So_America

Ports of Call: Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Montevideo, Uruguay; Punta Del Este, Uruguay; Puerto Madryn, Argentina; Cape Horn, Chile; Ushuaia, Argentina ; Punta Arenas, Chile; Strait Of Magellan; Chilean Fjords ; Puerto Montt, Chile; Valparaiso, Chile

For many years we had heard how much people enjoy South American cruises around Cape Horn. We had also dreamed of visiting Iguazu Falls, the widest waterfall in the world, which is located on the border of Argentina and Brazil. In July 2009, while shopping for future vacations, we found a cruise on the Celebrity Infinity that would allow us to do both. The only problem was that we would have to wait almost 600 days till we could leave.

We had found a reasonably priced flight to Buenos Aires from Miami on LAN Airlines that would get us into the International Airport EZE at 7:45 AM. Since we had booked a flight for Iguazu that was supposed to leave at 11:40 AM from the Aeroparque airport downtown, we assumed that we would have adequate time to get to there. A couple of months before the trip, the flight to Iguazu was moved up to 11:25 AM, which made it a tighter connection. We had planned on leaving 3 of our 4 suitcases at the Aeroparque luggage storage facility. Our plan of action would save us the cost of taking the excess luggage weight to Iguazu and the hassle of dragging it to and from there; but it could also take more time to arrange than we had to spare.

The flight on LAN was a good one and it arrived about ten minutes early. We didn’t want to risk wasting time trying to get a taxi, so we had booked a car through the Manuel Tienda Leon Company (www.tiendaleon.com/home/home.asp). We were really thrilled when we were able to go through immigration, pick up our luggage, go to the Manuel Tienda Leon booth, meet our driver and put our luggage in the car in just 30 minutes. I was also very glad that I had arranged for the car beforehand, because there was an extremely long line waiting to get a taxi. Things were going well for us.

With it being a Friday morning, I had expected traffic to be heavy; but our driver got us to the Aeroparque in an hour and twenty minutes, which was two hours before our flight. Now all we had to do was find where the luggage storage was. That was when we encountered our first disappointment. We were told that the luggage storage service had been stopped on January 1^st. That meant that we would have to throw ourselves on the mercy of LAN. Fortunately the agent told us that she did not have to charge us for the excess luggage since we had come in on an international flight. Thank goodness. We were then informed that our flight to Iguazu was delayed an hour and a half. Oh well, at least we would be able to see the marvelous falls in a few hours.

When we finally left around 1:00 PM, we were very glad to be on our last travel leg of the day. As we left Buenos Aires we flew over the very muddy rivers just outside of the city. I could see why the waters around Buenos Aires were not very appealing for swimmers. In an hour and a half we were landing at the small but quite nice Iguazu airport. I was disappointed that I was on the wrong side of the plane and couldn’t see the falls as we approached.

I had seen many photos of the hotel and read mixed reviews on it; so I was looking forward to seeing it in person. It was much nicer than I had expected. It was modern, clean and I would find over our stay that the service we received was excellent.

I had read, before our trip, that I should ask for a room on one of the floors that had been renovated. Because the hotel was already pretty expensive, we had booked the less expensive Jungle View room. I was very pleased with the room and the view was much nicer than what I had expected. It was probably just as well that we had a jungle view room, since I was at the falls during most of the daylight hours or in the restaurant or lobby where there was a lovely view of the falls.

The Sheraton is very close to the various trails which lead to the falls. After traveling all night, Carol didn’t want to walk to the falls right away. She was more interested in unpacking and relaxing. I, on the other hand, could not wait to see the falls up close and personal. The weather forecast for our two day visit was cloudy and rain. Since it wasn’t raining upon our arrival, I wanted to go see the falls and take photos while I could.

There were three main trails – the Lower, the Upper and the train ride to the Devil’s Throat. The Upper trail was by far the easiest one of the three, and only about a five minute walk from the hotel. The pathways were very well marked and well maintained. On the way there was an old lighthouse. Over the next two days, the lighthouse proved to be our landmark and a welcome sight when trying to remember which path to take to get back to the hotel.

As I got closer to the falls, the paths led to metal grate walkways. I got excited as I saw my first small water fall and then actually walked over another one.

As I walked a little further down the path, I saw my first glimpse of what we had come so far to see. It was awesome!

A little further down the path, the view got even better. I couldn’t believe how far the falls went into the distance. They seemed to go on forever. Looking down, I could see below to the lower trail that I would be using the next day so that I could take the boat ride under the falls.

Looking around there were waterfalls everywhere. Water was gushing from all around me. We were very fortunate to be visiting at a time of year when there was such a large water flow. We had friends who had visited a few years earlier during a drought, and their photos of the falls looked nothing like this water wonderland.

I was surprised at how few people were on the trail. The paths continued on to different platforms that had closer views of the various falls. Each one had a different view of the most beautiful waterfalls I had ever seen. The further I went the more beautiful it became. The beauty was enhanced by a rainbow.

I couldn’t wait to return the next day and share what I had seen with Carol. Since we are both waterfall lovers; I knew that, like me, she would be blown away by the amazing beauty.

On my return to the hotel, I went up to the hotel’s roof to a viewing area for another look at the falls. It was quite a nice view. I could have stayed longer, but we had arranged to have dinner with some of our Cruise Critic friends. We would soon be cruising together on the Infinity and we looked forward to spending time with them. After a delicious Argentine steak dinner, we went to bed early. It had been a very, very long day of traveling.

The next morning, while Carol was still enjoying the very comfortable bed and getting some much needed sleep, I went down to the restaurant to try the buffet breakfast that was included with our room. There were many choices of different breakfast items; and they were quite good. When I got back to the room Carol was up and getting ready to go to breakfast. In my impatience to see the falls again, I decided to go back to the upper trail for a quick look while Carol was eating. I saw a group of the animals that looked like ring tailed lemurs; but they were actually a different species called a Ring Tailed Coati.

Upon my return, Carol was ready to finally see the falls. I was thrilled that the sky was a bright blue with only a few white clouds. We had lucked out with the morning’s weather, and it was going to be a great day. Before venturing out, I put on my swimsuit because I planned to take the boat ride that went under the falls later; and I knew I would get soaking wet.

As expected Carol fell in love with the falls. We understood why, when Eleanor Roosevelt first saw Iguazu Falls, she exclaimed “Poor Niagara”. The beauty and awesome power of Iguazu cannot be captured in photographs. For the first time in one of our reviews, I felt that I needed to include a video, since it helps to show the water flow. Here is a LINK to the video done on my iPhone.

The 275 different falls extend over a 1.7 mile length of the Iguazu River. With a water flow that we were told is twice what it normally is, there were very few breaks in the water and it looked more like one very large waterfall. It is the most amazing natural wonder we have ever seen.

With the sun coming from a different direction, the falls took on a different look and once again I took way too many photos.

We had been fortunate since there weren’t many tourists while we were walking on the paths. With the paths actually going over the falls, it provided for a very dramatic view. As we were returning, the crowds started coming onto the trails. We had lucked out.

After we had completed the upper trail, Carol went back to the hotel and I headed out to the lower trail and my boat ride. There was a long path that led down to where the steps started. I could see that it was going to be a long trek to the bottom. The trail provided a different view of the various falls, including some that couldn’t be seen from the upper trail. There were many steps going down. I wasn’t looking forward to the return trip back up the steps.

I enjoyed looking up at the platforms and waterfalls that I had been looking down from just a couple of hours earlier. Did I say how beautiful these falls were?

It was interesting to watch the boats take their passengers up to and under the falls. I was certainly glad I had on a swim suit. The fun seekers on the boat were getting soaked. I would be getting my chance when I got to the bottom. Fortunately the steps weren’t too crowded with people. I was also very worried about the steps being slippery; but they weren’t.

When I finally got to the bottom of the hill and the end of the trail, the orange boat was unloading passengers and waiting for more thrill seekers to board. I had booked the Nautic Adventure tour with Iguazu Jungle Tours (http://www.iguazujungle.com/index_ing.html). The tour would include just the speedboat ride under the falls. In reading previous reviews of the various tours offered by this company, I had been alerted to not waste the extra money on their Grand Adventure Tour. That tour did basically the same boat ride, but included a very boring 45 minute drive through the jungle on a bumpy road before getting on the boat.

In preparation for my adventure, I was given a life preserver and a large rubberized bag for personal items. Since there wasn’t a line to get onto the boat, so we had to wait until there were enough people to fill up the vessel. After a few minutes, the boat was loaded and ready to take off. We headed up river toward one of the falls. We watched as other boats got close to the falls and then went right into them, where we couldn’t even see them. We were going to be really soaked.

Once our turn to go into the falls arrived, the guide alerted everyone to put personal items into the provided bags. Thank goodness for the bags. As we approached the falls, it felt like I was taking a shower. But once we got into the falls, we were totally drenched by sheets of water beating down upon us. Everyone on the boat was squealing with joy and laughing. It was fun. I don’t think I squealed. Since there weren’t other boats waiting to get into the falls, we went back under two more times, with the crowd cheering for more. We then went to the larger San Martin Falls and went into it three times. What is normally about a ten minute boat ride, lasted for 20 minutes. Wow! What a great ride.

