Advise for E to W or W to E 'round the horn cruise?

[flashdog_1]

Never having done this cruise, I'm wondering if there is an advantage to doing it in one direction or the other? I guess I'm asking about rough seas, viewing etc. A couple of years ago I'm sure I read someone's opinion on this, but have forgotten.

 

Another thing to consider is, if you arrive a day early, perhaps that would give a vote for getting some rest the first day, then a tour on the way to the ship Santiago (airport) to Valparaiso (ship), then get off the ship in Buenos Aires and do a tour before the afternoon/evening flight, allowing yourself to see both cities, and yet catching up on jet lag upon arrival in Santiago overnight.

 

Please advise by telling about your experience. Thanks.

[Peregrina651]

There is some recent discussion of the your question in this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=981524

 

We loved Buenos Aires and did 6 nights pre-cruise, which allowed us to spend 2 days/1 night at Iguazu Falls (the highlight of the whole trip) and also take a day trip to one of the small towns outside of BA (we should have spent the time going to an estancia since the town closed up tight for siesta from noon until 4:30pm). There is so much to see in Buenos Aires and we barely scratched the surface. We regret that we were unable to spend any time post cruise, especially after hearing what a good time all of roll call buddies in Valparaiso.

[Keith1010]

I recommend going Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. I say this because I also recommend arriving for your cruise a couple of days before the cruise begins to get over the jet lag and to ensure that flight delays/cancellations do not affect your cruise. As such if time is limited I would recommend spending more time in Buenos Aires than say Santiago or Valparaiso as there is so much to see in Buenos Aires.

 

Keith

[eh2zed]

I would agree that that you should spend some pre or post cruise time in BA and Santiago with BA having more to see and do. In addition a side trip to Iguazu from BA will be the best money you ever spent. As for going around the horn one way or another I don't think that in itself makes much difference. Its usually the same itinerary and waters.

[Len3]

IMHO, keep in mind which side of the ship you are on. For the best wiews, get a cabin that is on the inland side of the ship. If available, cabins #6243 and #6144 are located between 2 suites and have much larger balconies than the regular size. I had to take the January 17th sailing in order to get cabin #6143.

[Peregrina651]

IMHO, keep in mind which side of the ship you are on. For the best wiews, get a cabin that is on the inland side of the ship. If available, cabins #6243 and #6144 are located between 2 suites and have much larger balconies than the regular size. I had to take the January 17th sailing in order to get cabin #6143.

 

Yes, but you can't hear the commentary as well from your balcony. We were on an aft balcony and were able to hear only some of it. Though the view from our balcony was great, I regret that we couldn't hear the explanations clearly. Not that we could have figured out how to get it to play on the TV but we would not have heard anyway; we couldn't hear any noise from inside the cabin--like friends knocking on our door or phones ringing.

 

The ship does attempt to make a 360 spin so that the island can be seen from all vantage points, but as happened on our cruise, sometimes it doesn't happen.

 

Moreover, I do believe that the ship approaches from the northeast (because of where the mouth of the Beagle Channel is), regardless of which way direction you sail, thus the 'inland' side for this part of the trip will be on the starboard no matter which direction you sail. Here is a picture of the map and route (yes, it shows the west-bound route because we were sailing west bound at the time but the east-bound ships will take the same route coming from Ushuaia). http://southamericajanuary2009.shutterfly.com/atsea/36 Maybe someone who has sailed east-bound can confirm this.