Back from Infinity South America

[Tish in EC]

We are a family a 5, DS is 16 and DD are 6 and had a fantastic time.

 

I have used CC a lot with helping make decisions and have gotten some great information. I just thought I would give you the top things that stood out for us, since this was only our 2nd cruise, first on Celebrity, I'll probably have a different outlook than experienced travelers.

 

There were just under 100 children, but my kids had a great time. For me there were enough kids to have fun, but not so many that they bothered other travelers my DD's never wanted to leave the Fun Factory. One night at the theater a lady told my 6 yr old to SSSHHH, but that was the only problem with the kids, most passengers either ignored them (doesn't bother me) or talked and played with them. At dinner in the restaurant the last night a man a another table (we asked for a table just for the family to avoid problems) gave gifts to the girls for being well behaved and always talking with him and being friendly. My 16 year old made a group of about 10 or 12 kids his age and they had a blast, but we never had complaints from the Fun Factory staff, security, or other passengers.

 

I didn't find the ship the be deteriorated as I have read, yes there were little things, but I did see staff working and fixing problems. They did have a couple of computer problems in the theater system, but nothing that IMHO affected my experiences.

 

I always thought that all cabins were non-smoking, unfortunately I was wrong and on the last couple of days the kids room (8126) had a horrible smoke smell (and they were balconies). The last to the next night, the smell was so bad that I could not sleep in my room (connecting door to the kids) until very late. I assumed it was when the smokers had fallen asleep. Even though it was the last day and night, I took my comments to guest relations (still thinking the cabins were non-smoking) and had no problems the last night, don't know if they ask the passengers to limit the smoking or what but it worked.

 

Staff was great, Capitan Demetrius was hilarious, we enjoyed the food and entertainment.

 

The itinerary was out of this world for us it seemed like a once in a lifetime trip to be at the end of the world.

 

Here on CC there are many suggestion for things to bring but I didn't bring or need electrical outlets, there was a hand held hair dryer in the bathroom, the shower curtain does stick to you so I would put my toes on the curtain on top of the step so that it wouldn't be a pain, but if I had a big hair clip (about 3 inches) that would have done well to hold it in place.

 

There always seems to be a lot of questions about bring wine, although I did not get on the ship with wine, we did the Juanico Winery Tour in Uruguay and bought about 9 different types of wine and had NO problems. We took it back to our room and was never charged anything. We hadn't planned on drinking it on the ship, but did end up bringing 1 bottle to the restaurant (was charged corkage fee), drank a bottle of port and one of champagne in the room.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them. But I would highly recommend this trip to anyone, like I said before it was fantastic. T

 

The trip home of LAN Airlines (not purchased with Celebrity) is a different story that I do want to tell in a different thread so that others will avoid the horrible problems we encountered, but will be at a later date.

 

Thanks to everyone for helping me make the best of my vacation.

 

Tish

[Dalmar]

We were on the same sailing and had a fantastic time as well. Very interesting options for tours, and loved seeing the thousands of penguins. What a treat!

[Cindy G]

We are booked on this cruise in early '09. We have cruised with Celebrity many times so we are prepared for the "Celebrity drill."

 

However, would you be willing to share your experiences relating to excursions? Private vs Celebrity? And pre and post night stays?

 

I am anxious enough already, but reading your posts made me more so.

 

Thanks! Cindy G

[chachabell]

[quote name=Tish in EC;14075956

 

Staff was great' date=' Capitan Demetrius was hilarious, we enjoyed the food and entertainment.

 

Tish[/quote]

 

Do you know how long Captain Demetrius will be on the ship. We are on her 4/13 for Panama Canal b2b Alaska?

[Tish in EC]

Hi Cindy G

 

I am the type of person who likes to do everything myself. I am not currently living in the US, so I made all the Airline reservations through American using FF miles, but flew on LAN Airlines (horrible experience).

 

We arrived in BA Thursday morning so we had 3 days and 2 nights. We did the Tren de la Costa which really enjoyed but weren't able to get off at any stops in between (just at the end for handicrafts and the amusement park) because the same night we went to a Tango Show, the hotel called and reserved our table and the restaurant sent us a shuttle to pick us up and drop us off at no extra cost. Another tidbit that I found out is that you do NOT have to have dinner at the show, they pick you up later and offer canapes. We did our own thing using taxis (we all speak Spanish, so that definately helps). Stayed at the Loi Suites Esmeralda because they had two bedrooms and a sofa bed in the living room. The hotel was located very near everything, but the pictures are deceptive. the hotel was smaller than what I expected and the rooms were not as new or well kept. It was decent and clean and served our purpose since we are 5 people. Had no problem getting to the pier. Must buy in Argentina is leather definately better and more inexpensive than Chile.

 

On this trip I felt if was better to either get Celebrity excursions or get a taxi, because since a lot of the tours are so far away I really didn't want to miss the ship. I did do a lot of searching to know what there was to do in each city, even using the ships excursions as a guide and brought the list along so that when we got the taxi we knew what we wanted to do and then if time permitted had them show us other things.

 

Montevideo (celebrity excursion)- we did Highlights and Juanico Winery, this turned out to be a good choice since we arrived on Sunday and in Montevideo NOTHING was opened. Juanico winery was FANTASTIC, were very surprised by the quality of the wine and had no problems with the kids, even the lunch was good.

 

Punta del Este - we grabbed a taxi and did our own thing.

 

Puerto Madryn - Took a taxi to the caves and the Indian monument and city tour.

