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

[scubacruiserx2]

 Good morning @valemart_1 . Today is officially Spring with 12 hours of daylight and night here in Palm Beach County . Sunrise and Sunset are 0730 and 1930 . It is 0500 here so I'm still on BA time !

 I know you and your husband must be excited about your TA and visit to Portugal and we are excited for you also . I know that you like a good story so I will share one . It's a way that we have got a good room for not much money in the past and it still works today . 

 We were booked on the Star for a trip to Iceland in the same cabin that we had in Argentina - at a higher price from May 18 - May 20th .

 We went to Antarctica instead of course ,  but I decided to try to book the same cruise this morning . The most expensive was a Penthouse balcony SC at $8179 344 sq ' with a 65 sq ' balcony .

 

 

 

 But if we wanted a larger room at a lower price we would pick a Family Suite SP  . $ 5979 for 495 sq ' . So if you wouldn't miss a balcony you could have 100 more square feet for $2000 less !

 

 

 

[valemart_1]

15 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 Good morning @valemart_1 . Today is officially Spring with 12 hours of daylight and night here in Palm Beach County . Sunrise and Sunset are 0730 and 1930 . It is 0500 here so I'm still on BA time !

 I know you and your husband must be excited about your TA and visit to Portugal and we are excited for you also . I know that you like a good story so I will share one . It's a way that we have got a good room for not much money in the past and it still works today . 

 We were booked on the Star for a trip to Iceland in the same cabin that we had in Argentina - at a higher price from May 18 - May 20th .

 We went to Antarctica instead of course ,  but I decided to try to book the same cruise this morning . The most expensive was a Penthouse balcony SC at $8179 344 sq ' with a 65 sq ' balcony .

 

 

 

 But if we wanted a larger room at a lower price we would pick a Family Suite SP  . $ 5979 for 495 sq ' . So if you wouldn't miss a balcony you could have 100 more square feet for $2000 less !

 

 

 

Thanks for the information. What a difference in price! But we couldn´t do without our balcony, we use it a lot and on warm days we like to sit outside and have our breakfast there!

I must sign out now – I have some serious researching to do for our TA and we haven´t booked any shore excursions yet! Enjoy your next cruise!!!

[scubacruiserx2]

11 hours ago, valemart_1 said:

Thanks for the information. What a difference in price! But we couldn´t do without our balcony, we use it a lot and on warm days we like to sit outside and have our breakfast there!

I must sign out now – I have some serious researching to do for our TA and we haven´t booked any shore excursions yet! Enjoy your next cruise!!!

 

 We certainly understand and share your your love of TA's and  balconies . Our first visit to Europe was on NCL in 2006 and we had a forward facing window , but no balcony . It was a common overlook that functioned as a common balcony , so no privacy or meals there . And so we learned .

 When we took our first TA in 2009 it was from West to East so no red eye flight to Europe . We had booked a balcony on the Celebrity Constellation from our home port of Ft. Lauderdale to London in April . We watched for an upgrade and when they released a Family suite for about $ 300 more we pounced on it . It was our first Aft facing balcony and it was huge , #7199 ! 

 

 

 

In Ft. Lauderdale

 

 

 

 

And breakfast at sea and room and time to sun ourselves !

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 8 baby pineapples so far .

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our first port was South of us on the next morning in Nassau .

 

 

 

 

 

From the ship we could see Atlantis

 

 

 

But our hearts and stomachs were set on lunch at Fish Fry

 

https://www.eater.com/2016/11/10/13557214/fish-fry-bahamas-nassau

 

We did take the bus there but someone from there had passed away and the funeral was that day so all the people that normally work there were going to the funeral , so they were closed for lunch .

 

 

We went back to the ship and considered the Pirate Museum but we're not big fans of Pirates so it was lunch on the air conditioned ship and a nap instead of the heat .

 

Edited March 16 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 A quick walk thru of FV 7199 . The door has a private hall that help keep the room quite .

