South America Cruise Reviews

Awesome cruise in every respect !! Highly recommend Holland America's Grand Journeys. Great food, theme night, activities, speeches, speakers, experts onboard !!

Best Price Guarantee  -  Celebrity Cruises offers a “Best Price Guarantee” but pay attention to the fine print.  In my case, this was nothing but an empty gesture.  In December 2016, I booked a May 14 sailing.  I made the full payment in January as this was the due date.  In March, I noticed that they were advertising a cabin in the same category on the same cruise for $1,000 less.  When I called to ask about this “Best Price Guarantee”, I was told that I do not qualify for any refund or concessions because this was after the due date of final payment.  While I do understand the cruise line’s reluctance to part with money that they have pocketed, I thought they should have offered me some shipboard credit that I can use for laundry, gift shop purchases or, at least give the crew a generous tip if the services were good.  Again, read the fine print!

Embarked on MV Crown Princess on a 27-day cruise from Los Angeles to Montevideo, I had been driven away from poolside by the thumping music.  So I found a deck chair in a quiet region, stretched out happily, and opened my book.  Presently, a cruise line goombah appeared and demanded $40 to use the chair for the day. 

         “You’re kidding.”

         “This is a quiet area.”

         “I know.  That’s why I sat here.”

         “You have to pay for quiet.”

That last statement should be featured on every Princess Line brochure.

This ship is a floating gouge machine.  It is also a jam-packed cattle car, whose passengers are relentlessly herded and prodded into servility.

I had been eager to make this voyage around Cape Horn ever since I read “Two Years Before the Mast” when a boy.  As a former seagoing Naval officer, and having read every one of the 25 or so Hornblower and Aubrey and Maturin novels, I was churning with excitement. What a shattering disappointment.

The debacle began with embarkation in L.A., a grueling two-hour exercise in donkey coitus that killed all festive spirit.  You are interrogated, searched, photographed, and admonished as you pass through no fewer than five checkpoints.  This suggests nothing else so much as the booking-in process at Terminal Island Federal Prison.

You are issued an ID card linked to your personal data and photo, and told it is “required” that you carry it with you “at all times.”  This suggests nothing else so much as the ID cards that German Jews were “required” to carry with them “at all times.”

You are advised that your luggage is subject to search for “contraband.”  Guns?  Bombs?  Drugs?  No.  Jack Daniel’s and Cotes du Rhone.  The company forbids passengers to possess alcohol, even in their own cabins.  This is further enforced by “alcohol checkpoints” when you embark.

For our good health, right?  Of course not.  We understand immediately that this is to shelter the monopoly on alcohol.  This is soon manifested in the excessive prices for drinks and wine.  I estimate 400-500% markup.

A 50-minute massage is $134, including the mandatory tip.  Internet access is $200 to $400, depending on which plan you choose. The service is glacial.

As the ship enters the tropical ports, a steward circulates around the decks distributing half-liter bottles of water “to beat the heat ashore.”  “Thanks very much.”  “That will be two dollars.”

The standard (i.e., “free”) restaurants offer food of variable quality ranging from four-star to hog slop.  Oddly, they serve a superb Beef Wellington but the hamburger has the flavor and consistency of week-old oatmeal.

Breakfast is especially dismal: bins of tired bacon marinating in grease, eggs congealing under heat lamps, soggy pancakes, truck-stop coffee.  If you don’t fancy dishwater coffee, you can get the “special” variety for $2.95 per cup.

The meals are contended for in bump-and-shove buffet lines or delivered in noisy crowded restaurants by harried waiters.  The service staff are willing and friendly, but are so frenzied in contending with the mass of humanity that they lack care.

For example, rushing around the restaurant the waiter will pour water in your wine. Yes, this happened.  He apologized and carried away the diluted wine, saying he would “bring another.”  It turned out that he meant “another water,” not “another wine.”  The replacement wine had to be paid for.  Waiters are forbidden to dispense “free” wine.

 Similarly, in the rush to keep the herd moving, waiters will snatch away your half-finished plate when you get up to refill your coffee.  The buffet restaurant is in such frantic chaos that it is impossible to know who “your” waiter is.  So I asked the nearest one to please not take the untouched meal away while I went for iced tea.  I returned after a minute and a half.  Gone.

