NCL South America west to San Francisco

[cap622]

Hello fellow cruisers! We are considering a 34-day Buenos Aires to San Fran cruise on the NCL Sun.(March 2016) Anyone taken that cruise and how did you like it? It will be a very long month for us if this is a lousy cruise/itinerary. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Sauer-kraut]

Its been a few years since NCL was in the South American market, you might not get many replies.

[garycarla]

And, you will not find too many people taking this entire cruise. It is actually a number of cruises booked together.

 

I believe they are starting back in South America this year (?). If so, you can book it now and start reading those reviews in 2015 and adjust as needed. We are thinking about doing.

 

Just looked, they are doing the 14 day cruises starting in December of this year. Then they tie on a move to or from the west coast to the South America cruise.

[johnql]

I've only done the first leg of the OP's itinerary - from BA to Valparaiso. That was on the Crown way back in 2000. It was and still is one of my most memorable cruises. I would recommend it to anyone. The ports were great with lots to see and do - spectacular scenery. And sailing around Cape Horn was thrilling.

[Hawaiidan]

It all depends if the cruise goes north to the Panama canal or west around the horn to San Francisco.

 

In both cases..... North is a series of so so ports and the canal is well so-so at best. Like driving through a freeway cut with water in it... the locks 4 of them are interesting but not overwhelming. THen its just a carribe cruise.. plus a Panama canal Summary, atlantic coast is poor and lacking...where the amazon ( as the ship will not sail into amozon basin )where the true beauty starts.

 

Going south the first several ports line Puerto Madryn are poor till you get to Ushuaia, which is cool and the fjords and glaciers north. Then the ports up the pacific to Lima are pretty good. After Lima the ports become progressively more and more dirty and ramshackle/ crime ridden.

I am, not a mexico fan... as I am not into getting buzzed on cheap booze and drugs and I never wanted a stuffed Iguana or a painting of Elvis on velvet.

 

For me....one time around So America was enough. Looked forward to the canal but, it was a big let down.... not very scenic except for the 3 ports at the very tip. Rio and Buenos Aires are former glories of themselves and the local economies in decline while crime is on the up tick

 

If you want an exciting 30 days.... there are some cruise from Buenos Aires or Lima to Tahiti Also, A 30 day cruie LA to LA around Tahiti, Marquaea, Hawaii and back to LA

 

Ask of yourself, what do you expect from South America.... In truth I found it very wanting. All thee cruise flyers show sights like Iguassu, Torre de Plain, Machu Picchu, that are hundreds of miles from the nearest port and the ship don't go there......

[bluesea777]

Hello fellow cruisers! We are considering a 34-day Buenos Aires to San Fran cruise on the NCL Sun.(March 2016) Anyone taken that cruise and how did you like it? It will be a very long month for us if this is a lousy cruise/itinerary. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

We did the Valpa - Buenos Aires itinerary on the SUN and LOVED the cruise! See my review - the link is in my signature.

 

We are booked on the SUN's San Diego-Santiago in Nov 2015. We feel that once we have been on the round the Horn cruise it's a been there done that we would rather go elsewhere than repeat the cruise, hence the "magical" SD to ST cruise that crosses both Tropics and Equator with the ports we have never been to.

 

If you do the 34 days cruise and visit the ports you have never been to, then go for it!!

 

We returned to the SUN earlier this year and enjoyed the cruise. It's an aging ship but it has good things - like the Great Outdoors, great pool deck (2 pools), several places for breakfast, and the MDR Four Seasons is still our fave MDR (of all the ships we have been on).

 

Read my review as it lists the port of calls and the NCL tours we went on - they were fantastic. We still talk about the five BBQs we went to!

 

 

 

No cruise is a bad cruise!

Edited October 3, 2014 by bluesea777

[Ilovesailing]

We did San Francisco to Valparaiso on the Sun in 2008 forget if it was 19 or 21 days, it was also the last cruise that NCL did to SA.

WE scored an inside cabin $399 PP almost last minute with cheap flights home as well. he ship sailed only 75% full.

We also spent 5 days after cruise in Vina Del Mar Sanitago Riveria.

 

Out of 30+ cruises this one is our 2nd most memorable.

Your ports on this leg are almost the same as we did.

We did the cruise in Nov. and had great weather all the way.

Would love to do it again.

 

We liked the Sun as it's a smaller ship but the drawback is the buffet area is congested due to it's size

but we only ate breakfast and a light quick lunch if on board.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Ilovesailing

[bluesea777]

We did San Francisco to Valparaiso on the Sun in 2008 forget if it was 19 or 21 days, it was also the last cruise that NCL did to SA.

WE scored an inside cabin $399 PP almost last minute with cheap flights home as well. he ship sailed only 75% full.

