Our South America Cruise - 22 Jan 2006

[scapel]

We'll be on NCL's Crown. She's a smaller ship and apparently can sometimes get into places that bigger shipes can't. We're really looking forward to the cruise. We're using Delta ff miles from Fl and so far have the tickets to Santiago, but must wait another couple of weeks to try and get the tickets from BA to back home!

We did that on FF miles in 04. We flew from ATL to Santiago and from B.A to Santiago via Lan Chile and from Santiago to Atl on Delta. Apparently Delta does not fly to BA. That may be AA. I remember checking with Lan Chile to be sure I had the flights that Delta Booked. Lan Chile is a Delta Partner.

I have heard that one needs $100 cash when arriving into Santiago. This payment is good for the life of the passport. Unfortunately my passport ran ut after the 2004 trip. I paid $100in cash last time but next month I will try to see if the credit card works. I have heard conflicting opinions about that.

[scapel]

We'll be on NCL's Crown. She's a smaller ship and apparently can sometimes get into places that bigger shipes can't. We're really looking forward to the cruise. We're using Delta ff miles from Fl and so far have the tickets to Santiago, but must wait another couple of weeks to try and get the tickets from BA to back home!

I think that is the old Crown Odyssey from Royal Cruise Line. We sailed San Juan to B.A March 1991. If NCL's Crown is the old Crown Odyssey she is a fine ship and probably has had some refurbishing since 1991.

[dileep]

We did that on FF miles in 04. We flew from ATL to Santiago and from B.A to Santiago via Lan Chile and from Santiago to Atl on Delta. Apparently Delta does not fly to BA. That may be AA. I remember checking with Lan Chile to be sure I had the flights that Delta Booked. Lan Chile is a Delta Partner.

I have heard that one needs $100 cash when arriving into Santiago. This payment is good for the life of the passport. Unfortunately my passport ran ut after the 2004 trip. I paid $100in cash last time but next month I will try to see if the credit card works. I have heard conflicting opinions about that.

 

Using United miles we had to fly Varig from Santiago to Sao Paolo to JFK.

LAN Chile (also an American partner) handles Varig in Santiago, and we ended up sitting in the AA Admirals Club!

 

I was told that the line for credit cards is longer than cash (use crisp $20 bills). We did not have to pay since we arrived by ship in Valparaiso.

[RDMOREU]

I believe that you are correct. And, I think that the Crown went into drydock for some 'fluffing & puffing' mid-2005; apparently, removed an indoor pool to make room for more cabins. Thank you for your response. We're really looking forward to this trip!

[RDMOREU]

I reread something and I think the Crown was refurbished in 2003.

[roberts2005]

As to the Chile entry fee. We did it by credit card. It was not any longer. There were 5 windows open and at least two took credit cards. It was one line for all five.

[Linda-E]

We flew Delta from Atlanta to Santiago and Buenos Aires to Atlanta. Delta now serves both cities.

[lmsmink]

My understanding of Cruise Critic policy is that such information can be posted in response to a question. So here it is:

 

Buenos Aires & Iguazu Falls, Argentina : http://www.buetours.com/ingles/citytour.asp

we dealt with Ricardo defrantur@fibertel.com.ar

 

Montevideo: Marta *****, msmtaiz@hotmail.com

 

Puerto Madryn: www.whalespatagonia.com.ar

 

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands: book ship's tour to Sparrow or Bluf Cove

 

Ushuaia, Argentina: Beagle Channel excursion leaves the pier at 9:30 am. We went with Caneoro Catamaranes.

 

Punta Arenas: www.vientosur.com

 

Puerto Montt: http://www.gvtours.com/

 

Valparaiso/Santiago: http://www.chilecallcenter.com/cruisepassen.htm

The guides were provided by www.adsmundo.com and transportation by www.turistour.com but we booked everything with Ceci Salas - www.latintrip.com [ceci@latintrip.com]

 

Thanks SSSOOOOOOOOO much for all this wonderful information. Your reviews are most informative. We're taking almost this same itinerary this Christmas on Oceania and your notes are going help make decisions on whether to use the ship's excursions or do it on our own.

One more questions for you: is it possible to to Igauasu Falls in one day? We will have 3 days in BA before sailing...........

[dileep]

One more questions for you: is it possible to to Igauasu Falls in one day? We will have 3 days in BA before sailing...........

 

We also had 3 days to work with. We stayed in BA for a day and half. Details are in my travelogue for BA. We left on a 10 am flight (there was a flight before 8 am that we chose not to take, since we were at the Tango show till almost midnight) from BA and got to the hotel in Iguazu just after noon. We spent 4-5 hours touring the falls from the Argentinian side only. We had 3 hours the next morning until about 11 am to go back for another look at Devil's Throat in the morning light and return to BA on the 1 pm flight. We could have taken a later flight, but did not want to cut it too close wrt ship's departure. We were on the ship around 3:30 pm.

 

You need the whole afternoon as a minimum to enjoy the falls.

