Thread: South American cruises

My other half and I are both 50 in 2012 and would love to cruise around South America to mark this great occasion! BUT - we're having real trouble deciding which line to take! The HAL grand voyage looks fabulous, but we haven't done HAL before and would appreciate some inside info on what to expect - age-range & smoking policy (we don't smoke and although we have loads of friends older than us - we'd like a mix of ages!)
The other trips look quite short - we're coming from the UK, so we'd like to make it count!
Any advice/experiences welcome!
Thanks

Hi, Sue, and welcome to CLF!!!

We love HAL - having been on them many times, including just getting back from doing a 12-night Baltic cruise aboard the Eurodam.

Not sure if you plan to do the Prinsendam or the Amsterdam, but the Prinsendam is smaller and older than the Amsterdam. We prefer the smaller ships of the HAL fleet - the newer ones are nice, but just don't offer us the classic and intimate feel as the older ones do. Both of these will afford you a very nice experience without the large crowds.

We're 60 and prefer Celebrity and Holland America because they offer us what we really like in a cruise; people about our age, a more relaxed environment, good food, very comfortable beds, great service, and amenities geared towards an older crowd.

Not to say it's a real old crowd, but anytime you're doing a longer cruise, especially to someplace like South America, you'll encounter an older crowd no matter which cruise line you go on.

As for smoking, we're non-smokers, except for the occasional cigar I enjoy. But we've never had any problems as they only allow smoking in certain areas.

Hope this helps.

Pete

Thanks Pete - this was all really useful. We've now decided to do one of the shorter ones but add on the pre and post cruise tours with either Celebrity or Princess - BUT you've reassured us about HAL and we're going to try one of their ships out as soon as we can!

We sailed on the Infinity from Fort Lauderdale to Santiago(Valparaiso).
It was a great cruise and like you we added on to the end of the cruise. We did our own independent tour returning to Peru and visited Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Puno(Lake Titicaca),
Cuzco, The Sacred Valley and also hiked the Inca Trail.

Don't know which SA cruise you are considering, but happy to help with info.

We are going to be on one of HAL's more classic ships, the Veendam, cruising from Buenos Aires to Santiago in December. We tend to be younger than the average passenger since we are not retired yet, but we like the intimacy of the ships (under 1500 passengers), the spacious cabins (even the insides have comfortable size bathrooms - with tubs!) and the service is some of the best we ever had.

I will report back during and after my cruise.