Start Cruise in Santiago or BA

Any thoughts? Considering Princess; from either starting point, you get an overnight in BA on the ship, not so in Santiago. Thanks

Because I find that there is so much more to do in BA and believe in flying in a few days before the cruise I would spend the extra time in BA. Even though you get an overnight there I would arrived a few days before that if you can swing it. You can easily spend two to three day exploring the city and still not see everything.

Keith

Keith, as always, is full of wisdom. BA has a lot to do, and much of it can be done on one's own. We will return there at the end of an Antarctic sail-by on the HAL Zaandam in January.

Having said that I must confess that as Paris-like and everything Buenos Aires is, it is not among my favorite cities. It is a bit like Barcelona, which never grew on me. My grandfather raved about Barcelona but neither my brother nor myself can figure out what made it so great. Maybe the vibe was different in the 1950s?

So . . . Our Christmas time cruise will begin in Valparaiso, and we'll spend a couple of days there. Then we'll return to Valparaiso at the end of April for another cruise. We better like it because we are not even thinking about Santiago at this point.

Back to BA. I don't know what the currency situation is now that there is a new president but under the Peronists BA had some compelling hotel offerings as long as one paid in dollars changed at market rate, instead of the official rate. So I would go for something grand.

We did Infinity from BA to Chile. I would recommend 4-5 days pre-cruise in BA and 2-3 days post cruise in Valpo and Santiago.

Here is my review of our cruise and trip.

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

We have been lucky enough to have stayed i both cities, my vote would go to Buenos Aires, although there is a lot of history in Santiago as well. BA just has so much more to offer. Personally I wouldn't stay in Valparaiso, nice for a day visit.

Sandy in Spain

Another vote for BA, although to be fair I have spent a lot of time in Buenos Aires and only two nights in Santiago.

You could easily spend a couple days in Valparaiso, at least one full day in Santiago, and four or more in Buenos Aires.

As for which direction to go it may depend upon the time of year. Check out what times are best for the southern ports where weather can be an issue. Try to get there more in summer than spring or fall. Remember the seasons are reversed from the Northern Hemisphere.

If you want to see penguin colonies from Ushuaia or Punta Arenas you want to be there in their summer.