Jump to content

Trying to pick a crusie that of photogenic interest.


framer
 Share

Recommended Posts

You know some places are better than others, I love Alaska but I hate to drag the wife there more then once every 2-3 years. Am considering Panama full transit, Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean maybe Northern Europe. I'd really like to do Antarctica or Galapagos Islands but I can only be gone 14-15 days max including flight time. Hows Peru or Chile to photograph?

 

 

Ideas please.

 

 

framer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peru can be lovely, especially if you take the more inland tours - Macchu Pichu is fairly obvious, but Cuzco is a lovely town with layers of pre-Spanish to Colonial architecture. Chile is quite desert-like all through the north, urban in the middle, and stunning as you go down south. The islands, Fjords, small German villages, and southern mountains are beautiful. A cruise rounding the bottom from Argentina to Chile will be the most photographically beautiful, through the straits and fjords.

 

Scandinavia and north Atlantic crossing cruises are full of beautiful scenery - like Alaska somewhat dependent on weather cooperation. Norway is just stupidly beautiful, especially if you get a cruise that visits down some of the fjords such as Geirangerfjord, stopping in Alesund. Crossing from there through Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Maritimes involves some gorgeous scenery and landscapes.

 

I personally love the Canada/New England cruises too - starting off in gorgeous photogenic cities such as Montreal or Quebec, cruising the St. Lawrence and Saguenay, hitting the northeast provinces of Canada, and down the New England coast from Maine through Mass...and usually done in fall.

 

All of those are more landscape specific photography cruises though - if you're looking more for a wildlife centric cruise, Galapagos is obviously one of those unique and amazing places to visit, as would be Antarctica and the southern tip of S. America, with the penguins, seabirds, albatross, etc.

 

Anything Mediterranean would be a history, architecture, and landscape bonanza.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once you've done the South Pacific nothing else compares ;)

 

Paul Gauguin Cruises is a solid choice. Small ship (320), shallow draft for entering through reefs of smaller lagoons where larger ships can not go.

 

The only ship that calls French Polynesia home and has been servicing French Polynesia for 20 years.

 

This ship annually gets top awards as being one of the very best smaller ships .... incredible casual service.

 

i-bVH9wG9-X2.jpg

 

i-ZLdt4gg-X2.jpg

 

i-x3TFxzJ-X2.jpg

 

i-3fH8CBW-X2.jpg

 

i-nRDVGPp-X2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

South Pacific....honestly we were disappointed in most of the places we visited. Puerto Papeete was the most depressing. It reminded us of the Mexican Riviera. To each their own, right?

 

Though, I did get the best sunrise ever just off of Bora Bora.

 

p76026796-5.jpg

 

 

If you're a beach person, places like St. John's have beautiful beaches too and are far more accessible from the US.

 

You might consider something like the Auckland to Sydney run with the New Zealand Fjords included. Or Hawaii. The Big Island has quite a show going on right now and the tour up to Mauna Kea is pretty awesome.

 

Quebec to New York is pretty darned scenic.

 

Anything sailing from Barcelona (Sagrada Familia is on my bucket list).

 

Christmas market River cruise?

 

There's another 2¢...

 

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a cruise, but one of my favorite trips has been to Yellowstone.

 

enhance

 

Architecture? Europe... This was before a 12 day Italy and Greece cruise.

 

enhance

 

Then you have the British Isles 12 day...

enhance

 

So basically for me, anywhere I haven't been and many places I already have.

 

Vic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about Cuba? There was a ton of interesting pictures there.

 

The Galapagos cruises were amazing and I did it in a Saturday to Monday time frame. By the end of my trip I was jaded over the animals so I wouldn’t go for much longer (but I would go back!).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As you can see from my profile I go to the South Pacific every year .... been to the Caribbean several times including some smaller islands on a small ship that carried only 90 passengers .... the South Pacific is far superior IMO.

 

Papeete is not a good indicator of the beauty of French Polynesia. It is the place large cruise ships come and go .... and you can't compare doing FP on a large vessel to what you enjoy on a small ship like the Paul Gauguin.

 

Heck, some of these ships have more people on-board than the total population of some of the islands. Bora Bora though beautiful doesn't have the charm of some of the smaller, more Polynesian feel islands. Fakarava and Rangiroa are incredibly beautiful with less than 1000 people on each.

 

As I said, many of the larger ships only visit Papeete, Bora Bora and maybe Raiatea but you've got to go to the smaller less visited islands to really get an accurate picture.

 

Yes ... wonderful sunsets

 

tahaa%20on%20the%20PG%20-%20sunset-final%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

Sea%20Day%201%20-%20sunrise2%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

Sea%20Day%201%20-%20sunrise%202%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

leaky%20Tiki%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

somewhere%20between%20Rarotonga%20and%20Bora%20Bora%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

Steaming%20towards%20Moorea%202%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WOW! lots to consider and a few questions

 

 

1st:

 

What about Cuba? There was a ton of interesting pictures there.

