Zaandam or Infinity - which ships offers better scenic cruising in Chilean fjords?

[grayjay]

I'm trying to decide the question whether "Infinity" (we're already booked on the leg from Valparaiso to Miami) or HAL's "Zaandam" will offer more scenic cruising in the Chilean fjords on the cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso.

Celebrity plainly just states two sea days there and the drawing shows them partly outside in the Pacific, whereas "Zaandam" specifically mentions a passage through the Beagle Canal, Glacier Alley, Canal Sarmiento and Amalia Glacier and thus seems to pass more on the inside.

Marketing spiel or true??

I'd be happy to get answers from CC members who have sailed on "Infinity" ( or Princess - they offer a similar itinerary) to solve that question, as we'd definitely prefer more cruising in Patagonia as compared to the ports in Argentina.

I'll also post this on the Celebrity board, but I'm also hoping for answers here.

Thank you all!

[4774Papa]

I'm trying to decide the question whether "Infinity" (we're already booked on the leg from Valparaiso to Miami) or HAL's "Zaandam" will offer more scenic cruising in the Chilean fjords on the cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso.

Celebrity plainly just states two sea days there and the drawing shows them partly outside in the Pacific, whereas "Zaandam" specifically mentions a passage through the Beagle Canal, Glacier Alley, Canal Sarmiento and Amalia Glacier and thus seems to pass more on the inside.

Marketing spiel or true??

I'd be happy to get answers from CC members who have sailed on "Infinity" ( or Princess - they offer a similar itinerary) to solve that question, as we'd definitely prefer more cruising in Patagonia as compared to the ports in Argentina.

I'll also post this on the Celebrity board, but I'm also hoping for answers here.

Thank you all!

We are going on Infinity Jan 2014 and it stops in Ushuaia. In order to arrive in Ushuaia the ship must navigate through the Beagle Channel. Tours are being offered with catamarans that go down Beagle Channel as well. Can't say about our other questions.

[grayjay]

We are going on Infinity Jan 2014 and it stops in Ushuaia. In order to arrive in Ushuaia the ship must navigate through the Beagle Channel. Tours are being offered with catamarans that go down Beagle Channel as well. Can't say about our other questions.

Thank you for your answer. We cruised on "Infinity" this year going to Antarctica - it was a fabulous cruise. Ushuaia (Argentina) as a port is nothing special - we took a taxi to the national park which was a very interesting trip to the "end of the world" . We saw a bit of the Beagle Channel arriving in the morning before we went around Cape Horn the following day. We saw booths at the harbour selling boat trips on the Beagle Channel but felt we had seen enough water for the day...

I was interested in reports about the Chilean side (Punta Arenas , Magellan Straits etc.) because we weren't sure which ship offered more scenic cruising in Chilean waters, HAL or Celebrity. Unfortunately we had to change our plans anyway, but thank you again for your answer.

Enjoy your cruise in January!

[spindrift]

If you aren't going to Antarctica, Oceania has the best passage. :D

[sansterre]

Greatly enjoyed Glacier Alley onboard HAL Veendam in Jan on an Antarctica cruise.. In fact we are repeating it on the Zaandam (not Antartica this time).

[lcmslady]

We are going on Infinity Jan 2014 and it stops in Ushuaia. In order to arrive in Ushuaia the ship must navigate through the Beagle Channel. Tours are being offered with catamarans that go down Beagle Channel as well. Can't say about our other questions.

 

If you're on the January 19th sailing, you should come hop on our roll call. We're busy planning excursions

[KirkNC]

We are going on Infinity Jan 2014 and it stops in Ushuaia. In order to arrive in Ushuaia the ship must navigate through the Beagle Channel. Tours are being offered with catamarans that go down Beagle Channel as well. Can't say about our other questions.

 

We must be on the cruise right after you on the Infinity.

[4774Papa]

If you're on the January 19th sailing, you should come hop on our roll call. We're busy planning excursions

We are on the Jan 5 cruise from BA to Valpo. We are using South Excursions for many of our excursions (a couple from X),