At dinner one evening, I was captivated by the narrative of an 84-year-old Korean lady to my left who had lived through the Japanese occupation. A waiter positioned behind my right shoulder interposed, in the middle of her sentence, “May I take your order?” Deeming that I was not quick enough to break off this communion and turn to his business, he poked me in the shoulder repeatedly and barked “sir, sir, sir.”  This particular form of rudeness is a regular thing.

Not all the wait staff are so rude.  A minority are more thoughtful.  But this proceeds from their innate politeness rather than correct training.

 If you want the good food and soft ambience, you must attend one of the “specialty” restaurants at $29 extra per meal.  Ka-ching once again.

Be prepared for LOTS of lines, swarming and teeming, for meals, for shows, for excursions.  Be also prepared for the “dash for the seat/bar stool/deck chair” competition. You will be ordered to vacate if another passenger believes he has a better claim.  You could stand your ground and battle for your rights, but you didn’t buy an expensive cruise for that.  So you shrug and amble off, irritated less at the other passenger than at Princess Cruises for packing you in this way.

SHORE EXCURSIONS.  I could write a separate essay of similar length, but will just say this: NEVER book a Princess shore excursion unless you desire further experience with mass-herded donkey coitus at exorbitant cost. Instead, make independent arrangements in advance, more customized and at a third the price.  Alternatively, it is almost always possible to make arrangements on the spot.

The harm of all this is not only out-of-pocket.  You might just set aside a few thousand extra, say the hell with it, and relax. But it wouldn’t work. You are repeatedly irritated as you are dinged, gouged, squeezed, and fleeced; you are endlessly on edge as you worry that you might have crossed some line or entered some space or consumed some comestible that will trigger an extra charge or a “not allowed” reproach; you are always conscious that this cruise line will exploit your captivity to the maximum. 

In time, I developed a grim admiration for the efficiency with which the passengers are processed.  The word “processed” is carefully chosen.  That’s what you will be.

The Rule of Five Percent holds that every experience entails at least five percent that is fun and enriching.  I made it my mission to find the five percent, and managed to do so:  the sea air, the ocean vistas, the communion with other passengers, some stunning views at the bottom of the world.  So I attained part of what I came for. But by the end of the cruise I was half screaming inside to get off of this hog-wallow vessel.

If you are going to take a Princess Cruise, bend way over.  You’re going to take it hard and deep.

Embarked on MV Crown Princess on a 27-day cruise from Los Angeles to Montevideo, I had been driven away from poolside by the thumping music.  So I found a deck chair in a quiet region, stretched out happily, and opened my book.  Presently, a cruise line goombah appeared and demanded $40 to use the chair for the day. 

         “You’re kidding.”

         “This is a quiet area.”

         “I know.  That’s why I sat here.”

         “You have to pay for quiet.”

That last statement should be featured on every Princess Line brochure.

This ship is a floating gouge machine.  It is also a jam-packed cattle car, whose passengers are relentlessly herded and prodded into servility.

I had been eager to make this voyage around Cape Horn ever since I read “Two Years Before the Mast” when a boy.  As a former seagoing Naval officer, and having read every one of the 25 or so Hornblower and Aubrey and Maturin novels, I was churning with excitement. What a shattering disappointment.

The debacle began with embarkation in L.A., a grueling two-hour exercise in donkey coitus that killed all festive spirit.  You are interrogated, searched, photographed, and admonished as you pass through no fewer than five checkpoints.  This suggests nothing else so much as the booking-in process at Terminal Island Federal Prison.

You are issued an ID card linked to your personal data and photo, and told it is “required” that you carry it with you “at all times.”  This suggests nothing else so much as the ID cards that German Jews were “required” to carry with them “at all times.”

You are advised that your luggage is subject to search for “contraband.”  Guns?  Bombs?  Drugs?  No.  Jack Daniel’s and Cotes du Rhone.  The company forbids passengers to possess alcohol, even in their own cabins.  This is further enforced by “alcohol checkpoints” when you embark.

For our good health, right?  Of course not.  We understand immediately that this is to shelter the monopoly on alcohol.  This is soon manifested in the excessive prices for drinks and wine.  I estimate 400-500% markup.

A 50-minute massage is $134, including the mandatory tip.  Internet access is $200 to $400, depending on which plan you choose. The service is glacial.

