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

[dockman]

Have you noticed any problem with exhaust/smoke on the back deck pool?  A friend said that the smoke blew down around that back pool?  Maybe just his cruise but i am booked on sapphire for alaska and i always spend a lot of time on that back pool deck on other princess ships.

 

thanks for any info if i should be concerned...

[zanzibargirl]

On 1/30/2024 at 2:05 AM, lots-of-km2 said:

 

Have been fortunate to do this route twice, in Dec 2022 and Dec 2023, so I've been able to test out my packing choices twice.   The trick is to have enough stuff to feel comfortable outside at all times, but without taking up a lot of volume or weight in the suitcase.

 

An ultralight packable down jacket is a great choice. If you have a waterproof windbreaker that you can layer over it when it's windy or wet or extra chilly (and split up for use in milder weather further north), even better.  A lightweight polar fleece tuque that covers the ears and a pair of lightweight polar fleece gloves or mitts are also good to pack.   If you're planning on spending extended periods of time on deck or on a balcony, lightweight thermal base layers help.  They don't take up much packing room, and can be combined with your regular wardrobe to add warmth.   And a couple of pairs of thermal socks are helpful too.

 

For people who don't want to pack down jackets, Princess Shops onboard does sell an ultralight down jacket that stuffs into its own travel pillow. They're reasonably priced, and friends who bought them seem satisfied with them.

Do you happen to know how much the jackets are on board? Thanks

[KLM3164]

3 hours ago, zanzibargirl said:

Do you happen to know how much the jackets are on board? Thanks

I think when we sailed on Princess in November they were either $50 or $55. They have gone up in price as I paid $40 for mine but that was over 5 years ago. Even though they have gone up I would pay the higher price for another if I ever have to replace it as this is my one go to item that goes with me on every trip whether, cold or warm weather. 

[stonepebble]

Question for Ken...or anyone who knows...

On Cruise mapper sometimes the Ship icon is a circle rather than the usual triangular shape.

When it's a circle icon it won't show you it's path.

Does anyone know what it means...why the difference?

Thanks,

Chris

[EDVM96]

2 hours ago, stonepebble said:

On Cruise mapper sometimes the Ship icon is a circle rather than the usual triangular shape.

When it's a circle icon it won't show you it's path.

Does anyone know what it means...why the difference?

If it's the circle, it means the ship isn't moving at the moment. It's at anchor or at the pier.
Triangle and path only show up when the ship is moving.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, stonepebble said:

Question for Ken...or anyone who knows...

On Cruise mapper sometimes the Ship icon is a circle rather than the usual triangular shape.

When it's a circle icon it won't show you it's path.

Does anyone know what it means...why the difference?

Thanks,

Chris

 

27 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

If it's the circle, it means the ship isn't moving at the moment. It's at anchor or at the pier.
Triangle and path only show up when the ship is moving.

For example, here’s what it looks like when we’re in port, like we are right now.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, dockman said:

Have you noticed any problem with exhaust/smoke on the back deck pool?  A friend said that the smoke blew down around that back pool?  Maybe just his cruise but i am booked on sapphire for alaska and i always spend a lot of time on that back pool deck on other princess ships.

 

thanks for any info if i should be concerned...

Unfortunately, we haven’t even been out there anytime on this cruise. Maybe someone else on our cruise that is following this thread might have a better insight on this. Sorry.

[EDVM96]

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I'm just wondering about your screenshot.

If I make a screenshot of the web version www.cruisemapper.com, it shows some extra infos like destination, ETA, ship speed, weather / wind and even swell.

 

 

 

[stonepebble]

Thank you! 

Makes sense!

How is your day in the Falklands? Waves look like 7 ft....any trouble tendering?

Chris

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

I'm just wondering about your screenshot.

If I make a screenshot of the web version www.cruisemapper.com, it shows some extra infos like destination, ETA, ship speed, weather / wind and even swell.

 

 

 

If I turn my iPad in the horizontal position, I’ll see those stats as well. However, if I hold my iPad in the vertical position, I see what I posted above. I found that out the other day, but the itinerary will only be a partial view in the horizontal position. 

