Mercruiser

I have a different viewpoint. I prefer Caribbean cruises that depart from San Juan. I like starting the cruise in the reliably warm part of the Caribbean. I also prefer to NOT have the 2 sea days at the start & end of the cruise going from/to Florida. I like sea days between port stops, not before/after all the port stops.

That makes sense. Another thing to add to your suggestion. HAL and Princess visit Glacier Bay way more than other cruise lines. You will want to cruise through Glacier Bay on one of your Alaska cruises. https://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm

I agree with everything in your post, except I have a different outlook on the ports. HAL and Princess dock in Whittier. All other cruise lines dock in Seward. Yes, Seward is farther away from Anchorage than Whittier. But Seward has a lot more to see than Whittier. Even if cruising in/out of Whittier, I recommend spending a day or more in Seward. (I'll be spending a week there this summer!) Either way you go, the scenery between Seward, Whittier, and Anchorage is spectacular. The whole Kenai Peninsula is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Here are some of the Seward attractions: Kenai Fjords National Park - Access by Tour Boat. See whales, sea lions, tidewater glaciers https://www.nps.gov/kefj/index.htm Alaska Sea Life Center - aquarium https://www.alaskasealife.org/ Seavey's Sled Dogs - 3 time winner of the Iditarod race https://ididaride.com/ Exit Glacier Trailhead - You can walk to this glacier from the parking lot https://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacier-area.htm

I am hoping it's a newbuild announcement. Yes, I know that is very unlikely!

I really like your approach of spending 4 - 7 days in Alaska between cruises. Alaska is really easy to see on your own with a rental car. When cruising to/from Alaska, we normally get a one way car rental between Whittier/Seward and Anchorage (flying to/from Anchorage). There is a huge number of things to see on the Kenai Peninsula, including lots of mountains and glaciers. With a rental car, you can pull over any time to watch bears, elk, eagles, etc. In your case, you could probably return the car to the same location in Whittier/Seward. Mixing cruise lines provides the most options, as Visagrunt points out: HAL one way, Princess/Celebrity/etc. the other way. Personally, I'd prefer to mix cruise lines for the variety of food and entertainment. One more suggestion, May might be a bit early, depending on what you want to do in the mountains. A lot of trails would still be snowy/muddy. I'd wait until June. I meet a lot of Texans in Alaska, getting away from the summer heat. Maybe you should come in August - the hottest month in Houston. BTW - We will be spending the whole summer in Alaska camping with the truck and trailer. As part of that trip, we will spend a week at a waterfront camping spot in Seward, watching the ships come and go.

I see in your signature that you have a Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise in 2025. You will have to let us know how the Ushuaia KC compares to Chicken of the Sea. 😁

Chile and Argentina have sizable King Crab fisheries. We had excellent King Crab recently in Puerto Natales Chile and Ushuaia Argentina. Ushuaia is on many South American cruise itineraries. I thought the taste was as good or better than Alaskan KC. They also have local KC in Norway, but the price makes Alaskan KC seem like a bargain.

We stayed at the Park Tower, which shares a building with the Sheraton.. I really liked the location, across from a big park, near the cruise port. If the Park Tower is too pricy, stay at the Sheraton. The two hotels share a big outdoor pool and fitness center. Getting around was easy using Uber, which costs about 1/4 of what we pay at home. We used it multiple time a day to see all the sites on our own.

We recently spent 3 nights in B.A. post-cruise plus another 2 days at Iguazu Falls. We had a great time and its a very enjoyable city. If your time is flexible, I'd suggest having two full days in B.A, followed by your cruise embarkation. Here are a few suggestions: We stayed at the Park Tower (which is in the same building as the Sheraton). I'd recommend either one of these. The location is good and the service level is really high. We took a half-day Viator city tour to get familiar with the top sites, then toured on our own afterwards using Uber to get around. Uber prices are about 1/4 of what they would be in a North American or European city. We used Uber multiple times per day. We spent 6 weeks in South America on this trip. We don't speak Spanish. It was never had a problem that could not be solved using Google Translate. Pay for everything with a credit card. See my post on that:

I ran into the pristine bills issue just a couple of times in a 6 week visit. I am surprised that they care about this. US bills are worth their full face value as long as you have >50% of the bill. Read it here: https://www.bep.gov/services/mutilated-currency-redemption I've lived in the USA all my life and never had anyone refuse bill that had an ink spot, until I was in Argentina, which is especially ironic given that their own currency devalues at great speed.

Note that all three of you can simultaneously share a single internet connection using the Hotspot feature on your Android or iPhone. We do this all the time on cruise ships. The only significant limitation is that you have to be near the phone that has the hotspot feature turned on. You cannot be spread out over the ship when doing this. Your son could share his high-speed connection with you using this method. The iPhone instructions are here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111785 Android here: https://support.google.com/android/answer/9059108?hl=en This also works for sharing an Airalo Esim internet connection, or a in-flight Internet package.

You will be surrounded by King Penguins at Volunteer Point in the Falklands. There are so many penguins on the move that you have to step out of their way as they waddle between the shore and the rookery. See photos here.

We found a wonderful restaurant in Cusco on the main square: Mistura Grill Cusco. It was so good, we went twice. The prices are about 1/2 to 1/3 what I would expect to pay for a restaurant of this caliber. Our dinner for two was $35! https://maps.app.goo.gl/2wTa6tC9MnsCwKuz7 We got a window table overlooking the square. I've redacted our friends, who are in the Witness Protection Program. (Actually, I have not taken the time to ask if they mind being posted on social media.) We had trout, stuffed chicken, and alpaca pepper steak. All were wonderful. This place is so good, I'd skip a Princess tour meal to go here.