As the ship enters the tropical ports, a steward circulates around the decks distributing half-liter bottles of water “to beat the heat ashore.”  “Thanks very much.”  “That will be two dollars.”

The standard (i.e., “free”) restaurants offer food of variable quality ranging from four-star to hog slop.  Oddly, they serve a superb Beef Wellington but the hamburger has the flavor and consistency of week-old oatmeal.

Breakfast is especially dismal: bins of tired bacon marinating in grease, eggs congealing under heat lamps, soggy pancakes, truck-stop coffee.  If you don’t fancy dishwater coffee, you can get the “special” variety for $2.95 per cup.

The meals are contended for in bump-and-shove buffet lines or delivered in noisy crowded restaurants by harried waiters.  The service staff are willing and friendly, but are so frenzied in contending with the mass of humanity that they lack care.

For example, rushing around the restaurant the waiter will pour water in your wine. Yes, this happened.  He apologized and carried away the diluted wine, saying he would “bring another.”  It turned out that he meant “another water,” not “another wine.”  The replacement wine had to be paid for.  Waiters are forbidden to dispense “free” wine.

 Similarly, in the rush to keep the herd moving, waiters will snatch away your half-finished plate when you get up to refill your coffee.  The buffet restaurant is in such frantic chaos that it is impossible to know who “your” waiter is.  So I asked the nearest one to please not take the untouched meal away while I went for iced tea.  I returned after a minute and a half.  Gone.

At dinner one evening, I was captivated by the narrative of an 84-year-old Korean lady to my left who had lived through the Japanese occupation. A waiter positioned behind my right shoulder interposed, in the middle of her sentence, “May I take your order?” Deeming that I was not quick enough to break off this communion and turn to his business, he poked me in the shoulder repeatedly and barked “sir, sir, sir.”  This particular form of rudeness is a regular thing.

Not all the wait staff are so rude.  A minority are more thoughtful.  But this proceeds from their innate politeness rather than correct training.

 If you want the good food and soft ambience, you must attend one of the “specialty” restaurants at $29 extra per meal.  Ka-ching once again.

Be prepared for LOTS of lines, swarming and teeming, for meals, for shows, for excursions.  Be also prepared for the “dash for the seat/bar stool/deck chair” competition. You will be ordered to vacate if another passenger believes he has a better claim.  You could stand your ground and battle for your rights, but you didn’t buy an expensive cruise for that.  So you shrug and amble off, irritated less at the other passenger than at Princess Cruises for packing you in this way.

SHORE EXCURSIONS.  I could write a separate essay of similar length, but will just say this: NEVER book a Princess shore excursion unless you desire further experience with mass-herded donkey coitus at exorbitant cost. Instead, make independent arrangements in advance, more customized and at a third the price.  Alternatively, it is almost always possible to make arrangements on the spot.

The harm of all this is not only out-of-pocket.  You might just set aside a few thousand extra, say the hell with it, and relax. But it wouldn’t work. You are repeatedly irritated as you are dinged, gouged, squeezed, and fleeced; you are endlessly on edge as you worry that you might have crossed some line or entered some space or consumed some comestible that will trigger an extra charge or a “not allowed” reproach; you are always conscious that this cruise line will exploit your captivity to the maximum. 

In time, I developed a grim admiration for the efficiency with which the passengers are processed.  The word “processed” is carefully chosen.  That’s what you will be.

The Rule of Five Percent holds that every experience entails at least five percent that is fun and enriching.  I made it my mission to find the five percent, and managed to do so:  the sea air, the ocean vistas, the communion with other passengers, some stunning views at the bottom of the world.  So I attained part of what I came for. But by the end of the cruise I was half screaming inside to get off of this hog-wallow vessel.

If you are going to take a Princess Cruise, bend way over.  You’re going to take it hard and deep.

On our NCL cruise aboard the Norwegian Sun, November 2 -- December 2, 2016, the staff was out of control.  Room cleaning was completely substandard.  Staff made little response to requests from the passengers.  Staff retaliated against "complainers."  In one instance, NCL staff left fresh excrement on the shower curtain of a couple who reported multiple times that they could not turn off the heat in their cabin.

Our trip was ruined from the start.  Passengers are telling each other their bad experiences on board and there were numerous complaints.

