South American Cruises

[CdnCruiserGirl]

HI there: We are new to cruising (One Transatlantic cruise sailed on Carnival Freedom and it was great!). Now we are considering an around the end of South America cruise. Can anyone share insights - re when to go, which direction, what cruise lines do well in this area, sites not to be missed, are there some Antarctica areas included(?) - any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.:)

[crimsonbird]

HI there: We are new to cruising (One Transatlantic cruise sailed on Carnival Freedom and it was great!). Now we are considering an around the end of South America cruise. Can anyone share insights - re when to go, which direction, what cruise lines do well in this area, sites not to be missed, are there some Antarctica areas included(?) - any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.:)

 

A cruise around the horn of So. America is a great experience. We took Celebrity Infinity last winter - and while I would not recommend that ship - the experience and the ports were terrific. Study the different itineraries from cruise lines - and decide for yourself if Antarctica is necessary. If you enjoy wildlife - penguins - fantastic scenery, put this cruise on your list of things to do. At this point in time, it is less expensive to fly into Buenos Aires and fly home from Valparaiso. Chile charges an entrance fee - and, while Argentina was threatening the same thing, to my knowledge, nothing has happened yet. Either direction, you will enjoy the trip immensely.

[catergirl]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

 

click on this and start checking out threads

[Keith1010]

Best times are between December and February. A popular cruise is from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires or from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. I would recommend trying to sail the latter and spending a couple of days pre-cruise in Buenos Aires. The South America Ports of Call Board will have lots of useful information on this itinerary and about South American in general. There is much to see on this itinerary.

 

Keith

[seacrcsvz]

Hey fellow Canadian! We did a cruise last year around Cape Horn and the southern passage- it was phenomenal. We went in mid March, not too cold, still a good time to see everything. I highly recommend Crucero Australis - small ship with only 63 cabins so it is very personal. Also, lots of great shore excursions without the overcrowding of the big ships. Extra bonus, the small ship can go through passages the big ships have to skip so you see pristine glaciers, penguin colonies, etc that the other ships miss out. We loved it! Can't recommend it enough. The staff were phenomenal, knowledgable, and the food and service were amazing. If you need someone to do the bookings for you, let me know and I will recommend a great company and fellow who took care of us. He did such a great job that he is now working on our Galapagos trip for next March - can't wait for that one! Oh yeah, flying via Santiago is really your best choice - hit up the cities in Chile, consider driving through the lakes and volcanoes (wow - amazing to drive right up and around the volcanoes) region into Argentina and then fly for your cruise that way. From Bariloche you can catch a flight to Ushuaia and then cruise back to Punta Arenas - be sure to spend a few nights in each city on either side of your cruise - they are idyllic locations with so much to see and do, and the vibe of the travellers is catching. Enjoy, you'll have a trip of a lifetime! Oh yeah, the entry fee into Chile is $110, but worht it because every other option we checked for flights ended up costing more in the end.

[benjiedog]

Hi!

 

We took the South American Cruise with Royal Caribbean a year ago in February, it was on the ship Slendour of the Sea. It was great and RCCL did a great job with ports very interesting and around Cape Horn we were first RCCL ship to go around the cape. This is a good time of year to go to South America in Jan or Feb. We flew into Sao Paulo brazil and boarded our cruise ship.We stop at many different and interesting port such as Rio, Bounos Aires, Argentina,Montevideo, Uruguay,then aroun Cape Horn,Ushuaia, Argentina the southermost city in the world.Then we stop at Punta Arenas, Chile And Puerto Monnt, Chile and then ended at Santiago Chile.

 

It was one of the best cruises we have ever went on and the sceanery is Great. I would look at RCCL can't beat the ship or intererary.

 

Hope this helps!

[Mary Ellen]

We sailed on HAL from Rio to Valparaiso (Chile) via Antarctica in Jan/Feb 2008. Antarctica was truly spectacular and the highlight of the trip. Cape Horn was 'there' - now we've been there, done that, but we'll be returning to Antarctica. The Chilean fjords were pretty cloudy the day we were there. Not too much to see. The cloud cover was so low that we saw no mountains and while I'd been looking forward to seeing the glaciers, they were basically a let down. If we hadn't gone to Antarctica I would have been fairly disappointed in the trip.

 

We had a private guide in Rio who made our stay there fantastic. We hadn't expected much (our goal there: 'not to get mugged'), but we really enjoyed Rio and are looking forward to being there again when we take another cruise to Antarctica. Buenos Aires and Santiago were also quite nice.