 

 

 

 Lots of closets 

 

 

Main BR and looking to the 2nd BR with a sliding door and the balcony

 

 

Looking back at the closets and bathroom and big screen TV

 

 

Second BR with pull out bed and TV.

 

 

 We found a video on Youtube that shows the room after an upgrade that shows it better .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 A map of Nassau

 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Cruise+Port,+Nassau,+Nassau,+The+Bahamas/Fish+Fry,+Nassau,+The+Bahamas/@25.0658668,-77.3514724,14.06z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x892f7d4a48959425:0x1464342772704690!2m2!1d-77.3398253!2d25.0824406!1m5!1m1!1s0x892f7d2752ea6adb:0xf208e74b33db1629!2m2!1d-77.3583928!2d25.0799068!3e0?entry=ttu

[scubacruiserx2]

  We had a 2 day cruise to one of our favorite islands - Bermuda coming up next .

Edited March 16 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 It takes about a hour and a half to safely navigate the channel to Bermuda , but the crew did a great job with the markers so close sometimes , that it seemed like you could almost touch them .

 But the NCL Dawn wasn't so lucky , in 2015 , she ran aground in Bermuda .

 

http://fox8.com/2015/05/19/norwegian-cruise-ship-runs-aground-near-bermuda/

 

 Arrival at the Dockyard in Bermuda

 

 

 

 

 

  We had an overnight stay so we purchased a 2 day pass to the public Bus and Ferry to Hamilton for $25 . We hopped the bus at it's origin in the Dockyard and rode to Horseshoe Beach . We had to walk down a bluff to get to the rocks at Horseshoe Beach .

 

 

 

 

 

 From there we walked along some of the best beaches that we have ever seem to Warwick Bay where we walked up the hill to catch the bus at the street .

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.2535827,-64.8183897,16.77z?entry=ttu

Edited March 17 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Horseshoe Bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had to walk around these rocks by the water . Every time a wave would come in it would cover the sand walkway so we had to time it between waves .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to walk up toward the road here

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a pit stop here where you had to climb up a step in order to be seated on the throne  

 

 

 

The area where we ascended to meet the bus

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 As we got closer to the city of Hamilton the bus got more busy with kids from school 

 

 

 

We got off at a Park

 

 

And a little later there was a Town Crier competition . This video is from 2015

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We ate lunch in Hamilton and took the quicker water ferry back to the ship .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  Welcome to South Florida in the Spring !

Today 91 F = 32.7 C heat before a cool front and some rain

 Tomorrow 73 F = 22.7 C to 52 F = 11.11 C ( known as French fries in a Volleyball game score ) tomorrow evening .

[scubacruiserx2]

 A small walk around the Connie circa 2009 .

Deck 10

 

Solarium

 

 

Ocean liners special dining

 

 

Food at Ocean liners

 

 

Unknown deck greenhouse

 

 

 

Deck 4

 

Grand Foyer

 

 

Main Dining Room

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 It looked rainy the next day so we did the bus ride around the island .

 

 

 

 We stopped for the smallest drawbridge in the would but it didn't need to open .

 

 

 

The Crystal caves . It was raining so we ducked inside literally .

 

 

 

Leaving Bermuda for the Azores . The small ship was the Pacific Princess - The Love Boat .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  A couple more photos from Bermuda . The lighthouse and the Eclipse from the the top of the Fortress . And a view of the Eclipse from the ferry just ahead of the storm . Click twice on the photos to enlarge them .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  We loved our  aft view corner for sunning and the wake view and since we were headed East it always had a sunset .

 

 

 

 

We indulged in the Chef's table with a wine pairing

 

 

 

 

And an over the top show . These distractions made the 2 sea days to the Azores more relaxing .

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 We made it to the island of São Miguel Island and the port of Ponta Delgada on a rainy day .

 

 

 

 At the port was the Solstice , the 6 year younger sister of the Connie and the first of the Solstice Class .

