QV South America Circumnavigation

We did the 50 day round trip Fort Lauderdale portion of QV trip to SA. It was a great trip and Host Haddie noted that the forum hasn't heard much about it so I thought I would contribute my two cents and maybe others on the trip with different experiences/perspectives might chime in too.

The QV is doing pretty much the same trip (with the Amazon thrown in) for 2020 I noticed.

The first thing we noticed was the multi-cultural nature of this cruise. We asked for a breakdown of the nationalities for two of the segments while on board. There were 33 different nationalities listed. The Brits in the lead with about 1000, then Americans with about 250, the Germans with about 230, Canadians about 80, French about 50 and so on.

We were on the QV for the 48 day South Pacific cruise in 2015 so could do some comparisons. We like the ship a lot and find it very comfortable. There was something lacking about this trip as compared to the earlier one. The food was Ok, but not spectacular, the service was good. The speakers were just OK. Can't quite put my finger on it yet.

We had hoped to learn a lot about South America from the speakers and there was some of that but we also had an editor from Cosmopolitan magazine as a speaker and a Lord someone or other (his first name was never listed in the daily program) who spoke on science but more on it's potential misuse. His first lecture was heavy on images from WWII Germany...perhaps a little insensitive to some of the German guests. I don't know, all I can say is I didn't like him.

Anyway to the ports...there were six in the Caribbean that i thought were a total waste of time (except maybe Belize where we went to the Mayan Ruins). I would have preferred more SA, less Caribe.

Of the four ports in Brazil, Rio of course was the star. We did a private tour and loved it. Walked around by ourselves the 2nd day, also great. Fortaleza was just ok, Salvador was a little more interesting and Buzios was a nice surprise. Charming town and very relaxing.

Montevideo was very nice we did a private tour there as well. Very comfortable city.

Argentina - Buenos Aires was a traffic nightmare and I think it hampered some people's enjoyment of the city. Like some other ports, you had to use a shuttle to get to the cruise terminal. Shore excursions and the shuttle to downtown could pick you up at the ship but they had to drop you off at the terminal to take another bus back.

On our one excursion there the guide did his usual 'I hope you enjoyed your tour' talk which usually comes with a few minutes left in the tour. Some 45 minutes later we were just pulling into the terminal. This is a large terminal and there's quite a bit of walking to the shuttle buses in the back. Once on the shuttle bus, we went right back out into the traffic! It took another 45 minutes to get to the ship. What a mess. We still went out and took the shuttle the 2nd day and there was still traffic but since we got back a little earlier it was only 1/2 hour on the shuttle (and you can SEE the ship from the shuttle bus terminal!).

We went to two penguin reserves. The Toombo one from Puerto Madryn, Argentina and the Island preserve from Punta Arenas, Chili. I don't know that going to two was neccesary but when will I see penguins in the wild again? They both require a long trip to get there, one by bus and the other by ferry. The environments are completely different but there were plenty of penguins to see at both places. If you take the ferry at Punta Arenas it pays to be one of the first one on. Our ferry had about 20 comfortable seats (top level) if you don't get one of the those you will be uncomfortable for the two hour ride.

The Chilean Fjords were fantastic. One of the highlights of the trip and completely unexpected (at least by me). Worth the price of the balcony right there.

We rounded Cape Horn and that turned out to be an adventure. The ship had sent one of the smaller rapid crafts to shore to take pictures of the ship and call in on the lighthouse keeper. The boat sucked kelp up it's turbines (right word?) and it was unable to return to the ship. They sent another one and that one became disabled. Finally they sent a tender out to tow the other two back to the ship. The wind was howling during this whole thing and there were periodic squalls. Initially the tender and smaller boats were blown away from our direction by the wind, they got further and further from us. Eventually they decided to take all the people off the smaller boats onto the tender and then strapped the smaller boats to the bigger one to get them closer to the ship. That wasn't even the end of it, it took quite a while to wrangle the smaller boats to the ship and hoist them up.

The whole thing took about 4 hours but it seemed longer, we were all really worried about the people stuck on the beach.

In my opinion we could have done one less port in Chile and one more in Peru. Going through the Panama Canal was great, beautiful weather the whole way.

There were lots of 'security warnings' from the ship at various ports. We didn't feel uncomfortable anywhere we went, but we didn't go out at night. US $ accepted everywhere and we always got change in US $. Ecuador uses the USD as it's currency so we were able to use an ATM there and get extra US money.

Well I think I might have gone on enough. Maybe others will have some input. and sorry for any spelling errors...

Thanks very much for posting, it's great to hear about your trip.

W.

Great round-up of the trip thanks, yes we were desperate for news of the cruise - there was a deadly silence coming from onboard so much appreciated to hear it even now.

The Chilean fjords have always been a highlight for me when we went around them in a couple of years back, now just counting the days till 2019.

Hi

Great review...I did a similar voyage in 2014 on QV from Fort Lauderdale to Valparaiso....great trip. This was before the refit. I loved the chart room with the live music, great comfortable seating and views of the sea. It was a very popular lounge day and night....indeed it served as the designated space for full world cruise passengers during the day. Half of it anyway.

I really dislike wheat happened to that wonderful space with the refit....Since you had sailed on the ship before the refit I am wondering how you found the so called new chart Room...Thank you.

Deck Chair

You were due to have Lord Robert Winston on board

http://www.robertwinston.org.uk/about-robert-winston/

It took a while for us to notice the change to the Chart Room. I think the whole area is very nice and won't disappoint old fans of the venue. They added the Britannia Club restaurant and that was done very well. The corridor outside that restaurant is among the nicest on the ship.

Apparently Lord Winston is a celebrity in the UK as

the guests from there seemed to know him. He incorporated a lot of music into his talks on science and we found that to be distracting. Others of course will have their own opinions, we didn't care for him.

Many thanks for your review - I was hoping someone would write of their experience. This itinerary is very appealing. We are eagerly awaiting the pricing for the 2020 voyage.

We did the whole of Around South America and it was wonderful.

A rough crossing to Port Canaveral had to call in Praia da Vittoria for respite but could not leave early as planned due to strong wings so missed Bermuda. Loved all the ports except Fortaleza, it was raining looked dismal so stayed on the shuttle.

Rio was vibrant but we were disappointed with our Sunset Schooner cruise more like a rhum runner with loud music and definately not a schooner.

The 2 days in Buenos Aires were amazing, yes the port shuttle was a nightmare but better the second day. We did a vintage car and tango show at the Fanae Hotel it was memorable. The next evening was the Exotic Event tango show this was good but was

choreographed.

Cooler days from Porta Madryn to San Antonio but then more wonderful ports and tours. Lima was a surprise so clean and wonderful sites.

We have been through the Panama Canal several times but it is still worthwhile sitting and watching the views. Charleston delightful and had the best tour in Bermuda where our guide showed us gems of coves.

The return crossing was smooth and quite warm until 3 days from the end then a little cooler.

The whole trip was wonderful and the staff efficient and friendly as always. So good we have booked for 2020.

That's great to hear, thank you so much for reporting back.