Viking Ocean Cruise - South America — "4th Quarter" Travelers

This was going to be an exciting new venture for us… an ocean cruise with Viking Cruises! We had previously gone on three Viking River cruises, but we were fascinated with the idea of a longer, more luxurious trip. The marketing materials drew us in. The new ships looked amazing, and they had luxury features impossible for a river-oriented longboat.

Our favorite travel buddies (with whom we first discovered the “Viking way”) had contacted us about a possible Baltic Sea cruise. Since we had already done that with Royal Caribbean, we tossed around a few other ideas. Ultimately we all were intrigued with a South America cruise – 18 days to sail around Cape Horn amid some spectacular scenery. From Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The Falkland Islands, the Strait of Magellan, Chilean fjords, Patagonia, Chilean wine, Argentine beef, penguins, and tango dancers. We were psyched!

Planning

Uncharacteristically, we started planning this trip about 18 months out. As a result, we had plenty of time to research our journey and the port calls. I started looking for flights as soon as the flight calendars opened up, and we bought premium economy seats on an American Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft. I had some American miles to use, and I tried to upgrade the seats to business class, but those seats never came available. (The problem with that approach is that American only lets you know within the last 24 hours whether you will get the upgrade.)

I will say that the seats we got were very comfortable – roomy with plenty of amenities. The meal was decent as was the complimentary wine. With the evening flight, however, the attendants became scarce after dinner was served, and most people tried to sleep.

It’s become my practice to arrive a day or two early to the event or departure. Aside from allowing some time for jetlag, this gives you a chance to explore another city. In our case it was Buenos Aires – a place we had never seen before. Using some Marriott Bonvoy points, I reserved a room at the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel and Convention Center. It turned out to be an ideal location – about one mile from the cruise ship terminal and within easy walking of interesting downtown neighborhoods. We did a little sightseeing, but the highlight was dinner at an Argentine steakhouse. Argentina is well-known for their quality beef and fine wines; it was a no-brainer.

Viking literature tells you that it is your responsibility to secure all visas and immunizations, and to have a valid passport. We were going to visit four countries with Viking: Argentina, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, and Chile. My research indicated that for a relatively short tourist stay no visas were required. We also found out that no extraordinary immunizations were required (and nobody checked us anyway.) It seems to me Viking could have provided that information to us along with all their other prep material.

Another concern was local currency. In general, I prefer to pay using a credit card (one that has no foreign exchange fees.) However, I didn’t know what to expect with our itinerary and port calls. Did I need to have some local currency for incidentals and tips? In the end I got a limited number of Argentine pesos and brought US currency in small denominations. (The Argentine peso was being devalued, and it was very difficult to find an available ATM machine to get cash. If you did get to an ATM machine, the transaction fees were exorbitant.) I ended up tipping our tour guides almost exclusively in US dollars, and nobody ever complained. In fact, it seemed as if the locals preferred the US currency due to its stability.

The last planning item I’ll mention is making reservations for shore excursions and specialty dinners onboard. Viking uses a priority system to reward their highest-paying customers – those staying in the priciest cabins will get first dibs on dinner reservations and popular shore excursions. There are about 5 or 6 classes of cabins, and reservations open up in that order. My advice: be alert to your eligibility date and make your reservations immediately once they open. For the most part we had no trouble booking the excursions we wanted, but I did notice that the specialty dinner reservations filled up quickly for prime times and dates. It’s also possible to make some adjustments once you are onboard, but getting a new dinner slot was not easy. Since we were traveling with another couple, we made our requests for the same dates and times separately, then once onboard, we arranged for the four of us to be seated together.

The Ship – The Viking Jupiter

The Viking Jupiter was only on its third voyage ever, so we were traveling on a brand-new ship, and it was stunning. Elegant, sleek Scandinavian design, and beautifully furnished. You could not compare it to the river cruise longboats; this was an impressive vessel engineered for the high seas, and one built with passenger comfort in mind. The Viking Jupiter would carry about 900 passengers along with about 450 crewmembers. It had an auditorium, a fitness center, a sauna, a deck pool, a small infinity pool aft, a walking track, a main dining room, a large World Café buffet, several specialty restaurants, an atrium where musicians performed, and many quiet areas to read or enjoy a coffee or cocktail. We were constantly surprised at how uncrowded the ship seemed, even though it sailed with a full complement of passengers.

