Well, that's how my trip to South America went.
I hope that you found this travel journal informative.
I took a lot of photos on this trip.
Of course, I could not include all of them in this blog.
Some of them, like the shots from Antarctica, are in photo albums.
I will make these albums available for viewing online by the end of the week.
To see these albums, simply logon to my sweeetttoooth3 email address.
It is on yahoo.ca
The password is Shirley.
Just go into the Inbox to view the albums.
Please do not write emails to this address (use the one below).
I only occasionally look back at this blog.
If anyone reading this blog has any questions or comments,
just send an email to me at my sweeetttoooth email address.
It is on yahoo.ca
Ciao,
Shirley
Friday, April 30, 2010
Word to the wise
Be careful what you wish for!
I was upgraded from a windowless room in steerage to a larger room on the 9th floor with a big window. In calm seas, this would have been fantastic. In rough waters, it was a nightmare. Make sure that you know what part of the world you are travelling in. Our ship spent quite a lot of time travelling down the coast of Chile which meant that we spent a good deal of time in the Humboldt current. This stretch of rough water really tossed the ship around. Anyone unlucky enough to have a cabin at the front of the ship or near the top of the ship (like me) was in for a bumpy ride. Even my cast iron stomach was no match for these churning seas. If you do find yourself in such a cabin then consider yourself warned and prepare to be seasick!
Stay away from the forex money exchange in Buenos Aires. Even though it is located in a nice part of town beside some very expensive stores, the place is a ripoff joint. Change your money elsewhere; preferably in a bank.
The crooks at the forex office are located at:
M. T. de Alvear 540
Buenos Aires, Argentina
You will have to change money when you head to this part of the world. Only tour operators and a few taxi drivers were willing to take the US greenback. Perhaps, due to the instability of the US markets, most places refused to take American money. (And don’t even think about using Canadian currency!)
Better yet, save yourself a lot of time and hassle and get your foreign currency here in Canada. You can either get it from your bank or go through one of the foreign currency offices. You can get American money right away, but sometimes it takes the banks about a week to get other currencies like Argentine pesos. Don’t always count on the ship to exchange money for you. On the QE2 you could change money (at a really bad exchange rate), but on the Prinsendam, you could not.
If you do decide to use American money in South America, then for heaven’s sake bring small bills ($1 and $5 only). One idiot on the cruise went into a coffee shop in South America and tried to pay for his coffee with a US $100 bill! The idiot then called the police when the shop keeper swore at him in Spanish and walked out with the bill. The other tourists just laughed at the fool and told him that it was the last time he would ever see that man again. The tourist looked doubly foolish when the clerk showed up later with his change! It turns out that the poor shop keeper had gone to the bank to break the bill. Since bank lines in South America can be really, really long, it took a while to get the fool his change. (Frankly, I wouldn’t count on most clerks to do this.)
If you are travelling to Brazil, then see about getting your visa as soon as you can from the consulate. It will take them weeks, if not months, to process your application, so give them as much time as possible. If you only give them 2 or 3 weeks, then you can forget about visiting Brazil.
It goes without saying, but if you are going to spend a lot of time down in South America, then at least learn some basic Spanish or Portuguese. While many of the young people speak some English, most of the people that you will encounter when travelling (ie. taxi drivers, bus drivers etc) will be middle aged. These people don’t speak English (which is kind of surprising since many of them depend on foreigners to make their living).
No, you can’t speak Spanish when you are in Brazil! You might be able to get by reading Portuguese (because a lot of the spelling is the same), but the words are pronounced differently. For example, the letter d is pronounced like a g in Portuguese. People will just stare at you as if you have two heads if you speak the wrong language.
Watch where you step!
There are a lot stray dogs wandering the streets of South America and nobody is cleaning up after them.
I was upgraded from a windowless room in steerage to a larger room on the 9th floor with a big window. In calm seas, this would have been fantastic. In rough waters, it was a nightmare. Make sure that you know what part of the world you are travelling in. Our ship spent quite a lot of time travelling down the coast of Chile which meant that we spent a good deal of time in the Humboldt current. This stretch of rough water really tossed the ship around. Anyone unlucky enough to have a cabin at the front of the ship or near the top of the ship (like me) was in for a bumpy ride. Even my cast iron stomach was no match for these churning seas. If you do find yourself in such a cabin then consider yourself warned and prepare to be seasick!
