Need Help for 14 Day Cruise Itinerary!

We are interested in South American cruise and looking into one for next year. We are mostly interested in scenic views (such as glacier viewing) and wildlife (such as penguin). I have found a few different itineraries (14 days) on a few cruise lines. I understand that Falkland Islands is a great port for penguin viewing. However, I don’t know much about other ports. I would really appreciate it if you can provide some insights on pro and con for various itineraries listed below. In addition I also have some specific questions that I hope you can help me:

 

1. In the Celebrity Antarctic itinerary (1), there are three places listed as Antarctic points for cruising. What can you see when you cruise through these places?

2. What can you see when you cruise through Cape Horn?

3. Do you have to take some kind of tours (either private or shore excursion) for most ports of call if you want to see something interesting? On average what is the cost for these tours?

4. It seems to me there is lots of sea days for cruise in this region. Do cruise lines provide more (different) activities on sea days compared to the one provided for Caribbean cruises?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Itinerary 1: Celebrity Antarctic

Date Port/City Activity Arrival Departure

Day 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina 5:00PM

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 At Sea

Day 4 At Sea

Day 5 Ushuaia, Argentina Tendered 9:00AM 9:00PM

Day 6 Cape Horn, Chile Cruising 6:00AM 8:00AM

Day 7 Schollart Channel, Antartica Cruising 11:00AM 1:00PM

Day 7 Paradise Bay, Antarctica Cruising 2:00PM 4:00PM

Day 7 Gerlache Straight, South America Cruising 5:00PM 7:00PM

Day 8 Elephant Island, Antarctica Cruising 2:00PM 6:00PM

Day 9 At Sea

Day 10 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands Tendered 8:00AM 5:00PM

Day 11 At Sea

Day 12 Puerto Madryn, Argentina Docked 7:00AM 4:30PM

Day 13 At Sea

Day 14 Montevideo, Uruguay Docked 8:30AM 5:00PM

Day 15 Buenos Aires, Argentina 5:00AM

 

Itinerary 2: Celebrity Buenos Aires to Valparaiso

Date Port/City Activity Arrival Departure

Day 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Day 2 Buenos Aires, Argentina Docked 5:00PM

Day 3 Montevideo, Uruguay Docked 8:00AM 7:00PM

Day 4 Punta Del Este, Uruguay Tendered 7:00AM 6:00PM

Day 5 At Sea

Day 6 Puerto Madryn, Argentina Docked 8:00AM 5:30PM

Day 7 At Sea

Day 8 Cape Horn, Chile Cruising 4:00PM 6:00PM

Day 9 Ushuaia, Argentina Tendered 7:00AM 4:00PM

Day 10 Punta Arenas, Chile Tendered 9:00AM 6:30PM

Day 11 Strait Of Magellan, South America Cruising

Day 12 Chilean Fjords, South America Cruising

Day 13 Puerto Montt, Chile Tendered 8:00AM 5:00PM

Day 14 At Sea

Day 15 Valparaiso, Chile 5:00AM

 

Itinerary 3: Princess Rio de Janeiro to Valparaiso

Ports of Call Arrival Departure Excursions

Day 1 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

- 6:00 PM

 

Day 2 At Sea - -

 

Day 3 At Sea - -

 

Day 4 Buenos Aires, Argentina

8:00 AM 8:00 PM

 

Day 5 Montevideo, Uruguay

9:30 AM 7:30 PM

 

Day 6 At Sea - -

 

Day 7 At Sea - -

 

Day 8 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (Malvinas)

8:00 AM 6:00 PM

 

Day 9 Cape Horn, Chile

5:00 PM 6:00 PM

 

Day 10 Ushuaia, Argentina

7:00 AM 4:00 PM

 

Day 11 Punta Arenas, Chile

7:00 AM 6:00 PM

 

Day 12 At Sea - -

 

Day 13 At Sea - -

 

Day 14 At Sea - -

 

Day 15 Valparaiso, Chile

4:30 AM -

 

Itinerary 4: Princess Valparaiso to Buenos Aires

Day 1 Valparaiso, Chile

- 6:00 PM

 

Day 2 At Sea - -

 

Day 3 Puerto Montt, Chile

7:00 AM 5:00 PM

 

Day 4 At Sea - -

 

Day 5 Amalia Glacier, Chile

7:00 AM 8:00 AM

 

Day 6 Punta Arenas, Chile

6:00 AM 7:00 PM

 

Day 7 Ushuaia, Argentina

- 8:00 PM

 

Day 8 Cape Horn, Chile

8:00 AM 9:00 AM

 

Day 9 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (Malvinas)

8:00 AM 6:00 PM

 

Day 10 At Sea - -

 

Day 11 Puerto Madryn, Argentina

7:00 AM 5:00 PM

 

Day 12 At Sea - -

 

Day 13 Montevideo, Uruguay

8:00 AM 5:00 PM

 

Day 14 Buenos Aires, Argentina

8:00 AM 12:00 AM

 

Day 15 Buenos Aires, Argentina

7:00 AM -

 

Itinerary 5: Holland America

Day Port Arrive Depart

0 Buenos Aires, Argentina ON VA

 

1 Buenos Aires, Argentina

06:00 PM

2 Montevideo, Uruguay

08:00 AM 06:00 PM

3 At Sea

4 At Sea

5 Stanley/Falkland Is/Islas Malvinas TR WP

08:00 AM 06:00 PM

6 Strait of Magellan CO

 

7 Punta Arenas, Chile

06:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cockburn Channel CO

 

7 Beagle Channel CO

 

7 Glacier Alley CO

 

8 Ushuaia, Argentina

02:00 PM 08:00 PM

9 Scenic Cruising Cape Horn CO

 

10 Canal Sarmiento CO

 

11 Chilean Fjords CO

 

12 Puerto Montt, Chile TR

09:00 AM 06:00 PM

13 At Sea

14 Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile

06:00 AM

yeah ok, what was the question?

Itinerary #1 is the only one where you would actually see Antarctica. The other ones only go to South America. You will see icebergs and wildlife - whales and penguins, as well as the scenery of Antarctica while scenic cruising.

 

Cape Horn is an island. On our HAL cruise, we circumnavigated around it.

 

The one place that I'm sorry we didn't just stay at the port was Ushuaia. Great scenery at the port and a lot of shops. Otherwise, there just isn't much at the ports themselves.

 

Our tours ranged from about $50 for the tour we did in Ushuaia to $170 pp for the private tour we did to Volunteer Point in the Falklands. HAL's tour to Volunteer Point was $350. Volunteer Point was the best shore excursion I've ever been on.

 

I can't speak for Celebrity, but on HAL, we had great speakers who had been Antarctic researchers.

Not being a smart aleck, but .... there are quite a few sea days because South America is HUGE!! Take a good look at a world map! Many of the ports are not close enough together to be reached overnight, so there's no choice but to have a few sea days between ports.

Thank you all so much for the very helpful information. I know some of you have great knowledge and experience for cruising in this region. Can you rank the itineraries I listed above based on your opinions? It would be even better if you can also provide some comments about the ranking. I am also looking for other resources (books, websites) for information about this region and various port of call listed. I would appreciate it if you have some recommendations in this regards.

 

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

We did number 2 in January on Infinity. Wonderful cruise

 

Here is my review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878