We started our 21-day South American cruise on 2 March after spending a few days exploring Buenos Aires. We enjoyed the ports of Punta Del Este and Montevideo in Uruguay. Azamara is famous for their unique AzAmazing Evening Events. Ours was at the National Theatre of Uruguay, Teatro Solis where we witnessed a Carnival Gala. We also sailed to the ports of Ushuaia, Argentina, and Punta Arenas, Chile. Then our cruise got VERY interesting. Our wonderful Capt. Carl Smith from the Isle of Man--Master of Azamara Pursuit announced to the ship that South American countries were closing their ports to cruise ships and that our cruise had to be suspended. We were assured that we would be taken care of no matter what happened. Azamara made arrangements to refuel and bring on more food/drink onboard. Then we were notified that because we could not be assured of flights home or our safety if we disembarked the ship, the Pursuit would sail through the Panama Canal and on to Miami!!! All of the passengers cheered and clapped for our Captain with that news. Originally we were scheduled to finish our cruise on 23 March in Lima, Peru, instead we arrived safely in Miami on the 30th of March. This was my 29th cruise and our first cruise with Azamara, let me say that this cruise was one of the best and most memorable cruises we have ever taken! From Captain Carl and his officers/crew, they went above and beyond in keeping us safe, entertained as well as keeping us well informed as we sailed thru uncharted waters that the Chinese Coronavirus put us in. We were very fortunate that our ship had zero illnesses as we sailed in our bubble to Miami. One hero that I would like to mention is Beth, HR Mgr on the Pursuit (she retired from American Airlines HR Dept - 30 years) who went out of her way for the Pursuits 700 passengers, but she stayed on the ship until each and every crew member found flights to their home countries. Speaking of flights, Azamara (RCCL) charters flights for their 100+ European passengers to London and to Sydney for the 70 passengers from Australia. They even made us box lunches to take to the airport (since nothing was open) as we flew to our homes. Azamara Club Cruises has a new customer for life! Read Less

Wow! The Coronavirus caused us to have quite the unexpected journey. Fortunately no one on the ship was infected with the virus. We were sailing to Pisco, Peru on day 18 of our planned 20 day cruise when the captain announced Peru had closed all its ports to cruise ships. Responding to this, our ship reversed direction and started sailing south with plans to return to the port of San Antonio, Chile. San Antonio was about a three day sail from our current position. After sailing toward Chile for a day or more, the captain made another announcement telling us that Chile had just closed its ports due to two cruise ships in San Antonio with infected passengers. Once again Marina changed direction to sail north to the Panama Canal. We arrived at the Canal on Wednesday morning then anchored outside the Pacific entrance to the Canal while Oceania worked feverishly to secure our ship a slot to transit the Canal. Eventually the captain was able to announce that we would transit the canal starting at 6 a.m. Friday. After spending all day Friday transiting the Canal, we were able to head directly to Miami arriving there early Monday morning. Oceania did a fabulous job rebooking our flight and arranging free bus transportation to the Miami airport for all passengers. The crew on Marina was consistently pleasant and positive in the face of this unexpected itinerary. It helped that the passengers too were pleasant and positive. Oceania was most generous in providing two nights of an open bar during the unexpected days at sea and a 50% credit toward our next Oceania cruise. We’ve already booked a Baltic Sea cruise in 2021. Read Less

We chose this ship for the itinerary Buenos Aires to Santiago. Itinerary perfect but book your own independent tours for so much less money and far better - too many people on ship tours - think toilets! Staff were fabulous but the people on board lovely but so old i.e. most between 70 and 80 years . No one around after 10 PM . The poor band which were great but had an audience of 6 - quite sad really . Food and dining - great . Tenders to ports were a fiasco. Disorganised and no information if we we were late to port no information from the captain , staff were not informed - it was a shambles , worst part of the cruise.Dining room was the best place to eat as the horizon buffet just too manic . Each to their own ! But definitely recommend for itinerary, the food and friendliness on board and read above for thoughts.. Read Less

The primary reason for this cruise was to see Antarctica - everything else was secondary. Coral Princess is a great ship in very good condition. May have the smallest ration of passengers per ton of any major cruise ship making for a very uncrowded experience. Superb Captain, very good crew, might be my favorite cruise ship (this was cruise 16.) Embarkation seemed hectic with what felt like a crowded lounge but from arrival to cabin was less than one hour. Disembarkation (Club Class) had a lounge with refreshments and snacks and also went smoothly, less than 20 minutes once our group was called and less than 2 hours after arrival. Dining room was open so we had breakfast before leaving. D412 Cabin (Mini-suite) was spacious, quite and well located (mid-ship). Did not have the squeaks and creaks that we were expecting in this no longer young ship. Note that the large balcony is completely exposed to those above all the way up to the top deck - this is not a private balcony. More outlets than I have ever seen in a stateroom before.Room steward was attentive. Food was very good with the Club Class anytime dining, with a little something extra prepared in the space for you each meal, was outstanding. All the benefits of anytime with the same team serving each evening. Food and wine recommendations were on point. Entertainment options were many, professional shows were okay but not great, few ports meant less variety in the entertainment. Good lectures regarding the cruise destinations. Nice gym, gets good usage as well. Antarctica was simply amazing - this should be on your bucket list! Other ports are small and excursions fill up fast - do not delay in signing up for excursions! Read Less

Short attention span version - Fabulous! The itinerary was Buenos Aires - Miami 34-day "Grand Voyage", AKA B2B. Captain - Luci Manzi General Manager - Dominique Nicolle Cruise Director - Peter Roberts First impression: Marina is in outstanding condition. DW and I didn't observe any unsatisfactory issues as some have described. Excellent dining in GDR, Wave Grill and specify restaurants. We didn't dine in Terrace. Speaking of specialty restaurants, we had no problem obtaining additional reservations than allowed for our B3 cabin. Due to rough seas and last minute cancellations, we obtained reservations for 2 alone on 23 of 34 days. Average age of passengers Buenos Aires - Santiago de Chile was 60s - 70s. In addition, there were 27 young children. Average age of passengers Santiago - Miami was late 60s - early 80s. In addition, there were 2 young children and 2 teenagers. Zero behavioral issues due to parental control. Dress code was only enforced on a random basis. "Dressy" (sarcasm) Levis or Wranglers were allowed in GDR and specialty restaurants unless they were faded. Minimum age guideline for specialty restaurants were also ignored. For example, there were 5 - 6 children, approximate age of 5, dining in Toscana that had no interest in the food but enjoyed a lively game of hide-and-go-seek around the tables. Jumping on their chairs was also acceptable. Parents were oblivious to it all. Vero water - excellent. Sparkling and still were available. Passengers don't have access to a refilling station. Cabin attendants don't refill partially used bottles. They are replaced twice - daily in the morning and at turndown by new bottles. Additional bottles were available on request. New 4X water filtration system takes the "odd" taste out of desalinated water. In addition, most of the time the tap water was cool instead of warm. Announcements - Peter kept his 10:00 am announcements to around ten minutes most of the time, except on shore days. If you wanted more detailed info, it would be broadcast on cannel 10. The captains 12:00noon announcement was also informative but short. No problem. Noro issue first half of cruise - During Peter's announcements, he would mention that Marina was a "healthy ship" and we would do our best to keep it that way. The usual direction, wash hands often and use the sanitizers. Noro precautions second half of cruise - Pater warned that the area was notorious for noro, Extra steps were taken to prevent a potential outbreak. There were spray sanitizers provided in the cabins. Passengers using board games were instructed to return them to the front desk. Books were to be left on the tables rather than returned to the bookshelves. There we no outbreaks that we heard of. Read Less

