THE BUENOS AIRES DISASTER

Buenos Aires is often referred to as “The Paris of South America”.  The city itself is not part of the Buenos Aires Province nor is it the Province's capital.  In a 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution Buenos Aires received the status of an autonomous city and changed its formal name to “Autonomous City of Buenos Aires”.  Today we simply know it as Buenos Aires.  It is the capital and largest city in Argentina and is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata. 

It is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America, behind Mexico City.  Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. The city also hosted the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit. 

The morning of 2/21/2019 started off like every other morning except this day would prove to be the most frustrating day of all 49-days aboard the Royal Princess.

Princess Cruises offered three separate cruises for a Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles sailing.  The first segment was Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires.  Second was the Buenos Aires to Santigo portion and third was the Santiago to Los Angeles segment.  I purchased my cruise as one 49-day itinerary to guarantee that a cabin change would not be required at ether Buenos Aires or Santiago.

My itinerary showed the arrival into Buenos Aires at 5am on 2/21/2019.  The ship was to spend the evening in port and set sail at 1pm on 2/22/2019.   There was to be approximately 900 passengers disembarking in Buenos Aires with that same number of new passengers boarding. Typically, a cruise ship will begin disembarkation early in the morning, allowing the new passengers to begin embarkation somewhere around noon. 

Waiting to enter the port at Buenos Aires

On 2/20/2019, in near perfect weather conditions, two MSC sister ships collided at the Port of Buenos Aires, the day before our scheduled arrival.  The accident happened when the cruise liner MSC Orchestra lost control while maneuvering in the port and started drifting towards the MSC Poesia which was moored at that time at the south dock. With a local pilot onboard and assistance from two tug boats, the MSC Orchestra still managed to collide sustaining minor damage on the starboard side. The MSC Orchestra was also involved in a minor collision with the dock, destroying the safety wheels placed on the edge of the pier.  This incident caused major delays for all ships in and out of the port. Click here to view the collision.

MSC ships collide in Buenos Aires

The Royal Princess was no exception to a late arrival into Buenos Aires, docking a little after 3pm.  This delay resulted in all morning shore excursions being cancelled. Disembarkation, originally scheduled to begin shortly after 8am, did not begin until 3:30pm.  This meant that embarkation would not begin until close to 5pm. 

As soon as I learned of the delay I forwarded an email to Tangol Tours and cancelled my morning city tour.  I re-confirmed the evening Tango Show as that was not scheduled to depart until 9pm. 

I understood from talking with fellow passengers that the cruise terminal hade lost all power for the majority of the day.  Negativity permeated the ship for most of the day.  This article was posted by a fellow passenger that was scheduled to embark in Buenos Aires at 11:30am:

“Can I request a DO-OVER of today Thursday Feb 21st, 2019.  I can't even find the words to describe our day on "the other side". 

Finally boarded a little after 5pm after enduring a mob scene in the terminal trying to get to check-in and the ship.   

Things are most definitely off. All day I had only 1 bottle of water and a cereal bar at about 4pm after sitting in the terminal with the power out for about an hour and a half.  That is what we were provided after sitting in that terminal on the hard metal chairs or standing or sitting on the floor wherever one could find. I knew I needed to eat and drink more water soon.

This is not even everything we endured today.  Princess' outsource company did a very POOR job of dealing with this mess and they will be hearing about it and many people took pictures as well.  No mention of any compensation, isn't that nice of Princess. OK, enough”

Due to our late disembarkation many, many passengers were going to miss their flights home. Everywhere you went on the ship people were yelling and complaining.  In short, the entire day was so chaotic I found it best to simply return to my cabin and watch movies.

By 8:45pm attitudes had calmed onboard and I found my group of 14 assembled and waiting in Club 6.  We all walked off the ship together.  Once off the ship we boarded one of the complimentary port shuttle buses to the main terminal.  By this time of night the terminal lights had been restored as well as air conditioning.  It was eerily quiet as we made our way through the terminal to Door #12.  We found Pablo eagerly awaiting us.  We boarded the shuttle van for the short 10 minute drive to La Ventana Tango Show. 

La Ventana building

Entrance to La Ventana

Mike and I in the waiting area of La Ventana

The Tango show certainly proved to be the highlight of the day.  At a cost of $67 per person I felt is well worth the price.  Our seats were on the third tier of the theater but the view was still good.   

I enjoyed a glass of wine while waiting for others to complete their meal.  I was glad I opted for the drinks only. At an additional $30 charge for dinner, I felt a lot of food was being wasted due to the portion size.  Click here to check out the dinner menu. 

Dinner while waiting for the show

Dinner served at La Ventana

The show started promptly at 10pm and the ticket price included a bottle of wine.  The show was a traditional tango and folklore show that included two orchestras: the Great Orchestra of Juan D’Arienzo and a quintet.  Featuring 32 artists on stage the evening including two singers, five pairs of tango dancers and a ballet show of bolas. The show lasted a full 90 minutes.

The free shuttle quickly transported our group back to the cruise terminal where we picked up the complimentary port shuttle back to the ship, arriving shortly after midnight.  It was a wonderful cultural experience.