South America "Around the Horn" - best ship?

[shops54]

Does anyone have any thoughts about a 10 or 12 day cruise around the Horn? We want scenery and we have thought of perhaps the Star Princess or a RCCL ship. Any ideas? We are just starting to consider this idea. Thanks so much for all of your ideas.

[JayS]

I chose the HAL Rotterdam since it gave me a chance to see RIO. The others had a stop on the Argentina coast. Although getting a visa for Brazil was a pain I think I made a good choice.

 

We had to skip Stanley in the Faulklands due to high seas. The rumor aboard ship is that 1/3 of the time this happens.

 

The trip around Cape Horn was the highlight of the trip:D

 

 

PS If you want to ask me any questions I will try to answer them, BUT I an leaving for Hawaii:) tomorrow morning so it may take a few weeks for my answer.:p

[shops54]

Thanks so much Jays! We are in no rush on this so, yes, I will bookmark you and ask lots of questions as time goes on if that is ok. Have a wonderful time in Hawaii!

[Marie-Claude]

We just returned from a Buenos Aires to Santiago cruise around Cape Horn on the Golden Princess. We loved our cruise! It was really good and we made all the stops including Falkland.

 

If I had to redo it again I would:

- look carefully at the itinerary and try to book on a ship that docks rather than tender in... in some ports, it took more than 2 hours to disembark everyone...

- I would go back on the Golden but for the itinerary that also include Antartica, many people on our cruise had stayed on board from that cruise that was just before ours and they absolutely loved it...

- I would probably go in January, as many penguins had already left, especially in Punta Arenas

 

I hope this helps somewhat. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask!! You picked a great place of the world to cruise - we might do it again soon!

 

MC

[Bookish Angel]

An unforgettable trip with landings to the Antarctic continent proper, not just an island or a drive-by.

 

My husband and I went on the 11 day trip in January and the scenery, wildlife, etc. was splendid.

[Almondtree]

We are usually Princess cruisers but chose Celebrity for the 2/15/08 trip because they had more ports than Princess - although it is 3 days more. Princess does go to the Falklands which Celebrity does not but I've heard they are not so fabulous and that several times the ship has had to abort tendering there due to weather.

[crazy4cruisn]

Definitely go on a ship that goes to Antarctica!!! We did not do landings but the scenery was fantastic! I will also be glad to answer questions. We were on the Rotterdam this past January for a 20 day cruise.

[Aussie Gal]

We went on the Regal Princess last year and left from Rio which was a must for us. We also went to Antarctica and loved every minute down there. I would choose a smaller ship with less passengers than a larger ship like the Golden Princess as when one has to tender, it takes so long to get off. The Regal Princess only had 1500 passengers on board which was a good number.

 

We only tendered at one port, which was Puerto Montt, at our other ports we were able to dock though we did miss the Falklands, Puerto Madryn and Chocabucco due to bad weather.

 

If I went again, I would do it with HAL as they have been going down to Antarctica the longest of the bigger cruise lines and they have ships that are a good size, eg. 1200 passengers. I wouldn't want to go in a really small ship like Oceania's as we went through a Force 11 gale going down Drake's Passage and it was quite scary even though we were on a ship that can ride the waves well. I have been on the Pacific Princess and the Tahitian Princess which are sister ship's to Oceania's and they are not good in rough seas!!

 

Jennie

[shops54]

Thanks everyone for the great information! Are we looking at a bumpy ride? My DH does get a little queasy. I guess we really don't know what to expect on a cruise like this. We have only sailed the Caribbean and Alaska. Are we in for rough weather generally? It sounds like this is a high adventure. Any thoughts?

[Bookish Angel]

I have sailed a lot and it was by far the roughest water I have ever experienced. The Marco Polo handled it well though, and it was worth some wild water given the destination.

[crazy4cruisn]

I believe the Rotterdam is a little larger ship. If you don't want to do the Antarctic landings, the Rotterdam is a great ship for S America/Antarctica with wonderful beds, service, and dining! They provide speakers on the area, scientists who come on board from the Palmer Station, and an ice pilot who gives commentary as you navigate.

[Mary Ellen]

Thanks everyone for the great information! Are we looking at a bumpy ride? My DH does get a little queasy. I guess we really don't know what to expect on a cruise like this. We have only sailed the Caribbean and Alaska. Are we in for rough weather generally? It sounds like this is a high adventure. Any thoughts?

As my signature shows, we're doing the Rotterdam Antarctic cruise next January. Actually, there are a number of us going who did a CC HAL group to Hawaii last October. One of us going has done this cruise previously and loved it so much she is going again. From her earlier experience (and what others reported from recent cruises), it can be ROUGH.

