Questions about South America cruise

Which direction? Rio to Santiago? or the reverse?

Also I am considering the first or last cruise of the season so December or March. Which would be better? Will the Falkland Islands area be too rough in December? And are we missing out if we take a cruise which doesn't include Antarctica? I'm happy to avoid the crossing to get there!

Thanks so much for your comments.

We did an Antarctic cruise on the Rotterdam this past January. We sailed from Rio and that will be our choice when we do this cruise again (we're looking at Jan 2011). Our reason for selecting Rio for the departure are:

1) From what I've read, and what we experienced agree, the Santiago is MUCH nicer to spend the hours waiting to depart than the Rio airport. :eek:

2) Entering Chile via air requires a reciprocity fee of about $131 USD (currently). This isn't paid if one enters via ship. You'll still need to get a Brazilian visa either way.

3) We like to arrive early for cruises (particularly when International flights are involved). The guide we used in Rio for airport pick-up and a few days of touring before we boarded was WONDERFUL! We'd love to see more of the Rio area with her again.

About Antarctica. We LOVED it!!! That is the reason we're going back. I'm guessing that, like me, you get seasick, thus the reason to avoid the crossing. We did have extremely high seas from the Falklands (we had to skip this port due to the seas) to Antarctica. So much so, that the Captain told one of our friends that the ship's log was checked to see if that had been the roughest the Rotterdam had experienced (no, there were two other times worse - No. Atlantic and a hurricane). Hopefully I haven't scared you. The ship rode VERY well and most amazingly (to DH at least) - I didn't get seasick. I'd tried the patch before and I've tried ginger capsules, both with limited success. This time, following my MDs advice, I used both. Wearing the patch and taking 2 ginger at breakfast and again at dinner worked wonders. The only thing to add is don't have a lot of liquids in an otherwise empty stomach (such as at breakfast don't drink tea, water, and juice when sitting at an aft table, watching the wake while waiting for your entree).

The return to SA was across the Drake Lake. It was so smooth we could have been in the Caribbean. Cape Horn was also perfectly calm. We did find the Chilean Fjords anticlimactic compared to Antarctica, but I'm sure that was mainly due to the weather. The clouds were fairly low and we could only see the bottom part of the glaciers - no mountains. I've seen pictures taken on nice days and they are lovely, but not what we experienced. While doing our 'scenic viewing' at the glaciers DH & I were VERY glad we'd been to Antarctica, because the cruise would have been a big let down as the glacier viewing was to have been a major highlight for us.

DH had wanted to sail the horn for 25-30 years, but due to my seasickness we hadn't. We met a great group of CC'ers on a Hawaii cruise. When one of them suggested this cruise we finally decided to give it a try. We knew that if I was 'under the weather' DH would still have friends to keep him company and I wouldn't have to worry about how he was doing. As it turned out, I was able to enjoy the cruise with everyone else. :D One of those friends has a website from our cruise (RevNeal Reports from South America). There are some pages he doesn't have linked, but if you don't see a link to the next day just change the number in the last part of the URL (like from rot6 to rot7).

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks so much for taking time to write so much, Mary Ellen. I decided to go ahead and book something using our future cruise deposit, so no payment till end July. We have booked the Veendam from San Diego all the way to Rio for a very low price. The cruise is very early in the season October 31st to December 5th and doesn't include Antarctica but the base cost is less than $100 a day and it is on the "new" remodeled Veendam. I wish Captain Albert was still there but he will be with the Prinsendam by then. The cruise isn't showing up on many websites, but it is on the Holland America one and the online agent that I have used before. I was interested in the CA category Lanai cabins on the lower promenade deck, but those available were far forward so we went with a D more midships. The port side (land side) cabins are going fast and this seemed to be the last D on that side. I know there has been a huge hassle transferring bookings from the Amsterdam and Oosterdam.

Please tell me more about your Rio guide. We may spend some time there. Also if anyone has suggestions for airlines/ flights Rio to LA, I'd love to get them.

Thanks, Jill

Mary Ellen has given you a lot of really good information.

I've taken this cruise twice---both times from Rio to Valparaiso. I wouldn't want to go the other way. Rio is three hours ahead of my Eastern time zone; Valaparaiso is two hours ahead. That means during the cruise you will either gain, or lose, one hour sleep, depending on direction. I prefer to gain sleep. :)

It also makes the trip home slightly shorter. This flight is a killer, and anything to make it better is worth it, IMO.

To go all that way and not see Antarctica is missing the absolute best part of the trip. I believe that to the point that I would consider a more bare-bones discovery-type cruise that spends more time in Antarctica next time. And there will be a next time!

I did learn something the hard way, though, and I put it out for your consideration: spend one night in your disembarkation city before flying home. That way you can sleep late the day of your flight, and board more rested. Coming home is an ordeal. Worth it, to be sure, but still an ordeal.

Also if anyone has suggestions for airlines/ flights Rio to LA, I'd love to get them.

You may also want to ask this question on the Cruise Air Forum. One-way air is tricky & there are some experts there that will give you very specific advice. Poster Greatam has outstanding knowledge of SA flights.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=128

Thanks for your comments and ideas. Rio must be about 6 hours ahead of San Diego, so there will be many hours gained on the ship. I've sailed on the Rotterdam and am sad to have missed its SA trips. I did look at the Amsterdam for this winter but the flights to and from LA are 20 to 30 hours each way and add hugely to the cruise price and stress. It is a big attraction to sail from San Diego, as we can drive to the port with our wine :) and all our other stuff and don't have to think of airports till the end. We're recently back from the Veendam to the Amazon and it was so relaxing to travel from San Diego. Also we get stops in Guatamala, Nicaragua, Equador and Peru, all new countries for me. However I am concerned the trip is early in the season, in fact 4 weeks earlier than the Amsterdam was originally scheduled to head south.

But as my husband says, we can always go again. This is only the second year of what I hope is a very long healthy retirement for us.

Thanks again for everyone's useful comments.

When we did this cruise three years ago we sailed from Valaparaiso to Rio and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, as others have pointed out. Chile imposes a $131 fee to US citizens if you arrive by air. Also, I had not even thought about the time difference but that would also be a plus in my book for sailing from Rio.

The highlight of the entire cruise imo was visiting Antarctica. It is like no other place in the world and is truly magnificent!. As for the Falklands, I'm glad we went, but there really wasn't a whole lot there. I would much rather skip them than the Antarctic.

Overall, I would rate this as one of the very best of the dozen or so cruises we have ever taken.

Thanks for your comments and ideas. Rio must be about 6 hours ahead of San Diego, so there will be many hours gained on the ship.

Other way around. If you sail from San Diego you will lose 6 hours sleep during the cruise. Still, it's nice to be able to sail from home.

It's too bad you won't get to Antarctica. I hope you can get in to the Falklands. I made it in on my first cruise, didn't make it last year. It's a warm little spot of Merry Old England in the cold south Atlantic.

We have booked the Veendam from San Diego all the way to Rio for a very low price. The cruise is very early in the season October 31st to December 5th and doesn't include Antarctica but the base cost is less than $100 a day and it is on the "new" remodeled Veendam.

You did very well indeed. We're taking this cruise in the opposite direction Rio-Seattle (38 days) in March/09 on the Amsterdam. Per diem pricing is higher than the Veendam across all categories. If we didn't have great FF air, I think we'd cancel & book this. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Interesting pricing on the Lanai CA cabins - only about $2/pp/nite more than a regular C.

Please tell me more about your Rio guide. We may spend some time there. Also if anyone has suggestions for airlines/ flights Rio to LA, I'd love to get them.

Neyla was WONDERFUL to deal with. She met us at the airport for our transfer to our hotel and the next day she did the same for Greg (RevNeal). We spent the following day touring Rio and the second day of touring we went to the mountain town of Petropolis. Neyla catered to our needs and interests. We had more people (and our luggage) for the transfer to the ship, so Neyla had a driver with a small bus for that day.

There were 3 of us and after adding in the admissions/lunches, our price was maybe about $5 USD/pp less than our friends who did a tour through the ship. We saw SO much more and had a WONDERFUL time. Their tour guide with the 'big bus' (cattle car) tour..... :eek::eek::eek: I can't say you'll save money, but you'll have a MUCH better tour, seeing more, than with a large group.

Since we didn't know what to expect from Neyla, as we selected her from a website about licensed guides in Brazil, rather than from a recommendation here, I was a bit nervous. However, Neyla far exceeded the service we imagined we'd get from any guide. We've used other private guides since then (and been quite happy with them all), but Neyla is still head and shoulders above the rest.

