Iguacu Falls

[sandbag7]

Our Sea Dream cruise scheduled for next December was cancelled for a charter (!); we've started to look for alternatives and noticed an inviting Rio to Buenos Aires cruise on Insignia in the same time frame. The cruise offers a side trip to Iguacu Falls for $900 (all right $899) per person, which strikes me as a tad pricey; has anyone been on a similar cruise and made flight arrangements on their own to Iguacu Falls? What are the falls like in December?

[smj]

Yes. We did an Oceania Buenos Aires to Rio this past Feb. We arranged our own trip to Iguassu pre-cruise. It worked out great. I think you need at least 2 full days there and I would like 3. We used Ricardo De Franco at Defrantur to handle all our precruise arrangements. If you have any questions I will try to answer.

[jc719]

We did the Oceania Iguasu shorex in December while cruising from Rio to BsAs. It was a one night overnight to the Brazil side. A charter 737 from Navagantes (near Itajai) to Foz do Igausu with about 150 pax. The first day included a buffet lunch in a park restaurant right at the falls, followed by a walk ending at a catwalk near Devil's Throat. Then a bus to the Bourbon Cataratas hotel (not near the falls or anything else, but a nice hotel). Another buffet dinner. In the morning, a zodiac boat ride up near the falls (close enough to get soaked). Then back to the airport and the ship.

 

It was a nice tour, but I thought it was pretty expensive @ $899pp. They sold out early and there were a number of pax on the ship who seemed disappointed that they couldn't go. I would have liked to visit the Argentina side as it looked like there were more catwalks, but there's no time. Most of the falls are on the Argentina side, but the view may be better from the Brazil side, but that's subjective.

 

The other thing is that on Oceania, if you don't take the tour, we would have had 2 days in Itajai. There were a couple shorex offered and people who took them said they were OK. We didn't find much in the ports between Rio & BsAs. It would not have worked without the charter flight as there aren't many places you can get to from Navagantes airport, so I don't think you could do it on your own from Itajai.

 

It would probably be better to do it from Rio or BsAs, but I would hate to take time away from either of those cities.

[john2003]

We did the falls before our Antarctic cruise in 2001/2 on our own. We flew into Iquacu (Brazilian side) on our points and spent 1 nite and then went across to the Argentine side for another couple of nites at the Sheraton. The experiences are quite different. Our trip to Rio was different as we took the bus. This would not be for everyone but we enjoyed the experience.