Our Itinerary

Buenos Aries – A vibrant city with diverse neighborhoods and a cosmopolitan “feel.” We enjoyed walking around in the warm weather, window shopping, and experimenting with local coffee shops and restaurants. We had explored a bit on our own, so we decided to take the “included tour” of the city once we were onboard the Viking Jupiter. This tour brought us to three different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, and we were able to view the principal landmarks downtown. We saw the Le Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron was buried and the “Pink House” where the Argentine president has his office. We rode by one of the major soccer (football) stadiums, and we had a coffee in La Boca – a very “colorful” neighborhood (literally.)

Montevideo – This was a very pleasant surprise – probably because we had no preconceived ideas about the city. We took the included tour, “Discover Montevideo,” and we lucked out with a fabulous guide, Vicente. It was a short 2-hour tour of the city, but we got a wonderful summary of the people and their culture from our savvy and colorful guide. It is geographically close to Buenos Aires, and it has many similar characteristics, but Vicente made clear to us Uruguay’s unique character.

Puerto Madryn – During our trip planning, we wondered whether we might be “seeing too many penguins.” Puerto Madryn’s Punta Tombo Penguin Colony was one of our tour options, and we had read good things about it. However, it was an 8-hour tour, including a longish bus ride, and one of the more expensive tours. And we were told our next stop, Port Stanley was another great place to see penguins. We ultimately decided on the Puerto Madryn tour - and as luck would have it, that was the right call. We would not be able to land in Port Stanley at all. Looking back, we all considered our trip to the Punta Tombo Penguin Colony one of the cruise’s highlights.

Port Stanley – As mentioned above, rough seas prevented us from visiting the Falkland Islands. Actually, the seas didn’t look that bad to us, but the captain announced that the weather was expected to get worse, and he was not worried about getting us onshore – he was worried about getting us back to the ship. You see, we were going to shuttle in on “tenders”, small boats used to ferry passengers to and from the cruise ship. We took the news with some disappointment, but we didn’t feel as if we were missing anything critical.

Southernmost point in South America on the Hermite Islands

Approaching Cape Horn in pretty good weather

Cape Horn – This was a thrill mostly because we knew we were seeing the continent’s southernmost point. Our weather was cold (44 degrees F), but the seas were fairly calm, and the winds were mild. Cape Horn is on Hornos Island and looked to me like a small Gibraltar. In fact, the true southernmost point of land is on a small island further south. The captain brought us close to Cape Horn, and the cruise director gave us a “commentary” from the bridge explaining history of the area. Following that we sailed further south to see the remote islands that truly are the “southernmost.” We then docked at Ushuaia.

Ushuaia – We were anxious to see this famous city which advertises itself as “the end of the earth.” Turns out it is the southernmost city in the world. It is also the departure point for expeditions to Antarctica. At this port we took the “Scenic Drive to the Escondido & Fagnano Lakes” – a tour lasting 5 ½ hours. We were taken on a touring bus to the lake region and some spectacular scenery, including a stop for lunch. Again, we were blessed with clear and sunny weather for the most part. As a result, we had beautiful views of the geography – mountains and lakes – that are often obscured by clouds or fog. Our lunch was fire-roasted lamb with some Argentine guitar for entertainment. By the way, we were now at the “bottom” of the Andes Mountains which provided impressive views for the next several days. We even passed a ski slope chairlift to one of Chile’s ski resorts.

Punta Arenas – Here we opted to take the tour “Strait of Magellan Park” which took us to scenic spots overlooking the Strait of Magellan and early settlement sites. We also saw an interesting museum of the region, highlighting the important explorers like Magellan and Drake.

