Need help

[dan33]

Need help deciding wich cruise to choose. This will be cruise number 16. Last cruise was on Paul Gauguin and was our favorite so far.

Now the choice is in between the January2011 Celebrity Infinity 14 nights Buenos Aires to Valparaiso and the Oceania Insignia 12 nights Buenos Aires to Rio.

Would love any input.

Thanks

[bluesea777]

If you list all the ports of call for each cruise I might help you choose!

 

Here is my review of our South America cruise - it might help you decide on which cruise.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1118168&highlight

[dan33]

Here are the itineraries

 

Oceania : Buenos Aires, Montevideo

Punte del Este, Rio Grande, Porto Belo

Sao Paulo, Parati, Buzios and Rio

 

Celebrity: Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Punta del Este, Cape Horn, Ushuaria, Punta Arenas, Straight of Magellan, Chilean Fjords, Puerto Mott and Valparaiso.

I may also add that it is easier to travel home from Valparaiso.!5 hours instead of 20 coming home...

[dan33]

May I also add that my husband gets seasick easily...

[biker1972]

The route around the south end of SA will give you more chances to view wildlife and mountains and fjords and glaciers. There is also more potential for bad weather. The BA to Rio route more humid temps and jungle / cityscape types of viewing. Would recommend doing a pre-cruise trip to Iguazu from BA before either of these cruises.

Ship size will also be different since Insignia holds about 1/3 of the passengers the Infinity does.

There are a number of ways to prevent or lessen motion sickness, some even non-chemical.

If you cruise a lot, as you have,you know the kind of cruise you enjoy, and this should be the deciding factor.

[alexandra cruiser]

Most say I loved the ship and Rio and Buenos Aires, but not the other stops,ex.for optional to Iguzua Falls,, most of them were small, plain ports,and Montivideo was on a Sunday and most sights closed...then other was beach to swim at and it rained,also not too appealing looking.Other town was really awful, forgot name, but docked in rough section and took taxi to town and never got out, came back to ship UGH..So not my favorite destinations after main cities, just my opinion, if that helps...Can say it was quite smooth and I get motion sickness too.Would go on ship again. lovely, good food, great rooms, nice pool ,etc...small size was great, no long lines,,,just not some of the ports;)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Rio and environs will be hot. That being said, I heartily recommend it, plus you get to see Parati and Buzios which I've heard are great.

 

But if you want more temperate weather, do around the cape. I would think that that route would entail more risk of rough seas, however.

[chrismch]

Our cruise last month was from Valpariso to Rio so it covered all your areas. Our cruise was the end of summer for them. The ports in Brazil were hot and humid and geared more for beach excursions. So if that is what you want, choose Oceania.

 

The ones for the Celebrity cruise are more scenic and those ports were more of my favorites with the exception of Punta Arenas (had gale force winds and an excursion to Mag. Island that was horrendous and should have been cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions). The Chilean fjords - Valley of the Glaciers are better than an Alaskan cruise (done 2x). We also did Montevideo & Buenos Aires as duplicate stops and were glad we had 4 days in BA and 2 in MV.

 

As per seas, on our 30 day cruise we only had 2 days of rough seas - otherwise it was smooth as can be. In regards to seasick pills, the advise I was given by a nurse (passenger) was to take the pills at night as it would help you sleep and then they would be effective for the next day as well. This way you don't have to worry if you took the pills early enough.

[dan33]

Thank you all for your input.

Still undecided but will book soon:)

[SmartTraveller]

I did this cruise 3 years ago and it remains the most amazing holiday of my life. Just incredible sights, pristine landscapes, wildlife, birds etc. Recently I did Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale and whilst it was most enjoyable, it just didnt compare.

 

At Cape Horn, it was a millpond - it is simply the luck of the draw. On any cruise you can get rough weather no matter where you might be. In fact, our roughest weather all cruise was crossing the wide river delta from Buenos Aires to Montevideo as a storm hit just as we departed BA. Combined with the tide rolling in, it made for an very uncomfortable night where we were almost pitched out of bed a couple of times. However, we could have experienced something totally different in the south Atlantic....you just never know.

 

Here's a copy of am email written to friends about this cruise:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=21988273&highlight=#post21988273

 

You can view the photos here:-

 

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/julieannpearson/Southamerica#