We had a really short night of sleep last night. We had set alarms for 2:45 AM, and had also called in a wake up call to the front desk. We just wanted to have some redundancy to take any worries away.
Unfortunately, for some reason, neither of us slept well at all. We tried to go to sleep about 9:00 PM, but it was just too early. We wanted to try and get as close to six hours of sleep as possible. Stephanie rested better than me, I just could get to sleep at all, I may have dozed off a coupe of times, but I knew it was not good sleep.
About every hour, I could see I had one less hour of sleep time left, and eventually, the alarm went off on my phone first, followed by the wake up call at 2:45 AM.
I got up and showered, and Stephanie got up and got dressed. Our plan was to go to the lobby and get our “to go” breakfast items and bring them back to the room to eat. The breakfast opened at 3:00 AM, and when we went down to the lobby, there was already a good sized group getting their breakfasts and many of them also had their carry-on luggage there with them. There were two buses scheduled to leave ahead of ours, starting at about 3:40 AM, so we guessed this first group just brought all their items to the lobby to eat breakfast at the tables there, and then be ready to get onto their bus when it arrived.
We had more time, almost an hour, so we took our breakfast to the room and ate there. Then we gathered up all of our remaining items and packed them, splitting them between Stephanie’s backpack and my camera backpack since our main luggage had been collected last night.
Our bus was scheduled to depart at our allotted time of 4:05 AM, so we headed to the lobby about 10 minutes before that. They were just finishing loading up the bus ahead of ours when we got to the designated waiting area for the bus. Soon afterward, our bus drove up right outside the lobby door and we all went outside and boarded. The bus was not completely full, which was good, we could spread out a little more in the back of the bus since most people boarded before us and took the forward seats. We almost left on time except we were waiting on four more passengers, who finally arrived about 5 minutes after everyone else was already on the bus. They had not bothered to read the information that we were all given which clearly stated the time was a departure time, so they just assumed it was a meeting time, so they had not come down early enough to be on time. They even said something to that effect while they were discussing being late, which was met with some grumbles from some of the passengers seated near them.
We had a “guide” who explained what we were going to do on the ride to the airport. We had all been given a form to sign stating we did not have any hazardous items in our checked baggage that was collected last night, and already heading to the airport separately. In exchange for the form, we were given our boarding passes with our seat assignments on the chartered flight. We were given seats in row 28, and we found out later that there were 32 rows total on the plane.
We arrived at the airport and were dropped off at the Terminal. We had a really long walk inside the airport, and then up an escalator and finally to the security checkpoint. There were a lot of people sleeping on the floor of the airport terminal as we walked through. Some had to be homeless, they had mattresses to sleep on. Others were clearly there for connecting flights. There was not much of a line at security even though the airport was already pretty crowded at 4:30 AM, and after getting through security, we headed to Gate 11, our assigned gate for departure. It was only about 4:45 AM, so we still had quite a wait at the Gate, which was full of people waiting to board the next regular scheduled flight, which was leaving the gate before our charter flight.
Gate At The Airport – Well Not Really!
About 5:20 AM, they made an announcement about boarding our airplane. Rows 1-15 were to board using the front door and rows 16-32 were to board from the back door. They never really made any announcement that boarding was about to begin, but people on our flight started to get into a long line. It was still over an hour before our scheduled departure time, so we thought we might be leaving early since it is a charter flight. Our boarding passes had Boarding Zone numbers on them, but those were not used, it was just first come, first on. I needed to use the restroom before the flight, so I headed there and then afterward we got into line, almost the last ones.
From the ticket scanner at the gate, we headed down a gangway, but were directed to go downstairs and were led to a waiting bus, not a plane. The bus was almost full, but we got on as the last two passengers that would fit, not wanting to wait until another bus came for the few remaining passengers behind us. We rode on the bus for a few minutes to our plane, which was parked out on the tarmac.
Our Plane to Ushuaia
We got off the bus close to first, but on the opposite side door from where we had gotten on, so the others in the open middle section of the bus got off ahead of us. We headed to the steps at the rear door of the plane and walked up and boarded. We got to our seats and stored our backpacks in the overhead bins. The plane was a Boeing 737-800, and had 3 x 3 seating.
We wiped everything down on our seats, which we were the middle and window seats. We did have a third person in our row, who boarded after us.
They Said Masks Were Mandatory – But Not Many Wore Them
Soon afterward, the doors were closed, and then they backed the plane out. Then, we headed back to to the parking spot. They had backed the plane out in the wrong direction, we needed to go the other way to get to the end of the runway we needed. They then backed the plane out the other direction, and we started to taxi really slowly. In the end, even though we boarded early and started to taxi early, we did not take off until our scheduled time of 6:20 AM.
