Royal Caribbean International has announced that its Rhapsody of the Seas will be deployed in South America, homeporting at Santos, next season, from 5 December 2015 to 10 April 2016. Alan Lam reports.

Aiming mainly at the Brazilian market, the ship will undertake seven-day cruises from Santos to Punta Del Este, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, as well as offering three and five-night mini cruises. It will also offer a one-off end-of-year eight-night cruise that will take in the view of the spectacular firework display at Copacabana Beach in Río de Janeiro.

As the general prospect of the cruise business fort the coming years in South America is perceived to be good. Royal Caribbean has high hopes for its operation in this region. It has planned a rich array of itineraries, in addition to the aforementioned seven-day cruises, for this South American season. 

Among the ship’s new programmes, there will be a series of 14-night itineraries covering Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. In February and March 2016 there will be four departures of this 14-night cruise; the ship will call at Valparaíso, Chilean Fjords, the Strait of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Puerto Madryn, Beunos Aires, Montevideo, Punta del Este and Santos.