South America

[babs135]

I would love to do a cruise to South America but DH doesn't.  When asked he admits that he has no real reason for not wanting to go other than he doesn't 'fancy it'.  He does realise that this is a weak reason but struggles to offer anything else.

Do I accept that this is a cruise too far (quite literally as I'm in the UK) or do I push him into booking something that he might hate?  I fear he would go with a closed mind and the thought of a couple of weeks in a cabin with someone who doesn't want to be there certainly does not appeal.

Any thoughts?

[whogo]

What cruise are you considering? It has to be a pretty good cruise to justify a transatlantic flight.

[ColeThornton]

If he doesn't want to go respect his wishes.   Simple.  

[Essiesmom]

Find someone else to go with you.  Maybe when he sees you want to go there that badly, he will relent.  Remind him of the things he likes about cruising other than the ports.  Do you have a ship/itinerary in mind?  I will admit I love the Amazon, have been three times (only once on a cruise) but have no interest in the southern part of South America.  EM

[babs135]

2 hours ago, whogo said:

What cruise are you considering? It has to be a pretty good cruise to justify a transatlantic flight.

None in particular, although the Queen Victoria is doing a cruise in 2025.

[edinburgher]

We did two itineraries a couple of years apart. And yes, the journeys were brutal but so worth it.  Only regret was that we didn't book a b2b the first time as SA is often divided into 3 itineraries and many, if not most pax onboard were doing two together or all three b2b2b for a full circumnavigation.

 

Try to tempt your husband with the following as it is difficult to believe he "doesn't fancy any of it'

 

First was Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale, up through Chile, Peru and Ecuador and a couple of Caribbean ports following  a full transit Panama Canal,(a tick on my husbands bucket list)

 

Second we began with 3 nights pre-cruise in Rio, and there is nothing more memorable than standing up there at Christ the Reedemer, and that was a "pinch me I must be dreaming" moment  followed by , in no particular order, the beautiful Chiliean fjords, Uruguay, Argentina. (Buenos Aires was super) and some other ports.And on that same second one we had another personal "pinch me I must be dreaming" moment when exploring Port Stanley Falkland Islands.   (the weather was kind that day and we were able to visit, but in honesty, chances are maybe around 50/50 so I would not book for only that one port.)

 

We did both with Holland America, in part as we liked the sizes of their ships and their viewing areas at the time.

 

Should you both decide to go for it, do very very seriously consider at least a b2b as you will want to see more after the first one, and at least doing b2b you avoid having to repeat the flights (and the cost of them) We did Air France both times.  Edinburgh to Paris and Paris to Santiago  the first time, and second time Paris to Rio.  Flights are a pain but at least the food and drink on AF is, or was, quite decent, one of the reasons we booked with them, and on long haul flights, decent food and drink helps.

Edited September 3, 2023 by edinburgher

[Reina del Mar]

We have been to South America twice from UK. Flew with KLM from Cardiff via Amsterdam. First time San Antonio to Buenos Aires and earlier this year from San Antonio to Los Angeles. We very much enjoyed both trips and the long flights were definitely worth it. We sailed Princess both times.

 

However, if your husband isn’t keen it might cause upset.

 

Could you possibly take it in turns to choose where you go. You choose one year and he chooses the next year or vice versa.

[whogo]

3 hours ago, babs135 said:

None in particular, although the Queen Victoria is doing a cruise in 2025.

Queen Victoria's cruise is a 78 night circumnavigation of South America from Southampton with 46(!) sea days, shorter segments available. I would happily return to Rio, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, the glaciers, Cape Horn and San Antonio for that 19 night segment, but the rest would not appeal to me unless I took overnight excursions to Machu Picchu or the Galapagos Islands. I wonder why a Cunard ship would not have Falkland Islands on the itinerary. Immigration at Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale would put me off if I were traveling with a UK passport.

 

Fortaleza? Salvado? Buzios? Manta? Nassau? What's the attraction? Sorry, Babs135, I'm in your husband's camp on this one. I think you can find a better cruise. Does your husband offer any better suggestions? No argument from me if you make it a solo or girls' trip.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by whogo

[Mary229]

My sis is my alternative cruise companion and I am willing to travel solo. It seems to spur him on.  He is not a big fan of Europe and I love it.  I book my cabins and give him first choice before I ask my sister.  So far he has never declined. Next year we are traveling trio.  My husband loves South America and I am begrudgingly going for the 5th time in January. Tit for tat.  
 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Mary229

[ldubs]

Seems mutual agreement on travel choices by a couple is a good thing.  I would not pressure Mrs Ldubs into a trip she doesn't find appealing.  Hope you can come up with a solution, be it a different trip or a change of mind after reviewing the SA itineraries.  

[new_cruiser]

11 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Find someone else to go with you.  Maybe when he sees you want to go there that badly, he will relent.  Remind him of the things he likes about cruising other than the ports.  Do you have a ship/itinerary in mind?  I will admit I love the Amazon, have been three times (only once on a cruise) but have no interest in the southern part of South America.  EM

Or plan on going solo. There are many places I would like to go that don't interest my husband so I go to those places on my own. He's more of a homebody and not as adventurous so it has to be something he really wants to do to tempt him to travel. About half the trips I do are with him and most of the rest, I go solo. Solo supplements are a pain, but sometimes I've been able to find specials where there was little or no solo supplement or find a travel on sale. 

 

Also, when traveling with him, I like to make the trip as comfortable as possible so book business class for overseas flights and upscale hotels, but when traveling on my own, I'm willing to fly coach (sometimes requesting an upgrade on miles) and book cheaper good enough hotels. That helps offset some of the extra costs of traveling solo. 

 

He is very supportive of me going solo when a trip doesn't interest him.