Edited February 1 by Ken the cruiser

[effinaround]

No trouble tendering for us.  We left at 08:00 for Stanley and came back at 16:30.  It was not as choppy as I expected.  It was a long day for me, my wife and the little one but totally worth it to see some of these guys in action:

 

This was my 4 year old daughter's reaction to seeing the penguins:

 

By the end of the day I felt like this:

[EDVM96]

Just now, Ken the cruiser said:

If I turn my iPad in the horizontal position, I’ll see those stats as well. However, if I hold my iPad in the vertical position, I see what I posted above. I found that out the other day. 

Ah 😄

[lots-of-km2]

10 hours ago, zanzibargirl said:

Do you happen to know how much the jackets are on board? Thanks

 

In May 2023 on an Arctic-bound Island Princess cruise, the ultralight jackets that stuff into a neck pillow were $59 USD.  In December 2023, if I remember correctly, they were $69 or $70 USD on the Sapphire Princess.   @Ken the cruiser, does that sound about right? 

Edited February 2 by lots-of-km2

[Ken the cruiser]

We woke up to a beautiful morning which lasted until about Noon. As you can see the water was calm and we had a pleasant tender ride over, which took about 15 minutes.

 
 

 
We even had a greeting committee consisting of one Sea Lion waiting for us at the pier! 😁

 

 
We had a fun time on our morning excursion called Gentoo Penguins Expedition at Newans Station! Here are some of the sights we saw.

 

We started out in this 16 passenger van, which took us to a rendezvous spot where we transferred to smaller 4 wheel drive vehicles with 4 people in each van. And yes, it was a fun ride over hill and dale to get to the rookery! 😂

 

 

This was some of the scenery along the way, which took about 30 minutes to get to the rendezvous point.

 

 
Even stopped at Boot Hill to take a few pictures!

 

 

 
Also met up with the rarely noticed Falkland Islands fly! 😂

 

 
We were at Newans Station, which was a private farm, for about 90 minutes. These are all Gentoo penguins.

  

 

 

 

 

 

As we headed down to the beach to see more wildlife and have some hot chocolate, we saw one of the 2 King penguins off in the distance at this location. The second one was down at the beach where we were now walking to.

  

 

Along the way we saw our first Upland Geese, which we will continue to see throughout the day.

 

  
There was a small group of Gentoo penguins on the beach which move between here and the rookery up the hill that we just came from.

 

 
There was a huge flock of birds, mostly sea gulls, on the beach as well.

 

 

One of the delicacies the birds seem to enjoy is sea weed!

 

 

 

 

 
Magellanic Oyster Catcher 

 

 
The other King Penguin which was hanging out on the beach.

 

 
Arctic Tern

 

 
Dolphin Gulls

 

 
Juvenile Sea Gull

 

 

 
Arctic Tern definitely has some long wings!

 

 
They even had some cows!

 

 
Mr and Mrs Upland Geese

 

 

 
Turkey Vulture

 

 
Gentoo penguins coming and going from the beach to the rookery up top!

 

 
When we finally got back to town around noon, the winds had definitely had definitely increased to around 20+ mph and the temperature definitely had started to drop! As we only had an hour before our afternoon excursion, we just headed to the grocery store, bought some energy bars and some water.

 

 

 

 

 
And then hung out here out of the chilly wind until it was time for our afternoon excursion.

 

 

Edited February 2 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Around 1:30 pm we headed out on our afternoon excursion to the Bluff Cove Penguin Rookery, where there were a lot more Gentoo and King penguins to see! However, this time we stayed in a similar 16-passenger van the whole way, with a much better view from the seats we were in this time! 😁

 

 

We drove for about 35 minutes until we turned on to this road where we drove for another 10 minutes until we arrived at the rookery.

 

  

 

Belted Calloway Cows

 

 

The male Upper Goose greeting committee wanted to extend a welcome as we were passing by as well! 😂

 

 
When we arrived, we first went and checked out the small King penguin colony.

  

 

 

 

 

 
Then wandered over to check out the various Gentoo Penguin groupings.

 

 

 

 

 

There we’re also plenty of Upland Geese wandering around!

 

 

 

 
If you look close you can see a baby Gentoo penguin under each of the two penguins in the front that just hatched. One of the local workers told us if a penguin’s egg gets destroyed before maturity, they can lay another one. That’s what happened here with these two little “late comers”. 😁

 

 

These were some juvenile penguins starting to get old enough to leave mom and dad and slowly work their way towards the water.

