| January - Antarctic Cruise Website pictures or Google photos 2024 began with me and my friend Michelle, taking a cruise to Antarctica. The cruise, run by Celebrity Cruises, departed from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was a little bit of an issue in what to pack. It's summer this time of year in Buenos Aires. So we had to pack both summer and winter clothes.Flights were on time. I met Michelle in Dallas Fort Worth airport. 10 hours later, we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It took over an hour to get through immigration. Not fun. On the plus side, our bags were waiting for us at baggage claim. Our driver was there too. About 45 minutes later, we arrived at our hotel, NH Buenos Aires 9 de Julio. Fun tidbit, it seems there was some soccer tournament happening when we arrived. Bus loads of teenagers kept arriving at our hotel. We got to witness this because we arrived too early for check in, and were in the lounge waiting for our room. Everything was good after that. We got our room and took a nap. Later, we went to dinner at Museo del Jamón. A restaurant that was very close by. Day 2 - We had arrived a day early to compensate for any potential flight delays. So there wasn’t anything we had to do, or anywhere we had to be. Mellow day. We slept in; Had breakfast at the hotel restaurant; Took a walk around the neighborhood; Had lunch at restaurant bar; Took a long nap; Had dinner at some kind of bar/pool hall/outdoor café place. Day 3 - Cruise day. Ate breakfast. Checked out. Celebrity had previously informed me there was storm damage to our original check in location, and to go to an alternate location. We decided to get there 30 minutes before our scheduled time in case there was a line. I booked an Uber. (Yes, Uber works in Buenos Aires.) It arrived in 2 minutes. It was about a 15 minute ride to the alternate terminal. Our decision to arrive early turned out to be a great one. To say the line was incredibly long would be an understatement. (I'm guessing it was at least a quarter mile long.) Instead of having our driver drop us off at the alternate terminal, we had him drop us off at the end of the line. That saved us the hassle of having to walk back to the end of the line as others did. It took about 90 minutes to get through the line, check bags, and get on a shuttle to the terminal. Once at terminal, the process was very quick. After which we caught another shuttle to our ship, the Celebrity Eclipse. We went to our stateroom (ocean view), completed the mandatory safety briefing, and waited for our luggage to arrive. Once we were settled in our room, we found our closest bar and had a drink… or two... possibly three if I count the drink in the theater. Next, we went to a raffle to win something. (We didn’t win.) Then, off to a Sushi restaurant for dinner. Day 4 - Sea day. Me: Eat, sleep, shop, sleep, eat, sleep. Michelle: Eat, walk around ship, shop, socialize, eat, socialize, sleep. Day 5 - See day 4. Day 6 - See day 5. Then add in Macallan whiskey tasting. We tried the Quest, Lumina, Terra, and Enigma. Terra was the favorite. Day 7 - Port day. We docked in Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia claims the title as the world’s southernmost city. After breakfast, we took a walk around the neighborhood and did a little shopping. Later that afternoon, we did an excursion “End of the World Train and Ensenada Bay”. It was ok. At the end of the excursion, there's an opportunity to get your passport stamped at the end of the world. However, it was closed by the time we got there. After the excursion, dinner. Then we called it a night. Which was a little hard because as we got closer to Antarctica, we noticed the days are getting longer. Sunset was at 10:10 PM. Day 8 - Sea day. We sailed across Cape Horn and the Drake Passage. It was a little choppy, but I didn't think it was bad. However, our room was midship, so we probably weren't feeling it like others. At this point, I should say something about Sea days. They are my least favorite part of a cruise. I do not like Sea days. Surrounded by water on every side. Nothing to see. (Not counting the occasional seagull.) While the ship does provide a wide range of activities to do: • Gambling 95%
of it, I have no interest in doing. So not much for me to do.
Also, I am not a “Lay out in the sun” type person. Even if
I were, Antarctica’s 32°F highs put a damper on that.• Drinking • Shows • Movies • Documentaries • Shopping • Dancing • Etc. Day 9 - First day of Antarctica sailing. We were officially in Antarctica. We sailed there for 4 days. This day, we were in the Schollart channel and Paradise Bay. We saw icebergs, penguins and whales. The temperature was around 32°F all day. Sunset was at 11:23 PM, with sunrise at 3:14 AM. Just under 4 hours of night. Day 10 - Antarctica sailing continued. Elephant Bay. More icebergs, penguins and whales. Though at 50°F, it was warmer than Paradise Bay. However, with the wind chill, it felt much colder. Day 11 - Sea day. Nuff said. Day 12 - We were supposed to stop at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. But at the Falkland Islands, departure from the ship is by Tender. Unfortunately for us, choppy water and an incoming storm didn’t allow that. So another Sea day. Day 13 - Sea day. Day 14 - Port day. We docked in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. We had an excursion scheduled that day. We went to Punta Tombo. It’s a rookery for Magellanic penguins. They’re a little over a foot tall and nest about 100-300 yards off of warm beaches. We saw a lot of them. Although the excursion was long, 7 and half hours, the penguins made up for it. Day 15 - Sea day. Day 16 - Port day in Montevideo, Uruguay. We did a "Montevideo and Uruguayan Carnival" excursion. While most of the tour of Montevideo I could have done without, the Uruguayan Carnival was great. After Carnival, more shopping, then back on the ship. Day 17 - Final port and disembarkation day in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We opted for a “self assist” departure. We carried our luggage off the ship. The other choice was to have Celebrity do it for you and you retrieve it from the terminal later. Choosing to carry our luggage off allowed us to leave whenever we wanted. Others had to wait until their number was called. We left the ship and jumped on a shuttle to the terminal. At the terminal, we bypassed the long line to retrieve luggage and jumped in the long line to exit the terminal. Everything up to exiting the terminal went relatively well. Upon exit, the plan was to get an Uber to take us to the hotel. The street in front of the terminal was a mess of cabs, shuttles, and possibly some Uber drivers picking up people. My multiple attempts to get an Uber mostly resulted in a motorcycle as the only choice. After what seemed like a very long amount of time, we figured out that it would probably be a good idea to move away from the terminal. Once we were across the street, we were able to get an Uber in less than 3 minutes. About 10 minutes after that, we were at our hotel. We stayed in a different hotel this time, NH Buenos Aires Florida. It’s in an interesting area, with many restaurants and stores within easy walking distance. We arrived early and way before normal check in. Our room wasn’t ready. We checked in, dropped off our luggage and went to the restaurant for breakfast. While we were eating breakfast, they told us our room was ready so after breakfast we immediately went to our room and crashed until dinner. Day 18 - Rather than fly immediately home, we decided to spend a couple more days in Buenos Aires. As mentioned before, the hotel is conveniently close to many restaurants and stores. So after breakfast, we went shopping (cause, why not) and did a little sight seeing. Day 19 - Departure day. Late check out from the hotel. Uber to the airport. Wait a few hours to check bags. Wait in 5 lines to get to get gate. Fly home. Things of note about this trip:
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