marymcgol

We have the opportunity to book this cabin on an upcoming cruise but are concerned about noise level given proximity to elevators and atrium. Is the larger balcony worth the noise? Thanks I advance for any guidance

We took the public bus from Coquimbo to La Serena in 2015. The bus dropped us off about one block off the main square in La Serena. We walked around the main part of town and then walked to the lighthouse. It was quite a bit further than we had expected - over 1/2 hour walk. Toured the lighthouse and then had lunch at a restaurant next door. We were there in late March and the beach area seemed pretty deserted. We were the only ones at the restaurant. We caught a taxi from the lighthouse area back to the port. The taxi went along the beach and we passed many bars and restaurants but saw very few people. The beach looked beautiful - we'd love to go back! I would recommend taking a taxi to a beach bar, but would check in advance to make sure bar/restaurant is open.

We went to the Cathedral in Arica and then hired a taxi to take us to the fort and statue of Christ overlooking the city. Great views! The taxi then dropped us at a restaurant on the beach and we had a nice lunch. Spent a couple hours relaxing on the beach and then leisurely walked back to port. A lovely day

We did a SA cruise on Celebrity Infinity in 2014. While we really like DIY touring and exploring on our own, we decided to do private tours in Puerto Montt, Valparaiso and Lima. Based on a CC review, I contacted Jaime Liebrecht at Patagonia Shore Excursions. Jaime was our tour guide and driver in Puerto Montt and it was a wonderful day. He had very good perspectives and commentary and was a very pleasant person. He arranged tours for us in the other two cities - in fact, I believe in Valparaiso he arranged for our tour through South Excursions. In both cases, guides and drivers were prompt, pleasant and well informed, but not as good as Jaime!

We would recommend working with Patagonia Shore Excursions. Great response time while you are planning and ability to personalize your day. With respect to pricing, we did private tours (just 2 of us) and prices were in line with other offerings. For semi-private tours, perhaps their prices are higher than the competition?

It was a fabulous trip - hope you enjoy your experience in South America

Mary

We have a late flight post cruise and were wondering if any of the hotels near the airport offer a day pass. Since we need to "kill" about 6-7 hours, a nice lunch and some pool time might be our best option. Thanks for any advice.

Hi Mary,

Granville is about an hour out of your way & the same to return. Perhaps a pleasant place to stop off for anyone headed for Mont St Michel but do you have a special reason to go there?

 

Thanks for your helpful advice - I was thinking it might be pleasant to just wander around/stop at a cafe in a scenic town, but perhaps Granville might be too far "out of the way." Thinking maybe we should go to Bayeux and see the tapestry...we did get to Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc and the American cemetery on an earlier trip.

We will be docked in Cherbourg from 7:00AM to 5:00PM and have rented a car to explore for the day. We are thinking of driving to Utah Beach and then to Granville but are wondering if this might be too much driving and wouldn't leave us enough time to enjoy our destinations. Looking at perhaps substituting Barfleur or Bayeaux for Granville - any thoughts?

Mary

Another hotel option in Recoleta is the CasaSur Art Hotel. It is a block and a half from the Alvear Palace and the neighborhood seemed quite safe. Staff were friendly and helpful and our room had a very contemporary decor. If you are there on a Saturday, the hotel offers a complimentary tour of Buenos Aires - as I recall there was room for 20-25 guests. Guide was excellent and we stopped at Puerto Madero, La Boca and Plaza de Mayo. I think we paid around $150-175 including breakfast.

We used St Remy de Provence as a pre-cruise base a year ago. We had stayed 1 night in Avignon, then picked up rental car at the Avignon TGV rail station and went to St. Remy. I would highly recommend as a base - easy drive to Les Baux, Arles, Pont du Gard, Chateauneuf du Pape, and the small charming villages of Provence. We stayed at the Hotel de l'Image and were very pleased. It is on the "ring road" and they had a large parking lot so we could park after a day of touring, walk to dinner, enjoy our wine and not worry about driving. The grounds were lovely and our balcony had a beautiful view of Les Appilles.

I enjoyed staying in Avignon, but given the narrow streets, I think a car would be a liability.

Lydia

Feel free to e mail me at marymcgol1 at gmail dot com with any questions. We were on Infinity last March - great cruise, with lots of wonderful experiences. We were apprehensive re: Callao/Lima and thus decided to go with private tour rather than doing it ourselves. In fact, the only ports that we didn't do it on our own were Ushuaia, Puerto Montt, Valparaiso and Lima. It was a great trip!!

Mary

Lydia, We were on Celebrity in March, 2014. We took the shuttle to the port gate and then met our driver and guide at the gate. We went into Lima, went to the Franciscan monastery, walked through the main square and had a Pisco Sour at the Grand Hotel Bolivar. We then went to Barranco for a view of the coast line and Miraflores for a quick stop at the Love sculpture. There is a lot of traffic in the area and we were ultra cautious about getting back to the ship in time, so we didn't stay longer in Miraflores. It turned out to be a fairly quick ride back to the ship and we were back almost 2 hours earlier than we needed to be! I think it would be inefficient to shuttle to and from Miraflore and then go from Miraflores into the city, a circle route would be a better use of your time. We normally like to tour independently, but this was one port where we felt the private tour made more sense.

Looking at these 2 aft suites on upcoming Serenade cruise. I know they both have great balconies, but am wondering if one might be a bit quieter than the other. We had 1602 on a recent cruise and found that the Windjammer noise began around 6AM each day! Any advice would be appreciated.

