I need your help in planning an itinerary. Please?

[bling19572010]

My sister and I are planning a cruise for 2015 to take with our parents and I have a lot of questions. Firstly, our mother will be 82 in 2015 and our father will be 79. Our mother can only walk a few steps with assistance and is in a wheel chair. My mother has on her bucket list to cruise to South America.

 

Questions/comments:

 

1. What is the best time of year to sail South America? Not too many crowds and not too hot. 80 degrees would be fine.

 

2. We need to do at least part of the cruise on Royal Caribbean. We each have a $100.00 future cruise on RCCL that we want/need to use.

 

3. We want to be gone 2 weeks or 2 weeks plus a couple of extra days.

 

4. We really need to cruise to and from a U.S. Port. 12-16 hours of flying is just to long for her to fly comfortably.

 

5. What are the top destinations to visit in South America.

 

6. I would really appreciate any suggestions that you could offer me.

 

Thank you!

[donaldsc]

My sister and I are planning a cruise for 2015 to take with our parents and I have a lot of questions. Firstly, our mother will be 82 in 2015 and our father will be 79. Our mother can only walk a few steps with assistance and is in a wheel chair. My mother has on her bucket list to cruise to South America.

 

Questions/comments:

 

1. What is the best time of year to sail South America? Not too many crowds and not too hot. 80 degrees would be fine.

 

The distance from Caracas in the north of SA to Ushuaha in the south is 4509 miles. Consider driving from Helena Montana to Miami Florida is only 2258 miles. You will be going from above the equator to close to Antarctica. Do you think that the climate from top to bottom might vary a bit? There are lots of climate sites on the internet. Pick some possible locations in SA and do a seasonal climate search.

 

2. We need to do at least part of the cruise on Royal Caribbean. We each have a $100.00 future cruise on RCCL that we want/need to use.

 

Assume that you will be spending maybe $3000 each on your cruise. Your $100 credit is only 3% of your cruise cost. Are you really planning to make a cruise company decision based on a difference of 3% of the total cost? To me, $100 OBC would not affect my choice of cruise line. Ship - maybe. Itinerary - absolutely. $100 - no way.

 

3. We want to be gone 2 weeks or 2 weeks plus a couple of extra days.

 

4. We really need to cruise to and from a U.S. Port. 12-16 hours of flying is just to long for her to fly comfortably.

 

If you cruise from the US, you will spend most of your time getting to and from SA. Have you actually looked at any itineraries?

 

5. What are the top destinations to visit in South America.

 

In ALL of SA. Would you ask the question - "what are the top destinations in the US or in Europe? I doubt it. You also need to define what type of sights you want to see - museums, nature, cities, historical, etc.

 

6. I would really appreciate any suggestions that you could offer me.

 

Thank you!

 

South America is a really big continent. Sorry to sound harsh but you really need to do a lot more research and provide more specific questions before you can get anything useful from us.

 

I would suggest that you go to TA and pick up all the brochures they have from any line that does SA and read them carefully. Then go to your public library and get out some books on cruising SA. Finally, talk to a travel agent about your options.They will not charge any more than the cruise company and some but not all of of them are very good and are very helpful.

 

I made some comments inside of your post.

 

DON

Edited January 5, 2014 by donaldsc

[bling19572010]

South America is a really big continent. Sorry to sound harsh but you really need to do a lot more research and provide more specific questions before you can get anything useful from us.

 

I would suggest that you go to TA and pick up all the brochures they have from any line that does SA and read them carefully. Then go to your public library and get out some books on cruising SA. Finally, talk to a travel agent about your options.They will not charge any more than the cruise company and some but not all of of them are very good and are very helpful.

 

I made some comments inside of your post.

 

DON

 

Your are right...I don't know a lot about South America so I started my research on cruise critic to get ideas and try to narrow my options down. Thanks for your response even though you were harsh.

[Floridiana]

If you want to leave from a US port and go 2 weeks only, your option is one of the Panama canal cruises, partial or complete. They usually stop in Cartagena, Colombia which would be your South American port.

 

Partial: Florida to Florida

Complete: Florida to California or vice versa.

[bling19572010]

If you want to leave from a US port and go 2 weeks only, your option is one of the Panama canal cruises, partial or complete. They usually stop in Cartagena, Colombia which would be your South American port.

