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

[tillys mom]

Safe travels Ken. Looking forward to your reports.

Virginia

[Ken the cruiser]

After a 3-hour delay waiting for our flight to arrive and subsequently fly us to Atlanta, we finally made it with an hour to spare before having to board our flight to Santiago, which luckily also had been delayed 40 minutes. We originally had 4+ hours to spare. 😂

[nini]

I am loving your journey! Safe travels and again, thanks for bringing us with you!

[Ken the cruiser]

 

We arrived in Santiago around 8 am! No SAG declaration form was handed out on our flight, so we’re glad we used the Delta Fly Ready application process. As Mary noted earlier, getting through Customs was a breeze and by the time we got to baggage claim, it wasn’t long before we were able to locate our luggage and head through the Nothing To Declare door.
 

Now we’re just hanging out in the Holiday Inn lounge until around noon when a room will hopefully become available.
 

The folks at the Registration Desk were also nice enough to give us an access code that allowed us to sign on to their internet service since we didn’t officially have a room number yet. 
 

It looks like we will be meeting at Gate 2 in the International Terminal at 9:30 am tomorrow to catch the transfer to the ship! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

We got our Holiday Inn room assigned around noon and will probably relax there enjoying the view, but most likely sleep, until we head down to dinner. 
 

 
Here is a small tidbit for those interested that might forget to check before coming to visit Chile at least a day early. 

 

BTW we could not find any USB ports in our hotel room. Luckily we charged our iPhone/iPads while we were on the flight here. 
 

Also as I side note, check out the movie called Blackberry. We saw it on the flight here and it told the very interesting story of the rise and fall of the Blackberry cellphone. 
 

Edited January 19 by Ken the cruiser

[PapaGoose]

33 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We got our Holiday Inn room assigned around noon and will probably relax there enjoying the view, but most likely sleep, until we head down to dinner. 
 

 
Here is a small tidbit for those interested that might forget to check before coming to visit Chile at least a day early. 

 

BTW we could not find any USB ports in our hotel room. Luckily we charged our iPhone/iPads while we were on the flight here. 
 

Also as I side note, check out the movie called Blackberry. We saw it on the flight here and it told the very interesting story of the rise and fall of the Blackberry cellphone. 
 

Thanks for all this valuable information Ken the Cruiser!

We will be joining you on the ship in Buenos Aires on Feb 5th. 
 

We will be staying at the Airport Holiday Inn after disembarking in San Antonio on Feb 19th and I just hunted down my power converter and adapters and I will be putting them in my “to be packed” pile. 😉. 
 

How easy is the walk over to the International terminal in the airport? We will be catching a 9:00 am flight back to Toronto on the 20th. 
 

We are looking forward to your coverage of the first leg of your b2b!

 

Safe travels!

[PapaGoose]

45 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We got our Holiday Inn room assigned around noon and will probably relax there enjoying the view, but most likely sleep, until we head down to dinner. 
 

 
Here is a small tidbit for those interested that might forget to check before coming to visit Chile at least a day early. 

 

BTW we could not find any USB ports in our hotel room. Luckily we charged our iPhone/iPads while we were on the flight here. 
 

Also as I side note, check out the movie called Blackberry. We saw it on the flight here and it told the very interesting story of the rise and fall of the Blackberry cellphone. 
 

BTW we have watched Blackberry and enjoyed it immensely. Especially since our son is at the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering. He felt the engineering nerds were harshly depicted. We thought it was pretty accurate... 

Edited January 19 by PapaGoose

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, PapaGoose said:

How easy is the walk over to the International terminal in the airport? We will be catching a 9:00 am flight back to Toronto on the 20th. 
 

We are looking forward to your coverage of the first leg of your b2b!

 

Safe travels!

