Adventures in South America

Zaandam Cruise Review to South America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 87

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Verified Review
Zaandam

16 Night South America Passage (Rio De Janeiro To Santiago)

Sail date: November 18, 2019

Ship: Zaandam

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 7077

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

I would recommend this cruise to people. However, I would provide a training course on how to survive it without getting frustrated.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Good, but had to go to a separate building in a separate line to drop off luggage first.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Really good service.

Piano Bar

5 out of 5

Best time on the ship! Daniel is awesome.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Pool and hot tubs were to hot to enjoy. Not interested in shopping on a ship!!! Most activities were designed around passengers from the UK, not people from the Midwest of the US.

Whirlpools

1 out of 5

To hot to get in. Dangerous for people with any blood pressure issues.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Not enough quality live music choices and a couple of the shows were a little lame. Comedian was not funny at all, but the duo guitarists were magical! Daniel in the piano bar always saved the day!!!

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Waiters and room stewards are the best ever! Kevin the cruise director was rude and not emotionally available. I never saw him smile, wondered if he had teeth.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Beautiful as always.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Sleep sooo well! Steward always on the ball.

Ship tip

Take a lot of books if you don’t like chamber music, shopping, or a dangerously hot jacuzzi.

Ports of call

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

4 out of 5
Everyone needs to experience the Christ the Redeemer! However, the beach was very unpleasant with venders and beggars constant annoyance.

Santos (Sao Paulo), Brazil

2 out of 5
We went to a mall, very uneventful, except I bought 3 pairs of shoes.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

3 out of 5
We ended up purchasing a city tour because we were warned about the dangers of the city, did not feel safe going out on our own. The different areas of the city were very interesting, beautiful, and also sad.

Montevideo, Uruguay

5 out of 5
Loved the people, had fun at the Carnival show and had a great lunch. The local market was fun and we felt safe there.

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

5 out of 5
The best!!! Of course the penguins are everyone’s favorite. The island and the people were so charming.

Cruise Cape Horn

4 out of 5
Really magical and exciting. Kevin’s narration was very dry.

Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina

3 out of 5
Train ride was great, exciting to be at the end of the world. However, were were ripped off by the local people, they were rude, unhelpful, and actually cheated us out of money 3 times.

Cruise Glacier Alley

4 out of 5
Again, really beautiful, but Kevin, you know...

Cruise Beagle Channel

4 out of 5
See above...

Cruise Cockburn Channel

4 out of 5
See above...

Punta Arenas, Chile

4 out of 5
Visited the ship museum and the museum in the city. Guide was very, very knowledgeable. The city was sad.

Cruise Strait Of Magellan

4 out of 5
Same as other cruise comments.

Cruise Canal Sarmiento

4 out of 5
Same as other cruise comments.

CRUISE AMALIA OR BRUJO GLACIER

4 out of 5
Same as other cruise comments.

Cruise Chilean Fjords

4 out of 5
Same as other cruise comments.

Puerto Montt, Chile

5 out of 5
Loved it. The people were so friendly. Beautiful waterfall and walking on the volcanoes was cool. The port was nice and the lunch was excellent.

San Antonio, Chile

3 out of 5
It was a really long drive. Loved the wineries and lunch. At this point, we just wanted to take another trip to just stay in Chile. However, the airport experience was a painful fiasco. We will never visit Chile because of the airport. We were dropped off with no direction and no one at the airport would help us. Really ruined the experience for us.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Really easy and convenient. Loved that the ship took our luggage directly to the airport for us.
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