South America Cruise Reviewed by Dick

My wife (Irene) & I (Dick) watched the documentary "March of the Penguins" and we decided that we wanted to see some penguins and that was the beginning of our South America cruise. Barbara and Ray joined us on the cruise. At the time of the cruise we ranged in age from 65 to 72. Ray and I were both educators at the high school level, Barbara was a part owner of a small business and Irene was an R.N. We are all retired.

I enjoyed this cruise and would recommend it to anyone. I have a few criticisms of NCL but the problems were minor problems and did not ruin the cruise. I have cruised to Alaska but I enjoyed this cruise more than the Alaskan cruise.

The four of us had our own pre-cruise dinner by attending a local Texas Roadhouse restaurant on Monday Nov 13, 2006. On Tuesday the van picked us up in NH at 3:30 p.m. and drove us to Logan airport in Boston MA. We arrived in Boston at 4:15 p.m. We left for Miami on American Airlines and arrived in Miami at 9:05 p.m. We then boarded an American Airlines plane headed for Santiago Chile at 11:20 p.m.

Day 1 - November 15, 2006

We arrived in Santiago, Chile at 9:35 a.m. which is 7:35 a.m. on the east coast of the USA. That was my first surprise because I assumed that Chile and the east coast of USA would be in the same time zone. Once we arrived in Chile we had to pay an entrance tax of $100 in American money per person. We then picked up our luggage and headed to the bus for our 110 mile ride to the port of Valparaiso. The bus made a stop along the way at a small store/cafe/restroom. We arrived at the port of Valparaiso around 1:30 p.m. There were not a lot of people there so I figured we would sail right through and be on board in a short time, since we had filled out all the preliminary forms on line. The first surprise was that we had to fill out triplicate Argentina forms. They herded you over to a table to fill out the forms. There were no carbons so you had to do everything three times. I would have thought that since I took an NCL bus from the airport to the ship that they would have passed these out on the bus and let you fill them out, but that was not the case. Once each person filled out the three forms you had to stand in line until your turn came up. I noticed and commented that no one of the employees had a computer and I was told that they were just checking all the information to see if it was filled out correctly. They then proceeded to take the passports to hold for the duration of the cruise. Many people did not want to give up their passport but the cruise line kept them regardless without any explanation. Many people were reluctant to give up their passports. At the end of the cruise NCL returned the passports and each of them had a stamp for each port that we entered. Then we had to stand in line to activate our ship cards. We were given keys for the cabin as opposed to using the ship card to open the cabin door. All the keys had the cabin number etched on them. We went from there to a bus because it was a fair distance from the terminal to the ship. Upon entering the ship they sprayed your hands with an antiseptic. Of all the cruises that I have taken they were the most conscious of trying to prevent the Norwalk virus affecting the passengers. I don't know if we were tired from the long flight but embarkation seemed to be much disorganized and did not start us off with a good feeling before we even entered the ship.

We boarded the ship and had lunch and did a little exploring. I liked the size of the ship because there wasn't a lot of walking and it enabled us to dock at all the ports except for Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. The ship was well maintained. We had clothes for 14 days yet we still had drawers left over. Usually we are looking for places to place all our items. Of the 1,000+ passengers 393 were from the U.S. Most ship announcements over the intercom were said in English, Spanish & German. Occasionally the announcements were also said in French. The ship departed around 5:00 p.m. The captain (Capt. Emil Holthe) mentioned that the winds would be in the 25 to 30 mph range during the night and the following day.

The temperature was in the 70's and sunset was at 8:25 p.m. It is spring here since their summer starts on December 21. The evening show featured the Jean Ann Ryan Company, Andre & Francine a dance duo and Michael Hilbig a juggler comedian. The Cruise Director was Pedro Serra. As I recall the casino opened up around 7:30 p.m. All four of us went to bed at 9:00 p.m. since we were quite tired.