This cruise was 3 years in the making for us, and at a not inconsiderable cost, I am thrilled to say it was worth every cent. If there was a 6 star option I would choose it. Firstly, sorry for the lengthy descriptions below. Before we booked this cruise there was little to no information available, so I’ve gone a bit over the top with the detail in case you’re like me and prefer to know what to expect, to be able to plan appropriately. We did the 12 day Antarctica in Depth from Ushuaia departing on 7 Dec 2019. Return internal flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia were included in the Scenic quote, but we wanted to have a few days in Ushuaia before the cruise, so Scenic happily refunded our inbound flight portion, and we booked our own one-way flight with Aerolineas Argentinus. I urge you to do this – we did a half day Tierra Del Fuego National Park tour from Ushuaia with Canal Fun and Nature, and really it’s not to be missed. I was also slightly nervous that AA would cancel the inbound flight on the cruise departure day, so wanted to give us a few days buffer. (And ps, the Scenic flight is VERY early in the morning, 7am or so. Ugh, not for me). Ushuaia is a small and walkable town with an interesting history. The “Blue Bus” 1 hr city tour was fun (in a Fawlty Towers kind of way), with steamed up windows and cramped seats, but we had a bit of a laugh, and enjoyed touring through the suburbs and local beauty spots. Embarkation - walking along the Ushuaia pier to Scenic Eclipse was a little bit emotional – we were amongst those impacted by the building delays, so to finally board the ship 12 months on from the original departure date was quite surreal. Boarding was quick (even for us who forgot to attach our luggage tags to the luggage, duh), and we were in our cabin within 15 minutes of arriving – the luggage arrived just a minute later. Cabin - #627 was a Deluxe Verandah (almost the “middle of the middle” of the ship – booked to minimize sea sickness) on the starboard side, and was plenty big enough for the 2 of us. It had a king size bed (like sleeping on a cloud), a little seating area, heaps of storage, usb charging points next to the bed (yes!), dyson hairdryer (whoa!), unlimited free wifi (sometimes with drop outs, but well … Antarctica !), excellent block out blinds, and an adequate verandah with table and two chairs. Everything was fresh and new. This particular cabin had the bed facing “backwards” ie. When lying in bed you’re looking towards the back of the ship, not forwards to what’s coming up in front. I found this a little disconcerting, but not a major drama. Don’t worry about whether port or starboard is better – there will be 360 degrees of stunning scenery, and the ship often turns to cater for the sub, so either side will afford mind-blowing views. The shower-room was well-lit with a storage mirror above the vanity, drawer space, and open shelving to the side. Others have commented on the lack of towel hanging space with only two hooks, but ours also had a large towel rail next to the vanity; perhaps this has since been incorporated. Large pump-packs of Espa toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, handwash and moisturiser were provided. I found the shampoo very drying, but perhaps this was due to the overall very dry air in Antarctica. I found the all-in-one vanity unit slightly annoying because I like to put my makeup bag on the vanity itself, but there was no dry space to do this. Just a slight niggle. There is one MAJOR pain in both Verandah and Deluxe Verandah cabin styles – the large “opening outwards” wardrobe doors. We often crashed into each other if the wardrobe door and bathroom door were open at the same time. This was compounded by the swaying of the ship, which often meant being wacked on the head or back trying to get clothes out of the wardrobe (remember you’ll be accessing the wardrobes several times a day going to and from excursions). Successfully making a coffee with the amenities door and fridge door open, crashing into you while holding boiling hot water, was at times a super-human effort! We would most definitely upgrade to a Grand Deluxe cabin with the walk in wardrobe if cruising again on this ship. Yes we would cruise on this ship again. Sliding doors with strong magnets on Scenic Eclipse 2 please. OK that’s the not so good out of the way. In every other aspect, this cruise was SPECTACULAR ! Common areas – luxurious, comfortable, immaculate, spacious. The Discovery Lounge was the go to place at the end of each day to swap photos and have a nightly cocktail (or 4) with other cruisers. The Theatre was very comfortable – a handful of seats though faced a structural column, so get there 10 minutes before the lectures to nab a good seat. Fellow Passengers - There were 199 Passengers on-board – 50% Aussies, 20% each US/UK, with the remainder being a small mix of Canadians, Germans and Asians. There were a handful of very well behaved teenagers on this cruise; it's not a cruise for young children, and there were none on-board. Butler, Cabin Steward and Restaurant Staff – always a smile and nothing too much trouble. When I tried on my Scenic supplied jacket on day one I found it a little snug … a quick call to Steve our Butler, and within one minute (yes one minute !), he was at the door with a larger size. Was he sitting in the coat storage cupboard ? I have no idea, but his response time to any issue was really quite incredible. Restaurant bookings were organised without a hitch, and Richard kept our cabin immaculately clean and complimentary items always stocked. Again, always with a friendly greeting when we met in the hallway. Expedition Team and Excursions – this is where we learnt that a Zodiac Driver is not just a Zodiac Driver! While being transported onshore, more often than not Chris the Marine Biologist, or Sarah the Geomorphologist, or Pepe the Ornithologist would be sharing their knowledge of the local environment or fauna. Simply incredible knowledge and experience has been brought together on this cruise. There were daily enrichment lectures in the theatre (or simulcast on the cabin tv) by the Team. Danny the Expedition Leader was inspirational and seemed to be everywhere at once, keeping an eye on proceedings and making sure Passengers and Crew were safe. Danny honestly deserves an 11/10 (and perhaps cloning?). Kayaking was our favourite excursion – silently gliding amongst icebergs while penguins are porpoising next to (and under) you while the snow drifts gently down … OMG this was the epitome of the million pinch me moments of this cruise. Sub and Helicopter – Having a lower category cabin may have affected our ability to get onto “the list” for these activities. My husband desperately wanted to go on the sub - each day he dutifully checked the list at reception. It wasn’t until the last day that he was offered a ride. We put our names down for the helicopter but never made it on. I didn’t really care either way, but this was our only negative activity feedback to Scenic - the lack of communication around these extra activities and having to keep checking if you were one of ‘the chosen ones’. It got a bit tedious. I expect those booking the higher cabin categories were given preference, though we found out later that other people in the same cabin category were offered 2 helicopter rides, so go figure. A few weeks before we cruised, Scenic emailed an ‘expression of interest’ for these activities - my husband put down the sub, but we didn’t put down the helicopter, and we didn’t attend the helicopter briefing session on the ship - maybe that affected our chances, even though we filled out the helicopter form on the ship twice. So express interest, attend briefing sessions, and fill out the form on the ship - this should give you a better chance. My husband’s sub was around 30 minutes all up and cost USD$295 pp (worth every cent he said). The Helicopter was around USD$795 pp for 20 minutes, Yikes. Others we spoke to raved about it, so probably worth it in the grand scheme of things. Dining – Wow ! Beautifully presented and always fresh – incredible given there are no provisioning stops during the cruise. The Lumiere degustation is something not to be missed – ask your Butler to book it when you arrive. The menu changes every four days, so going back a second or third time is recommended. The Teppanyaki also needs to be booked in advance if you’re interested. You can simply turn up at any of the other restaurants. Our favourites were Kokos Asian Fusion and Azure Café (healthy options always available). Tips (Antarctica Specific) - • If arriving from Australia, stay at least 5 days in Buenos Aires (beautiful city) to settle into the new time zone and to get over the long flights (I suffered jet-lag for the first 4 days). Also 2 days in Ushuaia before the cruise. • The Scenic chartered flights have a 23kg baggage limit. Be careful of Aerolineas Argentinus which has 15kgs. We paid an extra $15 to have 2 x 15kg bags instead. And no, they won’t let you put it all in one 23kg bag, very inflexible. If you receive the opportunity to upgrade to Business Class … DO IT ! We received an email a couple of days before the flight, paid $50USD pp, and were blown away by the spacious comfortable leather seat, plus a 23kg bag limit, score. It was the best $50 I’ve ever spent - Economy was certainly cramped on the way back to Buenos Aires. • During the cruise you’ll cop a bit of spray in the zodiacs, and if the wind is up it’s bitterly cold, so you most definitely need waterproof pants and gloves (both glove liners with smartphone touchpads, plus waterproof ski type gloves). Scenic will supply the double layered waterproof jacket and knee-high rubber boots to keep you snug and stable on the snow. A neck gaiter/warm scarf and beanie/furry hat are also mandatory. The Scenic website now has a comprehensive “Polar Packing List” – check it out. • You can get away with just two sets of thermals – the ship has 3 large (i.e can do two loads of washing at once) commercial self- service washers and dryers, so it is very easy to throw washing in at the end of the day. We washed 3 times during the 12 days and never had an issue with availability in the laundry. • An good SLR camera with a 300mm zoom and sports mode will get you incredible wildlife photos. See penguin shot taken from our cabin verandah. • You don’t need super-dressy clothes, most Passengers were quite casual. My husband brought a nice dress jacket that he never used, and it took up considerable space (and weight!) in his bag. At night it was more smart casual, I wore black trousers and a nice top. The ship stays warm (perhaps a tad too warm at times), so we wore t-shirts and chinos/slacks/jeans during the day. • Pack Kwells or other sea-sickness tablets - the Drake Passage can be rocky (duh). Waves were only 3-4 meters during our 36 hour journeys to/from the Peninsula, but probably 20% of the Passengers were unwell and stayed in their cabins. I took a Kwell as soon as we rounded Cape Horn (about midnight day one) and had no issues from then on. Same for the return trip. It’s smooth sailing for the 9 days in Antarctica. • Take a few moments to sit down with the penguins. There’s a 5 meter exclusion zone for the penguins – but they don’t have to abide by it ! Have your camera ready because the Adelies are very curious and will come right up to you for a good look. The penguins were nesting on their eggs during our visit, which started hatching around 20 December. Would I cruise again on Scenic Eclipse ? Unreservedly YES. Read Less