Stay away from the forex money exchange in Buenos Aires. Even though it is located in a nice part of town beside some very expensive stores, the place is a ripoff joint. Change your money elsewhere; preferably in a bank.
The crooks at the forex office are located at:
M. T. de Alvear 540
Buenos Aires, Argentina
You will have to change money when you head to this part of the world. Only tour operators and a few taxi drivers were willing to take the US greenback. Perhaps, due to the instability of the US markets, most places refused to take American money. (And don’t even think about using Canadian currency!)
Better yet, save yourself a lot of time and hassle and get your foreign currency here in Canada. You can either get it from your bank or go through one of the foreign currency offices. You can get American money right away, but sometimes it takes the banks about a week to get other currencies like Argentine pesos. Don’t always count on the ship to exchange money for you. On the QE2 you could change money (at a really bad exchange rate), but on the Prinsendam, you could not.
If you do decide to use American money in South America, then for heaven’s sake bring small bills ($1 and $5 only). One idiot on the cruise went into a coffee shop in South America and tried to pay for his coffee with a US $100 bill! The idiot then called the police when the shop keeper swore at him in Spanish and walked out with the bill. The other tourists just laughed at the fool and told him that it was the last time he would ever see that man again. The tourist looked doubly foolish when the clerk showed up later with his change! It turns out that the poor shop keeper had gone to the bank to break the bill. Since bank lines in South America can be really, really long, it took a while to get the fool his change. (Frankly, I wouldn’t count on most clerks to do this.)
If you are travelling to Brazil, then see about getting your visa as soon as you can from the consulate. It will take them weeks, if not months, to process your application, so give them as much time as possible. If you only give them 2 or 3 weeks, then you can forget about visiting Brazil.
It goes without saying, but if you are going to spend a lot of time down in South America, then at least learn some basic Spanish or Portuguese. While many of the young people speak some English, most of the people that you will encounter when travelling (ie. taxi drivers, bus drivers etc) will be middle aged. These people don’t speak English (which is kind of surprising since many of them depend on foreigners to make their living).
No, you can’t speak Spanish when you are in Brazil! You might be able to get by reading Portuguese (because a lot of the spelling is the same), but the words are pronounced differently. For example, the letter d is pronounced like a g in Portuguese. People will just stare at you as if you have two heads if you speak the wrong language.
Watch where you step!
There are a lot stray dogs wandering the streets of South America and nobody is cleaning up after them.
Tour costs
Number of ship tours taken – 13
Cost of ship tours – ranged between $54 and $199 USD
Average cost of other tours - $30 USD
Recommendations:
If you are adventurous, can speak a little of the language and don’t mind going off on your own, then bypass the ship tours and strike out on your own. Some of the places that we visited were so small, that you could easily walk from one attraction to the other. The tours were only offered because most of the passengers were over 65 and many had mobility issues.
As far as safety goes, South America is no more dangerous than Toronto. As long as you use your common sense, then you will not run into any problems. (So skip that night time trip into the slums of Rio to look for drug dealers!) The only incident that I heard of involved a teenager running off with someone’s camera.
If you can find 2 or 3 like minded individuals, then you can share a taxi and visit many of the same sights as the ship tour for about half the price. I did this on several occasions with other passengers. If you don’t have problems walking, then you can also walk to many of the sights. At some of the small towns, I simply walked behind the tour bus and followed the tour groups. I got to see everything that they did and it didn’t cost me a cent. Some places (like Buenos Aires) have hop on, hop off buses. These are a great way to explore the city (if it isn’t raining!)
However, I would recommend taking the ship’s tours if:
- you are visiting a place that is more than an hour away from the ship. Some of the places that I went to were quite remote. Not only would it have cost you a fortune to hire a cab, but you would be out of luck if the cab broke down. If a bus breaks down (like one did), it is up to cruise line to get you back on the ship. They will not leave without you. If your taxi breaks down and you miss the boat, that’s your problem
Cost of ship tours – ranged between $54 and $199 USD
Average cost of other tours - $30 USD
Recommendations:
If you are adventurous, can speak a little of the language and don’t mind going off on your own, then bypass the ship tours and strike out on your own. Some of the places that we visited were so small, that you could easily walk from one attraction to the other. The tours were only offered because most of the passengers were over 65 and many had mobility issues.
As far as safety goes, South America is no more dangerous than Toronto. As long as you use your common sense, then you will not run into any problems. (So skip that night time trip into the slums of Rio to look for drug dealers!) The only incident that I heard of involved a teenager running off with someone’s camera.
