Southern Atlantic Crossing - update / review request

[milling73]

Can Anyone currently sailing on the Southern Atlantic Crossing from Buenos Aires-Bareclona give a cruise review or update - all port stops made? Weather…etc

 

Have this on our possible list and like to hear from ones who are taking or taken recently. 
 

Thank you!!!

[Iloveketo]

4 hours ago, milling73 said:

Can Anyone currently sailing on the Southern Atlantic Crossing from Buenos Aires-Bareclona give a cruise review or update - all port stops made? Weather…etc

 

Have this on our possible list and like to hear from ones who are taking or taken recently. 
 

Thank you!!!

We are booked on this next March!

[photopro2]

It would be good to have some up to date information. However, I expect those on the current cruise would have been busy packing and preparing to leave the ship at the time you posted. They are most likely travelling at the moment.

 

Maybe better to "bump up" the post again in a few weeks once they are settled back home. However, if anyone from previous years would like to comment in the meantime, that would be helpful.

 

I have read elsewhere on CC that Buena Aires port is not the best and so specific experiences from Viking passengers would be welcome.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by photopro2
missed word

[TayanaLorna]

3 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

It would be good to have some up to date information. However, I expect those on the current cruise would have been busy packing and preparing to leave the ship at the time you posted. They are most likely travelling at the moment.

 

Maybe better to "bump up" the post again in a few weeks once they are settled back home. However, if anyone from previous years would like to comment in the meantime, that would be helpful.

 

I have read elsewhere on CC that Buena Aires port is not the best and so specific experiences from Viking passengers would be welcome.

 

 

 

 

We ended our Viking cruise in BA and the ship overnighted there a night before we disembarked.  The port is very industrial and can host several cruise ships.  Excursion buses could not come to the ship so a port shuttle bus was necessary whether you were on a V excursion, a private or on your own.  There were different shuttle buses to get to V excursion buses and to the main Port building if you were independent.  We had a private excursion and had no trouble finding our guide at the terminal.  There was also a line of taxis on the curb outside terminal.  The terminal was okay and much nicer then the one in Valparaiso where we boarded.  This was 2020.

[photopro2]

Thanks for the quick reply, @TayanaLorna

Did you happen to notice if there was a Viking shuttle to the town centre, and if so, where did it stop?

[Kentishincanada]

We took this cruise just before Covid Barcelona to BA direction.  Without doubt, it was the best cruise we have taken - we loved it.  We especially enjoyed the sea days and we had wonderful lecturers, I played some bridge, lounged by the pool and spa, and the days just flew by.  Most of the ports were very interesting, perhaps with the exception of Reclife.  We loved Malaga and Montevideo and took a very pleasant excursion in Dakar to the little game reserve.  We purchased the full day excursion in Rio which, with lunch, was excellent value.  We have spoken about repeating the cruise as we have never felt so relaxed.  We had great weather and very calm seas.

You will enjoy.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Thanks for the quick reply, @TayanaLorna

Did you happen to notice if there was a Viking shuttle to the town centre, and if so, where did it stop?

I don't recall because we didn't need one.  But I have the Viking Daily which states there was a shuttle bus starting at 8:30 am with last bus at 9:00 pm.  The drop off/pick up point was the Plaza Hotel near the beginning of Florida Street.  It was from the port terminal and an inter-port bus had to be used to get there.

[susiebobtail]

Hi

 

We have just returned from this cruise, Buenos Aires to Barcelona. The weather in BA was fierce, 40 degrees Celsius, they are in the midst of a heatwave, hottest for 50 years apparently. So humid too. Made all ports except for Dakar, civil unrest, and went to Cape Verde instead. We enjoyed this port. It was a little taste of Africa for us.

Seas were calm all the way. Ship and food were fantastic as were most of the theatre shows. The historians/lectures were exceptional.

Have a great time.

[longterm]

37 minutes ago, susiebobtail said:

Made all ports except for Dakar, civil unrest...