[donaldsc]

If you can afford the cost of a solo just go w/o him.  I have done several cruises by myself as my wife did not want to do them.

 

DON

[SPacificbound]

We did a Celebrity B2B2B South America and it was a great cruise, one of the best.

[edinburgher]

22 hours ago, babs135 said:

he doesn't 'fancy it'.  He does realise that this is a weak reason but struggles to offer anything else.

babs135i think I am switching sides and seeing your husbands point of view if the below  quote is an indication of the itinerary you are considering. You need to look for an itinerary which has the best ports and suggest that to him. And if you were considering the full 70 plus night itinerary, that would be too long for many cruisers no matter their enthusiasm for cruising.

 

We have always avoided world Cruises and segments of them, due to the vast number of sea days and the limited number of port calls in certain countries. We just don't see the point in going all that distance to only have a couple of port calls. And whilst we do enjoy the occasional sea day, multiple consecutive sea days are a big turn off for us as we get bored after about day 4.. And it is a long sailing time from the UK to S America and back again so you could save multiple days by flying out to join a ship departing from a S American port, and flying home from another. We did regret not booking the HAL itinerary which was similar to one of ours, but which had an added small number of days sailing to and from Antarctica.  If I remember correctly, no real (or few) landings as such) but scenic sailing.

 

And until I saw it mentioned, one of our itineraries included Cape Horn, another bucket list tick for my DH.

 

So, IMHO more chance of winning him around if you

Fly out and back instead of sail

Find a much more interesting itinerary.

And do b2bs  (or even 3b2bs)so you won't need to return.(with all the days saved by flying out and back instead of sailing, you could easily do this)

And try to include some scenic sailing as S. America offers some beautiful scenery.

 

14 hours ago, whogo said:

Foortaleza? Salvado? Buzios? Manta? Nassau? What's the attraction? Sorry, Babs135, I'm in your husband's camp on this one. I think you can find a better cruise.

We have heard from different friends and/or family that the Amazon itineraries can be a bit boring and they simply never appealed to us anyway.

[babs135]

Thanks for the responses.  The Queen Victoria cruise was just 'a mention' as someone had pointed out the long flights to wherever we would be departing from.  As I'm looking at 2025 I have some time yet to try and find out if there is anything real or imagined that puts him off a cruise to SA.  I suspect that it's a non-starter and as I am not prepared to travel solo, I'll just chalk it off as the one that got away. 

 

Plenty of other places to cruise to!!

[edinburgher]

4 hours ago, babs135 said:

someone had pointed out the long flights to wherever we would be departing from.

You will see from the responses that two UK couples flew to S. America twice, presumably Reina del Mar (like ourselves) having enjoyed the first one enough to cruise the region a second time despite the flights.

 

Have you ever cruised Asia?  Although not quite as long as UK/SA, these journeys are also long, but we did one land holiday and cruised the region (I think) 5 times in addition because we just loved it and thought the destinations made the long journeys worthwhile.

 

Having said that, we made these our furthest points and decided that we would not fly to OZ or NZ for either a land or a cruise holiday and we never have.

 

I think I am trying to say that sometimes, not always, but sometimes, some destinations merit the journey and are worth consideration.

Edited September 4, 2023 by edinburgher

[Hlitner]

Forcing or coercing somebody to take a trip they want to avoid, will often have a bad outcome.  Folks can psych themselves out of enjoyment and often achieve their goal of being miserable (to prove they were right).  Perhaps you can sell your DH on the cruise by showing him some videos of the destinations.  Otherwise, we agree that a solo trip or trying to find some other compromise is the wise course.

 

Hank

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, babs135 said:

Thanks for the responses.  The Queen Victoria cruise was just 'a mention' as someone had pointed out the long flights to wherever we would be departing from.  As I'm looking at 2025 I have some time yet to try and find out if there is anything real or imagined that puts him off a cruise to SA.  I suspect that it's a non-starter and as I am not prepared to travel solo, I'll just chalk it off as the one that got away. 

 

Plenty of other places to cruise to!!

 

I'm also considering South America in 2025. We had booked the HAL 133-day Pole to Pole, which has an amazing itinerary, but unfortunately DW is unable to cruise again. I can't justify being away for 5 months, so will be changing the booking to a single pax on a 22-day Santiago to Buenos Aires. This cruise also has a number of relaxing sea days/scenic cruising.

 

The flights will be long, not too bad if I pay for American airline flights, but to use my significant quantity of BA points, I have to fly to LHR first from Vancouver, then South America. Will only book First or Business and will overnight at the T5 Sofitel, if I opt for points.

 

When cruising to South America from UK, opting for flights over a UK departure, could be the lesser of the 2 evils, as departing Southampton in January can have a number of rather unpleasant days. The Channel, Western Approaches, Bay of Biscay and beginning of the TA can all be an uncomfortable start to a cruise, lasting 3+ days.

[babs135]

4 hours ago, edinburgher said:

 

we would not fly to OZ or NZ for either a land or a cruise holiday and we never have.

 

Funnily enough we've toured Australia four times, twice as a land tour and twice on a cruise, the latter ending in China.  It is, indeed, a long way and even breaking up the flights with a couple of nights stopover - we've done Hong-Kong and Singapore. - it is still two 13 hours flights.  However, it's over 10 years since we did such a trek and as much as we'd go back in a heartbeat, the thought of the flights is a real turn-off.

 

Seems odd to say that when I'd like to do a SA cruise but I suppose it's somewhere different and one I would be prepared to suffer for the cause !!

But as I've said before, I realise that SA is never going to happen so that's an end to it.

[Host Kat]

7 hours ago, babs135 said:

... But as I've said before, I realise that SA is never going to happen so that's an end to it.

 

Thank you. And now this thread is closed.