When we returned to the dock, there was a line of people waiting to get onto the boat. As we got off, the path was very crowded with people going both ways. Tourists were everywhere. I couldn’t believe that it had gotten so much more crowded in less than a half hour. It was like a parking lot trying to get up the steps. Part of the hassle was related to people stopping on the steps to take photos; but there were just too many people for the narrow walkways.

After the boat ride, I had originally planned to take another boat over to San Martin Island to get a different view of the falls area. Due to the high water level, the beaches where the boats normally landed were covered with water; so they were not running the San Martin shuttle. It was probably just as well, since I don’t know that I would have had the energy or time to climb up the 275 steps to the top of the island and then do basically the same thing on the lower falls trail to get back to the hotel.

On the way back up the trail I went over to the walkway area I had viewed from the upper falls trail. The landing was really close to the falls and was just a beautiful place. I did have to be careful though, since the spray would periodically be blown over to where I was trying to take photos.

It was a long walk back to the top of the hill with many ramps and steps to climb. There were large crowds of tourists jammed up at various points along the trail. I was really grateful that we had missed them when we previously walked the Upper Falls trail. At least the views of the various falls were quite lovely and made the effort well worthwhile.

The Lower Falls trek had taken longer than I had expected and it was almost 2:00 PM. I was getting very hungry and knew that Carol would be wondering where I was. When I got back to the hotel, we decided to eat lunch there, rather than go into the park concession area. Lunch took longer than we expected.

The park closed at 5:00 PM and we were worried that we would miss the last train to the trail that would take us to the Devil’s Throat. We walked over to the train station. We had just missed the train, so we had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.

There were many tourists there and it was very crowded. It was also getting very cloudy. We had been very fortunate with the weather, but it looked like our luck was running out. When the train finally arrived and we boarded, it began to pour. I had so hoped to be able to see the Devil’s Throat in clear weather, but it looked like that wouldn’t happen. But to our surprise, the rain stopped in about two minutes. The train left the station and the skies began to clear some. Maybe we wouldn’t have the rain spoil our visit. The train ride took about 10 minutes. It was a long way to Devil’s Throat trail. I sure wouldn’t want to miss the last train back and have to walk back to the hotel. I couldn't believe the large group of people waiting to take the path to Devil's Throat.

The sign at the trail said that it was 5/8 of a mile long. Since I was worried about the rain returning, I left Carol to navigate the trail at her own pace, saying that I would meet her at the falls. The path was elevated over the river and seemed to go on forever. It was difficult to make good time, since there were so many people, many of whom were taking a leisurely stroll to the Devil’s Throat. Finally, I got a glimpse of the splendid falls. It is a horseshoe shaped area, and has the greatest water flow of any of the falls. It was larger than I had expected. The sun was actually shining by the time I got there, and it was just so beautiful.

There were so many people trying to get photos that it was difficult to be able to get up to the railing to take some of my own. Since it was 4:45 PM, I had assumed that most people would have been heading back to the train to get out of the park before it closed. People were really enjoying the spot. Fortunately, it did thin out some, and we could get an unobstructed view of the beauty of the Devil’s Throat. The mist plume would cover the view and then descend for a while before it would rise and frequently cover the viewing area with a cooling and drenching mist.

I had seen videos of that part of the waterfall many times, but nothing could compare to seeing it in person. The raw power we were witnessing was amazing. The distinctive yellow brown colored water gushing over the top was just mesmerizing and quite beautiful.

Carol had headed back to the train before me, and most of the crowd had also left by the time I was ready to go back. I took some photos of the area to remember what it looked like and started back down the long path to the train. I had been worried about missing the last train; but it was unnecessary concern, since they were running till well after 5:30 PM.

We didn’t get back to the hotel until after 6:00 PM and there were still many people walking around the park. Park security officers were telling people they had to leave; but they just didn’t want to go. It had been such a wonderful day. One that neither of us will ever forget.

The next morning, since our flight back to Buenos Aires wasn’t until 11:30 AM, I took another quick walk over to the Upper Falls trail to get one last look. Several busses had arrived and what had been a very relaxing and peaceful walk the previous two days, was now turned into a crowded noisy pathway. I just took a quick glimpse of the falls and turned around to head back to the hotel.

Iguazu Falls is undoubtedly the most beautiful natural wonder we have ever seen. The way the walkways are set up allows an up close, intimate view of the falls in all their glory. This is a “must do” bucket list location.

We had the hotel get us a car to the airport. Once again, it was only about a 15 minute ride. We had been worried that we would be getting a big airline charge for the excess luggage on the return leg of the trip since we weren’t coming directly from an international flight. We were once again pleasantly surprised that the ticket agent just asked to see our previous boarding pass and itinerary to verify that we had been on an international flight and she waived the excess luggage fee. We were quite appreciative. Previously, I had been very impressed with LAN’s service when booking our flights. There had been no change fee when we needed to change our flight schedule to Iguazu, and now no excess fee. I was also impressed with their planes and service on the ground and in the air. I would highly recommend LAN for travel to South America. Since we were on the same side of the plane as we had been when we landed, I kept my camera out in hopes that I could get a photo of the falls from the air. Sure enough, almost immediately upon gaining altitude, we could see the plumes of mist floating over the falls.

After we landed, we once again headed to the Manuel Tienda Leon booth in the terminal. Our car quickly took us to the cruise terminal. There was a mass of people there for several cruise ships that were boarding, but it was an organized chaos. Once we got into the terminal, we were able to get oriented, get through the paperwork and head for the ship. The Buenos Aires terminal is not next to where the cruise ships are docked, so we had to board a bus to be taken to the ship. It is a very large commercial port and there were containers stacked five and six high everywhere. Having seen too many movies on TV, Carol wondered aloud how many dead bodies were concealed in them.

When we finally got to the Infinity, we couldn’t believe how steep the gangplank was to enter the ship on Deck 3. I had to hold onto the railings to keep from falling backwards. In my opinion, this was a serious safety issue; and they should not have allowed passengers to board at that steep of an incline. Climbing the Iguazu Lower Falls trail was easier than boarding the ship. There was no way a wheelchair could be pushed up the ramp. I then noticed that there was another ramp that wasn’t being used for general boarding that went to Deck 2. I guess it could be used for people that needed assistance.

At last we were back on the Infinity. This was our third time on her and we felt right at home.

Since this is our third cruise review of the Celebrity Infinity I don’t think it is really necessary to discuss the virtues of the ship's public areas, especially since Infinity is scheduled for a makeover in November 2011. We thoroughly enjoy this ship class and will just include some photos of the public areas for us to remember the way she looked before the makeover.

For this cruise we had selected a starboard veranda cabin, number 7178. We had selected the starboard side because of the direction we would be cruising; which would mean that we could see the terrain while cruising near land rather than the open ocean. Our cabin was located very close to the rear elevators. This particular area of the ship had larger verandas than the normal ones. Ours was approximately 9 feet wide by 7.5 feet deep. We absolutely loved the location. It was so easy to get to the restaurants and for me, very fast access to the upper decks to get photos.

We always ask before a cruise to have an egg crate mattress added to the top of the mattress in the cabin, since they are normally pretty stiff. The egg crate we got for this cruise was the best ever. It really made for some comfortable sleeping. Also related to the bed, we were able to get two large suitcases under each side of the bed making for easy storage.

The arrangement of the cabin was quite functional, with a small couch and small desk.

The only problem we had was that there weren’t many drawers in the cabin, especially for a two week cruise. In my opinion, the desk area would be more serviceable if it had some drawers rather than just shelves.

The bathroom was very roomy for a cruise ship, and it was arranged quite well. The very small bathroom on the Azamara Quest really helped us to appreciate this one on the Infinity.

Our cabin steward was Anthony from India. He was very friendly, and he and his assistant worked hard at keeping our cabin clean and made up.

We did, however, have to talk with Anthony several times due to issues that weren’t necessarily caused by him. For some reason, we had someone else’s laundry delivered to our cabin twice. Both times, it had our cabin number on it, so it must have been a laundry room issue.

Two other occasions presented more serious issues. The first time a copy of another passenger’s passport was left on our door, I was shocked and reported it to Anthony. The second time it happened and was of different passengers, I considered it a security issue. I know I would not want a stranger to have a copy of my information! We always bring our own copies of our passports to use in ports that require them to be taken ashore. I don’t know who was responsible for the passports being put on the wrong cabin doors, but I did consider it a serious breach after it happened twice.

I have never used the medical center on a ship, but got very familiar with it on this cruise. I started to get a sore throat with other symptoms the night we boarded the ship. The next day it was getting worse and I had lost my sense of smell, which meant that I couldn’t taste the wonderful food on the Infinity. During dinner I started to get a fever. I went back to my cabin and took some aspirin and Mucinex that Carol had brought with us.

