South American Infinity Cruise pictures

[CathyK2]

Here is the link to our South American cruise pictures. The first batch is of the ship, so those of you that are only looking for the actual ports, may want to by pass those. This was the Santiago to Buenos Aires itinenary of March 1, 2008.

browser:
http://cathygk.shutterfly.com

Cathy

[Peregrina651]

CathyK -- Thank you so much for the link to your pictures. They are fantastic and it confirms that we have made a perfect choice for our next cruise. I got through 60 pictures and realized that I had to stop because I was getting all choked up. It is going to be a long 8 months until we leave!

[auntdot]

Thank you so much, Cathy! Your photos are fabulous and it was a great 'preview' for us (although our itinerary is slightly different). I can now see the walk at Punta Tomba that you had described... hmmmm my husband and I have looked at the photos a couple of times and wonder if it wouldn't be worth going and then take the walk as far as we can?? Oh boy! Decisions!!

Peregrina - what are you complaining about? You leave a whole month before we do!!!!!


Dot

[auntdot]

Hi again, Cathy,

I had a couple of questions - you said you made an 'unexpected stop'?? I went back and read your review and didn't see anything about that. Was it weather related?

Also, I am wondering who your captain was? His sense of humour (good news/bad news at Cape Horn! LOL) reminded me of the Infinity Captain we had for Alaska - Cptn Dimitrios Kafetsis.

We can hardly wait!!!!
Thanks,
Dorothy

[Peregrina651]

Originally Posted by auntdot

Thank you so much, Cathy! Your photos are fabulous and it was a great 'preview' for us (although our itinerary is slightly different). I can now see the walk at Punta Tomba that you had described... hmmmm my husband and I have looked at the photos a couple of times and wonder if it wouldn't be worth going and then take the walk as far as we can?? Oh boy! Decisions!!

Peregrina - what are you complaining about? You leave a whole month before we do!!!!!


Dot

Dot, <big hug and sorry we won't be on the same cruise> I can always find something to complain about!! Besides which, you have that Med cruise to look forward to while I'll be stuck in Boston.

Also, it is better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. Consider that you 1) you will never be in as good health as you are now and 2) that your travels might not bring you back this way. GO FOR IT!!!! PUSH THE ENVELOPE!! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Cathy, I looked at the rest of your photos. I am ready to go!!

[CathyK2]

Glad you've enjoyed the pictures. We really did have a blast.

Dot, As far as Punta Tomba, there is nothing saying that you would have to walk to the end of the trail. You will find penguins and other wildlife LONG LONG before you got that far. Infact, they are basically right there when you stop the car. I really know that not everyone walks the entire way. It's more that many do it because it's there. But if you are just hoping to see fun wildlife and LOTS of penguins, you can do as little or as much as you want. As long as you keep in mind that as far as you walk out, you have to walk back since it's not a loop. I'm sure depending on the weather would also make a difference. We were told to dress in layers, but left coats, sweaters, etc in the car but if it had been cold or rainy, we too probably wouldn't have walked the whole way.

Ahhhh...ok, the unexpected stop. It really wasn't a big deal, so no, I guess I'd totally forgotten to mention it. We were told at dinner time that we had to make the stop after Ushuaia, Argentina since I guess there was some Chilean paperwork that got confused. So basically we went down there a tender came out to meet us, they took care of it and it was short and painless. Besides, when we went out too look around and saw the rainbows, it was rather a nice detour. But nothing serious and didn't change our schedule for the future at all.

Now as far as you guessing who our Captain was due to the way I talked about the Cape Horn news.....gosh, you do know your Captains. IMPRESSIVE. Yes, although we started our cruise with a Captain that I can't recall his name, we got the new Captain a couple of days in. And yes, it was indeed Capt Dimitrios Kafetzis. I have no idea how long they run and as I said, we got changed shortly into the trip, but we really did like Capt Kafetzis. Great sense of humor and sooooo young. That was the part that really surprised me. But he did an excellent job.

Pegerina, Glad you made it through the pictures. I know it was a lot but it was so hard cutting them down to try to give a real feel of the full three weeks. I know that you and Dot are going to have a wonderful time, even if you are on different sailings. They do variations in the ports but they all offer so many different things that I know you will just love cruising South America.

Cathy

[Peregrina651]

Originally Posted by CathyK2

Pegerina, Glad you made it through the pictures. I know it was a lot but it was so hard cutting them down to try to give a real feel of the full three weeks. I know that you and Dot are going to have a wonderful time, even if you are on different sailings. They do variations in the ports but they all offer so many different things that I know you will just love cruising South America.