Trying to decide which cabin to choose - Junior Suite is larger (do they have walk in closets on Vision?), but noisier (under the Park Cafe) Balcony is $1000 per person less, but with lots of sea days, smaller size might be an issue. Any advice?

Thanks

When we were in Buenos Aires last year, there was a significant difference between the official exchange rate and the blue rate. We changed a small amount of dollars into pesos for incidental purchases (snacks, taxi, etc.) at a foreign exchange place in the Recoleta mall. We could have gotten a much better rate at a cambio, but given the relatively small amount we changed it didn't seem worth it to try to locate a reputable cambio. We did find that many restaurants gave a very favorable exchange rate for dollars and we did use dollars for several meals. If a restaurant only offered the offical rate, we charged the meal and took air miles!

In Chile, we used an ATM to get local currency for incidentals. We generally charged everything else - there is no blue market rate in Chile so no advantage for cash purchases.

We found that throughout South America, tour guides requested payment in US dollars, preferable $100 denominations. We brought large bills for the tours we booked in advance and had some extra $100's to use for dinners in Buenos Aires. We prefer not to travel with cash and we were happy to get on the ship and put the cash into our room safe!

The guide we had initially booked with is

gerardo_ush@hotmail.com

When he realized he had a family obligation the same day, he recommended Diego Joel Giles

Mary

Too expensive for my tastes - $1,000 cdn per night.[/

 

That doesn't seem right - we paid around $150 (or maybe even a bit less) per night - with breakfast and tour included we felt the price was quite reasonable.

We stayed at Casasur Art Hotel prior to our Celebrity Infinity cruise in March. Loved the location, the staff was very helpful and on Saturday afternoons they offer a complimentary three and a half hour tour of the city, with stops at Puerto Madero, La Boca and Plaza de Mayo.

As I recall, the price for each tour was the same - either $160 or $180 - can't remember exactly!!

Haven't been in 9256, but we book the JS above it (1100) every chance we get. The balconies are deep, and at least half is in the shade unless the sun is aft of the ship (then all bets are off). Most of the hump balconies on that class of ship have virtually no shade (unless the sun is on the other side of the ship). I wouldn't trade an aft balcony for a hump balcony on that class of ship without a significant fight.:)

How is the noise level in 1100? We were in 1602 on our last cruise and the noise from the windjammer woke us up around 6:00AM each morning. We are booked in 1100 next April and hope that it will be quieter. Thoughts?

We booked a private tour with a highly recommended guide last March. Unfortunately, about 2 months before our arrival, he e mailed us to say that he would be unable to do the tour due to a family commitment, but recommended Diego Joel Giles. We took his recommendation and booked the same itinerary with Diego Joel Giles. We did 2 tours - the morning was spent in the national park and then we went up to the Garibaldi Pass and the lake district in the afternoon, getting back to Ushuaia around 2PM. Diego was a pleasant guide and was willing to stop as often as we liked for photos. In particular, we liked the fact that in the national park, he gave us 2 different short hiking opportunities where we could walk on a trail and he would drive ahead and meet us at the end. The natural beauty and solitude were amazing. My only cautionary note is that he has a small car, so I would not book for more than 3 people.

We used light weight quilted jackets that are OK for temperatures down to 20 degrees with multiple layers underneath depending on the actual temperature and wind chill. The key plus to these jackets was that they folded into their own pocket for packing so they took up very little room.

If anything, I found that as we approached the Horn, the lounges tended to be too warm (probably because we were so bundled up!)

Have a wonderful trip!

We were on the September 29th sailing of the Serenade. Reading your review is allowing me to relive this wonderful experience. I'll be watching for the final installments! Thanks for taking the time to share your photos and adventures!

Punta del Este is definitely the best beach option on the around the horn itinerary. You have 2 options - from the tender port you can walk across the peninsula to the Atlantic beach - also the site of the hand sculpture. The beach on the Atlantic side was quite wide, waves were pretty big and very few people in the water. Or you can enjoy the beach right at the tender port which is on the Rio de la Plata. We were there in March and my husband went for a swim in the river. He thought the water temperature was around 70 degrees and the water was relatively clean. There are changing booths along the beach, you can rent a chaise lounge, and there were places to get a bite to eat and a drink. (We actually ate lunch at the restaurant where the tender comes in - nice outdoor dock, food was fine)

Our cruise also stopped at Puerto Madryn. We thought it might also be a beach opportunity, but it seemed as if most places were closed for the season. The beach needed to be raked - lots of seaweed. If you are there during the season, it would be a good place to go to the beach. There were a number of beach clubs with snack bars, restaurants, and facilities - all an easy walk along the seawall from where our ship shuttle dropped us off.

Hope this info helps - enjoy - it was a great trip!!

Mary

We stayed at the CasaSur Art Hotel in Recoleta during our recent stay in Buenos Aires. Prices were quite reasonable (I think about $140 or so including breakfast) Staff was very friendly and helpful and we liked the neighborhood. We had a great steak dinner at Fervor (just a 2 block walk from the hotel) Another dinner option that you might consider is the Argentine Experience. Check it out on Trip Advisor - lots of reviews.

We really enjoyed our stay in Buenos Aires - hope you do as well.

Mary

Can you provide a little more information regarding the location of the ferry terminals. I thought the ferries to Amalfi and Positano left from the Piazza Concordia, but you referenced Molo Manfredi. We will be in Salerno in late September and plan to see the Amalfi coast by ferry and we want to be as efficient as possible given limited time. Thanks for your help.

Mary