My wife and I have recently returned from a 14 night Antarctic Cruise on board the Celebrity Infinity…

 

We joined the ship in Buenos Aires having made the direct flight with British Airways from London’s Heathrow Airport. We had additionally opted for a two day pre-cruise and 3 night post cruise stay in Buenos Aires in order to make the most of  what the capital of Argentina had to offer: particularly  in line with our love of the Tango. We were not disappointed.

The itinerary offered the prospect of a number of port visits in addition to cruising around through Antarctica’s Schollart Channel, Paradise Bay and Elephant Island…

 

With the exception of Montevideo we had not visited any of the ports of call though we had passed Ushuaia and Cape Horn during the Queen Mary 2’s World Cruise South Atlantic Voyage.

This was our second cruise with Celebrity but the first time on one of their older Millennium Class ships…

 

Celebrity Infinity is a 12 year old cruise ship, though she recently underwent a refurbishment. Our accommodation on board was a Sky Suite on 6 Deck…

Though easily the smallest suite we have yet occupied…

…we found it more than satisfactory and completely as described in the Celebrity brochure: everything was as one would expect for that level of accommodation, an en-suite bathroom with a bath and shower…

…Bvlgari toiletries…

We made considerable use of the good sized balcony…

…during this rather scenic cruise as we also did the services of the included butler…

…particularly the excellent tea service above.

During the booking process we had indicated our preference for second sitting dining and that is what celebrity allocated to us, in the Trellis Restaurant…

 

*****

……where we had an ideal table for eight, at the rear of the restaurant, adjacent to the panoramic rear view windows.

Celebrity Infinity has now incorporated a number of touches and dining venues from their more modern ships in the Celebrity fleet.

One such enhancement, Aqua Class accommodation, is additionally paired with the exclusive speciality restaurant, Blu…

 

 

Passengers occupying Suites onboard are entitled to 2 complimentary visits to a speciality restaurant of their choice.

In addition Celebrity Cruises offers a number of dining packages – either a three or five visit package offering  various savings on the supplementary charges made for individual visits.

We opted for the additional three at a cost of $109.00 per person.

The rather quirky option speciality dining venue that we opted to attend twice was Qsine…

*****

Indeed, so quirky that the menus come on ipads and include ‘mini video’s’ to highlight certain dishes.

*****

We certainly had fun discovering the various options, unusual and unexpected, but always adventurous and delicious like the Chinese Martini Chitinis… 

…The Lava Crab…

…and the Fillet Mignon…

And how is this for a selection of Strawberry Lollipops?…

…while the second speciality restaurant that we utilised for the other  three visits was the SS United States…

 

While we found the ‘SS United States’ menu was almost identical to that offered in Celebrity Eclipse’s ‘Murano’ speciality restaurant the  restaurant itself came with a distinct lack of the latter’s atmosphere and grandeur.

Nevertheless we had excellent meals on all visits: some examples starting with the inevitable  Amuse Bouche…

...an Appetizer…

and, over the three visits,  a selection of Entrees including Dover Sole…

…Rack of Lamb…

 

…and Potato Laced French Turbot…

While prepared table-side, Flambe Lobster…

*****

…presented as...

Once again, top marks for the selection of Desserts…

*****

…and again prepared table-side, Strawberry Crepe…

 

We were somewhat disappointed with the entertainment routine and timetable on Celebrity Infinity. All main shows in the Celebrity Theatre for ‘second sitting diners were scheduled for 7.00 pm…

*****

…not the traditional show times and routines we have become used to on other cruise lines: where we prefer to enjoy convivial pre-dinner drinks in our favourite bars around the ship, maybe listening to live music.

On the subject of pre-dinner drinks, by far the most popular of these venues was ever lively Martini and Crush Bars…

*****

 

 

We experienced a number of very warm days on our journey south from Buenos Aires, making good use of the outdoor pool areas…

 

Itinerary

Following three days at sea our first port of call was Ushuaia…

 

…where we enjoyed a full day taking in a visit to the historic Military Prison Museum…

…a boat trip out into the Beagle Channel…

…and, perhaps the icing on the cake, a trip up to Glacier Marshall to experience this breathtaking view over Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel…

From Ushuaia we continued  on our itinerary with a circumnavigation of the infamous Cape Horn…

There was an early start for those who wished to witness the full glory of the South American continent’southernmost point…

 

…where we spent some four hours navigating various channels while being briefed by the ship’s two specialist travel lecturers.