Here was our first view of MP. This was after walking uphill, from the bus stop, for about 20 minutes. It started raining about 20 minutes later and did not stop. We returned the next morning and it was mostly sunny. I wonder how a cruise-line tour does MP, given that many folks on cruise line tours are physically unfit for this kind of walking. This isn't a drive-by bus tour kind of place.

We recently completed a 1-week DIY trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu. I don't know anything specifically about Princess's tour. But here are a couple of things learned about MP and Cusco. MP is NOT a dress-up kind of place. Most people are dressed for hiking and heavy walks. You will not need to dress up at all, anywhere, anytime. Wear practical clothes for walking outdoor in cool and rainy weather. Then the sun comes out and you are warm. Have a backpack where you can keep a rain-jacket and other layers you take off during the sunny times. The weather in Cusco and MP will be very cool. MP is in a cloud forest, which means it can rain at any time. Be prepared for rain which means bring a good rain jacket or buy one of those disposable rain ponchos that are sold by every street vendor. Bring shoes that can get wet and have good traction. Don't be discouraged if it rains - it can be sunny 30 minutes later. The weather changes real fast. Beware of the altitude. Cusco (11,000 to 12,000 feet) is about the same elevation as Leadville, CO. Being from Colorado, you'll be better off than someone who lives near sea-level. We had zero issues with bugs at MP (Iguazu falls is another story!!!).

I had to ask Edson (my guide from Tours by Locals) to write me a letter to submit for the Brasil visa showing that he was driving me in/out of Brasil. The day after I applied for the visa, Brasil pushed back the visa requirement date. So I didn't need the visa after all. We were approved for the visa on the first try. I now have a ten year Brasil tourist visa. We hope to go on an Amazon river cruise in the future, so the visa will eventually be useful to us. The flight updates in Spanish were not really a problem. They came by email, and I use Gmail, which has a Translate button right in the app. Easy-peasy. YMMV if you use a different email app.

Here is another anecdote from our Argentina travels. We went to a seafood restaurant for king crab in Ushuaia. While I'm eating, I have this view of the cashier counter at the restaurant. The man behind the manager is paying with a big stack of Argentina peso notes (probably 1000 peso notes worth $1 USD each.) The lady behind the counter counts all the notes. She recounts them several more times. Then she summons a manager to recount the notes. Finally, she puts the stack of notes in one of those currency counting machines, lower right, that you see at banks and casinos. The whole process took about 8 minutes. While the manager is counting and recounting, another man (not in the picture) gets the attention of the lady behind the counter. He pays with USD (I can see the green notes). He was done in less than a minute. Meanwhile the guy in the picture is still watching the repeated recounts. I paid with a credit card. I was done in a couple of minutes.

We never used cabs. We used Uber. It was cheap and easy. I don't speak Spanish, so Uber is much better for me than cabs.

The short answer, don't exchange USD for Argentina currency. Everyone happily takes credit cards and USD. See more here:

See my penguin photos here:

We just completed a tour to Volunteer Point with Estancia Excursions. The cost was $200 USD, in cash, on arrival. They do not require a deposit, and you don't lose any money if the port call is canceled. http://estancia-excursions.com/tour/volunteer-point/ When we arrived in Stanley on the very first tender, we were immediately whisked away with one other couple to Volunteer point. They use Toyota Land Cruisers and Range Rovers. So it's only two couples. We didn't have to wait for other people on later tenders. The later folks went on later vehicles. It was very time efficient.

I used flights.google.com to track pricing. When I clicked on the cheapest non-stop flight, it took me to https://www.aerolineas.com.ar/ The fare was priced in Aregentina pesos and was $55 when converted by my credit cards company to USD. I then tried booking booking on the USA site, so that I could use English, and the price was higher. So I went back and booked on the Aregentina (Spanish) site. The only disadvantage of this is that all subsequent emails and texts were in Spanish. It's not a big problem with Google Chrome (and probably other browsers), because they can translate automatically.

If you want seat assignments on LATAM, then call LATAM. Similar to you, I booked LATAM flights using Alaska miles. I had to call LATAM to get seat assignments. LATAM business class in 787s is very nice and spacious

We booked all of these about about 4 months in advance. Prices may have gone up since 1) RT non-stop air from Buenos Aeries to IGR airport in Argentina We booked on Aerolineas Argentinas. It was about $55 per person one-way. We booked in the Argentina web site in Spanish. It will cost more if you book on the USA site. The seat pitch was the smallest I'd experienced since domestic India flights. If I had to do it all over, I'd pay the upgrade for a roomier seat up front. 2) 2 or 3 nights hotel in Iguazu Falls Argentina - ”Secret Garden Iguazu”. I booked on booking.com Check your dates for prices 3) We hired a private guide to take us to both the Aregentina and Brazil side. Brazil side was a day trip. We booked the guide through Tours by Locals. Click the link in post 5 and get a price. I paid about $550 with cancel for any reason option. I really liked having a private tour guide for both days. It really made the trip low-stress, enjoyable, and easy. You can get group tours cheaper of course. But I really liked the private tour. We never had to wait for anyone else, and the tour guide customized the stops according to our wishes. In addition you will have to pay admission fees to both parks. I'm remembering it's around $20 pp x 2 parks. You can check on their web sites.

Here is the tour we booked https://www.toursbylocals.com/iguazu-falls-in-two-days The boat ride on the Argentina side was extremely fun. You'll get soaked, but it is hot so it feels good.