Overall the cruise and vacation in totality was a dream vacation. The ship is new and sleek. It's beautiful appointed. The staff are all well trained, friendly and utterly professional. The itinerary was amazing. The problems in Chile are not Viking's fault, but the social unrest did curb our activities in Porte Montt, Valparaiso and Santiago. That said, there was an excursion for everyone. We enjoyed ours. There was a mass of people at the Buenos Aires ship terminal, but there was a Viking representative on hand to walk us through the crowds straight to the front of the line. Viking confidently took possession of our baggage at curbside. Our stateroom really could have been a wee bit bigger. Compared to Cunard, the room was too small. The area between he wall and the end of the king size bed was really just too tight, and there is no tub like Oceana offers. Some luxury lines offer tubs, some offer bigger rooms, Viking didn't do either. Other than the size of our stateroom our only other complaint, except for the last day in Santiago (See below), is about the dress code. Viking either needs to change the dress code and all their advertising including videos - or enforce it. Some of the people showed up to dinner in t-shirts. Flip flops with rhinestones on them aren't "smart casual". Many of the people had on hiking sandals and cargo, baggy shorts/capris in the evening at least at the beginning of the cruise. The food was wonderful. We enjoyed the Chef's Table and Manfredis, but frankly the quality, service and variety of food available in The Resturant was sufficient that we only ate at in the speciality restaurants a few times outside our initial bookings in them. We ate breakfast occasionally in the Explorer's Lounge's little, unknown resturant called Mamsum's (sp). The waffles are to die for! The afternoon sandwiches are delicate and much lighter than the ones in The World Cafe. The World Cafe, the buffet, was delicious. We ate there for breakfast and lunch. The omelettes were full of yummies and the salad bar was extensive and superb. Weird though, the water glasses in the World Cafe were plastic. I didn't care for that. We bought the drink package so we can't speak to the drink prices or complementary wines/beer at lunch or dinner. They gym was clean and well equipped. All the cardio machines were always stocked with water and a towel and the weight area had an ample supply of water and towels. I also joined an add on package for $50 for Pilates, yoga, cardio, guided meditation, etc. It got me out of bed and a nice little workout. I highly recommend it. I discovered that program by reading the Daily Viking. We both had 80 minute massages which are superb. I had a facial, mani and pedi. All were top notch. The ship's astronomer, geologists and historian were all excellent speakers. There is a planetarium above the Explorer's Lounge that the astronomer gave private talks (12 people or so) which was fun. The stairwells also had life-size renditions of the Bayeux Tapestry that the historian gave limited tours/talks about which was a wonderful time. NOTE: You have to go to the talks to find out about these add-ons. The Viking Daily doesn't advertise them. The ports of call were all wonderful. Just note, your activities will be curbed in parts of Chile due to the repeated warnings from excursion guide. And then there was the last day...F- all the way.... We were going to stay on in Chile for a few days, but we cancelled that after the civil unrest really started popping off. Viking offered a package where they'd take us to Santiago, give us a tour of the city, and then take us to a hotel's lounge where there would be a place to rest, eat, etc. to await our late-night airline departures back to the States. The bus ride to Santiago had one bathroom break. Once we made it to Santiago, we went our a several hour tour with NO WATER, NO BATHROOM BREAKS, NO FOOD AND NO WARNING THAT WE'D BE DOING THAT BEFORE THE HOTEL. Consequently, no one was prepared for the tour BEFORE the hotel. We finally revolted and told the tour guide to take us to the hotel. At the hotel it was an utter mess. Mind you we hadn't eaten since 7:30 a.m. or so and it was ow 2:30 p.m. All the "free" food had been eaten up. We ate in the resturant which we had to pay extra for. Then there was no place to sit except on the floor in the courtesy area - unacceptable and we did not sit on the floor. There was no water except for two, one gallon jugs of water that we had to nag them to fill. There was no real clear way to tell what was a clean glass and what wasn't because the hotel didn't pick up the dirty glasses/dishes from "lunch". Just a total, utter, disgusting mess. Save your money. Go to the airport hotel. Check in for a day. Take a nap. And get yourself to the terminal for your late night flight on your own. Read Less

