14 February 2023, Antarctic Cruise Day 1, Ushuaia and Beagle Channel –

It’s been a busy, and at times stressful couple of days, but we are now safely aboard our floating home for the next couple of weeks, the MS Roald Amundsen.  We woke to welcome rain and a much cooler temperature than the 37 degrees of the previous day.  We left our Recoleta apartment behind, and used Cabify to book a rideshare – driver on time, car nice and clean, and cheap by Melbourne standards. We were duly delivered to the designated pre-cruise hotel, the Emperador, at 11am. 

With four hours to wait before our room would be ready, we left our suitcases in the lobby and headed downstairs to a function room.  There, we signed in for the cruise and received our Hurtigruten luggage tags.  We were instructed to go to breakfast at 5.30am next morning, and to be boarding the bus to the airport at 6.30am, for a 9.40am flight.  An early night was in order.  Cases had to left outside our room by 8pm so we had to defog our brains enough to work out what we needed overnight and for the next day.

The flight was uneventful until the last half an hour, as we approached Ushuaia.  The Andes were on our right, the Beagle Channel on our left.  On approach we seemed to be skimming just over the peaks – quite spectacular.

In all the excitement of the cruise, we hadn’t given much thought to Ushuaia – the world’s most southerly town.  Stepping out of the airport, we were ringed by dramatic snow capped mountains.  We were rounded up onto a coach for a short orientation tour of the town.  Mostly the guide pointed out restaurants and outdoor clothing shops; we found out why a bit later.  Pulling up near the tourist office, we were informed we had two hours to explore the town.  About 5 minutes after we left the coach, the temperature dropped and it began to sleet.  Hence the advice to seek out the restaurants.

We managed to make a couple of very quick forays in between the freezing showers.  At the tourist office we could stamp our own passports – who could resist? A few quick photos, and it was finally time to head to the port and board the ship.

We stepped into the lobby with its mind blowing, 8 deck LED screen, and glass lifts.  We received our cruise cards and discovered we’ve been assigned to the “Giant Petrels” group for our zodiac excursions.  A bit dazed, we found our cabin.  There was some angst when my suitcase failed to appear, but it turned up after being retrieved from Cabin 440 (we are 550).

Logging into the Hurtigruten app, we discovered that our first couple of days were going to be busy.  We’d barely had time to even think about unpacking before it was time for the Mandatory Safety Drill. We were shown how to put on survival suits (kind of like giant bright orange baggy condoms).  Sailaway was at 7pm; after that was a buffet dinner.  Finally we took our precautionary seasickness tablets and collapsed into bed, exhausted.