Day 2 - At Sea - Thursday November 16, 2006

Sunrise is at 6:37 a.m. and sunset is at 8:20 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

There were two things that I liked about breakfast: 1) they had trays and not platters and 2) they had beans. I don't like it when there are no trays and you have to try and juggle everything on a platter. I also enjoy beans with my breakfast and I was able to have them every morning except for the last morning. Other than that they had the typical breakfast that most ships have. Omelets were made to order etc. My only complaint would be that generally the food was not very hot on the buffet. It was not cold but it was far from hot. Obviously the omelets were hot since they were made as you ordered them. I felt that the meals at dinner time were fair. I certainly had enough to eat but I found some of the steak to be tough, and they never served lobster on any night. You could get grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and baked potato any night but they didn't advertise that too much. We only saw it written on the menu on one night and that was on Thanksgiving. We generally chose the sit down meal for dinner but ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet.

The ship did not exchange American money for local currency but that was not a problem because all the countries we stopped at in South America took American money. Most of them gave you American money as your change but a few places would give you change in the local currency. So it is not advisable to give a $20 bill for a $2 item unless you are sure that you will get change in American dollars.

The roughest part of the cruise occurred during the first two days at sea, many people were sea sick. The lecturer for the tour excursions had to cut his talk short due to feeling sea sick. A Motion Sickness Information Sheet was distributed to each cabin. Meclizine (Antivert) was available on the ship at the Reception Desk for free of charge. You could go back each day to get more pills if need be. I went for my usual 45 minute walk after breakfast and the wind was fairly strong. As you got to the front of the ship it became a little more difficult to walk. I just turned around and walked the other way so that I didn't have to go via the front of the ship. It was not impossible to walk in the front but I found it easier to just avoid it.

The ship had only 4 terminals in the internet cafe but I rarely had to wait for a terminal. You could pay 75 cents per minute or buy 100 minutes or 250 minutes at a cheaper rate. As you would expect the computers were slow but useful.

Most cruise ships have an abbreviated newspaper in different languages in the library that are free for the taking. That was not the case on this ship. If you wanted any newspaper they would print a compact (11 x 7) version of the newspaper for $3.95 a day.

They had an unusual format for the slot tournament. They had a slot tournament on six different days. The high score for each day qualified for entry into the finals. On the last sea day they had the finals. Under this format you could get 10,000 points on a given day and if someone got a high 11,000 points they would be entered into the final. On the next slot tournament day if the high were 3000 points then that person would be entered into the tournament and the person that scored 10,000 points on the first day would not be eligible for the finals even though they might of obtained the 2nd highest score all week.

Needless to say the pool and hot tubs got very little use. As we went south the weather got cooler and the pool is an outdoor pool.

The show in the Stardust Lounge tonight was a singer Elvy Rose.

Day 3 - Puerto Montt, Chile - Friday November 17, 2006

Sunrise 6:21 a.m. and sunset 8:51 p.m. Attire: Formal

In order to get to Puerto Montt the ship entered the Chiloe Channels (I think that is the name) and the seas calmed down considerably. Puerto Montt has a population of 84,195, and is the capital of Region 10. Puerto Montt was founded in 1853 with German immigrants who had come to settle in the Lake Llanquihue area.

Today was another example of a little disorganization on the ship. We took the Petrohue Falls & Lake Esmeralda tour and we had to meet in the Stardust Lounge at 8:00 am for an 8 hour tour. When we got to the Stardust Lounge they said everyone should have their Chilean Agriculture form filled out and take with them when going ashore. These forms were supposed to be delivered to the cabin the night before. The forms were not delivered to our cabin and many other passengers were in the same position. The situation was simple; you had to go to the reception desk and get a form and fill it out. When you filled out the form they wanted your passport number but unfortunately everyone turned in their passport. So passengers then had to go back up to the reception desk to get their passport number, luckily we knew ours. So I would recommend that you write down your number before you turn in your passport. This was the first South American tour for this season by NCL; I would hope they will resolve this problem on future sailings.

