Note: This is probably one of our more uninteresting journal updates of a cruise we recently took while down here in South America; hence the reason Becky let me write it.

Christmas Morning of 2001 (our first year cruising) Becky and I woke up to accumulated ice on Polaris' deck and icicles hanging from her lifelines. At the time we were mooching dock space from the Fort Walton Beach Yacht Club in the Eastern Panhandle of Florida. We both made a pact that morning, once we got Polaris to warm water we'd never again come north of Latitude 25 degrees. That's about where Key West, Florida is in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Southern Hemisphere it lines up a bit south of Rio de Janeiro.

When last we left our South American adventure, Bec and I were hanging out in our port-side apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay trying to figure out a way to get to Valparaiso Chile. The bus trip would be a long one and breaking it up with a short stay in Mendoza, the wine capitol of Argentina, I figured would set us back a few dollars once we found the perfect Malbec (Argentina's claim to wine fame). A flight would probably be cheaper but then it starts to become "all about the destination and not so much the journey".

We decided it was time to work hard on another option that had been rolling around our heads even before leaving the States last fall. Why not take a cruise from BA to Valpo?

When we started checking on the rates in the winter of 2008 we found them prohibitive to our land-cruise budget (total for 2 people - $3,600). But while in Monte, with our apartment's HS internet, we daily logged on to see if a last-minute discount had been offered for the March 1st sailing of Celebrity's "Around The Horn Cruise". As luck would have it 3 days prior to departure, Celebrity dropped the rates on their unsold "window cabins" to an affordable $1,700 for two. They even said they'd make an allowance for our location and pick us up in Montevideo, they're second stop. Since our apartment was one block from the Port where the cruise ships docked we figured this was way too much Karma to not jump at the chance to go sailing where we knew Polaris would never take us.

Being the persistent customer that I can sometimes become; I insisted on a starboard-side berth, figuring from BA to Valpo the right side of the boat looks at the land and the left side only sees the ever empty ocean. They explained their 'take it or leave it' policy about last-minute bookings which I accepted but not before telling the representative our whole story about this being my first cruise (Bec's third) and our Polaris saga. I sometimes find a nice story about our lives will endear people to make an extra effort for us (hey...I know it's a bad trait, but I use to be a salesman, it's in my nature).

The morning of our ship's arrival we met our landlady Magela and swapped keys for deposits, left our apartment and walked to our new home for the next 14 days, 'Celebrity Infinity'. Standing there when she pulled in you realized she wore her grand name with class. I've never thought of myself as a 'cruise ship' type of guy but watching the captain and crew dock her was a feat of marine engineering that a sailor like me could not help but be impressed by. And as far as luxury, you gotta like the pre-roll odds for pleasure; the boat that has a total of 1,400 crew members for 2,240 guests. Maybe this cruise ship life is something I could get use to.

The dockside check-in was smooth. Once on board they scanned our bags with their airport-like scanners. A segue here...our friends Bill and Kathy who took a similar cruise down here earlier in the year had pointed out that we needed to pay attention to the ship's "Liquor Policy". The internet stated our particular ship only allowed 2 bottles of alcohol to be brought on board. Being sailors, we can't really bounce on the waves without a little rum, so we openly carried on 2 bottles of Uruguayan Champagne and stashed 2 bottles of high-test Uruguayan Rum rolled up in my straw Rio beach mat (an old sailor trick) and a bottle of Chocolate Liquor for those cold mornings on the high-seas. Since we were the only (and last) guests to board the boat, I figure the security personnel were either too bored or just didn't care that 'lonely old us' were smuggling on the contraband. They waved us through and we were off to the Horn, 5-Star Style.

As they led us through the boat, I was happy to see that we were meandering down the starboard side and heading forward. For a while I thought we were getting a personal tour of the boat because the trip to our room was taking forever. Eventually we ended up at the most forward berth of the boat on the Penthouse level. When they opened the door to the berth Becky about had a heart attack. Turns out the last 'starboard-side room' was a Handicapped-Room and as requested we had this big window that not only looked starboard but also full-ahead one floor below the bridge. So we had the "Captain's View" for the whole voyage.

Cruise ship veteran Becky was aghast at the size and scope of the room. She assured me that we did not get a standard room. After a bit of checking and snooping she was right. It turned out that our handicapped-room was about the size of the ship's Royal Suite, complete with a spacious living room (2 lounge chairs, full size coffee table and a large couch) and a huge bath (approx. size of our suite 700sf). Sometimes booking late can be an advantage.