Amalia Glacier – Although we had no port call this day, we did spend several hours approaching the Amalia Glacier. Again, the cruise director gave a commentary about the glacier, and the captain slowly turned our vessel so that you could get an excellent view of things, regardless of your location on the ship. The weather was a bit cold and cloudy early, but the skies cleared as the day progressed. We were now in prime fjord territory.

Puerto Montt – After a sea day admiring the beautiful landscapes of the Chilean Fjords we were scheduled to dock at Puerto Montt. We booked an all-day excursion called “Emerald Lake, Petrohue Falls, & Puerto Varas. Puerto Montt is only about 20 miles from the Osorno Volcano, so you see it from any spot nearby. We were driven out to the Lake District where we boarded a catamaran to view the volcanos from All Saints Lake (Lago Todos los Santos).

The Osorno Volcano reflected in All Saints Lake

This was a pleasant 45-minute ride giving us wonderful views of the several volcanos there, particularly Osorno. We then visited nearby Petrohue Falls, formed by the local rivers and lava flows which caused natural dams. We concluded our day with lunch in Puerto Varas, a charming town built by early German immigrants which presented amazing views of the Osorno Volcano and Chile’s second-largest lake.

Valparaíso – After a day of cruising the Pacific we were to land at our final destination, Valparaiso. We wanted to end our excursions with a Chilean winery, so we opted for an included morning tour called “Panoramic Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. It was an efficient way to see a lot of the city and a neighboring resort community. Again, a comfortable touring bus led by a local guide showed us the highlights of Valparaiso, including a winding road to high ground to observe the city built like an amphitheater around a beautiful bay. We spent some time at the Plaza Sotomayor where a number of government buildings overlook a thriving marketplace selling everything from coffee to woolen scarves and heavy boots. This plaza also had been the scene of some protests, and there was graffiti evident on many of the buildings, including churches.

We rode on to Vina Del Mar, an area that looked to me like Miami Beach. High-rise hotels, nice beaches, swanky clubs and restaurants, and horse-drawn carriages. It was a magnet for the wealthy of Chile and Argentina, and it was remarkably well-maintained – a real contrast to the poor areas of Valparaiso.

We returned to our ship for a light lunch and a short break until our winery tour. Our afternoon tour lasted four hours, and we spent most of that time on the grounds of the Casas Del Bosque Winery. If you’ve ever been on a winery tour, you would feel right at home. Our guide from the winery took us through the entire process of planting, growing, harvesting grapes and then making wine. We spent time in the area they store and age the wine, and we headed to the best part: the wine tasting. We were impressed with the wines we tasted, both white and red. Our friends bought several bottles to be shipped back home for gifts. Back to the ship to get ready for departure tomorrow.

Last night onboard the Viking Jupiter in Valparaiso Bay

Santiago – Viking offered a number of options to make your connections home. There were a number of passengers who had signed up for add-on tours, so they were off to new adventures. Those who had purchased Viking Air had transportation to their flights already arranged. For us, who needed to make transfer arrangements, there were a few options available for purchase. We chose to travel directly to the Santiago Airport, assuming we could check our bags and find an airport lounge to wait in until our evening flight. Turns out the American Airlines counter didn’t open until 6:30 pm, so we could not check our luggage, and we could not go through security twice (due to their customs/immigration regulations.) We found a luggage storage area, and we located a café to wait it out. Our friends were brought from the ship to a Marriott hotel in Santiago where they would wait (presumably in comfort) at a lounge before being brought to the airport in time for their flight. Apparently it was not a great experience, so we all felt the end of the journey was a bit of a letdown after such a great trip. Anyway, we all made our flights and headed back home.

There was a dedicated group of jigsaw puzzle fans onboard

Weather – We traveled from Jan 7th to Jan 24th, 2020, and our weather was as close to perfect as you could hope. We did encounter some mildly rough weather which prevented our utilizing landing craft to the Falkland Islands. Aside from that one disappointment, we had virtually no high waves nor stormy weather. Many sources commented on the Cape Horn area. Apparently, it is a historically treacherous passage, and many ships have been lost there. Today’s modern ocean vessels’ navigation and weather tracking technology allows a very safe passage; however the weather can get rough and affect passenger comfort. We have some good friends who took the exact same cruise in November 2019, and they were unable to land in two ports - Puerto Madryn and Puerto Montt – making for several more “sea days” than planned. They also encountered considerable fog around Cape Horn affecting all the photos they took. My point is that you need to consider the time of year and the possible weather conditions you may encounter.