1) Our stateroom 8312 temperature was too cold - not inhabitable for us.  We could not shut off the freezing cold current of air.  In addition to being so cold, there was mildew everywhere on the bathroom floor and the vent in the room was extremely dirty.

2) We were lied to for about ten days about a possible solution to the cold air.

3) Finally after my husband went to emergency room for uncontrollable shivering and feverish temperature, we were given a "heater" to counter the cold air.  Because of the pipeline from the heater has to be connected to the bathroom exhaust, our room smelled like sewer.  Even people down the hall could smell it and our steward didn't want to come in to our room to do the routing cleaning.

4) The cruise doctor would not admit that my husband's problem was caused by cold temperature in the room even he could not find what was wrong by tests. 

5) The bathroom drain was not working well and water was slashing around the bathroom floor for days, before a technician showed up.  The problem was not fixed properly, but the condition got better.

6) Then the sink no longer draining.  Took two different engineers and three days to fix the very clogged, smelly drain.

7) Our room floor carpet became wet from water condensation from the heater, which has no pipeline installed to lead the water away.

8) The cruise finally offered to change our rooms, but said that we could only stay there for four nights and no guarantee the room would have heat.  There would not be room for a heater.  By then, we had no confidence in their words.

9) The cruise staff was so disorganized and miss communicated.  We were told one thing at one time and another the next.  On the morning of arriving Valparaiso, Chile, we were harassed by a front desk officer by ordering us to leave our room or he would send security to throw us out right after we were told to stay in there by another officer. 

10) I served meals to my husband who was sick in bed for the entire trip and we had to cancel excursions and let go $650 ship credit.

11) Our complaints met a blind eye by the captain, who told me that "We don't serve individuals."   He admitted that there was no heat in some cabins and most of time there was no heat on the ship at all.  However, some passengers complained that their rooms were roasting hot and some were too cold.  People got sick and complaints were everywhere. 

Compare to other cruises we took, NCL Sun was unbelievably worse in their services, room comfort and their willingness to solve problems.

We had no room comfort problems on any other ship we sailed.

We wrote to management many times.  We were disappointed.

We paid over $6,400 for a trip of life time, but we had a miserable time because of bad service leading to illness.   The NCL Sun cruise started on Nov. 2, 2016 from San Diego and ended on Dec. 3, 2016 at the port of Bueno Aires, Argentina, totaling 31 days.  My husband hardly went on shore and he spent most his time in bed.

Norwegian Sun staff told us the reason that they continued to work on this ship, because they had no pressure or less pressure.  That explains why the service was bad.   To us, a good service is the management and staff take proactive approach to problem solving.  Show us they care.  But some key staff and officers on Norwegian Sun had bad attitude including lying to make problem go away. 

Been on many NCL cruises. We are Platinum in the so called loyalty program. but NCL isn't so appreciative of loyal customers.  

Here's my point........my wife and myself are each Platinum with 244 points accumulated.  As per the NCL website we are to received a wine and strawberries in our cabin on day one and then again sometime following  so that each of us are recognized as loyal platinum members..  . In the past we each received this benefit on 3 previous sailing but not on the Sun.  Strange thing is that we each get dinner for two, laundry for two, priority embarkation and tendering and behinds the scenes tour for two, etc.. The only one per stateroom position does not apply to any of these benefits as it does to  the wine and strawberries. All of these benefits are posted on the NCL website, but when it came to the wine and strawberries for each of us we only got it one time. There is a principal here. I went to the Latitudes rep, Juan Franco and he told me that they do not provide the wine/strawberries for both. Only one per stateroom . I told him we received it on 3 other cruises since we have been Platinum and he told me, " no you did not". So now I am a liar. I pulled up the web site and showed his assistant Lorna Griggs and she agreed with me that the web site states clearly that as a Platinum member we are to receive this benefit. There is nothing about only one per stateroom.   I addressed this issue again with Juan and he was steadfast in his position. A very frustrating experience. Also, there were several days of sewage smells in the Garden Cafe...

bon appetite!

Additionally, the salad dressing were very watered down as was the juice. If you order a Caesar salad in the Four Seasons it is topped with "grated" parmsean and not shredded. CHEAP!  The menu in the Garden Cafe was the "same old same old" daily. We never had an Italian Night or Mexican Night and Asian Night or a late night chocolate buffet. Cheap!!