 

If you to see my full itinerary, post your email address here, or you can decipher my email address from my picture pages.

[dileep]

Thu, Jan 18 San Francisco, CA Depart 11:25 am UA 218

Washington D.C. Arrive 7:28 pm Depart 9:35 pm UA 847

 

Thu, Jan 19 Buenos Aires, Argentina Arrival Arrive 10:15 AM UA 847 Hotel NH Jousten - half day city tour

 

Fri, Jan 20 Buenos Aires, Argentina Sightseeing El Tigre Boat/Train tour Tango Show Booked with Ricardo

 

Sat, Jan 21 Depart for Iguazu Falls AR 2720 10:00 AM Arrive 11:45 AM: Falls Sightseeing Tour. Sheraton falls view room. Booked with Ricardo @ Defrantur

 

Sun, Jan 22 Buenos Aires, Argentina AR 1725 1:00 PM Arrive 2:50 PM - transfer to port Cruise Departs 11:00 PM

 

Mon, Jan 23 Montevideo, Uruguay Docked Arrive 10:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM Half Day City Tour - Marta *****, msmtaiz@hotmail.com

 

Tue, Jan 24 At Sea

 

Wed, Jan 25 Puerto Madryn, Argentina Docked Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 7:00 PM Punta Tombo Penguin Rookery Tour. www.whalespatagonia.com.ar

 

Thu, Jan 26 At Sea

 

Fri, Jan 27 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands Tendered Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM Gypsy Cove & City tour with Gerald Cheek.

 

Sat, Jan 28 At Sea

 

Sun, Jan 29 Cape Horn, Chile Cruising Arrive 4:00 PM Depart 6:00 PM

 

Mon, Jan 30 Ushuaia, Argentina Docked Arrive 6:00 AM Depart 4:00 PM Catamaran at pier

 

Tue, Jan 31 Punta Arenas, Chile Tendered Arrive 7:30 AM Depart 5:00 PM Seno Otway tour 0830 to 1230. www.vientosur.com

 

Wed, Feb 01 Straits Of Magellan Cruising Skua (aka Amalia) Glacier from 2 to 4 pm

 

Thu, Feb 02 Chilean Fjords Cruising

 

Fri, Feb 03 Puerto Montt, Chile Tendered Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM Gail & Veronica gvstein@surnet.cl

 

Sat, Feb 04 At Sea

 

Sun, Feb 05 Valparaiso, Chile Cruise Ends. Pick up at Pier. Arrive 7:00 AM Valparaiso & Vina del Mar Sightseeing Santiago Marriott; http://www.chilecallcenter.com/cruisepassen.htm; Cecilia Salas: ceci@latintrip.com

 

Mon, Feb 06 Santiago, Chile Santiago Sightseeing & Winery Visit Santiago Marriott;

 

Tue, Feb 07 Santiago, Chile Transfer to Airport Depart 1:35 PM Varig 8921

Sao Paolo, Brazil Arrive 6:15 pm Depart 11:59 PM Varig 8864

 

Wed, Feb 08 New York, NY Arrive 6:30 am Depart 8:55 am UA 27

San Francisco, CA Arrive 12:16 pm

[lmsmink]

Thanks again for all this info. I haven't had a chance to look at your pix yet.....it'll be my weekend project.

[sultan_sfo]

Hi Dileeep:

Questions about your flights to Iquazu:

 

1. Did you book the internal air To/From Iquazu as part of your international ticket?

2. If not, did you book that from US and how much did it cost? Or was it bought as a part of separate tour package to Iquazu.

 

Thanks. /Sultan

 

Partial Quote:

Sat, Jan 21 Depart for Iguazu Falls AR 2720 10:00 AM Arrive 11:45 AM: Falls Sightseeing Tour. Sheraton falls view room. Booked with Ricardo @ Defrantur

 

Sun, Jan 22 Buenos Aires, Argentina AR 1725 1:00 PM Arrive 2:50 PM - transfer to port Cruise Departs 11:00 PM

[dileep]

Hi Dileeep:

Questions about your flights to Iquazu:

 

1. Did you book the internal air To/From Iquazu as part of your international ticket?

2. If not, did you book that from US and how much did it cost? Or was it bought as a part of separate tour package to Iquazu.

 

Thanks. /Sultan

 

Partial Quote:

 

I booked the Iguazu tour package through Defrantur along with my BA tours. He itemized everything and charged me $230 pp for the flights.

 

My international flights were United Award Tarvel, and that's why the round about routing, but we did not mind because I had enough miles to do it in Business Class.

[geekgirl23]

I actually did book our trip to Iguazu as part of our international ticket. When I first started looking, I was looking for ATL-SCL, then EZE-ATL. But, we actually ended up getting the fare cheaper because our return trip international segment ended up being out of Rio. So we flew from the domestic airport in Buenos Aires (AEP) to the Argentine side of the falls (IGR). Then we flew out of the Brazil side (IGU) through Rio back to Atlanta.

