Anyone sailing on 3/3/13 or has sailed to South America?

[madepaz]

Hello everyone,

 

I am so excited to be going on the March 3rd sailing on the Celebrity Infinity to South America. Is anyone going on that sailing or has anyone been on a South American cruise? I have been looking at the tours available through Celebrity and they have a lot to offer but I always prefer local tours because I think it gives me an opportunity to hear another perspective of what life at that port is like. Any recommendation regarding tours, especially on seeing penguins, and "must see or do" ideas are really appreciated.

 

Happy Sailing,:)

 

Melissa

[Ellen S]

My DH and I went on the Infinity from Ft. Lauderdale to Valparaiso, Chile December, 2009. It was a fantastic cruise. The staff was great! Food was wonderful and we enjoyed the entertainment. Because we had never traveled to South America before, we took the ship's tours. I get concerned about not getting back to the ship on time when I'm in a strange country. The shore excursions on this cruise were very good. I see you are going from Argentina to Valparaiso. Would have like to have done that.

Only suggestion I have is we took the tour to Santiago and if you like to do that on your own, you should. We were lucky we were on one of the first 3 buses that left the ship. There were too many buses (12 or 14 in all). The place they stopped for at lunch ran out of food by the 10th bus. Very poor planning from the cruise ship to not tell the winery we had lunch at there were more buses coming. Food was excellent though. Santiago is a wonderful city.

This was one of the best cruises we have taken. Enjoy!

[Ellen S]

There is a roll call to sign in on

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1442692

They can answer you questions.

 

Also, you should sign up for the connections party.

[Traveling Library]

We were on the Infinity in Feb 2012 on the BA to Valparaiso cruise. Took both ships tours, which we enjoyed and private. If you want to see penguins then take the Puerto Tombo trip by van. A bit more expensive but you beat the buses.

Punta del Este we got off the ship and took a local jitney/taxi tour.

In Puerto Montt took a private tour with GV tours. Trip includes lunch. Highly recommended.

In Valparaiso we arranged a private transfer to Santiago via AboutChile. Again we highly recommend this transfer. Had a lovely tour of Vina del Mar and lunch (extra) on the way to Santiago. We stayed in Santiago for 1 night and enjoyed a full day seeing the city since we had a late evening flight.

My only regret is that we didn't go 2 days early to BA. Didn't get to see as much as I wanted to. Also if you do the HoHo in BA buy your tickets online. In the afternoon they do capacity control and only let those on the bus who have tickets...even if there are empty seats.

On our cruise Cape Horn was like glass. Even the Captain noted that he had never seen it so smooth.

[hampshirelad]

We were on the Infinity 2008 and it was the best cruise we have ever took. Try and spend a few days in BA first and if time allows visit the Iguazsa falls in the north ( probably spelt that wrong ). Take in a Tango show and a day at a Ranch. We found ourselves in the middle of a riot one evening with the police coming down the street banging their batons on their shields and the protesters coming from the other direction waving flags. Got into the nearest bar pretty quick !!. When you see the Water-Cannons parked up side streets, you now know the reason why. We kept a close track on the roll call and formed our own groups and did private tours. There are plenty of tours for the ports. We were never let down.

 

Watch out for crime, if a pretty girl starts a conversation, someone else is trying to nick your bag. There is no fool like an old fool !!

 

The weather at Cape Horn was brilliant and the sea like glass. Two days before we had been in a storm force 10 and many of the deckchairs were washed overboard. If the next ship saw them bobbing in the sea I expect they said a prayer for us.

 

See the Penguins in Punta Arenas - but be warned the wind is continual there and viscious so get a hat that covers the ears. The tips on mine got burnt and it hurt like h**l.

 

Used GV Tours they on Puerto Mont were great.

 

If they put The Falklands back on the ports we would do it again.

 

If you can learn a few words of Spanish it helps.

 

Good luck

[Jenna109]

http://Www.thepreismans.com. This site has lots of excellent information. We also have a group on the connections site with more info. Look forward to seeing you there.

Pat

[4774Papa]

We did the Repo December 2011 from FLL to Valpo and it was great. We are booked on Around the Horn from BA to Valpo Jan 2014.

Here is my review of our cruise.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=94024

[Andy]

Hello everyone,

 

I am so excited to be going on the March 3rd sailing on the Celebrity Infinity to South America. Is anyone going on that sailing or has anyone been on a South American cruise? I have been looking at the tours available through Celebrity and they have a lot to offer but I always prefer local tours because I think it gives me an opportunity to hear another perspective of what life at that port is like. Any recommendation regarding tours, especially on seeing penguins, and "must see or do" ideas are really appreciated.

 

Happy Sailing,:)

 

Melissa

 

Hi Meliisa,

 

The Roll Call Forums, is the place to meet other Cruise Critic friends on your sailing, and continue this discussion.

 

Here is a direct link to your Roll Call : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1442692

 

Have a great time on Infinity. This thread is now closed.