We just came back from Azamara Pursuit from BA to Rio. We previously sailed on Celebrity, Princess, Holland, Cunard, Oceania, Costa, RCI and Carnival. This was our 12th cruise. Our benchmark is Oceania (we sailed on the Riviera last September). Overall Pursuit is a great ship and we had an amazing time. However we liked the Riviera better. Here is why. The service is excellent, comparable to Oceania. But sometimes things seem a bit less organized. For example, some of the excustions were delayed 15-20 minutes. Never happened on Oceania. Also there are some lines when leaving the ship and coming back. Nothing major, not even close to what you see on big ships, but still slightly longer waiting times than Oceania. The dinner in the MDR is great, but not as good as Oceania. The open seating works very well for us, never had to wait for a table. The buffet is disappointing. Good quality, but selection is pretty limited. It is not bad overall, but few levels below Oceania. The buffet area itself is also very small and feels a bit crowded at times. Internet is probably the worst we experienced so far on cruise ships. 300kbps is not what you would expect from a luxury line in 2019. It is also pretty expensive at $20/day. We paid last year $10/day on Princess (and the speed was 20 times faster). And we sailed on older ships with much higher internet speeds. Major disappointment. Spa does not have couple massage. This is the first time on any ship that we were not able to do a couple massage. The massage itself was very good. Cabin on Oceania was small, here it's even smaller. Not a big deal, we don't spend much time in the cabin. Entertainment is mediocre at best. They don't have a real theater like on larger ships, just a big lounge with chairs. No angle, so if you don't sit on few first rows, the view is pretty limited. They cannot really provide a good evening entertainment when there is no real theater. Also not too many daily activities, and the ship feels a bit sleepy at times. The pool area is small and feels a bit crowded. Usually no problem to get a chair, except for sea days. Hot tubs are smaller than usual and not hot enough. Service is fantastic as you can expect from a luxury line. Staff is very friendly. Very limited food options. If you want to have a snack after 9pm, the only option is room service. Dress code is relaxing, no formal nights, which is perfect for us. The azamazing event was very nice and well organized. Great atmosphere. The show itself felt a bit amateur. The pre even buffet was very crowded and poorly organized. White night was nice, but we came late from our tour in Sao Paulo, and no seats available on deck 9. They simply cannot accommodate everyone on the white night because the pool area is not big enough. Why to do white night on port day like Sao Paulo when the ship is at port till 9pm, and not sea day or port with shorter port time? Excursions were another disappointment. While we appreciate smaller groups, some of them were poorly organized, and some guides were not professional. I believe Azamara made a business decision to focus on certain things and ignore other things. Their customers obviously don't care about internet, or certain daily activities like dance classes, zumba, music at the pool etc. Overall great ship, great service, good food, but we prefer Oceania Riviera. Both lines are still better than mainstream ships from Celebrity or Princess which feel much more crowded, with longer lines. But in my opinion, Riviera offers the best of both worlds: still a small ship, which still feels much less crowded, but at the same time, much better food, more activities, and better entertainment. And it actually has a better crew/passengers ratio than Azamara, so service is at least as good if not better. We did appreciate the excellent service, less crowded buffet, smaller groups on shore excursions, no lines etc. compared to the big ships. I guess we just expected better from Azamara. We might sail with Azamara again if the itinerary and the price are right, but all other things equal, we would definitely prefer Oceania. Read Less

Booked this cruise as a means to achieving a long held curiosity to see South America. By sailing this cruise from Buenos Aires to Santiago and following that up with the Santiago to Miami leg we were able to see a great deal if not the full monty. Not much space to do justice to 30great days but I’ll try! The Sun is a small ship and did suffer because of this at times on the first leg on sea days. This was especially true of the buffet where spaces were frequently at a premium. Size also meant that the options for light dining at lunchtime were very limited. Sandwiches were limited to filled croissants and there were few cold meat options. By contrast I found the range of choice in the main dining room to be excellent. In 30 nights I never duplicated a main course choice and was never disappointed. Of the speciality restaurants if found La Cucina and Los Lobos to be very underwhelming, but Le Bistro was excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment in the Windjammer, especially Kiefer Wiley, who always kept the party going. A young pianist, Walisson, had joined the ship’s crew at Buenos Aires so it was early days for him but he settled well and was well worth a pre dinner listen. We caught a performance by the ship’s singers in Bliss one evening. Backed simply by electric piano, they were superb and distinctly better than in the over amplified main theatre. The show and produced a similar quality performance at each of the Jazz Brunches we attended. Old adage if you’re good enough you don’t need to be loud. We didn’t use any of the ship’s excursions, joining fellow Cruise Critic members on a series of excellent trips. Not once were we in danger of missing departure and one of the early questions we were always asked was when does the ship leave? I’ll probably give a thorough review of each excursion on a post under South America Ports of Call. Special stand out mentions now however for Dennis Purtov at Puerto Montt and Patricia at Trujillo. We also had great experiences at Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Puerto Chacabuco. I have to say that embarkation at Buenos Aires was excellent. A clean, comfortable waiting hall, a speedy transition through check in and a good transfer by bus to the ship was a really good quality service. Compare that to the sloppy positioning of colour tag luggage, muddled exit pathways and haphazard progress through security at Miami and it was like being in two different worlds... and it wasn’t the third world country that was shown up! Just an extra point of minority interest. It was so nice to be able to run on the Promenade deck and not feel guilty. Runners don’t have to feel compelled to run on treadmills in a humid gym or up on an exposed top deck. We made so many new friends on this trip and hope to meet up again some time. A lot of that was down to a really active Cruise Critic Roll Call, so thanks for making it all such a great trip! Read Less