Cathy

Cathy, you did a great job of editing. With so much ground to cover, it was easy to go through 250 pictures and still want more. You did an excellent job -- that is part of the reason that I was so choked up (not because there were too many to get through). Each picture packed a punch.

[sealover155]

Thanks so much for sharing your incredible pictures. We have just booked Infinity for next February - your pictures are helpful and have definitely affirmed our choice.

Have you written as review somewhere on these boards? I'd love to read your impressions.

Thanks, Mary Anne

[auntdot]

Originally Posted by sealover155

We have just booked Infinity for next February Mary Anne

I hope you are on the February 1-15 trip - Buenos Aires to Santiago!! The best people will be on that one!!


Dot

[CathyK2]

Mary Anne,

Yes, I posted a review but it is VERY VERY long. But it's linked at:


http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=738722


You all are going to have a WONDERFUL trip. It's great down there.

Cathy

[Peregrina651]

Originally Posted by CathyK2

Mary Anne,

Yes, I posted a review but it is VERY VERY long. But it's linked at:


http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=738722

Don't let Cathy's protestation stop you. It is a very good review. I've printed it out and have found it very helpful so far..

[MMDown Under]

After enjoying the whole slide show of your beautiful travel photos, in the wee hours of this morning, imagine my delight when the link popped up to your informative review. Double pleasure - thanks so much.

As we are still in the planning stage of a cruise through the Panama to Santiago with Infinity, in December, with the possibility of further travels in South America this year or next, your detailed comments, advice and links are much appreciated.

I share your concept of "paying forward", which is why I answer questions on this website, in appreciation of knowledge I have gained in my own travel research.

[Jeff&Liz]

Hi Cathy. Just yesterday I thought maybe you had posted a review somewhere and then I found it and your pictures. Awesome! And then here you posted it today. I think you did everything we want to do and the itinerary is identical except we are on RCCL instead of Celebrity! Maybe we can just photoshop our pictures into your's and we won't have to take a camera!

I have a couple of questions (of course!).

We booked with Chileabout for transfer to Valparaiso with a tour of Vina and Valpo. Did Chileabout agree to a private tour upfront or did you just luck out? They told us they don't do private tours when we will be there (January 2-4) but that there would be up to 4 more people for a total of six, unless 4 more don't sign up. I also wanted to stop at a winery on the way but they told us there is not enough time. But you did it and the changing of the guard! Did you cut out something else they usually show you? It sounds like you did it all. Wonder why we can't.

Also where is the picture in Valpo that looks like outdoor street vendors? It is your photo number 56.

Were taxis readily available at the port when you arrived in BA? Did you need pesos or did they take USD? And La Serana - did you need Chilean pesos there for the taxi or again did they take USD?

Thanks so much for sharing. We too are even more excited now with such a good preview. Thank you thank you!!

Liz

[CathyK2]

I'm glad the pictures and review have been helpful. It really was the help here that got me so many of my connections, so it only seemed right to do the same for others. If people stopped posting after their cruise, there would be no one left to give us the information we need here.

Liz,
To answer your questions.... I can't vouch obviously for the dates you are using ChileAbout since perhaps there are vacation times or some such. For us, they quoted us a rate for TWO people. They said if I got others, the price per person would drop. I did tell them that they could add two others to us if they would like, but no more than that. As it turned out, they never had others, but then again, we were maybe not doing what others would want to do.
As far as the changing of the guard and the winery....to be honest, that was our guide. He picked us up at the hotel and then said that since it was just the two of us, you can move around a bit quicker and would we be interested in these extra stops? So they weren't actually in our plans but we obviously were delighted for all the extras. As far as what we may have missed instead....we didn't go up in the funcular and instead we drove to the top. But the trade off for us was well worth it since we had done the funcular in Santiago and it looked similar. I don't know why you are being told there isn't time unless because there are several people in your group, they feel someone would be spending extra time somewhere and confuse the tour for the others. I can only speak for what WE did, but can't say how things may be run later.
The outdoor street vendor you speak of in Valparaiso is actually up at the top of the hill if you were to take that funcular up. As I said, we drove up it and got out and walked around. Everything was up on top of that hill.
Yes, there were plenty of taxi's in Buenos Aires when we got off the ship. We were prepared to pay in peso's but when we got out there, there was a man that runs all the taxi's I guess that spoke excellent English and would ask where you were wanting to go, gave you a quote in American Dollars and you paid him. That way if you don't speak Spanish, you don't need to worry if they understand where you want to go.
As far as the taxi in Santiago, we actually had a driver from the Hotel Orly pick us up and we had been quoted ahead of time in U.S. Dollars and he was waiting for us with our last name on a card when we got out of customs.
Hope this helps. Any other questions, feel free to ask. We had a blast and it helps relive it.