I've flown through Dakar, Senegal twice; we were told by the flight crew that the city wasn't safe and that we wouldn't be getting off the airplane. Every passenger had to remove any baggage from the overheads and from under seats, hold it in their laps, so that the plane could be searched before we continued on our journey to Johannesburg.

 

Not sure I'd ever want to visit Dakar, but perhaps it's gotten safer (doesn't sound like it though).

[SJD117]

2 hours ago, longterm said:

I've flown through Dakar, Senegal twice; we were told by the flight crew that the city wasn't safe and that we wouldn't be getting off the airplane. Every passenger had to remove any baggage from the overheads and from under seats, hold it in their laps, so that the plane could be searched before we continued on our journey to Johannesburg.

 

Not sure I'd ever want to visit Dakar, but perhaps it's gotten safer (doesn't sound like it though).

We flew through Dakar in 2007, also en route to Jo’burg. Like you, we couldn’t leave the plane, though we weren’t told about any safety issue. The issue instead was potential drugs and contraband. Security officers boarded the plane and searched top to bottom, looking in overhead compartments and under seat cushions. Welcome to Africa!

[SantaFe1]

15 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

We flew through Dakar in 2007, also en route to Jo’burg. Like you, we couldn’t leave the plane, though we weren’t told about any safety issue. The issue instead was potential drugs and contraband. Security officers boarded the plane and searched top to bottom, looking in overhead compartments and under seat cushions. Welcome to Africa!

We were in Dakar on the 2019 WC.  We were able to get off the ship (wish we hadn’t) and take a day Safari somewhere nearby.  My lasting memory is of the poverty, with every man, woman, child and beast looking like they were starving, as I have said elsewhere on this board. 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by SantaFe1

[longterm]

1 hour ago, SJD117 said:

We flew through Dakar in 2007, also en route to Jo’burg. Like you, we couldn’t leave the plane, though we weren’t told about any safety issue. The issue instead was potential drugs and contraband. Security officers boarded the plane and searched top to bottom, looking in overhead compartments and under seat cushions. Welcome to Africa!

Yeah, it was a bit off-putting, but having been to South Africa and Zimbabwe, I can say without hesitation that it was the best trip I've ever taken.

 

I took my son there in 2012, then my wife and I went in 2016; on both trips we did photo safaris in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. To be able to be within a foot of a giant African elephant (and ride them, which we did), or walk with a young lion (which my son and I did), was amazing; we also petted a cheetah at the wildlife center in Victoria Falls. 

But the most exciting times are riding in the jeep, coming around a bend in the road, and seeing giraffes, elephants, lions, and a couple of times, a leopard up in a tree. Being able to be so close to these animals is like nothing I've ever experienced; we have stories that, had we not experienced them ourselves, we might not have believed.

 

We're going back when our ability to walk becomes limited, because walking on the safaris isn't required much at all. If you're interested in taking one of these great trips, I have an outstanding tour company that we used for both trips, and who did a fantastic job.

 

A couple of photos; we were perhaps 15 feet from each of these animals.

 

[photopro2]

Thanks very much indeed  @TayanaLorna

That was exactly the information I was looking for. From what I've read the area immediately around the port in BA is not particularly safe. Although the distance into the centre of town is relatively short, I understand that walking there from the port terminal is not recommended.

It was kind of you to look up the relevant daily. I know there is at least one other reader of this thread doing a back to back. Therefore I hope the OP will forgive me hijacking it slightly to ask if there were other ports on the South America and Chilean Fjords itinerary where buses to the town centre were provided?

[photopro2]

4 hours ago, susiebobtail said:

went to Cape Verde instead.

That sounds like a great alternative to Dakar. I know that the last two BA to Barcelona crossings have skipped Senegal and I really hope 2024 is no different. Having made a couple of working visits to West Africa, it is not on my list of vacation hotspots. In fact DW and I have already decided not to leave the ship, though I am pleased to hear that @Kentishincanada had a good visit to that wildlife reserve. In my experience East Africa is fine, West Africa much less so.

