Cruises - Cruises: Bueno Aires, Cape Horn, Valparaiso

Does anyone have experience cruising around the tip of South America? I am looking for a cruise next winter, probably on Princess. How warm/cold is it, is it relatively calm, how are the shore excursions? I do like penguins. :)

Cheers,
Pogopossum

No experience so I appologize in advance. I badly want to do this. But it is my desire to cruise below the Antarctic circle. I hope you can do this. In the same year I want to set foot above the Arctic circle - Barrow/Deadhorse or similar.

Have fun and good luck.

think parka if going ashore on the snow/ice...

on the big ships, you really won't have a prob....

i had a pre cruise day on the tip & was ok in a long sleeved shirt & chinos [jan]....

the ship had parkas & boots for us on shore/zodiac landings, but you wont do that....mostly sail by's, i think.....

the line will have info on what to wear.....

i wouldn't even think of not booking due to weather....

however, its possible that you will encounter some to enhance your tales of rounding the horn....

enjoy....

It has been awhile since I cruised around the Horn. Good to take a scarf/muffler, gloves, a warm jacket. Windy! Our ship lucked out and was not fogged out when rounding the Horn. -- I am hoping to repeat this itinerary 2014.

I just did the Rio to Valporaiso cruise back over the Christmas break. My thoughts as I was taking the cruise are posted here:
http://www.schrock.org/category/2011-south-america-cruise/

I know next year Princess is starting/stopping that route in Beunos Aires instead of Rio (saves getting a Brazilian visa, which I suspect is a large portion of the reason they're doing that).

Personally, I thought it was a really good cruise, and was one I'd wanted to do for a while (just had to be able to fit it in with my wife's time off for the break, this was the first year it worked). Both the penguin viewing trips we did were excellent. It's a cruise I'd definitely consider doing again sometime down the road.

One thing to note, with the Argentina/British issues over the Falklands, there's definitely some uncertainty on visiting some of the ports. The cruise after us missed the Falklands ostensibly because of sickness on the ship (although from what I've seen, the sickness was pretty insignificant, this was almost certainly political in nature), and just a day or two ago, both the Star and a P&O ship were prevented from docking in Ushuaia by protesters. That said, I'm guessing this issue is probably a little more hightened this year because it's a major anniversary of their conflict, so hopefully next year it's not as much of an issue.

(BTW, cruises that actually do the Antarctic itself are a little less common now because of changes in regulations. Princess does not currently sail down there, although I think there's a couple ships on other lines that might, even beyond just the more specialized antarctic cruises on small ships. Princess does offer a very expensive shore excursion from Punta Arenas that flies you down to Antarctica if the weather cooperates, but it's very pricey - might have been $4k a person?).

Currently in Santiago, Chile.

We had a wonderful cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso last February, and returned this year for a land trip because there was still so much more that we wanted to experience here (including Mendoza and Iguazu Falls).

We were on the Celebrity Infinity for a 14 night trip, and had wonderful weather almost 100% of the time, including a great day of entirely rounding Cape Horn. It was very cool and windy, and spots of rain - but nothing that put a damper on our spirits. (Earmuffs and wind jackets were great on that day!)

If you do a S.A. cruise and are really into penguins, as you say, the best tour is one during the port stop at Ushuaia. Book (early) with Pirotours for an excursion to Isla Martillo. They are the only company that has access to the private island, via Estancia Haberton, -- no more than 20 pax allowed per trip, no more than a total of 80 per day on the island. The cruiseship's tours may bring their excursion boats to the island, but the passengers are not allowed to go onto the island. It was absolutely incredible, meandering on the island with hundreds - if not thousands - of magellanic penguins, and just 12 of us!

It really was one of our most favorite cruises (and we've had several great ones).

Does anyone have experience cruising around the tip of South America? I am looking for a cruise next winter, probably on Princess. How warm/cold is it, is it relatively calm, how are the shore excursions? I do like penguins. :)

Cheers,
Pogopossum


I did this on Royal Caribbean from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires a couple of years ago in March. By March, it was chilly in the southernmost ports, in fact had just snowed a few inches in Ushuaia, but it was a beautiful cruise - think Alaska inside passage on the Chilean leg. Shore excursions are ok - visited the volcano in Puerto Montt, Chile - very nice little trip. Punta Arenas - not much to see there, and with only a single day couldn't make it to Torres del Paine.

Ushuaia is a beautiful place. Took the trip to the National Park there and rode the "southernmost railroad" then took a cab up to the nearby glacier, rode the chairlift up and hiked to the glacier - beautiful.

We had a very calm morning at Cabo de Hornos - the captain said it was the calmest he had ever seen, so got some great views. Ships don't land there. Our biggest waves (50 feet, they said) were along the west coast of Chile.


Puerto Madryn - we got off the boat and a bunch of us hired a bus to take us up to Peninsula Valdes where we saw lots of penguins. This is the spot where you can sometimes see orca beaching themselves to grab sea lions, but we weren't that lucky. There are lots of tour operators meeting the boats to offer these excursions, much cheaper than the ship excursion prices.

Our trip also included stops in Punta del Este, UR - again, we hired a little van to take us around and show us the sights. This is a beach vacation spot for BsAs residents.

Montevideo was a nice city to walk around. Not much choice when we were there, the cabbies (and everyone else) were "on strike." Still saw a lot, got invited to join in on a family BBQ while walking the streets.

In late March, I needed a warm winter coat to be outside in the southern latitudes, especially when the ship was cruising through the famous channels. I'd definitely recommend timing closer to southern mid-summer, like January.

Valparaiso is a wonderful city, make sure to ride the ascensors, public elevators to go up the bluffs. Lots of public fairs, etc., and well worth at least an extra day. If you want the name of a nice B&B there (http://www.caracolvalparaiso.cl/), let me know.

Buenos Aires is a world class city, of course, with lots of great things to do.

On the cruise, make sure that you know when you are going to be sailing in the famous passages, and get outside to see the scenery.

Have fun!!

Doc

We did the Infinity from BA to Valparaiso a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it very much. Photos: http://gardyloo.us/southamerica.htm

We did 20 days on Holland American. For extensive write-up and pictures go to

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/934499-south-america-antartica-land-sea.html

VERY COLD, even on balcony

Hi all. Great info on this thread. Doing Princess cruise from BA to Valpo next February. Haven't decided on air travel yet. Live in San Francisco and am a United 1K customer. Have some SWUs available. Would prefer to fly UA or star alliance airline. I generally do my own air travel arrangements, but in this case may go through Princess.

Particularly concerned about the trip home from Santiago.

Any thoughts/advice is greatly appreciated.

What is your concern about the air portion? With so much time to plan you could check the different options: see what you can get on your own and compare that with what Princess offers. Either way you should be fine. Will you be spending any time in Chile before flying back? I would recommend that if you have not been there before.