South America itinery

[Essmon]

We are looking at a South America/Antartic cruise this winter and would like some information from cruisers who have done this trip. Specifically, we have heard that some ships will tender you to shore at some of the Antarctic islands but that they are "unofficial" stops. Can anyone confirm this. All info greatly appreciated. Thanks

[HAL92]

I can't confirm anything, since I haven't done this cruise, but I'm very interested in taking an Antarctic/South America cruise in December 2008 or 2009.....so please if anyone has done this I'd appreciate feedback. Does HAL offer itineraries of 14 or less days, that provide you with the opportunity to actually go to Antarctic islands or to the continent of Antarctica? I would rather do that then just see it from a distance. Also, in HAL's magazine it shows a 3-week cruise from Rio to Santiago that goes to a bunch of places in South America....do they offer something out of Buenos Aires, Usuasia (Argentina), or Punta Arenas (Chile) that is 2 weeks (14 days) or less and focuses more on Antarctica than South America? That would be ideally what I'm looking for, and I'll use another cruise line if necessary....but I'd rather stick with HAL so that would be great if they had something like that. I don't want a really short cruise like a 7 day or something, but 21 days is just a little too long because then with travel and a few days in the departure port, the trip is close to a month which is just a little too long for my liking.

[Jade13]

I can't confirm anything, since I haven't done this cruise, but I'm very interested in taking an Antarctic/South America cruise in December 2008 or 2009.....so please if anyone has done this I'd appreciate feedback. Does HAL offer itineraries of 14 or less days, that provide you with the opportunity to actually go to Antarctic islands or to the continent of Antarctica? I would rather do that then just see it from a distance. Also, in HAL's magazine it shows a 3-week cruise from Rio to Santiago that goes to a bunch of places in South America....do they offer something out of Buenos Aires, Usuasia (Argentina), or Punta Arenas (Chile) that is 2 weeks (14 days) or less and focuses more on Antarctica than South America? That would be ideally what I'm looking for, and I'll use another cruise line if necessary....but I'd rather stick with HAL so that would be great if they had something like that. I don't want a really short cruise like a 7 day or something, but 21 days is just a little too long because then with travel and a few days in the departure port, the trip is close to a month which is just a little too long for my liking.

No, Hal does not stop at the Antartics Islands, they just cruise by. Also, their shortest cruise in South America is 16 days, so with travel times you need three weeks. Since we both don't have that much vacation time (and can't go away that long at one time) we would be looking for another ship and prefer a smaller one under 100 persons that actually stops.

As far as South America they do not have 14 days or shorter, and I don't think the 16 day cruise goes to Brazil and that is where my Dh wants to go.

[eh2zed]

HAL, like most lines has a single itinerary with a few extended ones that include the Antarctic. The regular itinerary goes Valparaiso, Chile (Santiago) to Rio or reverse. Rio is the only Brazilian port. Wonderful cruise.:) :D :) :D

[arzz]

We were on the Prinsendam in January/February this year. The HAL ships do not take tenders or zodiacs out to the islands in Antarctica (at least at this time).

We have spoken to several people who have done that and their reviews are mixed. Some praise the virtues of the on land experience and would not do it any other way, others say that it was not worth the effort. In order to take everyone, you are assigned a time frame for landing (that is rather short) and you must suit up with all sorts of gear including big rubber boots that are hosed off to keep Antarctica in the Antarctic and our stuff in our world. Typically you have to suit up in advance and wait around for your turn (a hot and somewhat boring procedure) and take it all apart when you are done. And please note that up close encounters with penguins are VERY smelly experience and leave a gooey reminder on your boots which then must be scrubbed off upon your return to the ship.

We met several folks on board the Prinsendam that had been to Antarctica before and were actually happier not to be bothered with going ashore. As for us, we debated this issue at length before we scheduled our cruise -- for us the bottom line was the environment. Any ship in the Antarctic stresses the environment -- but we felt that landing there would create even more stress. If the environment was our total concern we would not have gone at all -- but I dearly wanted to see the ice -- so we compromised on a cruise that cruised but did not land.

Everyone must determine their own priorities and make up their own mind.

It should be noted that this was the "trip of a lifetime" to us -- clearly our single top traveling adventure so far. I highly recommend this itinerary.

[Mary Ellen]

We agree with the points brought up above by arzz, so we have decided to sail on the Rotterdam next January with some of our fellow CC members we met on the 'Spamdam' CC group to Hawaii last October.

One of us (RuthC) is actually doing this cruise for a second time, as it was SO wonderful. She has mentioned that if the wind blows from the 'right' direction, one can smell the penguins onboard the ship. Ruth is currently on the Prinsendam to the Arctic Ice Cap (see her Happy Wanderer (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=597134) thread), so we'll see in the next few weeks how that compares.

From what I've read about past HAL Antarctic cruises, we're expecting to have some of the scientists from Palmer Station on board one of our days ithere to discuss the experience living in Antarctica.

[arzz]

We had a group of scientists from Palmer Station visit on board the Prinsendam -- they did two presentations as we could not all fit into the lounge at once -- what an incredible opportunity it is for young scientists to be allowed to study in Antarctica -- in exchange for coming aboard and speaking they were given several crates of fruits and vegetables -- a real treat for those who stay down on the ice for several months.

We also had the services of an "ice captain" who was there and worked the bridge with Captain Gunderson -- he was a former member of the Coast Guard (now an HAL employee) with several years of experience aboard ice breakers and training Coast Guard personnel to cruise theses areas. He, too, had question and answer sessions with us and he also shared a video that was made about his job with the Coast Guard -- fascinating stuff. AND, we also had a naturalist, lecturer aboard to annotate and speak about the wildlife and glaciers, etc.

An interesting time was had by all. HAL did an exquisite job for us.