Please Share What You Did/Did Not Like About Your So. Am. Cruise

We are contemplating doing a South American Cruise that goes either way between Buenos Aires and Santiago (Valparaiso). Although we have cruised a lot, and cruised on several different cruise lines, we have only cruised warm weather itineraries in the past. We also do a lot of land trips and travel mostly independently when doing a land trip. We would likely cruise in Feb/March, or, less likely, Jan. I'm trying to decide if this type of trip would be right for us. I have heard some say it was too cold; some who thought the most southern ports were boring; one person said it was the best of her 75 different cruises; one couple complained announcments and tours were rarely in English. Another complained that there were "too many foreigners" on board (:eek: ?! Maybe SHE was the "foreigner"?!!) Guess I want to know what to expect with regard to EVERY ASPECT of doing such a cruise with this itinerary during the months of Feb./March.

One more thing, even though we have cruised many times, I've noticed some of the roll calls are loaded with passengers who are doing B2B2B cruises. Many with longer land tours on both ends. Wondering if we'll even fit in, doing just one measly 2 wk. cruise with 2 day land trips tacked on one end and/or the other?

Hoping for some informative, helpful replies.

We did our SA 14 day cruise on Celebrity 1/5/2015 BA to Valparaiso. We are Floridians so for us it was cold but not unbareable. We choose January because research showed the later you go the fewer penguins are there, you may want to keep that in mind when picking a date. I didn't find any of the negative comments you listed by others to be true on our cruise, that may depend on the cruise line. Our least favorite port was BA. Highlights were Peguins, sailing the straits of Magellan, Chilean fords (breathtaking views), & Valparaiso. We totally enjoyed our cruise. We generally enjoy warmer cruises but you can't see these sights. I have lots of research notes I can share with you if you decide to go. Good luck!

We are contemplating doing a South American Cruise that goes either way between Buenos Aires and Santiago (Valparaiso). Although we have cruised a lot, and cruised on several different cruise lines, we have only cruised warm weather itineraries in the past. We also do a lot of land trips and travel mostly independently when doing a land trip. We would likely cruise in Feb/March, or, less likely, Jan. I'm trying to decide if this type of trip would be right for us. I have heard some say it was too cold; some who thought the most southern ports were boring; one person said it was the best of her 75 different cruises; one couple complained announcments and tours were rarely in English. Another complained that there were "too many foreigners" on board (:eek: ?! Maybe SHE was the "foreigner"?!!) Guess I want to know what to expect with regard to EVERY ASPECT of doing such a cruise with this itinerary during the months of Feb./March.

 

One more thing, even though we have cruised many times, I've noticed some of the roll calls are loaded with passengers who are doing B2B2B cruises. Many with longer land tours on both ends. Wondering if we'll even fit in, doing just one measly 2 wk. cruise with 2 day land trips tacked on one end and/or the other?

 

Hoping for some informative, helpful replies.

We have completed a total of 18 cruises, including a two week Valpo to Buenos Aires jaunt this past Feb. The South America cruise was neither or favorite nor the worst. We found a lot to enjoy. Some of the scenery was phenomenal.

Weather. It's summer in South America. While some of the southernmost ports will be cool to cold, many of the ports are warm to hot--Buenos Aires is like Houston in August. Motevideo was similarly warm. Santiago's heat exceeded 100 degrees F. Puetro Madryn was warm enough for T shirts. The Falklands required a light jacket part of the day. Likewise Puerto Montt.

You will need to layer clothing for ports in the south/Patagonia. We did not take anything more than fleece jackets and a rain jacket with several layers under and never felt cold.

Winds and seas are unpredictable. We had smooth sailing but I have heard from others that the water around the Cape can be very rough and apparently wind and sea conditions result in frequent cancellation of Port Stanley.

Language/"foreigners". There were contingents of cruisers from Brazil, Chile and Argentina on our cruise, alone with the usual mix of Europeans, some Aussies, and North Americans. We were on Princess and all announcements were in English, often repeated in Spanish and Portuguese.

What we liked. We liked a number of the stops, particularly visiting penguin sites...We also took an interesting city tour of Montevideo.

Buenos Aires is one of my favorite cities on earth...spend a couple of days there if at all possible. We spent just one night in Santiago, another beautiful city. In retrospect, I wish we could have spent another couple of days in the area.

