Around the Horn and Through the Canal - A 31-Day Adventure on the Oosterdam

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Great Review Roz!! You always give a fair balanced review. Also glad to hear the Oosterdam is doing well 🙂 

[canadianbear]

@Roz Great review & information.  Enjoyed reading it all.  Congrats on your retirement-it’s wonderful isn’t it!

[Roz]

@canadianbear, I'm enjoying every minute of my retirement.  Would love to cruise again with you and Mr. Bear. 

[canadianbear]

1 minute ago, Roz said:

@canadianbear, I'm enjoying every minute of my retirement.  Would love to cruise again with you and Mr. Bear. 

We haven’t been on a cruise since we did 2 weeks on Oosterdam back in 2019.  But we’ve got a Caribbean one later this year with friends and maybe a South Pacific next year.  
 

Remember, any time we see you on a ship you are more than welcome to join us.  

[Dobby36]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

@Dobby36 I would appreciate any insight you have to the excursions too, same questions I asked Roz… What was your favorite tour in Argentina, Uruguay or Chile? Did you do any private tours?  If so, any specific operator you would recommend.  Thanks 

 

We did the HaL tour of la boca and tango show in Buenos Aires.  It was actually better than we were expecting! 
 

in Ushuaia we did a pleasant HAL catamaran and wildlife spotting cruise (but there were a dozen similar options for harbor cruises at the same dock area so I would recommend just getting off and arranging one in person) 

 

the Falkland Islands were the absolute highlight for us.  We did the Bluff Cove Penguin Rookery and found it full of charming guides and cute touches like the homemade treats served with tea (and of course the penguins!)

 

the only private one we did was https://puertosanantoniotours.com Puerto San Antonio tours in San Antonio. It went to Valparaiso for a fascinating look at the street art and harbor, before a couple vineyard stops and a lovely local lunch.  Small van, reasonable price and flexible options decided among the group in real time.  

 

[0106]

@Dobby36Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am looking forward to the penguins; we have booked with Adventure Falklands, to Volunteer Point, I hope it’s not too bumpy.  We fly home from Santiago so I will contact the company you suggested to see if they will do a tour from the port with an airport transfer.

[slewis7]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

@Dobby36Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am looking forward to the penguins; we have booked with Adventure Falklands, to Volunteer Point, I hope it’s not too bumpy.  We fly home from Santiago so I will contact the company you suggested to see if they will do a tour from the port with an airport transfer.

I am booked on a Holland America cruise leaving late January next year that ends in San Antonio and we booked a day long tour and airport transfer from the Puerto San Antonio company.  They were very responsive and professional in their emails and I am happy to hear that @Dobby36 had a good experience with them.

[soccermom4]

We were also on this cruise and did strictly private tours shared with others in the CC roll call.  Worked out very well.  Patrick Watts to Volunteer Point in the Falklands - yes, it's bumpy and long, but totally worth it!  We had very good weather, which helped a lot.  Puerto Montt - Volcano and Falls tour - really nice day with a local guide.  San Antonio - Valparaiso with puerto san antonio tours.  Interesting German guide and well done tour.  Callao - 2 days of Lima tours.  We saw a lot, but with the traffic, felt like we were on the bus a lot.  If I had this one to do over, would probably try to do less.  Larco Museum and Pachacamac were the highlights for me.  HAL ran a free shuttle to Miraflores shopping area (which took an hour to get to).  Other ports, we did DIY successfully.  Panama Canal transit was so cool (I'd never done it before).  Only disappointing port was Aruba - because everything was closed for Good Friday.

 

This truly was a wonderful trip (even if my husband was sick the last week).  Having good weather so we got to every port, a nice set of fellow CCers, a really good Captain and Cruise Director added to the enjoyment.  This was our first HAL trip and we really liked the Oosterdam.  She's a classy lady.

[Ellencruise]

Thanks for taking your time to give insightful review. We were on the first 14 days. Loved this cruise, great ship, crew, ports and more! We also took the private tours to see the penguins and the falls. This was the first time we signed up with any roll call, and we probably were spoiled with such great members. Not much to see in Monte Video but all the rest were worth the trip. I would do this trip again in a few years, so amazing.

Summer takes us to Northern Europe on R. And next April Oosterdam in Barcelona 

[Dobby36]

4 hours ago, 0106 said:

@Dobby36Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am looking forward to the penguins; we have booked with Adventure Falklands, to Volunteer Point, I hope it’s not too bumpy.  We fly home from Santiago so I will contact the company you suggested to see if they will do a tour from the port with an airport transfer.

Yes, they also do transfers to and from Santiago airport/hotels/port. We paid in USD and it couldn’t have been easier to communicate and arrange via email or WhatsApp beforehand. 

[DCThunder]

As soccermom (one of my car buddies) says, the Volunteer Point tour with Patrick Watts (now called Adventure Falklands) was a highlight of the whole cruise.  It is 90 minutes of driving over open fields in a 4X4 each way, but totally worth it and I did it in an orthopedic boot after breaking my ankle!  The driver/guide really gives you an overview of what it's like to live in the Falklands.  Another highlight was cruising by the Pio XI glacier and through the Chilean fjords.