The next day I was feeling better in the morning, so I went on the tour we had planned in Montevideo. I was fine all day, but after we got back to the ship my fever returned. Our next stop was Punta del Este, which we knew involved a 20 minute tender boat ride so we decided to skip it. If I had to miss a port, this was the one to miss. I really needed to knock this illness out and get back on my feet.

The next morning I went to the small medical center on Deck 1. It was a popular place, and there are only five chairs. There were three people ahead of me. When I finally saw the doctor, he examined me and told me that he thought I had a virus. He prescribed two ibuprofens and two Tylenols every four hours for the fever and Robitussin DM for the drainage and coughing. I asked him if he was going to give me any antibiotics for my chest congestion. He said it wasn’t needed because I had a virus. He also said that I was not contagious. I didn’t feel confident about his diagnosis, but he was the doctor.

The medicine he prescribed was actually weaker than the Mucinex, and I didn’t get any better. I wasn’t really feeling that bad, other than the coughing and not being able to taste the food; but I was still getting a minor fever every afternoon. I decided to go back to the medical center three days later. This time I saw a different doctor who said I had a bronchial infection and he prescribed a Z-Pak antibiotic. I was so grateful. Two days later I was feeling much better and able to enjoy the wonderful food again.

Needless to say, I wasn’t happy that I had gotten bad advice from the first doctor. But thank goodness for the second one, otherwise my bronchitis could have gone into pneumonia and totally ruined our cruise. I am describing this whole experience to make readers aware that a ship doctor might not take as an aggressive course of action to fix your medical issues as your own doctor would since he doesn’t know you or your history. Question them if it doesn’t seem right.

This is the first time I have mentioned the photographers in a review. We have rarely purchased the photos on a cruise, not because we didn’t want to spend the money, but because the photos just weren’t that good. On some of our recent cruises we found the photos out of focus or with the wrong exposure; which is just unacceptable from what are supposed to be professional photographers.

Well the Infinity photographers have set a new standard for us. Normally on past cruises when we would look at the previous day’s photos, we had been able to put them in the trash bin pretty quickly. On this cruise, every day we would look at them and be amazed at how good they were. This became a problem. A good problem, but still a problem; since we now had stacks of photos to consider. It was very difficult to cull out photos we didn’t like.

By the next to last day of the cruise, we still had about twelve photos that we really liked. It was a very difficult decision. Fortunately, Pamela one of the photographers gave us some recommendations about which photos she thought were the best and why she picked them. She pointed out several aspects that we had not noticed. She was right and we bought more photos than we ever have on any previous cruise.

One of the reasons we cruise on Celebrity is we believe they have the best food. This was the first time we had cruised on Celebrity since the menus had been totally redone. We were hoping that the changes would be for the better. As always, we had early seating in the dining room for dinner. Our table was located in a less than desirable location at the back of the dining room, which meant that we couldn’t really see the beauty of the lovely room. For some reason, the background music was very loud. We had to ask for it to be turned down at every dinner.

We had a very good team in our waiter Reynaldo and his assistant Michael both from the Philippines. Reynaldo was a very seasoned professional waiter, while this was Michael’s first cruise. They made for a very good team.

Ioan our assistant maitre d from Romania was a real pleasure. He had a very outgoing personality and worked hard to provide everything we needed to have a great dining experience.

Since Carol and I don’t normally drink wine, we don’t use the ship sommeliers. This cruise was no different; but we thoroughly enjoyed our sommelier Conrad, also from the Philippines. He would come by our table every night and talk to us and joke with us like we were his best customer. As we got to know him better, he was doing magic tricks for the table. He really made our dining experience special.

Our table mates for the cruise were Shirish and Gita, from New Jersey; and Sherry from Alabama and Sheridan from Oregon. Good table mates really make for a great cruise. We looked forward to dinner every night to be able to spend time with our new friends.

As usual, on the last night there was the Baked Alaska Parade. I have never understood why everyone celebrates the Baked Alaska, since most people I know really don’t like it. But I must say, it is a lot of fun to watch everyone cheering and waving their napkins.

On two sea days there were lovely brunches in the dining room. This was well attended by people taking photos of the ice and food carvings as well as the many people anxious to eat the special treats that were available at the brunches.

We also enjoyed the breakfasts and lunches at the buffet. There was an excellent variety of food items and they were for the most part very good. The salad bar was always fresh, but never seemed to offer bleu cheese as a dressing. The biggest disappointment for breakfast was that the cream cheese on the buffet was more like sour cream.

Dinner at the buffet was a different tale. The night I had a high fever was the first formal night. Rather than risking getting our table mates exposed to something before I had a chance to see a doctor, we went to the buffet instead for dinner. I had always heard that they had many of the same items as on the dining room menu. Not so on that night. Other than the pasta table and pizza station, the only food on the buffet was a small section of Indian food and the salad bar. Had I not been sick and had I been able to taste, I would have loved to have Indian; but I was very disappointed in how few choices were available for dinner on the buffet. I did come back on a non-formal night just to see if there were more choices. There weren’t.

A bright spot for the buffet was the ice cream station. There were always several appealing flavors as well as soft serve available. It seemed to be open all the time. The pizza station also seemed to be open all the time. Although the pizza crust wasn't crispy, it was quite good.

We love the Celebrity specialty restaurants and the SS United States is a wonderful one. We had booked a dinner there for early in the cruise so that we could go a second time later; but since I couldn’t taste the food, we moved our reservation to the second week. As always, the service was superb and the food was a real treat. We particularly enjoy the cheese course.

Breezes Poolside Grill had very good hamburgers, hot dogs and other treats. We took advantage of it several times on sea days.

I never went to the Cova Café or Aqua Spa Café. They were very popular, but I just never got around to them. Possibly because I couldn’t taste anything for half the cruise. I didn't even get a photo of the Aqua Spa Café. The Pasticceria is right across from the Cova Cafe. It had some very tasty treats that seemed to be available all the time.

We were fortunate to have a very popular Cruise Director, Allan King from Scotland. He seemed to be personally involved in everything that was going on all over the ship. Every time I saw him he was always upbeat and trying to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves.

We enjoy going to the entertainment in the theater after dinner. On this cruise, the production shows were very good. We had three of them over the fourteen days and the singers and dancers were very talented.

I believe that we may have seen some of the shows before, but they still kept us very entertained.

Our only complaint about the evening’s entertainment was that other than the production shows, almost all the other entertainers were singers. I would have liked to have some comedians, magicians or something else to add some variety. One entertainer that we really enjoyed was pianist, Brooks Aehron. He was a very good piano player, but what really made him special was how much he loved what he did. He would stand up and tell stories about the composers who's music he was about to play. The stories were just so interesting and funny. The audience just loved him. They even had another performance the next day in the afternoon. The theater was full and he received standing ovations at both performances.

Some of the nights they did add acrobatic flyers Celia and Julien, once with one of the singers to add to their performance; as well as having them perform on each of the production shows. They were just marvelous. Very talented athletes.

On the first night while we over nighted in Buenos Aires, a tango group was brought on for the evening’s entertainment. I guess I have just watched too much of Dancing with the Stars; but these dancers just seemed to be very boring. They were good at what they did, but it was too much of the same thing.

The entertainers that performed around the ship were just outstanding. Our favorite group was an a cappella group named Top Shelf. They were very popular with the passengers.

On the last sea day, there was a crew talent show. It was held in the afternoon and filled up the theater. Each performance just thrilled the audience. They were really good.

One person who really added to our entertainment pleasure was not directly involved in the shows. A cocktail hostess, Deetjie from Indonesia, was such a sweetheart. She was always smiling and happy to see us. We really enjoyed talking with her.

With this being a part of the world that most North Americans aren’t familiar with, the enrichment lecturer’s talks were very popular. The two lecturers were Rod Jory and Graham Sunderland. Both of them were very educational as well as entertaining. I particularly enjoyed Graham, who had a very good sense of humor and spattered it nicely within his talks. I couldn’t help but notice how Graham’s appearance was very much like Alfred Hitchcock; and he talked like him also. It added to the entertainment value. I attended almost all of the lectures and enjoyed them quite a bit.

In addition to the lectures the two gentlemen also offered some additional activities. During a sea day, Graham had a bird watching session on the back of the ship pointing out the various species we were seeing. On one of the evenings Rod and Graham went up to the top deck at the front of the ship for star gazing. They pointed out the Southern Cross and other constellations not visible in the Northern Hemisphere. After leaving Ushuaia, Graham was down on the Promenade Deck telling about the various glaciers we were seeing. I only saw the first glacier with him, because I ran up to my cabin to get a jacket and realized that the view from our balcony was better than on Deck 4.

The Celebrity Today daily flyer was very valuable for this cruise, since there were a lot of activities on sea days. I liked how the actual pages with the schedule of activities could be separated from the rest of the flyer, which made it less bulky to carry around.

We were invited to a Bridge Tour. Even though all the bridges seem to look basically alike, I always enjoy seeing them.

