Jimbo59 Posted August 31, 2019 #1 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I’m considering a Celebrity cruise Buenos Aires to Santiago (or reverse) this winter. Anyone who has done it: What did you like? What did you dislike? Recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Miaminice Posted August 31, 2019 #2 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Fabulous cruise! you can read about what we enjoyed and mybe find some ideas in our travelogue: https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/South-America-01/south-america-01.html Enjoy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisestitch Posted August 31, 2019 #3 Share Posted August 31, 2019 This is my favorite itinerary and have done it five times -- sometimes east to west, sometimes west to east. Love the places we visited -- very friendly people who are happy to have us visit their countries. Interesting scenery and wildlife. Good mix of cruisers -- not a cruise that newbies would choose so there are a lot of experienced passengers on board and many international passengers so a good mix of people to talk to. Do it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4774Papa Posted August 31, 2019 #4 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We did Around the Horn in 2014 from Buenos Aires to Valpo, Chile. It was wonderful. We spent five nights in BA prior to the cruise. We love South America, our favorite countries on that continent are Argentina, Chile and Peru. You get to see two of those on Around the Horn. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878 Best time to go is in January. Don't go in March, since Penguins are harder to see than. SouthExcursions is a good tour company to use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSinPNS Posted August 31, 2019 #5 Share Posted August 31, 2019 This is one of our favorite cruises. We were lucky enough to be able to continue through the canal (Infinity) to FLL and drive home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwaysonaship Posted August 31, 2019 #6 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We have done this cruise 3 times, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Do spend time in Buenos Aires and Santiago before and after your cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Provence55always Posted August 31, 2019 #7 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We did this trip three years ago and had a fantastic time. After the cruise we did a land based trip from Santiago. We crossed the Andes by bus stopping in Mendoza for 5 nights (did some wonderful wine tours). Continued by overnight bus 1st class seats to Buenos Aires and stayed in a wonderful Air B n B for a week. As others have said would do this trip again in a heartbeat..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted August 31, 2019 #8 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We are doing this in January on Eclipse. It is bucket list for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwaysonaship Posted August 31, 2019 #9 Share Posted August 31, 2019 One additional comment about the busses ..they are fantastic. One trip we docked in Valparaiso, and took a lovely bus for $60 US down to Pucon. We spend 10 days there, rented a car and it was a lovely extension. They have very nice sleeper busses, and you can make reservations online from the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glendakayself Posted August 31, 2019 #10 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We cruised B2B from Buenos Aires to Maimi in March 2017. Many people added other cruises prior to our sailing with cruises to Antarctica and Brazil scheduled prior to the BA/Valparaiso cruise. Great itineraries and we did see Penguins in March although perhaps not as many as in January. The biggest perk of March for us was being able to add the second cruise to sail through the Panama Canal and back to Miami avoiding a long flight from South America, but the ports were equally fun and exciting on the second leg. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludevil Posted August 31, 2019 #11 Share Posted August 31, 2019 One of my favorite trips. Bring a hat, scarf, and gloves for being on deck when you're going around the horn. It can be chilly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSLeesburg Posted August 31, 2019 #12 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We booked this cruise for next year on Silhouette over Christmas and NYE. Can't wait - friends of ours did it with their kids two years ago on NCL, and my wife has been pestering me ever since to book it...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted August 31, 2019 #13 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We have cruised around Cape Horn only three times, but the South American itineraries are also one of our favorite destinations. "Cruisestitch" summarized it so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willma Posted September 1, 2019 #14 Share Posted September 1, 2019 This was one of our favourite cruises. Try and take a side trip to Iguazu Falls. You won’t regret it. If you do this cruise don’t miss Glacier Alley in the Beagle Channel. We sailed through at dawn, and couldn’t believe that there were so few people up and out viewing. See my avatar for why this is essential. Simply stunning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willma Posted September 1, 2019 #15 Share Posted September 1, 2019 And here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaBag Posted September 1, 2019 #16 Share Posted September 1, 2019 On 8/30/2019 at 11:42 PM, Miaminice said: Fabulous cruise! you can read about what we enjoyed and mybe find some ideas in our travelogue: https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/South-America-01/south-america-01.html Enjoy! Thank you so much for your wonderful review, Oliver and Birgit. I can't tear myself away from the computer! We are going next March, B2B BA to San Diego and are thinking of adding on the next segment to Vancouver. Because of your review I am wishing we were leaving a day earlier to see more of BA. We are going to Iguazu and will only have the day we arrive in BA, jet lagged, and then Sunday and Mon till we sail. I guess that's better than nothing but it seems there are so many wonderful things to see in BA. Your review is perfect for us because we are sailing on the same day of the week and we are in AQ also, but on the Eclipse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaBag Posted September 1, 2019 #17 Share Posted September 1, 2019 20 hours ago, willma said: This was one of our favourite cruises. Try and take a side trip to Iguazu Falls. You won’t regret it. If you do this cruise don’t miss Glacier Alley in the Beagle Channel. We sailed through at dawn, and couldn’t believe that there were so few people up and out viewing. See my avatar for why this is essential. Simply stunning. Thank you for this advice Willma. We have told people about getting up at dawn when you sail through the archipelago to Stockholm because it is wonderful scenery and we would never have known to do this if we hadn't got the tip from someone else. We will definitely do this. And, yes we are going to Iguazu pre cruise. Glad it's not raining on you in Vancouver today! Enjoy your sailaway.....Vancouver is a beautiful harbor to sail out of and I'm not biased at all!😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathynorth Posted September 1, 2019 #18 Share Posted September 1, 2019 (edited) 20 hours ago, willma said: This was one of our favourite cruises. Try and take a side trip to Iguazu Falls. You won’t regret it. If you do this cruise don’t miss Glacier Alley in the Beagle Channel. We sailed through at dawn, and couldn’t believe that there were so few people up and out viewing. See my avatar for why this is essential. Simply stunning. We were on a BA round trip around the horn cruise this past Dec. It was wonderful! Our precruise DIY to Iguazu was fabulous and easy to negotiate. We liked everything and can't think of anything that we dislike. As others have posted, spend a few days in BA pre or post cruise to give yourself time to visit all of the distinctive neighborhoods. It's easy and cheap enough to travel around the city via taxi. Be sure to have a great steak dinner with wine and if it's of interest to you, go to one on the night time Tango shows. Edited September 1, 2019 by kathynorth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CILCIANRQTS Posted September 2, 2019 #19 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Like: penguins, penguins, penguins!! 🐧🐧🐧 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyman3 Posted September 2, 2019 #20 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Now, we've only done this on Princess (never going to cruise with them again!) but some of it may be helpful to you. Falklands: it rains a lot. Really, a lot! Take umbrellas ashore. Port Stanley is rather like England 60 years ago! Montevideo: we took a tour to a local estancia. Wow! great fun! Wine tasting, a huge barb-b-q, a tractor tour, skin skiing, horse riding, milking cows etc etc Ushuaia: Amazing! The southernmost city in the world. Loved the main street. The shop where they sell home made chocloate... mmm... the hit chocolate... amazing views The Horn: make sure that you put on plenty of layers! Also, make sure that you're viewing from the appropriate side of the ship! Some people didn't and so missed the view! Punta Arenas: we did a tour to the Fitz-something-or-other ranch and it was fun! Think Scottish scenery and a rather strange collection of engines, typewriters, stuffed birds, pianos etc etc. It was fun riding a horse there too! Puerto Montt: A rather odd place. Quite dead when we arrived. Then the town started to wake up. Lots of feral dogs. Oh, we went horse riding here too! Valparaiso: beautiful city! Lots of hills with funicular railways up them. Very colourful. On our way through to Santiago (we stayed on for a few days before the long haul back home) we enjoyed a wine tasting. Even better than the wine was the pisco sour. Homemade. Delicious. Sadly, we couldn't take any home. Alarming moment: at Valparaiso we were all herded into a huge barn-like structure, We were 'held' against the wall, single file, by a metal fence whilst sniffer dogs went up and down. Phew! We were pleased to be out of there! Would we do the Horn again? You bet! But with X not Princess! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinte Girl Posted September 2, 2019 #21 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Did anyone have any experience white water rafting in Puerto Montt, Chile while on this cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evandbob Posted September 2, 2019 #22 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Great comments by everyone who posted. It may only be a one hour difference between Buenos Aires and Santiago, but we find it better to travel in a west bound direction and gain the hour, rather than go eastbound and lose it. We did an EB TA to Barcelona in May, and after numerous time changes, my stomach and brain was on breakfast time while the ship was on lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo59 Posted September 3, 2019 Author #23 Share Posted September 3, 2019 As the OP, I thank everyone for their insightful comments and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Clay Clayton Posted September 3, 2019 #24 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Sounds like you’ve been convinced but just in case not, let me say this cruise remains one of our favorites. It is the perfect mix of sea and port days. Not so tiring like the ones in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetstreamer Posted September 3, 2019 #25 Share Posted September 3, 2019 This is the kind of itinerary that cruising is designed for - getting to those difficult to reach places! We did this cruise on the Emerald Princess a few years ago and loved it. All the ports were interesting in their own way, got to see lots of wildlife, sailed to places we'd never visit otherwise and in our case the weather was mostly excellent (YMMV!) If you have time to tag on a trip to Iguazu Falls I highly recommend it. It is very easy to arrange independently and not that expensive in the grand scheme of things to spend a few nights there (a fraction of the price the cruise lines charge). My tip for Buenos Aires - if you listen too much to the people lining up to tell you it is a dangerous city you'll never do anything! We felt very safe moving around on our own and even walked from the port to the city which also felt very safe. Just use common sense, don't be flashy and you'll be be fine. The Falklands was a highlight for us as Brits which is why we sailed Princess (Celebrity didn't stop there when we were looking). That said if you are not interested in the history and/or penguins then you probably won't miss it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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