 

 

 We met our guide Carlo of Amazing Tours and he and they were .

We headed out toward Furnas .

 

 

 

 

The waterfall in the distance was pretty impressive and with the steam coming from the hidden volcanic vents , it reminded us of a Jurassic Park . You can see it here in the video clip :

 

 

 

   We went to a volcanic area with boiling water and mud and there are holes where they place pots of meats and vegetables and it slow cooks a stew over hours .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  We did stop at a very pretty lake but we're not sure which one .

 

 

 

And they were mooving the cows from pasture to pasture down the road 

 

 

 

 The pretty town of Ribeira Grande 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribeira_Grande,_Azores

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the Azores in our wake and headed for Lisbon 

 

Edited March 19 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  Unlike the Azores , the day before entering Lisbon was dry , sunny and cool exciting us more for our first visit to a large city on this trip . Entering Lisbon on the Tagus River we first passed the Torre de Belem 

 

 

 

Followed by the Monument of the Discoveries

 

 

Soon passing under the Ponte 25 de April Bridge ( Lisbon's version of the Golden Gate )

 

 

 Tying up in the port our plan was simple ( in our simple minds ) .

Take a waiting cab up to the Castelo de San Jorge and walk down thru the Alfama to the water . From there we would walk follow the water back to Belem and view on land what we had seen on the water . 

 

 

São Jorge Castle  Photo from Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 What we didn't realize was it was a 5 mile ( 8Km ) walk . So when we arrived at our refreshment place we needed a pick me up .

 

 

 This was a staged photo . Pat in the take out line . If you go inside you can see them baking and we sat down to an Expresso and a couple of the delicious custard tarts . They also sold them by the box so we took some to give to the cabin attendants and some for an afternoon treat on the balcony overlooking Lisbon .

 

 

 

https://pasteisdebelem.pt/en/

[scubacruiserx2]

 We just scratched the surface of Lisbon and Portugal and we feel that we would be remiss to just show our first visit to this great city  

 It is the second oldest capital in Europe but one of the oldest cities in the world . It's also the the most western point of continental Europe . 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon

 

Sailing in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The large statue of Christ the King

 

 

We were not alone

 

 

 

 

 

A two lip ship

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We are currently and for the past week have been victimized by multiple attempts of identity theft . We just got another attempt to open a bank account in our name . Also on the home front a pregnant female racoon has chewed 2 holes in the roof and is trying to nest in our attic . The trapper has set the trap so that we can humanely remove the racoon to a better place for us and them . It is raining for the next 2 days here and he advised us to leave the holes open until it is trapped . We don't like rain coming thru our roof and we hope and pray for a peaceful and reasonably priced solution for these 2 issues . We hope that if you pray , please remember us in your prayers . Thank you and love to all . Pat and Joe .

[scubacruiserx2]

 We explored more of Lisbon with friends that we met on CC and the aid of a local guide . This allowed us to see and do more with other kindred spirits . We started at the cruise port and our first stop was the Monument of the Discoveries . We were given an hour to explore .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_of_the_Discoveries

 

 We met back here and our guide brought us Pasteis de Belem

 

 

We first walked to the Monument to the Discoveries where we recognized Vasco de Gamma , Ferdinand Magellan the first man to circumnavigate the World and Prince Henry the navigator  who led the Age of Discovery at the head of the monument holding a Caravel, a fast , light ship that he invented that allowed the discovery of the new world .

 

The light at our back

 

 

The light in our face

 

 

The Compass Rose and the Monastery in the distance

 

 

 

 

The compass rose and mappa mundi, a gift from the Union of South Africa created from beige, black and red limestone. Jerónimos Monastery is in the background. From Wikipedia

 

The monastery line was too long so we went into the Church

The lady begging in front of the church we gave some money and asked for a photo , but she wouldn't smile .

 

 

Edited March 23 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 The monastery line

 

 

 The Church Iglesia de Santa Maria de Belen