One of our best cruises ever. We have been on 4 cruises with Celebrity, twice on Reflection and now twice on Eclipse. ANd this cruise was just amazing. The ship was perfect, the crew fantastic, great entertainment and from the top (Captain Leo and CD Gioseppe) to our cabin attendant etc. was top top noch. Food was great in Luminae and BLU and spec. restaurants. To all the hardworking people in the Martini Bar, Luminae, Michaels Club, Guests relation, FUTURE cruises, Murano, Qsine (Le petit chef), pool area, pool bar, entertainment, orchestra Ocean View Cafe, El Bacio Security people, THANK you so much for your hard work. You are the reason that we will continue to book Celebrity cruises. And to see RIO during carnival was fantastic - you really cant imagine how big it is, until you are there and discover it yourself. Think we might be back one day. Read Less

We arrived in Buenos Aires 3 days before setting sail which gave us ample time to enjoy this fascinating city. We stayed in a very lovely little hotel in Palermo Soho. The location turned out to be quite a distance from the city centre, but the inexpensive cost of taxis made the trip downtown less of an annoyance. Take some time to spend in Buenos Aires if you haven't been there before. It's multi faceted and interesting. On the day we embarked the ship, traffic from downtown to the pier was absolutely painful. We finally got there and were very quickly processed and boarded Star Princess in no time. Although the ship is by no means new, it has been kept in good repair and provides an attractive,elegent environment for the 14 day cruise. I am continually surprised by the nit picking that some reviewers use to criticize any minor issues that they encounter aboard ship. Their lives on land must be absolutely perfect. Our cabin, B621, inside, was tight but had ample storage space. The shower was a bit of a joke in size. The most amazing thing about our cabin and about all Princess cabins was the absolute luxury of the bed and bedding. Kudos to Princess!! Service aboard the Star was extremely good everywhere. We purchased the Coffee Card and bottled water prior to leaving home. Both good moves. We tried Sabattinis and the Crown Grill. Liked them both. Wonderful service in both. Food in the main dining room on the other 12 nights was good if not exceptional. But if you have 12 restaurant meals at home will you have 12 exceptional meals? It's the service in the main restaurant that makes a less stellar meal feel quite acceptable. And they were able to handle anytime dining quite efficiently with very little wait especially if you were prepared to share a table with others (we were). Activities during the day were sparse, but a big thank you to Princess for providing the equipment for duplicate bridge and a bigger thank you to the individuals who organized the games. 2.5 afternoon hours nicely spent. Evening entertainment was good. Enjoyed the commedian and singers. Almost forgot to praise the port speaker who was both very informative and extremely humerous. Played to a full house in the Princess theatre each time he spoke. Ports great and varried. When in Puerto Mott, go to Puerto Veras. You might think this lakeside town is in Switzerland. Ended up in San Antonio and took the public bus to downtown to Santiago. Comfortable and cost effective. Did not take any ship tours. Absolutely loved Santiago. Spend some time in this glamerous safe city. Read Less

Sailing to and from the same port of call is a great advantage to me. This time from beautiful and cosmopolitan Buenos Aires is a plus to this cruise. I live there! The celebrity Eclipse is a luxury ship with plenty is amenities for all tastes: fitness center spacious with many elements and sea view from all corners, live music all the day long in different locations, matinee shows on sea days and evening shows every night with international artists, indoor and outdoor pools and whirl pools, spa and Lersian garden to relax. Food is fantastic in all restaurants, main one Moonlight Sonata is huge. We had access to Blu the exclusive restaurant for Aqua Class passengers which was cozy and well attended by Nelly and all Blu staff. Buy sailing along Paradise Bay in Antarctica is the most fantastic experience I have had in my entire life! Put it in your bucket list!! The views are outstanding with a few huge whales and tiny penguins swimming along the ship. Ports of call are also worth visiting Ushuaia southern most city in the world, Falkland/Malvinas Islands, Puerto Madryn , Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Each has it beauty and charm. Read Less

We chose this cruise to experience some latin flavour and of coarse Cape Horn... a Magellan dream. The facts are: Buenos Aris port where the ship docked for two days is awful. Shipping containers, strattle-carriers, trucks constantly beeping, jackhammers, noisy port. The ship was sandwiched between mountains of shipping containers,affording the view. One could literally taste the pollution, using the balcony was impossible. Our aqua class room: We arrived exhausted. Our bags were in the hall. I asked the attendant if he could put the bed protectors on the bedding as I didn't want to put our luggage on the clean white comforter. He said,'they did not do that anymore???' I asked were the fresh flowers were, the fruit basket, the champagne our bottled water? ''They do not do that anymore. But if I ask he will bring the champagne.' We noticed in unpacking that there was only one robe and no wine glasses. Upon request those were provide. A crumpled up robe was handed over. We also noticed that the bottle of vodka we ordered was not delivered. To unravel that it took three days and several calls to guest services, even though we had our order and confirmation numbers. ( as and aside our cost was $106.00 and the ship stores sold the same vodka 2 bottles for $30...) Montevideo featured a busy working port thankfully not on the same scale as Buenos Ares. We finally relaxed on our balcony. I thought the balcony had been cleaned, my clothing proved otherwise. Three days of filthy had not been touched... I used a white dampened hand towel which came out blackened and filthy from the railing, table and chairs, I called our attendant and showed him my stained clothing and filthy towel. The Captain never mentioned that the ship was in anyway compromised from the start. We were told that our safety was his main concern... We missed Port ARENAS and were given back to our account whatever number they made up. Port Montt was also missed, so to speak... our scheduled arrival was for 8:00 am... that was changed to 1:30 pm (at which time we were still crawling into port). We were tender #3 and at 3:00pm, we hand not been called. We were warned that the last tender leaving port would leave the dock at 6:45pm. How is this visiting Port Montt??? Our celebrity cruise ended in San Antonio. We were hours late arriving and missed our car to Santiago. Read Less

