Cruise Air and Hotel for South America?

[Roz]

I'm doing some long range planning here and trying to get pricing estimates for a major (at least for me) cruise. Right now I'm looking at a South American itinerary, and will probably go with HAL, Celebrity, or Princess.

My question is this - I'm really out of my element when it comes to South America. I have a basic comfort level with booking air and hotels in the US, Canada, and Caribbean; even Europe. Is South America a situation where it may be best to book air and hotel thru the cruise line?

I don't live in a major city, and when I tried to make a "dummy" air reservation, you wouldn't believe the routing. Two days and 4 stops! :eek: The hotels listed for places like Santiago and Buenas Aires are totally unfamiliar to me.

I've had one experience with booking cruise air (with HAL) and it went better than I expected. I even did the cruise line hotel and transfers and was more than satisfied.

Maybe the solution is to pay a little more for the cruise, book with a bricks and mortar TA, and have them book everything for me. Can anyone who's done South America offer me any guidance or advice on this?

Roz

[YXU AC*SE]

Sometimes, I wish this board had a PM function. For the uninitiated, to which Third Coast might you be referring? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Coast

Scott.

[Roz]

Sorry! :D Nashville, the third entertainment coast. The other two are NY and LA.

I change my moniker periodically. I've used Music City USA and Athens of the South, also nicknames for Nashville.

Roz

[bcnvcanada]

South America is like any other place in the world. The major hotel chains are located in the major cities, major u.s., canadian, and european air carriers fly in. There are non stop flight to Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, from Toronto, New York, Houston, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta. As for hotels, you will fin the Hyatt, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Holiday Inns. If you are skilled at using the compter, you can book all by yourself. If you need help in getting transfers, there are a great many listed on the South America board of the Crusie Critic. Also trip advisor list the hotels and what to do. I you are the kind of person who needs it all planned out I suggest HAL with hotels, tours and airfare. A TA is good if you really know what you want to do. I would suggest you read some travel books and read the cc board on South America before chatting with a TA as to not waste their time. South America, depending on the area is much like most European cities.

[YXU AC*SE]

I agree with the above.

I think in almost all cases, your flights will be overnight, so there is no avoiding that. Nashville is non-stop connected to most (if not all) major gateways, and for kicks and giggles I was able to come up with a 1400$ price randomly picking a couple of Wednesdays in January 2010 with Air Canada. (Nashville Toronto Buenos Aires, and Santiago Toronto Nashville).

As you can see by my footer, we did the Amsterdam last Christmas (amazing cruise btw - Antarctica was very cool), which was Valparaiso, CL to Rio. Rio doesn't have the best frequency in terms of international flights back so we had to backtrack to Sao Paulo to return to Canada.

If you can coordinate an Europe cruise, and handle things like getting from Civitavecchia to Fiumicino on your own, you'll have no problems with South America at all!


Scott.

[arlenez]

I'm doing some long range planning here and trying to get pricing estimates for a major (at least for me) cruise. Right now I'm looking at a South American itinerary, and will probably go with HAL, Celebrity, or Princess.

My question is this - I'm really out of my element when it comes to South America. I have a basic comfort level with booking air and hotels in the US, Canada, and Caribbean; even Europe. Is South America a situation where it may be best to book air and hotel thru the cruise line?

I don't live in a major city, and when I tried to make a "dummy" air reservation, you wouldn't believe the routing. Two days and 4 stops! :eek: The hotels listed for places like Santiago and Buenas Aires are totally unfamiliar to me.

I've had one experience with booking cruise air (with HAL) and it went better than I expected. I even did the cruise line hotel and transfers and was more than satisfied.

Maybe the solution is to pay a little more for the cruise, book with a bricks and mortar TA, and have them book everything for me. Can anyone who's done South America offer me any guidance or advice on this?

Roz

Hi:

We have booked a South American cruise for the end of next January. We booked a direct flight from NY to Buenos Aires on American Airlines and another direct flight from Santiago to NY for $865 RT. The rate has now increased to $1098 so we were lucky to book when we did about a month ago. We are using points and staying at the Marriott Plaza in Buenos Aires. We have arranged for transportation from the airport to the Marriott for $37 with DeFrantur Tours. We also arranged for a full day tour at the end of the cruise in Chile which will end at the airport in Santiago for our evening flight home. I feel we saved a lot of money by arranging all of this by ourselves instead of booking all this through the cruise line. If I can be of any help, please let me know. I will be glad to answer any additional questions you may have.

Regards,
Arlene

[Atomica]

I've looked into South America a couple times, as Antarctica's high up on my list of future cruises-to-be :)

Since you don't live in a major hub city, your flights will be wonky. American has nonstop flights to Buenos Aires from Dallas Ft Worth and Miami, and Continental offers the same from Houston. Air Canada offers directs from Toronto (though that is backtracking a bit), and places like LAX, SFO and JFK are bound to have some. I even found a couple that routed me through Mexico City that didn't look half-bad.

I'd figure out which cities nearest you offer direct flights to your destination, and work backwards from there. Chances are it's going to be a 3-flight journey for you, but probably well worth it.

Hotels - I use Tripadvisor.com a lot, and it's always come through with good information. If you can book hotels in the US or Europe, you can most certainly handle South America.

Happy planning!

[Roz]

Scott, Arlene, Atomica, and Bcnvcanada,

Thanks for the insights, tips, and information. Looks like the best routing for me is Nashville to Houston or Dallas, then on to Buenos Aires. I was able to come up with a fare around $1,200 which isn't too bad, but still a lot of money. I don't think the change jar is going to finance this trip!

Roz

[Taxguy77]

You will have a long flight. Don't skrimp on transportation to the hotel, use a reliable company. Make sure you book the correct time for your hotel, as flights get into the city very early.
Have a great trip.:cool:

[nsshel]

Roz,
Check on Delta out of Atlanta. We are leaving on AA out of DFW in Feb., but there were good fares earlier on Delta.

[wander]

For cruises requiring "open jaw" flights (flying to and from different countries) I have found that the cruise lines can do every bit as good as I can. So, before you make any air arrangements for yourself, I would at least check what your chosen cruise line can do.

From SA to the US, well at least Santiago, Buenos Aries and Rio, all of the flights back to the US are overnighters. Even a direct flight is an overnighter as far as I can find. Round trips from the same city I can usually do much better myself.

On our next SA flight I had to settle for two plane changes, but can use miles for Business class, which makes it OK for us.