Another event I enjoy attending even though I’ve been on several is the Galley Tour. I am always amazed at how large the equipment is, since everything has to be prepared in such massive quantities.

Even with the kitchen being as big as it is, I can’t imagine how they are able to accomplish what they do. I would love to have a galley tour during the dinner hour to see how they actually do accomplish what they do, but I’d probably be run over in the process. While on the tour, we saw our table mates Gita and Shirish on another tour. Cruise Critic friends Sharon and Hugo were also on the. We took photos of each other taking the other's photo.

Since there were so many international travelers on this cruise, all of the announcements were made in three languages. I appreciate the need for the multiple languages, but when there are long announcements, they seemed to go on forever. Probably part of my dislike for the announcements was that Captain Anastasios Lekkas has got to be one of the most boring captains we have sailed with. His announcements were made very slowly, in a monotone, with no emotion. I don’t know if he is just that “formal” or what, but I came to dread his noon updates.

Since our last cruise was on the Azamara Quest, with an extremely outgoing captain and very friendly staff, our opinion of the majority of the Infinity’s executive staff was that they were not particularly outgoing. From the captain down, they seemed to stay to themselves and not go out of their way to talk with the passengers. They were competent and efficient, but subdued. One exception was the Captain’s Club Hostess, Tanushka D’Souza. She was quite outgoing and seemed to always be very friendly and interested in the passengers. Of course Allan King and his staff were always passenger friendly.

Tanushka also hosted the Captain’s Club Elite Member Social Hour from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on most evenings. There was a selection of beer, wine and mixed drinks. They also passed around trays of appetizers.

They also passed around trays of appetizers. After trying a few of the mixed drinks, I settled on the delicious appletini as my favorite. The social hour is one Elite perk that is quite worthwhile.

Two other Elite perks that were really appreciated were the free bags of laundry and 108 minutes of internet for each of us. These perks really make it nice to cruise with Celebrity.

Since Carol and I are both active on the Cruise Critic Forums (www.cruisecritic.com), we get to talk to fellow passengers on-line who will be cruising with us, many months before the cruise. Once on board, Celebrity puts on a gathering called a Celebrity Connections Party for CCers to get to meet one another in person. It is always so much fun to be able finally see so many of the people that we had been communicating with on-line. These parties are normally scheduled on the first sea day; but due to scheduling, we didn’t have it until the fifth day. By then, we were really ready to meet those folks we hadn’t already met on our own.

The party was hosted by the Events Coordinator, Matthew. He really seemed to be glad to be at the party.

We had a large group attend the party. There was no way to remember all the people’s names. It would have been nice if Matthew had given out name tags. On other cruises we wrote both our CC names and our real names on our tags. It really helps when meeting so many new faces. More photos from the Cruise Critic party are in the Snapfish album at this LINK.

I had originally planned to take a taxi to the Recoleta Cemetery after we got settled on the ship and had lunch, and take the Hop-on Hop-off bus to tour the city the next day. But our plans changed after hearing about numerous tourists being robbed. Rather than just being pick pocketed, one group of eight tourists had been physically attacked and robbed. I decided that it would be a safer choice to just book the ship’s city tour for the next day and stay on the ship today. We were ready to stop and rest for a while anyway.

The next day’s tour allowed us to see almost everything I had wanted to see from our original plans, and it was a lot easier on us. Driving to our first stop, the Recoleta Cemetery, we saw quite a few lovely monuments and statues. There was even one with an Eva Peron statue.

Most people that visit Buenos Aires seem to go to the cemetery. I thought the main attraction would be to see Eva Peron’s mausoleum. I soon found that the real appeal to me was to see the beautiful mausoleums and monuments for the less famous residents of Buenos Aires. It was a very lovely place to wander around, and the statuary was just lovely.

Our tour guide Eduardo did a fine job of explaining what we were seeing. A mourner who was visiting the cemetery to put out flowers on his family grave yelled at Eduardo to stop talking, since it was a cemetery. Eduardo handled the situation well and continued to tell us about what we were seeing. There were many other tour groups for the mourner to complain to. I can appreciate the mourner’s situation, but what can he expect when he has a loved one buried in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city.

By the time we arrived at Evita’s mausoleum, it was somewhat of a letdown. The pathway in front of it was very narrow and the mausoleum itself was very plain compared to others we had seen. There were numerous plaques on it, but no lovely statues. Additionally, there were many people around taking photos of the famous site.

There were so many beautiful statues in the cemetery; it was difficult to decide which ones to photograph.

We rejoined the bus and headed to the main square in Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo. On the way, we passed the opera house. I had hoped to be able to tour that building, since it was supposed to be quite beautiful inside, but it wasn’t on the tour itinerary.

We exited the bus at Plaza de Mayo and walked over to the Pink House, which is the government building where Evita addressed the people; and where Evita sings Don't Cry for Me Argentina in the musical.

We then went into the lovely Metropolitan Cathedral. I wish we had been able to spend more time here, but we did have to rush due to a tight touring schedule. I was impressed with some of the stained glass windows.

Our next stop was the brightly colored El Caminito in the La Boca area. It was quite an interesting place and a beehive of activity

There were many street entertainers and people doing the tango; but the main attraction to me was the artwork and figurines on the buildings.

It was quite an interesting place to walk around and there were some very unique souvenirs available. It is also a major tourist shopping area.

My only criticism of this tour concerned when we got back to the port. As before noted, we had to take a shuttle bus from the terminal to the ship. When our tour bus arrived at the port, Eduardo did not tell us where to go to get on the shuttle. I asked him and he kind of flipped his hand in the general direction of the terminal and said “inside”. It might not have been a problem except that another cruise ship was loading and there were throngs of people trying to embark.

Meanwhile, we had an entire busload of people, in one big group, wandering around playing follow the leader and trying to find out where we needed to go. Finally, we found a man who said we needed to go all the way to the far end of the building to catch the bus. The general feeling of the entire group was that since it was a ship excursion and because it was not close to where the bus parked, Eduardo should have personally led us to where we needed to board the bus. Other than this one easily correctable thing, it was a good tour and he was a great guide.

When we got back to the ship, the tide had dropped, so the ramps were not as steep. In fact the one on deck two was almost level with the ship and most people were taking it. We were glad that our ship had stayed overnight in Buenos Aires, and we had gotten a chance to experience the lovely city.

I always enjoy being on deck for sail away. I particularly enjoy hearing the ship's horn blast as it leaves port. It's sort of an intrinsic part of the cruising experience. For some reason, the horn never sounded as we left any of the ports on this cruise. I don't know why the Captain chose not to blow the horn, but we missed hearing the loud blast.

In Montevideo we had arranged a private tour with six of our friends we had met on Cruise Critic. Since they all lived in the Fort Lauderdale area, we had been able to meet with them several times during the year before the cruise. Four of them, Joe, Rose, Steve and Linda would be going on five of our tours with us. Sergio and Geri would be going on this tour and our tour / transfer at the end of the cruise.

I had arranged a tour with Marta Marquez’s company (msmtaiz@hotmail.com). Marta herself wasn’t able to do the tour; but her older sister Noemi was. We were very pleased with her, because her English was excellent and she was very knowledgeable about the area and history.

We were also thrilled with the roomy van that was used. The day was going to be nice, and the weather was just perfect. Montevideo looked like a lovely city to tour.

Our first stop was along the beach to get a panoramic view. It was a very popular area, and the water was much prettier there than in Buenos Aires. There were lots of condos along the beach.

Our next stop was to the Plaza de la Armada. There was a monument to those who died in naval service.

We then stopped at a wagon monument. I had read about a wagon monument that depicts a wagon that was stuck in the mud; but this wasn't it. So there must have been another one here also.

Montevideo has some lovely monuments and statues, including one of Pope John Paul.

We then passed by the Parliament, where we had to stop to get photos of the lovely building. It was quite ornate.

Next we went to the other wagon monument. They are both beautiful, and clearly depict the hardships faced by the early settlers.

Our last stop was the Military Museum, which is part of a fort on top of a hill. There was a beautiful panoramic view of the area from there.

One of the reasons for that particular stop was to find a restroom. Unfortunately, the fort and museum were closed, so we were concerned. Noemi talked to a guard and asked if we could be let in just to use the restrooms. I guess that she was convincing because he cooperated. It certainly made the girls happy.

When we returned to town, Carol decided to go back to the ship. The other two couples wanted to stay in town to have lunch. I decided to stay with them because I like to try local food and beer. We found a restaurant and ordered the local specialty, chivitos. It was a sandwich with a whole lot of things on it, including pork, bacon, eggs, etc. It was quite good.

We then walked around the main square. It was a lovely area with monuments and beautiful buildings.

We really enjoyed our visit to Montevideo. We had great weather in a beautiful city with an excellent guide.

We had planned a ship tour in the upscale resort town. However, I had been mildly sick for the last couple of days and ran a fever the previous night, so I decided to pass on the tour and see the ship’s doctor instead. It was the right thing to do. Although I hated to miss a port, I knew I would not miss the 20 minute tender ride that it took to get to shore in Punta Del Este. The only photos I could get were from the ship. Very disappointing.

