Infinity January 2, 2023 Patagonia and Argentina

[elliekate]

We just completed our South America cruise on Infinity and a brief description and thoughts are below!
 

Valparaiso: 

As Rick Steves says, very underwhelmed! For those who recommended Ibis Hotel, I disagree! It was very basic at the least. In talking with others on the cruise, we should have stayed in Santiago or Viña Del Mar. We did take the Metro (15 minutes) to Viña Del Mar on New Year’s Day and it was fun and festive. One fellow passenger told me she stayed at Best Western in Viña Del Mar and loved it!

 

Boarding: 

A nightmare! It took over two hours to board. This compares to ten minutes to board in Barcelona a month earlier!

 

Ship: 

The Infinity is older but okay. Crew was great and food was hit and miss!

 

Ports:

 

Puerto Montt: 

The ship arrived two hours late and the tenders were total chaos! We had a two hour tour that should have been a six hour tour. The tour we booked through Viator was Private Tour: Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas and Vicente Peres Rosales National Park. Although our time was very limited, we especially enjoyed Puerto Varas which is also known as “The city of Roses”.  I can’t remember our tour guide’s name but she was very good.

 

Punta Arenas: 

Our tour was Punta Arenas & Parque Del Estrecho Value Shore Excursion booked through Viator. We had an excellent tour guide, Camilla, and enjoyed the sites as well as the homemade empanadas! 

 

Ushuaia: 

We had the best tour guide, Federico, we have ever had. I had read about him on CruiseCritic (link below). The link mentions a car but he now has a van. He was knowledgeable, fun and passionate about his job. We had unusually good weather the day of our tour and my favorite part was when he stopped by a beautiful meadow for a picnic of tea and biscuits. As we sat there, a herd of horses came by as well as the train to the end of the world. Federico’s contact information is:

 

Anan Turismo

ananturismo@gmail.com

(On Facebook and Instagram also)

 

https://mysouvenirmemories.blogspot.com/2019/02/glacier-alley-and-ushuaia.html

 

Puerto Madryn: 

We decided not to take the 2.5 hour ride to see the penguins but we heard from fellow cruisers that it was a great tour. We just walked around the port and we wished we had opted for the long bus ride instead!

 

Montevideo: 

Another great port with a terrific tour. Our guide, Herbert, took us to all of the highlights but the best part was going to his house where his wife and daughter had prepared a barbecue lunch for us. It was amazing! Someone in our roll call group organized this tour for ten of us. Herbert’s contact information is:

 

hsistour@gmail.com

www.sismonditours.com

 

Buenos Aires: 

A friend from California met us there and we stayed in Esplendor Francia (Wyndham) Hotel which was next to her friend’s apartment. The hotel is in the Recoleta district near Recoleta Cemetery. We loved the location as it was within walking distance to many attractions. Through Viator, we booked The Argentine Experience: Empanada Making, Steak, Wine, Alfajores and Mate. It was lots of fun and we even reconnected with a few of our shipmates! We also booked a Small Group City Tour through Viator. That was our least favorite tour because it was Spanish/English and our tour guide was very difficult to understand. 

 

We are so happy we had the opportunity to tour South America!

Edited January 21, 2023 by elliekate

[kathynorth]

Thanks for your review! It sounds like you had a great time.

[cruisegirlppp]

Thank you for doing this review! We are doing this cruise in March (reverse direction) and I especially appreciate the information about you excursions.