 

 
Then around 2:30 pm, we headed down to the bakery along the beach to check out some tasty snacks and hot chocolate where this King was enjoying all of his new human friends! 😂

 

 

 

 

 
After our snack, we headed out to the beach where the winds felt like they were over 30+ mph now and quite chilly! 🥶

 

 

 

Some of the more brave juveniles as they edged closer to the beach! 
 

 
With the bravest heading back to the group to tell them what he had found! 😂

 

 
Then the rain clouds started to show up. So we headed back to the bakery where we found a couple of steps to sit on next to the wind-protected side of the building, so we could stay dry when the rain started coming down! In this case that 30+ mph wind came in quite handy! 😁
 

 

Then it was time to head back to town, with our farewell committee flying overhead to give us a proper send off! 😂

 

 

Sheep! Some of the 4,000 that were living on the farm the rookery was located.

 

 

 

 

 
A Turkey Vulture flying over as we all stood in line to tender back to the ship.
 

 
One of the large fishing attractions around the Falklands is for squid. This is one of the ships used to catch them at night, with bright lights shining in the water to attached squid to their lowered nets.

 

 
It was definitely a fun day, even with the wind and the rain. Luckily, by the time we got back to Port Stanley, the rain clouds had been replaced with sunny skies, and the winds had eased back to around 20+ mph allowing the tender rides to be relatively calm for us on the way back. But it was still in the lower 40s when you added in the wind chill factor as we waited for about 20 minutes to board the tenders.
 

However, we did hear the 3 pm tender rides back to the ship when the storm was at its peak were a little more adventurous! 

Edited February 2 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

After dinner, we eventually headed to the theater to listen to the encore performance of Max Himmelreich, who was basically an opera singer that sang a variety of songs of different music genres. 

 

 
Then we were off to Club Fusion to watch a really funny game show called The Sky Is The Limit!

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 14 - Feb 2 - Sea Day (1 of 2)

 

 

 

 

[stonepebble]

Wow!

Wonderful day in Stanley! Beautiful Kings & Gentoos!

So enjoying your journey!

Chris

Oh and Thank you Flakie for answering my question!

Do you think we need hiking shoes for Iguazu and Stanley?

They take up so much room in the suitcase!

 

 

 

Edited February 2 by stonepebble
added something

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, lots-of-km2 said:

 

In May 2023 on an Arctic-bound Island Princess cruise, the ultralight jackets that stuff into a neck pillow were $59 USD.  In December 2023, if I remember correctly, they were $69 or $70 USD on the Sapphire Princess.   @Ken the cruiser, does that sound about right? 

Is this the type of jacket you are referring to?

 

 

[azbirdmom]

Wow!  When we first went to Bluff Cove I believe there were 5 or 6 King penguins.  When we returned in 2020 there were at least two dozen.  It looks like the group is still growing and thriving!  Love it, glad you had a nice day and made it there.

[lots-of-km2]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Is this the type of jacket you are referring to?

If it's the jacket style that stuffs into a travel pillow stuffsack, yes.  Thanks for the pic, Ken!

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

If it's the jacket style that stuffs into a travel pillow stuffsack, yes.  Thanks for the pic, Ken!

That’s the one, as my DW found the instructions with a picture on the back of the label on how to do it. 

[shamrockace]

Did they accept credit cards or American money at the cafe?  I just read that the gentoo penguins are having an outbreak of bird flu and they’ve found some dead. I hope it doesn’t spread. 
 

beautiful pictures. 

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, shamrockace said:

Did they accept credit cards or American money at the cafe?  I just read that the gentoo penguins are having an outbreak of bird flu and they’ve found some dead. I hope it doesn’t spread. 
 

beautiful pictures. 

The coffee, tea, hot chocolate as well as all of the treats that were offered at the Bluff Cove bakery were free. 
 

As far as bird flu goes here in the Falklands, that is sad to hear. They were taking precautions at certain stops on our recent Galapagos cruise. However, we haven’t heard restrictions being implemented regarding bird flu at the two private farm excursions we went on. 
 

Edited February 2 by Ken the cruiser

[RalphN]

Recent article regarding the bird flu hitting the Falklands.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/hundreds-of-penguin-chicks-die-of-bird-flu-in-falklands/?fbclid=IwAR07zayBd5UU5YN9_mpqPm6NjZ42HOtAhr6RxhYpT8xTGL3bSY_7mym-wjs