The next day was a sea day and I was able to rest up and recover. By the time we arrived in Puerto Madryn, I was feeling good enough to go on our tour to the Punta Tombo penguin rookery. I was pleased to see the blue sky, since many of the previous cruises this year had experienced rain while visiting Punta Tombo.

For this tour we had booked with Forastero Tours (http://www.forasterotour.com.ar/). Our guide for the day was another Noemi and her driver Carlos. Punta Tombo is the most important Magellan Penguin colony in Patagonia. Over a million penguins are there during the season starting in September and ending in March. Since we were arriving at the first part of March, there would still be some penguins there for us to see.

It would be a long day, since it was a 2.5 hour drive each way. Fortunately the van was comfortable for the trip. Once again Joe, Rose, Steve and Linda joined us on the tour. For the most part the drive was very boring with a flat terrain with not much to look at. Noemi provided us with information about the area; but with a 2.5 hour drive we did get a little restless. Carol was glad she had brought along her Kindle.

As we got closer to Punta Tombo, Carlos would stop the car and point out wildlife to us; and Noemi would translate. He was a great spotter. We saw rhea, mara, wanako, a snake, a grey fox and a furry armadillo.

We were very happy when we finally arrived at Punta Tombo. We were ready to see penguins. Noemi told us not to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the almost mile long walk, since there were more penguins further down the trail. It was hard to pass up the cute little guys; but we tried to comply.

It was a nice gravel path and there weren’t many people there yet. It also wasn’t windy like it normally is. There were penguins all along the path and in their burrows. It was humorous to hear the Magellan Penguins braying. They have a very distinctive call and sound exactly like mules.

We were able to get very close to them, especially when crossing over the small bridges. They also liked to share the bridges with us.

Since we were at the end of the season, we didn’t have a million penguins to look at, but there were quite a few. There were even some youngsters that were still molting.

As we got closer to the deep blue water, we could see lots of penguins. They were on the beach going into and coming out of the water. It was really fun to watch them swimming and playing.

We then went down to a different section of beach, but the penguins were just standing around, thinking of going into the water I guess. I caught a photo of Linda, Carol and Rose just standing around too, so I took it.

After we had spent about an hour and a quarter with the penguins, we decided it was time to head back to the van. As we started walking back on the trail, I couldn’t believe how many people were now headed toward us. Some tour busses had arrived and hundreds of people were descending on Punta Tombo. The paths were crowded and people were stopping to take photos of each penguin at the beginning of the trail. I guess their guides didn’t tell them not to waste their photo time at the first part of the trail, like Noemi had told us.

It really made a difference in our penguin experience to beat the crowds. This is a major perk of having a private tour, rather than taking a ship tour. In a city tour, it probably isn’t as important. But when visiting nature, the less people the better.

On the way back to Puerto Madryn, we passed a race track that had trials in progress. That was definitely a change of pace from watching the penguins waddling to their burrows.

We had a nice view of the Infinity as we came to the port. We were most fortunate during this cruise that we had no other cruise ships in any of our ports other than Buenos Aires and Valparaiso. It was nice not to have to share the ports with anyone else.

After having an excellent talk by Graham Sunderlin about Cape Horn, we were ready to experience the harsh environment that had sunk many ships and made Cape Horn known as a ship graveyard. We knew that cruising around the Cape can be very rough, since the wind is fierce and the waves very high most of the time. I had hoped to be able to see the famous Albatross Monument to the sailors who lost their lives there; but the weather had kept most of this year’s cruises from being able to see it.

Earlier in the day, we were having some very strong winds, with gusts up to 60 knots. But as we got closer to Cape Horn, we were having better conditions than I had expected. It was windy and cold, due to the wind chill; but the seas were relatively calm. While waiting on deck to get to the Cape, I took great pleasure in trying to take photos of Albatrosses. This variety was much smaller than those we had seen in New Zealand; but they were still fascinating to watch as they glided through the air.

As we approached the Horn, I could understand why so many ships had been sunk while trying to round the tip of South America. There were lots of areas where rocks came way out into the sea. Many of them were very low and hard to see, particularly if the weather conditions were bad. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me to take photos of the some of the worst areas, but I could see why so many ships didn’t make it.

At last we could see the facility and flag pole on top of the island of Cape Horn. I hadn’t realized that it was an actual island until we started researching for this cruise.

It was still pretty far away and I didn’t know where to look for the Albatross monument. The winds were really blowing hard and making it difficult to hold the camera still. At last I saw it when we were at the correct angle. But the only way I could see it at first was to take a photo and blow it up on the camera display screen. It was strange how it was so easy to see in one position, but invisible from another angle. The closer we got to Cape Horn, the monument seemed to disappear due to the way it is positioned.

I was thrilled when the sun actually came out. Quite a special event at Cape Horn. We had been blessed with very good weather. Unfortunately, the forecast for Ushuaia was for rain.

Ushuaia and Puerto Montt were the two ports that I had hoped we would have some luck with the weather, since they had the best mountain scenery. We were really looking forward to seeing the South American Andes. Living in South Florida makes visiting mountains a very special occurrence. With the forecast for rain, I was hoping perhaps that it wouldn’t be for the whole day. When I woke up and walked out on our veranda, it was still dark and the lights of Ushuaia and the port were shining brightly. I could see the outline of mountains in the background. I was also thrilled to see that we would be docking rather than tendering as the itinerary had stated. The previous cruise had also docked, so I had hoped that we would have the same good fortune.

As the sun rose, I could see that we were going to have a lovely sunrise. This was particularly important, since the skies were only partly cloudy. Maybe they would clear off.

At last we could see the beautiful town of Ushuaia with snow capped mountains in the background. I had set up a private tour for just Carol and me with Gerardo Germain (gerardo_ush@hotmail.com). Gerardo is a taxi driver who also gives tours. We had rushed through breakfast so that we could get off the ship and beat the tour busses. In my haste, I had not realized that I had forgotten a very important item.

We walked off the ship and started to look for signs with my name on it. Most all the vehicles near the ship were for Celebrity excursions. We started walking to the port entrance to see if Gerardo might be there. It was a very long way to get to the port security building. Once we got there, we didn’t see any signs either. I told Carol to wait there and I would go all the way to the entrance to see if I could find Gerardo, since I didn’t know if perhaps he would drive to the ship rather than be at the security entrance.

I passed through a bunch of souvenir shops on the way to the entrance and knew that we would be coming back there later. At last I got to the entrance and there were several signs including Gerardo holding one with my name on it. I shook his hand and then for some reason it popped into my mind that I had left the money for the tour in the safe on board the ship. I couldn’t believe it. I would have to go all the way back to the cabin to get his envelope with the money and come all the way back. I told Gerardo to please wait, but I had to go back to the ship.

I speed walked back to the security building to tell Carol what I had done and that I would get back as fast as I could. I was beating myself up for not doing my normal pre-tour check off list the previous night. I got back to the room, got the money and turned around to make the long trek back to the terminal entrance. By the time I picked up Carol and we got back to Gerardo, I had wasted over twenty minutes of valuable tour time and I was huffing and puffing from my morning exercise. But at last we were ready to see the southernmost city in the world.

Like most of the taxis we saw, Gerardo’s was small. We knew it would be and because of that, we did not share this tour with any of our friends. The taxis would be OK for three people, but not four. Having three people in the back seat wouldn’t work unless one had very short, skinny friends.

Gerardo seemed like a very nice person and spoke good English. As we drove to Tierra Del Fuego National Park we knew we had picked a great guide. We were already enjoying our tour. He stopped at a lovely spot along a river with a beautiful view of mountains. It was quite a peaceful place with horses grazing.

We then proceeded toward the park. Gerardo stopped at several places along lakes for me to take lots of photos. The combination of the blue lakes and snow capped mountains was so lovely; and we were all by ourselves at most of the places we stopped.

At one spot, Gerardo asked me if I wanted to take a 10 minute walk through some woods. He would pick me up on the other side of the trail. I couldn’t pass it up. He said that it was a lovely walk and it was.

He then stopped at another spot where Carol and I could walk to what is considered to be the end of the Pan American Highway. It was also a very peaceful lovely spot and once again Carol and I were by ourselves.

We were fascinated with one of the shrubs we saw with fuzzy looking seed pods. We were having a really good time and enjoying nature.

Gerardo then stopped at another place where we could see a beaver dam. Apparently there are lots of them in the area and the beavers have become a problem. There was also another scenic view of the mountains near there.

We then headed up to the Garibaldi Pass and the Lake District. What a beautiful drive going through the Andes. We were just oohing and ahhing at every view.

We stopped at a lovely spot that had a tower we could climb to get a better view of the valley. It was spectacular.

While on the top of the tower, we saw a fellow selling various wooden objects. We fell in love with the little penguins. The vendor told us that he and his father make them by hand out of several kinds of wood. We chatted for a little while he told us how he made them. They were only $15, so we got one. We assumed that we would be getting other souvenirs in town, so we didn’t want to buy too much then. After we left, I was disappointed that we didn’t get some more, since they were great souvenirs.

