Cruising to South America on the Zaandam : A pictorial review

[Chelly]

Well ScubacruiserX2. I must tell you that you are responsible for pushing me over the edge. I'll be booking a Princess SA. Can you tell me which itinerary you'd recommend: Santiago to Buenos Aires? Or Buenos Aires to Santiago? I recall someone suggesting that Westbound was preferable but can't remember why.

 

Thanks so much for helping. Still wish you'd adopt me though. :D

[scubacruiserx2]

Well ScubacruiserX2. I must tell you that you are responsible for pushing me over the edge. I'll be booking a Princess SA. Can you tell me which itinerary you'd recommend: Santiago to Buenos Aires? Or Buenos Aires to Santiago? I recall someone suggesting that Westbound was preferable but can't remember why.

 

Thanks so much for helping. Still wish you'd adopt me though. :D

 

 

Oops , I guess we need to phone Princess to collect our referral fee !! ;)

 

 

Will that be the Emerald Princess in SA , 2018 ? We saw her several times in the Baltic , in June , when we were on the Eclipse .

 

 

Tallin , Estonia

 

 

St. Petersburg , Russia

 

 

 

That was a great cruise also !! I guess I shouldn't give you this link , but since you have already booked it - here it is :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2372103

 

 

Concerning SA , as a photographer ( for light ) and early morning people , we would recommend Santiago to BA Port side ( facing land ) . Also , you would spend your Sundays at sea . When we were last in Ushuaia , on a Sunday afternoon , many things were closed .

 

 

If you are a late day person , BA to Santiago Starboard ( facing shore ) might be a better fit . Some things may be closed on Sunday in Puerto Madryn ( we used the Jan. 3 , 2018 sailing from BA and the Jan. 17th sailing from Santiago as an example ) .

 

We hope this helps !! :) :D

 

[Chelly]

Oops , I guess we need to phone Princess to collect our referral fee !! ;)

 

 

Will that be the Emerald Princess in SA , 2018 ? We saw her several times in the Baltic , in June , when we were on the Eclipse .

 

 

Tallin , Estonia

 

 

St. Petersburg , Russia

 

 

 

That was a great cruise also !! I guess I shouldn't give you this link , but since you have already booked it - here it is :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2372103

 

 

Concerning SA , as a photographer ( for light ) and early morning people , we would recommend Santiago to BA Port side ( facing land ) . Also , you would spend your Sundays at sea . When we were last in Ushuaia , on a Sunday afternoon , many things were closed .

 

 

If you are a late day person , BA to Santiago Starboard ( facing shore ) might be a better fit . Some things may be closed on Sunday in Puerto Madryn ( we used the Jan. 3 , 2018 sailing from BA and the Jan. 17th sailing from Santiago as an example ) .

 

We hope this helps !! :) :D

 

 

Thank you. That helps. Would anything else factor in, i.e. Is boarding, disembarking in one city preferable vs the other? Flight schedules? Thanks, yet again.

C.

[Chelly]

ScubacruiserX2:

For the Baltic Cruise, it's Aug 23, 2017. Not on Princess. On Celebrity Silhouette. Scored an S1 Sky Suite. Very excited to have a full-time butler and all the luxury that goes with the suite-life. But after that, it will be back to insides and occasional balconies for me.

Edited November 29, 2016 by Chelly

[scubacruiserx2]

On the return trip to El Calafate we stopped for some wildlife photos .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back toward the park

 

 

 

 

The Pampas

 

 

 

 

It was very windy in this area making it almost impossible to open the doors of the car .

 

 

 

We were beginning to notice some strange clouds

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisingherrons]

More terrific photos - 2019 can't come too soon for me. Thanks

Donna H

[easyboy]

You really know how to get those good shots! Very nice.

[scubacruiserx2]

More terrific photos - 2019 can't come too soon for me. Thanks

Donna H

 

Thank you , but it seems like you have some nice cruises planned before then !! :cool:

[scubacruiserx2]

You really know how to get those good shots! Very nice.

 

Thank you , but it's easy to take good photos when your subject is a supermodel !! ;)

[scubacruiserx2]

The mother ship is landing ! :eek:

 

 

 

 

We found out later that these clouds are called Lenticular clouds . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud

 

 

I took this photo and cropped it

 

 

 

 

and this is the results

 

 

 

Nearing the city

 

 

 

 

the Western edge the city

 

 

 

[cruisingherrons]

Thank you , but it seems like you have some nice cruises planned before then !! :cool:

 

Luckily yes, but the South America trip is one of my top picks.

[scubacruiserx2]

Luckily yes, but the South America trip is one of my top picks.

 

We spoke to someone on deck , while in Glacier Alley and the Beagle Canal , who said that he had been to both , Alaska and New Zealand . And his opinion was that SA was the best of the three !! :) :D

[cruisingherrons]

We spoke to someone on deck , while in Glacier Alley and the Beagle Canal , who said that he had been to both , Alaska and New Zealand . And his opinion was that SA was the best of the three !! :) :D

 

Thanks for the info. I love the Glaciers in AK and take a cruise there whenever I can afford it. Your pictures show me that I have so much more to see and be awe-struck by. IF I love them in your photos, the "real thing" will be even more amazing.

[scubacruiserx2]

Thank you. That helps. Would anything else factor in, i.e. Is boarding, disembarking in one city preferable vs the other? Flight schedules? Thanks, yet again.

C.

