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Thank you Haljo1935 - since we will be in Chile prior to the cruise I will just take a collapsable bag that I can put clothes wrapped bottles of wine in for boarding. crystalspin and Kazu, Thank you. I was thinking that if we pay the corkage we can bring bottles of wine on in ports to consume. We will be visiting vineyards in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. Can't wait. Hopefully we will have some bottles left over to bring home. Of course, we should decide that prior to paying a $20 corkage fee!!!! Thank you again for the help, Cherie

Thank you. We are hoping to tour Peninsula Valdes because it is more diverse in what to see. I think the penguins here are a side show. Cherie

Haljo1935, do you bring wine when embarking and in ports? We are on a South America/Antarctica cruise in January and love Chilean and Argentinean wines. Do you pack them in anything special or just bubble wrap or clothes? Thank you, Cherie

If you are not a 4 or 5* Mariner with a discount it may be less expensive to bring bottles of wine on board when you embark or in ports and pay the $20 corkage fee. This is for wines enjoyed in the cabin or a restaurant. I think that's what we will do for some bottles on our 21 day cruise. With the cost of the wines listed in the packages we would rather pay $20 per bottle and bring our own. JMO. Cherie

On my 70th birthday the t-shirt said "corks are for loosers." I always take corks just in case. Cherie

Thank you Nebr.cruiser, If you remember the tour company let me know. I am not a fan of 14 person tours because it seems like there is always 1 or 2 that never seem to be back on the van on time. Is there anything that you particularly liked about your tour? We would like to schedule a private tour with Sentir, $500/car, for 4 persons and are hopeful we can find 2 more. Thank you again for your post, Cherie

Thank you Kazu. For some reason I thought I had read in one or more of the dress code threads that people tended to be less dressy in the Pinnacle on "dressy" nights. I appreciate your post and it does help. Cherie

Thank you for this post. I did more research and realized why the cost was so high for this on Tours by Locals. When I read all of the details it was an 18 hour adventure. And, the ship description did mention a plane. Punta Arenas is a port where I'm not wowed by anything and Torres del Paine looked amazing. Oh well. Thank you again, Cherie

Thank you soooo much. Lunch in the Pinnacle is a great option for the Chilean Fjords. I don't think we are too excited about "dressy" nights so a specialty restaurant would be good for us on sea days, if dress code is not enforced. We are lucky to have an aft corner cabin for this cruise so that we can hopefully enjoy a couple of MDR meals there. Thank you for the help, Cherie

Thank you so much. We do want to enjoy Canaletto also so I am happy to hear it will be a good view. I hadn't really thought about the difference between sea days and scenic cruising days. Thank you, Cherie

Hi, We will be enjoying the Oosterdam in January, Santiago to BA. We ended up with HIA. I assume that specialty restaurant reservations should be on "scenic cruising" days. We are not early diners. Are there any "scenic cruising" days that are best enjoyed from the Pinnacle? Thank you so much for any and all suggestions. Cherie

Can't you go to the Holland America website, choose your cruise and level of cabin and find out what is available. We are scheduled on a cruise in January and I do this to see if there's a cabin I would rather have. Not a frequent HAL cruiser so this is what works for me. Cherie

We would like to do a private tour to Torres del Paine. Recommendations for guides? Thank you, Cherie

Thank you, we'll hope for the opportunity and clear skies. Cherie

DCThunder - I would love having this on our Oosterdam cruise in January. Unfortunately it will be South America and Antarctica. Maybe Hal will have an astronomer for these cruises. I love the night sky. Cherie

TayanaLorna, I think you have recommended Sentir Patagonia previously and they do indeed look wonderful. The $150 pp is not a problem, and as you say could be better bang for the buck when you consider rental car and self driving. My problem is needing to find 2 others interested in doing this. I know that posting on roll call is an option but if I do not get 2 others to join we would have to cancel or pay the entire fee ourselves. I really appreciate your responses and the enthusiasm for your private tours. We are not fans of 10-14 person van tours and prefer small private tours. Thank you, Cherie

We are deciding whether to book a small tour, expensive, or rent a car in Puerto Madryn and drive to Peninsula Valdes for the day. Does anyone have recommendations for doing a self drive? Thank you, Cherie

Thanks to both of you. Seems like we should have no problems!!!! I hope OP also has also been helped. Crew News - $190/shot - $11..... I think I will stick to a Bailey's or Single Malt after dinner. Cherie

Crew News - Thank you for posting this. I know it's been covered before but I appreciate seeing what will be available to us in January. I think we should assume that not all alcohols listed will be on every ship? Cherie

With the HIA is the OBC different from $$$ toward shore excursions? I just booked a shore excursion online for our January South America/Antarctica cruise and the shore excursion credits were applied at checkout, which then made the excursion free. Just my experience, Cherie

Thank you for the replies. Wish I hadn't waited so long to get tickets for January 2024. Good to know that AEP is the airport closest to the city. Thank you again, Cherie

Thank you. I think Aerolineas is probably the best. We missed the good rates in late January so will have to pay extra for the flights. Thank you, Cherie

There seem to be three airlines flying from Buenos Aires to IGR. Flybondi seems like an airline that no one should book. Aerolineas and JetSmart both seem to be reliable. JetSmart seems to fly from both EZE and AEP. Aerolineas seems to fly just from AEP. Any recommendations re which airline and airport is the easiest for flights from Buenos Aires to IGR? We will be overnighting in Buenos Aires on our ship January 28. Thank you for any suggestions. Cherie

I agree, but the Neptune Lounge has never been the same as a suite on Celebrity, RCI. Those are the other two lines we have enjoyed really nice suite lounges. I do not expect it on HAL and will be happy if the HIA applies. Who knew?!!! Frosting on the cake. Plus we have the Neptune Suite because we wanted the aft wrap balcony. Cherie

I never anticipated Neptune Lounge beverages would be accepted on our HIA. That's awesome. Cherie