You are in luck. The view from our hotel window faces the International Terminal, also known as Terminal 2. It’s about a 10 minute walk, since you will probably be bringing your luggage with you. When you leave the hotel main entrance, turn right and then right again. There will be a moving sidewalk that will make your walk to the International Terminal much easier. If you turn left, the moving sidewalk under the balcony in the right side of the above picture is heading towards Terminal 1 and the Holiday Inn.
  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 1 - Jan 20 - Valparaiso, Chile - Embarkation Day

 

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we headed over to Gate 2 at the International Terminal. But along the way I of course couldn’t resist taking a photo of the elusive Santiago pigeon! 😂

 

 

We got there around 8:20 am and were glad we headed over early, as there was quite the group of guests already checking in, most likely those that just flew in today.
 

Once we checked in, we got in the long queue waiting to go over to the buses, which was about a 15 minute walk to where they were parked. Around 9:20 am we were on the bus and headed out on the 2 hour drive to Valparaiso. About half the way there, we stopped at a rest stop in the Casablanca Valley for about an hour, which was basically turned out to be a queuing area as the Valparaiso port terminal is rather small and really couldn’t handle all 12 buses with their 480 guests showing up at the same time.

 

But we had fun walking around passing the time looking for what forms of nature there was to see around the area. 😁

 

 
They had a small vineyard we walked around in.

 

 
And the honey bees were busy having fun looking for nectar.

 

 
We then walked over to an area on the left side behind the rest stop where there we a couple of llamas hanging out.

 

 

 
Then it was time to get back on the bus and head to the terminal. As you can see, the ship was quite the distance from the terminal. But they had buses to take us there after we finished checking in, even though the emergency email we received a couple of days ago said we were going to have to walk from the terminal to the ship. As you might imagine, there were quite a few happy cruisers when they saw the shuttle buses! 😂

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Once we got shuttled over to the ship, it wasn’t long before we were settling into our cabin around 1 pm. We then headed to our muster station to check in there, and then headed to the Reserve Dining Room, Deck 6 midship, for have our first tasty meal onboard!  Then it was time to head back to the cabin to start to get settled in, browse over all of the paperwork waiting for us, and then enjoy all there was to see from our balcony! 😁

  

 

 
To include admiring the various attendees of our greeting party! 😂

 

 

A cute little moth, which I’m guessing will be sticking around for awhile in the protected location on our sliding glass door.

  

 
Some cormorants on the nearby pier.

 

 

Even had a couple of buzzards fly by to say hi! 😂

 

 

Edited January 20 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

For you folks that enjoy reading the details, I’ll start with the Princess Event Listings

 

 

 
Then the more general stuff

 

 

 

 

 
Followed by the paperwork we got because we are now Elite.

 

 

 
And this is the current speed we’re getting in our cabin while still in port.

 

Edited January 20 by Ken the cruiser

[Trevelbond]

I see Gavin Burke is playing in Crooners, he was a favorite of mine on the Ruby. 

 

You've also got Rob Raincock on board, who is a terrific naturalist. I loved his talks on the Royal last year. 

[abbydancer2003]

Hi Ken

 

I'm finally catching up on your trip - have a wonderful time.  By the way, we're in the Caribbean, and earlier in the week some Columbian pigeons wanted to also wish you a good trip.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after a tasty dinner at the Sterling Steakhouse up on Deck 14, we were off to the theater to watch a very funny comedian, Tracey McDonald.

 

 
Afterwards, we headed over to the Club Fusion to enjoy the Musical Bingo Game Show before heading back to the cabin to watch us sail away from Valparaiso.

 

 

Next stop is Punta Arenas after 3 sea days! 
 

 
BTW as soon as we hit open water, the ship started to “wiggle” from the 9’ swells it is currently encountering and that will probably continue through the night. Since we enjoy the motion of the ocean, we will hopefully get a good night sleep tonight! 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 2 - Jan 21 - Sea Day 1 of 3

  

 

 

The Starlink internet speeds once we were out in open waters

 

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Hi Ken

 

I'm finally catching up on your trip - have a wonderful time.  By the way, we're in the Caribbean, and earlier in the week some Columbian pigeons wanted to also wish you a good trip.

 

 
That’s quite the group!! 😂

[Flakie]

Following, thank you so much Ken, have a fabulous cruise.( see you next month in BA! ) we will be bringing Deet & Raid 🦟 ! 