Leaving Buenos Aires
The flight to Ushuaia was scheduled for three hours, twenty minutes. The seats were not comfortable at all, we did not have much legroom, and there was no recline.
The flight itself was smooth, and after about an hour, they served us a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, potato chips and a drink. The sandwich was more bread than anything, but not terrible.
Nearing Ushuaia – It Is Mountainous Here
We were arriving on time in Ushuaia, and it was a scenic landing passing over and by some mountains on the approach. The mountains caused a good bit of turbulence until we touched down.
After landing, we pulled up to the very small terminal, and actually deplaned through a gateway. We were told that we had to collect our baggage at baggage claim and then go through a customs inspection. We were not sure why we needed any customs inspection since we were still in Argentina.
Landing in Ushuaia
There were a lot of people at the baggage claim carousel, and after looking at everyone, we were able to figure out that these folks were not from our flight. They must have arrived just before us on a regularly scheduled flight. There was another carousel, but it was apparently not going to be used. After a bit, we could start to see luggage coming out with colored ribbons, designating them as Viking flight bags, as well as the last of the baggage from the other flight.
Eventually, as more of the people on the other flight claimed their luggage and left, we could get closer to the carousel to look for our luggage. It took a while, but Stephanie’s bag came out, and then a couple of long minutes later, mine came out. We knew Stephanie’s was here, we saw them unload it from the plane as we were waiting to get off. We did not see mine there, so we were not certain it had arrived until we saw it come out onto the carousel.
Ushuaia
With our luggage in tow, we headed out to what we thought would be a screening or customs inspection, but there was not any. We were directed by some Viking representatives to go across the street and get onto bus number 2 for our transport to the cruise ship.
After our bus was about 3/4 full, we departed to head to the cruise ship pier, but were first given a brief tour of some of the historical sights along the way. We think this was really to give the ship more time to get prepared for arriving guests since it was still only about 10:20 AM, and normally, embarkation begins at 11:00AM.
Heading To The Octantis On Our Bus
We finally arrived at the ship and were told to depart the bus in groups of ten, No sooner was the door opened and about twenty people got up from their seats to get off, even after they said groups of ten only, and to stay on the bus where it was a little warmer and out of the wind. People just don’t listen…..there were even some people behind us who commented on how many “extra” people tried to get off in the first group!
We got off in the third grouping and headed onto the ship to check in, which was pretty simple and quick. Normally this would be done shoreside, but there were not any buildings or a terminal to support that operation in Ushuaia.
We then proceeded to Deck 5 for a brief safety orientation and lifejacket demonstration. The life jackets are special, they have a built in half body neoprene wet suite with head covering. We were shown how to put on the suit/life vest, which was a little complicated.
Next, we headed to a submarine briefing and flexibility test so we could be put on a waiting list for a sub ride. We don’t hope for much success in getting on a sub, there is no real organization to the waitlist since people don’t have a choice on when they get to the ship. We were also weighed for their weight and balance calculation. More than likely, it will be a random selection based on equalizing weights to make up for any cancellations, so it does not impact any weight calculations that have been already made.
Next, we headed up to Guest Services to see if we could add some excursions to our schedule. We were able to add some Special Ops boat rides for a few afternoons, but no more kayaking was available, and of course, no sub rides were available.
We also added a reservation for The Restaurant for tomorrow night. We found out we could only add a reservation for dinner two days out in advance.
After all of the organizational activities, we headed to the World Cafe for some lunch. We stopped off at their bar since it was open to see what types of liquors that had on this ship. We were disappointed that Seagram’s VO was not an option, but at least they had a good supply of Canadian Club, which we used to drink before switching over to VO. Based on this, we went ahead and purchased two Silver Spirits packages from the bartender for this cruise.
We had lunch and actually just drank the white blend that they were serving as the free white wine for the lunchtime. It was not bad. We actually ran into a lady Stephanie was talking with while I was searching for our suitcases at the Ushuaia baggage claim, and after we got our food, we sat next to their table and we talked with them for about an hour. They were nice to talk to, and while they had traveled a lot, this was their first ever cruise of any type. Pretty gutsy because of the potential for rough seas on the Drake Passage transits.
Our Cabin- Expedition Jackets On The Bed
After lunch, we headed to our cabin, which was already available, and had been since the announcement that was made during lunch. We decided to unpack a little and watch the mandatory safety video on the TV. Our bags were already there, and we unpacked a little, but could not watch the TV because we could not get the channels to change. I called housekeeping, and they sent someone to change the battery in the remote, but that did not resolve the problem. The person said he would need to get the IT department to reboot our TV.
