Celebrity Infinity Review

First Time on Celebrity; Great Trip!

Review for South America Cruise on Celebrity Infinity
User Avatar
GottaKnowWhen
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2015
Cabin: Concierge Class 2

Quick overview, then lots of detail! We flew to Buenos Aires arriving early Friday morning. Settled in, walked around the central city. Had a fabulous dinner. Saturday morning we had a private guided tour, then spent time on our own in the artists' street market and walking in the shopping district. Late evening we went to a traditional typical tango-dance-and-dinner show. Sunday our tour guide picked us up and dropped us at the pier. Quick and easy embarkation. Sea days, then Ushuaia where we had arranged a private Walk With The Penguins. Super! Relatively mild crossing of Drake's passage followed by a drive-by of Antarctica. Icebergs, glaciers, wildlife... Couldn't ask for more. Back across Drake's to Port Stanley; the previously arranged Estancia Tours trip to Volunteer Point was utterly fantastic. Back aboard, across to Puerto Madryn. Ship's tour to Punto Tombo was ok. On to Montevideo where we went with other CCers to Colonia; a pleasant day. Next day early arrival in BA.

Smooth disembarkation, our guide there to drive us to the local airport where we caught the plane for Iguazu Falls. Spent Sunday afternoon on our own, Monday on a guided small-group tour of the Argentine side, Tuesday on our own in the town, Wednesday morning a guided small-group tour of the Brazilian side. Mid-afternoon pickup, airport, flight to BA. Thursday on our own until our pickup at 5:00pm for a trip to the airport and an uneventful trip back home. I am ready to go do it again.

And now for the details!

Cabin Review

Concierge Class 2

Cabin C2

The cabin was clean and comfortable. Quiet. I wouldn't call it spacious, but plenty of room for two of us for two weeks, including storage for our summer clothes and winter clothes and my camera gear and computer gear etc etc. Plastic shower curtain, not a glass door, which I know is an issue for some. But we have plastic shower curtains at home so I don't see any problem. Toiletries were ok, they were restocked when needed if not before. Our previous experience was on RCCL Adventure of the Seas. Our cabins there had the bed closer to the door going out to the balcony. On Infinity our cabin was flipped, with the bed closer to the entrance, and the sitting area and desk closer to the balcony. I preferred this layout.

Port Reviews

Buenos Aires

We spent 2.5 days before and 1.5 days after the cruise in BA. Large cosmopolitan city, interesting parks and museums, great restaurants and shows. Interesting street art, murals, and graffiti. Prices are reasonable, particularly if you stretch your dollars or euros by buying pesos on the street rather than at the official rate. We spent most of our time on our own, on the streets walking and visiting places. Never a hint of trouble even though we walked through some nasty areas, including one encampment of homeless persons not too far from the Casa Rosada one evening. I am sure there is crime but one is probably as safe there as in New York or Chicago or Paris or Rome. Good shopping possibilities; designer clothes, leather goods, etc. Just watch for the large quantities imported from China.

Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego)

We did the Walk with the Penguins arranged through Pira Tours. A longish but fairly comfortable ride. They limit the number of persons on the island where the penguin rookery is located, so half of the people on the bus hung around for an hour or so while the other half of the passengers went over. Then we loaded up on a large zodiac-type boat, did a 15-20 minute ride across a lagoon to the rookery. An hour uncles and personal with Magellanic plus a few Gentoo and 3 King penguins. Great!

Stanley

We arranged directly for a tour to Volunteer Point. Not sure where I heard of Estancia Tours. On the trip Roll Call there was much discussion of Volunteer Point as THE thing to do on this two-week cruise. And how one needed to book an excursion 6-12 months ahead because they are so popular with space limited. All of that is true, but we didn't book the cruise until two months out and it was about 3 weeks out that I made contact with the young lady who runs Estancia. Made reservations, no problem. No online payment, cash only on the day of the excursion. We were off the ship on the 1st tender, found Nyree, she put us and another couple in a beat-up Land Rover, and we were off for the promised 2.5 hours of bumpy cross-country driving to get to Volunteer Point. It was worth every bump! A rookery with a large number of King penguins plus many Magellenic and a few Gentoos. And Skua and Upland Geese and Cormorants etc. I think we had about two hours there to wander the area, observe and photograph. Then a box-lunch prepared by Nyree's mother, and the long bumpy ride back to port. We had a great driver who grew up near where we were visiting, he knew everybody and everything that had happened on the Falklands in the last 40-50 years and he shared that with us with interesting stories. We had time after we got back to port to sit and have a beer at the local pub while we watched people in line for the tender try to avoid the rain shower that came through. Another great day and most certainly the highlight of the cruise. In terms of numbers, I think Volunteer Point was about at capacity that day. Between Estancia and a couple of other operators they can quickly use up all available drivers with 4x4's which they are willing to subject to the kind of beating that the rough terrain puts them through. I counted 64 vehicles, so about 250 visitors.

Montevideo

A fellow Roll Call member had arranged for a small bus load of us to drive an hour and a half up the coast to the old city of Colonia. A few hours there wandering the old sections, having lunch. Pleasant enough. Unfortunately the driver was also the guide, so 2 or three times we all had to gather and load up on the bus and go a block only to again disembark. If there had been two of them, we could have easily walked the whole time and met up with the bus later.

1 Helpful Vote
previous reviewnext review

Find a Celebrity Infinity Cruise from $699

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.