|
|
My Cruise to South America and Antarctica
01-29-2011, 07:43 PM
|
#1
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
My Cruise to South America and Antarctica
DW and I just got home from this amazing cruise and land tour. Our stops included ports of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madryn (in Argentine Patagonia), Falkland Islands, Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), Puerto Montt (Chile), and Valparaiso (Santiago, Chile). I can't describe what a wonderful trip it was. Maybe I'll just let a few of the pictures do the talking. For 40 of my favorite pictures that DW and I took, click here.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
01-29-2011, 07:46 PM
|
#2
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Here are some other photos from our Antarctica cruise:
|
|
|
01-29-2011, 08:01 PM
|
#3
|
Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
|
Scott, Those pictures were great . It looks like you had the trip of a lifetime !
|
|
|
01-29-2011, 08:42 PM
|
#4
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 230
|
Wow, these are really nice.
__________________
|
|
|
01-29-2011, 08:46 PM
|
#5
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 746
|
I'm not a Facebook user so I can't get to your pictures. Which ship did you take?
We took our Antarctica cruise in February 2009. We were aboard a smaller ship - La Diamant - that allowed us access to more areas than the larger cruise ships. We had three continent landings and lots of island landings. We were on this same ship for our Celtic Lands cruise. I can highly recommend both cruises!
There is nothing more spectacular than sitting at a dining table and seeing your first tabular iceberg float by. We learned so much on our trips. The naturalists they have on these cruises are excellent!
|
|
|
01-29-2011, 09:04 PM
|
#6
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
|
Fantastico!
While there are similarities between this an an Alaska Glaciers cruise, the Antarctic landscape is quite different. It's great to come in from the cold to a warm cabin. Obviously you had a wonderful experience. Flying to Buenos Aires and back from Santiago must have added quite a bit to the cost. Can I ask approximately what the vacation cost and for how many days? Did you spend time in your departure or arrival cities?
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 12:36 PM
|
#7
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Texas
I'm not a Facebook user so I can't get to your pictures. Which ship did you take?
We took our Antarctica cruise in February 2009. We were aboard a smaller ship - La Diamant - that allowed us access to more areas than the larger cruise ships. We had three continent landings and lots of island landings. We were on this same ship for our Celtic Lands cruise. I can highly recommend both cruises!
There is nothing more spectacular than sitting at a dining table and seeing your first tabular iceberg float by. We learned so much on our trips. The naturalists they have on these cruises are excellent!
|
First, I set the Facebook picture album to Public so that anyone, whether a Facebook user or not, could view the pictures. Didn't the link work for you?
We were aboard a medium-sized ship, the Veendam of Holland America, which was able to go into some places that the larger cruise ships can't go but was not able, I'm sure, to go into places that your ship went.
I'm sure you had a wonderful trip, as we did.
Scott
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 12:40 PM
|
#8
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,608
|
Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing your adventure.
I had to log into my FB account in order to view the pictures.
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 12:43 PM
|
#9
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
Fantastico!
While there are similarities between this an an Alaska Glaciers cruise, the Antarctic landscape is quite different. It's great to come in from the cold to a warm cabin. Obviously you had a wonderful experience. Flying to Buenos Aires and back from Santiago must have added quite a bit to the cost. Can I ask approximately what the vacation cost and for how many days? Did you spend time in your departure or arrival cities?
|
We have done the Alaskan cruise, which we absolutely loved. The Antarctica cruise was really quite different, some say a lot better, but I loved them about equally.
We flew from Dallas to Buenos Aires two days before the cruise so that we could tour the city. We had a good time there. We cruised around to Santiago, and flew directly from there back to Dallas. We didn't fly between Santiago and Buenos Aires.
Our cost was about $12,000 for the two of us. That included the two days of touring in Buenos Aires, land tours at all the ports, and two days of touring in Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, and Santiago. It also included round-trip flights from SLC, all other transfers, tips, and two night's lodging in 5-star hotels. It also included special group programs held by our tour agency on the ship. Some people in our tour group went a day or so early to tour Iguazu Falls.
Hope that helps.
Scott
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 12:47 PM
|
#10
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,774
|
Thanks so much for posting the Antarctica photos, Scott--just lovely. And brrrrr it looks cold . Also helpful was the practical info about the cost, logistics, etc. Not too unreasonable for the amount of travel involved, and of course the experience? Priceless!
(when I clicked on your link to the photos, I too was asked to log in--can't see them just by going to the site)
__________________
“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 01:45 PM
|
#11
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: irradiated - too close to the nuclear furnace
Posts: 1,294
|
great photos scott! the trip of a lifetime without a doubt and for a cost that seems pretty reasonable even to a frugal person like me!
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 02:12 PM
|
#12
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 746
|
Still can't get into your FB pictures - wants me to logon. If you upload them to a public site, please post the URL.
We went to pretty much the same places. We did go to Iguazu Falls and chose not to go to the Brazil side even though we had our visas. This was the weekend before Carnival and it was packed. We stayed in the hotel (all rooms faced the falls) and drank beer on the patio. Several of our fellow passengers wished they would have had the foresight to stay with us. It was very crowded on the Brazil side of the Falls.