There are so many things to do pre and post cruise that it is understandable that many would extend their time on both ends--Iguazu Falls and Machu Picchu are particularly popular and worth the time/expense.

I'm going to be curious about the responses to your post too. We are going on a Panama Canal/SA cruise in Dec '15. Its a 16 night cruise on the Equinox. I've never been to these ports before. I LOVE Celebrity so I'm sure the ship will be perfect for us. We just got off 2 cruise on the Silhouette which were fabulous. I havent started even thinking of the ports and tours yet but plan to do all private tours. We have a 7 day caribbean out of Galveston on RCCL coming up in 3 weeks so thats been my main focus for awhile. Will start researching for the SA cruise after that but will look at this post for any additional info.

I support just about everything that dr__dawggy stated above, with the exception being that, for us, this itinerary was one of the best we have taken. We cruised from B.A. to Valparaiso twice, and on one of those occasions stayed aboard until half-way back to B.A.--disembarking in Ushuaia. All on Princess, and all in February or (for the return to Ushuaia) early March. To amplify some points:

Weather: Definitely hot and muggy in B.A., and warm to hot in Montevideo and Santiago. For the southern ports, I would say "cool to pleasant", not really cold (but I am Canadian). It will not be below freezing. However, it may sometimes be windy and/or wet as well as cool, which in combination could be quite uncomfortable without good rain-gear over other layers. Come prepared for the variable weather and everything will be fine.

Winds and Seas: Highly variable and unpredictable. We got to Port Stanley (Falklands) on one trip but then encountered rough weather from there to Cape Horn. On that trip, we were also delayed leaving Ushuaia by 8 hr due to strong winds holding us against the dock, and as a result missed Punta Arenas. On the 2nd trip, we missed the Falklands due to rough weather, but it was near calm at Cape Horn. The rough seas are likely to account for only a small fraction of the cruise, and are not really a problem on a large ship, other than to create some uncertainty as to whether and when you will get to one or more ports. All part of the adventure!

Language/"foreigners". The great majority of pax on our two cruises around the Horn were English-speaking, with a good mixture of accents with people from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.A. There were also numerous people from many other countries -- welcome diversity. Announcements were in English and (often) Spanish -- I do not remember hearing Portuguese announcements. Few children on these cruises.

What we liked. We liked all the stops, for varying reasons. B.A., Montevideo, and Santiago are very interesting and scenic cities, with much history. The southerly cool-weather ports are totally different but scenic and of much interest for other reasons, especially wildlife. We were very disappointed to miss Port Stanley on our 2nd trip, and to miss Punta Arenas on the first trip, but were fortunate to get to all ports on at least one of the trips.

Concur with dr__dawggy that both Buenos Aires and Santiago are wonderful places to visit, and are well worth as many pre- and post-cruise days as you can arrange. Both are large cities with much to see and do both within the cities and on excursions to neighbouring areas.

John

I did Valparaiso to BsAs on the HAL Veendam in 2011. I stayed on in BsAs for several days over Christmas and enjoyed it immensely. There's an excellent review of a similar itinerary (two years later) here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1958814 Then over Christmas 2013 I did BsAs to Valparaiso via the Antarctic Peninsular on the HAL Zaandam. That was also excellent. Both these trips were bargains booked at the last minute. Mostly Anglo passengers, no children. If doing the Antarctic version, I'd recommend the Valparaiso to BsAs direction as otherwise the Chilean fjords seem like an anticlimax.

I've also done Florida to Valparaiso on the Celebrity Infinity (that was 2012). Also very cheap at the last minute and very enjoyable, but less so than the HAL trips. Celebrity seemed poorly organized on this itinerary. They claimed the Peruvian authorities wanted to examine every passport so they gunned the engines to arrive early in Lima. As a result, we berthed at a nonstandard place. Then, when we returned from our shore excursions, we found the ship gone! Fortunately it had just been moved to a different berth. If you check out the current thread on the same cruise in the other direction, you'll see they missed Lima altogether: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191136

Then in Arica there was a similar claim of difficulty with the Chilean authorities and we were unable to get off the ship until the afternoon, ruining the plans of those who had booked excursions up into the mountains. And in La Serena, we had to tender instead of the planned dock, which also complicated things.

