South America itineraries

[LindaJ+]

I've only looked at a few - Santiago to Buenos Aires and reverse - but it seems like there are a lot of sea days and not many port calls with a chance to see some of the countries.   What do you think of these itineraries? 

[TayanaLorna]

We did this Viking cruise in January-February, 2020 and loved it.  We flew into Santiago 2 days early on our own and enjoyed the extra time to see Santiago, have an all day private excursion into the Andes, and an all day tour to the seaside home of Pablo Neruda and a wine tasting in the Casablanca Valley with drop off at the ship in Valparaiso that evening.  Those busy days coupled with the Viking Valpo tour, we were more then happy to have our first sea day early in the cruise.

 

Yes there are a lot of sea days and there is always the possibility of having more if a port cannot be made due to weather.  However of the 8 scheduled sea days, only 4 of them are days where all you see is the sea and birds and there are lots of things to do on board.  The days sailing through the fjords of Patagonia, to the Amalie Glacier and Around Cape Horn are spectacular no matter what the weather.  Even the first sea day from Valpo has the ship in sight of land.

 

We love sea days, we enjoy watching the scenery pass by and for birds.  We chose full long very active days in port mostly on private tours and were happy to have some down time inbetween. We actually had an additional sea day as the ship was only able to land 1 tender in the Falklands before the wind picked up.  We were disappointed but its always a risk. 

 

We felt there would be no way to visit so many countries in SA and see so much (world class cities, outpost towns, spectacular nature settings and wildlife) other then a cruise.  There would be no way to do it without flying or driving thousands of miles through 4 countries.  

[carlmm]

These itineraries are very much about the nature, @TayanaLorna gave you some names. There are more glaciers you pass by very close and have spectacular views.

Regarding ports: There just aren't many in the far South of America. Those to be visited have there unique charme.

These cruises are also very much about the pure experience of sailing around Cape Horn, something many sailor of former days did not survive.

 

I really enjoyed my cruise there.

[CupKayke]

On 6/4/2022 at 7:52 PM, LindaJ+ said:

I've only looked at a few - Santiago to Buenos Aires and reverse - but it seems like there are a lot of sea days and not many port calls with a chance to see some of the countries.   What do you think of these itineraries? 

Maybe consider a shorter trip... we booked an 8-night cruise going from Buenos Aires up to Rio, then 2 other Brazil stops, a day in Uruguay, and back to Buenos Aires.  We will be in South America a total of 8 full days and we will be actually in cities exploring for 5 of those days.... plus the day we fly in which is also our embarkation day so technically, we will be in the city that day too.  It also looks like our ship offers a "pick you up at the airport, take you around sightseeing, then embarkation" type of excursion which we've never seen a ship do that before so we may do that too. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by CupKayke

[mjmalino]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:52 PM, LindaJ+ said:

I've only looked at a few - Santiago to Buenos Aires and reverse - but it seems like there are a lot of sea days and not many port calls with a chance to see some of the countries.   What do you think of these itineraries? 

We are doing 14 day from Buenos Aires to Santiago. We have 4 sea days plus another 2 scenic cruising. We also have an overnight in Buenos Aires. I guess with the scenic cruising days I didn't think too much about all of the sea days (6 if you count the 2 scenic cruising days)

 

[torringtonwyo]

in 2018 we took a tour in Chile called citroen tour it was great we are going again in march 2023 and I need help to find this tour anyone please help 

thanks

[prudence passenger]

We are cruising after 3 years to South America.  Pre cruise to Macchu Picchu with cruise line tour, embark Lima Peru , go to Ecuador, Panama, and through Panama Canal, back up to Fort Lauderdale.  What should we not miss in South American ports? We prefer private tours with a driver. Going on Silver sea for first time.  Have done many east/west Caribbean before so not concerned about those ports.  Have you considered this type of South American cruise? I like only have to fly one way, we live in Florida in winter.