Princess sends out their periodic e-mail specials to the Captains Circle members. I would strongly urge those who can cruise on short notice to update their Captains Circle preferences. We got an email in January to go on the 2/19/08 16day cruise to Antarctica for $1999 per person inside cabin with AIRFARE INCLUDED from anywhere in the US. This was an amazing offer considering that the average airfare to Buenos Aires from the West Coast is $1400-1600. That is like $50/day per person on the ship - and it is going to ANTARCTICA - WOW.
We departed SFO on a tight schedule arranged by Princess. I wanted to go a day or two early, but because of the Presidents weekend the add-on was over $700. So we took the Princess booking. We left SFO at noon on 2/18 for Washington Dulles then had a tight connection to get the plane to Buenos Aires (BA) which was loading when we got to the gate. The United flight to BA was uneventful -arriving on time. EZE airport in BA is a busy and crowded place. As I speak passable Spanish, I declined the Princess transfers, opting for a taxi that ran us $27 to the pier - a distance of 22 miles (300 Km). The baggage and boarding facilities in BA are grossly inadequate and outdated for the modern cruise ship business. The weather was mercifully not too hot otherwise it could have been ugly. There were many older and elderly waiting for over an hour without the line moving. I do not know what the delay was, but probably it was border control. Finally we started yelling and screaming - it worked. the line stated moving quickly.
Finally on the ship the reception was normal. The ship was immaculate. The stateroom (We got an upgrade to outside)was all set up, and the life boat drill went well. The dinner was great after the long trip down, and we were out at sea headed for the Falklands.