The Star Princess was visiting the same ports as us (coming from California) and had none of these difficulties. If you search trip reports you'll see these are not uncommon experiences.

I stayed on in Valparaiso for several days after this cruise, then went on to Santiago for Christmas. Both very enjoyable cities. I've been to other parts of South America on land trips, including Iguazu Falls, which is truly spectacular and worth a side trip if you can fit it in.

You cannot really go wrong with any of these itineraries. They are among the best I've taken, though I probably wouldn't take Celebrity again in this part of the world.

Do the trip! We are part of the "only 2 week" crowd which really is the majority of your shipmates. We've done BA to Valparaiso. Around Cape Horn we were very lucky and the seas were like glass. Take a van or private tour to Porto Tombo to see the penguins and beat the bus tours. We liked both BA and Santiago. We were so impressed by the Chilean fjords that while in board we booked a trip to the Norwegian fjords (which truly are spectacular!)

We just returned from a r/t BA to Antarctica. The scenery was outstanding. Lots of whales, orca, and penguins and icebergs and bergy bits. BA was hot (in the high 80's) but cooled of as we headed south and it snowed as we were rounding Elephant Island. We were able to visit the Falklands (don't miss the video at their historic dockyard museum). Do it!

Great info. and I loved reading all of your posts! Definitely makes me want to GO! It's very interesting to find what port, cruise line, or aspect of the that one person likes, another person dislikes. It's what makes the world go 'round, I guess!

Guess I am a little bit surprised to hear of so much heat and humidity as far south as BA in March. I figured that it would be like a N. Hemisphere Sept. by then.

I feel quite certain we'll love Buenos Aires, Santiago and Valparaiso, and that the Chilean Fjords will be a highlight - assuming they aren't fogged in and we can see the scenery! (Just read in a 2014 Fodor's guide that B.A. is the most visited city in So. Am.) We did a land trip to Rio on our own about 7 yrs. ago and found it stunningly beautiful & LOVED it! We flew from there to Foz do Iguazu, visiting both the Brazilian and Argentina sides. Afterwards, we drove to Buzios and enjoyed the place, the drive there and back - all of it! (Saw an around the horn cruise departing from Rio but don't want to pay for another visa this time. Plus we want more time in B.A. than a port stop would offer. (I'd love to squeeze in at least an afternoon at an estancia outside of the city! Did any of you do that post/pre cruise?)

We are open to RCI, Celebrity, Princess and maybe even NCL (saw a good price on NCL but doubt we do that one), We have cruised all of those lines plus 2 others. (cruisingnut, you might consider giving Celebrity another chance. While your experience was no doubt not a good one, in general, their cruises are a bit of a cut above in service. W/re: to organization they are usually at least as good, and often better than, the competition)

I originally figured we'd do B.A. to Valparaiso, but now I think we may start in Valparaiso. The date/itinerary may dictate that, though. (We aren't likely to do an itinerary that goes to the Falklands or Antartica.)

Thanks SO MUCH for your input and don't hesitate to add anything else. No doubt I will have a lot more questions!

We did BA to Valpo in January 2014 on Infinity. It was one of our favorite trips. We spend five days pre-cruise in BA and an extra day in Chile (had previously done FLL through Panama Canal to VAlpo). We love South America. Each country is different, the food is excellent, love tango, prices low and people are friendly.

Had my best steak ever in BA. If you go, eat some empanadas (crab in Chile).

The cruise was in January and it was a bit chilly way down south, but not bad, just put on another layer. The scenery and wildlife is amazing.

Here is my review:

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

Both of our S.Am. trips were on the Celebrity Infinity. First time we spent 1 day/night in a hotel in BA (not enough time) and 2nd day took a ships tour to an estancia. After arriving in Valparaiso we took a private tour/transfer with ChileAbout from Valpo, to Vina del Mar, and then onto Santiago. Stayed 1 night in Santiago but got almost 2 days since flight home left at 11PM. Most recent trip, in Feb 2015, we spent 3 days in BA before the cruise. Got to see a lot of the city. On the return we did a day trip through the Tigre River Delta with Tours by Locals (sign up with Andres who was wonderful) which included a ride in his boat through the delta. Lunch at the Gato Blanco on one of the delta islands was extra but well worth the price.

