Strait of Magellane transit at night ?

Looking at booking a Valparaiso/BA cruise next Feb/March and looking at the timings it appears that the Straits of Magellan to Punta Arenas are covered at night as well as the Cockburn Channel to Ushuaia. Can anybody confirm here how much is traversed in daylight hours.

Secondly, although we have sailed with both HAL and Princess previously, how do they rate comparitively in this part of the world. I do note that HAL appear to cover much more of the Chilean Fjords than Princess. Love to hear comments.

In general, you are right that these channels are traversed mostly at night if the ship is on schedule. However, we have been along that route 3 times, twice westbound and once eastbound. On all three trips, we were off schedule to some degree when going through some or all of those channels, and as a result traversed some scenic areas in daylight that we had expected to pass at night, and vice versa.

Perhaps I have (over time) become more easy-going about these unpredictable situations, but I would not spend much time worrying about them while trying to plan. Unpredictable things -- storms, government interference, even earthquakes -- can happen when cruising off southern South America; all 3 of those phenomena affected our cruises in those waters. As a result, there is a good chance that the actual schedule will not match the nominal plans. Despite this, the ship will pass lots of scenic areas in daylight, but it is impossible to be sure in advance which areas those will be! Just be prepared to be adaptable.

One way to improve the chances of passing interesting places in daylight would be to book your cruise as early in the southern summer as possible, e.g., December or January, when the days are long and the nights short, rather than in Feb. or especially March when the days become progressively shorter.

John

We've just come back from cruising South America and spent several days in the Chilean Fjords. First of all I'd definitely recommend choosing the smaller ship which I guess is probably why the HAL includes more of the fjords. We were on a 600 passenger ship and were able to get up quite narrow fjords right up to the glaciers.

We had a Chilean pilot who helped plan the route and took us to some really amazing places. I'm sure we must have missed equally amazing spots during the night but what we saw took our breath away. It probably also means you will be circumnavigating Cape Horn during the day and that is NOT to be missed. Someone on another thread recommended a map which I bought before we went and it was great: we put it on the wall of our cabin with magnets and it was exciting to track our progress. It was called Patagonia and Fuegian Channels map and I got it from Amazon.

I'm writing a review of our cruise on this board but so far I've only got as far as Brazil so I'll try to hurry along and you can read about our fjords adventure

We've just come back from cruising South America and spent several days in the Chilean Fjords. First of all I'd definitely recommend choosing the smaller ship which I guess is probably why the HAL includes more of the fjords. We were on a 600 passenger ship and were able to get up quite narrow fjords right up to the glaciers.

 

We had a Chilean pilot who helped plan the route and took us to some really amazing places. I'm sure we must have missed equally amazing spots during the night but what we saw took our breath away. It probably also means you will be circumnavigating Cape Horn during the day and that is NOT to be missed. Someone on another thread recommended a map which I bought before we went and it was great: we put it on the wall of our cabin with magnets and it was exciting to track our progress. It was called Patagonia and Fuegian Channels map and I got it from Amazon.

 

I'm writing a review of our cruise on this board but so far I've only got as far as Brazil so I'll try to hurry along and you can read about our fjords adventure

Thank you for the map recommendation! I didn't see it at first at Amazon by that exact title, but my Google search gave me Patagonian & Fuegian Channels - with links to Amazon. I just didn't scroll down far enough.

In general, you are right that these channels are traversed mostly at night if the ship is on schedule. However, we have been along that route 3 times, twice westbound and once eastbound. On all three trips, we were off schedule to some degree when going through some or all of those channels, and as a result traversed some scenic areas in daylight that we had expected to pass at night, and vice versa.

 

Perhaps I have (over time) become more easy-going about these unpredictable situations, but I would not spend much time worrying about them while trying to plan. Unpredictable things -- storms, government interference, even earthquakes -- can happen when cruising off southern South America; all 3 of those phenomena affected our cruises in those waters. As a result, there is a good chance that the actual schedule will not match the nominal plans. Despite this, the ship will pass lots of scenic areas in daylight, but it is impossible to be sure in advance which areas those will be! Just be prepared to be adaptable.

