Celebrity cruises to South America & Antarctica

[Rickster50]

Hi All,

We are seriously looking at a South America/Antarctica cruise in Jan/Feb, 2022 and have not sailed on a Celebrity ship before, having sailed mainly with Holland America. 

There are cruises on the Celebrity Silhouette in that period and was wondering what the demographic was for cruises to those areas?

We are both in our 60's.

Thanks

 

Cheers

Rick

[jelayne]

We have done 3 South America cruises with Celebrity including Antartica.  Ours were on the Infinity so a smaller ship than the Silhouette.  We felt the Infinity was a bit large for Antartica but we were fortunate we had amazing weather and made all our ports.

The demographic was early 50s to late 60s.  We did a B2ab Antartica followed by Rio at Carnival,  both memorable cruises and entirely different.

[Rickster50]

Thanks for the info jelayne. What month did you cruise?

 

[TeeRick]

We just did in January the South America (Chile to Argentina) 14-night on Eclipse, another S-Class ship like Silhouette.  We did not go to Antarctica.  I would say the cruise was almost entirely adults, some younger, some much older,  but most probably in 50's and 60's.

[sippican]

We just booked the January 30, 2022 Anartica cruise.

So excited!

[shipshape sam]

4 hours ago, sippican said:

We just booked the January 30, 2022 Anartica cruise.

So excited!

We have done both around the horn and antarctica and you will have an exciting cruise.  

[az_tchr]

All the Antarctica cruises are in January and February. The demographic was some 50s and mostly 60s on our cruise. A HUGE number of Brits - Falkland Islands - and Canadians. USA passengers or only 50%. Probably 10% from South America.

Except for Brita pretty typical of a 14 day cruise far from North America. Younger people have jobs.

Edited February 19, 2020 by az_tchr
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[4774Papa]

We have visited South America three times and taken three cruises to or from SA.  Not interested in Antartica.

Around the Horn is fantastic.

Favorite SA countries, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Lots to see and do there and the food is great.  Argentina, love the steaks.  Chile, the Sea Bass is great and loved the Empanadas stuffed with crabmeat.  Peru, the cuisine is as good as French or Italian.  Everything is great.

Here are links to our cruises and land trips:

 

South America

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=94024

 

 

Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Celebrity Eclipse home

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=654963&et_cid=3214772&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

 

[intr3pid]

The holiday cruises tend to have a bit younger crowd.  If you sail in January or February instead, you will be among familiar demographics.

[Northern Aurora]

We have done several South America cruises, including Antarctica, on both the Celebrity Eclipse and the Infinity.  We have traversed Cape Horn three times.  Our experience on the Antarctic cruise, which was also on the Infinity, was that the itinerary attracted a more "outdoorsy" crowd with a number of bird watchers; on that itinerary the bars were rather quiet at night.  Our foray to Antarctica was the last Celebrity one of the season and we departed Buenos Aires in mid-February.  The other cruises were more typical of Celebrity with the bulk of the passengers in their 50s to early 70s in age.

 

I suspect that anyone comfortable with Holland America will also be comfortable with the Celebrity demographics.  Just be aware that Celebrity has a restrictive smoking policy and has no indoor smoking venues.  Even the casinos are non-smoking.  

[jelayne]

15 hours ago, Rickster50 said:

Thanks for the info jelayne. What month did you cruise?

 

February 

[prim8keeper]

One thing I would note for anyone who is booking these type of cruises for 2022 is that the new polar code goes into full effect on January 1, 2022. That would prevent X from continuing to sail by Antarctica. However, whats unclear is when X's current certificate expires since they would not meet the requirements to renew without making changes. In theory until that point they could be grandfathered in. Just something to be aware of.

 

One other interesting thing I came across was it seems as though all the other mainstream lines that sail by/to Antarctica have either discontinued their cruises after 2021 or are building new ships. Only X and Azamara seem to have them on the schedule for 2022 with their current ships. This thread has more information and there are some others around threads talking about this around cruisecritic if you do a search. We have been looking at cruises for South America that also visit Antarctica so I have been doing a lot of research.

[sippican]

Sounds like another Celebrity debaucle, similar to the Galapagos issues.

 

How can Celebrity be taking deposits on cruises in 2022, for a ship that does not meet the requirements to sail to that destination?

I guess, by cruise contract, they have the right to alter the itinerary.

 

 

[alliecruiser]

Well dang it. We are scheduled Feb. 13, 2022. 

[TeaBag]

We are leaving in 6 days for BA.  Going a few days early to see Iguazu Falls.  The sailing is  March 1, BA to Vancouver on Eclipse.  You will love Silhouette.  She is our favorite Celebrity ship.

[Ken the cruiser]

In the past we have initially booked different Celebrity Antarctica cruises twice and each time we have subsequently cancelled them to go on a HAL Antarctica cruise in Jan 2018 and then for an upcoming Princess cruise in Jan 2021. We have also booked another HAL one in Nov 2020 to go to Antarctica as well as see the solar eclipse on the same cruise in early December off the coast of Argentina.