Wear layers. I had a heavy sweater (good excuse to by a baby alpaca/maybe alpaca sweater in Chile) , hooded wind breaker, hat, and gloves and was more than toasty.

Have fun!

Traveling Library, what estancia did the ship's tour go to and about how large was your group? Do you happen to recall if the roads were good - or at least fairly decent? I had been thinking that we might enjoy driving to one ourselves out of B.A. if we can manage to spend 3 nts. on that end of the cruise. Anyone else w/an estancia recommendation, please chime in!

Sounds like many of you spent extra time in/around Santiago and Valparaiso, too, in some cases. What do those of you who have been think? Would it be wise to spend a night in Valparaiso as well if we have to sacrifice some city time in Santiago? Although I know we'll want to get an overview of Santiago, it sounds like the real highlights in that area are trips to areas of natural beauty. Am I wrong?

Someotherguy, did you do only ship's tours or were you able to book independently arranged tours late in the game? (If you even wanted to. We rarely do ship's tours. Often it's just to hang with other cruisers when we do.) Also, how did your airfare work out in those cases? (It seems lot of fares have begun climbing as our economy is inching back and more people are starting to book travel again.) I guess your cruise fares were truly a good value as compared with booking a yr. or so in advance? Usually I don't see the better perks such as a good onboard credit or free gratuities on the last min. fares nor do I usually see them lower than earlybird fares. I guess it's always a gamble. I am sure there are probably some great deals last minute that I just don't happen to see when I am just fare-watching for "fun". (We actually can fly standby but do so only very occasionally internationally. Real last min. reservations can be so pricey!) It seems that when I have kind of watched cruisefares to So. Am. and Austtralia/NZ, the "last minutes" never go below what they were about 9 mos. to a yr. prior to that. Yet sometimes nearly 2 yrs. ahead, the prices are sky high! Of course, I am sure I miss a lot of slashed fares as well.

For the record, I already let one super deal pass because I just wasn't ready to pull the trigger. It was w/an agency that charges a lot for a cancelled reservation. Their perks are great IF you KNOW you will not cancel. In about 28 cruises that we have done, there were about 3 or 4 others that I did cancel before final pymt time. In one of those, we came out better in the end when we decided about 6 wks. out that we could fit the cruise in after all. Another thing I worry about is being able to arrange tours that are not through the ship.

Thanks again to everyone for the helpful info!

We will be doing the BA to Valpo next Feb. on the Sun and are enjoying reading all of the above reviews. One thing I want to mention when picking out a ship, from what I have learned in my research, the smaller the ship, the more places it can fit and the better the scenery.

...

Sounds like many of you spent extra time in/around Santiago and Valparaiso, too, in some cases. What do those of you who have been think? Would it be wise to spend a night in Valparaiso as well if we have to sacrifice some city time in Santiago? Although I know we'll want to get an overview of Santiago, it sounds like the real highlights in that area are trips to areas of natural beauty. Am I wrong? ...

Valparaiso is colourful (and hilly!) but relatively small compared to Santiago. I would definitely plan for more time in Santiago. If cruising from Valpo to B.A., my suggestion would be

• at least two nights in Santiago (preferably more, and add another night if you want to do a day trip from Santiago into the Andes),
  
• then spend a day doing a combined winery tour and transfer via Vina del Mar to Valpo, and
  
• spend a night or perhaps two in Valpo before boarding.
  

Santiago is a large city with an interesting mixture of old historic areas and relatively modern areas. The historic downtown has impressive buildings, museums, market, etc., with much history (old and recent) to absorb. There is a good subway system that is easy to use even for those (like us) whose Spanish is minimal. We stayed in the Providencia District (Hotel Orly), which proved to be a good choice of district and hotel for us.

We used ChileAbout for an introductory half-day tour of Santiago, for the transfer/wine tour between Santiago and Valpo, and also (on an earlier date) for a 2/3rd-day tour of Valpo and Vina del Mar plus transfer from there to Santiago. The service and price were good.

Hope this is helpful. In any case, the round-the-Horn itinerary between BsAs and Valpo is an excellent one. Though we have already done it 2.5 times (the +0.5 is a long story), we would be happy to do do it again.

John

Responding to mlbcruiser's questions...