We wanted to go to South America and Princess provided the best value for us. We took the opportunity to go to Iguazu Falls and Colonia del Sacramento from Buenos Aires before the cruise as well as exploring Buenos Aires itself. Iguazu Falls are spectacular, but not an inexpensive side trip. Colonia was interesting and pleasant via Buquebus, but probably more expensive than it was worth. For us, a single day walking around Buenos Aires would have been sufficient. Both embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. The staggered embarkation times is an improvement over previous experiences. The Emerald Princess is a pretty typical 3000 passenger ship with the usual decor and amenities. The passenger demographics were definitely older and late night activities were poorly attended. More efforts could have been made to adjust to the obvious earlier preferences. The interior cabin was very functional and well maintained and serviced. Dining was highly variable with some very good serving staff and some quite poor. Most of the food was well prepared, but there were some very notable exceptions. The buffet food was quite good and Princess does a good job of managing lines while controlling access for hygienic purposes. Unfortunately, they don't do nearly as good a job on cleaning the tables. The entertainment was about average for cruise lines, but more efforts could have been made to improve the variety when half the passengers were doing 2 consecutive cruises. Princess staff were pretty grim for the most part. I am not sure what is going on, but not very happy or pleasant compared to recent cruises on other lines. More efforts could have been made to manage crowds for events and shore comings and goings. One good thing was that there was not very much up-selling going on compared with some other cruises where staff seems to be constantly pestering passengers to buy extras. The ports were pretty good with some of the best excursions being wildlife and scenic in their orientation. The excursions to the larger cities (Lima and Santiago) were mostly spent in heavy traffic. We were very happy to have had the experience and it was a good one, but not one that we would repeat. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the destination. I also had fond memories of her sister ship Millennium. It was the last trip to Antarctica (next year it will be a Solstice class ship). We were very lucky with the weather. The previous cruise in January was not so lucky but we had calm seas for the most part with really only one day that was a bit rough. Cape Horn was dead flat, when there was fog it magically cleared as we arrived and at Elephant Island drifted back as we left. It was simply good luck and I felt sorry reading the reviews of the previous cruise. The ship is an older ship but we found it well maintained. If you looked hard you could find faults but compared to what I was expecting it was better than I thought. We booked an Aqua class cabin and the meals were excellent. The cabin itself seemed no different to a balcony but access to Blu was great. We also tried the specialty restaurants and enjoyed them all but Tuscan Grill was a real highlight. We had a problem with our cabin with the carpet getting wet. Its as frustrating but the crew went above an beyond to both fix the problem and make it up to us for the inconvenience. They were so nice about it I was feeling like I had Stockholm Syndrome, you know when you are kidnapped you feel sorry for the Kidnappers! I was embarrassed telling them its as still faulty given how hard they worked to fix it. In the end we switched cabins, the old one was 7095 (I hope its fixed if you have that one!) we moved to 1142 at the rear. The crew overall are just outstanding at all levels. Through stupidity I broke my ankle on the way home at the Falklands, the medical care was excellent, the restaurant staff were totally accomodating, our cabin stewards wife is a Physiotherapist and he arranged pillows and ice packs, right up to Jaan the head housekeeper and Srdjan the Hotel Director it was clearly a happy, highly motivated crew absolutely focused on passengers having a great time. We have sailed on Seabourn and it was to that standard, very attentive and impressive. I guess in terms of advice I would offer to have realistic expectations about the age of the ship and look for the crew to make up any slight shortcomings. If things go wrong raise them and let them make it right, they were very genuine to us. Try the specialty restaurants. QSine was fun and funky, they offered a pack of 3 or more restaurants for discount price, if I did this again I would grab that. The al Bacio cafe deck 5 great coffee if you are hanging out for a flat white the cappuccino's are next best and those macadamia nut cookies, fantastic. The cocktails at the bar opposite were excellent also, especially the smoked ones! Another point to raise is Mickey Live. he is such an asset, his sense of humour, knowledge and the way he got things across was exceptional and his presentations were all standing room only. We did ships tour which we found fascinating, exactly what do you do with all those empty bottles......4 engines, 1 diesel, 2 jet engines and steam engine...fascinating. The laundry, the bridge, the engine control room, really interesting to see behind the scenes. The propulsion problem we were told and they appeared very open was that they had excessive vibration at high speed on one Azipod so as a precaution were running at reduced speed. The slower speed meant they missed one port day so they paid 1 x 14th credit as compensation which we thought was fair. There were only 3 ports the rest sea days so I can understand how frustrating its as to the earlier cruise missing the Falklands but given the route was through the roaring 40's Ferocious 50's and Screaming 60's I think you have to accept some chance of bad weather. So overall injury and cabin hassles not withstanding we had a great time the scenery and wildlife was everything we hoped for. My wife as on our balcony when awhile surfaced so close the sound of the spout startled her (she said only 20 feet away). It was an amazing trip and hats off to all the crew, they made it very special. Read Less

First of all, for the folks on the Jan. Cruise. I get it. I would have been disappointed as well. But I can only speak of the Feb Cruise. We were warned in advance to the propulsion problems. It had virtually no affect on the cruise. Top speed was 20 mph and we got everywhere on time. As smooth as any cruise I have been on. Were told in advance that we would get a refund for Puerto Madryn and I personally would rather have the money than the port. This was a 50th anniversary cruise for us and yes we were the fools on stage during the marriage game (the one that involved a lime) The ship-Yes it's old and does not have all the bells and whistles. Nothing that affected my enjoyment. It was clean and the entire staff was Great. Embarkation in Buenos Aires-crowded as usual, but we were onboard in about 45 minutes. Entertainment-about standard for cruise ships. Nothing bad and nothing exceptional. Good but I would probably not pay to see any of them. We did not go to any of the productions because we saw them on on a previous cruise. We had seen some of the individual acts before also Food-Excellemt. We ate almost every meal in the Luminae. Food was good and different menu every night. Hats off to the entire staff. Too many to name but they were all fantastic. Ushuaia-took an excursion to the National park. Had to ride a bus on a gravel road and by luck, we had to sit just over the back axel. Very rough ride. Some nice stops but I was expection more. Wish we would have had more time in the town. I would probably do something different if I every went back. Cape Horn-Unbelievably smooth waters. Now I have been there. Antartica-Words or pictures cannot describe it. Not as cold as I had thought and we overpacked. Spent quite a bit of time there doing 360's Falkland Islands-went to the sheep farm. Glad to see some of the countryside. The entire island only has 2100 people. Had plenty of time to walk around. There is a shuttle to Gypsy cove that we also took to see penguins. $20 Montevideo-Took a city tour that my travel agent provided. Nice city. Safe and you can walk from one end to the other. There is a market just off the ship that I would recommend walking to Internet-horrible. Very slow and kicked me off regularly. Worked somewhat better in public places. And to be honest it worked better on last cruise when I stayed on 9th deck. Enrichment programs-Probably the best I have experienced. Disembarkation-Just picked up bags and walked out. We stayed another day so we went to the Sheraton. Outside was a madhouse of people soliciting cabs. Choose Uber or walk across street to get best prices. Or take $28 shuttle from ship to airport Uber-works well in Buenos Aires and I would recommend it if you have access to the internet. $25 total for the two of us from Sheraton to airport. Once in a lifetime trip and probably won't go again but I would highly recommend it. Read Less

