South America 2009 cruise review with photo site

bowlcoach · September 1, 2009

Here's a quick review of our South American cruise in April, 2009 on NCL's Norwegian Sun.

It was an 18 day cruise from Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile to Los Angeles. We spent an extra 3 days in Santiago so we could get a feel for the country. Santiago is a beautiful cosmopolitan city, very clean and worth the extra time there.

We sailed from the port city of Valparaiso and spent a long time trying to board the Norwegian Sun. That city is not geared for cruise ships, although several sail into this port.

Without stretching this review out, let me just say that South America is fascinating, yet not a draw for us to return. Northern Chile and southern Peru is arid and dry - a desert. The desert comes right out to the ocean (as you can see in our photos). Peru is nice, but similar to Chile. There are many old - really old - artifacts that are very interesting, if you really enjoy antiquities.

As we sailed north to Costa Rica, back to places we've been before, we found more enjoyment. We went crocodile hunting in Costa Rica and really enjoyed that country. We always have. Then on to Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. We steered away from the shopping because we don't like shopping in Mexico and went for the hike to the petroglyphs high in the bluffs above Acapulco. Again, very interesting if you are into archealogical ruins and carvings.

And to top this trip off, we were the last cruise ship out of Mexico on April 29th because of the SWINE FLU. We made it to Los Angeles without being quarrantined.

It was a good cruise, but not our favorite.

Maybe you'll enjoy a few of our photos from that cruise. You'll find them at the following link:

http://s904.photobucket.com/albums/ac250/b...America%202009/

mercedes · September 1, 2009

Thanks for the review and beautiful pictures. The pictures of Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta brought back some memories.

cruisetarp · September 1, 2009

Great review Mike. Thanks for the pictures also

KeithnRita · September 1, 2009

Nice review and photos, thanks! :smile:

DebbieandJerry · September 2, 2009

Great review and great photos.

So if this wasn't "one of your favorites", what was?

bowlcoach · September 2, 2009

Our favorite cruise was Australia/New Zealand. My wife and I both enjoyed that cruise the best of our 23 so far. The only down side to that cruise is the air flights to get there and back, but the cruise itself, the 2 countries, etc. was great. This South America cruise was worth taking once.

jbond · September 4, 2009

We did a similar cruise in April of this year, Santiago/Valparaiso Chile to San Diego on the Radiance of the Seas. Unlike your cruise, we didn't leave Valparaiso until April 26th and so we missed our Mexican ports because of the swine flu.

It was our second time in Santiago and we spent two days precruise there. It was not my idea of a great city. We both felt unsafe and on both occasions that we have visited it, we met couples that had been mugged. This last visit we toured the city one day and on the second day we visited Portillo, high in the Andes. We got to see Anconcagua, the highest peak in South America at 22,700 ft. We visited La Serena, Chile, Lima, Peru, Manta, Ecuador and Puntarenas, Costa Rica. CR was our favourite port of call. Lima was an interesting city and La Serena was also interesting. In Ecuador we saw poverty that was only equalled by what we had seen previously in Brazil. It will be a long time before we go back to South America.

Did you stay at the Sheraton Crown Plaza in Santiago? I think I recognized the photo of the church close by it.

I have our photo album posted at http://family.webshots.com/album/573020830PUcOMc

bowlcoach · September 5, 2009

jbond.....Yes, we stayed at the Sheraton. Nice place. I'm surprised you knew of people who were mugged there. We thought it was a real nice city. We had a little communication problem, because neither of us speak Spanish, but other than that, we liked Santiago. Thanks for your photo link. We'll take a look.

jbond · September 5, 2009

We stayed at the Sheraton in 2008. We enjoyed it, we had a meal in Caruso's and it was excellent. This year we stayed at the Grand Hyatt, it was a beautiful hotel, very impressive. In 2008 we had friends who had their camera snatched quite close to the Sheraton and this year a lady on the city tour with us had a necklace snnatched in Plaza de Armas. We don't usually feel unsafe, but in Santiago and Buenos Aires we were extra precautious.

Did you go to a show at all in Santiago? We went both times and really enjoyed the dancing and the food.

Hope you get a chance to look at the photo album, it may bring back some memories for you.

I agree with you about enjoying Costa Rica. We have visited it several times and always enjoyed it. Away from the port it is a beautiful country.

bowlcoach · September 5, 2009

jbond....Your photos are really good. You put a lot more effort into your album. We went to one of the cultural shows for tourists in Santiago one night while we were there. It was very interesting and good food too. We were well taken care of.