I use frequent flier miles for last minute flights (I have plenty of miles in all three alliances thanks to business travel). Contrary to folklore the airlines often release seats in the final weeks or days prior. If the worst comes to the worst, I have to use double miles for anytime awards but that's very seldom. I'll also book flights speculatively if they open up--and cancel if I cannot put the rest of the trip together. Check blogs like http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/ and others at http://boardingarea.com/ if you want to learn about FF strategies.

In my opinion, the ports are not the main event on these cruises: it's what you see from the ship. So I was not particularly fussy about shore excursions and was happy to take ship's tours or DIY. Also, I have no interest in penguins, strictly scenery and history. So my experience might not help others.

As I mentioned, I stayed several days in Valparaiso on one of my trips and also visited Vina Del Mar to see the Museo Fonck. I took a walking tour with tours4tips in Valpo that was excellent. I then took a bus to Santiago (there are several per hour, $5) and spent several more days there. On other occasions I've rented a car and visited the Andes.

In Puerto Montt I took a taxi to Puerto Varas on one occasion and a tour from the dock to Petrohue Falls on the other. These are both good. In Punta Arenas, on one visit I took a taxi into town and visited all the main sites (the cemetery is good, like La Recoleta), and on another I took a taxi to visit the nearby shipyard (you can see it from the ship if you know where to look) that has a reconstruction of the Nao Victoria (Magellan's ship) and several others (and is working on the Beagle). This was excellent--check it out on tripadvisor. No tours go here.

From Puerto Montt to Ushuaia the scenery is spectacular as you cruise through the various channels. On the Eastbound HAL itinerary (but not, I think westbound), the ship goes up to the Amalia glacier. If you know what you are looking for, you can see the back of the Torres del Paine from here.

The main thing in Ushuaia is what you see from the ship while cruising Glacier Alley on the way in or out. The port stay there is usually only half a day. On my first visit, I took a ships tour to the national park, which was OK. Sometime prior to my second visit, I read "Rounding the Horn" by Dallas Murphy (this is excellent) and learned of the Yamana people so I spent my second visit going to the museums in town, including the tiny Yamana museum. (The museum in Punta Arenas also has a useful exhibit on the Yamana.)

After that, you circumnavigate the island of Cape Horn and then head either south to the Antarctic Peninsular (awesome) or north to the Falklands. One time there I bought a ride for 20 pounds from a lady at the visitor center to visit Gypsy Cove, and later explored Stanley and its churches and museum, and the second time I took a ship's tour to some of the Falklands War battlegrounds (I'm English and vividly remember the news coverage of the actual events). This was very interesting and also let me see some more remote parts of the island.

In Montevideo, on my first visit I took a taxi into town (and walked back), and I didn't do much on my second (it was Christmas Eve) -- I should have taken a tour. On one trip I stayed over for several days in BsAs, which I enjoyed very much, just using local transportation to vist all the main sights.

So that's my experience. Hope it's of some use.

I don't remember the name of the estancia. The only guests were from the Infinity. I think there were 2 maybe 3 buses. Lunch was family style with lots of meat options. Then a gaucho show of both dancing and horseback riding. It was a pleasant day. The bus ride was pretty smooth until the last mile or so when on the property of the estancia.

We just completed a B2B2B on the Infinity which included the February Antarctic cruise followed by Buenos Aires to Valparaiso and then on through the Panama Canal to Ft. Lauderdale. We spent four days in Buenos Aires before boarding the Antarctic cruise, and found the city very fascinating. We thoroughly enjoyed all three legs, although it was our fourth full transit of the canal. We so enjoyed the trip that we are repeating the Buenos Aires to Valparaiso legs in 2017.

While there were about 50 to 60 passengers who did the B2B2B series, there were over 500 who did the second two legs. So many folks bought round trip air from their homes to Florida, and then added a one-way fare to Buenos Aires. So the B2B legs just seemed a logical pairing.

Responding to mlbcruiser's questions...

 

I use frequent flier miles for last minute flights (I have plenty of miles in all three alliances thanks to business travel). Contrary to folklore the airlines often release seats in the final weeks or days prior. If the worst comes to the worst, I have to use double miles for anytime awards but that's very seldom. I'll also book flights speculatively if they open up--and cancel if I cannot put the rest of the trip together. Check blogs like http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/ and others at http://boardingarea.com/ if you want to learn about FF strategies.