We also spent 5 days after cruise in Vina Del Mar Sanitago Riveria.

 

Out of 30+ cruises this one is our 2nd most memorable.

Your ports on this leg are almost the same as we did.

We did the cruise in Nov. and had great weather all the way.

Would love to do it again.

 

We liked the Sun as it's a smaller ship but the drawback is the buffet area is congested due to it's size

but we only ate breakfast and a light quick lunch if on board.

 

Now you have wider choice of places for breakfast - Seven Seas, Garden Café, Great Outdoors, Moderno. Ditto for lunch!

 

We enjoyed the Sun as a ship more earlier this year than we did on the South America cruise. Suppose we got used to her and learnt to enjoy her.

[polySeraph]

Hello fellow cruisers! We are considering a 34-day Buenos Aires to San Fran cruise on the NCL Sun.(March 2016) Anyone taken that cruise and how did you like it? It will be a very long month for us if this is a lousy cruise/itinerary. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

 

Hi OP, As others have said, Winter 2015-2016 will be the first time that NCL has a ship in South America since Winter 2009-2010 so you'll have to go back several years to find reviews of the Sun in South America. Bluesea777 did a good review of the Around the Horn portion and I did a (belated) photo review last fall of my Around the Horn cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. To read my review, click HERE. My review consists of two pages of posts embedded in a much longer thread about NCL in South America.

 

 

 

(If you are using a web browser, clicking the link should take you to the start of page 3 where my review begins. If you are using Tapatalk, clicking the link may take you to page 1 on the thread. Just navigate to page 3 and you're all set.)

 

 

 

As far as the Valparaiso to San Francisco portion of the itinerary, that may prove more challenging. Since these types of repositioning itineraries are done twice a year, fewer people take them and there's simply less information out there. I am currently researching my upcoming Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale cruise aboard the Celebrity Infinity. What I have had to do is look at reviews for all the cruise lines with South American itineraries to get information on the ports in Northern Chile, Peru and Ecuador. A couple of the cruise lines transit the Panama Canal before ending the cruise in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and one (Princess, maybe???) heads up the west coast of North America.

 

 

 

If you'll read my review, you'll see that my (first) South American cruise was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wouldn't mind going back and doing it all over --- in fact, I'd be thrilled! All we need is time and money!

Edited October 4, 2014 by polySeraph

[Shawnino]

Booked this bad boy as soon as we saw it.

May have to bail if I can't get time off work, but I saw it three months ago and pounced.

 

We've done Antarctica with Lindblad. Lindblad has a similar itinerary to this S. American one, but at $38K pp to open, Lindblad is a non-starter for us. This looked like a good compromise.

 

A few of the places/ports overlap with what we've already seen:

BA is amazing... arrive early and spend a couple days there.

Stanley is interesting for half a day. Cute English village quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Falklands will be very interesting for birders. We're going to be looking for an excursion that gets us out of town and up close with penguins.

Ushuaia itself isn't at all exciting, but the nature around Ushuaia is OK.

 

Not sure on route, but if we are sailing the Beagle Channel and bits of the Straits of Magellan, the scenery from the ship will be absolutely stunning. We never book Balcony preferring to save money by booking cheap GTY, but for this trip we've splashed out on Aft-Facing Balcony, largely on a bet that we're getting coastline right in this spot.

 

How tight we get to the Horn will likely depend on the mood of the local Argentine port authority there. Argie govt extremely dysfunctional, with local authorities taking national directives as optional suggestions. They will NOT like that we called in Stanley immediately before Ushuaia.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Shawnino

[Clay Clayton]

I was on Sun's very last South American cruise. While we could only afford (time and money dammit)the BA to Valpariso leg, ohters on our roll call were doing the second leg on to Miami....there was even one british couple who were staying on board all the way to Dover.

 

I agree completely with the others about the leg I did and finishing up the cruise is on my bucket list.

[ctrlbrk]

Regarding SA cruises, is knowing Spanish a requirement? For the ports, excursions, tours? What about talking with guests, are they mostly English speaking or Spanish speaking?

 

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

[Clay Clayton]

I speak almost no Spanish and had no issues. All of our tour guides spoke english beautifully as did the folks at our hotel in Buenos Aires.

 

Would speaking spanish made for a better experience, probably. Required no.

[ctrlbrk]

I speak almost no Spanish and had no issues. All of our tour guides spoke english beautifully as did the folks at our hotel in Buenos Aires.

 

Would speaking spanish made for a better experience, probably. Required no.

 

What about guests on ship? Mostly English speaking?

 

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

[Clay Clayton]

What about guests on ship? Mostly English speaking?

 

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

 

Correct.

[ctrlbrk]

Correct.

 

Awesome, I'm much more excited to add this to my short list of upcoming cruises

 

 

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro