South America Trip

[Keith1010]

My wife and I recently returned from a South America cruise on the Seabourn Pride that went from Valparaiso, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

It was an outstanding cruise and we really enjoyed the various ports of call along with the beautiful scenery.

 

We flew into Santiago and had two nights in Santiago before boarding our cruise ship. We enjoyed the two days and appreciated the extra time to get adjusted to the time zone.

 

We utilized transportation from the cruise line to get from Santiago to Valparaiso. The trip took about 2 hours. Santiago must have the most buses of any city in the world. The drive was very interesting.

 

Our Ports included:

 

Puerto Montt. We took an excursion that provided an overview of the area and included a trip to a nearby town called Frutillar.

 

Castro, Chile. We walked around the town and we stopped off in a variety of places including a very nice Catholic Church.

 

Laguna San Rafael, Chile. On our way to this area we got to see some of the very beautiful Chilean Fjords. Our excursion included a catamaran that took us near the San Valentin Clacire. It was a great day and the scenery throughout the excursion was outstanding.

 

Punta Arenas, Chile. This was one of the highlights of the cruise as we took an excursion that took us to the Otway Sound and Penguin Reserve. The bus ride included about a 45 minute ride on a two lane highway and then about another 45 minutes on a dirt road before we got to the reserve. On our drive we were fortunate to see some interesting wildlife. The time we spent with the penguins was fantastic.

 

Ushuai, Argentina. We went on a hike in the Tierra Mayor Natural Reserve Park. We had a great time on this excursion and enjoyed the scenery a great deal.

 

Buenos Aires, Argentina. We took two excursions before disembarking the ship. We took a highlights tour of the city which included several stops for us to walk around. At night, we went to a Tango which was spectacular. We enjoyed the music, singing and of course the dance. After we disembarked the ship we stayed one additional day in Buenos Aires. We enjoyed the area along with the great food.

 

While we have taken three cruises to Alaska and enjoyed the scenery that it has to offer, we thought that the scenery and the ports in South America were even better than what we've seen in Alaska.

 

If you have any questions, I will be happy to try to answer them for you. This is an area that I would highly recommend for a cruise.

 

Keith

[Aussie Gal]

Keith,

 

Thanks for posting your review. I was interested to hear of your hike in the National Park in Ushaia. Was the scenery beautiful and was it a hard walk or fairly flat. We like hiking but I don't really want to do any climbing whilst away in January other than at Machu Picchu. ;)

 

Jennie

[Keith1010]

Jennie, the scenery was beautiful. There were some snow capped mountains around the park, along with waterfalls and beautiful forests. There was not too much climbing although you walked up some inclines. They provided boots as the ground was soggy for portions of the hike. We had a great day as well with temperatures more moderate than we expected. It is a beautiful park.

 

Keith

[ponstad]

Hi Keith -

Thanks so much for your description - we too plan to visit Santiago-Valparaiso for a couple of days before the cruise. Were you happy about where you stayed in Santiago, or would you recommend staying in Valparaiso?

ponstad

[Keith1010]

ponstad, We were pleased with our stay in Santiago. I would probably recommend staying there.

[travelingmcmahans]

Thanks for the great review! Very helpful info as I begin to dream of 2006...