South America Cruise Reviews

Another opportunity to explore, marvel, learn from other cultures and Viking certainly provided the best expedition accommodation available to-date.

We are presently on this cruise on the Holland America Oosterdam from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale around the southern tip of South America. For some crazy reason, Holland America head office has decreed that Port Talks can not be broadcast to cabin TVs. No reasonable reason is given. The talks are given by the cruise director and are the best I have seen on any cruise. Nobody wants to miss them. They are only given once and the Mainstage auditorium where they are presented is super over-packed with passengers (and HAL's are generally older people) who have to stand or sit on the stairs. Worse than this, people who are sick (and the boat is loaded with them) have two choices - miss the Port Talk or go to the Mainstage and share their bugs. They should, could and would watch in their cabins if it was available on their TVs. (My wife is sick and I ended up puking my guts out one night and not eating for two days. Thanks HAL!) I sent an email to the president of Holland America and his assistant wrote back to say that, due to copyright restrictions, they can not broadcast the Port Talks to cabin TVs. I don't understand how copyright restrictions could get in the way of televising a talk by one of their own employees. These talks have always been available on cabin TVs in the past. The focus at Holland America doesn't seem to be on the health and comfort of their passengers any more. We'll be looking for another cruise line.

Overall this is probably the best cruise we've taken due to the itinerary, the service, and the incredible food. Was also very blown away by the enrichment talks by the biologist and the talks about Samba and other aspects of Brazilian culture. The Brazilian Dance group they brought on was very talented. Other highlights were the cake afternoons on deck, the ice cream socials, the afternoon teas and the very friendly casino. I would definitely do this cruise again!!

Wonderful, comfortable cruise with everything you could want on the ship, friendly helpful staff, and great port locations.

Booked the ship for the itinerary. Times in port could have been longer. For price paid it was excellent value and an amazing experience.

This was our first Celebrity cruise, and it was definitely a better experience than our Royal Caribbean Cruises. The crew were all amazing and spoke enough English to communicate at all times. The captain did some amazing maneuvers which showed off his experience. The cruise director seemed to be everywhere.

Our first and last with Oceania. They are a fallen brand. No longer a luxury cruise line. As with other reviewers here, we will never EVER cruise Oceania again. They at best mislead us about what they deliver and at worst, flat out lied. They are disorganized beyond belief. Food is awful nursing home quality. No greasy spoon at home would survive with such awful food. Ship is literally rusting. It should be scrapped. A passenger who has sailed on Marina before had mentioned that the paintings on the ship are worth more than the ship itself. I can see why.

Treated like animal herded together in the port .pre boarding . 200 passengers dumped in a car park for 3 hours from midday to 3pm . No water, no food , no shade and no toilets ! I got badly burnt Staff treat customers as an inconvenience ! Staring from the General Manager . A rude man with a bad attitude WiFi never worked. Not in touch with family for days .worse still over Xmas Captain airlifted from ship as very ill. We were never informed officially . Staff told us! Ship tired . Cruise Director and egotistical boring man .

