Live from the Carnival Splendor 'Round the Horn - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

CruisinCindy55 · 02-19-2009, 11:54 PM

Hello all. We just wanted to write a quick hello from the Carnival Splendor. We arrived at the Buenos Aires airport, EZE, on Tuesday morning at 0625, about 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. The flight was NOT the best we’ve ever had, reading lights didn’t work, so they kept the cabin lights on ALL NIGHT LONG and because it was light in the cabin, people were up stirring, ALL NIGHT LONG. So, needles to say, there was no sleeping for neither Danny nor myself. Delta apologized profusely and hoped we’d fly with them again. LOL, little do they know, we’re booked for the return from Santiago, Chile with them after the cruise. Anyway, embarkation was also not the greatest organized either. I didn’t expect it to be as this is not a regular port for Carnival. We had tried to book a tour from the web from the airport to the port through Carnival, but they called a few days before we left and told us that due to there not being enough interest in that tour, they were canceling it. They also told us that we could get the transfer to the port with them at the airport when we arrived at the airport. So, we decided to go that route. We arrived and found the Carnival crew holding the signs and asked about the transfer. Come to find out, it was way too early to go to the ship, which we had figured, so they had turned the regular transfer into a, “city tour,” that will take approximately 3 hours. Great, but it doesn’t start till about 9am. Ok, that gave us time to get some Argentinean pesos at the 24 hour bank. We had been told that had the best exchange rate around and to avoid the little money exchange place we first came to. We still had a little time to kill, but it went quickly. We did the city tour, but it ended up being about 5 or more hours as they told us the busses were backed up at the port and it was too busy for us to go get in line. Grrrrrrrr. Once we did go to the port, it was chaos. Busses and people everywhere, long line inside with no air conditioning, no fan. Just as we got to the place where we thought we could check in, we were told they were closing that check-in place and to get into another line. I thought some of the men were going to get into a fist fight over that one. Finally an angel with lemonade and the counter with the REAL check-in people. I guess what it was is they had so many people show up early, they had set up a temporary place and did manual check-ins and when the computers were up, they moved to the regular place, but that was not well explained. The line really did move quickly, but the lack of information and finding yourself at the end of a long line when you thought you were about there, was frustrating. Once we were on the ship, it was wonderful. To our cabin, beautiful flowers on the Lido Deck and tons of cold drink to cool off, then we enjoyed pastrami on rye and I am not sure what time I crashed, but the “Privacy Please” sign was on the door early. LOL

Day 2 was a full day in Buenos Aires. Danny and I were content to stay on the ship and relax and try to get caught up on our rest. That day had a lot of resting, drinking, eating and the life boat drill. LOL It was WONDERFUL.

Day 3 we were in Montevideo today. Danny and I didn’t book an excursion today. We got off the ship and walked into town and just bought a few things. The town is very friendly towards tourists. There were crossing guards for those of us walking. They were at the intersections to cross with us to make sure traffic stopped and keep us safe. I thought that was very caring of the port. We were supposed to be on board by 4:30pm for 5:00pm sail away, but due to port traffic, it was announced that we would be in port an extra hour. Well, there were a group of dancers that were set to do an exhibition, so they went ahead and did their show which was very good. I’ve never been on a cruise where they had a show on the pier as a ship was sailing away. I thought that was nice.

Both ports were very close, tight fits it looked like. LOL I would not have wanted to pilot the ship in nor out of either port.

CruisinCindy55 · 02-20-2009, 12:01 AM

A few pics from Buenos Aires. Danny bought a new hat. He's showing it off in one of the pics. :-)

CruisinCindy55 · 02-20-2009, 12:13 AM

These pics are out of order. Some of the pics are ships that were in port with us at Buenos Aires. One looks like it is CVC Grand Celebratoin and has a tail that looks like it is an old Carnival ship. I'm not up on where the ships have been sold and gone, but it was neat seeing the tail. Another ship in port was the Costa Romantica. The MCS Armonia was there, too. There was a horn blowing contest as we were leaving port. LOL I think we won.

*Lars* · 02-20-2009, 07:23 PM

Cindy, I am so glad you are doing a Live From report. Its going to be fun to cruise with you and Danny

I cant wait to read more....

cruisin' chick · 02-21-2009, 04:18 AM

Can't wait to read more. Sorry you had those initial problems.

*Lars* · 02-21-2009, 06:15 AM

The ship arrived in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, 12 minutes ago.

Here is a picture from the ships bridge cam.

LuLu · 02-21-2009, 01:22 PM

Thanks for doing this Cindy!

CruisinCindy55 · 02-21-2009, 09:56 PM

Howdy all. I had a few minutes, so I thought I’d try to get updated to today. I sort of left the pictures off in Buenos Aires. I have a few pictures of Montevideo that I’ll try to post, too, when I get them downsized. Anyway, the weather so far has been very warm and summery, exactly what the doctor ordered, up until yesterday. After the snow and ice of IL, we were ready for summer. Yesterdat was windy and only in the 60’s. The boat was rocking and fun. The captain was probably trying to make up time after being late leaving Montevideo. LOL I love the waves, pools a sloshing, but not everyone does.

I finally ran into Bill, zydecocruiser yesterday afternoon. I was looking for Danny and found Bill instead. Danny found me while I was talking to Bill.

Today was a wonderful day. We had wonderful weather and a fantastic excursion into a wildlife preserve on Peninsula Valdes. We were at port today at Puerto Madryn. Danny and I saw tons of some hoofed animal that resembled a deer that we were told was something of a cross between a camel and llama. They called it a Guanaco. We saw bunches of Sea Lions at our first stop. When we first got there, someone started hollering about seeing whales. We had been told that we would probably not see any whales on this excursion as it was too early or too late for them. But, lo and behold, there they were and I was able to get them on video. We also saw Elephant Seals and some Magellanic Penguins, too. Tomorrow is a day at sea, and then the next day is Cape Horn scenic cruising. I'm looking forward to Cape Horn. Anyway, at sail away, there were 3 sea lions swimming around right under our balcony for us and Danny and I have tons of pics of them. I will try to get some pics posted soon. Is there a way to post a video of the orcas? Wow, I'd love for you all to see them. If not, Danny can maybe upload them when we get home and we'll post a link for you to see them. Fantastic day today. Wish you were all here with us.

CruisinCindy55 · 02-21-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Lars*

The ship arrived in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, 12 minutes ago.

Here is a picture from the ships bridge cam.

I saw those ships. LOL There were 2 just like them behind us, too. LOL Thanks for posting the pic, Lars. We left port about 15 min. late, but that is earlier than the last port. They said we left late because of "traffic", but who really knows why.

sue miller · 02-21-2009, 10:15 PM

Hi Cindy, this is awesome, thanks for taking the time to report Live