Any new reviews of South America cruises?

[Toots]

Anyone cruised around the southern tip of South America lately? We're going from Rio around Cape Horn to Santiago, on the HAL Amsterdam 2/26/5 and would love to have updated info. We stop in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, , Falklands, Puerto Arenas, Ushuaia, Puerto Montt.

 

What excursions did you take? Ship or private tours?

 

Thanks, fellow cruise critics, you're always helpful.

 

Brigitte in Daytona Beach

[Meribeth]

Hi Brigitte!

 

It's Meribeth from down the street in Ponce Inlet.

 

We're going on the Marco Polo 12-26 to Chile and Antarctica. We go to some of those ports -- Buenos Aires, Puerto Arenas, Ushuaia, and Puerto Montt. I'll write to you when we get back.

[Aussie Gal]

Brigitte,

 

The season for S.A. is only beginning as you cannot travel down there in the winter months. You will need to look back on the reviews written earlier in the year. There are quite a few on this board so just work your way back and you will find some good reading and great pictures.

 

Jennie.

[craven3]

It doesn't help that CC changed websites last June and, unfortunately, the treasury of cruise reports didn't get transferred, unless a reader took the trouble to cut and paste.

 

charlotte

[Aussie Gal]

Here are some links for great pictures and reviews and they are only a few pages back.

 

http://www.buffnbou.funtigo.com/ http://www.afn.org/%7Eafn11300/narrate.html

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=5965

 

plus this thread may also help

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=19567

 

I only started to look at this Board in July when we booked for January 2006 and yet I have learnt so much from the postings in that short time.

 

I hope this helps you with your research.

 

Jennie

[gracecarmo]

We did the same cruise on the Infinity: we left from Buenos Aires, went to all the ports (except Falklands). We were suppose to go to Falklands, but the ship had propulsion problems and did not make the port. Also, sometimes there is bad weather that prevents ships from anchoring at the Falklands.

Touring: In Falklands, we arranged for a private tour guide, through the Falklands web site. We did not pre pay, so the cancelation was not an issue. The guides are use to ships not showing.

In Montevideo, we did our own tour, and went with a "free" bus to a leather factory, plus a city tour. The leather factory was just a store, and the city tour is just the bus ride to the store. The people that booked the ship's tour to the ranch said it was really good. If you like to do the old town walk, from the ship you follow the yellow line to the museum and then into the old town with antique shops etc.

In Puerto Maderyn we did not take the long ride out to see the penguins, as many said it was quite bumpy. Instead, we took the excursion from the ship to the sheep ranch and it was interesting. We also had a great lunch there included. It was called the Patagonian Adventure.

In Usushia, we just walked around the town.We also went to a museum there, on the main street. The ship sails through the channel and you can see many of the sights that the tours encompass. The tour boats are near where the ship docks, and prices for these boat tours are reasonable compared to what the ship charges. Same boats, same tour.

In Punta Arenas, we hired a van for 6 of us to go out to the sound and see the penguin nests. Since we were there late in the season there were really not many nests. They were all out on the Magdelena Island. Some people took the tour to the island and said they sailed by and there were thousands. Very windy there at the end of the earth!

In Puerto Montt, we hired a private guide to take 8 of us out to the volcano, city tour,the German settlement, and a place for lunch. Lots of driving. Take the ship's tour on this one. Cramped in a van/taxi not fun.

 

Hope I helped give you an idea of what to do.

 

Grace

[Aussie Gal]

Grace,

 

Thanks for all that information. We are not going until January, 2006 but already my file is very full with valuable information I have gained from this Board.

 

Jennie

[Toots]

Cruise Critics are the best! We've gotten so much info from all of you for our cruises and have met lots of CC's on board. Thanks for all the links. I'm sorry now that we didn't include Antarctic on our itinerary.

 

Meribeth - hope you survived the hurricanes at your place in Ponce Inlet. We stayed for all three and that was an experience all in itself! I'll look for your South America report. Enjoy the Marco Polo, we liked the small ship feel when we sailed it last year. My e-mail is emickb@aol.com

 

Brigitte

[Meribeth]

Brigitte,

We were very lucky during the hurricanes. We were in Ponce for 2 and in Orlando for one. We have hurricane shutters and felt very safe here. We got a little water in at both houses, lost a fence in Orlando, and lost everything in the frig once at Ponce. But looking at the damage that others got, we feel very blessed.

 

I'll tell you what we,re planning to do in the ports and when we get back I'll let you know what we really did. As you know, the Marco Polo included some excursions so we'll be taking those a few cities.

 

Buenos Aires -- a city tour is included. I'd also like to go to Tigre and also walk around the Florida Street area.

Puerto Arenas -- we don't have a clue yet what we're going to do. I like cemetaries and they say there is a good one there to visit.

Ushuaia -- a tour to Tierra del Fuego Nat. Park is included. We might take the train ride back there the second day if we want to spend more time there.

Puerto Montt -- we're only there for a short stop so we're taking a ship's excursion to a volcano and waterfall.

 

Meribeth

[gracecarmo]

Meribeth:if you like cemetaries, make sure you go to the Recoletta cemetary in Ba, and I am sure if you have a city tour they will take you there. In Punta Arenas, we went to the cemetary there, and it is interesting. If you hire a taxi tour guide like we did, he will take you out to see the Penguins, a city tour with cemetary, and most of them have some sort of quaint restaurant to take you to for lunch. (like their "cousins" place) We ate at a local free standing restaurant that was in a converted house. The meal was so reasonable, and included wine.

Also, in BA, if you go to Tortoni Cafe, in the back room there are people doing the Tango. The first time we were in BA, we did a commercial tango show...typical tourist trap. We did this tour through the cruise line on a pre cruise stay.

Grace

[Meribeth]

Thank you Grace,

 

Recoletta is included in the city tour. We'll probably go back there a second time. I doubt that they'll spend enough time there for me.

 

What area of town is the Tortoni Cafe?

[gracecarmo]

Tortoni Cafe is located a few streets away from the center of town near the Oblisk. Near the Plaza de Mayo. They have a web site you can go to and read all about this cafe. We enjoyed going there for a pre gathering of our CC group, and could walk there from our hotel.

 

Grace