Sapphire Princess Review
Bring high power binoculars or telephoto lens if you want to see wildlife and book land tours
Rating by category
Additional details
We wanted to visit Antarctica but was dreading the Drake's passage as one of us is prone to seasickness. So we decided to go with a suite on bigger ship instead of a cabin on one of smaller expedition class ship, giving up the opportunity to land in Antarctica. We had some of the best experiences on this cruise and some of the worst.
The best experiences:
(1) We had close encounters with Gentoo and King penguins at Bluff Cove on the Falkland Island. In January the Gentoos have a lot of chicks, including some new borns. The King penguins were still sitting on their eggs. You need to book a shore excursion to get to Bluff Cove, so recommendation is to do the booking early,
Cabin Review
Penthouse Suite with Balcony
Port Reviews
Santiago (Valparaiso)
We stayed four more nights in Santiago after our cruise. Our tour guide said that Santiago is divided into two parts, a newer, very safe area and an older not so safe area. We stayed at the new area, where the Intercontinental, W, Ritz Carlton, and Hyatt Centric are also close to each other. Easy walking to lots of good restaurants. English proficiency is relatively now among many locals. We found it much easier to use Uber instead of taxi, but order Uber Comfort for a better car with minimum additional cost. We also had good experience with the Hop-on Hop-off bus (only one company in town). However, there was no sign for the bus stations. For the hotels mentioned above, there is a stop across the street from the Museo Interactivo Las Condes.