 

The Galapagos cruises were amazing and I did it in a Saturday to Monday time frame. By the end of my trip I was jaded over the animals so I wouldn’t go for much longer (but I would go back!).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Who did you use for your trip? Three days enough? I would consider The Galapagos if I could do flight + tour in 7 days. I thought I would need up to two weeks.

 

 

2nd:

Tahitianbigkahuna,

 

Looks lovely, when the wife retires in 5 years I would put that location to the top of my list. I would want to explore for a bit. Nice photos.

 

3rd:

zackiedawg,

 

A cruise rounding the bottom from Argentina to Chile will be the most photographically beautiful, through the straits and fjords.

 

This could be a contender.

 

 

 

More tomorrow, thanks for all the good ideas got me to thinking.

 

 

framer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a photographic run, I have been considering some River Cruises through Europe (mostly Germany for the Xmas markets). They tend to start and end in very iconic and photographic cities, and with many being 7 days fit in your schedule with shoulder time.

 

 

It also depends on what kind of photography you want to do. I love taking photos of small, old, european towns.

 

 

Panama Canal also has its opportunities, if you do the old locks and have a good itinerary (some of them just have standard caribbean ports and mexico plus canal. But if you can do Cartagena, Puentarenas, etc.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh sorry, I see where you got confused. I did flight plus a 7 day tour in 9 days. It wasn’t that difficult (although I’m from the southern part of the country). 2 overnight flights were kinda tough but totally worth it!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno about Chile. It'd have to be combined with many other locations and only be a very small part of the trip. I know several people who have gone (not just cruises). It's kind of like a less impressive Alaska/Canada but MUCH harder to get to. Peru is nice, but there are MANY other places I'd visit first (I am quite fond of Peruvian food though).

 

The world is a big place and it's pretty hard to go wrong if you do a tiny bit of research. All you have to do is Google a place and look at what images Google pulls up. That'll give you an idea if you want to go there or not. That's how we narrow down where to go next.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno about Chile. It'd have to be combined with many other locations and only be a very small part of the trip. I know several people who have gone (not just cruises). It's kind of like a less impressive Alaska/Canada but MUCH harder to get to. Peru is nice, but there are MANY other places I'd visit first (I am quite fond of Peruvian food though).

 

Each person's mileage may vary - but personally, I find almost the exact opposite definition of Chile's southern region - it's like a more impressive, less crowded Alaska. Definitely harder to get to, agreed on that! But the volcanoes are extremely impressive and fairly active, the glaciers can be monstrous and larger than Alaska's, the landscape in the fjord regions such as Torres Del Paine are otherworldly and gorgeous, the German and Swiss architecture and culture in Puerto Varas, Frutillar, and Bariloche give it a strange Europe-meets-Alaska vibe, Some excellent whale sightings, orca, sea lion, vicunas, penguins galore, condors, and pumas. Chiloe island is pastoral and beautiful and looks like Norwegian fishing villages meet Canadian maritimes towns nestled in a New Zealand/Tasmania landscape. And most importantly for me, a whole lot less people. It's nice if cruising to be the only ship there, unlike Alaska when there could be 4-5 ships at one port at a time.

 

Anyway - Google around and that can definitely help see if any of these places are interesting to you personally, and worth the trip...I completely understand that not everyone is looking for the same things so what's interesting to one may not be to another.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hows Peru or Chile to photograph?

Ideas please.

framer

 

Well, I agree with Dave about Hawaii - but this may be provincial thinking on my part!

 

One of my great memories was Chan Chan - which was pre-Inca - in Peru.

 

There is a lot to photograph in Peru and Chile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did Sydney to Auckland and the opportunities for photography were amazing including the fjords in New Zealand. If you do that, make sure you sail from Sydney. The views with the setting sun were pretty spectacular.

 

Then we did Venice, wow. To Barcelona, again wow.

 

Then we did the fjords of Norway, more wow.....

 

Here is the thing, there are great images, wonderful scenery where ever you go so pick a few and go do it. Remember that the time of day matters when it comes to shooting scenery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can't go wrong with Italy and you have to work hard to take a bad picture in Venice. We've been to Venice 4 times and stayed at least 2 nights every time. Staying in town and wandering around after the crowds have left is magical.

 

 

enhance

 

enhance

 

And we're going back next spring!

 

Vic

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could easily talk me into that one, Framer! We did a similar Italy - Greece cruise on NCL last year, but it didn't have the Adriatic portion. Next spring we are doing Venice, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece. I love Italy - pretty much all of Italy - (which is weird because I am 75% British Isles and 25% northern Europe) - but especially Venice.

 

Vic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For photography, you can fine good stuff to take a picture of just about anywhere. But, my favs photo stops for a cruise would be:

 

Venice, Santorini and Nafplio Greece, Dubrovnik and Split Croatia, Barcelona

 

I averaged over 300 pics a day on this itinerary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...