South American Cruise - any good?
 

Hi all,

We are thinking of this cruise: http://www.celebritycruises.com/sear...ilDate=1080315

Has anyone been on this one before? Any thoughts? I am not sure if it is very interesting (other option is rome-greek isles - istanbul- rome). I will be traveling with my husband (both in our early 30s) and my parents (60 and 70). Are there interesting things to see in the itinerary apart from interesting buildings, etc?
We have been to rome before.... not the greek isles and istanbul.
Also, will be weather be ok in March in south america?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

That link didn't bring up the itinerary but I can tell you this. We went on Princess South America and Antarctic cruise in 04. We started the cruise in Rio with stops in Buenos Airies, Montevideo, Falkland Islands (couldn't see them too rough) and after Antarctic we were in Ushuaia, Puerto Montt, and a couple of other ports prior to disembarking in Valparaiso (Santiago). I loved the countries and the cities we visited. I would go back to Argentina in a heartbeat. The weather should still be nice in March.

I got the itinerary and we have been on Celebrity on a similar cruise from BA to Santiago.
We did not care for Celebrity but the ports were fabulous.
I think Star Princess is going there and the prices are great. Just happened to stumble across it.
A south American itinerary came up from your link but you mention Rome and Istanbul so I am confused.
In SA in March I think you miss the penguins etc, but there is a lot of loverly scenery. Just do a Yahoo Weather search for weather info..

Thanks for the responses so far.

I mentioned Rome and Istanbul as a different cruise option as I have a free cruise certificate from Celebrity so I need to stick with them.

I think I may lean towards the Rome, Greek Isles, Istanbul option because the Argentina visa may be a problem for my husband who is not a US citizen. I would still like to hear about the SA cruise option for future reference.

Africa - before you make a decision are you sure your husband needs a visa if you are on a cruise? We didn't need one. Usually when cruising you don't need visas for the countries you visit unless you are going to stay. We did need one for Brazil when we went on an Amazon cruise. I don't know all the regulations but why don't you check with the cruise line first?

We did not need a visa when we went on the South America cruise.
You do need a visa for Brazil, but no visa necessary for those with UK passports. Just check the embassy website of wherever you are thinking of going.

As I said I couldn't bring up the itinerary from your thread but I checked the Celebrity cruises in March in SA. Perhaps if you are on the cruise that starts in Argentina they may need a visa if you are arriving by air. Again as Philbill and I have said check with someone and see. If you decide you can do it I highly recommend the cruise. I have sailed on Celebrity several times and enjoyed.

We did check with the Argentinian consulate and my husband who has an Indian passport does need a visa... sadly, that visa takes up to 30 business days to process and includes a face to face interview at the nearest consulate, which is LA (we are in SF). This whole visa process is too painful... :(

We are going to call another argentinian consulate on monday to verify this information once more before ditching our plans for this cruise for now.

traveller69 - sorry about the link, that's the best I can do... but I am talking about the March 15th cruise leaving from buenos aires and going around the horn.

Hi Africa - the link is my fault I didn't copy the whole thing but I assumed it was the March 15th cruise. Its too bad about the visa but perhaps their may be a loophole if you are not going to stay in the country. I hope you get better news from the other consulate. Keep us posted.

Just wanted to give a quick update - the argentina embassy etc were completely wrong about the visa situation... It does not take 30 business days + face to face interview. They just need your passport via mail and have it back to you in 3 days.
That's the worst misinformation I have encountered.
Now we are deciding whether to go on the SA cruise. We may still go to Europe because the weather will be excellent there and we will probably add Cairo as a pre-cruise trip.
Thanks for all your help.