Oceania Marina South American Holiday 12/8-12/28/13 Port Review

[grmmybtty]

Before leaving for our cruise, I did extensive research on both Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. I am grateful to all those cruisers before me that gave good recommendations and insights into the various ports that we were going to visit. thought that I would share our experience with those who are planning their own trips.

 

Rio de Janeiro

Day 1: We arrived in Rio on 12/7 on United at 1120am. Luggage pickup, immigration and customs took about 30 minutes. We walked pass the Radio Taxi booths to the Aero Coop booth to the left of the arrivals exit and were directed to their drivers outside. Their taxi had A/C and was clean and in good condition. The ride to our hotel, Windsor Atlantica in Leme, took about 20 minutes and cost a little more than 50 reaias. After settling in, we went out to walk along Copacabana Beach to find lunch. We stopped at one of the many cafes along the beach for sandwiches and capirinhas before meeting another couple from CC to visit Sugarloaf. Metered taxi from our hotel to Sugarloaf was $10 USD. We arrived about 430pm and walked right up to the ticket booth. No lines for the cable car. The views were magnificent until the low clouds came in, blocking out the sunset we came to see. Afterwards we caught a taxi back to Copacabana. The driver wanted a flat $20 USD, we refused, saying that it only cost us $10 to get there. He relented, saying that he would take us for $10, but would turn on the meter to show us that it was really $20. The meter seemed to run unusually fast and read $20 exactly. First lesson on buyer beware!! We wanted him to take us to Carretao on Rua Ronald de Carvalho, which was close to our hotel, but he said that it was closed and had relocated. He took us instead to Carretao Lido, also close to our hotel. The price was higher and food quality, although decent, was not as good as reviews for Carretao had indicated. On our walk home, we passed the Carretao that we had wanted to go to. It was open and busy!!! Second lesson on buyer beware!!

 

Day 2: We met our new CC friends and our tour guide, Zezinho for a walking tour of the Rocinha Favela (http://www.favelatour.org). Zezinho was born in Rocinha of a Brazilian father and American mother, spent some time living in the US before returning to the favela. He is well known in the favela and introduced us to friends and neighbors. We examined goods at some local shops, and walked up and down narrow alleyways/stairways. All along the way, people would greet us with smiles, waves and “hellos”. At the end of the tour, we stopped by Zezinho’s house where he converted one room into a DJ school where he teaches young favela dwellers how to DJ. Eventually they are able to earn a living deejaying for parties. In spite of the obvious poverty, people appeared to be happy and enjoying their Sunday off by shopping, playing music and hanging out together. Rather than a depressing situation, we saw the joy and exuberance that Brazil is famous for. Much different from the high end stores and cafes on Copacabana that had no soul. At the end of the tour, Zezinho help flag down a taxi and we went back to our hotels to pick up our luggage and head for the ship. The highway to the cruise port was very crowded with taxis and buses. After checking in, we were taken by shuttle bus through the port to the ship.

 

Day 3: We met with, by now our new best friends, at 730am and caught a taxi to Corcovado, arriving around 830. There was no line for the cable car, which we took straight up to Cristo Redentor. It was really great being among the first to arrive. We took our time with pictures and admiring the scenery. By 10am, the tour buses had arrived and the hordes ascended and we left. We did not find any taxis waiting at the exit, so we decided that we would take advantage of the Marina shuttle at Rio Sur shopping center and with a map and some pantomiming, a combination of Spanish, English and Portuguese managed to take the public bus to the mall. A nice student exiting the bus with us showed us the underground passage to the mall, or we would have wander around aimlessly. We bought a few necessities at the mall and then caught the shuttle back to the Marina.

 

Rio felt very safe. We did not carry a large amount of money with us, nor did we wear any jewelry. My husband took his very obvious Nikon with huge lens, but held it closely to his body at all times. The public bus is cheap and plentiful. Taxis are plentiful in Copacabana and Ipanema, but as our experience showed us, not all taxi drivers are honest.

 

Santos

Oceania provides a shuttle into the main part of town, stopping at a large mall. The beach was nearby, but otherwise we were in the middle of downtown with nothing much of interest. Since we wanted to go to the historical center and Coffee Museum, we had to take a taxi which passed the port on the way. The taxi ride was $20 shared with another couple. Once in the historical center, we took the tourist trolley tour around town. It was very inexpensive: 5 reaias per person, and 2.50 reaias for seniors (about $1.25). What we saw was not too impressive. Lots of buildings converted to parking lots, auto repair shops. Just a grey, sooty port town. The Coffee Museum was free the day we were there, but other than being located in a beautifully restored building, there was nothing much to see. The lines for coffee were long and slow. The taxi ride back to the ship was $10.