[Ken the cruiser]

Good morning from somewhere along the coast line of Chile, with the swales averaging around 13 feet, as was the case for most of the night.

  

 
After a tasty breakfast in Sabatini’s, we headed to the theater to meet the lecturers we will be hearing from on this cruise. For example, there are two enrichment lectures, South to the Icebergs and Wildlife of Antarctica and An Introduction to Antarctica along with a port talk covering Punta Arenas, scheduled for this afternoon, which of course we will be going to. 😁

 

 
Here’s are current location

 

 
And it doesn’t look like the wave action is going to be decreasing anytime soon.

 

 

Edited January 21 by Ken the cruiser

[Steelers36]

On 1/17/2024 at 10:26 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

As we woke up this morning to 14F weather outside, which is a little chilly for central Alabama, it dawned on us that after this cruise we will have visited all 7 continents in the past 14 months and couldn't imagine any better itinerary to complete this milestone than the adventure we're about to head out on tomorrow! 😊

Does it count if do not set foot on land?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Does it count if do not set foot on land?

Of course it does. Why wouldn’t it? Sure, some folks might have a different opinion as they probably spent some serious $$$ to go on expedition cruise there, and that’s cool. But for us going on a South America cruise that includes 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, and hopefully Elephant Island and Iceberg A23a, it definitely checks the box for us. 😉

[Steelers36]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Of course it does. Why wouldn’t it? Sure, some folks might have a different opinion as they probably spent some serious $$$ to go on expedition cruise there, and that’s cool. But for us going on a South America cruise that includes 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, and hopefully Elephant Island and Iceberg A23a, it definitely checks the box for us. 😉

It is true that you do see it.  And it isn't exactly an easy place to be able to actually walk around on.  I suppose I would count it as well as seeing the place.  Perhaps when we do a second visit to S.A. (we would like to do a repeat of many places), we might look to fit in Antarctica.  

 

Perhaps the thought came to my mind as I do not count that I have visited a US State if I simply connect at an airport. 

[azbirdmom]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Of course it does. Why wouldn’t it? Sure, some folks might have a different opinion as they probably spent some serious $$$ to go on expedition cruise there, and that’s cool. But for us going on a South America cruise that includes 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, and hopefully Elephant Island and Iceberg A23a, it definitely checks the box for us. 😉

 

I have no doubt it will more than check the box.  When we did this itinerary back in 2020 a friend who had gone on an expedition cruise to Antarctica claimed that we couldn't count the Antarctic continent because we only did a "drive by".  Then she started to see all of the incredible pictures that I posted.  Penguins, whales, seals, seabirds of all types, countless glaciers / icebergs, research stations...  She grudgingly agreed later that yes, we had a true Antarctic experience.  You don't have to get dirt on your boots to say you've visited a place.

[Flakie]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Does it count if do not set foot on land?

If you are sailing in the continents territorial waters, I would say that counts as a visit (IMO 😇 ) going into the Antarctic circle certainly counts. 🙂

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

It is true that you do see it.  And it isn't exactly an easy place to be able to actually walk around on.  I suppose I would count it as well as seeing the place.  Perhaps when we do a second visit to S.A. (we would like to do a repeat of many places), we might look to fit in Antarctica.  

 

Perhaps the thought came to my mind as I do not count that I have visited a US State if I simply connect at an airport. 

If you like being wowed by an abundance of wildlife, as @azbirdmom noted above, I would definitely suggest considering the option of adding an itinerary that includes “cruising” 4 days around the Antarctica Peninsula to that future SA booking.  😁

[Ken the cruiser]

Today, we went to the lectures and the Punta Arenas port talk and enjoyed them all. I also decided to just listen to them rather than taking photos. I know, what a concept! 😂

But this chart did catch my eye.

 

 
After the last lecture, I went out on the promenade to see if there were any Albatross flying around, as suggested by the two lecturers that said they’ve seen 4 different varieties so far today. Nope! But there was plenty of wind and wave action! 😂