[katz]

I would really like to do one of these cruises, but I have a motion sickness problem. Usually a patch helps. My husband thinks the seas will be too rough and is not a good idea.

 

What have been your experiences in this part of the ocean?

[barante]

We took a terrific 18-day cruise in February from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, stopping at Dominica, Barbados, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador de Bahia and Rio. It seems to have been a one-time deal, part of an unusual Carnival Splendor sailing from FLL to San Francisco. As a ship the Splendor was too big, but pacing on the itinerary was excellent because there was always one or more sea days betwen ports.

Since then we have been toying with the following:

-- NCL Norwegian Sun from San Francisco to Valparaiso in November (the early booking fares were fantastic; an inside for under $700 for an 18-day voyage).

-- HAL's Veendam (I think) from Rio to Manaus, with lots of Brazilian stops, ending in Fort Lauderdale. This one will be in March and looks quite pricey, but is not that expensive if you take into consideration that it is 28 days and goes to Manaus and that you need a return airfare only from FLL.

Unfortunately, the timing is bad for both because I have a book coming out in March and it needs lots of editorial attention between now and then.

We have taken 10 cruises (with two more booked and paid for). Brazil was unbelievable; Buenos Aires also was great. To maximize your experience you need to know the local lingo, which we don't.

We definitely want to go back.

We had nothing but smooth seas. But you never know.

[seacrcsvz]

Katz, as I mentioned, we took a small cruise liner so we probably suffered a bit more from the motion sickness. Having said that, we were also able to navigate up through the Straits of Magellan, in very narrow but protected passages which the large ships can't do. We didn''t have any problem with motion sickness, with the exception of when we crossed over the convergence between the Atlantic and Pacific - pretty rough - very rocky. It woke everyone up on the ship, and many people got up and went out on deck for a few hours before returning to bed (I stayed in the cabin with my sick kids - enough to make me feel worse). Luckily the captain had warned everyone the night before and so we were able to take meds before bed and it wasnt a shock - we were told it would last about three hours, and I swear he set his watch by it.

[Mary Ellen]

I would really like to do one of these cruises, but I have a motion sickness problem. Usually a patch helps. My husband thinks the seas will be too rough and is not a good idea.

 

What have been your experiences in this part of the ocean?

This is the very reason we put off a cruise around the Horn for SO long (about 20 yrs). DH really wanted to do this and also Antarctica, however I get sea sick VERY easily. He didn't want to invest that much vacation time and money only to have me sick. Then we had the opportunity to sail to Antarctica on the Rotterdam with some friends. We felt this was the perfect chance. If I was 'under the weather', he could still be with our friends and I wouldn't have to worry about spoiling his cruise.

 

Prior to this cruise I'd had some success with the patch and with ginger capsules, but they weren't 100% effective. Based on my M.D.s advice, this cruise I used them both in combination. I wore the patch and took 2 ginger capsules at breakfast and again at dinner. This worked wonders!!!

 

Our stop in the Falklands was skipped due to the seas - too rough for tendering. We encountered VERY rough seas from the Falklands down to Antarctica (40+ foot seas). The ship rode very well and I didn't get sea sick. (DH was stunned!) Now, this was extreme. One of our friends was talking to the Captain. She was told that the seas were so rough that he'd actually had the ship's log checked to see if these were the roughest seas the ship had encountered. (No, there were two times the seas were worse - one of which was a hurricane.)

 

Our return from Antarctica, crossing the Drake Passage, was as calm as it could be. We could have been in the Caribbean, it was that smooth. At Cape Horn, it was also VERY smooth. We went back and forth about 8-10 times.

 

So, yes, you could have very rough seas and you could have very calm seas. My motto now is 'better cruising through chemistry'. Sea sickness can be dealt with.

[katz]

Thanks, Seacrcsvz and Mary Ellen. Your responses give me hope of takinga South American cruise.

[karen327]

A cruise around the horn of So. America is a great experience. We took Celebrity Infinity last winter - and while I would not recommend that ship - the experience and the ports were terrific. Study the different itineraries from cruise lines - and decide for yourself if Antarctica is necessary. If you enjoy wildlife - penguins - fantastic scenery, put this cruise on your list of things to do. At this point in time, it is less expensive to fly into Buenos Aires and fly home from Valparaiso. Chile charges an entrance fee - and, while Argentina was threatening the same thing, to my knowledge, nothing has happened yet. Either direction, you will enjoy the trip immensely.

 

 

May I ask why you wouldn't recommend the Infinity?