South America or China/Far East Cruise????

[BLTSAT]

My husband and I are trying to decide between two cruises. One is a 14 day CapeHorn/Strait of Magellan(Santiago to Buenos Aires) cruise on the Royal Princess for Feb. 21, 2005. We've never been on the Royal Princess or in South America and we're also looking at the extra 6 day land tour before the cruise.

The other cruise is the 12 day cruise on The Sapphire Princess for China/Far East (Beijing to Osaka) leaving April 11, 2005. We're also looking at the extra 4 day land tour before the cruise. Never been on this ship either or in the Far East.

Any info on either cruise would be most helpful from past cruisers. Also anyone going on these cruises we would like to hear from you. Thanks for all your help!

Sandy

[2escape]

We have not done the Far East/China trip; we did go on the Royal Princess from Buenos Aires to Santiago a couple of years ago. It still stands out as a favourite trip. We spent a few days in advance in Buenos Aires and would highly recommend that. We had great weather, and a wonderful day in the Falklands Islands...also Puerto Madryn and the penguins. There are lots of postings elsewhere on that trip, we can only add to the positive reports. One item of note, that trip was certainly less expensive than other 14+ day trips - not sure what the peso is doing these days, but the time in Buenos Aires was very reasonable. Great beef, exceptional tango, wow, it brings back great memories...

[PescadoAmarillo]

I've done the South American trip (on the Celebrity Mercury), and just completed a trip to China (land vacation) this year, going to some of the places the Sapphire will go to.

 

The trip around Cape Horn between Valparaiso and Buenos Aires offers magnificent scenery, penguins, and interesting shore excursions. Buenos Aires and Santiago are wonderful cities to spend some extra time in, and a trip to Iguazu Falls either before or after your trip is certainly recommended. Still, the people and culture of South America are not that different than ours. I would compare this cruise a bit with an Alaska cruise, but slightly more exotic.

 

The Sapphire cruise would offer an entirely different cultural experience. We loved the people and sights of China, but it was not a "magnificent scenery" type of vacation. It is awesome in a historical dynasty, "can't believe I'm in Tienneman Square" type of way.

 

I would take either trip again in a heartbeat. It comes down to a more scenery oriented vacation vs. a more culturally different type of vacation. You probably can't go wrong with the Sapphire, but if you read these boards you'll hear the Royal is getting a bit worn. At the risk of raising the ire of all the Princess-ites on this board, do consider a different cruise line/ship if you decide to go the South America route.

[Druke I]

Have done both Asian cruises and South American cruises - you are comparing apples and oranges, they are completely different.

Currently have booked an Asian cruise, Sapphire Princess, Sydney to Bangkok Mar 05, and am in process of booking 'round the Horn, Regal Princess Mar 06.

Impossible for me to recommend one over the other - I guss it depends on individual preferences.

Only solution - do both!

Michael

[BJS]

[quote name='BLTSAT']My husband and I are trying to decide between two cruises. One is a 14 day CapeHorn/Strait of Magellan(Santiago to Buenos Aires) cruise on the Royal Princess for Feb. 21, 2005. We've never been on the Royal Princess or in South America and we're also looking at the extra 6 day land tour before the cruise. The other cruise is the 12 day cruise on The Sapphire Princess for China/Far East (Beijing to Osaka) leaving April 11, 2005. We're also looking at the extra 4 day land tour before the cruise. Never been on this ship either or in the Far East.Any info on either cruise would be most helpful from past cruisers. Also anyone going on these cruises we would like to hear from you. Thanks for all your help!Sandy[/QUOTE]
We have done both, or similar not knowing the exact itineraries you are looking at, via a cruise.