“Sea Days” – As the name implies, these are days on the sea without a port call. On this particular itinerary, three sea days are planned to sail from Puerto Madryn to Ushuaia with the Falklands port in between. When we were unable to land on the Falklands, the “sea leg” planned for three days became four days. Frankly, I enjoy the sea days, but of course you lose out on the experience in the missed port call. While onboard there are plenty of things to keep you busy: two pools with associated hot tubs, a well-equipped fitness center (containing a sauna, steam room, and “ice room”), a book exchange, game tables and card games, many quiet hideaways to read or to enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, a self-service laundry, yoga classes, cooking classes, a coffee shop, lectures from distinguished speakers virtually every day, live music in the atrium, and entertainment every night. You really can’t sample much of this, if you’re going on shore excursions every day. And of course, if you didn’t already have enough to eat, there’s always someplace to get a snack.

Summary and Lessons Learned – This was truly a “bucket list” trip for us. Longer than usual, more expensive than usual, and in a new part of the world for us. As usual, Viking did not disappoint us in any way, and usually they exceeded our expectations. The dining was first class, and we were extremely happy with the service – everything from the waitstaff to the cabin attendants. They were uniformly cheerful, responsive, and always going the extra mile. Here are some points I would pass on to would-be cruisers on this specific trip:

1) Consider the time of year you want to travel and check the local conditions and weather. Certain times of the year seem to have more weather issues. We needed both warm and cold weather gear. Regarding “local conditions,” we were concerned about news reports of civil unrest in Santiago, and we wondered about the impacts that might have on our plans. Of course, the cruise line was on top of the matter, and we didn’t experience any issues other than some traffic.

2) As mentioned above, get your requests for tours and specialty dinners in as soon as the “window” opens up. Know your cabin type and what your corresponding date is to make reservations. To be most successful, you need to spend some time reading through the excursion options on the Viking website. Other sources (e.g. Cruise Critic, Pinterest) can be very helpful in choosing the right excursions for your interests and budget.

3) A small item, but one you might find valuable to know is whether you want a cabin on the port or starboard side. When you are close enough to view the shore, you will have a better cabin view from the port side going east (Santiago to Buenos Aires) and the starboard side going west (Buenos Aires to Santiago).

4) Decide how you want to handle minor expenses and tipping before you leave and exchange any money in the US. I found credit cards worked everywhere we went. I also found US currency in small bills was very easy for tipping. Most of us got at least some Argentine pesos for small purchases (souvenirs, coffee, etc.)

5) Prepare yourselves early. In addition to reservations, you need to be certain all travel documents are up to date. Visas and immunizations are generally not needed, but you should check for yourselves. Airline hassles can be minimized by using Viking Air; when you let them make the arrangements, all of your transfers are taken care of. You can be sure to make your cruise ship on time! (We did not use that service, so we had to arrange the transfers and hotels ourselves.) If you’re setting up your own air travel, start early for the best connections and prices.

6) As always, plan some cushion in your travel plans, and plan for the unexpected. We do this as a hedge against jetlag, and we noticed a real difference in the passengers who flew in directly from the US with no extra day or days. Buenos Aires is a wonderful city to explore at a leisurely pace before you board your cruise ship.

Bottom line: we had a truly memorable voyage which provided us with experiences, friendships, and photographs we will treasure all our lives. We were treated like royalty by Viking, and we recommend this trip highly with the notes above.

Watching a live NFL playoff game on the pool deck

Credits

My sincere thanks to Phyllis and Norman Hyndman. Phyllis in particular contributed many of the best photographs used here. Norm provided all of the male bonding and some good thinking on all aspects of the cruise. They both laughed a lot with us and made the trip very special. And of course, thanks to my wife, Ann, who doesn’t let me take anything too seriously (especially myself) and, in general, makes life a lot more fun.

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