 

Roz was another of my cruise buddies (I'm a solo traveler too) and while I have a somewhat different spin on some of her points, her write-up was an excellent overview of our cruise.  My conclusion is I'd do the BA>Santiago part again, but this time I'd make sure we crossed the Drake Passage to Antarctica.  If I win the Lotto, I'll do an Antarctica expedition cruise to actually touch the continent.  I'd also try to avoid breaking my ankle on the first day.

 

I think a key to our cruise was having a VERY active Roll Call ahead of the cruise.  Lots of non-ship excursions booked through that group.  The downside was that if you didn't come to the RC early, you missed out on some availability of excursions.

 

 

[Roz]

@0106, here are the excursions I took in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.  All but one were HAL shorex.  In Puerto Montt I did the same private tour as @soccermom4, @DCThunder, and a lot of other people on the roll call.  

 

Buenos Aires - Panoramic Highlights of BA - I thought this was a good overview of the city.

Montevideo - A Walk through Montevideo's Old Town - We visited on a Sunday so most places were closed, but I enjoyed seeing the architecture, visiting some monuments, and learning about the history of Montevideo and Uruguay.

Falkland Islands - Stanley Highlights - Great tour with an 8th generation Falkland Islander who really knew her stuff.  We had perfect weather that day (for The Falklands). 😉

Punta Arenas - Sights of Punta Arenas - I found Punta Arenas to be rather charming, but others didn't find much of interest.  One of those places that's off the beaten path.

Ushuaia - Beagle Channel Wildlife - Great scenery and wildlife and well worth it.  You would have to be pretty tough to live in places like The Falklands, Punta Arenas, and Ushuaia.  

Puerto Montt - Vicente Perez Rosales National Park to the base of Osorno volcano - I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and it's not something you can easily do on your won.  Contact Dennis Purtov at denis.purtov@gmail.com

San Antonio - Highlights of Santiago - Another good overview of a large city.  I enjoyed seeing the colonial architecture.  Our guide also introduced us to the Hot Dog Completo - sauerkraut, mashed avocado, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. 🤮

 

I hope this information helps, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Roz

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you so much for your review!  Lots of great information you share and I appreciate it!

[0106]

@RozThank you for taking the time to write a detailed review of your shore excursions and for including the contact info for your private tour.

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Congratulations on your retirement. We were blessed to have taken a similar journey a few years ago. The Falklands was especially priceless. Thank you again!

[kzooartist]

Thanks everyone who commented. We are booked for March 2024 so very timely info. I am booking excursions now.  

 

We are thinking of flying to Dallas then Buenos Aires. Why did you miss the flight? I am concerned. We are planning to go early and see the falls so have some cushion. 

 

Good to know about the currency, taxis and long customs time. I'll be prepared.

 

Any more info is appreciated.

[Sir PMP]

On 5/2/2023 at 5:44 AM, 0106 said:

@Dobby36Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am looking forward to the penguins; we have booked with Adventure Falklands, to Volunteer Point, I hope it’s not too bumpy.  We fly home from Santiago so I will contact the company you suggested to see if they will do a tour from the port with an airport transfer.

The ride to volunteer point won't be nice to your back, but it'll be worth it, you will walk through  1000 kings.

[AKJonesy]

On 5/1/2023 at 4:43 PM, Roz said:

I didn't expect to be in the center of town but some of ports were quite a distance away.  The worst was Lima where it was an hour drive each way in big city traffic. 

 

Private operators weren't allowed in the port areas which is why I couldn't find tours that would pick me up near the ship.  HAL didn't tell us ahead of time that they or the port authority would operate shuttles. 

@Roz I'll be doing this trip except Ft. Lauderdale to BA.  In the end, did the port authority or HAL offer shuttles to get outside of these container ports?  I plan to do some private excursions and if they cannot do a pick up at these container ports, I'm wondering how to get to a meet up place?  Thanks for any info.  

[Roz]

10 minutes ago, AKJonesy said:

@Roz I'll be doing this trip except Ft. Lauderdale to BA.  In the end, did the port authority or HAL offer shuttles to get outside of these container ports?  I plan to do some private excursions and if they cannot do a pick up at these container ports, I'm wondering how to get to a meet up place?  Thanks for any info.  

Yes they did.  Tour operators who have experience working with cruise passengers will be familiar with the set up and should be able to suggest a convenient meeting point. 

[kazu]

what a great review @Roz

 

thank you so much for the detail and all the help you are giving those that are going 👍 

 

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

On 5/1/2023 at 5:49 PM, Roz said:

@Dobby36, nice meeting you too.  I played trivia several times and thought some of the questions were really strange.  What Asia cruise did you book? I'm going on the 28-day Noordam cruise that leaves Singapore on January 5, 2025 and goes through Indonesia. 

@RozDH and I will be on the Jan. 5, 2025 cruise too. I'm always looking for someone to play trivia with since DH avoids it. Hope we can meet up. --Susie

[Roz]

@SusieKIslandGirl, have you joined the roll call for the 1/5/25 cruise?  I'm sure we'll connect at Trivia and/or the meet 'n' greet.  Seems far away but will be here before we know it.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Yep, we’re there. Sure hope someone can set up a spreadsheet. Love the ones Jacqui (Kazu) does for her cruises.