Chile Forum

Run a search for vacations to go dot com, under "90-day ticker" you will see a Cruise from Valparaiso to Ft. Lauderdale, 14 days, starts at only $999. Cheap as a flight, but includes 2 weeks of meals, fun, stops in Coquimbo, Arica, Lima, Manta, Panama, Cartagena, Ochos Rios. Hard to spot these & the real deals are "last minute" - but whatta way to go!

John Hyre

Interesting! That's competitive with a much-less-fun roundtrip flight between JFK and Ezeiza. Thanks! (Of course, at this stage, I'm only dreaming . . . .)

Not to mention I can invite for a beer during the stop in Arica (provided I can afford it at this time )

That's a repositioning cruise. During the fall in North America, the ships go from various ports in the US to South America, with Ft. Lauderdale to Valpo being one trip. And then during the summer in South America, the ships go from Valpo to BA going around the horn. And then back again the other way from BA to Valpo. And then during the fall in South America, the ships head back to North America. Some going from Valpo to Ft. Lauderdale and then returning back to Valpo during the fall in North America . There are some that also go from Valpo to Seattle, from Valpo to Boston, from Valpo to LA. Going back to where they might have originally started from in North America.

Basically you want to be cruising during the summer, so the ships spend the summers cruising. The repositioning cruises set up the summer cruises.

I don't think that there were too many lines that make the trip from Valpo to Ft. Lauderdale, just two or three. Celebrity is one and I can't remember the other two off the top of my head. I looked and Holland America is another.

If you are picky about the staterooms you want or if you have a number people sailing who want adjacent or adjoining cabins then you need to book ahead of time. But if you aren't picky and need a stateroom for say two people or so, then you can book it pretty much up to sailing time.

Celebrity's Infinity leaves Valpo on March 30, 2008 to head back to Ft. Lauderdale. I see that there are plenty of staterooms available for that trip, that is 2 adults. For 4 guests sharing the same stateroom there aren't as many.

It is certainly a nice way to travel and one that I like. The fall cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Valpo is one that I can recommend.

MLightheart,

Thanks for the feedback. When time permits, I will look up the other cities & lines, as I am not very particular from where we leave. I'm glad to hear that they do not fill up (e.g. last-minute prices are consistently available), as I also love cruises. Beats getting crammed into a flying tin can out of Miami.....more time to drink, less need for it!

Hyre

Wow, that's amazing. Do you find tickets for these cruises on the usual ticketing websites? Have you ever had immigration trouble (I had big trouble going to another country to work on a ship several years ago because I had no return ticket)?

I had heard of these repositioning trips before but had forgotten about them, thanks for the reminder. What a good vacation in itself. It would be a good getaway for my Chilean family to try this fall when they return to Chile. Sounds like they go through the Panama Canal when coming north and probably when coming south they go to Buenos Aires to start there B.A. to Valpo trips. Might be nice to take the trip to B.A. for a few days then fly to Santiago.

I guess a ship could go from Ft. Lauderdale to BA if the cruise line wanted to. But during the fall going south from Ft. Lauderdale, the Celebrity Infinity goes through the Canal and then to Valpo. During the summer in S.A. it has been going from Valpo to B.A. and back. It looks like the next Ft. Lauderdale to Valpo will be in Dec 7, 2008.

Norwegian (NCL.com) goes from Valpo to LA in April