 

It sounds confusing, but surprisingly it came out cheaper that way. Then I booked the other stuff (tranfers, tours, hotel) separately through latintrip- though I probably wouldn't recommend using them based on my own experience, especially when everyone else I've heard from had a great time with Defrantur.

[sultan_sfo]

Thanks to Dileep and you for very helpful responses. Our cruise is Golden Princess Jan 22, 2007 Rio to BA. We are first trying to combine the cruise with an independently arranged "Escorted" 8 to 9 days land package (including all international and local air and all hotels) prior to our cruise -- from companies such as Gate1 / Brendan. If that works out our problem will be solved.

 

Further question for Geekgirl: In some of the land tour descriptions, they will allow international air to include local air only if the international portions are VARIG or LAN. Which airlines did you use for the "International" portion?

Thanks. /Sultan

 

I actually did book our trip to Iguazu as part of our international ticket. ... So we flew from the domestic airport in Buenos Aires (AEP) to the Argentine side of the falls (IGR). Then we flew out of the Brazil side (IGU) through Rio back to Atlanta.

[lmsmink]

I think I might have covered this on a previous post, but on our recent (1/20/06) Oceania Insignia So. America cruise, the only port we tendered was Stanley. We docked at Puerto Montt (short walk to downtown) and Punta Arenas (even shorter walk to downtown) where we stayed for 2 days. We had rather rough seas from Stanley to Puerto Madryn; otherwise they were pretty calm.

 

BTW - if you're a king crab fan, we had an incredible lunch in Punta Arenas at Sotitos! Probably 1 1/2 pounds of tender, succulent king crab with garnish and a couple of local beers for $39 including tip!

 

Mike

 

Mike,

How was the Insignia cruise? We're booked for Christmas this year.....Was it really as casual as they claim?

[dileep]

All 10 pages worth as a single item http://www.cruise-addicts.com/reviews/readreview.php?id=0000004954

[poetic license]

Outstanding chronicle, Dileep! Thank you for taking the time to write and post it. Just reading it gave me some excellent pointers for planning a SA cruise and pre-post cruise land extension.

 

Cheers,

[dileep]

Outstanding chronicle, Dileep! Thank you for taking the time to write and post it. Just reading it gave me some excellent pointers for planning a SA cruise and pre-post cruise land extension.

 

Cheers,

 

Thanks, and you are most welcome. One thing that we did not have time to do was take a trip to Machu Picchu at the end of the cruise from Santiago.

 

With the iguazu Falls trip and 2 days in Santiago, we were gone for 22 days. If I had an extra week, I would have gone to Machu Picchu before returning home.

 

The Naturalist (Dirk Younkerman) on the ship did a presentation on it that was fascinating. We will have to go there some other time.

[bionicbeacher]

All 10 pages worth as a single item http://www.cruise-addicts.com/reviews/readreview.php?id=0000004954

 

Hi dileep, thank you for the excellent review.

 

Ken & Jan

Toronto, Canada

[geekgirl23]

sultan- sorry it took a while to reply, but I just noticed your post to me. I'm not entirely sure I understand the question, but I'll detail our itinerary with hopes of answering it. Our flights were:

 

Before the cruise: ATL-SCL on Delta (international)

From the cruise to the Argentine side of the falls: AEP- IGR on Aerolineas Argentinas (domestic)

From the Brazil side of the falls back home: IGU-GIG (domestic) on TAM and GIG- ATL on Delta (international)

 

We booked our ticket on Orbitz. We only had two international flights because we crossed the Brazil-Argentina border on land.

[sultan_sfo]

Geekgirl:

Thanks -- Your air itinerary answers my question. /Sultan

[SevenSeas70]

Dileep--

 

Thank you for your detailed log of the Jan. 22 Millennium cruise. I was also on that cruise, but my notes aren't nearly as complete as yours. Except for different restaurants and pre- and post-cruise touring, I can cut-and-paste your record into my scrapbook!

 

Lew

[Diva Onboard]

Dileep -

 

Thank you so much for the wealth of information.

 

Your pictures are absolutely beautiful. What type of camera did you use and what did you use to create the special effect of the circle cameo photos?

 

We are not sailing until February 2007 but have many questions. The first thing I can think of to ask is if it was required that you have a yellow fever shot to visit the Falls.

 

Can you please tell me if you crossed the line over the equator or is Buenos Aires south of the line?

 

We'll write more. Again, thanks for being so informative.

[dileep]

Dileep -

Your pictures are absolutely beautiful. What type of camera did you use and what did you use to create the special effect of the circle cameo photos?

 

We are not sailing until February 2007 but have many questions. The first thing I can think of to ask is if it was required that you have a yellow fever shot to visit the Falls.

 

Can you please tell me if you crossed the line over the equator or is Buenos Aires south of the line?

 

Some pictures are with a pocket sized 3MP Nikon 3700 and others with my wife's 5MP Minolta Dimage A1. The circle effect happens with the add on wide angle lens on my wife's camera when you zoom in.

 

No yellow fever shots needed.

 

Equator runs through Ecuador, and we were strictly below that