Live From the Sapphire, 30-Day Antarctica/SA B2B, Jan 20 - Feb 19

[azbirdmom]

15 hours ago, HotRoot said:

www.travelerscenturyclub.org

If you click on Countries &Territories, it provides a list of the 330 countries currently in the world.  There are 7 listed for Antartica.  Rules state you do not have to spend a night in the country, but you do have to step foot on land.  If your plane stops to refuel and you do not get off, it does not count.  If you have a port call and you do not get off the ship, it does not count.  They do not count a drive-by as actually being there.  This is the list and rules I follow.  Just an fyi if somebody wants to count number of countries they have been to. 

 

Those are the rules that the people who run the club you referenced developed to determine eligibility for membership in their group.  If you want to follow them, fine, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us have to.  All one has to do is look at what's being posted here and it's obvious that Ken, Mary and others are truly "visiting" Antarctica.  I don't think any one of us would be more excited to set foot on the ice than these folks are to be sailing the amazing waters at the bottom of the earth.  To each his / her own, but none of us should be minimizing the experience that these folks are having, especially when they are generously taking the time to share it with all of us.

[birdergal]

We have an aft cabin on Sapphire leaving Feb 5.  You will warm up when you get to Buenos Aires.  I'm seeing low 90's for this upcoming weekend.  Been loving your photos!  My husband and I also love wildlife and he's a birder.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, birdergal said:

We have an aft cabin on Sapphire leaving Feb 5.  You will warm up when you get to Buenos Aires.  I'm seeing low 90's for this upcoming weekend.  Been loving your photos!  My husband and I also love wildlife and he's a birder.  

Thanks! You’re going to have a great time!! And I guess that means I can put my flannel shirts away once we get to BA! 😂

 

Right now it’s around 33F down here cruising along the South Shetland Islands. I erroneously mentioned earlier that it was 26.6F because I made the mistake of getting it from the Princess App. When I checked Windy, it pretty much said it stays around 33-36F this time of year down here.
 

Edited January 28 by Ken the cruiser

[azbirdmom]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Right now it’s around 33F down here cruising along the South Shetland Islands. I erroneously mentioned earlier that it was 26.6F because I made the mistake of getting it from the Princess App. When I checked Windy, it pretty much said it stays around 33-36F this time of year down here.

 

Have you looked at the weather app on your iPhone?  When we were there from time to time it would pick up our location and would show the temperature and wind chill.  At one point the latter was in the single digits. 🥶

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Have you looked at the weather app on your iPhone?  When we were there from time to time it would pick up our location and would show the temperature and wind chill.  At one point the latter was in the single digits. 🥶

Thanks. That’s why I use Windy, which usually works pretty well regardless of where we are. Which weather app do you use that provides readings as far south as the Antarctica Peninsula?
 

 

I just figured since the temp was on the Princess App, it would be correct. But then when the Captain at Noon today said it was 35F, I knew that App was off a little. But at least it’s getting closer. It now says it’s 30.2F! Maybe that temperature reading is with the wind chill factor! 🤔

 

[azbirdmom]

I just used the default Weather app that is on the iPhone Home Screen. And what I saw was that at times it accurately populated the default “My Location “. 

 

ETA:  I guess I didn't take a screen shot of the one with the single digit temperature but this is one I thought to grab as we were exiting Antarctic waters:

 

Edited January 28 by azbirdmom

[nini]

2 hours ago, stonepebble said:

Oh My! Incredible!

We have an Aft cabin on NCL! So excited!

Chris

 

I trust it is true aft and not looking at a huge waterslide. Just curious as we have never sailed on NCL before.

[nini]

Many thanks to @Ken the cruiser for taking the time and posting these lovely photos.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, nini said:

I trust it is true aft and not looking at a huge waterslide. Just curious as we have never sailed on NCL before.