Nordic Balcony Window In The Cabin
We went ahead and tried on our Viking Expedition jackets, mine was too small, I needed to go up a size to XL. Stephanie’s fit OK, but we decided to try a Medium side by side with the small they had issued her to see which was a better fit. The inner jacket small fit a little snug, but the outer jacket was fine. We also called for more hangers and our room steward, Kari came to the room a short time later with the additional hangers. We also tried calling to get the regular canned Cokes changed out in the fridge.
We decided to go ahead and totally unpack, and see if the TV would start to work so we could watch the mandatory video while unpacking. The TV rebooted, but it still did not work, but at least we were unpacked. We had to call again to report the TV malfunction.
The Octantis
We decided to go into Ushuaia and visit some stores. Stephanie wanted to visit a store that had been recommended on the Facebook Page for these Viking Expedition Cruises. It was a beautiful and sunny day outside, but windy. In the sun and out of the wind it was very pleasant, but the wind dictated the need for a jacket.
We headed off the ship, first verifying our back onboard time. It had originally been 4:30 PM, but was now changed to 5:30 PM because of the delayed second charter flight arriving after our flight. There were people just coming in from that flight when we went out at 3:00 PM. It was a short walk out of the cruise dock area. Stephanie wanted to walk to a sign for the town of Ushuaia that we had seen on the bus ride to the ship.
The Sign – A Long Walk
It was quite a ways away, but we walked there anyway. After some photos, we headed back toward town, and then up a steep hill to the store we ware planning to visit. My legs and knees were getting sore, I had forgotten how much we had already walked today getting to and from our flights, and that was while carrying about 25 pounds or more of camera backpack weight. The steep hill did not help.
After the store visit, we also visited a market building where people had small booths set up to sell crafts. Then we headed back to the cruise port and stopped at another gift store that had lots of hand blow glass items and items made from stone.
Abandoned Tug Boat In The Harbour
Stephanie picked out a small pinguin, which was difficult because they had a lot of them, and that meant too many choices making it even harder to decide. Finally, one found a home with us and we paid for it and headed back to the ship. There were still people arriving, even this late in the afternoon. We found out later that the second flight had been delayed for four hours due to some mechanical issues.
Once back aboard, we decided to relax and explore the ship a little more. We also put in a load of laundry since all of the washers were available, and we needed to go ahead and wash everything we had used before today, just to get caught up. While the clothes were washing, we went to the Explorer’s bar and had a glass of wine. We headed back to the laundromat since our timer to keep up with the washer time was about to expire.
One of our washers was already done and a lady in the laundromat had taken out our wet clothes and put them in a laundry basket, the other washer still had about a minute to go, so we knew the first one had not been done long, but she was a little snooty about it being left unattended.
Hanging Out At The Nordic Balcony Window
We went back to the cabin just to wait a little while for some shirts to partially dry so we could hang them up. After we got the shirts out, we combined the whites and darks in the one dryer, set a phone timer, and then headed back to the Explorer’s Bar for another glass of wine. The ship had untied while we were putting the clothes in the dryer, and it was now nice to see us leaving Ushuaia from the glassed in Explorer’s Bar in the bow of the ship.
Departing Ushuaia
We took some photos of the departure and of the trip heading out the Beagle Channel to the open water, which is quite a distance from Ushuaia. While we were in the bar, we met a couple from Nebraska, Dennis and Lisa. They were about our age, a rarity on this ship. We had fun talking with them and then we all went to the World Cafe for dinner, and had a good time.
They actually have a sub reservation, and so we all headed to the mandatory sub briefing at 8:00 PM, everyone who wanted to take the sub ride needed to attend even if you were on a waiting list. We finished dinner and all headed to the Aula, which is sort of like a theater where they hold all of the briefings. We got there early enough to get seats, but in the end, the place was packed. I guess everyone wants a sub ride, and we were not sure how some of the people there had passed the flexibility test we did earlier after boarding, some could hardly walk. There certainly must be a long waitlist, and if it is random, our chances now seemed even more slim.
We all headed back to the Explorer’s Bar for a nightcap, but in a bit, Dennis and Lisa needed to leave. Stephanie and I stayed for another drink or two, and soon it was time for the bar to close at 10:00 PM, and it was still not entirely dark outside.
It had been a long day and we were really tired, so we headed back to the cabin and called it a night knowing we would sleep a lot better tonight than last night.