 

Any time you have 2 bodies of water meeting (in this case, 2 BIG bodies - the Atlantic and Pacific), 'bumpyness' happens. I am one who gets seasick very easily, so for years DH has been apprehensive about our taking this itinerary even though he really would like to do so. Part of reasoning for taking this cruise, is that with this great group of CC'ers, DH will have people he knows (he's not the most outgoing ;) ) to socialize with if I'm 'under the weather' - and I won't have to worry about him being lonely (plus we're saving $ :D ). We've also learned that there is a shot (antihistamines?) that takes care of seasickness for quite some time (2 weeks??). I may fully enjoy the cruise because of 'better living through chemistry'. :rolleyes:

[crazy4cruisn]

I too get very seasick, so I don't leave home without the Patch! One patch lasts 3 days. I understand there are pills that have the same ingredient called Scopace that you can take just an hour ahead of time when you are expecting rough seas. They last for several hours. I guess the main drawback of the patch (pill too) is a dry mouth, but believe me, a dry mouth is nothing compared to an upset stomach! I would love to know about an injection that would last 2 weeks too. The Rotterdam trip that includes Antarctica is 20 days, so you would need something with longer results. Do Not miss Antarctica!! It added so much more to the trip! We unfortunately missed the ports of Puerto Montt and Ushauia because of high winds, but did get in to the Falklands which was rather unusual. We were on the Jan 9 sailing this year.

[dileep]

We are usually Princess cruisers but chose Celebrity for the 2/15/08 trip because they had more ports than Princess - although it is 3 days more. Princess does go to the Falklands which Celebrity does not but I've heard they are not so fabulous and that several times the ship has had to abort tendering there due to weather.

 

We had fun on Celebrity Millennium in Jan 2006. The Falklands were on our itinerary and we were lucky to make it in. That is the only place (other than Antarica) where you will see Gentoo and King penguins. In fact, we made it into all ports and had great weather including bright sunshine in Puerto Montt. It is too bad that they have dropped the Falklands for 2008.

 

The seas were not too bad either except for may be 2-3 hours. The M-Class ships are quite big and seem to do well in seas where smaller ships might have a problem.

[bobnsandi]

We went on the Regal Princess last year and left from Rio which was a must for us. We also went to Antarctica and loved every minute down there....

 

If I went again, I would do it with HAL as they have been going down to Antarctica the longest of the bigger cruise lines and they have ships that are a good size, eg. 1200 passengers.

 

We booked the Rotterdam for this coming December, and from all of the positive posts we've seen on CC, we made the right choice.

 

Among your excellent posts, we have started to pay close attention to those on the Brazilian visas. We'll just have to grit our teeth and get them through an agent.

 

I see that you are going to stop in Maui(Lahaina) on the upcoming cruise. If you have time, we'd love to talk with you about cruising, and stand ready to help you enjoy our beautiful island.

 

 

Have a great Tahiti cruise.

 

Bob Swanson

 

rds *at* swansongrp *dot* com

[bethaniesmom]

i am getting myself confused on the visa issue (my husband is also taking a jungle trip to venezuela this year so perhaps that is where the confusion comes in)....but, do you need a visa before you arrive in Rio for the Rotterdam south america/antarctica cruise?

 

Beverly

[JayS]

"but, do you need a visa before you arrive in Rio for the Rotterdam south america/antarctica cruise?"

 

As of last December YES!! HAL will send you some info on a service that will get it for you (for a fee of course :( ) check out the Brazilian Embasy web site for more info.

note: you can not get the visa until 90 days from your trip.

[Aussie Gal]

We booked the Rotterdam for this coming December, and from all of the positive posts we've seen on CC, we made the right choice.

 

Among your excellent posts, we have started to pay close attention to those on the Brazilian visas. We'll just have to grit our teeth and get them through an agent.

 

I see that you are going to stop in Maui(Lahaina) on the upcoming cruise. If you have time, we'd love to talk with you about cruising, and stand ready to help you enjoy our beautiful island.

 

 

Have a great Tahiti cruise.

 

 

 

Bob Swanson

 

rds *at* swansongrp *dot* com

 

 

I have just found your post now as we have just returned from a weeks vacation and I stopped getting the automatic C.C. replies for awhile.

 

We will be in Maui on the 15th June and have booked a morning tour of your island with the ship and planned to spend the rest of our time at the beach.

 

If you can suggest anything else please do so.

 

Jennie

[bobnsandi]

I have just found your post now as we have just returned from a weeks vacation and I stopped getting the automatic C.C. replies for awhile.

 

We will be in Maui on the 15th June and have booked a morning tour of your island with the ship and planned to spend the rest of our time at the beach.

 

If you can suggest anything else please do so.

 

Jennie

 

We will just be back from our first Princess cruise, LA to Vancouver and back, seeing Alaska along the way. If you want to stay close to Lahaina after your tour, there are plenty of fine beaches to enjoy, particularly the very long and quite beautiful Ka'anapali. Even with the tourists and hotels, it is still quite special. Lahaina itself is fun to walk around in, look into the shops, visit historical sites, and so on. There is a fantastic show "Ulalena" put on in Lahaina, but I would have to check the show times against your schedule.