In Buenos Aires we used a guide service that everyone raves about. Our tour there was fine, absolutely nothing to complain about. We would use them again. However, our experience with Neyla was SO much better. It just seemed much more personal and it was like leaving family when we left her. [Dear, close family, not the ones you have to put up with during holidays. ;) ]

I agree with Ruth about the suggestion to stay over at least a day at the end of such a cruise. We took an 8-hr. HAL tour in Santiago that dropped us off at the HAL hotel and then took Ruth and the others to the airport. It was SO nice to shower and change from the (sweaty) clothes that we'd been touring in all day. I'll admit to feeling a tad guilty knowing that Ruth and other friends were sitting in their clothes for hours still at the airport - AND flying overnight in the same, while we were fresh and clean. The flights from SA to NA depart at night. We went with the HAL hotel because it gave us late checkout and a chance to freshen up before heading to the airport in the late afternoon. Looking at the info from the hotel we basically paid for 2 nights to get that late check-out. Greg was smarter though and found a nice, less $$, hotel that gave him their standard 'North American traveler' late check out and only charged him for one night. Obviously flying home from Rio you'll have different hotels, but my point is to ask about getting a late check out when booking.

About the flights, I've found Vayama.com and Sidestep.com to be interesting researching flights.

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

I was on the Golden Princess a couple of years ago from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. We were too late to book the pre-cruise to Iguazu Falls and we booked the itinerary that didn't go to Antarctica.

In about three weeks, I'm going to do it right this time. :) We're on the Amsterdam, from Rio to Valparaiso with the pre-cruise in Iguazu Falls and the itinerary goes to Antarctica. I can't wait!

If you can, try to do the pre-cruise in Iguazu Falls. I've heard it's spectacular and a "don't miss."

If you can, try to do the pre-cruise in Iguazu Falls. I've heard it's spectacular and a "don't miss."

We have booked the Veendam from San Diego all the way to Rio for a very low price.

We seriously planned on going to Iguassu on our own before our cruise. I had rooms booked for two nights (falls view) at the Sheraton on the Argentinean side and the third night at the Cataract hotel on the Brazilian side. With air and everything it was going to cost us half of what HAL wanted for a 2-night stay at the falls. However due to logistics with our luggage and a tight connection to Iguassu after our arrival in Rio we canceled that portion of our trip. Even though we had more than enough time to make the connection, according to airline and airport schedules, we wouldn't have made it. It took us about 2-hrs to get our luggage and clear customs.

I found out that we avoid the $131 charge at Santiago airport because we are not coming into Chile by air, instead we are passing though from San Diego and there are special arrangements for cruise ships in transit.

We will consider Iguazo Falls and spending time at Rio after the cruise. Thanks for the great suggestions and I will reread the thread from your Rotterdam cruise. I had noticed the planes leave late evening for the US. Potentially we have 10+ hours to Miami then 5 or 6 to LA or similar.

I would be happy to miss the Falklands, having read others' experiences of not being able to land. However I grew up in Scotland and have family in Edinburgh and the Falklands War was a big thing at the time for Britain, for better or worse. It would be very interesting to see the place. I believe they bring people in need of serious surgery all the way to Britain to use the National Health service!

The Veendam cruises for October and November are not listed on many travel websites. I couldn't believe the low prices. Holland America has the new and old deck plans on its site under "our ships". I've no idea how the CA cabins will work. More importantly where will the rest of us sit on the promenade deck? We thought it would be a great idea to get a "Lanai" CA cabin especially for only a little more cost than an outside. However I booked on an online site which shows cabins available. The CA ones left were fairly far forward and very near doors out onto the promenade deck or next to the cruise director's office. All were right by the Atrium where I noticed one hears loudly the music from the Ocean Bar. Maybe we'll be able to pay for an upgrade if a better located CA becomes available. I am intrigued that they are knocking the window out to make a sliding door so the bed has to go across the cabin. I always thought the outside cabins were narrower than balcony cabins. However we were comfortable for 32 nights to the Amazon in an outside just down the hall and this time we'll see a refurbished Veendam. It's a nice sized ship with great crew. The Amazon is a place to see (and feel the heat and humidity) and sailing up a river is really something different.

I was considering the Volendam and watching prices for one or more legs of its Australia -East Asia- Alaska cruise, or the reverse. It's easy and cheap to fly from LA to Asia. However after recent events I'm not so enthusiastic about a stop in Bangkok and general terrorist and pirate threats.