We have cruised 5 times each year and this was one of the best experiences mainly because of the dramatic vistas floating past our balcony. Gigantic Glaciers, rugged mountain peaks, wildlife(penguins, alpacas, condors,..) and cultural ports in Argentina and Chile. The ship itself was clean and well-maintained with attentive staff everywhere. We would have liked a better quality of shows in contrast to "Burn the Floor" on the Escape. But this was a smaller ship and so it is a matter of economics. Fortunately, the weather was mainly fine and the choppy seas around Cape Horn were mitigated by the ships stabilizers. Our next cruise is on the maiden voyage of NCL "Bliss" to Alaska which is much larger. We expect to see from our balcony, dramatic Glaciers and craggy peaks, but we hope it will not be too boisterous with all the race car tracks, water slides, and other adventure features. Just a nice cozy safe trip is all we are looking forward to experiencing. Read Less

We were expecting to visit the Antarctica and to see the wildlife in Puerto Madryn and in Port Stanley on this cruise. Though we visited (cruised by but not actually stop at) Paradise bay and Elephant island in Antartica, we were completely shut out of experiencing visit with wildlife such as the Penguins due to technical issues with the ship's propulsion system, speed reduction, poor planning and poor weather. The management of the Cruise ship certainly had enough advance information, based on past experience, on the expected weather on probability of making anticipated ports of call at Puerto Madryn and Port Stanley. With advance information on the Ship's propulsion system they decided to travel slow and cancelled Puerto Madryn. They could have kept alive the option to visit Puerto Madryn, in the event Port Stanley had to be cancelled due to severe weather. While we do not fault them for not accepting the weather risk at Falkland Islands, we do fault them for poor trip planning having cancelled Puerto Madryn at the outset to compensate for the slow speed of travel due to propulsion problem. This made for a long 10 day sea voyage ( out of total 14 days) from Ushuaia to Montevideo resulting in monotonous boring Cruise experience. Since we only had very few options available to see Antarctica & Penguins, we felt victimized by Celebrity Cruises ruining our once in a lifetime vacation. Dining and entertainment activities were average to better than average. There was too much selling activities T shirts, jewelry, watches, paintings, future cruises, photography, etc. Staff was very good in most food and drink areas, except at customer service where staff was not helpful. Very defensive not attempting to address customer complaints or concerns. Read Less

We bought our tickets in November but most of the other passengers bought theirs far earlier than us. However Celebrity failed to let us know the ship was only sailing with one propeller which slowed down its performance so much that we arrived in Ushuaia seven hours after the scheduled time. All tours were rushed and by the time we finished the tour all shops and museums were closed for the day. It was our intention to visit this far away place thoroughly and experience the life here. Then we were supposed to circle Cape Horn, but the ship just went a little north then turned around. When we got to Elephant Bay the ship was not able to get close to the shore because it did not have enough force. We did not stop in Port Stanley because of the weather and our next stop, Port Madryn, was canceled. We were on board for 12 days out of the 14-day cruise. This ship was working with only one propeller for a long time. Celebrity was well aware of this problem yet it chose not to disclose it so as not give the passengers the right to cancel the trip without penalties. It is still sailing north and back to Antartica without any plans to stop to fix the problem. Read Less

This cruise was everything we expected and more! Great ports of call, 4 days cruising in Antarctica waters where we saw bunches of penguins, sea lions, whales and a wide variety of birds. Onboard, they offered great lecturers on sea days and even had a few interactive game shows which elated my DW. However, two areas where HAL did not meet our expectations were (1) the quality of their production shows and (2) making sure passengers sanitized their hands when going into a dining area and when reboarding the ship after a day in port. Quality of HAL production shows. The singers and dancers were fine, but the pace of the shows were that of watching a Lawrence Welk Show. That's fine if you like a slower pace, but we're in our mid 60's and grew up on rock and roll and were board stiff during most of their shows. However, they did hire some great entertainers which made up for the lack luster production shows produced by a New York-based production company from what we understand. Personal hygiene shortfalls. This 22 day cruise was during the height of the cold/flu season, but HAL didn't seem to realize this. They used to make folks going into a dining area sanitize their hands the first 48 hours of the cruise. Not any more. They used to have a crew member at the base of the gangway making sure passengers sanitize their hands before coming back on ship. Not any more. They used to have sanitizer dispensers outside the main theater entrances. Not on this cruise. As a result, this was the "sickest" HAL cruise we have ever been on as at least 1/3 of the passengers had bronchial type cold/flu symptoms the last 2+ weeks of the cruise. Going to the show in the evening was like listening to a chorus of coughing. Lesson learned. Wash your hands and use the hand sanitizers religiously and if at all possible avoid using the tongs up on the lido deck. Of course, no cruise is perfect and since we just got off a great 25 day Celebrity Eclipse cruise where all of the shows were great with many reaching the "wow" status and the ship's hygiene practices were top notch, it was just a big let down to see HAL's offerings so inferior. But, as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't all bad. The itinerary was GREAT, the guest lecturers were GREAT and the contracted evening entertainment for the most part was very entertaining. Read Less

Disappointed with the Infinity- one of the older ships, dated decor and I believe due to be de-commissioned later this year to make way for the new Celebrity range. Cabin was clean but small with basic balcony. The cruise was ruined by unruly kids whose parents took no notice whatsoever of them running wild- through the restaurants including climbing the trellis, barging through the middle of the dance floor and eating burgers in the Jacuzzi. My husband pointed out to the waiters who seemed powerless to intervene. The resturant was immpossible to get into without a 2+ hour wait unless you wanted to eat at 5.30pm. The reason given was so many Spanish families had booked on this cruise and liked to eat late. The first eve we ate at 11.30pm deapite the resturant supposedly closing at 9.30pm One of the main reasons for out S American adventure was the Chilean Fiords. Unfortunately it was impossible to hear the speaker due to microphone malfunction plus having an open bar with many people talking and children running around. Totally ruined our experience Lastly I think it is important to realise that over xmas there will be a lot of families with children running around. On this cruise over 1/3rd were under age 21yrs. This was never explained to us by our travel agent and something we hadn't anticipated, and certainly will be something we will take into consideration going forward This cruise was marketed as a six star cruise. That it is certainly not. Forget gala balls and new years dances- more like turn up in ripped jeans and baseball hats. There wasnt even a xmas cracker or party hat on the table Very disappointed and will be crossing Celebrity off our list of further cruises Read Less