 

Buenos Aires

We arranged a 2 day tour with Virginia Panetta (http://www.privatebatours.com). We (a group of 6) were met at the cruise terminal by Virginia and a driver in a comfortable minivan. On the first day, we visited Plaza de Mayo, San Telmo, La Boca, and Puerto Madero, with a stop at Café Tortoni for a light lunch. She put all the sites we saw in a historical context, helping us to understand the unique culture of Buenos Aires. On day 2 we started with Recoleta. Again Virginia was a font of knowledge. She had interesting stories about many of the monuments and the long dead. Afterwards we had some free time to visit the church and the Recoleta Sunday street fair before we drove through the mansions of Palermo. Our last stop was the Botanic Gardens where we admired the roses and other early summer flowers.

 

I highly recommend Virginia for a tour of Buenos Aires. Her English is excellent, she is a teacher by profession and has studied the history of Buenos Aires and Argentina and is able to convey her knowledge in a clear and understandable manner.

 

Montevideo

There was a tourist information center at the end of the pier where we picked up a walking map. Since it was Sunday morning, not much was open. We walked down the main boulevard looking at shop windows and an occasional open shop. Eventually we ended up a Plaza de Independencia where there is an underground memorial to Jose Artigas, the Uruguayan National hero. We walked back towards the ship along La Rambla Francia. We stopped at Mercado del Puerto for a delicious lunch of bbq Uruguayan beef. We shared what they call a Baby Beef (looked like a boneless rib steak) accompanied with salad and bread, beer for DH and wine for me (about $30).

 

Punta de Este

This is a tender port, with the pier located near some high end hotels. The tourist office was about 4 blocks to the right of the pier. We stopped by for a map, got directions to the La Mano (the hand) statue, which was about 3 blocks away. After that we walked down the main shopping street all the way to the end of the peninsula and found the lighthouse. After that we walked through a neighborhood of very nice vacation homes before reaching the beach and the cruise pier. The walk took 2-3 hours with stops to admire the scenery.

 

Puerto Madryn (tender port)

I had arranged a tour of Peninsula Valdez with Sentir Patagonia (http://www.sentir-patagonia.com.ar.) There were 10 of us in a 12 passenger van, which was quite comfortable for the long trip. Our first stop was the visitor center where there good exhibits of the wildlife that we would be seeing along the way and a very nice restroom. Our next stop was Caleta Valdez where we saw quite a few Magellan Penguins, some very close by but most far down at the beach. We took a short drive down the same peninsula to view the sea elephants. We made a few stops to take pictures of the panoramic scenery and had a nice boxed lunch along the way. Our last stop was to view the sea lions at Punta Norte. There was narrative all along the way about the history, climate and culture of Patagonia. We slowed down or stopped take pictures of herds of guanacos, rheas and llamas.

 

At our first stop we saw a car that had a flat tire being changed. We were very happy to be in a late model van. Our driver said that their company changes vehicles every two years because of the wear and tear of the gravel roads. We returned to the ship a full two hours before sailing.

 

Ushuaia

I had arranged a private taxi tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park with Gerardo Germain (Gerardo_ush@hotmail.com) based on CC and TA reviews. We met Gerardo at the end of the pier as soon as we could get off the ship. This turned out very well as we were the first ones at all the typical tourist stops. Since he has lived in Ushuaia for 18 years he knows all the scenic areas and best hikes in the park. We made many stops for short walks to scenic outlooks and around lakes and campgrounds. Since many of the sites were not the typical tourist stops, we were usually alone. He would drop us off and tell us which paths to follow and met us at the other end of the path in his taxi. We actually spotted a guanaco in the park, which apparently is a rare sighting.

 

He offered two half day tours, the first to the National Park, followed by lunch and then a tour of the lake district. Since it was starting to rain, we declined taking the second tour and had him drop us off in town. We walked through the town, admired the Alpine architecture and bought a few souvenirs before getting back on to the ship.

 

Gerardo drives a Volkswagen Polo, which will hold 4 smallish people plus driver, so we decided to go on our own. This made for a very nice intimate tour. Gerardo speaks good English and is very knowledgeable about the area. Highly recommended.

 

Punta Arenas

We had made reservations with Solo Expediciones to go to Isla Magdalena. There were 10 of us. Apparently they were unable to get more bookings at the pier, so cancelled the tour claiming rough seas and inability to land at the island. This we found out later was not true. The seas were quite smooth, but apparently they did not want to take the boat out with just 10 passengers.

 

We decided to walk back to the main plaza and checked out the various vendors, then went to the church across the street and attended the Sunday mass. Afterwards we walked down to the cemetery and spent some time looking at the graves. Nothing compared to Recoleta, but then this is a small town. On the way back to the ship we stopped for lunch at Sotitos. We were surprised at how crowded it was. Since we did not have a reservation, they seated us all by ourselves in this little room. It was actually quite nice since it was quiet and private and we had our own waiter. The food was delicious. We were given a complimentary appetizer of the best empanadas we ever had. Next we shared a salad of shrimp stuffed avocados and we each had a very good seafood chowder. With wine and beer, the total bill was just short of $50.

