Transfer from Valparaiso to Santiago's airport

Does anyone knows a reliable service? And how about Cunard, do they provide this service?

Didn't sail on Cunard, but on Celebrity last year if I remember correctly there was a transfer with tour. We did a private tour with hotel or airport drop off. Our flt the next day was very late at night so you need a transfer that includes some tour. Btw Santiago airport was crazy. Not sure what airline you are flying but the airline counter, United, didn't even open until about 2 1/2 hrs before the flt. Pure chaos. So everyone was congregating with luggage behind a rope before we could even get in line. Then you have to go through Chile immigration (long line) to leave the country. You will need a form the cruise line gives you. Many people didn't know where they put it. After that another long line for security which dumps you in the duty free shops! BEWARE of what you buy as both United and American were doing another security search in the jet way and confiscating bottles. Don't know why or if other airlines did so

 

Enjoy your trip. It was great.

Does anyone knows a reliable service? And how about Cunard, do they provide this service?

 

I'm certain Cunard will provide a shuttle. This is a case where I might recommend taking a Cunard transfer excursion. We took a cruise on Celebrity a couple of years ago. We had booked an overnight at a small B&B and expected to take a cab from the terminal.

 

To be frank, the Valparaiso cruise terminal is chaos. Everybody had something pre-booked. Complicating things, I believe, is that in Chile all taxis are privately owned and negotiated. Also English is NOT commonly spoken.

 

So, at a minimum, I'd recommend pre-booking and if not with Cunard, make sure you have firm commitments and clear communication on meeting your ride.

 

And njkruzer is right. Chile is very persnickety about its forms - and port calls all had security bottlenecks.

 

I also believe most flights are red-eyes, so it's common for transfers (cruise line and independent) to include a bit of sightseeing including the vineyards north of Valparaiso before arriving at the airport. (the area is VERY similar in geography and climate to the SF Bay Area).

 

By the way, if extending is an option, we REALLY enjoyed spending a couple of nights in Santiago. Very vibrant, artistic and beautiful. We really didn't know what to expect, but prefered it greatly over Buenos Aires.

Edited December 26, 2016 by MarkBearSF

Very useful. I've been to Santiago twice MarkBearSF and you are right, it's a great city.

I'm certain Cunard will provide a shuttle. This is a case where I might recommend taking a Cunard transfer excursion. We took a cruise on Celebrity a couple of years ago. We had booked an overnight at a small B&B and expected to take a cab from the terminal.

 

To be frank, the Valparaiso cruise terminal is chaos. Everybody had something pre-booked. Complicating things, I believe, is that in Chile all taxis are privately owned and negotiated. Also English is NOT commonly spoken.

 

So, at a minimum, I'd recommend pre-booking and if not with Cunard, make sure you have firm commitments and clear communication on meeting your ride.

 

And njkruzer is right. Chile is very persnickety about its forms - and port calls all had security bottlenecks.

 

I also believe most flights are red-eyes, so it's common for transfers (cruise line and independent) to include a bit of sightseeing including the vineyards north of Valparaiso before arriving at the airport. (the area is VERY similar in geography and climate to the SF Bay Area).

 

By the way, if extending is an option, we REALLY enjoyed spending a couple of nights in Santiago. Very vibrant, artistic and beautiful. We really didn't know what to expect, but prefered it greatly over Buenos Aires.

 

When we were on the QM2 WC (segments) last year, I could be wrong, but I do recall Cunard offering a transfer to Santiago. We arranged transportation to Santiago with a tour of Vina Del Mar with About Chile Tours. We had a tour guide who spoke excellent English. After touring Vina Del Mar, the guide took us to a local restaurant where we had very good food and waiters who also spoke good English. They are very flexible and will tailor the tour to your wishes. The really nice thing was that if you can find some other passengers who would like to join you - the price goes down accordingly.

 

We didn't find the paper work or security to be particularly difficult. Unlike Argentina and Brazil, there is no Reciprocity Fee in Chile.

 

Santiago is beautiful city with a population of over 6 million. Like many cities in Europe, there are so-called "free" walking tours where you just pay what you think the tour was worth. We took one there that was excellent.

 

If you can arrainge the time, a few days in Santiago is a great place to experience before the long flight back to the USA.

Thanks for clarifying about the reciprocity fee. (I had also thought Chile participated.) Remembering, the key factor may have been that we actually boarded a hop over the Andes between Santiago and Buenos Aires - so we were again flying into Argentina. (We flew RT between BA and the US)

 

While any line at arriving or departing from a port call is bound to result in complaints, my recollection is that in both directions, the security lines were endless in our Chilean port calls (Punta Arenas & Puerto Montt). Hopefully your experience will differ.

 

By the way, we had decided to spend a night at Valparaiso first. (thus the "grab a cab") While it IS an interesting city with awesome street art and historic funiculars climbing up the hills - it also is gritty.

 

Your roll-call should have opportunities to join shipmates on a third-party transfer and tour. Also be sure to check the South America destination forums here for more info on these providers.

 

Mark

Edited December 26, 2016 by MarkBearSF

While any line at arriving or departing from a port call is bound to result in complaints, my recollection is that in both directions, the security lines were endless in our Chilean port calls (Punta Arenas & Puerto Montt). Hopefully your experience will differ.

It appeares that your experience with security in Chile was far different ours. However, I know from past experience that security delays can and do occur in many, if not most, international ports. One of our longest security delays ever occurred in Fort Lauderdale and it has been one of the fastest on other cruises. You never know ...

 

Bob

Also when disembarking in Valparaiso they scan your hand luggage as well as checked bags looking for agricultural items that are barred from entry. The dogs they use for screening picked up spices and other items and those bags were pulled. We weren't told what was happening but when you couldn't find a bag you were directed to the luggage and had to open bags. I agree that the terminal was chaos. It is an industrial area and you are bussed from the ship to the terminal.

Loved my South American cruise, but the Santiago airport was the worst travel experience ever! (You guys were being kind by saying it was kind of confusing.) Wow - it was utter chaos when they dropped off people from 4 or 5 tour buses at the same time and nobody knew where to go or what to do. I stood in line for 3 hours trying to get the the airport checkin desk, then the gate person wouldn't let me into the last section of the line because my flight wasn't allowed to check in for 30 minutes. He said to "go back in line." As I walked away, a bunch of people called to me and said they were in the same situation and were going to wait right there until the appointed time came and get in line then. I was kind of afraid a fight might break out after person after person had the same experience -- but at 7:30, they did let the 20 people gathered there into the front of the queue. We loved to never fly out of that airport ever a gain!

Our experience was differently challenging. We had the same experience with being mis-directed and confused at the start. (It shouldn't have been hard - we were checking into a LAN/AA codeshare to B.A. and an AA flight back to the US)

However, because of the way the tickets were issued (return leg of a RT SFO-EZE ticket with a different one-way SCL-EZE beforehand) what should have been a simple matter to check the bags through became a major issue. (Ultimately, it sorta' worked)

In any event, SCL airport was worse than O Hare, it was worse than La Guardia, it was worse than Barcelona!

We ADORED our short stay in Santiago and would love to return. The same is not true of the airport.

We took a wine tour (Mike someone?) which was quite good. We were staying overnight and then flying to Buenos Ares but the other two in our group were flying straight out of Santiago so the tour dropped them there, then went on to our hotel. We visited a few wineries on the way and also had a tour of Valparaiso (which was interesting but did put us behind time and so we missed out on lunch as we were running late). It was quite a good way to make the transfer.