We chose this cruise based on the itinerary and a long history with Princess. This ship really needs to be dry docked for R&R (remove and replace) things like, beds, toilets, carpets, railings and a few modern updates. Our Caribe balcony needed cleaning, new carpets and the balcony table, chairs, rails and windows never were cleaned unless we asked the steward to do it daily. What is it about the rude waiters and assistant waiters in the dining rooms? They think nothing about interrupting conversations to push pastries, alcoholic drink cards, speciality dining, photos and other stuff. Most dining requests get lost in translation? For example, I ask for a large glass of tomato juice and I receive two small glasses. It's not like there aren't large glasses already on the table. I have witnessed people requesting decaf coffee being served from the same pot filling caffeinated coffee cups. A request for a slice of tomato for a delivered sandwich and it arrives with the center missing; so primarily it's just a ring of tomato skin. A request for Cheese, comes back shreaded and not sliced. It's almost like you have to have a picture of the food item you want, prepared like you want, to get it the way you want. Kinda like having the menus dfrom Japan. I've noticed trends that the quality of items in the dining room has declined overall with items you order when received are not what you expected. An example, you order a fillet mignon and get some other cut of beef, hidden under a Béarnaise sauce. I have argued with more section waiters about the false claims on the cuts of meat than I care to remember. Only to be told that, "This is all we have" is insulting when you can get the correct cut of beef in a specialty dining room for 29 dollars more per meal. You might order a fancy dish like bouillabaisse and find that it is missing the saffron or even the fish. When you inquire about the difference, you're told that, "this is chef's interpretation of the dish." I wonder if I pay the onboard stateroom charges with my interpretation of money, would they be as pacified as they expect us to be. After nine days on a 19 day cruise, we continually received over cooked fish on the initial order and pre-orders. Of course we send it back and tell them we do not want dry fish, and the plate is returned much better but seldom perfect. When I asked the section waiter what does it take to have fish prepared so that is not over cooked and moist on the initial request we were told that we needed to sign a waiver for under cooked food. Never in my 14 cruses with Princess have I had to sign any such thing, no would any reasonable cruiser think that moist is raw. The Entertainment was about average for Princess; however we noticed that the entertainment was centered on English speaking patrons, while European and South American patrons were clueless when it came to jokes and stories. Half of the princess theatre was empty during a comedian/juggler or a comedian/magic act. Service was overall O.K.; there are always bright spots at your favorite bar (that is why it's your favorite). We found that Vines, Crooners and most likely your room steward were the highlights. I noticed that if we ordered a drink from anywhere else than your favorite bar, it was watered down. In those times, order beer or wine from splits. Also they stopped giving you receipts, you have to ask for them. Many people find errors on their stateroom accounts, it is good to have records. Princess should just forget about going to Brazil until they clean up their act, it is too crime ridden, dirty and difficult to get in and out of. Would I choose Princess again, yes. The industry has been declining over the years hiding the additional expense with add-on charges for just about everything. They are not different from their competitors in that regard, so when you compare them they are all pretty close to being the same with subtle differences. Read Less

We have been on this ship several times in the last couple years. The ship is ok-not our favorite. Had some great crew members take care of this time on the ship. The crew in Crooner's Bar was awesome(especially Vish). Carmine in Vines was awesome as well. We only did one tour with the ship. Most of the time we like to explore ports on our own. The entertainment was good --some just ok but some was really good. We picked this cruise due to the itinerary. We had wonderful 2 days in Rio--what an amazing area. We had 4 new ports in the Caribbean that were fun. Would have preferred to skip Salvador--way too many people stealing. Though we did have a nice meal in a little café as we walked through town. Loved that part way thru cruise Static Band came on board---we had seen them last year on this same ship--love the music they play. Read Less

We just completed a 15 day cruise in South America from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. We were two couples; my wife and I had an Owners Suite and our friends were in a Penthouse Suite. These suites not only come with a list of perks such as free liquor and internet but also with VIP status. We have only sailed on Silversea up to now but have never received a level of attention like we did on this cruise. Our butler was fabulous and while we did not need to interact with him everyday, he was always available and was charming. Our steward not only took great care of our suite but also left amazing towel animals as a surprise each evening. But it was our Concierge, Zahira, who was truly amazing. She always knew where we were and what we were doing. She proactively took care of things before we even thought of it and guided us through the entire experience. 15 nights is a long cruise and she took care of everything! There was a big problem at the end of the cruise - a cargo ship was at out dock and would not move so 2000 people and their luggage had to transfer by tender. The VIPs and their luggage got there first - a full 5 hours before the last group made it. We were truly lucky. Of course, there is a much greater diversity of rooms than we experienced on Silversea so a wider range of folks socioeconomically. That said, it was except for the VIP perks, it was as democratic a community as could be and incredibly diverse in terms of nationalities. The only thing I could call a hassle was that on some mornings, the mass of people they had to engineer off the ship for excursions became a bit crazy. But in the end, it all worked. I should mention that we had the Ultimate Beverage Package and I wondered how that would play out. Wondered if it would be hard to flag someone down for a refill. Fear not - they proactively always made sure your glasses were filled! Read Less

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our 14-day cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. Our Sky Suite entitled us to eat in Luminae which we did every morning and all but one evening. In my opinion, the restaurant is almost enough reason to pay for an upgrade to a suite! The food as well as the service wass excellent and the dinner menu changes daily--unlike the specialty restaurants.. The only negative regarding the cruise itself was the boarding process. Actually, there was no process--only disorganized chaos! Worse than encountered on previous cruises including our Celebrit cruises. Our cabin was spacious and both John, the butler, & the bus boy were at our beck and call. We thought the nightly shows were as good as any we've seen. Our ritual immediately became early show followed by dinner at Luminae. With regard to the Celebrity shore excursions we took, I thought they were only fair. There were too many people in the groups, the guides for the three we took had relatively heavy accents that were difficult to understand for Americans, and were somewhat overpriced. We fared better by arranging our own tours--smaller groups, easier to understand guides, and lesser costs--significantly in 2 of the three excursions I arranged--one of which was through the same local provider. Read Less