Since we had lived in Montevideo for 3 weeks we had no need for a shore excursion. So after unpacking we headed for the pool and did what we came to find out is the custom of all passengers when on a cruise...we ate. There's a standard cruise ship joke that, if you've been on a cruise you've probably heard, "Guests arrive as passengers and leave as cargo." It took the whole cruise but I increased my weight by 12%; Becky won't let me divulge how she fared.

I won't bore you with all the Port names, but there were 6, and about 8 sea-days. We took galley and bridge tours. Completed the morning Sudoku/Crosswords, raided the ship's library and usually ate on the outside decks when warm (which was most of the trip). Somehow with all the activities we still found the time to eat 5-square and fat sustaining meals each day.

I didn't bring a dinner jacket to SA and our 3 formal nights required us to dress. My cruiser friend Bill was in the same boat when they took their trip. He kidded me that he went out and bought the ugliest jacket in the store for his formal attire. At a used clothing store in Monte, I was able to pick up a brown/tan deep-corduroy jacket for $20 - vintage '72. When we compare pics I know I'll win the "ugliest jacket" award. Since Bec and I own "no shoes with toes", only sandals; we wore our Tango shoes to dinner every night.


This particular cruise had a number of highlights.

- The requisite penguin experience. Why do penguins always pick the most inhabitable places to live?

- Visiting the beautiful and unique competing cities of Ushuaia, Argentina and Punta Arenas, Chile, both claiming to be "the most south". Ushuaia is actually located on the most southern latitude. Years ago some locals there had the great idea of calling themselves "The Most Southern Town In The World". Not to be outdone and wanting to get in on the 'Fin del Mundo' tourist dollar; the larger city of PA, Chile decided to call themselves "The Most Southern City In The World". As if Football doesn't give them enough chances to disagree?

- Numerous sighting of the Southern Cross. The Southern Hemisphere's equal to the Big Dipper that leads you to the North Star - Polaris. The Southern Cross is made up of 5 stars shaped like a kite. When you follow the bottom point of the kite it takes you due south.

- Viewing Magellan's Cloud. When he first traveled south to find safe passage at the end of the earth, Magellan noticed this huge cloud in the same place every night. Upon deep study it's not really a cloud but billions of stars grouped as such to appear like a cloud. It's really a wonder to see this, sailor or not.

- The Beagle Channel, charted and explored by none other than Francis Drake who had a little help from Darwin. It's a 150 mile very skinny channel between the Atlantic and the Pacific, considered to be the 'safe passage' between the two oceans. It was not so favored by sailing boats because of the fluky weather and dangerous hidden reefs. But it has lots of small fjords and more glaciers than a 10GB photo chip will allow for. During our passage the weather was okay, all but the 65 MP wind gusts that the glaciers create when you pass them. The gusts were so strong Infinity at times heeled about 10 degrees during the passage - that's a lot for a big ship. Although we tried, there's no way to capture the majestic spectacle of this unique passage on film.

- The Horn. The Captain maneuvers the ship to Cape Horn around 8:00am in the morning. Coffee, croissants, lox, cream cheese, capers, hash and eggs smothered in gravy for the Cargo family of Gunderson (Drake and Magellan never had it so good). You take your chances when you visit 'The Horn'. The Captain and Celebrity's print advertisement expressly point out that it's a one-shot experience. Stavros, our captain, says some days when they visit there is no visibility. We were lucky, a slight overcast but clear viewing was there for the full 2 hours that Infinity circled the Horn at a slow 10kts, maintaining about ¼ mile off the Horn's shore in dead calm seas. The whole experience is that much better when you realize you are actually at Fin del Mundo.

As with the rest of our SA travels, meeting people is what makes our whole experience better. Our French dinner companions of Daniella and Roland (she spoke French and Spanish, he only spoke French). Veterans of over 30 cruises, their gracious acceptance of our pitiful never-changing wardrobe and warm love for travel made our trip that much more special. We were also lucky to meet and become fast friends with our new buddies from Sweden, Lars and Lena. The 4 of us know that meeting again is not just a possibility but a sure-thing.

As sailors we knew Polaris would never make a journey this far south in the cold confluence waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. But seeing all the sights while nestled in your warm berth with room service is not a bad way to go. I'd highly recommend this trip to anyone looking for a cruise with a difference.

When we finally docked at the infamous city of Valpo we were ready to take on the immensely long country of Chile. This next part of our adventure is more interesting and as always, Bec gets the nod to write about this section of our trip.

Hope you enjoy the pics.