 

In my opinion, the ports are not the main event on these cruises: it's what you see from the ship. So I was not particularly fussy about shore excursions and was happy to take ship's tours or DIY. Also, I have no interest in penguins, strictly scenery and history. So my experience might not help others.

 

As I mentioned, I stayed several days in Valparaiso on one of my trips and also visited Vina Del Mar to see the Museo Fonck. I took a walking tour with tours4tips in Valpo that was excellent. I then took a bus to Santiago (there are several per hour, $5) and spent several more days there. On other occasions I've rented a car and visited the Andes.

 

In Puerto Montt I took a taxi to Puerto Varas on one occasion and a tour from the dock to Petrohue Falls on the other. These are both good. In Punta Arenas, on one visit I took a taxi into town and visited all the main sites (the cemetery is good, like La Recoleta), and on another I took a taxi to visit the nearby shipyard (you can see it from the ship if you know where to look) that has a reconstruction of the Nao Victoria (Magellan's ship) and several others (and is working on the Beagle). This was excellent--check it out on tripadvisor. No tours go here.

 

From Puerto Montt to Ushuaia the scenery is spectacular as you cruise through the various channels. On the Eastbound HAL itinerary (but not, I think westbound), the ship goes up to the Amalia glacier. If you know what you are looking for, you can see the back of the Torres del Paine from here.

 

The main thing in Ushuaia is what you see from the ship while cruising Glacier Alley on the way in or out. The port stay there is usually only half a day. On my first visit, I took a ships tour to the national park, which was OK. Sometime prior to my second visit, I read "Rounding the Horn" by Dallas Murphy (this is excellent) and learned of the Yamana people so I spent my second visit going to the museums in town, including the tiny Yamana museum. (The museum in Punta Arenas also has a useful exhibit on the Yamana.)

 

After that, you circumnavigate the island of Cape Horn and then head either south to the Antarctic Peninsular (awesome) or north to the Falklands. One time there I bought a ride for 20 pounds from a lady at the visitor center to visit Gypsy Cove, and later explored Stanley and its churches and museum, and the second time I took a ship's tour to some of the Falklands War battlegrounds (I'm English and vividly remember the news coverage of the actual events). This was very interesting and also let me see some more remote parts of the island.

 

In Montevideo, on my first visit I took a taxi into town (and walked back), and I didn't do much on my second (it was Christmas Eve) -- I should have taken a tour. On one trip I stayed over for several days in BsAs, which I enjoyed very much, just using local transportation to vist all the main sights.

 

So that's my experience. Hope it's of some use.

On our Infinity cruise from BA to Valpo we were in Ushuaia for a full day.

On our Infinity cruise from BA to Valpo we were in Ushuaia for a full day.

When did you see Glacier Alley then?

BTW. for those considering the itineraries that go down to Antarctica, there's a useful comparison of the HAL and Celebrity driveby's by Hotshot80 at post 10 of this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1958099

When did you see Glacier Alley then?

We saw the glaciers in the early evening after departing Ushuaia. There was enough light for us to see them.

There is really some good info. on here and ideas of what to see/do.

Thanks for the estancia info. Traveling Library. I'm sure there will be some listed in guidebooks and then there is always the ship's tour. I had been planning to just visit one on our own but who knows? We could always go w/the ship's tours if we have to.

J.D. - we often drive ourselves when exploring new places and LOVE mts. What are the highlights that we should see in the Andes outside of Santiago? (Even if we have to do a tour.)

Someotherguy, I had to laugh at your comment! We really aren't into penguins, either. We have seen them plenty of times at the zoo. However, who knows? We will likely see some at some point on this itinerary. We ARE into wonderful scenery, though! You put a lot of good tips on here for things/places I will have to check out. Torres de Paine would be fabulous but I guess there is no way to go there unless we do a land trip instead of a cruise. In the hills about 30 to 45 min. west of us are a number of wineries, plus we have visited some in CA before. So we don't care so much about those but if the area around them is very scenic, we'd likely like that. For sure we won't be doing a cruise to Antartica, and likely not the Falklands, either. We are just looking at a B.A. to Valpo intinerary or vice versa. I was kind of hoping to visit a beach either at Montevideo or Punta del Este but it depends on what else sounds interesting.

