South America Cruise Reviews

Adventure cruise for the active cruiser. This would be difficult but possible for someone with limitations. The crew and naturalists go above and beyond to give each person the best experience. We had two naturalists who were there 9 years ago! They are still passionate about what they do and very knowledgeable. Highly recommend this cruise. The price is steep but the service and “all included” is worth it!

It is really too bad that Celebrity is moving away from the 16 person ship. We had 6 of our friends with us so we felt like we had our own charted boat. Even if just a couple, you will feel that way. We knew all the crew quickly and they knew us as well. I would definitely recommend Celebrity for the Galapagos. I don't see how another company (i.e. Lindblad) could do much better. Seems like it was a bit cheaper also.

The Antartica was on our bucket list. It was an amazing trip.

The small ship and longer length cruise allows you to make friends.

Loved every minute of our 19 day cruise experience except the disembarkation. Even though the last day (disembarkation chaos) was a black mark on Princess and the cruise overall I would reccomend this cruise itinerary, ship, staff and Princess in a heartbeat.

It was my best cruise, because, it was so beautiful to see the animals on their environement and the islands and all the team of the cruise, give their best and we feel in the beginning of the world and the respect of the nature is an exemple for all the world. In the ship, leaves the naturalists , that are from Galapagos and explain all to us. We feel in an true expedition...

At a South America cruise you should speak and understand a little bit or more spain. At the ports and embarking terminal and disembarking terminal 90% of the volontiers speak only spanish.

A tour of a lifetime. Would definitely recommend the itinerary and Norwegian.

We loved the itinerary of this cruise. We spent a few days in Santiago before the cruise and a few days in Buenos Aires after the cruise to make this a very complete and enjoyable experience. The weather varies a lot on this cruise due to the itinerary and it is better to carry some extra clothing. Excursions are required to explore the interior of the places the ship anchors.

Fun, exciting cruise to Antarctica. Even in summer, south america can have rain, snow, sun all in a few hours. Mostly good weather though. Some disappointments in the ship with crew, food, drinks, a mixed international crowd, but I guess a bargain overall with the number of days on board plus the chance to see Antarctica and the Wildlife.

Not all ports were landings, some were ‘drive-bys’ (Zodiac trips). We had a great time on this cruise. It is not like the big ships but given the size of the boat, the crew did a great job of making this a great trip. Lots of close animal encounters. This is a very casual cruise so don’t over pack. Lots of snorkeling and beach landings. Zodiacs are the only way on and off of the boat so you have to be physically able for this cruise. Several of the shore excursions are very rigorous and not for folks that are not in shape. Having said that, I am 76 and did all of the hikes.

Great trip Lots of great geology flora and fauna. Structured all inclusive trip.

A most memorable journey!! It was well worth the wait for us and I urge perspective travelers to take this trip while still in good health. It is a physical trip that requires stamina.

While our past Celebrity cruises emphasized more mature passengers, this holiday sailing was filled with families with children. I think it overwhelmed the crew at least for the first 2-3 days, but once underway, it turned out to be okay. But since we value cruises as rest & relaxation time, we will not be booking holiday sailings again. That said, we will book with Celebrity again. The food and service was excellent.

Good ship, Older crowd. Good food. Overpriced shore excursions at not great ports.

No keys to the cabins (the cabins do not lock). The TV is only connected to a portable dvd player. The rooms did not have binoculars, robes, tissues orny other ammenities for the first cruise.  When I complained to Celebrity they told me that it was the first cruise so what should I expect. With regard to the rooms not locking, Concierge Dianna ( who claims to be the point person for Celebrity CEO Lisa LP) to me the brochure never said the cabin doors lock.  WOW. Celebrity had no clue.  

The part of the expedition run by the National Park was excellent.

I. Would definitely recommend this cruise to others. There was a great mixture of interesting ports plus an equal number of relaxing sea days. Our Vista suite was a first class accommodation; having our own small private balcony was a luxury we will never again forego. We purchased 15 Holland America shore excursions and feel 14 of them were worth every penny. (Not "Scenes of LaSerena and Elqui Valley.")

The staff, without exception, was excellent. The food was great; we preferred eating in the dining room as opposed to the more informal buffet line.

A big time bucket-lister - rounding Cape Horn and exploring routes and watering holes of the HMS Beagle. Weather (an essential element of this cruise) was more than doable and often downright spectacular. Rough swells chased us out of the open seas into sheltered passages (got to see more of Darwin's channel than might have been planned - but that was a good thing).  Port strikes in Chile made embarkation in Valparaiso a nightmare, and ruined scheduled port tours in Puerto Arenas, Chile - the Crown Princess may have been innocent but it had happened before and they failed to properly inform passengers of what was going on in a timely and credible manner.  Three formal nights - but limited access to Captain and staff during these events (a bit truncated and curt).

Unfortunately the ports on this cruise do not seem to cater to cruise ships.   Buenos Aires doesn't have a dock for large cruise ships.  Ship was docked at a pier normally used for cargo container ships.  Since you are in a shipping container yard shuttles are used to take passengers from the terminal to ship.  Valparaiso (end of cruise)  was no different.  Most of the ports of calls require tenders which means less time on shore even if everything goes right, unfortunately most times things didn't go right.  We were late getting off ship at almost every port.  Ship tours are over priced.  For example In Puerto Madryn we took a tour to Peninsula Valdes for $122/person (includes $22 entry fee to Valdes).  Similar Princess tour was $239/person.  There are tour operators at all ports with similar tours so we had no problem getting tours on our own.  Of course taking ship tours guarantees you won't get left behind if tour returns late but we didn't have any problems.   Princess also seems to give more time on shore to those taking their over priced tours.  Princess would tell us the last tender back to ship was 3:00 pm but Princess tour schedule showed last tour returns at 4:30 pm which means the last tender cannot be at 3:00.  Also the ship was scheduled to sail at 5:00 pm.  I have never seen this on other cruise lines.  We were supposed to dock at Ushuaia however water wasn't deep enough so tenders had to be used and 1st tender left 2-1/2 hours later than advertised docking time of 7:00 am.  On return from town at 2:45 pm we find a 2 hour wait to get on tender back to ship which left Ushuaia about 3 hours late.  This resulted in 1 hour late arrival at next port.  At Valpariaso the ship docks at a shipping container yard so shuttle buses are use to take passengers from ship 2 miles away to terminal.  We were scheduled to leave at 9:35 am however the bus drivers went on strike around 9:00 am and didn't get back to work until just after 1:00 pm, we finally got off the ship at 1:30 pm.   If you don't like a lot of tender rides (some lasting 25 minutes) than I would not take this cruise.     

This is really a review of two cruises because we took that first Antarctic cruise of the year in 2015 and liked it so much we came back for the cruise that included South Georgia Island. Our only disappointment was that we did not get on shore to see the millions of king penguins but had to see them from a zodiac because of high seas.

Anyway, traveling through the Antarctic Peninsula was an amazing experience. The expedition team did a wonderful job of getting everyone on shore safely to see the wildlife as well as giving interesting and informative lectures. We got to see several different types of penguins, seals and many kinds of birds on the landings. This was an experience of a lifetime. 

One problem with any Antarctic cruise is crossing the Drake Passage where the seas can be very rough and many people, including my wife, get seasick. If you are likely to get seasick, it is best to choose a stateroom located in the center of the ship on a lower deck to reduce motion.

As usual, the quality of Seabourn's facilities and crew were excellent. We only had a couple of minor complaints

-the food started to get boring by the end of the cruise.

-the observation lounge was too crowded during the afternoon tea so we could not find a place to sit if we arrived at the allotted time.