My favorite was Beijing to Hong Kong with a pre-cruise that spent several days in Beijing seeing the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and also went to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. These are places I never dreamed I'd be able to ever see. We spent several days post-cruise in Hong Kong. This was in 2000, on the Sky Princess, and I was so glad we had not waited to do this cruise because the "old" China I'd heard so much about was rapidly changing. The city buildings were being replaced with high rise modern buildings, old men playing checkers in the streets and with their birds in the parks were becoming a thing of the past, and a culture I'd heard so much about rapidly becoming a thing of the past. So my advice for these reasons would be to do this cruise first. Having dinner in the "Great Hall of the People"where Nixon had dined and where the tour guides could not enter was an experience I'll never forget. Dalian allowed us to get closer to the people with a home visit and a visit to a Kindergarten where the children welcomed us to dance with them. All great memories. DH rate's this his 2nd favorite but just the other day said he'd return in a "heart beat". We both loved our exposure to Japan and keep looking for a cruise that includes more ports there.

DH's favorite was from San Diego to Valpariso (Santiago) around Cape Horn to Rio in 2001, on HAL's Ryndam (friends chose the ship because they wanted to go to Rio). I won't go into details because JMB410 summed up the highlights. I rate this my 2nd favorite. The reason we sailed from San Diego was the price was only $100 more than doing a pre-cruise trip and we got to see other parts of South America which were also interesting even without the magnificent scenery and penguins found in the southern portion.

Agreeing about the Royal Princess I would wait until Princess changes ships for the South American cruise doing Asia in 2005 and South America in 2006.

Would be happy to try and answer any specific questions you might have.

[2dogcarol]

I did Hong Kong to Singapore on Seabourn and this past year did Santiago to Buenos Aires on the Celebrity Inifinty. I would agree with everyone's assessment of the two trips. The scenery is spectacular in South America and the culture of Asia is completely different from our own. The Infinity is really a beautiful ship if you decide to choose South America. I'm taking my first cruise on Princess this winter when I am cruising the Sapphire in Australia. I'm really looking forward to it.

[BLTSAT]

Thanks everyone for your help! I think we're going for China this year and South America in 2006 or 2007. Anyone been to China in April? Was wondering how the weather is at that time of the year? If there's anything else you can tell us about China/Far East cruise or land tour please let us know the do's and don'ts. Also anything on the Sapphire Princess. Thanks again!

Sandy

[PescadoAmarillo]

I was in China this past April. I wore a lightweight fleece vest almost all the time, and we frequently needed lightweight jackets too (I wore a GoreTex jacket, because it did rain a bit). But there were so many trees in bloom in the Chinese gardens - it was beautiful! In fact, I wore the same two items (layering as needed) around Cape Horn in January/February a couple of years ago, and they worked out great.

 

Take a travel kite to fly in Tienneman Square...it is a thrill to be flying kites with the locals, and they sell them there, but they are very cheap ones. Do climb to the top of the Great Wall near Beijing...it is a unforgettable moment when you stand at the top. I'm sure any tour you have of Beijing will include the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace - don't miss either one. Do see the Bund in Shanghai after dark...a bit of Paris and Las Vegas all in one. Save most of your shopping for Nanjing Road in Shanghai...you can get everything you would buy anywhere else in China right there, alhthough Beijing has very inexpensive Olympics gear (2008) available now. Tack on a Yangtze River cruise...the Three Gorges area is not going to be open much longer because of the dam being built. Take stickers for all the adorable Chinese toddlers you will see, and they will reward you with Thank you in English and huge smiles. And take lots of film/digital film. I took over 1000 photos in just 2 weeks.

[kimanjo]

Haven't done too much of South America but we did do Asia a couple of years ago, all the way from Singapore-Bali-Malaysia-Thailand-Bruneii-Thailand-Viet Nam-Phillipines-Hong Kong-Mainland China. Fantastic trip! We all felt like we were on another planet, the cultures are so very different.

IMHO, I think the landscape in Hong Kong/Mainland China is very different from that of the US...we live in Florida, so much of South America is like South Florida, to us. But the sharp hills of Hong Kong and the terraced hills of the mainland were quite alien-looking (to us).

To repeat other posters, going in February, be prepared for cool weather. It rained while we were there (a wonderful respite from the heat of the more tropical countries) but we were unprepared by not bringing raincoat/windbreaker and sweaters and pants. Weather reminded me of rainy London in the fall--except with more subtropical vegetation. Temps averaged about 50 to 62 degrees F.