Emerald Princess does South America

We arrived from Canada on Monday & enjoyed a great hotel in Palmero, Buenos Aries which allowed us to explore the city prior to Sail Away on Thursday.

We are Platinum Members and have priority embarkation which did not happen - none was set up - I don't know why & that was disappointing. Long one lineups which normally we don't have to deal with.

This was our first balcony which was a real treat! great location midship on deck 1.

Food was good but not up to Princess' usual excellent meals. We had the greatest head waiter - Riccardo from Italy - excellent service & thoughtfulness - best we have ever experienced!

They had only 2 herbal teas of which they ran out of 1/2 way thru the cruise sadly.

Fresh fruit was limited. Only one band on the initial sail-away and none after that which we all missed. Theatre entertainment was not up to Princess standards and little variety in them. Not many dance options. We did enjoy the history presentations of the different ports and areas during the day.

Ports were exciting and enjoyable.We booked our own tours thru internet prior to the cruise. We did one Princess excursion that was ok in Buenos Aires. King Penguins at Falkland Is. were amazing but there is a long 2 hr. 4x4 jeep ride both there & back - but well worth it (- if you get car sick forget it.)

Sailing past Glaciers so close to the ship was beautiful - very similar to Alaska sights

We took a boat tour from hell in Puerto Arenas. The tides were not taken into consideration and we missed the penguin Island because of low tide & not being able to dock, and 60 of us sat for 2 hours near the dock which we couldn't get into because of low tide. Rough seas and 80% of the boat tour was barfing - no barf bags given out so some used the floor until finally they were offered bags. no water or snacks were offered either to anyone. They had to get a rescue boat to get us into shore after 2 hrs sitting waiting 1/2 mile off shore.

We were fortunate that the seas while on the cruise ship were fairly settled. Weather was good with little rain.

Lots of great tours throughout the ports other than the barf boat.

We had prepared for cooler weather (although it is their summer in Feb) for 3 days when really it was 41/2 days with long pants & winter jackets.

All ports had very expensive tours. It was an expensive cruise, very different sights, great one to cross off bucket list.