This was the worst NCL cruise we have ever been on. From the lack of respect from Juan Franco to the cheap menus.  

Regarding the waitstaff, wonderful. Room steward was great. Entertainment was mostly good. Amber Strings were wonderful. Rick Starr was very funny and the ventriloquist was great. Also the NCL jazz band was excellent. 

if the food is more choice is better, for exampf the food have morle: rice soup, soup noodle.....etc

Monday is Chinese food, more Chinese food on Monday, Tuesday is Japanese, Wednesday is Thailand, Thursday is Indian, Friday is Spanish.......etc,

where to start?  I must give credit though to the musicians, stewards, waiters, entertainers who worked long hours and in general did a good job. RC has no customer service and is not geared towards service.  The internet usually did not work in the cabin (mine was on deck 8 with a balcony). I had to go to the center of the ship. RC gave me 50% discount for three days and charged me full price for the remaining two weeks. Second night on board, I discovered blood on my sheet as I turned the covers! No stewards around at that hour.  So a crew member who managed to get fresh sheets and I changed the sheets together.  He hadn't done this before. Any apologies from RC? No! I will not mention cancellations of excursions.  Most grievous lack in service was the luggage. Cruise ended in Chile. We docked and were bussed to the terminal nearby.  About a dozen of us could not find our suitcases. We filed reports with an RC representative. I asked the rep to call the ship and report the missing luggage. He did not.  A very, very, long frustrating story short, I got my suitcase one month and two days later. Any apologies? No! Any compensation? No! Curtious service from the lost luggage department? No!  These are some of the reasons for the "no star" rating from me.  

It was the first  time may wife and I had been to this geographic areas, it was really beautiful, but the fact that we did it in the Norwegian Sun made even better. In general we would say it was excellent, only a couple of comments; sometimes a little communication problem but the person would immediately would find another employee to help us. Finally, although we know that today everything is more expensive, we found the price of beverage was a little bit high. But we would certainly recommend this to all our friends and family. Thank you for an excellent vacation.

Cruising along the glaciers and watching them from my stateroom was fantastic. I've cruised Alaska but saw tons more on this trip. We saw whales, dolphins, and seals at sea and penguins, llamas, sheep, and a rugged ranch life on land. The people were extremely friendly and most merchants took US dollars. I may consider doing this cruise again.

The boarding luggage procedure at Rio was a disaster. No available porters and when we found the place were we could give our bags they told us we couldn't drop them because they were to big. Really?

the gangway were stairs so if you needed assistance, too bad. 

The ship is well mantained but it's showing it age. Our room is spacious but there are no electrical outlets on the bedside unless you call engineering to install a transformer to I could connect the Cpap machine. Refrigerator is stocked with water and soft drinks and are

complimentary. Bathroom has shower curtain with tends to drip water

to the bathroom floor. Hair drier in bathroom is from the 90tys but

there is another portable one. Our was broken but the steward

promptly replaced it. Room is quiet and the air conditioner is great. 

Beds are great and we got good night sleeps

internet cost 600 dollars for 20 days and worst than dial up. RCCL is the way to go if that is important. 

Do NOT serve yourself at the buffet lines. That's a no-no with Oceania. I'm ok with that because you don't handle the serving spoons other guest have used before you and avoid catching viruses. It also keeps you in check in putting too much food on your plate

Free water available before going on an excursion not like some cruise lines that charge 4.95 a bottle. ( RCCL)

The daily Current has good info and you also get a daily 4 page newsletter with the world news sports and weather. Tv has 3 channels with up to day free movies and change everyday. Nice touch and also a list is provided of an extensive video CDs to check out and watch in your room. Room service is 24 hours and great menu and is also free.

Turn down every night includes chocolate on the bed and ice in the bucket. Towels are fluffy and  

I have been on previous Princess cruises and have enjoyed them all. But this cruise was the best of all that I have taken with Princess. From the embarkation to the disembarkation the crew was well trained in all the facets of what was needed to help ALL passengers to board, get to their cabins, luggage availability , etc. As we cruised Cabin Attendants were professional in their duties, restaurants and buffet facilities maintained in a superior manner, entertainment in all of the showrooms and Piazza was most professional and the crew  was friendly and always asking whether any help was need. All of the attitude of the crew made the total experience a most happy and pleasant time.

