Celebrity infinity Buenos Aires to Valparaiso

[worldspan]

Doing this itinerary on February 26th and just wondering from those who have done the same, what ports did you feel an organized excursion was a must AND what other ports you feel one could explore on their own.

 

Ports of call are:

 

Buenos Aires

Montevideo

Punta del Estey

Puerto Madryn Argentina

Cape Horn, Chile

Ushuaua, Argentina

Punta Arenas Chile

Puerto Montt

 

Any thoughts and input would be appreciated!

 

Worldspan

131 cruises strong

[cruisestitch]

Note that Cape Horn is not a port -- you will cruise by the Cape for viewing, but there is no stop there.

[sollan]

If you are interested, here is my rewiev from the same cruise last year. It was a very nice cruise and I can highly recommend it...

We didn't do a organized city tour in Montevideo but after had heard friends talking about it I think it's reommended. And don't miss the penguins!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread. php?t=1358501

[Jenna109]

Hi,

We have booked this afternoon for this cruise March 2013 - so please write a review and let us know what it is like and MUST visits.:D

Doing this itinerary on February 26th and just wondering from those who have done the same, what ports did you feel an organized excursion was a must AND what other ports you feel one could explore on their own.

 

Ports of call are:

 

Buenos Aires

Montevideo

Punta del Estey

Puerto Madryn Argentina

Cape Horn, Chile

Ushuaua, Argentina

Punta Arenas Chile

Puerto Montt

 

Any thoughts and input would be appreciated!

 

Worldspan

131 cruises strong

[sollan]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1358501&highlight=infinity

This should work...

[Jenna109]

Hi Sollan,

Thank you for ref. to your review - very interesting and useful. You did mention changing currency - did you need the different currencies for each country or will the American dollar suffice?

[sollan]

Hi Sollan,

Thank you for ref. to your review - very interesting and useful. You did mention changing currency - did you need the different currencies for each country or will the American dollar suffice?

Hi, we vere changing into the currencie for the actual country. Smaller amounts to have a coffee or some small shopping at markets and so on. If we needed larger amounts we got to an ATM or used the credit card. Don't think it's a good idea just to have US dollars.

[TravelerThom]

....did you need the different currencies for each country or will the American dollar suffice?

Depends;) US Dollars is still the secondary currency in most of South America, and its value is generally known. Souvenir entrepreneurs [people who work for themselves, not clerks working for someone else] will generally take almost anything that is a good deal for them [i bought a sweater in the mountains of Romania, paying in a combination of Euros, US Dollars, Old Romanian Lei and New Romanian Lei (they were in the middle of the process of changing 10,000 old Lei for 1 New Lei) - as I said entrepreneurs will take anything they know the value of]. If you are hiring a taxi driver on a South American pier for a local tour I would expect them to be willing to take dollars. I have bought beers in Montevideo with US dollars, BUT I inquired prior to ordering, and the manager said sure and quoted a fair price. A clerk who has little authority is unlikely to accept US Dollars [exception: you are willing to pay enough that they pay for your item out of their pocket in local currency, and keep your dollars (fair enough under the circumstances)]. It is not unusual in extremely touristy areas to see prices posted in both local currency and US Dollars. I have even seen where the posted US Dollar price was significantly better than the local currency price [eg at a Museum in the Falklands the price was 3GBP (then at 1GBP to 1.99 US Dollar) or US$5], but don't count on that happening often. Generally your best value and easiest individual transaction will be in local currency, but you have to think about how often what you might purchase and where, to determine if the effort of getting local currency is worthwhile.

 

Thom

[sollan]

Why don't accept that different countries have different currencies? It isn't so very difficult to get a smaller amount different currencies when you arrive at a foreign country. You can even buy it at home....

[cruisestitch]

In Argentina recently, either US dollars and Brazilian Reals were each preferable to the local currency for many businesses. As that country is suffering through huge inflation now, many people were trying to acquire dollars and reals as a hedge. In one restaurant, prices were quoted in all three currencies, and when we asked the waiter which they would prefer, he replied "anything but Argentine pesos, please"

[sollan]

Yeah, go for US dollars everywhere, it will probably be the best...

[leonardofan]

Ship and itinerary are both terrific!

 

We didn't stop at Punta del Este two years ago, otherwise I did all ports

on my own with no regrets. (Conceivably an organized tour in Puerto

Madryn to see the seals would be worth it.) Big cities as well as Port

Stanley, and Punta Arenas are easy to do on your own.

 

The narrow gauge train in Ushuaia is great fun (if you like old trains--

scenery is not interesting (it's an old logging railroad, and they never

replanted the logged over forest)) but DO NOT buy it from the ship--it

costs half on the pier.

 

Valparaiso is great fun--I stayed there 2 days after the cruise (and then

went to Santiago for 2 days more), and heartily recommend you do the

same. Local transit (and intercity buses to Santiago) good as well as

inexpensive.

 

 

I would try to get some Chilean pesos (the exchange rate is stable, you

won't lose much changing what's left back at the airport), as the locals

can be cranky about foreign currency. In the other three countries what

you gain in negotiating power you'll more than lose in excange

commissions. (And as noted above at the moment the Argentines WANT

dollars)

 

You can eat really well in Chile for relatively small prices--treat yourselves

(and in the specialty restaurants on board, of course...)

[Kellie Poodle]

Hi Sollan,

Thank you for ref. to your review - very interesting and useful. You did mention changing currency - did you need the different currencies for each country or will the American dollar suffice?

 

We just did the cruise sailing on January 2, 2012. We found that there were no places that did not take American dollars. We had brought local currency with us but found we didn't need it.

 

We had set up private tours in all ports other than Punta Del Este. There it is quite easy to catch a tour on the dock where the ship puts in. They will have English speaking tours available. It is a bit cheaper if you wait until 11 AM.

 

Infinity is a beautiful ship. We really enjoyed our cruise.

[northwoods2]

We did this exact cruise last year and it was wonderful. We organized our own tours in most ports.

 

We went to Iguazu Falls before the cruise

 

Buenos Aires - walked around on our own and did a private Tigre delta river cruise with Soul Trips which was very nice relaxing day. Very interesting.

 

Montevideo - tour with Marta with a group of other CC members. was okay

 

Punta del Este - did not have a planned excursion. Just thought we would walk around but at the pier we found a bike tour - which was great!!! It was just the two of us and our guide. We got to see everything we had planned to but we got to glide along on the bikes and got a lot more information about what we were seeing. Very cheap too. It was with Alice of http://www.biketoursuruguay.com/.

 

Puerto Madryn Argentina - booked private tour of Pennisula Valdes with Forastero Tours. Nice tour. Good driver. Poor guide - it was his first tour ever and he fell asleep on the way back to town.

 

Ushuaua, Argentina - group hike with other CC members - was a great day

 

Punta Arenas Chile - Had originally planned to go to the penguin reserve at Magdelena Island but decided we had seen enough penguins in Puerto Madryn. So we just walked into town explored the market in the town square and found a coffee bar with free internet. So a very quiet day.

 

Puerto Montt - took a tour with a group of cc members to the volcano did the zip line, stopped at the river and and in town. nice tour.

 

You can find more details in our blog: http://reputablejournal.com/tagged/SouthAmerica2011/page/2