 

One way to improve the chances of passing interesting places in daylight would be to book your cruise as early in the southern summer as possible, e.g., December or January, when the days are long and the nights short, rather than in Feb. or especially March when the days become progressively shorter.

 

John

I originally booked Buenos Aires to Valparaiso on the Feb. 1 , 2016 Star Princess, then changed it to Feb. 29. I didn't even consider the amount of daylight hours. :(

I originally booked Buenos Aires to Valparaiso on the Feb. 1 , 2016 Star Princess, then changed it to Feb. 29. I didn't even consider the amount of daylight hours. :(

One other date-related consideration is that the Magellanic Penguins that many people are keen to see, e.g., during the port call at Punta Arenas, generally start to leave the colonies in February. By late February, there may be relatively few of them on the colonies, and perhaps virtually none in March.

John

One other date-related consideration is that the Magellanic Penguins that many people are keen to see, e.g., during the port call at Punta Arenas, generally start to leave the colonies in February. By late February, there may be relatively few of them on the colonies, and perhaps virtually none in March.

 

John

I plan to go to Isla Magdalena from Punta Arenas and Volunteer Point in the Falklands, so I hope they'll still be there. I read a trip report of someone who was there at the same time of year, and he saw a lot of penguins in Puerto Madryn and Punta Arenas. We're not changing back to an earlier cruise, so it is what it is.

I plan to go to Isla Magdalena from Punta Arenas and Volunteer Point in the Falklands, so I hope they'll still be there. I read a trip report of someone who was there at the same time of year, and he saw a lot of penguins in Puerto Madryn and Punta Arenas. We're not changing back to an earlier cruise, so it is what it is.

Thanks very much everyone for the advice, we were looking at March, but think we'll now look at Jan.

Also plan to check Amazon as I can't find any decent maps here, or even in our local library.

Thanks again.

One other date-related consideration is that the Magellanic Penguins that many people are keen to see, e.g., during the port call at Punta Arenas, generally start to leave the colonies in February. By late February, there may be relatively few of them on the colonies, and perhaps virtually none in March. John

On Feb 7th this year there weren't many penguins to see at Otway Sound from Punta Arenas, whereas on 2nd Feb at Punta Tombo from Puerto Madryn there were thousands and thousands. It was one of the best days EVER on a cruise. I'm just writing a review of the cruise if you scroll down this page a bit.

You will traverse the straits after the port call. Check the daylight hours as the day is long in November - December - January. We missed Punta Arenas as the winds were >60kts and the Chilean officials closed the port. This gave us time to transit during the day and see Skua Glacier. (Only an option on the BsAs - Valpo as it's between Punta Arenas and Valpo.)

Hello,

We are close to booking the same Feb. cruise. The main concern is the Pacific Ocean. I have a tendency to get very seasick and not sure if this is a cruise for us.

Is it a fact the Pacific could and is a rough water?

Seems minor to some but not to those that have experienced IV treatment on a cruise ship.

Thank you

Like any large open area, the southeast Pacific (and also the southwest Atlantic) can be rough, but most of the time are not especially so. On the Pacific side, we have cruised between Cape Horn and Valparaiso three times in February or early March. I recall only one moderately rough day, and that was not rough enough to cause significant problems for my DW who is prone to motion sickness. On the SW Atlantic side, during two transits from Buenos Aires via the Falklands to Cape Horn, we encountered two days that I would categorize as moderately rough, with the roughest being between the Falklands and Cape Horn with maximum swells of 5 or 6 m. Again, DW was not significantly affected. Our travels were in large ships (109,000 GT), with midship balcony cabins at mid-height. DW uses a "patch" when rough weather is predicted or occurring. She too was quite nervous about motion sickness before out first round-the-Horn trip, but she was fine, and had no hesitation about doing it the 2nd time. Of course, only you can judge whether you might be more sensitive.

John

Wonderful news! Thank you for the information.

Martha