 

We only boarded in Santiago and so we can't compare boarding it to boarding in BA , but be prepared to wait a while before boarding and then losing your passport to the ship ! :p

 

Disembarking in Santiago was a zoo , with the zoo keepers on strike ( longshoremen ) Our friends had a suite and VIP disembarkation and were able to take us with them on the NCL cruise . But the concept seemed foreign to the locals who felt that THEY should get off first !!! :eek:

But a bilingual officer fixed the mess before it became international though .

 

In BA on HAL it was a different city and a different story . The ship was there for 2 days and a night but we , along with several others , did a self disembark , on day one , carrying our own luggage . As soon as the bus was full , we were off to the terminal . They both needed a bus to and from the terminals , both embarking and disembarking . There was no issues exiting the terminals . In BA we caught a taxi which took us to the domestic airport for the flight to El Calafate .

 

Our international flights to/from Santiago and Miami , on LAN were both overnights !!

 

Conversely , both of our flights to /from BA and Miami , were on Aerolineas Argentinas and were both day flights !!! And while both flights on AA had delayed departures , the difference was like night and day . ;)

 

 

 

 

[Chelly]

We only boarded in Santiago and so we can't compare boarding it to boarding in BA , but be prepared to wait a while before boarding and then losing your passport to the ship ! :p

 

Disembarking in Santiago was a zoo , with the zoo keepers on strike ( longshoremen ) Our friends had a suite and VIP disembarkation and were able to take us with them on the NCL cruise . But the concept seemed foreign to the locals who felt that THEY should get off first !!! :eek:

But a bilingual officer fixed the mess before it became international though .

 

In BA on HAL it was a different city and a different story . The ship was there for 2 days and a night but we , along with several others , did a self disembark , on day one , carrying our own luggage . As soon as the bus was full , we were off to the terminal . They both needed a bus to and from the terminals , both embarking and disembarking . There was no issues exiting the terminals . In BA we caught a taxi which took us to the domestic airport for the flight to El Calafate .

 

Our international flights to/from Santiago and Miami , on LAN were both overnights !!

 

Conversely , both of our flights to /from BA and Miami , were on Aerolineas Argentinas and were both day flights !!! And while both flights on AA had delayed departures , the difference was like night and day . ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again.

[scubacruiserx2]

Thanks again.

 

You're welcome .

[scubacruiserx2]

The Laguna Nimez Bird Sanctuary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bird was riding the wind at ground level

 

 

 

And seemed to be teasing a friend , staying just out of reach . ;)

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

We have began a new thread of our upcoming cruises on Princess this Sunday called : almost LIVE !! - Regal/Caribbean Princesses b²b 12/4/2016 - 12/17/2016 .

 

 

It can be found at this link :http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428277

[BeardieMom55]

Thank you scubacruiserx2 for the beautiful pictures. South America is on our bucket list and after reading your beautiful review, it got pushed up on the list. We have booked the Zaandam from Buenos Aires around Cape Horn through the panama canal to Fort Lauderdale for March 2018. We plan on booking the Antartica excursion and realize if the weather is not good for Antartica HAL says they will substitute Torres del Paine. After seeing your awesome pictures of Torres del Paine, we figure we will be happy whichever way it goes. On your previous SA cruise did you do the Machu Pichu excursion? Looking for some input on that. Thanks again for the "push" to do SA.

[scubacruiserx2]

Thank you scubacruiserx2 for the beautiful pictures. South America is on our bucket list and after reading your beautiful review, it got pushed up on the list. We have booked the Zaandam from Buenos Aires around Cape Horn through the panama canal to Fort Lauderdale for March 2018. We plan on booking the Antartica excursion and realize if the weather is not good for Antartica HAL says they will substitute Torres del Paine. After seeing your awesome pictures of Torres del Paine, we figure we will be happy whichever way it goes. On your previous SA cruise did you do the Machu Pichu excursion? Looking for some input on that. Thanks again for the "push" to do SA.

 

You're welcome , and we're glad that you enjoyed them . Congratulations on the cruise , it looks like a great one . :cool:

 

They do jack the prices on the Antarctica ones and this trip looks more affordable , freeing up funds for the shore excursions like Antarctica , TDP or Machu Picchu , which we haven't done (yet) . Our son and DIL will be in Peru for Christmas ( she is from Lima ) and they have done it before , and loved it . :) :D

[scubacruiserx2]

After a day of glacier viewing our next big highlight was dinner . We normally eat around 6-7 pm and there are not many options at that time. We didn't want to wait until 8 pm for dinner at the hotel. The pizza was good but we wanted something different. Anybody for Mc Daniel's ?

 

 

 

 

We wanted a little different dining experience and we had heard about Pura Vida so we went to check them out

 

 

 

 

 

They opened "early" for dinner at 7:30 pm and had an intriguing menu posted on the door , so we were in

 

 

 

DW wanted Hare with vegetables and backed potato and I wanted Lamb pie. They didn't have hare so I went lentil stew and she went lamb pie.

 

 

 

The lamb pie was like a pot pie and big enough for both of us @ $92 A.P.

 

 

 

And the lentil stew was like chili - perfect comfort food for a cool night. And @ $85 A.P. was a good value . So we both went "home" fat and sassy :)

[Chelly]

Nice.

Love the funky restaurant style and the food looks yummy.

[scubacruiserx2]

Some of our videos in this thread have been replaced by the piano man . Here's the correct ones .

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We repeated this cruise last month and added :

 

El Chalten

 

 

Perito Moreno Glacier

 

 

A glacier cruise

 

 

The Falkland Islands

 

 

 

And Antarctica

 

 

 

You can join us on this cruise to South America and Antarctica by clicking on this link :