We invited 4 other couples to accompany us on the Valparaiso to Buenos Aires cruise but later felt we owed them an apology. The positives: interesting itinerary, excellent weather (calm seas--even at Cape Horn--and rain only on sea days), a wonderful cruise director, and great entertainment. The negatives: mediocre food, poor ship maintenance, norovirus outbreak, poor tendering experience. Our stateroom had poor water pressure, constantly changing water temperature, marginal towels, and a stained coverlet. We'd traveled on Celebrity Infinity in Norway in 2014 and had been quite pleased. This seemed like a different ship; hopefully this was an aberration and not an indication of an overall decline of the cruise line.

The crew worked even harder than normal. We heard that this was the third consecutive cruise with a norovirus problem, and the crew worked around the clock to try to sanitize the ship. Many looked exhausted, and we could scarcely blame them. It was only in the last 4 days of the cruise that sanitized books were returned to the library and we were able to get our own coffee and tea at the buffet.

Most of the passengers appeared to have gotten the same basic drink package as we had received as a perk. As a result, we were all ordering bottled water, specialty coffees, wines and mixed drinks. It was a pain to constantly pull out the seapass card for these items, and I felt really sorry for staff members who had to deal with all of the cards. Incredibly time-consuming. Read more