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This was our ninth cruise, but the first with Holland America. We had originally booked with Royal Caribbean, but later changed to Holland when we discovered that we could also visit Rio and the Falklands. Holland gave us the cruise of a lifetime.
We were unable to get decent tickets to Rio a couple of days early, so arrived in Rio at 6 am the day of departure. Because of that, we’d made arrangements with therealrio.com after researching on Cruise Critic, and were met at the airport by Clode. He spent the next eight hours giving us a grand tour of Rio and everything we wanted to see. We were dropped off at the port by 3 pm and were onboard by 3:30.
Our travel agent had arranged a Lower Promenade outside cabin, as we love to walk each morning, and our stateroom was well laid-out and easily accessible to the promenade deck on either side of the ship. Throughout the cruise, Holland America staff seemed to be happier and more helpful than some other cruise lines. There was more complaining from fellow cruisers than we’ve ever heard before, but we found the Amsterdam staff more than helpful with the room problem we had. The Amsterdam had more lounges and private areas to hang out than any other ship we’ve been on, and throughout our 16 night cruise, we tried them all. They offered a Happy Hour in two of the lounges prior to dinnertime, which we’ve never seen on a ship before. With the Happy Hour, the wine card for dinners, and the wine we brought onboard for our cabin, we were quite content. We spent most of our days in the Crow’s Nest on the top deck enjoying the view and were rewarded one morning by passing through the largest school of dolphins we’ve ever seen. The hundreds of them literally turned and started racing the ship as we passed through.
The naturalist onboard gave twice daily talks and he was most informative. If we were unable to get into the theater, which became the case as the cruise progressed, then we could watch his talk on television while getting ready the next morning. The evening shows were standard fair with nothing outstanding besides the harpist who performed one evening. The string performers in one of the lounges and the band in the Ocean Bar were much more entertaining, and we found ourselves in either of these most every night. The food as good as any cruise, and if there was any problem with our meal, it was quickly corrected by our table staff. We never ate in the buffet other than an afternoon ice cream, but utilized the dining room for each meal. Twice we had hamburgers from the grill near the pool and enjoyed them, but not the wait in line to get them.
We did not arrange any excursions through the ship, and only had two planned prior to leaving, one of which was arranged by another member on the Roll Call for our ship. Here are our impressions of the ports of call:
Buenos Aires – This is a HUGE city. We had previously arranged a Gaucho Tour in the Pampas with Defrantur.com. It was our responsibility to meet the tour at a particular hotel, and we chose to walk rather than take a taxi. The port area, and the city as a whole, does not have very adequate sidewalks, so the walking was rough with the unevenness and holes. The Gaucho Tour was enjoyable and well worth the price. The food and drink were plentiful and empanadas delicious. When we were dropped off back in BA afterwards, we walked through the pedestrian walkway and purchased several souvenirs along with some wine for the ship. We walked back prior to dark for dinner but were so tired, we never made it out again as planned for a tango show. The next morning, we took advantage of the free shuttle offered by a jewelry store into town. Then we walked all around, saw the capital building, library, several parks, and the Recoleta Cemetery where we located Eva Paron’s crypt. From there, we took a cab for $12 to the LaBoca area and enjoyed an afternoon watching tango dancing in the streets and wandering the shops before taking another cab ($10) back to the ship.
Montevideo – This is the port where another CC member had prearranged a wine tour for $30 each. We met onshore and located the van driver, and were transported an hour out of town to an absolutely beautiful winery, Vina Varela Zarranz. The nine of us had a private tour of the 100 year old buildings and winery and walked the vineyards before sitting down to a tasting of wines accompanied by delicious cheeses and meats. Since we all purchased wines for the cruise, we dropped our bottles off in our stateroom immediately upon return to the port before walking around Montevideo and the nearby courtyard. Montevideo is definitely a place where you would want to get out of the city to enjoy the surrounding beautiful beaches or countryside.
Stanley, Falkland Islands – Pulled in to the island as we were walking and watched them prepare the tenders for this port. We’ve read where quite a high percentage of ships don’t make it into Stanley due to the weather, but we had perfect weather, although windy. It was not recommended to walk to the cove with the penguins due to the wind and lack of sidewalks there, so we caught a local shuttle for $20 each on shore. It took us past an old warship from the 1982 Argentina war and dropped us off at Gypsy Cove. Here we walked the shoreline among some unique topography and watched several groups of the remaining magellentic penguins. As it was late in the season, there weren’t hundreds of them, but enough for our enjoyment. We caught the shuttle back into Stanley and then walked the length of the town until we ran out of road where we discovered the Stanley Arms Pub and enjoyed conversation with a couple of the locals. After we walked back into town, we tried each of the other pubs in town, but the Stanley ended up our favorite because it was not touristy; in fact, the bartender said tourists never make it out that far.