The staff of the Star Princess can be proud of the professionalism they have and the fact that they make the cruise most comfortable, pleasant and a feeling that the passenger has made the correct choice in choosing Princess Cruises and the itinerary with this ship and its crew.

Our first trip to the Southern Hemisphere and it was fabulous. From meeting at the airport to checking in and hitting a bar as soon as we got on while we waited for our luggage to catch up with us everybody we met from Princess was on top form, smiling, friendly, helpful, showing off, making us feel special. As we'd been saving up and planning this for a long time we went for a mini suite this time so that we could gaze up at the stars around South America and that didn't disappoint either. Every stop was great - although the coach trip to see the penguins was dull and long - and we were happy to get into the Falklands which not every ship manages and to experience a little bit of the rough seas we were hoping for around Cape Horn. Ushuaia was stunningly beautiful and the trip down the Beagle Channel to see the seals, though bitterly cold, was unforgettable. Managed to tick off loads of amazing experiences on this trip: ate Argentinian steak, cable car above the clouds up a volcano, Falkland Islands, Chilean glacier, Cape Horn, penguins in their natural habitat, whales passing the ship, a dolphin jumping alongside the tender boat, an albatross flying around the promenade, rode a steam train, danced with a Uruguayan tango dancer. Loved riding the escalator to Skywalkers every night and every member of waiting staff we encountered were the best they could possibly be.

Food good, showroom shows 50-50 (liked the singing and dancing shows, not crazy about juggler and comedians). 

Penguin  tour at Punto Arenas was very tedious.  2 hours each way on a crowded boat with a bag lunch and no real concessions.  Seating as much as 10 abreast with very little room to walk around.  More suitable for a 20-minute commute than a 2-hour excursion.  Landing at the island had precarious footing with a board trying to connect with the ramp unsuccessfully, making us walk through slippery sea weed for several feet.  Amazing that we didn't fall.  

The South American tour from Buenos Aires to Santiago is very interesting.  We found the ports of call of interest especially those outside the big cities.  Round Cape Horn and seeing the Amelia Glacier were awe inspiring.  Being at the end of the world in Argentina and Chile was a once in a lifetime experience.

Overall, the cruise was really good.  The check-in was extremely slow to get registered for this cruise, and this was very not common given my prior experiences.  However, they did not seem to know how to deal with this.

The cruise itself was good with friendly staff and good food.  The entertainment could be better as there are a lot of sea days on this cruise, so you have to enjoy cruising and being on the ship. 

The weather did not cooperate so we could not do "around the horn".  I was extremely impressed with the Captain that he took very serious the safety of the passengers and crew.  The captain does not control the weather, but he does control the decisions based upon the weather.  He did a great job keeping us informed, and I enjoyed the updates from Captain Dimas. 

I would not recommend this cruise for first time cruisers.  I would recommend going on a shorter cruise first to see if you enjoy this type of vacation.  Then springboard into this cruise.  I truly enjoyed my time in South America and the staff on this ship.  There is a lot to see on this cruise that you would not be able to see in such a short time.  The cost of the cruise was also very reasonable. 

Excellent experience, definitely something to see, Buenos Aires weather was great, food very chip and very good, Uruguay was beautiful, the lower part of Argentina is cold, but it must see vacation of life time, with Chile ,and all the inside passage, was spectacular.

Excelente viaje. Crucero, personal, paisajes, clima, todo excelente!!!!! Un viaje para no olvidar. Los puertos que desembarcamos muy bonitos, sobretodo Islas Malvinas, y Ushuaia. Montevideo muy pintoresca. El Cabo de Hornos se presentó sin olas ni viento y con un dia de sol increíble.

*** TRANSLATED 3/24/16 BY GOOGLE TRANSLATE ****

Excelent trip. Cruise, personal, landscapes, weather, everything excellent !!!!! A trip to remember. The ports that landed very nice, especially Islas Malvinas and Ushuaia. Montevideo very picturesque. Cape Horn was presented without waves and wind and one day in amazing sun

Prospective customers of Holland America Line should be forewarned that simply because you have paid for the transfer service which is advertised by HAL that takes customers and their bags to/from airports and to/from cruise ships, that they cannot be relied up to provide the services as represented.  In my situation, I paid for this service on their ship Zaandam between Buenos Aires on 2/22/16 and Valparaiso, Chile on 3/6/16.  Notwithstanding full notice to HAL of my air flight arrangements (and the flight being on schedule), no representative met us at the Buenos Aires airport, and we were left to fend for ourselves to get to the cruise ship with our luggage.  