We were blessed with reasonably good weather as we completed the circumnavigation of the Cape and of particular interest was viewing, set high on the cliff tops, the Albatross Memorial to those mariners whose lives were lost rounding the Cape…

 

 

Our course was then set almost directly south for Antarctica itself and in particular the Schollart Channel, Paradise Bay and Elephant Island…

*****

*****

Unfortunately it was not possible to land in the Antarctic. This was,  however, to be one  amazing experience and a journey of a lifetime. Gliding through channels littered with icebergs, where the only sound was the creaking movement of glaciers and even more icebergs breaking free from those glaciers…

*****

The  spectacular landscapes of the great white south and its wildlife: penguins hitching a ride on icebergs, whales gracefully going through their paces and even capturing Penguins in flight…

…truly something very different that brings you just that closer to the most remote wilderness in the world.

Having now completed our Antarctica passage we set a course northwards as our next destination.  After one day at sea we arrived at, and anchored off,  The Falkland Islands...

Fingers were crossed that the weather would be kind to us and allow the planned visit. This is not always easy as a Falkland Islands’ visit is dependant  on ‘ship’s tender’ transport into Port Stanley.

We rode our luck and arrived to anchor off Port Stanley to a refreshingly calm morning with a view of Port Stanley and those mounts, hills and ridges that featured so prominently during the Falklands War.

As suite guests we had a priority tender ticket and we were soon heading from the ship…

…towards Port Stanley…

…and a really wonderful welcome reception ashore…

A full account of our visit to The Falkland Islands can be found at…

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/one-way-to-do-the-falklands/

…including an account of our visit to a penguin colony…

Interestingly, as the day went on, so the weather deteriorated and we began to experience  conditions more accustomed to these remote islands. We had been lucky and we new it as our return tender was not the smooth experience we had had earlier that day.

We now had a further sea day to relax and charge our batteries before we arrived at our next port of call, Puerto Madryn, in the Patagonian area of Argentina.

The main attraction for cruise ship visits to Puerto Madryn is that it is the gateway to  nearby Peninsula Valdes and its abundance of oceanic wildlife.

Considerable emphasis was placed by the ship’s excursions’ office on visiting Peninsula Valdes and the opportunity to see Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, Penguins and the odd whale, all in their natural habitat, with the addition of the Guanaco: better known to us as Lama.

There were, alternatively, a number of local tour operators on the jetty…

…for those wishing to save a little on their tour.

My wife and I had other plans. Between Ushuaia and The Falkland Islands we were a little ‘wild lifed’ out  and something alternatively linked to Puerto Madryn attracted us. This was, after all,  the point in Patagonia where,  in 1865, a colony of 153 Welsh settlers established a colony that exists to this day. With Welsh blood running through both of our veins we set off to discover what we could of this event.

Puerto Madryn has an amazingly long sandy seafront and serves as a major Argentinian holiday resort during the warmer season …

 

A very helpful Tourist Information Office directed us to the far end of this amazing beach where we found, not only a monument to celebrate the Welsh settlers landing…

 

…but a small museum to celebrate the event as well.

Puerto Madryn has a lot to offer those who do not wish to see further wildlife. There are plenty of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants in the town and some very good leather outlets.

Following our mega walk the day before we both appreciated that our next day was once more a sea day as we continued our passage north towards our penultimate port destination, Montevideo…

*****

 

 

A full review of our day in Montevideo can be found here…

One Way to Do Montevideo

…including a visit to the Mercado del Puorto for an amazing  BBQ Lunch…

 

The following day we arrived back in Buenos Aires after our 14 night cruise. We disembarked Celebrity Infinity and checked into the NH City and Tower Hotel in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires  for a 3 day stay to explore everything that Buenos Aires had to offer…

 

 

*****

 

 

A full review of our stay in Buenos Aires can be found here…

One Way to Do Buenos Aires Part 1

…which included a visit to the Recoleta Cemetery…

…and the Family Tomb of Eva Peron…

Summary

This was our second cruise with Celebrity and again we enjoyed the experience immensely. This was a cruise that definitely was itinerary driven and, being with a Celebrity ship,  that decision was made all the easier.

Celebrity Infinity is an older ship and in our opinion, despite a recent refurbishment,  didn’t quite match the style, quality and ambiance that we experienced on Celebrity Eclipse. Having said that we were generally  well satisfied and thought the overall package good value for money.

Dining on board Infinity didn’t match that on Celebrity Eclipse and was therefore somewhat of  a slight disappointment. With the exception of Qsine  the standards were not to our previous experiences. Of particular note was the speciality restaurant SS United States. It lacked atmosphere, the service was pretentious and certain main course dishes ran out prior to the end of the cruise.

As always our table staff in the Trellis Restaurant were very good and made every effort to please, as did our butler and suite attendants.

Would we sail with Celebrity again.

Of course we will and providing the itinerary appealed we would be happy to sail on Infinity.

 

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