South American ports not worth visiting

Norwegian Sun Cruise Review to South America

albertdon

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 26

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

Voyage to South America from San Diego

Sail date: November 04, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Sun

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8073

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The Norwegian Sun, although 15 years old, is a good ship and small. The crew was very nice and pleasant. The cruise business would not exist without the Filipinos and Indonesians. They are very humble and hard-working.

This repositioning cruise left San Diego on Nov. 4, 2015 ending in Valparaiso, Chile on Nov. 21. We had wonderful weather except for heavy winds after Arica which made the last three days unpleasant as the Sun was rocking hard.

The only thing that was wrong with this cruise was the ports selected. Except for El Callao, the port of Lima, Puntarenas in Costa Rica where you enter the spectacular Gulf of Nicoya, and Arica, Chile, the remaining ports were presumably chosen only because the port charges were cheap.

In Mexico we did not dock at Acapulco but at a little town Huatulco, and then at Puerto Chiapas, where they had a nice welcoming band but there is no town, this is an industrial port where they have a small area for tourists and souvenir shops. In Guatemala, the same happened at Puerto Quetzal, a port for cargo, no town nearby. But the worst was Salaverry in Peru, a real ghost town. The comedian on the ship, Fred, even joked about its bustling streets. There were other interesting ports on the way, Guayaquil for example but I guess Frank del Rio, the Norwegian CEO was looking to save money. Apart from worthless ports a nice cruise. Lots of Chinese, older Chinese people that tend not to respect the lines at the buffett and were everywhere on the ship. The Americans were mostly people who should already be at a nursing home.