Our 7 Dec 2023-6 Jan 2024 CELEBRITY cruise had a great itinerary and wonderful staff but, WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT on many levels, especially when CELEBRITY AIR LEFT US STRANDED. So, with almost 20 cruises under our belts, several of them Celebrity, and many more in our future, WE WILL NEVER CRUISE CELEBRITY AGAIN. Here are the details, starting with the positive: The 30 day South American circumnavigation itinerary was outstanding. All except one of the 16 ports provided wonderful experiences, although we had to use non-Celebrity excursions for many of them. The staff was absolutely wonderful in every area of the ship, from bus people to ships officers. They are genuinely good people who are kind, very hard working and truly care about their guests. The “Naturalist” on board our ship is a true gem. His many talks, all on itinerary and world issue related subjects were educational and entertaining with a dash of humor. No wonder Celebrity has retained him for more than a decade. The other entertainment was good but, not great; I rate them a “B”. Unfortunately, all the remaining details are negative, VERY NEGATIVE: We chose Celebrity Air because they promise to take care of you when things go wrong. Our experience was exactly the opposite. Celebrity Air’s carrier cancelled our flight from LAX-SFO, which would have left us stranded in LAX after we’d been traveling for almost 24 hrs. Celebrity Air then refused to pay for an available flight on a different airline because, they said the available flights “are not in our inventory.” Are you kidding me? LEAVING PASSENGERS STRANDED ON THE WAY HOME IS EGREGIOUS AND IRRESPONSIBLE, and Celebrity should be ashamed of this. The other negative aspects of this Celebrity cruise were already enough to prevent us cruising with them again but, this blatant hard heartedness should make every traveller think carefully before cruising with Celebrity. We were late into and out of ports more often than we were on time. Our tender in Cabo was slowest most disorganized I’ve ever seen in multiple cruises to Cabo; so bad that we couldn’t even make it to shore. To make it worse, the ship’s crew wouldn’t say why. Boarding in Valparaiso was also extremely slow and disorganized. Celebrity’s explanation (given a few days later) was that the port changed rules at the last minute. However, Celebrity didn’t do enough to communicate this and respond properly in real time. In contrast, Viking boarded their customers efficiently right next to us. We had WiFi in our package but, it simply wasn’t functional and we had to pay for an upgrade; it was still abysmal! It’s 2024 and Celebrity needs to upgrade their equipment. With the exception of Murano, the food on the ship was mediocre, and the deserts were terrible; over beaten and much too sugary. The wines in the Classic package are barely 2-buck Chuck quality. Come on man, the world is awash in outstanding inexpensive wine; stop trying to squeeze every dollar here and there. Eclipse is at least two years past needing completely refurbished soft goods; they’re past worn and on the edge of tattered. As a fairly experienced cruiser, I would advise anyone considering Celebrity to think very carefully before making that choice.

There was no indication on the documentation - communications provided by NCL at the time of purchase of the cruise and during subsequent communication from NCL prior to the cruise that, there would be a 25% tax charged on drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and all new purchases on board while in Brazilian water or ports. We were advised of the 25% tax on the day we arrived in Brazil. Most of the passengers were not aware. While the cruise itself allowed us to view spectacular scenery and the ship was clean, comfortable and the crew was excellent, the attitude of NCL representatives when enquiring about non-disclosing this information was non-cooperative and we did not get the understanding that anything would be done to correct the documentation information that NCL provides. I am not aware of how the other pany are dealing with this issue but I feel that individuals planning a cruise that goes to Brazil should receive transparent information before deciding to choose that cruise.

Aging ship much in need of refurb. I’m leaving this review before we left port because the room is so bad don’t want others to make the same mistake.

Good Cruise, would love to go to most places again. met some lovely people and made friends. A cruise that was amazing made even better by everyone wanting the same thing, what you put in, you get out. Argentina refused entry to P&O because of the Union Jack Flag painted on its Bow.

We have multiple cruises under our belt and have been all over the world. This cruise experience is like no other. Service and professionalism has taken a back seat ever since COVID except for this cruise. From flights, transportation, organization, attention to detail and service this cruise has been the pinnacle of all my cruises.

Go. Sail on the Flora. You’ll not regret the experience.

If you want to experience South America with the least sea days then this is the cruise for you. Staying in Rio for 3 days was the highlight. Also two of the ports you stay till 10 pm. This allows you to walk around at night.

A most interesting itinerary. Very relaxing cruise with amazing scenery in the sail by trips. Saw minimal wildlife.