If you can find 2 or 3 like minded individuals, then you can share a taxi and visit many of the same sights as the ship tour for about half the price. I did this on several occasions with other passengers. If you don’t have problems walking, then you can also walk to many of the sights. At some of the small towns, I simply walked behind the tour bus and followed the tour groups. I got to see everything that they did and it didn’t cost me a cent. Some places (like Buenos Aires) have hop on, hop off buses. These are a great way to explore the city (if it isn’t raining!)
However, I would recommend taking the ship’s tours if:
- you are visiting a place that is more than an hour away from the ship. Some of the places that I went to were quite remote. Not only would it have cost you a fortune to hire a cab, but you would be out of luck if the cab broke down. If a bus breaks down (like one did), it is up to cruise line to get you back on the ship. They will not leave without you. If your taxi breaks down and you miss the boat, that’s your problem
- you are frail, weak and have mobility issues. Many ship tours were specifically designed to meet the needs of the elderly and the handicapped. Most public transit in South America does not meet these needs and you will be out of luck if you use a wheelchair
- you are worried about your safety. Nothing bad happened to me on the trip, but at 5’ 9”, I towered above nearly every man, woman and child that I encountered in South America. There is safety in numbers, so if you are worried that something might happen to you, then stick with the pack
- you are not fluent in the language and really want to know what is going on in the country. All of the ship tour guides that I met spoke perfect English and were young. They told us all about the corruption and political scandals that were going on in their countries. They talked about the history of South America as well as it’s future prospects. You would not be able to get this kind of information from a taxi driver unless you spoke perfect Spanish or Portuguese
Cruise costs
The ms Prinsendam is run by Holland America Line (HAL), an American corporation, therefore everything on the cruise must be paid for in US currency. One of the reasons that I (and a lot of the Canadians onboard) took this trip was because the Canadian dollar was nearly on par with it’s US counterpart. By the time the credit card company finally got around to posting the entry, the exchange had slipped to approximately $1.06 Cdn to $1 USD. That means my $15,890 trip actually cost me $16,928.97 Cdn (so roughly $17.000). For a 70 day trip, that works out to $242 per day or $1694 per week.
This price included:
- transportation
- accommodation
- breakfast, lunch and dinner in a fine dining restaurant
- tea at 4 pm plus any meals you wanted to sneak in while the Lido
(cafeteria) was open
- nightly entertainment
- use of the fitness area, pool, steam room and sauna
- daily lectures and talks by guest speakers
- daily dance classes, art classes, bridge classes etc
- daily sporting activities with a change to win free HAL merchandise
- daily recent movies in the theatre
Not too bad for $1694 a week.
Please note – this is the SINGLE price.
I would have paid much less if I had shared a room with someone.
So how does this trip compare to my first cruise on the QE2?
Well, for starters, this ship was more relaxed and casual than the QE2.
There were only a few formal nights and half of those got cancelled for one reason or another. As far as I could see, there were no lords or ladies on the passenger manifest and few people were looking down their noses at anybody. Most of the people were working class individuals who were just there to have a good time. Even some of the well heeled people who stayed in the most expensive suites were sociable and mixed with everybody.
Because the ship was only half the size of the QE2, it was easier to find your way around and within a week, I practically knew most of the people. (Just about everyone onboard knew me because I was the only single black person on the entire ship!) Personal service is an HAL trademark and HAL policy requires all employees to greet passengers within 10 feet of them. This means all the crew members are constantly saying hello to you and asking if they can get you anything. This never happened on the QE2.
The food onboard both ships was very good, but the Prinsendam did not have daily midnight buffets (which I’m sure saved me from gaining even more weight).
The lecturers onboard the QE2 were more high profile (ie. former ambassadors and famous people). I had never heard of any of the people who gave talks on the Prinsendam, but nonetheless, I still enjoyed all their lectures.
The nightly entertainment was the same on both ships. In fact, several of the performers that I had seen on the QE2 came onboard the Prinsendam with their shows.
My cabin on the QE2 was not much more than a glorified closet. My cabin on the Prinsendam was much bigger, but that room came with a price (see the section Word to the wise).
Both ships charged ridiculous amounts of money to use their internet services.