 

You can get more ideas from the CC boards for Hawaii "ports of call", and from:

 

http://www.101thingstodo.com/hawaii/maui/index.php

 

among others.

 

Perhaps there will be chance to have a drink and chat, don't know your schedule. For us, it will be Friday, and happy hour beckons...

 

Again, our email is:

 

rds "at" swansongrp "dot" com

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I should have made the subject line a lot easier to spot.

 

Regards,

 

Bob Swanson

[Aussie Gal]

Bobnsandi,

 

I sent an email to you yesterday but am not sure if it went through. Please let me know if you received it.

 

Jennie

[bobnsandi]

Bobnsandi,

 

I sent an email to you yesterday but am not sure if it went through. Please let me know if you received it.

 

Jennie

 

Sorry, we haven't seen anything yet. Did you try:

 

rds "at" swansongrp "dot" com ?

 

Here is another to try to use:

 

bobswansong "at" gmail "dot" com

 

 

 

What with s***m and other junk in the email these days,

a lot of important email may be lost.

 

We'll watch for future messages.

 

Thanks for checking.

 

 

Bob Swanson

[mygirlscats]

Shops54, we didn't start cruising until March of '06. We liked the Caribbean so much that we booked a week in the Mediterranean in August. We liked that so much that we booked 14 days around the Horn in January. For us, that was a big, big mistake. Oops.

 

The seas are rough. I was okay, but my best beloved got seasick...and she tried the patch, the wristband and medications. Many miserable days spent in the cabin or walking around, trying to help her feel better. The difficulty with the SA cruise is that there are very few port days, and the at-sea days are really at sea, mostly out in the Atlantic with pretty serious waves. You can't opt out once you're out there.

 

We went up and down 30 foot waves for two days toward Port Stanley (Falkland Is.) even though it was quite clear from the conditions that there was no way we'd be able to tender. Then we rode somewhat lesser waves for another day to come back to the coast again.

 

By the time we got to the next port, we couldn't wait to get off the ship. I had never felt constrained on a cruise ship before -- and we were on Celebrity Infinity, which is very big -- but even at the height of South America's summer it is too cold to stay out on deck while you're at sea. Three or four days in a row where you are pretty much indoors with constant motion was too much for my sweetie, and it did get to me as well. The pools shut down because of the rocking, and there's not much to do in the daytime other than read, play games or gamble.

 

It didn't help that her first day out of bed was a formal night, with Celebrity's infamous enforced dress code! She was presentable, but not up to dressing to the nines, and got stopped by the maitre d' when we tried to go to the dining room for the first time in four days. Not conducive to happy feelings!:rolleyes:

 

Anyway, there is lots about the round-the-Horn itinerary that is wonderful. The Cape itself was beautiful; we were blessed with dead calm water and perfectly clear skies (although the fog rolled in just as we were leaving ... perfect timing!) and we saw terrific wildlife. I would return to South America for a vacation in a heartbeat, although it was never on my radar as a travel destination before.

 

I would advise, though, that you approach a round-the-Horn cruise with caution unless you are a truly seasoned sailor or you have a real affinity for the sailing legends about the area and the history captures you. It's not for the lighthearted cruiser. She Who Must Be Obeyed has decreed that she will never, ever cruise again as a result of this experience, and I think it will take me years to convince her to have another lovely relax on the Caribbean. :(

[shops54]

mygirlscats,

Thank you so much for the great information! this is just what I needed to hear - not that we may not take the cruise but that we will be informed and go with open eyes. I will give this post to dear hubby and let him decide. He's the one with the tender tummy. I love the rocking and rolling - but maybe not that much rocking and rolling. I'm more the one to get scared and think wer're going down!!! Did you ever get fearful during the high waves? Did you ever wonder if the boat would hit something or not be able to right itself? Thanks so much for your response. - Eileen

[mygirlscats]

I never was the least bit worried that we were in danger. You could certainly feel serious motion, but the ship felt more than capable of riding out the waves. The captain did "respectfully request that ladies do not wear high heels" a couple of days so that people wouldn't get injured walking about on the ship with the rocking, but the ship itself was fine. It was quite a sight to go look at the pools and see the water sloshing out over the sides in huge waves within the pools themselves!

 

You're very welcome about the post. I have half-written my review but am not well motivated to finish it up, given the decree of She Who Must Be Obeyed and our tenuous future in cruising. However, I have noted in my year and a half on these boards that folks tend to be either be wildly enthusiastic about something or absolutely abhor it. The down side of this itinerary tends to be cloaked in language like "it's an adventure"!

 

I hope my posting was helpful for you! Enjoy your next cruise ... where ever it is ... on my behalf (sigh)!

[crazy4cruisn]

We went to S American/Antarctica this past January on the Rotterdam. Although we did have some rough seas and missed 2 ports it was one of the best cruises ever (and I do get sea sick, but use the patch.) You should definitely reconsider, but do consider including Antarctica!! Fantastic!!