At the conclusion of the trip, I discovered that my suitcase, which had been entrusted to HAL as they had directed, was not delivered to the ship terminal in Valparaiso, so I had to return home without knowing what had happened to it.  This negligence by HAL was compounded by an absolute lack of responsiveness to my numerous requests for assistance.  I finally received my suitcase on 3/31/16—25 days after I left Chile.  I then discovered that numerous items had been stolen from my suitcase, and HAL has not been responsive to reimbursing me for this theft, acknowledging some of my inquiries, or even apologizing for their negligence.

This was only the 2nd cruise that my wife and I have taken, and the first one was the Alaskan cruise where the water is very calm. This cruise was very rough and nearly everyone we spoke with, including veterans of 25 or more cruises, said this one was their roughest yet. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that once we got around Cape Horn and started up the Atlantic side the ocean calmed down considerably.

We agreed that we were very glad that we started the cruise in Valparaiso and ended in Buenos Aires, saving the best for last. Had we started with Buenos Aires, then Montevideo, then the Falklands, we would have felt like we were on a downward spiral in terms of ports visited and the second half of the cruise would have been pretty boring.

As for the at sea part of the cruise and our satisfaction with Princess, we think they did a marvelous job. The food was consistently outstanding in the buffets, and the specialty restaurant, Sabatini's, was a special experience.  The Crown Grill, on the other hand, was nice but hardly worth the extra $50 we spent to eat there that night. I have had better steak at a Texas Longhorn. The only other things that we found overpriced were the bottled water and the internet. Two passengers shouldn't have to spend $8.63 per day just to have decent water to drink. And even though we barely used the internet café, we ended up spending over $80 just to check for messages from home.

We were very pleased with our cabin and our stateroom steward, Eli. And the young lady who brought us coffee every morning, Katherine, was very pleasant. The only downside to our cabin E415, was that there is an air duct or something that leads directly from the Crooner's Bar to that room.  We were crooned to sleep every night.  Fortunately it was the kind of music that one could go to sleep by.

My wife felt that the ladies' restrooms could have been kept in better repair.  It seemed that invariably one stall was out of order, and one stall was for handicapped, leaving one stall for a throng of women to share.

We took several excursions and found that on the trip to Stanley there was not nearly enough time allotted for the museum.  Our favorite excursion was the evening meal with a family in Buenos Aires.  They were such gracious hosts and it was so interesting. The last day of the trip we did a debarkation excursion and went to a tango show in a huge underground restaurant. The whole experience was totally awesome.  The food, the service, the wine, the show... I remember the place was called "La Ventana, Barrio del Tango." That place must be worth its weight in gold!  The excursion ended with Princess taking us directly to the airport which was much appreciated.

So, a great trip overall.  Got off to a bit of a rough start, but finished on  high.

I haven't been on a cruise in some years, but I did hear from others passengers who do that the princess Line has fallen in quality - perhaps in part due to it now being owned by Carnival. The crew and cleanliness onboard were tops, but I did have some issues wit the overall experience. Firstly, the bottled water and the "nickel & dime-ing" onboard. No bottled water was available, even in your cabin refrigerator. You had to buy it - the smallest being $ 2.50 US a pop. This is simply cheap. On excursions you could not take food or drink off the ship, which I understand, but they didn't offer water free of charge on disembarkation, even though some trips are 3-5 hours. This is especially unsafe for the many seniors who use cruise lines. The other big issue was that Princess automatically charged, without my permission, $ 12.50 US per day as gratuity for their crew. In addition, drinks carried another charge, if you paid it. I also found the art gallery, sales and auction garish. Most of this 'art' was reproduction and garish, which cheapened the Princess Line, in my opinion. I also found some of the nightly entertainment, especially with the Show Time crew, cheesey and predictable. All in all, I would not sail on another Princess/Carnival Cruise Line.