As we were heading to the Pass, we went by some more lovely mountains and passed under a ski lift. Skiing is popular in that part of the world.

We got stuck behind a truck that was having mechanical problems. I was getting impatient, but just decided to look out the windows and enjoy the beauty. With the winding roads we would not be able to safely pass him. Fortunately, we weren’t that far from the pass. When we got to Garibaldi Pass, we could see why it was such a popular spot. Several busses had arrived before us, but we still enjoyed looking at the mountains and valley lakes.

Gerardo took us to a place not far from the pass to show us one of his favorite panoramic views. We were really enjoying seeing the beauty of the Chilean Andes.

Gerardo then took us back down the mountain on the road to Ushuaia. He asked if we wanted to stop at a local restaurant for lunch. By then it was 1:00 PM, so we jumped at his recommendation. He took us to the Las Cotorras Restaurant. It was also a restaurant that the ship tours used; but they hadn’t arrived yet. The setting was gorgeous with a jagged peaked snow capped mountain in the distance. Gerardo knew the family that runs the restaurant, and he proceeded to show us around. He took me inside the lamb smoking room. It was quite impressive with about 16 lambs being cooked around the open fire. It smelled so good.

We only wanted a quick lunch, since we were more interested in seeing the sites of that incredibly beautiful part of the world. We felt that we had to try the Fuegan Lamb we had just seen cooking. We asked Gerardo to see if we could just order a Fuegan Lamb sandwich. That was fine with them and they quickly brought out two large sandwiches stuffed with Fuegan Lamb. Condiments were available, but were not needed. It smelled so good, but tasted even better. I couldn’t believe how delicious a plain sandwich of just meat and bread tasted. It didn’t take long to devour the tasty meal. We thanked the owners and praised them for the delicious lunch.

We headed back to Ushuaia, stopping first at a scenic overlook of the town. We had a lovely view of the Infinity at the dock.

Gerardo then took us up another mountain to the Martial Glacier that was only a few minutes away. After a quick stop for photos, we headed back down to the city business district. Since it was a short walk to the ship from town, we decided to just be dropped off there to be able to do some shopping. After spending a very full and absolutely wonderful day with Gerardo, we were a bit sad to have to say good bye to our new friend. Our tour had been very special, and Gerardo will be added to our personal list of favorite drivers.

There were lots of stores in Ushuaia, with many of them catering to the tourist trade. Carol felt that we should contribute to the local economy. She bought a penguin for herself made of Rhodochrosite, the national stone of Argentina. She also bought another penguin that was made of Lapis for Mike, of course.

After we finished our shopping, we were walking back to the ship when we saw a street vendor selling some wooden penguins. They looked just like the ones we had seen on the viewing platform earlier in the day. He actually recognized us, and we realized it was the same craftsman. We were both very happy to have found each other again, since we had spent a while talking earlier in the day. He was a true craftsman and very proud of his work. I was just thrilled to be able to buy a few more of his beautiful pieces. He was so grateful that he also included a tiny little duck for Carol as a gift.

We walked down through the town just enjoying such an interesting and beautiful place.

When we got back to the port area, we were able to look around in the shops and see what we had missed earlier in the day as I was rushing around trying to hook up with Gerardo. It was a really pretty area, especially with the craggy topped mountains in the background.

It had been a touring day we will never forget. Ushuaia will go down as one of our favorite ports. We had a very full day and were ready to get back on the Infinity. As we left port, we looked back at the lovely most southern city in the world.

We had been told that we would be able to see glaciers along the Beagle Channel at 8:30 PM. Since the sun was supposed to set at around 8:00 PM, it didn’t seem like there would be much to see. Because this was the day we had booked the SS United States Restaurant, I was concerned that we might not be able to finish in time to see the glaciers. Fortunately, after our wonderful meal, I was able to get back to our cabin just as we were passing the first glacier.

Since it wasn’t totally dark yet, I was able to get some photos of the impressive ice masses.

By 9:00 PM, when we were almost through the glacier area, it was getting too dark to photograph them. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t have seen the glaciers in the daytime; but in order to do that, we would have had to shorten our port stop in Ushuaia. This timing worked out OK for me; but I wanted to see it all.

Once again we woke up to a lovely sunrise as we headed down the Strait of Magellan toward Punta Arenas.

It would be a tender port, so Joe and Rose went down early to pick up tender tickets for Steve, Linda, Carol and me. With the ship to arrive in port at 9:00 AM coupled with the tendering, we were concerned about losing too much valuable touring time if we didn’t get a low number. Joe was able to get #1 tender tickets, so we were in great shape. Even with our being on the first tender, we still didn’t get to the terminal until almost 10:00 AM.

Punta Arenas was one of three tours we had booked with Patagonia Shore Excursions (www.patagoniashorex.com). When trying to set up tours in the South American ports, I had been frustrated by some tour operators being very slow to respond to emails or not responding at all. Jamie, the owner of Patagonia Shore Excursions, had responded very quickly to all of my emails, even while he was stuck in Europe by the Iceland volcano ash. I was able to Skype with him before we booked, which was a great way to get to know a tour operator. The guide that Jamie had for us in Punta Arenas was Armando.

Once again the weather forecast had called for possible showers and it was cloudy when we got into the van. We had booked an excursion to Otway Sound to see one of the smaller penguin rookeries in Patagonia. Whereas Punta Tombo has over a million penguins during a season, Otway only has about 20,000. Plus since this was near the end of the season, we weren’t expecting to see a lot of penguins; but we still wanted to give it a try.

It would be a 1.25 hour drive to Otway. The port lecturer had told us that Punta Arenas is one of the windiest cities in the world. At times, they actually have to put out ropes along the streets so that people can safely walk on the sidewalks. Today seemed to be a fairly mild day in town, so hopefully it would be at Otway also. Like in Punta Tombo, the terrain was very flat; but we could see the snow covered Andes in the background. Half of the drive was on paved roads, but the other half was on a private dirt road. It was a long dirt road and extremely bumpy.

Armando did a nice job of telling us about the area and that most of the penguins had already left Otway. We saw some wildlife including rheas, hawks and even a couple of condors. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my telephoto lens on my camera at the time; but I did get a photo of the large bird.

When we finally arrived at Otway, we could see that it was a much smaller operation than Punta Tombo. There were just a few trailers set up at the entrance. Luckily, one of them was a much needed restroom after riding on the dirt roads for almost 40 minutes. There was a self guided map; as well as some penguin facts.

Once again we were almost by ourselves at Otway. There were only a couple of other vans in the parking lot. Like Punta Tombo, the walk to the penguins would be almost a mile. About halfway into it, we found some penguins very close to the path. While there weren’t large groups of penguins, there were more than I had expected to see.

The main viewing platform near the water was set up like a blind so tourists wouldn’t disturb the penguins. It was close to the water and we had to step onto a bench to be able to look through the opening at the top of the blind. Since we were pretty much by ourselves, there was plenty of room for us to look at them for as long as we wanted. There were two other viewing stands set up around the area.

There weren’t a lot of penguins; but then again, since they all look alike, how many did we need to see? At least in this location and with the aid of the blind, we were able to get much closer to the animals while they were in the water.

Armando told us that we were very fortunate today, since there was very little wind. He said that normally it is very difficult to even walk on the path because of the very strong winds. On the way back we found a penguin relaxing in her burrow along with others along the path.

We also saw that the tour busses had arrived. The small blind was now crowded with people trying to get a view with more people coming down the path to join them. Otway is not designed for a lot of people. Once again we were fortunate to have beaten the crowd.

Otway was a very different experience from Punta Tombo, but I did enjoy it and I got some nice photos. If we could have only done one rookery, it would be Punta Tombo for sure; but I am glad we had been able to see penguins at two different places.

On the ride back we saw a replica of the Ship that Magellan had used. The port lecturer had told us that it was about the same size as one of our tenders; but until I saw this replica I couldn’t appreciate how small the vessel really was. Plus it seemed like its shape would make the ship bob on the water like a cork. The Infinity was a much better choice for sailing these waters.

Armando took us up to a panoramic viewing area that gave us a great view of the city of Punta Arenas with the Infinity in the background.

Since the port is a popular tourist location, there were many vendors set up to sell their brightly colored woolen products. Everyone in our group lives in South Florida, so woolens weren’t on the top of our shopping list; but they made for a lovely display.

Armando then took us around the town showing us some of the points of interest. At the end of the tour, we asked him if he could recommend a restaurant for a late lunch. He recommended one that was on the way back to the ship named Sotitos. He dropped us off at the main square. It was a very popular spot with lots of vendors selling woolens and various crafts.

Around the square were some lovely buildings that showed the European influence of the city’s founders.

Sotitos was a couple of blocks from the square. From the outside, it looked pretty plain; but when we got inside it was a lovely restaurant. I almost felt out of place in our touring clothes and cameras. But not enough to pass on eating lunch there.

