Topic: Recommendations for South America

Celebrity Infinity normally shuffles back and forth between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso for much of our winter. We did it a couple of years ago, nice ship and superb itinerary. Prob 3 formal nights in two weeks, rest are smart casual, but the speciality restaurant is worth visiting 2 or 3 times, and most people dress semi formal for it.

Consider booking your own flights - should be cheaper than doing it through the cruise line. Arrive 3 days before the cruise, and stay 3 days after if you can. BA and Santiago are both worth spending time in, and arriving a few days in advance gives you a good chance of having your luggage with you when you get on board! No non stop flights from the UK currently, cheapest option is probably tickets through Iberia, but get a code share flight with LAN if you can - they are a much better airline. Flights via Madrid.

We went on the star princess and took in the falklands. The fiords are lovely. The ship was very nice 3 formal nights and anytime dining if you prefered it.

Have just returned from cruise around S America on Black Watch. We started off with 3 days in hotel in Rio - absolutely great - and some of the places we stopped off at were Montevideo, Beunos Aires, the Falklands, around Cape Horn, Chilean Fjords, ending up in Lima, Peru. It was a great itinerary with many interesting places to visit. The weather went from very hot to very cold to hot, we had very little rain and the sea was calm most of the time.

All in all a good holiday.

QUOTE:

Thank you all, particularly Dave, for the comments. Our first cruise was on Braemar, before she was stretched, so I'll have a look at the Black Watch cruise if I can get hold of a brochure. It's Chile that my husband is really interested in so something like the Black Watch cruise sounds ideal - if I can persuade him to go away for that long!

The 2011 Black Watch around South America on 5 January. Southampton to Southampton 77 nights but shorter sections are available. Southamton to Buenos Aires ( 49 Nights). Buenos Aires to Southampton (55 nights) but there is a shorter section Buenos aires to Peru (27 nights) cruising Argentina, Falkland Islands and Chile.

Again, thank you everyone for your comments. Cornish Girl - thanks for your suggestion but we are already booked to do a Caribbean cruise on Azura next March and I don't think I could persuade my husband to do one in January as well!

Fred Olsen looks a strong contender so when the 2012 cruises are available we will look with eagerness.

We did Rio to Valparaiso via Antarctica on Holland America (HAL) in January 2008. Superb cruise through Antarctica, Drakes passage, Cape Horn, Ushuaia, Chilean fiords, Beagle and Cockburn channels and the Strait of Magellan. We had good calm weather all the way, with excellent visability. Saw lots of icebergs, glaciers, penguins etc.
Have a look at the HAL brochure, available in most travel agents, or look on line at the HAL website. Several cruises each year in both directions.
If you want any further information, please ask.

We used Cunard QM2 for a one month cruise round South America - excellent in every respect with the right balance of formal and informal -in short a great experience !
XRN