This price included:
- transportation
- accommodation
- breakfast, lunch and dinner in a fine dining restaurant
- tea at 4 pm plus any meals you wanted to sneak in while the Lido
(cafeteria) was open
- nightly entertainment
- use of the fitness area, pool, steam room and sauna
- daily lectures and talks by guest speakers
- daily dance classes, art classes, bridge classes etc
- daily sporting activities with a change to win free HAL merchandise
- daily recent movies in the theatre
Not too bad for $1694 a week.
Please note – this is the SINGLE price.
I would have paid much less if I had shared a room with someone.
So how does this trip compare to my first cruise on the QE2?
Well, for starters, this ship was more relaxed and casual than the QE2.
There were only a few formal nights and half of those got cancelled for one reason or another. As far as I could see, there were no lords or ladies on the passenger manifest and few people were looking down their noses at anybody. Most of the people were working class individuals who were just there to have a good time. Even some of the well heeled people who stayed in the most expensive suites were sociable and mixed with everybody.
Because the ship was only half the size of the QE2, it was easier to find your way around and within a week, I practically knew most of the people. (Just about everyone onboard knew me because I was the only single black person on the entire ship!) Personal service is an HAL trademark and HAL policy requires all employees to greet passengers within 10 feet of them. This means all the crew members are constantly saying hello to you and asking if they can get you anything. This never happened on the QE2.
The food onboard both ships was very good, but the Prinsendam did not have daily midnight buffets (which I’m sure saved me from gaining even more weight).
The lecturers onboard the QE2 were more high profile (ie. former ambassadors and famous people). I had never heard of any of the people who gave talks on the Prinsendam, but nonetheless, I still enjoyed all their lectures.
The nightly entertainment was the same on both ships. In fact, several of the performers that I had seen on the QE2 came onboard the Prinsendam with their shows.
My cabin on the QE2 was not much more than a glorified closet. My cabin on the Prinsendam was much bigger, but that room came with a price (see the section Word to the wise).
Both ships charged ridiculous amounts of money to use their internet services.
The facts
Total number of countries visited – 15
Number of times we crossed the equator - 4
Top 5 trip highlights (in no particular order):
- gliding through the treetops in an aerial tram in the Costa Rican rainforest
- canoeing through the Amazon backwaters with a local guide
- visiting the Embera Indian village in Panama
- getting jungle survival tips in Manaus, Brazil
- taking in the gorgeous scenery of Northern Patagonia in Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
Most irritating part of the trip – finding out that we were not going to visit Turks and Caicos
Most overrated tourist attraction – Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. It is extremely crowded at the top. You can get better views of the city from the top of Sugarloaf mountain. Also, there is more room to move around at Sugarloaf so it doesn’t feel so crowded. If you only have time to visit one attraction, go to Sugarloaf.
Number of photos taken – 3123
Number of whales seen – 6
Number of penguins seen – thousands and thousands
Number of times we crossed the equator - 4
Top 5 trip highlights (in no particular order):
- gliding through the treetops in an aerial tram in the Costa Rican rainforest
- canoeing through the Amazon backwaters with a local guide
- visiting the Embera Indian village in Panama
- getting jungle survival tips in Manaus, Brazil
- taking in the gorgeous scenery of Northern Patagonia in Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
Most irritating part of the trip – finding out that we were not going to visit Turks and Caicos
Most overrated tourist attraction – Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. It is extremely crowded at the top. You can get better views of the city from the top of Sugarloaf mountain. Also, there is more room to move around at Sugarloaf so it doesn’t feel so crowded. If you only have time to visit one attraction, go to Sugarloaf.
Number of photos taken – 3123
Number of whales seen – 6
Number of penguins seen – thousands and thousands
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
FAQ - frequently asked questions
As always, the first questions that everyone asks me are about costs.
I will update this entry as soon as all the credit card bills come in (I'm not looking forward to that!) So keep checking back here for the updates.
Later,
Shirley
I will update this entry as soon as all the credit card bills come in (I'm not looking forward to that!) So keep checking back here for the updates.
Later,
Shirley
Food, glorious food!
Tomorrow we leave our home for the last 70 days, the ms Prinsendam.
To commemorate the occassion, the kitchen staff, led by the head chef Pedro, created a feast for the eyes and the stomach. Let me assure you, everything tasted as good as it looks!
Yummy!!
To commemorate the occassion, the kitchen staff, led by the head chef Pedro, created a feast for the eyes and the stomach. Let me assure you, everything tasted as good as it looks!
Yummy!!
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