sheilaclarke

FALKLAND ISLANDS

We were on the Island Princess and the Falkland Islands are another Tender port, our captain says there is a storm coming late afternoon, therefore, all passengers must be back on board by 3:30 pm and has canceled all tours regardless. Leaving all the people with tours without tender tickets having to go to the back of the queue for them. In the port at the same time was “Celebrity Eclipse“ but they have not had their trips cancelled and last tender is 5:30 for them. I checked the marine weather forecast while on the island and it states the storm is not due until tomorrow; our captain appears to have different information - we shall see. Think he is miffed with us passengers complaining! We were stuck in port at Santiago for 2 days because of a strike confirmed in the papers but the ship insists it was the swell and nothing to do with the strike and the strike ended at the same time the weather improved. By the captains own admission a government official was meeting with the port authorities to see if they would allow the ship to leave even though the weather did not meet the requirements; we are supposed to believe the strike and weather improved at the same time; like you need a Government Official for the weather. Going back to being in the Falklands the captain has even said if the passengers are not on the 3:30 tender he will have to leave them behind for the safety of the ship 😳 and that it had happened before here!! At 3:30 he had over 700 queuing for the last tender, two tenders had broken down. They only have 4 which is insufficient. The last Tender got back at 5:45 and we left just before Celebrity Eclipse who we watched load their last tenders just before us 😕 a lot of our passengers had their morning tours changed to the afternoon, some who had two tours booked ended up with two in the afternoon and had to cancel one losing one of their tours. It’s reckoned the tour agents gave Celebrity all the a.m. spots and bummed us off and that head office told them to get stuffed and we ended up with nothing! Who knows! Weather is fine can see no other reason for the cancellations - just the pressure of getting the tours and everyone back late afternoon. That being said it’s a beautiful place worth visiting just don’t go Princess. We had a small storm after sailing for 8 hours.

Easter Island

We were on Island Princess. This is a Very poor tender port. If you want to see the Island and don’t do a ships tour you will not get off the ship until the afternoon as their tours take priority! We were on Island Princess 2,000 + passengers, only 4 tenders that were only taking 80 passengers at a time, each tender took almost an hour round trip - do the maths only 320 passengers per hour; ship couldn’t be cleared until 9:20 as immigration staff would not come to the ship until day light. Tender tickets were being issued supposedly at 8:30 we went down to queue at 7:30 our tickets were 338/9 we got of at 2:45, some people who new the ropes started queuing at 6 am, my cabin neighbour was one and her ticket was still in the 100+. Other passengers had tender tickets in the 900’s. Last tender back we were being told was 5:30. We queued 1 1/2 hours at 4:30 to get back but some people queued standing for 4 hours! Last tender got back at 9:15 pm just before dark! A complete shambles for a few hours. Nevertheless it’s a beautiful interesting island my recommendation is take a morning ships tour it’s not worth the hassle to try to do this place on your own because of the difficulties of getting off the ship. The sea looked calm but getting on the tenders was difficult they were moving up and down and parting some 12” at a time from the ship; apparently this is normal at this port of call and the last time the ship came here they could not disembark.

San Antonio, Chile

Santiago An ugly Industrial Container port with a narrow access. We were held here for an extra ...... hours as the Port Authorities closed the port due to heavy swells. We were not allowed off the ship; because the Captain said he could go at short notice, feel this was rubbish they must have weather forecasts! Felt Princess just didn’t want to pay for another day of shuttle buses as you cannot walk through the port you have to bus to the terminal! Most cruise ships go to Valparaiso! Santiago is not recommended.

Arcadia

P&O could do better but they are a lot cheaper than most cruise lines especially with no tips. Think it was good value for money, drinks were reasonably priced and entertainment excellent, especially the Headliner shows. We did the RTW and would do it again despite the jaded cabins and the lax service it was an excellent cruise.