GALAPAGOS REVIEW We just returned from the August 25, 2019 Inner Loop sailing on the Flora. It was a trip of a lifetime and Celebrity exceeded our expectations!!! From the minute we stepped off the plane until the minute we flew home, they were right there taking care of all the logistics...ticketing, transfers, documentation, luggage, etc. It's also the first time on a cruise that we had a ZERO balance on the last day!!! For our experience, I found that my Chaco sandals were good for the beach hikes, but was very thankful to have trail shoes (Columbia trail running shoes) to navigate the rocks and lava fields. Plenty of people wore regular sneakers, which was OK, but they did slip on dusty rocks at times. There were 2 times they recommended long pants/sleeves, but I'm not really sure why? It was not necessary. The naturalists and the tender drivers stay covered head to toe at all times to protect from the sun. I'm from Georgia and don't like to be cold, but had the attitude that I could withstand it for a 45 minute snorkel!!! One time, I had to talk myself off the ledge because the cold water took my breath away upon entry. Once I regained my composure, it was totally worth it to see the turtles feeding on algae! I felt good about my clothing choices. No one cares what you wear. I would say most were dressed "nice" for dinner, but I did see some in jeans and even one couple in gym clothes. I usually wore a sun dress or pants with a cute top. Men wore jeans or slacks with a shirt. I also felt like I needed to look the part of adventurer, but that is not the case. The dry wicking shorts are nice and I used a PFG long sleeve shirt as my top layer. If you go straight from a hike to snorkel, wear your swim suit as there is nowhere to change!!! I'm sure it would be frowned upon, but we figured out to take a washcloth with us to brush the sand from our feet after a wet landing. As for the underwater camera...I had a Fuji, but it filled with water on day 3. Before that, it took great pictures. I'm sure it was user error as many people had the same camera. One thing I realized is that I was freer to enjoy the snorkel without worrying about the perfect shot. At the end of the cruise, they do give you a USB with pictures from the week. Travel and tourism in the Galapagos is HIGHLY regulated, so you cannot just jump in the water anytime you want...or walk anywhere either. There were a couple of times, when we didn't have far to cruise, that we would just sit until it was our appointed time to disembark. We sat looking at nice calm water with a white sand beach in the distance but were stuck on the ship. By the time we snorkeled, the water there was choppy. That is my only complaint and Celebrity has nothing to do with it!!! The "deep water snorkel" is the best and you don't have to be super experienced...you just can't touch the bottom. They do give you a talk the night before each island to discuss excursion options and level of difficulty. Obviously, this is subjective, but we felt they might have put a little too much emphasis on "strenuous" or "fitness walk." I'm 51 and in decent shape. I walk a lot for exercise and found all the walks easy. My 81 year old mom would not agree. According to my Fitbit, the hike that went by Darwain's Lake was 33 flights of stairs. The one on Bartolome was 402 stairs plus some incline. All of the hikes had stops along the way for the naturalists to talk and point out critters. A disappointment for us was there was no snorkeling the last 2 days. The Darwain Tortoise Center was good, but I could've breezed through there and then snorkeled. I did not need all of the allotted time to shop. As stated the food is good. The breakfast was basically the same everyday, but yummy. The Grill is great for lobster, but I did hear someone say they will bring it to you in the MDR if you ask. The french fries are not worth the calories. I enjoyed the cultural food and different ceviche everyday. There was a family on our cruise with 4 kids ages 9-15. They were wonderful and added a great touch of fun to our week. I did hear that the week before had some challenging kids. As with any cruise, you never know what people will be there. We had a great group by week's end. There were those who kept to themselves and others who formed connections as the week went by. Celebrity provides you with a water bottle, poncho (needed once), lip balm and a string backpack. As noted, you must have your bags out the night before the cruise and the last night of the cruise. I wish I had had a bigger backpack or carry-on for this purpose. Hope this helps!! Have a great trip to the Galapagos. You will NEVER regret it or forget it!!!!

Love the Galapagos . Have much respect for the people who put their hearts into the conservation of their homeland

Overall the Flora and all of the Excursions on all of the Islands was Spectacular. We met a great deal of nice people who were so excited about biding the Galápagos Islands. The major Flaws were the toilets that would not flush and the floor drains in the bathroom overflowing. We travel Celebrity quite often and the Employees and Management did not come up to the Celebrity Standards. All employees need to be adequately trained before they come on the ship to serve the Guest. We all paid Big $$$s to go in this cruise and most of us felt we did not get the Suite Service we were told to expect. The food quality was Not up to Celebrity Standards. We had huge shrimp one night and they were mushy and taste terrible. I had the Executive Chef come to my table and take the shrimp away and see the problem. He returned and told me the shrimp were bad. He never replace them or brought me something else. These staffing & food quality problems can be easily solved with proper management.

Awesome. No complaints. Staff was wonderful and friendly. The ship was clean. Food was very good and a wide variety of choices