Once everyone was ready to go we had a super tour. It was well worth it. The tour guide on the bus spoke English clearly and was knowledgeable. Puerto Montt has an annual rainfall of 78 inches and it is often not possible to see mountains etc due to the cloud cover. We were extremely fortunate and it was a clear day in the 50's. We boarded a catamaran on Lake Esmeralda and had a great view of the ice capped Osorno Volcano. After the catamaran tour we went to the Petrohue Falls. We took a short walk to the Petrohue River. Water flows over the lava from many years ago creating different paths for the gushing water.

We then had lunch in Puerto Varas at the Bella Vista restaurant. They were located on a hill and had a great view of the Osorno Volcano and surrounding areas. The meal was salmon, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, assorted wines, coffee and a strawberry cake like desert. By the way, Chile is the second largest exporter of Salmon after Norway. In the back of the restaurant they had different animals and birds, some in cages and some not. It made for an entertaining time. I would highly recommend this tour.

This was a formal evening and the entertainment was the Jean Ann Ryan Company production of "Swing, Swing, Swing". Since we were no longer on the high seas but in a channel there was no casino. As a matter of fact the casino was closed until Thursday Nov 23 (Thanksgiving Day).

Day 4 - Puerto Chacabuco, Chile - Saturday November 18, 2006

Sunrise 6:14 a.m. and sunset 9:08 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

Again we were lucky weather wise. The average yearly rainfall for Puerto Chacabuco is 3000mm or roughly 118 inches. That is almost 10 feet of rain a year. The temperature was in the high 50's to low 60's. We took the Patagonian Nature in Depth tour. The tour was well done but I am not big on trees, flowers etc. So this was not my favorite tour. We took a bus to the Aiken Del Sur Park. I did find one thing interesting in that there were some trees that had a reddish skin-like bark. When you touched these trees they were almost as cold as ice. It was a two mile walk at a slow pace. At the end of the walk we went to the Old Man's Beard Cascade. Then we were treated to dinner. When we arrived the lambs were cooking in the center of the restaurant. They had some dancers and musicians performing before the meal. At the conclusion of the tour we returned to the ship.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was the comedy, illusions & magic of Basilio Tabacchi & Daniela.

Day 5 - At Sea - Patagonia Channels & Chilean Fjords - Sunday November 19, 2006

Sunrise 6:16 a.m. and sunset 9:24 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

Today was a misty day; temperature was in the 40's. We went through the Patagonia Channels and the Chilean Fjords. The scenery was terrific but the fog prevented us from having a great view of everything.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was a multi-instrumentalist Andy Buenger. He was well received.

Day 6 - At Sea - The Strait of Magellan - Monday November 20, 2006

Sunrise 5:53 a.m. and sunset 8:39 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual.

It was a clearer day than yesterday; temperature was in the 50's. The views were spectacular. Whenever there was something to see like a glacier the captain would stop and then spin the ship in a 360 degree motion so that no matter what side of the ship you were on, you would get a clear view of the glacier etc. You want to get up early to see the many glaciers. We were unable to actually see the first glacier due to the heavy fog. The succeeding glaciers were very visible. If someone were to select a balcony or an ocean view cabin, I would recommend a cabin on the port side as many of the glaciers were on the port side. But, as I mentioned earlier, the Captain would spin the ship 360 degrees so that everyone would have a great look at the glaciers.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was the Jean Ann Ryan Company in "Footloose" & Comedy Ventriloquist Phil Hughes.

Day 7 - Punta Arenas, Chile - Tuesday November 21, 2006

Sunrise 5:29 a.m. and sunset 9:30 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

Punta Arenas is a city of 100,000 people, even though it is not the southern most tip of South America it is often called "the city at the end of the world". Temperature was in the mid 40's to the low 50's.

We wanted to see penguins and today was the first of our three tours involving penguins. We took the Otway Sound & Penguin Adventure tour. I enjoyed this tour but of the three penguin tours we took I would rate this third best.

