will make you rise and a deep exhalation will make you sink . It's very relaxing being weightless . After surfacing we inflate our vest and wiggle out and the crew will lift the vest and tanks on to the boat . 

 The Splended Toadfish

 

 

Fly like an Eagle Ray

 

 

Fly like a turtle

 

 

Saddle up your Seahorse

 

 

A Great Southern Ray sandwiched between divers

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[ColdCruise]

We saw a ginormous Mara ray in Galapagos. Unfortunately we were just rib boating back to the boat after time ashore. One of the naturalists spotted something by a large rock so we zipped over to look at it. This manta was coming up out of the water, so gracefully for something that was probably 12ft across. Another amazing sight. 
 

You have some cool memories - what type of camera were you using for the underwater shots? 

[scubacruiserx2]

It was the first Digital camera that I ever owned - a Sealife DC 600 with 6 mp . The neat thing about it was that it could be removed from it's underwater case for land use . The first time that I used it out of it's case was in Ushuaia on the NCL Dream in 2007.

 

 

 Here's a photo from the NCL Pearl on it's first cruise from Miami on Halloween . It had a bowling alley with bumper pads in the gutters for kids to bowl .  It also had a Teppanyaki and here's a photo of Pat and our oldest grandson who had just turned 4 on that trip .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Star cruise Sunday January 7th thru Sunday January 21st , 2024

 

 

The Itinerary

1-7 Board the Star depart  B.A .18:45

1-8 Montevideo 0800 - 1600

1-9 @ Sea

1-10 Puerto Madryn 0700 -1600 

1-11 @Sea

1-12 Punta Arenas , Chile 0800 -1600

1-13 Ushuaia 10:00 - 1700

1-14 The Drake lake or the Drake shake ?

1-15 Paradise Bay , Antarctica

1-16 Elephant Island the South Shetland Islands

1-17 Another Drake crossing

1-18 Falkland Islands 0600 - 1600 

1-19 @ Sea

1-20 @Sea

1-21 B.A. @ 05:45 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Star cruise Sunday January 7th thru Sunday January 21st , 2024

 

 

The Itinerary

1-7 Board the Star depart  B.A .18:45

1-8 Montevideo 0800 - 1600

1-9 @ Sea

1-10 Puerto Madryn 0700 -1600 

1-11 @Sea

1-12 Punta Arenas , Chile 0800 -1600

1-13 Ushuaia 10:00 - 1700

1-14 The Drake lake or the Drake shake ?

1-15 Paradise Bay , Antarctica

1-16 Elephant Island the South Shetland Islands

1-17 Another Drake crossing

1-18 Falkland Islands 0600 - 1600 

1-19 @ Sea

1-20 @Sea

1-21 B.A. @ 05:45 

1-21 Flying South for the Winter in El Calafate

1-22 Glacier cruise tour for 5 glaciers

1-23 Torres del Paine , Chile . Involves a double boarder crossing and a 16 hour day !

1-24 Car rental and Perito Moreno Glacier

1-25 Drive 3 hours to El Chalten with no gas stations on the way

1-26 Light hiking El Chalten

1-27 Return car to El Calafate airport and return to B.A. for the night

1-28 Flight to MIA where our TA will drive us back to Palm Beach County . It's the Summer Y'all in South America so we will need Florida casual for B.A. and Puffers , hats , and gloves for the South . Whew ! And then ,Winter in Florida , the Lord willing .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 I took this photo in Ushuaia with my Sealife and sent it to them and they used it to help promote their camera .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Some photos from Buenos Aires in 2019

 

To enter or leave your ship you must use a bus

 

 

Floralis Genérica is a metal sculpture that opens and closes during the day

 

La Boca

 

 

 

 

This is the most famous grave in Buenos Aires - Eva Peron Duarte

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

On 12/14/2023 at 9:39 AM, ColdCruise said:

@scubacruiserx2 

 

 I booked my polar dream vacation on World Explorer, which was operated by the Portuguese ship owners/company and the expedition part was operated by Quark expeditions.
 

BTW, a coworker (well not exactly but in same office) went to Antarctica the same time I did (well a couple days off) and he went on the Greg Mortimer with an Australian company. We compared experiences and if possible (aka affordable) I’d go with his expedition operator over Quark - they had way more time expeditioning and viewing wildlife than we did. About same number of pax but more time in the zodiacs (and more $$). He had some great whale photos.
 

 

I am very excited to follow @scubacruiserx2's Star cruise, and apologies to @scubacruiserx2 for the brief hijack here. This review makes me want to return to Antarctica.

 

I was also on an expedition with Quark. Though I was not on the World Explorer but on an older, smaller ship for a 20+ day expedition, I had the thrill of my life exploring the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica Peninsula. We were out on the zodiacs virtually every day when we were not sailing the Drake Passage or the open ocean, often twice a day. It was an otherworldly experience to be walking amongst the penguins and the elephant seals or kayaking next to minke whales.

 

I understand being hooked.

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Sugar Magnolia

[scubacruiserx2]

12 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

I am very excited to follow @scubacruiserx2's Star cruise, and apologies to @scubacruiserx2 for the brief hijack here. This review makes me want to return to Antarctica.

 

I was also on an expedition with Quark. Though I was not on the World Explorer but on an older, smaller ship for a 20+ day expedition, I had the thrill of my life exploring the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica Peninsula. We were out on the zodiacs virtually every day when we were not sailing the Drake Passage or the open ocean, often twice a day. It was an otherworldly experience to be walking amongst the penguins and the elephant seals or kayaking next to minke whales.

 

I understand being hooked.

 

 

 No worries @Sugar Magnolia  and thankyou for writing in . Btw , we think that Antarctica is the topic , the Star is how we have chozen to get there .

[Sugar Magnolia]

5 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 No worries @Sugar Magnolia  and thankyou for writing in . Btw , we think that Antarctica is the topic , the Star is how we have chozen to get there .

Yes, Antarctica is the real star here 😊