King Crab is very popular in that part of Patagonia and we were anxious to try some. Most of us ordered the King Crab appetizer. The other popular fish in this area was Conger Eel. The port lecturer had mentioned the fish and told the audience to try it if possible. It was supposed to be quite delicious. When the King Crab appetizer arrived, we were thrilled to see that it had been taken out of the shells and was a very large portion. It was so good. Combined with the local Astral Calafate Ale, I was in heaven.

When the main course arrived, it was also quite delicious. Armando had recommended a very good restaurant for us.

After we finished lunch, we did a little more shopping. There were so many street lights along the street. Thinking back on it, they probably have that many so that they have something to attach the ropes to when the winds are strong.

As we headed back to the ship, it started to rain. It was the first time we had experienced rain on the cruise. It was a very light rain and stopped before we got back to the ship. We had been very lucky in this port with the weather. I could also see the Infinity waiting for the tired tourists to return to her.

There were a few souvenir shops at the port as well as an interesting whale tail photo opp.

After I got back to the ship, I went to the upper deck to get a last photo of Punta Arenas. It had been another nice day. Later that evening after dinner, we had a nice relaxing sunset. At the time we didn't realize that in just a few hours we would be in a major storm.

We left Punta Arenas on a Tuesday evening. Next on our itinerary we were scheduled to be cruising in the Strait of Magellan on Wednesday. This was somewhat misleading, as one would assume that since it was the only thing on the agenda for Wednesday, it would be all day long. I envisioned enjoying a leisurely, scenic voyage down the historic waterway following Magellan’s path. Not so, as the entire time we were in the Strait was during Tuesday night and before dawn on Wednesday. According to the Celebrity Today bulletin, we would be in the Strait of Magellan after leaving Punta Arenas (around 7:00 PM) until 5:30 AM the next morning (Wednesday). Since we were in the Strait only at night and we entered into the Pacific Ocean all day Wednesday, it should have been called a Sea Day, since we would be sleeping and not actually experiencing the Strait of Magellan.

Once we were in the Pacific Ocean, we encountered a very strong storm and the ship was moving around quite a bit. The captain said that we were experiencing 50 knot winds with gusts up to 80 knots. With a category one hurricane being around 60 knots, we were in a very strong storm. We were also having 18 foot seas.

It definitely wasn’t a relaxing day at sea. The captain changed his route from the one that was planned, so that he could get us into more protected waters. That certainly made a big difference. It actually turned out to provide us with some scenic cruising later in the day.

Thursday was listed as Scenic Cruising in the Chilean Fjords. It was a cloudy day and pretty cool outside. The Constellation Lounge in the front of the ship was a popular place for viewing the fjords; but I preferred to be outside to get photos.

The cruising was nice; but it didn’t compare to the Norwegian and New Zealand fjords we had previously sailed.

I still spent most of the day out on deck enjoying the experience. It was also much more enjoyable than the previous day’s storms.

I was very disappointed when I had seen the weather forecast for our day in Puerto Montt. Both my iPhone and the Celebrity Today showed rain for our visit to what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful ports we would see. Upon our arrival into the port, the sky was very cloudy. By the time we disembarked the tender, the clouds were breaking up some, so perhaps the day wouldn’t be a total rain out.

Once again we were using Patagonia Shore Excursions for the day’s excursion. (www.patagoniashorex.com) After we got off the ship, we easily found our guide for the day Maria and our driver Pedro. She took us over to meet the owner of the company Jamie, who was also in charge of the Celebrity excursions in Puerto Montt. It was good to finally meet Jamie, since I had communicated quite a bit in setting up our three tours with his company. He assured us that we would have a lovely day for touring. I hoped he was right.

In driving through the town, it looked like a lovely place to visit and probably a nice place to live. It was a very clean, nice sized town set in a beautiful environment.

Our first stop was to see the beautiful Mount Osorno across from Lake Llanquihue, South America’s third largest lake. I had seen photos on line of the beautiful extinct volcano with its snow capped peak. It closely resembles Japan’s Mount Fuji. It is unusual to be able to see the full peak; and today was no different. It was covered by clouds as usual; but it was still a lovely sight.

We were headed to Vincent Rosales National Park, where we were able to see the Petrohue Falls and get a different view of Mount Osorno. The drive through the mountains was very enjoyable.

After seeing the magnificence of Iguazu Falls, I wasn’t expecting to be greatly impressed with the Petrohue Falls. When we got to the park, busses from the ship tours had already arrived, so we would not be having the uncrowded experience we had been very fortunate to have in some of the other ports. But that was OK, since there was enough room there for everyone. The falls were quite different from any I had seen before.

They were more of a rapids that ran through narrow rocks, rather than what I think of as a waterfall. Since they were different, they were interesting. The walkways were nicely placed where we could get excellent views of the water rushing through the area.

What was really nice there was that we could see more of the top of Mount Osorno off in the distance. The clouds had lifted a little, and part of the snow was showing. We needed to have a photo of us with the lovely background, as did Joe and Rose.

We returned to the van and Maria told us that we were now going to the ski lodge further up Mount Osorno. That was where we could take a chairlift further up the mountain or even take a long zip-line ride. We all passed on both the chairlift and the zip-line. When we got to the top, the clouds floating on the mountain looked quite mysterious.

The parking area and the mountain were covered with black and red volcanic gravel. Walking up to the shopping area, we saw our table mates Shirish and Gita who were on a ship excursion. We were glad they were also getting to see this beautiful place. We would run into them several more times during the day.

It had been pretty cloudy when we first arrived at Mount Osorno, but as we walked around it looked like the clouds were breaking up. Maria asked if anyone wanted to climb the hill to get a great photo of the valley down below. I wasn’t too enthused about climbing the hill; but I couldn’t risk missing a great photo op.

It probably wasn’t the best decision I made during this cruise. The mountain was much steeper than it appeared and the gravel was very loose, making it a bit treacherous. The gravel did give way pretty easily and one person did slip down not far from me. I just had to be very careful and pay close attention not to slip.

Halfway up, there was a nice break in the clouds that allowed me to get a partial view down into the valley. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the top of the hill, the clouds had covered the view and there was nothing to see. Oh well, at least it was good exercise. On the way back to the lodge, we saw that there were now six tour busses in the parking lot. It was a popular spot.

The lodge was at an elevation of 4,300 feet on the 8,700 foot mountain. Maria had told us that she came within 600 feet of the top a couple of weeks earlier when she was climbing it. She must be in great physical shape and a lot braver than me, as she is also a member of the ski rescue team. She told us that there are large crevices in the ice that climbers regularly fall into, if they don’t use a local guide to show them where to go. Many climbers have died on the beautiful mountain trying to reach the summit. I would just be happy to be able to see it.

The ride down the mountain provided us with a nice view of the green valley and the deep blue of Lake Llanquihue below. The ride consisted of many curves and switchbacks to get down the hill. We had to stop to take more photos.

As we continued down the mountain, we looked back up and to our delight saw that the clouds were moving away from the peak. What an awesome sight! With the clouds gone, we could see the wide crevices in the ice.

We were so excited to see an unobstructed view of the gorgeous mountain. We knew that it must not happen very often, when even Maria took out her camera to take some photos. I had to take one of Maria and our excellent driver Pedro. They had been doing a wonderful job for us all day.

We stopped at a scenic overlook to take some more photos and the sky around the mountain was totally clear. Unbelievable! Everyone had to get their photos taken.

Continuing on our way back toward the ship, we stopped at another popular tourist site, Green Lake. Once again we joined the crowds from the busses. On the path to the lake, we saw a grey fox family.

Green Lake definitely lived up to its name, but it seemed that the main reason the busses stopped there was for the restrooms and souvenir stands.

On the way back to the ship, we planned to stop in the very popular tourist town of Puerto Vargas on the shore of Lake Llanquihue. That is the town where Maria lives. We wanted to do a little shopping and possibly find something light to eat. It was running late and we didn’t want to waste too much time. But I did have to slow down to admire a gorgeous rose in the Plaza de Armas

It was a very picturesque town and I am sure a nice place to live. The new multi colored modern looking school really stood out.

From Puerto Vargas it was a short drive back to Puerto Montt. As we got closer to Puerto Montt, Maria had Pedro stop at a panoramic overview, so we could take some photos of the city.

It had really turned into a gorgeous sunny day. One thing we learned was that you can’t depend on the weather forecast in that part of the world. We had been so lucky to have great weather for this beautiful port. When we got back to the dock, we once again saw Jamie. This time I was able to take a photo of him with Carol. We thanked him for bringing us such a beautiful day and told him what a great tour we had been given; as well as how much we enjoyed Maria and Pedro. He was very pleased.

While on the tender, I was finally able to get a clean photo of the Infinity with the sun shining on it. It was additionally special because Mount Osorno was in the background.

After we got back on the ship, I went to the upper deck to enjoy some last looks of Puerto Montt. There was a large cross on one of the hills, which looked like it was probably lit up at night. Looking toward the East, I could see the Andes in the distance. This was such a lovely town.