We had an aft-facing Club Balcony cabin on the NCL Jade when we did our 38-day Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai cruise and had an awesome time (see Live From thread below) and really enjoyed the aft views. We also have an aft-facing Balcony cabin booked on the NCL Star in 2025 for our Longyearbyen B2B cruise. Both of these smaller NCL ships (around 2200 passengers) are more geared for longer cruises. So no waterslides or anything like that. Just boring “old people” stuff to do. 😂

[nini]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We had an aft-facing Club Balcony cabin on the NCL Jade when we did our 38-day Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai cruise and had an awesome time (see Live From thread below) and really enjoyed the aft views. We also have an aft-facing Balcony cabin booked on the NCL Star in 2025 for our Longyearbyen B2B cruise. Both of these smaller NCL ships (around 2200 passengers) are more geared for longer cruises. So no waterslides or anything like that. Just boring “old people” stuff to do. 😂

 

DH and I are true aft fans and book the cabins with the larger balconies and some overhead coverage.....THE BEST!

 

Of course, that is our little secret. 🤨

Edited January 28 by nini

[MustBCruzn]

Ken, I've loved following your cruising blogs on the Princess, Celebrity, and HAL boards. DH and I have been tossing around the idea of an Antarctica cruise, and your photos and comments on this cruise has convinced us to do it. We just booked the Sapphire Antarctica for Jan 2025--and we were able to snag an aft balcony! Thank you for all your time and effort on this, so many of us have benefited from your work.

[PapaGoose]

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We had an aft-facing Club Balcony cabin on the NCL Jade when we did our 38-day Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai cruise and had an awesome time (see Live From thread below) and really enjoyed the aft views. We also have an aft-facing Balcony cabin booked on the NCL Star in 2025 for our Longyearbyen B2B cruise. Both of these smaller NCL ships (around 2200 passengers) are more geared for longer cruises. So no waterslides or anything like that. Just boring “old people” stuff to do. 😂

We sailed in an aft facing balcony last February on the NCL Jewel. I’ll post a photo or two and let you all guess where we went.   Awesome views!

 

 

[stonepebble]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We had an aft-facing Club Balcony cabin on the NCL Jade when we did our 38-day Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai cruise and had an awesome time (see Live From thread below) and really enjoyed the aft views. We also have an aft-facing Balcony cabin booked on the NCL Star in 2025 for our Longyearbyen B2B cruise. Both of these smaller NCL ships (around 2200 passengers) are more geared for longer cruises. So no waterslides or anything like that. Just boring “old people” stuff to do. 😂

We'll be on the Star. Won't be in any need of waterslides! haha!

I had to google Longyearbyen! I think I found your sailings...they look incredible. We have done Iceland and Greenland but did not get to Longyearbyen! ☹️ 

I need to remember to follow your adventure there!

Chris

[Flakie]

1 hour ago, PapaGoose said:

We sailed in an aft facing balcony last February on the NCL Jewel. I’ll post a photo or two and let you all guess where we went.   Awesome views!

 

 

Panama Canal is just awesome,🫶🏻 we did Ocean to Ocean last year. Partial transit on Caribbean Princess and tour from Gatun Lake to Panama. So looking forward to ‘going some of the long way round’. 😊

[Ken the cruiser]

32 minutes ago, stonepebble said:

We'll be on the Star. Won't be in any need of waterslides! haha!

I had to google Longyearbyen! I think I found your sailings...they look incredible. We have done Iceland and Greenland but did not get to Longyearbyen! ☹️ 

I need to remember to follow your adventure there!

Chris

We wanted to go when Princess was going there, but waited too long. Now the only reasonably priced cruise line that goes there is NCL, which works for us, especially when 6 of our evening meals (2 with FAS, 2 with FAS+, and 2 with our Platinum loyalty level) per leg are in one of their specialty restaurants. 😁

[stonepebble]

Oh how nice!! We enjoy them as well!

You'll laugh. I just reached out to someone who just did our sailing on the Star to inquire if all of the outdoor sights we will want to see are pretty much over by suppertime! 

Would rearrange our specialty dining....we don't want to miss a thing outdoors when sailing in Antarctica!

 

Just came across this in my reading...

‘below forty degrees south there is no law. Below fifty there is no God.’