 

Partial: Florida to Florida

Complete: Florida to California or vice versa.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but we have already cruised Panama (it was on our dad's bucket list)

and this will probably be my parents last cruise and we'd like my mother to mark South America off of her bucket list. It is just getting too hard for them to get around.

[VidaNaPraia]

Where would you be starting from that a flight to a South American destination would take 12-16 hours?

Think about breaking up the trip in Miami, for one example, from where São Paulo, for one example of a cruise port airport, would be a 9 hour flight. Some cruises leave from Santos, the port nearest to S.P.

[CruiserBruce]

Where would you be starting from that a flight to a South American destination would take 12-16 hours?

Think about breaking up the trip in Miami, for one example, from where São Paulo, for one example of a cruise port airport, would be a 9 hour flight. Some cruises leave from Santos, the port nearest to S.P.

 

I think the OP is talking total travel time. We have a SFO-IAH-LIM flight next October that, with a one hour connection in IAH, is just about a 12 hour travel time.

[bling19572010]

Where would you be starting from that a flight to a South American destination would take 12-16 hours?

Think about breaking up the trip in Miami, for one example, from where São Paulo, for one example of a cruise port airport, would be a 9 hour flight. Some cruises leave from Santos, the port nearest to S.P.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I never thought about breaking up the air time. We live in the Midwest. I'll take a look at more flights. Thanks.

[Artemis]

Bling, Royal is only doing immersion cruises in South America, i.e., shorter cruisers targeted at the local market. If your family is open to sailing with a ship full of mostly Brazilians, you could do a 7-night roundtrip out of Sao Paulo with stops in Punta del Este, Uruguay (a beach resort); Montevideo; and Buenos Aires (2 days and an overnight). You can add to the trip a land visit to Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu Falls, among other options, although that may be undesirable considering your mother's mobility issues. We made that trip in 2012 and loved it, and it would meet your 2-week trip target. See my trip site for more info: https://sites.google.com/site/splendourbrazil/

 

The most traditional and popular South American cruise is from Buenos Aires around the Horn to Valparaiso (or vice versa). Celebrity and others operate that route. The cruise alone is usually 14 nights. It is heavy on natural wonders, fjords, soft adventure excursions, etc. Some highlights may implicate accessibility issues.

 

But there are other SA options, incl. Amazon cruising and Galapagos.

 

Can your mom articulate what it is she wants to see in South America? As has been pointed it, the continent is vast and varied. You need to gather more information and research from there!

 

Good luck. It's a thoughtful effort.

[bling19572010]

Bling, Royal is only doing immersion cruises in South America, i.e., shorter cruisers targeted at the local market. If your family is open to sailing with a ship full of mostly Brazilians, you could do a 7-night roundtrip out of Sao Paulo with stops in Punta del Este, Uruguay (a beach resort); Montevideo; and Buenos Aires (2 days and an overnight). You can add to the trip a land visit to Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu Falls, among other options, although that may be undesirable considering your mother's mobility issues. We made that trip in 2012 and loved it, and it would meet your 2-week trip target. See my trip site for more info: https://sites.google.com/site/splendourbrazil/

 

The most traditional and popular South American cruise is from Buenos Aires around the Horn to Valparaiso (or vice versa). Celebrity and others operate that route. The cruise alone is usually 14 nights. It is heavy on natural wonders, fjords, soft adventure excursions, etc. Some highlights may implicate accessibility issues.

 

But there are other SA options, incl. Amazon cruising and Galapagos.

 

Can your mom articulate what it is she wants to see in South America? As has been pointed it, the continent is vast and varied. You need to gather more information and research from there!

 

Good luck. It's a thoughtful effort.

 

Thank you! You offered some new options for us to consider! Since I'm not real familiar with SA and the fact that our mother is in a wheelchair, it has been real challenge for me researching all our options. Thanks again for your suggestions!

[boulders]

Have a look at Holland America's itineraries as well. They have some that leave from Florida and others that leave from San Diego. A one way cruise to or from South America would be right around 14 days. A roundtrip cruise to or from Santiago or Rio would be about 28 days. There is even one that goes all the way around and to Antarctica, leaving from Florida - 68 days.