But there was no doubt what really dominated the Puerto Montt landscape. Mount Osorno rose high above the city. But as usual, the clouds had returned to hide its beautiful snow covered peak. We had been blessed with a very special day in Puerto Montt.

After dinner, we were witness to another lovely sunset. It was a special treat to cap off an awesome port day.

Fortunately, we had a sea day after Puerto Montt to be able to pack for our disembarkation the next day. Joe had been able to get the eight of us a 7:00 AM disembarkation time. This was very important, since we had a lot to see that day and also had to be able to get to the Santiago airport in time for our 7:50 PM flight. LAN had recommended arriving three hours early, so we would have about nine hours to explore the area.

I had set the alarm on my iPhone to wake us up at 6:00 AM, so we could get off the ship around 7:00 AM. Unfortunately, since Daylight Savings Time started a few hours earlier, the iPhone automatically move ahead one hour. I had mistakenly figured that since we weren’t in the USA and since Chile doesn’t use Daylight Savings Time, that my iPhone wouldn’t change. So we got up at 5:00 AM instead of 6:00 AM. I guess it really didn’t matter, since the Valparaiso port was very loud with bright lights; and had awakened me at what I thought was 5:00 AM, but was really 4:00 AM. Carol was not happy, and the morning was not starting out well. At least we would be exhausted for our long flight home, so maybe we would sleep better on the plane.

Around 7:00 AM we all met and were quickly taken off the ship to a waiting bus. Like Buenos Aires a bus is required to take passengers to the terminal, since it is a very active commercial port.

It was a very fast disembarkation process and we all easily found our luggage and loaded it onto the free carts that the port provided. When we walked outside, we saw several people with signs for disembarking passengers; but not one with my name. I walked around checking to see if I could find our van. By the time I returned, our guide Vivian had already found the others and was taking us to the van and our driver Juan. As with our tours in Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt, I used Jamie’s Patagonia Shore Excursion company (www.patagoniashorex.com) to set up this last excursion and airport transfer. We had told Jamie that we had a lot of luggage. Even with the very large van that we had, we just barely got it all in. But barely was good enough.

Since this excursion was taking place early on a Sunday morning, there wasn’t much traffic. Driving toward our first stop, we passed many lovely monuments. We were surprised at the large amount of graffiti on so many buildings. Some of them were real artwork; but most weren’t.

The first stop was at a government building. Across from it was a monument to the Chilean military.

We got our first views of one of the twelve funiculars still in operation in Valparaiso. Due to the very hilly conditions, there were once 28 in operation. When we drove by an extremely steep stairway, I understood why the funiculars were quite popular.

The hilly environment makes driving conditions here similar to that of San Francisco. Juan did not have an easy job. We drove up one of the hills and got out of the van to walk around the area. We went over to one of the funiculars and were able to step into it since it wasn’t being used. It was an old vehicle.

Looking out the car’s front window, it really showed the steep incline of the tracks.

This area of the city has experienced a resurgence, and many people are buying up the older properties and fixing them up. I can understand, since this is lovely part of the city. It also stays significantly cooler than Santiago, since it is on the water. While in this area, the three couples on the tour with us saw their cruise table mates walking around. They had to have one last photo taken together.

The brightly colored buildings and numerous flowering plants made for a lovely walk.

This little restaurant built on the side of the hill had a great view of the city.

After we joined back up with Juan and the van, we headed for the popular seaside community of Vin Del Mar. It looked much like beach communities in Florida, except for the hills and mountains in the background. Our first stop in the town was to a palace.

Due to the earthquake that struck this area last year, we could not go into the palace. They were still repairing the structural damage and it was unsafe to visit, but the grounds were lovely. We were surprised at how little earthquake damage we saw during our tour. They had recovered very quickly.

We also stopped to see the large amphitheater, where many international stars have performed.

After leaving amphitheater, we passed by a castle on a hill. The next stop in Vin Del Mar came as a total surprise to me. We were going to a museum to use their restroom facilities and right in front of the museum was an Easter Island Moai statue. Since I don’t expect to ever take a trip there, I could not have been more excited to be able to see a real Moai from Easter Island. What a special treat.

After doing a little shopping in the area, we got back in the van to drive to Santiago. The drive was more interesting than the drives we had taken to the penguin colonies. We were driving through the mountains, so we at least had something to see.

Vivian asked if we wanted to stop at a winery. Why not? She took us to the Casas del Bosque Vineyard. It was a very nice facility. We sat at a large table in the tasting room and were shown a short video on the vineyard and their wines. The vineyard tour guide then took us around to show us some of the vines. She let us taste some Pinot Noir grapes that we picked ourselves. I hadn’t expected them to be as sweet as they were. They were delicious.

She then took us into the plant and explained what the equipment was used for. It was a big operation. I was very impressed with the cleanliness of everything.

We were then taken into what they called “the cave”, which was used to store the barrels of aging wine. We were shocked when she told us that each empty barrel, that holds 325 liters of wine, costs from 600 to 900 Euros each. That is $840 to $1,260 for an empty barrel. The barrels can only be used about 3 times each and there isn’t a market for the used barrels because the freight cost would be too much.

We were then brought back into the tasting room to try three of their wines. Most of us liked two of them; but it was unanimous that the third one wasn’t to our taste. Since I’m really not much of a wine drinker, I was surprised that I could tell one from the other.

After some wine was purchased, we got back in the van for the rest of our drive to Santiago. The terrain in that part of Chile was very arid. For some reason, I had expected it to be much greener. As we approached Santiago, we could see that it has a serious pollution problem. Since Santiago is in a valley surrounded by very large mountains, the pollution does not have a way to move away from the city. It is really a shame, since I am sure that it must be breathtaking to see Santiago after a rain with all of the beautiful mountains in the background.

We then went to Santiago’s main square, Plaza de Armas. It was a large square and a beehive of activity with tourists and locals.

The Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built in 1748, is the main building on the square. Vivian warned us about pickpockets in the area and we walked to the cathedral tightly clutching our cameras and valuables.

The cathedral was a large one with an ornate baroque interior. We were immediately drawn to their Pieta statue, a very lovely piece.

We didn’t stay long because it was 2:30 PM and we were very hungry and ready to have a late lunch. We found a small local restaurant and got some of the local specialties and beer.

The only thing that I had wanted to make sure I saw in Santiago was the Virgin Mary statue on San Cristobal Hill. In addition to seeing the statue, the views of the city were supposed to be awesome. Since lunch was taking longer than expected, I was concerned that we might not have time to see it. Juan assured us that we could do it and get to the airport on time.

We had to wait a while to get into the park where the road going up the hill began, plus the traffic was very slow. The higher we climbed the better the view, but I hadn’t seen a glimpse of the Virgin Mary statue since we first got near San Cristobal Hill.

Because I was so anxious to get to the top and worried about getting to the airport on time, it seemed to take forever to get there. Looking back at the time stamp on my photos, it only took fifteen minutes. The parking area, as to be expected, was very crowded. Somehow Juan was able to drop us off, find a place and wait there for us to return. I still could not see the statue, but after walking a little bit around the hill, I got my first glimpse of her. She was a beautiful statue standing high above the tacky vendor booths.

I had originally planned on climbing to the top of the hill to get a full view of the statue and the pedestal she was standing on; but since I was able to see the full statue and I was worried about getting to the airport on time, I decided to pass on it. I hadn’t realized that Steve and Linda had already started climbing to the top until it was too late for me to start up. But I was just happy to be able to be up there seeing the statue and the wide panoramas of this large city in the mountains.

Vivian told me to be sure to get a photo of Santiago Soccer Stadium. It was a large stadium that holds over 80,000 people.

It was getting late and we needed to drop off Sergio and Geri at their downtown hotel and then get the rest of us to the airport. Juan said we had plenty of time. He was right. The hotel was relatively close to the hill, and the road to the airport was a very nice fast moving highway. After we got outside of the city I looked back to see if I could see the Virgin Mary statue on the hill. She was there. I took a photo out of the van window so that I could show how high up the statue was on the hill.

We arrived with five minutes to spare at the Santiago Airport. We found out that the flight had been changed to an hour later, probably due to the USA Daylight Savings Time change. The airport was fairly new and a very nice building, but there were very few places to sit down. Since we now had four hours till we left, we had plenty of time, so we went to the restaurant to grab a bite and be able to sit down. Our vacation was over and we had a long flight ahead of us. We would arrive in Miami at 4:25 AM and I planned on going in to work a few hours later. The vacation was definitely over and reality was settling in.

We had heard people rave about their South American cruises for years. Now that we have completed one, I understand the passion people have for this gorgeous area of the world. Since it is a part of the world that most people never get to visit, we feel so very fortunate to have been able experience this area of such amazing natural beauty. Once again we had been able to find some outstanding private guides to show us the sights. And we were able to share them with new friends in almost perfect weather. This was indeed another great vacation.

Below is a link to a photo album on Snapfish with many more larger format photos.

If you use the slideshow feature, please be sure to click on the icon at the bottom so it will show the captions.