Rounding Cape Horn, Sorta!

 Having survived Christmas at the end of the earth, we were ready to experience rounding Cape Horn. Bam! So many first time things in this trip. 

When we started being serious about coming here, it was this part of the journey that gave me the most nervousness. I have seen some terrifying videos of Cape Horn, the Drake Passage, etc. and sometimes the sea is SO ANGRY. Add to this, I wasn’t really sure when we might hit the Cape. Mostly because I didn’t bother to listen to anything. You know. So, just in case, I took a Dramamine before crawling into bed, saying my most fervent prayers for calm seas, and then falling right to sleep.

Turns out, we ‘rounded’ the Cape between 7 and 8 am. Now, we didn’t truly round it - meaning we didn’t come down the Pacific side, swing around onto the Altantic side, and continue on. Mostly because we were already on the Atlantic side and it would have been silly and wasteful to back track just to do that. So, our awesome Captain sailed us down the Atlantic side, swooped around the southern most island at the  Cape, and then we headed east towards the Falkland Islands. We were at the top of Cape Horn and got the feeling of going round! Everyone wins here AND the seas behaved themselves.

Destinations like Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan are interesting because it’s so cool to be there but there isn’t really anything to see or do! It’s like, “I’ve arrived!” But also, “ok, so now what?” 

We didn’t have to worry about it too much because it turns out, we had signed up for an Italian wine tasting and lunch. Things were looking up. Rich and Ginny met us there. The rest of the Malbec gang had already been in the first 3 weeks on the ship and didn’t want to repeat.

Holy cow - it was a lot of food. We’ve done these before and it felt like a lot less food which makes me feel like 8 million people complained and now - MORE food. The wine was delicious- I do love Italian wine. I was sad that they took the Amarone off the menu so I tracked down one of the Somms later and bought a bottle. Crisis averted.

Somewhere after my post-wine tasting required nap, I realized I wasn’t going to see any bit of Antarctica. If you’ve read my travel blog over the years, you know I’m no stranger to my travel plans being foiled. It’s more common than not, frankly. This time, I’m somewhat to blame. I think I could have studied a bit harder and realized it. Maybe. There is another Princess ship down here that’s farther south - this is mainly how I realized it because, well, we’re not on that path. I’m enjoying seeing their pictures but also - poop.

My brain is choosing to not deal with this right now so more on that later. Maybe.

 I did see this mysterious white glow facing south toward Antarctica that was intriguing!

That said, we were heading to the Falkland Islands. None of us have been, and that’s always fun. AND, we had a penguin rookery experience coming so hope was alive for the Antarctic vibe/experience and that was good enough for now.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet - when we got on the ship, we decided to upgrade our package to the premium level. On Princess these days, you have 3 flavors - nothing, plus, or premium. We’ve always done plus before, which has been just fine. You get 15 drinks a day (including speciality coffees, sodas, juices, and alcohol), free WiFi on one device, crew gratuities, and some other stuff we don’t care about. But, they keep messing with things like corporations who like to make money do. And, we’re on a very short cruise this time - at just 15 days - so we listened to the extra things in the premium category and decided for $30 more a day, we’d do it. 

Two cool things this got us, ok three, we’d get unlimited drinks. I know, you’re thinking 15 is fine and usually it is. But let’s say one day you drink 2-3 coffees, a couple cups of tea, grab some bottles of water, and then still want a cocktail before dinner and a few glasses of wine. Easily you hit 15. Also, sometimes you just want to go rogue and try random things without burning one of your limited numbers. Should I try the Remy XO cognac? Sure - send it over. Do I like it? Who cares. That kind of thing. Anyway, unlimited drinks. But more importantly, we get unlimited times to eat in the speciality restaurants onboard. These are reservations required, extra charges usually. We can go every day for “free”. And finally, we can order charcuterie plates, salads, and truffles in the Vines wine bar - however many we want. Which means when the whole Malbec crew is there- we can all have them for “free”. 

The other stuff- WiFi on 4 devices, free premium desserts, free exercise classes, etc. we don’t care about. Just including it here in case you are cruising soon- there are other things in the package as well. Oh! We also get like 15 photos printed for free and normally I wouldn’t care but we took cute photos with Santa and the gang so we can get those. 

Anyway, we weren’t too hungry post the wine lunch so we hit vines for a bit and then retired up to the room. The piazza music continues to blast us out of there before too long. I might need to start wearing ear plugs!!