The Magellan penguin is a South American Penguin breeding in coastal Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands. At this time of the year either the eggs have hatched or they are waiting for them to hatch. Most of the eggs were hatched at this time of the year. The penguins usually build nests in burrows or under bushes. At Otway Bay and Otway Sound they seem to have their nests right on top of the soil. On the way to the penguin reserve we got to see some rheas and condors. I was unable to get a photo of the condors. As luck would have it, I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a picture. There was an instance when there were 7 condors in one group.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was the Jean Ann Ryan Company with "Rockin With The Rhythm".

Day 8 - Ushuaia, Argentina - Wednesday November 22, 2006

Sunrise 5:16 a.m. Sunset 9:30 p.m. Attire Resort Casual

We have had unbelievable luck with the weather. It was another clear day with the temperatures in the high 40's to mid 50's.

If I were to pick one day as being the best day of the cruise, I would pick this day and there was not a day that I didn't enjoy during the two weeks. Between my wife and me, we took one hundred and seventy photos just on this day. The glaciers and scenery leading up to Ushuaia were just terrific. Then we took the Beagle Channel and National Park tour and the Beagle Channel portion was excellent. The photos do not do justice to the actual sights.

Ushuaia like Punta Arenas claims the title of being at the "End of the World".

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was local talent - Ballet Ushuaia Folklore Show featuring the best of Argentinean culture and traditions.

Day 9 - At Sea - Sailing Cape Horn - Thursday November 23, 2006 - Thanksgiving Day

Sunrise 4:54 a.m. and sunset 9:10 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

I had assumed that this would be the toughest part of the trip where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean. But luck was with us again and we had a nice clear day and the seas were very calm. Temperature was in the 50's again.

The dining room was decorated for Thanksgiving. The casino reopened at 10:30 a.m.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was Michael Hilbig a juggler - comedian.

Day 10 - Port Stanley, Falkland Islands - Friday November 24, 2006

Sunrise 4:40 a.m. and sunset 8:31 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

Many times it is not possible to tender into Port Stanley due to the weather or the seas. Again we were blessed with good weather. It was clear day with the temperature in the high 40's to low 50's. The Falkland Islands has a population of around 2500 people.

We took the second of our three penguin tours, the Sparrow Cove Penguin Adventure. This colony of about 1600 Gentoo penguins is on private property. There are a few King penguins there also. A tender picks you up at the ship and brings you to the Sparrow Cove property. You disembark the tender and get on two four wheel drive vehicles to take you through the bumpy land to the penguins. Each jeep holds about 6 passengers. Hence there are about 12 people at the colony when you get there. That is one of the pluses of this tour. There are not large crowds around the penguins. Whereas the Magellan penguins had their nests in burrows these penguins had their nests above ground. Gentoos breed on many sub-Antarctic islands. The main colonies are on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Kerguelen Islands. Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones and can be quite large. The King Penguin is the second largest penguin with respect to height. I didn't see any nests for the King Penguin so I have no idea what kind of nests they have.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was The Jean Ryan Company in "Lullaby of Broadway" and singing sensation Chris Riggins. Chris was well received by the audience. If you are a fan of Josh Groban, then you would like Chris Riggins. He received a standing ovation and sold CD's after his performance. While I am on the entertainment I liked the way NCL would use the Jean Ryan Company like tonight for one number and then have a performer. Many cruises that I have been on have big production shows three and four times during a cruise and even though they may do a good job I get tired of the same type of a show every night. The Jean Ryan Company did a fine job.

Day 11 - At Sea - Saturday November 25, 2006

Sunrise 5:04 a.m. and sunset 8:31 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

We spent the day at sea headed towards Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The day was another clear day.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was the Dance duo of Andre & Francine in "Steps in Time!"

Day 12 - Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Sunday November 26, 2006

Sunrise 5:39 a.m. and sunset 8:31 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

When we booked this cruise, the one tour I definitely wanted to take was the Punta Tombo Penguin Rookery tour. I have seen the population of penguins listed anywhere from 500,000 penguins to 2 million penguins. I certainly didn't count them but there were a lot of penguins. It was a two and a half hour ride from the ship to the rookery. Part of the way was on dirt roads. We were in buses that handled the bumpy surface quite well. There weren't any large holes in the road or anything of that nature. It simply was a dirt road that was well maintained; at least it was when we went. I would say that the buses and vans got there just about at the same time. The area is so large and there are so many penguins that it does not seem crowded. The weather was in the 60's and it was a sunny day. Again these were Magellan Penguins and most of their nests were under bushes. This tour was everything I expected it to be.