 

The only reason we cancelled the two Celebrity Antarctica cruises we initially booked was because when we looked closer, they only actually spend 2 days cruising around the Antarctica peninsula rather than 4 days like both Princess and HAL do. If you look at the X itineraries it looks like you spend time at 4 different stops. You do, but when you look at the actual dates of those stops, the time period covers just 2 days. We really enjoy X cruises, but, hey, it's Antarctica and we want to spend as much time cruising around there as possible. The wildlife and scenery is just too awesome!!

[sippican]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

In the past we have initially booked different Celebrity Antarctica cruises twice and each time we have subsequently cancelled them to go on a HAL Antarctica cruise in Jan 2018 and then for an upcoming Princess cruise in Jan 2021. We have also booked another HAL one in Nov 2020 to go to Antarctica as well as see the solar eclipse on the same cruise in early December off the coast of Argentina.

 

The only reason we cancelled the two Celebrity Antarctica cruises we initially booked was because when we looked closer, they only actually spend 2 days cruising around the Antarctica peninsula rather than 4 days like both Princess and HAL do. If you look at the X itineraries it looks like you spend time at 4 different stops. You do, but when you look at the actual dates of those stops, the time period covers just 2 days. We really enjoy X cruises, but, hey, it's Antarctica and we want to spend as much time cruising around there as possible. The wildlife and scenery is just too awesome!!

 

Thanks for the input. Seems like this will be a moot point after next year.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, sippican said:

 

Thanks for the input. Seems like this will be a moot point after next year.

 

That's what I've been reading here on CC as well.

[rimmit]

8 hours ago, prim8keeper said:

One thing I would note for anyone who is booking these type of cruises for 2022 is that the new polar code goes into full effect on January 1, 2022. That would prevent X from continuing to sail by Antarctica. However, whats unclear is when X's current certificate expires since they would not meet the requirements to renew without making changes. In theory until that point they could be grandfathered in. Just something to be aware of.

 

One other interesting thing I came across was it seems as though all the other mainstream lines that sail by/to Antarctica have either discontinued their cruises after 2021 or are building new ships. Only X and Azamara seem to have them on the schedule for 2022 with their current ships. This thread has more information and there are some others around threads talking about this around cruisecritic if you do a search. We have been looking at cruises for South America that also visit Antarctica so I have been doing a lot of research.

My assumption is there is just a lack of enforceability regarding the Polar Code which was my assumption initially when I had heard X booked cruises for 2022.  We have booked the Antarctic Jan 31 2021 cruise cuz I thought it was the last chance for a drive by.  I have done expeditions to South Georgia and also to Antarctica, but my wife isn’t too keen on expeditions so I figured this would be the easiest way to get her there with at least some creature comforts.

[az_tchr]

6 hours ago, sippican said:

Sounds like another Celebrity debaucle, similar to the Galapagos issues.

 

How can Celebrity be taking deposits on cruises in 2022, for a ship that does not meet the requirements to sail to that destination?

I guess, by cruise contract, they have the right to alter the itinerary.

 

 

Not correct. The existing ships are indeed grandfathered in. There was about a year when it was uncertain what would happen. Celebrity Summit can continue cruises in the south polar region in at least 2022. Probably till 2025.

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

Not correct. The existing ships are indeed grandfathered in. There was about a year when it was uncertain what would happen. Celebrity Summit can continue cruises in the south polar region in at least 2022. Probably till 2025.

Good to hear this. Hope you're right. Based on what you're saying, it will be interesting to see what itineraries both above and below the 60 degree parallel HAL and Princess will be posting post once they release their Jan - Apr 2022 itineraries. We've been to Greenland a few times, but the Polar Ice Cap is still on our bucket list.

[az_tchr]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Good to hear this. Hope you're right. Based on what you're saying, it will be interesting to see what itineraries both above and below the 60 degree parallel HAL and Princess will be posting post once they release their Jan - Apr 2022 itineraries. We've been to Greenland a few times, but the Polar Ice Cap is still on our bucket list.

I do know they will go for big $$ as the end is in sight.

[sippican]

38 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

Not correct. The existing ships are indeed grandfathered in. There was about a year when it was uncertain what would happen. Celebrity Summit can continue cruises in the south polar region in at least 2022. Probably till 2025.

 

They are booking the Silhouette in 2022.

[sippican]

1 hour ago, az_tchr said:

Not correct. The existing ships are indeed grandfathered in. There was about a year when it was uncertain what would happen. Celebrity Summit can continue cruises in the south polar region in at least 2022. Probably till 2025.

 

az-tchr,

This seems to contradict;

https://www.blt.com.au/cruise-news/

By 2022 (when the Grandfather Clause expires) there will only be around 15 vessels allowed into the region. None of these vessels carries more than 200 passengers, reducing the number of available berths to fewer than 20,000 per season.

From 2019 we will see a reductions in available berths – read on for the list.

Cruise Lines like Celebrity, Crystal, Holland America, Hurtigruten, Ponant, Princess, Seabourn, etc will not be able to offer cruises to the Polar Regions.

[Rickster50]

Thanks for all that input everybody, it's greatly appreciated. We may have to forget about the Antarctica part and just stick to the tip of South America.

I will probably wait a while until Holland America release their cruises for that particular region and go from there and do a price comparison.

Rick