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Santiago to BA Cruise - what line? what ports are not to miss?


kiramoli
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Hi,

we, several couples in their late 50's-60's, are planning 2019 cruise around the Horn. I am reading the posts and yet have some questions, sorry if it's a repeat of what other people are asking.

 

1. Does it matter which month we cruise - January, Feb or March? Is the weather/sights different between Jan and March? For example, more chance of wind in Jan and less in March? Penguins seeing - more chance in Feb/March vs. Jan?

2. I see some dates are pricier than the others of the same ship and itinerary. Why? Does it mean there is some benefit to it, like weather?

3. We are considering Princess, Celebrity, Holland and Norwegean itineraries. Our preference so far is with the Princess - it has 2 days in BA and Falklands and overall preferred over Holland and Norwegean (no offense to anyone). Princess itinerary doesn't have Maggelan Strait though. What are we missing? It's also not clear if it goes via the Fjords or not. It specifies Amalia Glacier only while Norwegian says clearly 'Chilean Fjords'. Again, what are we missing with the Princess?

4. Which is a preferred way if we chose Princess - Santiago to BA or the other way around?

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I can only tell you from our only cruise from BA to Los Angeles in late Feb and early March. It was a repositioning cruise. 31 days

 

I think most cruise lines go to basically the same ports. Maybe a little difference here and there but basically the same ports.

 

We had pretty good weather except it got a little rainy in southern Chile. Other than that it was fine. On Tierra Del Fuego we wore sweaters believe it or not. The Falklands were cancelled due to high winds and rough seas for the tenders but I guess that is common. In southern Chile the cruise to see Amelia Glacier was cancelled due to rough seas. That year it got warmer earlier and and a lot of penguins had already migrated. I am not interested in penguins so I did not care. But some passengers were disappointed. I met a lady who paid a fortune for an excursion to Antartica. That is why she she took the cruise. That excursion was cancelled due to bad weather in Antartica. She was very disappointed. From Valparaiso to LA the weather was excellent and nothing was missed. Several people took the excursion to Machu Picchu. I did not hear any complaint about the weather there.

 

We took Princess. It was excellent. I think we did go through the Straits of Magellan. All I know the cruise west out of Ushuaia to Chile was extremely scenic - lots of waterfalls.

 

Princess does have an over night in BA. I strongly recommend going earlier or staying later if you can and spend some time in BA. It is great city. We spent 5 days there. If you have the resources I would also strongly recommend at least 2 nights in Iguazu Falls. That is not to be missed!

 

I can't comment on the fjords in that Amelia Glacier was canceled due to rough seas and the weather.

 

I don't think it makes much difference whether you go Santiago to BA or the other way around. We went all the way to LA where we live. That was nice in that we had only one long flight.

 

If you go Princess they have EZ Air. I used it and saved a ton of money on the flight to BA. I also changed the dates twice for free. However there is a deadline for changing dates something like 45 days in advance. But I am not sure on the number of days.

 

The huge problem with this cruise is that you will want to do it again. We did it a couple of years ago and now we are already signed up for a 49 day cruise in Feb 2019 from Fort Lauderdale to LA on Princess.

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I would try January or February as it is still Summer there.

 

I would recommend a pre cruise stay even if you begin with an overnight and for this reason I recommend beginning in Buenos Aires as there is so much more to see there then in Santiago/Valparaiso, Chile.

 

Keith

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  • 2 weeks later...

January and February are summer vacation months for the locals. Viewing the penguins is better in January, the chicks are already very big. It will be hot in BA and still cold in the south. Either direction is fine but the best scenery for the fjords and glaciers will be on the land side of the ship so choose your cabin accordingly.

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Hi,

 

we, several couples in their late 50's-60's, are planning 2019 cruise around the Horn. I am reading the posts and yet have some questions, sorry if it's a repeat of what other people are asking.

 

 

 

1. Does it matter which month we cruise - January, Feb or March? Is the weather/sights different between Jan and March? For example, more chance of wind in Jan and less in March? Penguins seeing - more chance in Feb/March vs. Jan?

 

2. I see some dates are pricier than the others of the same ship and itinerary. Why? Does it mean there is some benefit to it, like weather?

 

3. We are considering Princess, Celebrity, Holland and Norwegean itineraries. Our preference so far is with the Princess - it has 2 days in BA and Falklands and overall preferred over Holland and Norwegean (no offense to anyone). Princess itinerary doesn't have Maggelan Strait though. What are we missing? It's also not clear if it goes via the Fjords or not. It specifies Amalia Glacier only while Norwegian says clearly 'Chilean Fjords'. Again, what are we missing with the Princess?

 

4. Which is a preferred way if we chose Princess - Santiago to BA or the other way around?

 

 

 

Santiago is the airport. Ships are at Valpo or San Antonio. Valpo is a great town!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We just returned from a January 7-21 cruise from Santiago to BA. The ship was supposed to depart from Valparaiso and was changed to leave from San Antonio instead. January is a fantastic time to see the penguins.

 

The weather is always changing so I am not sure any month is better than the other. The more northern ports were quite warm though for us, and we got to enjoy the ship pools a lot! You have to just be prepared for changing weather, rain, wind, etc. and be prepared for your itinerary, ports and arrival/departure times to change.

 

Our cruise going from Chile to Argentina ended up entering into the fjord areas either very early in the morning (5am or so) or in the middle of the night, so you might want to do some research on whether or not you will see the fjords during the afternoon/evenings on the reverse itinerary? We got up super early, saw the fjords and waterfalls, etc. then went back to bed LOL. I wished I had of known this before we booked our cruise, so it's something to look into. Maybe someone here can give you some time frames on seeing these things on the reverse cruise itinerary.

 

Princess is a great cruise line. We wanted to book with them but he days didn't fit our work schedules so we took Celebrity. We had a fantastic time.

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Thank for the feedback to everyone!

We are now leaning towards Star Princess leaving San Antonio on Dec 20. I hope the penguins will be there by then and the weather may not be so so hot in the north though I realize that every year is different.

We will be cruising on Dec 31 and will be in Punta Arenas on Christmas day, Dec 25. I called Princess and asked them if the parks/attractions will be opened on Christmas Day in Punta Arenas. They said if the ship stops there i can assume everything is opened.

Thoughts?

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Thank for the feedback to everyone!

We are now leaning towards Star Princess leaving San Antonio on Dec 20. I hope the penguins will be there by then and the weather may not be so so hot in the north though I realize that every year is different.

We will be cruising on Dec 31 and will be in Punta Arenas on Christmas day, Dec 25. I called Princess and asked them if the parks/attractions will be opened on Christmas Day in Punta Arenas. They said if the ship stops there i can assume everything is opened.

Thoughts?

 

This was one of our favorite cruises. We were on back to back Princess cruises (LA to Rio) over the same time period in 206/2017. We saw lots and lots of penguins in Punta Arenas with Solo Expediciones on Christmas day (if I remember correctly very few of the stores were open in town) and the Falkland Islands with Patrick Watts. The weather was very hot on New Years Eve in Buenos Aires (in the 90s) and in Rio in early January (110!) so be prepared for anything.

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