Cathy

[Jeff&Liz]

Thanks Cathy. I was wondering about the taxi you took to La Serena - if they took dollars too? That port seems like a good one to do on our own.

I contacted Alan in BA about doing an all day tour. He responded very fast and said he is not sure he will be in BA then as he may go home for the holidays - but he said he is training another guide and guaranteed she would be well trained and be a native English speaker who had lived in the area a while. He sounds like a very nice and reliable guy. Thanks for the suggestion.

I like private guides for exactly the reasons you stated - you don't have to wait for anyone else and can be more spontaneous. But I guess January-February is the busiest travel season in SA so we may have to share in Santiago. But maybe we will luck out and then can customize our trip a bit.

Thanks again for all your help. Liz

[CathyK2]

Liz,

As far as the taxi in Coquimbo to La Serena, they accept either dollars or peso's. They actually quoted us in U.S. dollars but since we shared another cab with another couple, they paid their share in dollars and we paid our half in peso's since we still had some left over from our time in Santiago.

Yes, it's DEFINITELY a place you can do on your own. There are loads of cabs when you get off the ship and you will find many going this route. It's a cute little small town with nice buildings, a cute musuem, an outdoor market and a lighthouse. It makes for a pleasant stroll and something you can do at your own pace. It's a small place, so doubt you could get lost. And plenty of cabs to take you back when you are ready to head back although I know most will try to set up a time with you to be picked back up, but since we had no clue how long we would spend, we didn't have him come back and just caught a different cab. Also, they were charging $5 a person although going out, they told the four of us it would be $20 so I figured that was the going rate since they all had the same rate. But coming back, we were told 5 a person which was still the same.

As far as Alan, yes, actually I remember him talking about how he was going to be training someone else as well since he was finding he needed vacation time here and there. I have to believe that he would make sure they were well trained since if not, it would reflect very poorly on him. So he does have a reason to make sure the person would be equally as good. And yes, we found him very nice and reliable. It was so relaxed that it felt more like going around Buenos Aires with your buddy, if that makes any sense. He does a great job and is EXTREMELY flexible in doing what YOU want to do and as he says, he will change things up even on the tour if you appear more interested in a particular thing. He does have a set plan on where you will be going after your correspondences, but even along the path, he will say something like, "from here we can do either this or that and would either interest us" type of things and then he's back on to his scheduled path. It was great.

In regards to Santiago....I really can't comment since we did have the tour guide all to ourselves and that does tend to make it more spontanious. How many did they say would be in the tour with you?

Cathy

[Jeff&Liz]

Hi Cathy. Thanks for the La Serena info. Chileabout said 6 max on our Santiago tour including us so at least it is not a bus thing. And hopefully no one else will sign up!

BTW - I contacted the state department today to ask about the guides wanting our passport numbers. They told me that get asked that question alot and it is common in some countries. They were not aware of any passport scams. So I guess I'll risk it.

Liz

[CathyK2]

Liz,

Out of all the ports I booked a private tour, I was only asked for the passport information with one. That was in Puerto Madryn. I'm not sure what anyone could actually do with just the number and we didn't personally have problems by giving it out to Monica, but it's good you also checked.

As far as your van with ChileAbout, at the time I booked, they told me that they had several vehicles but that NONE would hold more than 6. So I would think you won't have more join that group unless they were to go out and buy a brand new big bus, but I think that would defeat their whole business with the "personal and private tour" mode they shoot for. Are they discounting your amount owed if they have six in a van vs 2? They use to have a payment schedule on their web page that went down in price, everytime you had more people.


Cathy

[helpmesailaway]

You have been so helpful and informative about your cruise and travel in SA. Your pictures are gorgeous too!!!!

I have gotten so much great information for when we plan our SA visit and cruise.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

[DocHeart]

Originally Posted by CathyK2

Here is the link to our South American cruise pictures. The first batch is of the ship, so those of you that are only looking for the actual ports, may want to by pass those. This was the Santiago to Buenos Aires itinenary of March 1, 2008.

browser:
http://cathygk.shutterfly.com

Cathy

Great job Cathy
Zuhdi