 

After the cancellation of the tour, we regretted not going to Punta Tombo in Puerto Madryn. Those who took private tours to Punta Tombo reported that they were also able to see guanacos and rheas along the way. They did not see sea lions or elephant seals, but instead saw hundreds of thousands of penguins.

 

Puerto Chacabuco

We took a tour planned by a fellow cruiser with Patagonia ShoreEx. Since it was Christmas day, very few tour operators were working. The tour guide was a college student on holiday break. After speaking with some other fellow cruisers, we found that most of the tour guides are college students who happen to speak fair to good English. We made stops at the Virgin Falls before heading up to the town of Coyhaique. There was only one café open, but they were serving only coffee and cakes. A few of the craft vendors were open. After about 20 minutes to use the restroom and browse the few open shops, we decided to leave. Since most of the guys in our group wanted to take pictures, our guide took us up to some scenic viewpoints that were not on the “official” tour route. We drove along the Rio Simpson and made many scenic stops along the way. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with blooming lupines of all colors, fuschias, calendulas and many other flowers.

 

Puerto Montt

I planned an excursion for 14 people with Denis Purtov (http://www.puertomontt-excursiones.com). He was originally going to lead the tour, but informed me about a week before that he was sending someone else since he had to lead a group of German tourists because he was the only one who spoke German. Our guide was Patty, a young woman who had lived in London for several years and spoke excellent English. It was raining pretty hard when the tour began so our first stop in the city of Puerto Montt was cut short because no one really wanted to walk around in the rain. By the time we arrived at the shores of Lake Llanquihue the rain had stopped. Across the lake there was a restroom stop with some llamas and a small restaurant. Vicente Perez Rosales National Park with the Petrohue River and falls was our next stop. This is a beautiful wooded area with tremendously powerful falls. There is a nice little crafts market there with fairly good prices. Since the clouds were very low, we were only able to see the foot of Mount Osorno, therefore we did not drive up there. After stopping for lunch at Laguna Verde the clouds had lifted a bit, and our driver was determined to find a good viewing spot for Mount Osorno. After driving for about 10 minutes, we all saw the top Mount Osorno peeking over the clouds and we poured out of the van for pictures. Our last stop was Puerto Varas. We had asked Patty if she could take us to a market or wine store. She got on her phone to contact friends in town who told her where to go. We were taken to a very nice wine shop where several of us continuing on the next leg of the cruise bought wine. Others had stopped at one of the three different crafts markets nearby. We returned to the ship with our purchases and 100’s of scenic pictures.

 

Although the tour was not led by Denis, Patty was a great substitute. It was well organized. Highly recommended.

 

Valparaiso

Most of the passengers ended the cruise in Valparaiso and arranged for van tour/transfers to Santiago. Since we were staying on for Valparaiso to Tahiti, we arranged a private tour with Ruta Valparaiso (http://www.rutavalparaiso.cl/). Cristian was our guide. He met us at the cruise terminal and we used a combination of walking-trolley-acensor-bus-collectivo to get around town. Cristian first took us to a panoramic viewpoint of Valparaiso and gave us an overview of the city. We then went to the different neighborhoods that made up the city. Walking up and down streets full of street art, taking the trolley to the street market downtown, taking a public bus for a scenic thrill ride up and down the hills of Valparaiso all the time while giving us a history of the development of this city of art. It was as if we were friends that he was sharing his beloved city. We stopped for lunch at a really nice Chilean café, walked through the downtown shopping streets just to get a feel for the city. Other than stopping at the Neruda Museum, we did not make any of the typical tourist stops. We felt at the end of the day that we really got an insider’s view of the city.

 

Since Cristian spent his early years living in the US, his English is perfect. He is highly engaging and very pleasant. Highly recommended.

 

We did not take any ship tours. After speaking with several people who did take the ship tours, we were happy with our decision. A common complaint was that they could not hear the tour guide, that even if they could hear the guide, that their English was poor. The tours were mostly in large buses, therefore the groups had also at least 40 people, meaning longer and few stops. Our largest group was 14, smallest was 6. Costs were also much lower and for that we got much better service. All the tours were well organized and we returned to the ship with plenty of time to spare.

[uschisiggi]

Hi Betty,

thank you so much for all these very good informations. We are cruising this year and hope to participate from the experiences you made.:cool::cool::cool:

 

uschisiggi

[Floridiana]

You wrote that Puerto Madryn was a tender port. Was the long dock taken by another ship? We docked.

[grmmybtty]

Floridiana,

You're right. We did dock in Puerto Madryn. There was a long dock and a shuttle was provided, so I just got confused. Too many ports I guess.