Back to the Antarctica trip - one of our naturalists spoke over an hour on penguin poop. Who would have thought poop would be so interesting?
We also took an Alaskan Land Tour and Cruise with Princess. That's when we decided we would only go on the smaller ships (Le Diamant had a maximum of 200 passengers). Being on a smaller ship is the reason we enjoyed the Antarctica trip much more than the Alaskan trip.
I can highly recommend the Celtic Lands cruise (on a smaller ship - we were on the Le Diamant for that trip also). The Celtic Lands and Antarctica will always be our "best trips" memory. We go through the Traveling Aggies for our trips and we haven't had a bad one yet.
I'm so glad you had a good time on your trip. You went at just the right time of year. One of these days trips such as this may not be available.
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 03:30 PM
|
#13
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Sorry about the Facebook problem. I'll post a larger group of pictures on a public place when I get back into town.
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 03:41 PM
|
#14
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Texas
We also took an Alaskan Land Tour and Cruise with Princess. That's when we decided we would only go on the smaller ships (Le Diamant had a maximum of 200 passengers). Being on a smaller ship is the reason we enjoyed the Antarctica trip much more than the Alaskan trip.
|
The smaller ships not only go where no large ship can go, the smaller ones can get up closer to the penguin rookeries and to the icebergs (with and without wildlife). (A telescopic lens and binoculars can make up for some, but certainly not all, of these deficiencies.)
One advantage for us on a large ship is that we went with a group of over 150 people signed up through a Salt Lake City tour agency. We got to meet and spend time with a lot of new friends with built-in social connections. For example, we met a man (at our dining table) whose mother dated DW's father and who got his MS at BYU (where my wife and I were on the faculty) under the direction of DW's father (who also was a BYU professor). We dined with another couple who knew all 10-15 of the people that we knew from his home town of Rexburg, Idaho. Another man (a FIRE'd physician from Portland) was a missionary in Peru at the same time I was (1964-66), so we knew many people in common and had many similar experiences to talk about. Also, the ship had lots of BYU fans, so we were able to talk about the 9th-ranked Cougars and follow their games together while we were on the ship.
|
|
|
01-30-2011, 06:42 PM
|
#15
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 746
|
I'm so glad you had a great time! These are amazing trips. The only thing I didn't like about our trip was the long flight from Buenos Aires to Houston. I cannot sleep on a plane. At least it was a nonstop flight.
Where will you go next?
|
|
|
01-31-2011, 05:36 AM
|
#16
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 348
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Texas
I'm not a Facebook user so I can't get to your pictures. Which ship did you take?
We took our Antarctica cruise in February 2009. We were aboard a smaller ship - La Diamant - that allowed us access to more areas than the larger cruise ships. We had three continent landings and lots of island landings. We were on this same ship for our Celtic Lands cruise. I can highly recommend both cruises!
There is nothing more spectacular than sitting at a dining table and seeing your first tabular iceberg float by. We learned so much on our trips. The naturalists they have on these cruises are excellent!
|
I was an IAATO volunteer on Le Diamants first sailing into Antarctica in 2005 - glad to hear she is still sailing. Do you remember who the naturalists were at your sailing?
PS my moniker is from that trip of an iceberg we passed by.
__________________
I am FIRE'd... :)
contract on the house, bought an RV and now traveling across America
|
|
|
01-31-2011, 09:27 AM
|
#17
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 746
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by heyduke
I was an IAATO volunteer on Le Diamants first sailing into Antarctica in 2005 - glad to hear she is still sailing. Do you remember who the naturalists were at your sailing?
|
February 2009 Expedition Team
Susan Adie (Expedition Leader)
Brad Stahl (Assistant Expedition Leader) Susan's husband
Fabien Beaujean
Samuel Blanc
Susan Currie
Patricia Hostiuck
Tim Hostiuck
Sylvain Mahuaier Rick Price
Jean-Pierre Sylvestre (everyone's favorite)
Cathy Zell
|
|
|
01-31-2011, 11:26 AM
|
#18
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Texas
I'm so glad you had a great time! These are amazing trips. The only thing I didn't like about our trip was the long flight from Buenos Aires to Houston. I cannot sleep on a plane. At least it was a nonstop flight.
Where will you go next?
|
Next up for DW and me: A land tour of Moscow and Norway, coupled with a Scandinavia/St. Petersburg cruise in June.
|
|
|
01-31-2011, 08:20 PM
|
#19
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 348
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by East Texas
February 2009 Expedition Team
Susan Adie (Expedition Leader)
Brad Stahl (Assistant Expedition Leader) Susan's husband
Fabien Beaujean
Samuel Blanc
Susan Currie
Patricia Hostiuck
Tim Hostiuck
Sylvain Mahuaier Rick Price
Jean-Pierre Sylvestre (everyone's favorite)
Cathy Zell
|
Tim Hostiuck was the only one that I was with - thanks for sharing - where in east Texas are you as I am not far from you i bet...
__________________
I am FIRE'd... :)
contract on the house, bought an RV and now traveling across America
|
|
|
02-01-2011, 06:46 AM
|
#20
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 746
|
East of Nacogdoches. The winter storm came screaming through here a little over an hour ago. A little while ago the weather map showed 60 degrees in my area and 21 degrees just west of us.
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|