 

Ushuaia - we wanted to do the Martial Glacier which wasn't offered by the ship, so we took a cab and went to the national park (sent postcards and if you want to stamp your passport, which you don't have because they take it away, or a piece of paper it costs $6, maybe better to send yourself a postcard), did the glacier (just the base, no walking), the prison and had the typical Lamb, it was great. But a lot of places did not accept credit cards and we were left with little cash. I felt that we did a lot more going by taxi than any of the tours offered.

 

Cape Horn - we we able to see the garrison, albatross monument and flag, but due to weather not able to GO AROUND the horn.

 

Punta Arenas (celebrity excursion) - we did the penquins here and were surprised that they took us to a handicrafts market, a short city tour To get to the penquins the bus got on the ferry which took us to the island had a great time. Box lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich, water, chocolate bar and granola bar, the tour guide (in English) was only ok, and made several mistakes which she had to rectify. After the tour we did have time to go to the center of town, to look around, but couldn't get lunch (3pm) because everything was closed.

 

Mallan and Fjords are fabulous undescribable, it's something that everyone should try to do once in a lifetime.

 

Puerto Montt (celebrity) - Chilean wine and sausages by the lake. I thought they would take us directly to the club were we would hang out but since the changed the start time from 9h30 to 8h00 I guess they figured that it didn't make sense to give us wine at 9h00. so the took us on a city tour and then to a museum, we weren't thrilled about going to the museum, but at the very end when everyone was getting on the bus, the owner showed my son a zip line type of swing they had off to the side and we all went and had a blast for about 10 minutes, as I said everyone else was on the bus so oh well. Then they took us to the Sausage factory were they showed us the history of the family business and gave us samples of hams and salames. then off to the club, they had a band and dancers and a great view of lake LLanquihue and the volcanos. There we had appetizers (buffet) (sausages, ham, cheese) and wine tasting. This should not be described as wine tasting because it was not like they introduced the wine and you try it and progress. there were tables of different wines where you went to choose which one you wanted. The only thing wrong here was that when we were just getting into the mood (aka drinking the wine), the told us we had to leave. They dropped us off at the pier but we still had time and was told to the best place to try local cuisine was at the fish market, we went found a restaurant and asked for a plate of varios appetizers to try, this was the only time we have went wrong with local food, the seafood was very fishy and some had a strong iodine taste.

 

La Serena - Coquimbo is actually where the port is and La serena is up the coast which is a beach town, Celebrity does not have excursions on their web site, we had a taxi take us around and the had a very good seafood lunch (we were more careful about asking about what we ordered), there is not much to do here and the ship is here only for a few hours.

 

Something that I forgot to mention about the cruise in general which many people may not know is that when the ship is in Chilean waters the casino is CLOSED. There are days that it would not open at all.

 

After the cruise I had contracted privately a van that took us to Santiago (no stops, $150) straight to the Holiday Inn airport, very nice hotel absolutely no problem with noise and very convenient since my flight left the next morning at 6am. Both me and my husband had been to Santiago before, so we previously contacted a friend and had a typical lunch at their house.

 

If you have further questions, just ask.

 

Tish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tish in EC]

Chachabell

 

I have an email for the youth staff manager, I will ask her and get back to you.

 

Tish

[chachabell]

Chachabell

 

I have an email for the youth staff manager, I will ask her and get back to you.

 

Tish

Thanks. Could you also post the other officers and Cruise Director - if convenient.

[Tish in EC]

Allan King, Cruise Director, will ask about others

 

Tish

[Tish in EC]

Will ask about officers, Allan King is Cruise Director.

 

Tish

[Coastaljen]

Thanks for the info! I am booked on the Christmas New Year's cruise!

[mahdnc]

Tish,

 

thanks for the information. My wife informed me that she wants us to do a South America cruise next so I read your account with much interest.

[Domina X]

Hi Tish,

 

I know someone has already asked you to post the names of the officers onboard. Could you please find out the name of the Chief Housekeeper. We were on Infinity last year and met him, he was wonderful. I can't remember his long Greek last name but I believe his first name was Vassilis (or something close to that). Just wondering if he was still on Infinity. Thanks.:)

[Coastaljen]

Can you give me the contact info to get from Valparaiso to Santiago? I need the reverse trip a couple of days after I arrive. I want to check on price and do some shopping around if possible.

Thanks

[Tish in EC]

I'll get back to you with the number for the transfer soon.

[bruceandlouise]

We were on this cruise as well. I agree with the OP on just about everything. A few comments:

1. Internet access is pretty steep.

2. The ship is a little worn, but nothing that made any difference.

3. Smoking IS a problem, although I can't imagine how Celebrity will ever deal with it successfully. We just pretended we were in Europe 10 years ago and put up with it. At least they keep it out of most dining areas.

4. Unlike some other ships we've been on, the temperature in our room was perfectly controllable.

5. Having Princess as the only big ship(s) to compare to, Celebrity was super good in embarking and disembarking.

6. We don't like scheduled dining. That said, we found out how important good folks at your table are. We had a terrific group of us and two other couples. One night we even ate with them in another dining venue. It really made the trip, and we feel we made some new friends.

7. The dress codes weren't followed too closely which was fine with our table. Everyone we saw looked just fine to us.

 

We would definitely cruise on Celebrity again..

[SusieV]

When you were in the casino, did you happen to notice if the Texas Hold'Em table was a machine or if it had a live dealer?