[SJD117]

1 hour ago, longterm said:

Yeah, it was a bit off-putting, but having been to South Africa and Zimbabwe, I can say without hesitation that it was the best trip I've ever taken.

 

I took my son there in 2012, then my wife and I went in 2016; on both trips we did photo safaris in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. To be able to be within a foot of a giant African elephant (and ride them, which we did), or walk with a young lion (which my son and I did), was amazing; we also petted a cheetah at the wildlife center in Victoria Falls. 

But the most exciting times are riding in the jeep, coming around a bend in the road, and seeing giraffes, elephants, lions, and a couple of times, a leopard up in a tree. Being able to be so close to these animals is like nothing I've ever experienced; we have stories that, had we not experienced them ourselves, we might not have believed.

 

We're going back when our ability to walk becomes limited, because walking on the safaris isn't required much at all. If you're interested in taking one of these great trips, I have an outstanding tour company that we used for both trips, and who did a fantastic job.

 

A couple of photos; we were perhaps 15 feet from each of these animals.

 

 

We had a wonderful time in South Africa. This is one of our favorite pictures (taken near Kruger National Park).

[longterm]

41 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

 

We had a wonderful time in South Africa. This is one of our favorite pictures (taken near Kruger National Park).

Wow, that's a rare sighting! We saw 2, but both were at night. We did 2 different safari camps--one was in Hwange Natl. Park in Zimbabwe, and the 2nd was in South Africa, near Kruger, at a private game reserve (no hunters, just photo safaris) called Makalali.

Edited April 5, 2023 by longterm

[SantaFe1]

10 hours ago, SJD117 said:

We flew through Dakar in 2007, also en route to Jo’burg. Like you, we couldn’t leave the plane, though we weren’t told about any safety issue. The issue instead was potential drugs and contraband. Security officers boarded the plane and searched top to bottom, looking in overhead compartments and under seat cushions. Welcome to Africa!

We were in Dakar on the 2019 WC.  We were able to get off the ship(which we hadn’t) and take a day Safari somewhere nearby.  My lasting memory is of the poverty, with every man, woman, child and beast looking like they were starving, as I have said elsewhere on this board.  

 

But our multi day Safari was in Kruger.  The most elusive of the big five. 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by SantaFe1

[SantaFe1]

Sorry, I’m having a bit of trouble with photos this evening.  But anyway.  The elusive leopard.  

[ARDXXX]

We returned home three days ago from this Cruise. Immediately took a lateral flow test and two red bars popped up straight away, this is no surprise as people in next room had covid and were isolating for much of the crossing, our room girl was also going into their room without any PPE and there were many many people in the theatre for entertainment and lectures coughing, snorting, sneezing and some in obvious respiratory distress, very little supervision at hand washing stations despite what Viking say as their policy.

The Cruise and ship and it's crew were very good and we had a generally very enjoyable time , weather was excellent, T shirts and shorts for the whole trip. Temps were 34 degrees in BA down to 19 in Barcelona with low to mid 20s during voyage.

Cape Verde stop instead of Dakar was ok but there is not much there, a bit arid, we did the included trip as had not been there previously and wanted to see a bit of the island, went up to the top of a small mountain and a bus tour around, would not hurry back though. A couple of friends went on a private tour to swim with turtles and they enjoyed that very much. We did the pampas and gauchos trip in BA which was very good.

 

[deec]

We have done quite a bit of traveling since becoming Empty Nesters.  Mostly on cruises both Ocean and River with land extensions usually.  However, my favorite trip was our African Safari in Tanzania.  The animal encouters, massiveness of the country side, and stillness of the night broken only by animal calls while nestled safely in a tent was as incredible as it gets!  We will see if Antarctica changes my mind.