Cape Horn – As we neared the Horn, the weather became more and more spotty changing between sun and torrential rain within minutes of one another. The captain announced we would not be “rounding the horn” due to the wind conditions, but would remain on the leeward side of the Horn for viewing prior to heading away. The Horn was actually larger than expected, and with the occasional bits of sunshine, we were able to take pictures of the lighthouse and buildings there before the seas became rough and we had to leave. The seas remained extremely rough the entire evening.
Ushuaia – We both agree that this was probably our favorite port of the cruise. We got up early and left the ship as the sun was rising above the surrounding mountains. It was fun watching the city change as the sun lit up the area. We walked to the prison to tour and then discovered a sign to the ski lift, near the glacier. So we started walking the opposite direction from the prison along the backside of the city. The signs were far between, but we discovered a lovely statue of Mother Mary on top a small hill before exiting the city and starting the upward climb. We chanced upon a sign along the road outside of town marking a trail through the woods and decided to try it. This was by far the best part of our trip. We walked on mossy turf back and forth alongside a stream of glacier water. There were a lot of spots to overlook the city or the stream and the trail was well marked and quite enjoyable. We popped out of the trail back onto the road with a sign saying the chairlift was 500 feet ahead. We arrived at the chairlift area, but chose to walk up the steep ski trails to the bottom of Martial Glacier. The scenery and view were outstanding. The walk down was much easier and we found a local store on the main street to purchase some beer and sausage before heading back to the ship.
Beagle Channel - We pulled out of Ushuaia prior to dinner and as we were in our stateroom getting ready, the captain made such a drastic turn our just-poured wine glasses went sliding off the desk into the wall and onto the floor. At dinner, we learned that all the prepared shrimp cocktails had done the same thing, so this was not a move normally made. As we neared the first of the five glaciers, we positioned ourselves outside with a glass of wine and camera ready. Traveling in this direction, all the glaciers were on the starboard side and we thoroughly enjoyed some of the most beautiful glaciers we’ve ever seen. And the sunset in the channel was spectacular.
Punta Arenas: This is a port that probably could be eliminated. Holland chooses to not utilize the port in town and docks outside of Punta Arenas. We were discouraged by several people on dock that town was too far to walk, but we ignored them and walked anyway. It was a nice walk into town and we were accompanied by several stray dogs who decided to follow us. This town was filled with stray dogs, more than the usual amount in a South American city. We found the local cemetery where strange trees lining the walkway were the highlight of the port. We found the town square with the usual vendors hawking their wares around the statue, and walked to the overlook where all the tour buses were parked with their customers for a photo opt. Asked around and located a nice restaurant where we had empanadas and beer before shopping in their local grocery for wine. A nice walk along the shore line back to the ship.
Strait of Magellan - This was a nice day reminiscent of the Alaskan inside passage. The captain pulled as close as able to the glacier where we spent over an hour taking photos as he turned the ship 360 degrees for all sides of the ship to see. We spent hours watching the water to spot whales, floating penguins, dolphins, flying fish, and albatross.
Puerto Montt – We tendered into port here and located a local guide where we joined other people for a tour of the lake area; a seven hour tour cost $35 each. We saw Volcano Osorno, Petrihue Rapids, Emerald Lake, Lago Todos Los Santas, llamas and alpacas and ate lunch at one of the nearby German towns located on Lake Llanquihue. After arriving back in Puerto Montt, we shopped the vendors located near the port before walking into town and enjoying the views of the volcanoes and ship from the harbor park.
Valparaiso/Santiago – Here we thought we’d made a big mistake by not prearranging transport to the airport prior to leaving the U.S. We honestly thought we’d meet up with other couples in our same situation and have negotiation power to arrange something in the port of Valparaiso. We found ourselves standing by the tour counter, which had preset prices but required a minimum of four people. Everyone coming up had already prearranged transport, so we spoke with the car rental people who wanted $160 to rent for the day. Even the taxis outside would not negotiate anything less than $200 just to drive us to Santiago airport. Talking with the Information desk, they recommended we walk to the nearby bus terminal (four blocks away) and take the local bus to Santiago for $6 each. So after everyone else on the cruise had left the terminal, we gathered up our luggage and headed across the cobblestone lot to the port gate around the corner. Imagine our surprise when we were mobbed outside the gate by taxi drivers and tour guides alike that are not allowed into the port. Since the time indicated we were probably the last out, we said what we wanted to see and our price. Immediately a nice young lady took our offer. We were led to an air-conditioned minibus where we were the only passengers with our own private guide and driver. She took us throughout Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, and Santiago. They even recommended a nice place alongside the coast in Vina del Mar for lunch. We were shown everything there was to see in all three cities before being dropped off at the Santiago airport. We would highly recommend Valerie with transmercury.cl tours, which can and SHOULD be prearranged.
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