Northern Aurora, wow, that's definitely a lot of b2b2bers. Sounds like almost all the passengers must be fully retired or else how in the world could they be away long enough to do the B2B2B cruises, etc? Even though we are 60+ yrs. young, I do like a mixed age demographic. Some lines would be better for us than others, I'm sure.

Lots of great help on this thread. Thanks again!

There is really some good info. on here and ideas of what to see/do.

 

Thanks for the estancia info. Traveling Library. I'm sure there will be some listed in guidebooks and then there is always the ship's tour. I had been planning to just visit one on our own but who knows? We could always go w/the ship's tours if we have to.

 

J.D. - we often drive ourselves when exploring new places and LOVE mts. What are the highlights that we should see in the Andes outside of Santiago? (Even if we have to do a tour.)

 

Someotherguy, I had to laugh at your comment! We really aren't into penguins, either. We have seen them plenty of times at the zoo. However, who knows? We will likely see some at some point on this itinerary. We ARE into wonderful scenery, though! You put a lot of good tips on here for things/places I will have to check out. Torres de Paine would be fabulous but I guess there is no way to go there unless we do a land trip instead of a cruise. In the hills about 30 to 45 min. west of us are a number of wineries, plus we have visited some in CA before. So we don't care so much about those but if the area around them is very scenic, we'd likely like that. For sure we won't be doing a cruise to Antartica, and likely not the Falklands, either. We are just looking at a B.A. to Valpo intinerary or vice versa. I was kind of hoping to visit a beach either at Montevideo or Punta del Este but it depends on what else sounds interesting.

 

Northern Aurora, wow, that's definitely a lot of b2b2bers. Sounds like almost all the passengers must be fully retired or else how in the world could they be away long enough to do the B2B2B cruises, etc? Even though we are 60+ yrs. young, I do like a mixed age demographic. Some lines would be better for us than others, I'm sure.

 

Lots of great help on this thread. Thanks again!

Punta del Este would be your best bet on going to the beach.

If you go from BA to Valpo, you will have more time in Ushuaia.

...

J.D. - we often drive ourselves when exploring new places and LOVE mts. What are the highlights that we should see in the Andes outside of Santiago? (Even if we have to do a tour.)

We did not did not do a trip up into the Andes east of Santiago. I considered going on the day tour offered by About Chile. (Other tour operators advertise similar day trips.) However, because of a propensity for both motion sickness and altitude sickness in one of us, we decided to forego this excursion. There are supposedly about 40 switchbacks on the road. If we get back to Santiago, we will reconsider doing the Andes excursion... There is supposedly a good chance of seeing Andean Condors.

John

TeanneTx, be forewarned - while I am sure the Infinity is nice, it's an older ship so won't likely be quite as nice as you found the Silouette to be. However, we did an E. Med. cruise several yrs. back on the Century. It wasn't one of their newer ships even then. Still nice and somehow I liked it a bit more than the newer Millenium. So I guess you can never know til you experience it. Part of our dilemma is one of the cruises we are looking at is on the Rhapsody OTS. She is an older RCCL ship and we were on her yrs. ago. We've been on a bunch of their newer ships and I wonder if we'd like it now (?). 13 mos. ago we sailed on the Legend OTS, and frankly, we didn't care for it much.

J-D, I wouldn't have thought Ushaia would be "all that" compared to some of the more northerly ports. Kind of interesting is all. However, is there super scenery around there? Well, I am also prone to motion sickness. (Thank goodness for trusty Bonine & Less Drowsy Dramamine!) While we've both driven through a number of switchbacks on ski trips and while sightseeing, 80 would be a bit much! I'd love to see an ariel view of the road and talk to others who have done the trip as well.

4744Pappa, re: Punta del Este, yes I had my eye on that area for a beach day! Thanks for confirming that for me.

Do most people prefer to start out in B.A. or Valparaiso? I kind of lean towards B.A. , but now I am not sure it matters that much. What do those of you who have sailed out of or to these ports on an around the horn cruise is the best way to do it? In our case, the sail date will likely decide it for us.

Punta Del Este has the nicest beaches in South America outside of Brazil. It is also 2 to 2.5 hours from Montevideo. Five hours of drive time cuts down considerably on beach time. Montevideo is not a bad alternative...Montevideo is an estuary,not really ocean front...but does have some good beaches for sun bathing.