Cape Horn is 55.9!

 

Not true for your sailing!

[Ken the cruiser]

This afternoon we continued our trek after leaving Admiralty Bay all the way to Livingston Island, at the maximum speed limit allowed of 10 knots. Needless to say it was an all day affair! 😂

 

 
It started off kind of overcast once we got into the channel.

 

 

 

 
Along the way we saw some interesting icebergs off the port side.

 

 

 

 

 

 
The scenery started picking up when we got to Greenwich Island with this unique rock formation with a glacier a little ways behind it.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then when we got to Livingston Island, the weather started to clear a little and the sun eventually started to peak out. 😁

 

 
If you look close, you will see some penguins on the righthand side of this iceberg.

 

 

 

 

 
Then while we were eating dinner, these were some of the views from our table; hence the blue tint as I took the photos through the window.

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to start heading towards Charlotte Bay where we will begin Day 3’s adventure! 😁

 

 

[azbirdmom]

Wow wow wow.  Loving the pictures!

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after another tasty Formal Night dinner and relaxing in the cabin, we headed to see the production show Do You Wanna Dance! This is the first time we’ve seen this show and thought it was quite enjoyable! 😁

 

 

However, we decided to pass on the 8:30 pm game show in the Explorers Lounge this evening, Top, Medium or Bottom, to get ready for another early start tomorrow.

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 10 - Jan 29 - Day 3 of Antarctic scenic cruising starting at Charlotte Bay

 

 

 
And we definitely can’t complain out the internet service, especially considering where we are currently at! 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, stonepebble said:

Oh how nice!! We enjoy them as well!

You'll laugh. I just reached out to someone who just did our sailing on the Star to inquire if all of the outdoor sights we will want to see are pretty much over by suppertime! 

Would rearrange our specialty dining....we don't want to miss a thing outdoors when sailing in Antarctica!

 

Just came across this in my reading...

 

‘below forty degrees south there is no law. Below fifty there is no God.’

Cape Horn is 55.9!

 

Not true for your sailing!

I don’t know about all that. But my DW saw a sign at the Explorers Lounge bar while I was ordering my triple Baileys after dinner drink that said the minimum drinking age on the ship was 18!  😂

[Mary loves to travel]

Ken,

 

here’s another angle on the iceberg with penguins on the ledge (lower right)

 

[Ken the cruiser]

My DW and I were looking at the route the Sapphire has taken so far on our journey since we left San Antonio and were amazed at how many ships, large and small, are cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula on any given day this time of year!
 

 
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9228186

 

Which begs the question, is each of these expedition ship’s “zodiac port stops” listed in their published itineraries somehow registered with some central source to minimize overlaps? If so, who, since Antarctica is not a sovereign country? Maybe the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO)?

 

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) was founded in 1991 by seven companies. The primary goal of the association is to "advocate and promote the practice of safe and environmentally responsible private-sector travel to the Antarctic". 
Since the group's inception membership has grown to over 100 members. In addition there are tour groups working outside the association which may not follow its safety and environmental guidelin…

I scanned their website, but did not see any specific reference to this question.

 

https://iaato.org/about-iaato/our-mission/

Or is it just first come, first serve, and if one expedition ship’s “scheduled” landing stop is occupied, do they just go find another spot for their passengers to go ashore at? 🤔

 

We have no idea. We just found it fascinating as there are A LOT of ships cruising around the Peninsula every day! We just thought it was interesting how so many expedition ships can operate effectively in this one unique area. 😁

Edited January 29 by Ken the cruiser

[stonepebble]

I agree....

I don't know if you saw it....but way back I asked you if you saw other ships while you were cruising around Antarctica?

There are soooo many ships down there!

So other than in port...where I'm sure you are seeing other ships...do you see them when you are sailing around Paradise Bay? Elephant Island?

Chris

[Mary loves to travel]

It’s surprising how many ships show up as being here!   My understanding is that times in each location are carefully choreographed, so we all feel we’re the only ones here.  
I don’t know how schedules are coordinated or by whom, but it’s been great.  
 

Mary