Before retiring tonight we had to set our clocks one hour forward.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge was the Magic, Comedy & Illusions of Basilio Tabacchi & Daniela and Multi Instrumentalist Andy Buenger.

Day 13 - At Sea - Monday November 27, 2006

Sunrise 6:58 a.m. and sunset 8:11 p.m. Attire: Formal

Today was the finals of the Slot Tournament and Irene finished third and received the ever popular tee shirt and a bottle of champagne. They also had the chocolate buffet from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and that was well received. Many people were able to satisfy their chocolate cravings.

This was also the second formal evening.

The entertainment in the Stardust Lounge this evening was the Jean Ann Ryan Company in "An American in Paris". This was followed by the farewell finale from the officers, staff and crew.

Day 14 - Montevideo, Uruguay - Tuesday November 28, 2006

Sunrise 6:23 a.m. and sunset 8:39 p.m. Attire: Resort Casual

Today was another sunny day and the temperature was in the high 70's to low 80's. We took the "Highlights of Montevideo" tour. The tour was pretty much what you would expect.

The passports were returned to the passengers today.

Before retiring tonight we had to set our clocks one hour back tonight.

There was one show tonight for the entertainment in the Stardust Lounge. The entertainer was Elvy Rose.

Day 15 - Disembarkation and Buenos Aires - Wednesday November 29, 2006

Sunrise 5:35 a.m. and sunset 7:48 p.m.

We had a late flight out of Buenos Aires so we booked the "The Best of Buenos Aires. We met in the lounge at 8:30 a.m. and left at 9:00 a.m. When we got off the ship we boarded a shuttle to take us to the terminal. We claimed our luggage and it was grouped together by the porters. The luggage was then sent to the airport and stored outside the entrance. They had each person?s luggage all together and in alphabetical order. So when we got to the airport your entire luggage was together and easy to get.

We then boarded the bus for the tour. We did a city tour of Buenos Aires and then headed out to the Mimosa ranch. It was an enjoyable afternoon. They had a great barbecued lunch. There were potatoes, salad, red wine, white wine, beer, sparkling water, coffee, veal, sausage, chicken, beef and ice cream with a sauce. You could have as much as you wanted of everything. There were some local people that were musicians and dancers and they played music and performed some traditional dances. Some of the hands at the ranch had some riding competitions where they would ride as fast as they could and tried to spear a hanging ring. There were horse drawn wagon rides as well as horses to ride.

The bus got us to the airport at 5:00 p.m. Just about everyone had flights that left at 10:50 p.m. or 10:55 p.m. We were inside the terminal by 5:15. Since most of the flights were around 11:00 p.m. we couldn't be processed until 6:00 p.m. Once everyone found the correct line they checked the passports around 6:00 p.m. Then we got in line to get boarding passes. Then we got in line to pay the $18 per person departure tax. Then we got in line so that they could collect the disembarkation forms. Then we got in line to pass through customs. Then we were finally into the gate area. It was 7:00 p.m. by the time we were in the gate area. We now had 4 hours to wait for the plane. When we did board the plane they checked all back packs etc by hand. Irene bought some water once she was cleared and she was waiting for the plane. When she boarded the plane they took the water away even though it was bought after being cleared.

We then got to Miami and there were all kinds of lines that say U.S. Immigration but you want to be aware of the small sign that is located in front of the immigration officers that says "U.S. Citizens". Most of the lines are for non U.S. citizens. Naturally we were in the wrong line. We then had to get in the correct line. Then we had to pick up our luggage and turn around and give it to A.A. for our flight to Boston. They switched departure gates on us and finally we arrived at the correct gate. We boarded the plane to Boston. We were back in NH around noon time.