Our February 2011 cruise on Infinity to South America and cruise tour to Machu Picchu was amazing. We flew out through Dallas overnight to Buenos Aires on American. We were able to sleep a little, so we were functioning pretty well when we arrived. One benefit of flying to South America is that there is very little jet lag. We were only a couple of time zones east of home.
We followed Trip Advisor's instructions on getting through the Buenos Aires airport and they worked very well. We paid our $140 each, went through immigration and customs, and got a taxi from the Ezezia tax stand. We already had some Argentinean currency, so we used that to pay for our cab, although they would have taken dollars. The cab dropped us off at the Pamamericano Hotel which I booked through their website (http://www.panamericano.us/index_eng.html). We felt that it was a good value. The location is central to all of the main sights, right at the Obelisk on Avenida 9 de Julio. The people at the desk were very helpful. Since it was mid-morning when we arrived, we weren't able to get into our room. They checked our bags for us and we started exploring Buenos Aires.
We picked up our Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus tickets at the main office. I had ordered them on-line at a small discount (http://www.buenosairesbus.com/en/service.htm). Since the line for the bus was long, we walked to the Recoleta area so I could order a leather jacket from the URU Recoleta store (http://www.us-cueros.com.ar/english/home.html). It wasn't quite as much of a bargain as I hoped, but was still a good deal for custom made. We ate a nice lunch at the Cafe Victoria. We found the HOHO bus stop and took the bus back to the starting point. The bus gives an overview of the city with good recorded commentary. When we got back to the hotel, we were able to get into our room. Around 8 that evening we walked through the theatre district on Avenue Corientes for dinner. We felt very safe since so many people were out. We ate at Restaurante Chiquilin. I had my first Argentinean steak which was very good. English is pretty common in very touristy areas, but away from them it is more limited. We felt safe, but we were very careful. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city with very European architecture.
Nice location toward the center of the ship, convenient to Computer area, quiet, plenty of storage, nice balcony