Chilean Fjords

[Laberge]

Is it possible to get close into the Chilean fjords on a cruise ship? If so, what time of year and cruiseline do you recommend?

[On2CDWrld]

See for yourself:

 

 

Other answers are weather dependent.

 

Hope you get the chance.:)

[Laberge]

Great video of the fjord. Is there a time of year that I'm more likely to see whales on a Buenos Aries - Valparaiso cruise? Weather is not as critical since I'm a Yukoner.

[On2CDWrld]

Click On the Cruise Critic Boards

 

When the list of Forums appears, Click on South America under the Ports of Call Forum

 

When the South America Cruise Forum Page appears, look for "Search this Forum", just right of the Blue box , click on "Search This Forum "

 

A smaller window appears with "Search this Forum as a header, enter the word whales in that small window, click in the spot next to show posts, click on Go

 

Begin further research. Enjoy:cool:

[Peregrina651]

Great video of the fjord. Is there a time of year that I'm more likely to see whales on a Buenos Aries - Valparaiso cruise? Weather is not as critical since I'm a Yukoner.

 

I found this fauna calendar when I was researching this trip last year. This is for Puerto Madryn.

[PalmettoBug]

Did you ever get anything that remotely dealt with your question? I am looking for a cruise that gives us the maximum scenery and wildlife views and finding it very disappointing.

[parischris]

Is it possible to get close into the Chilean fjords on a cruise ship? If so, what time of year and cruiseline do you recommend?

 

Large cruise ships - not really. Have a look at Cruceros Australis' website. They run small cruise ships between Punta Arenas and Ushuaia and vice versa, specifically visiting the Chilean Fjords. Or Hurtigruten are now re-visiting the Fjords on their Antarctica expeditions. I've travelled with both - they are different options.

 

Cheers

[Fattony]

As noted above, it depends on the ship. We went from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso on the Star Princess, a rather large ship, and while we had some views of fjords, especially between Ushuaia and Punts Arenas, we could not get a close as some smaller cruise ships. As I recall, there was a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on the same route at about the same time, and they could get into some fjords we could not (maybe that's why their cruise took longer). What you'll see also depends on the time of day you'll be at specific places. Not sure the schedule revolves around fjords/glaciers like it does for an Alaska cruise. So, to paraphrase a car commercial from my youth, is there a fjord in your future? Maybe yes, maybe no.

[Keith1010]

The Fjords are beautiful. We saw them during a cruise on the Seabourn Pride.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

We hope to see them in March of 2013 aboard the Veendam, a S class ship about 55,000 gross tons with 1,200 passengers. Not sure how that compares to the ships others have been on. I think these cruises are offered in our winter (US).

 

Kirk

[Fattony]

We hope to see them in March of 2013 aboard the Veendam, a S class ship about 55,000 gross tons with 1,200 passengers. Not sure how that compares to the ships others have been on. I think these cruises are offered in our winter (US).

 

Kirk

 

The Star Princess is something like 110,000 tons. I'd guess odd are good for you. Have you contacted the cruise company? I wouldn't want to be in a ship smaller than yours, due to possible rough seas.

[Mary Ellen]

We were there in February and got close enough to the fjords and glaciers on HAL's Rotterdam (slightly larger than the Veendam) if the weather had cooperated. The clouds were so low that only the very bottom portion was visible. The general sentiment was we were glad that our itinerary included the spectacular scenery in Antarctica, as the weather made the Chilean fjords very underwhelming. We're planning on doing this cruise again and hoping for clearer skies.