Around the Horn: HAL or Princess? January or March?

We are considering either the "Golden Princess" for a January cruise around the Horn or HAL's "Zaandam" in March.

We first opted for Princess but are hesitating now because quite a lot of recent member reviews are fair but rather negative. We then thought of the "Zaandam" which is a smaller ship but was recently renovated ( in 2013) which is a plus, but still allows smoking on balconies which is a big minus for us. Itineraries and prices are rather similar. When I compared Junior Suites on the Zaandam to Princess Balcony cabins the former seemed a bit bigger. We haven't cruised on Princess/HAL before but are quite willing to try one of them. We have been on Celebrity Infinity several times and loved it but this cruise line's prices for South America have rocketed sky-high and that makes us look for greener fields.

January or March? January is hotter in Santiago/Buenos Aires and it's the holiday season; I think in March there will be less penguins and other sea life to see.

Decisions, decisions? :eek: Who can help?

In January, you have a better chance - no guarantee -of decent weather. We went in March and hit storms that the ship had to avoid. We skipped two ports and the Horn.

I was trying to make the same decision between the Feb. 2016 Star Princess (sister ship) and the Zaandam. The Zaandam was my first cruise ship in 2004, and I generally prefer smaller ships - but I also really like Princess ships. (I was on the Golden Princess in 2009 right after a major refurb, and thought she was a great ship.)

I asked questions about both ships at the end of this cruise review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1958814 The deciding factor for me was that Princess goes to Puerto Madryn and the Zaandam doesn't. There is no guarantee that either ship will make it to the Falklands.

We also were trying to make the same decision. We chose the Zandam in March because of their shore excursion to Antarctica that was not offered in January. The excursion, where frequently canceled due to weather at any time of year, is a once in a lifetime opportunity that made the decision simple to select the Zandam in March.

You could also consider the Ruby Princess ..... she is sailing out of Ft Lauderdale on January 31st, 2015

My friend and I are booked on her for 32 days, FLL to Valpariso, Chile, as we did Valpariso to LA leg earlier this year on the Crown Princess. But most of those booked on this cruise are staying on all the way to LA.

Princess' So America cruises are very popular and tend to book up quickly.

We are considering either the "Golden Princess" for a January cruise around the Horn or HAL's "Zaandam" in March.

We first opted for Princess but are hesitating now because quite a lot of recent member reviews are fair but rather negative. We then thought of the "Zaandam" which is a smaller ship but was recently renovated ( in 2013) which is a plus, but still allows smoking on balconies which is a big minus for us. Itineraries and prices are rather similar. When I compared Junior Suites on the Zaandam to Princess Balcony cabins the former seemed a bit bigger. We haven't cruised on Princess/HAL before but are quite willing to try one of them. We have been on Celebrity Infinity several times and loved it but this cruise line's prices for South America have rocketed sky-high and that makes us look for greener fields.

January or March? January is hotter in Santiago/Buenos Aires and it's the holiday season; I think in March there will be less penguins and other sea life to see.

Decisions, decisions? :eek: Who can help?

Celebrity's cruises around the Horn are cheaper if you book early. I would not be surprised if you had booked early, X's price would have been either similar to or lower than Princess or HAL. Every time I check those two's prices they are always higher than X.

We did the Infinity cruise in January and that was a good time of the year. It was hot in Buenos Aires, but we still walked the city and used the METRO just fine. We say many penguins.

Both cruises are for the same length of time and stop at the same ports, etc? When we took the Star Princess from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso a few years ago (I think Princess now starts at Rio), there was a Norwegian cruise leaving at the same time that took longer because, as a smaller ship, it could enter some fjords the Star could not. I wanted a larger ship. Even the Star didn't circle Cape Horn that trip, though at least got close. Weather can vary from day to day. Several days before the Star docked at Ushuaia, another ship was unable to, and people went to shore by tenders. On our cruise, the roughest seas were not near Cape Horn but after Punta Arenas, due to a Pacific storm. Briefly had hail before that. Really tough to generalize about weather in that area.

Both cruises are for the same length of time and stop at the same ports, etc? When we took the Star Princess from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso a few years ago (I think Princess now starts at Rio), there was a Norwegian cruise leaving at the same time that took longer because, as a smaller ship, it could enter some fjords the Star could not. I wanted a larger ship. Even the Star didn't circle Cape Horn that trip, though at least got close. Weather can vary from day to day. Several days before the Star docked at Ushuaia, another ship was unable to, and people went to shore by tenders. On our cruise, the roughest seas were not near Cape Horn but after Punta Arenas, due to a Pacific storm. Briefly had hail before that. Really tough to generalize about weather in that area.

Princess still sails between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, although it may go to Rio on a few cruises.

Celebrity's cruises around the Horn are cheaper if you book early. I would not be surprised if you had booked early, X's price would have been either similar to or lower than Princess or HAL. Every time I check those two's prices they are always higher than X.

 

We did the Infinity cruise in January and that was a good time of the year. It was hot in Buenos Aires, but we still walked the city and used the METRO just fine. We say many penguins.

Unfortunately that is no longer true - prices especially for that region have risen considerably. When we compared prices - we have done both the cruise to Antarctica and the repo cruise to Miami in the last two years on "Infinity" - we found the prices unaceptably high this time. Our C1 cabin would have cost double or even triple to what we had paid even at the beginning of the booking season. It's the reason we refrained from booking another South America cruise on Infinity when we sailed her in March 2014. For the cruise we are considering now a cabin on "Infinity" would be double the price to the HAL ship, so even if we love cruising Celebrity and we won't have any extra perks on the Zaandam we chose the smaller ship. We hope that it might also go more deeply into the fjords even if, on the other hand, the smaller size might get us into more difficulties in higher seas.

Thank you all for your answers. As I said we decided to book on the "Zaandam" - first time ever on a HAL ship. Let's see what we'll find!

We have been very lucky so far on both our SA cruises ( both in March) in regard to the weather and hope for the principle of "third time lucky". We were lucky insofar that we had sun in Antarctica and were able to reach all of our ports of call, even the Falklands. ( Oh, the penguins at Volunteer point!!!! :))