Oosterdam v. Sapphire Princess - South America 2023

[soccermom4]

We have only cruised on RCCL and Carnival - but are considering a 2023 South American cruise around The Horn.  Our 2 choices are Oosterdam and Sapphire Princess.  I've read reviews on both (although Sapphire hasn't started cruising again post-covid).  We enjoy wildlife viewing, enjoy entertainment, are very active 60 somethings - but totally not night-owls.  We're also vegan - but plan to flex vegetarian if we need to.  Input from anyone who can compare these 2 ships would be most appreciated.

[NCTribeFan]

I've been looking at the Oosterdam sailings.  I'd like to do the 31-day from FLL, through the canal, down the west coast of So Am, around the horn, up to Argentina.  That's probably out of my price range, so I may settle for the sailing ending in Chile.

 

I've never sailed Princess.  The times I've checked their fares, they've been much higher than HAL so I tend to not even look.  

 

They have a LA-Chile sailing that would be about $100 more than HAL.  It would be much more convenient for me to fly to FLL than to LA and I'm sure air to LA would be more for me than to FLL.  Port fees are less than the Canal, of course.

 

I'm glad I opened this thread.  I may have to consider Princess.  I do love HAL's ships.  I've sailed Zuiderdam twice and love their large interior cabins.

 

See, now I'm going to obsess about this!  I have a B2B2B coming up in less than 2 months and I haven't finished my planning.  I have a B2B in January.  I have a B2B2B on Rotterdam in April.

 

So many things to plan.  I really do need to fully retire so I can devote my life to cruise planning.  Except if I stop working, I won't be able to take all these fantastic trips! 😄

Edited August 26, 2022 by NCTribeFan

[soccermom4]

I'm not sure our dog would put up with us being gone for an entire month - but the longer trip is tempting.The prices for HAL and Princess are very similar right now.  I'm going to see if some great Labor Day deal pops.  Thanks for the input.

[Sir PMP]

6 hours ago, soccermom4 said:

We have only cruised on RCCL and Carnival - but are considering a 2023 South American cruise around The Horn.  Our 2 choices are Oosterdam and Sapphire Princess.  I've read reviews on both (although Sapphire hasn't started cruising again post-covid).  We enjoy wildlife viewing, enjoy entertainment, are very active 60 somethings - but totally not night-owls.  We're also vegan - but plan to flex vegetarian if we need to.  Input from anyone who can compare these 2 ships would be most appreciated.

The Sapphire is going into Antarctica, never to be missed..