Marina - Valparaiso-Papeete, Dec 28-Jan 15, 2014 - Trip Review and Pictorial

Oceania Marina - Valparaiso-Papeete, Dec 28-Jan 15, 2014 - Trip Review and Pictorial

This was a wonderful 18-day voyage from Chile to French Polynesia... one that we anticipated and planned for over a year. Our prior cruise was on the Riviera, so we felt very much at home on the Marina.

A friend, who had never sailed on Oceania asked me what it was like. The best answer I could give him was... if you try and visualize what a perfect cruise on a luxury line would be...all that you ever imagined...this was it. Outstanding service, staff, meals and amenities. Never a sour note...anywhere.

You know, if I don't start this thread now, my pictures will never get shared with you. Every time I sit down to sort and pick the best pictures, I get lost in the memories of what a great voyage this actually was.

I will try and add a few days at a time, and try and show the highlights from each port. This cruise had many sea days and, at first, I was very apprehensive about that. Believe me, they just flew by. I will try to condense the day-by-day of the sea days into single bunches.

I have already posted a Photo Tour of the ship that covers most of the venues onboard.

Marina Tour http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1980604

Our plan was to arrive a day early into Santiago, and to stay 2 days post-cruise in Moorea. What a brilliant plan it turned out to be. Chile was a surprising delight and our two days in Moorea were simply paradise.

Sitting here in February, with a few feet of snow on the ground, my wife is still saying, "Why did we ever leave the ship?"

Here was our itinerary:

Day -1

We took an overnight flight to Santiago on LAN. We used a deviation for our early arrival and later departure from Papeete. We supplied Oceania with the flights and had no problem getting our choices of a non-stop down and a one-hop, Papeete to JFK.

We stayed at the Hotel Best Western in Las Condes. A great choice...modern, inexpensive and in a great location.

We arranged for our transportation in Chile with Christian, the "Van Man."

We had him pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel, where we napped a bit. He returned in the afternoon to give us a tour of Santiago.

He would come back in the morning to take us to Valparaiso, with a few stops along the way in the Casablanca Valley. There was no better choice...he was top-notch.

I had given Christian a list of the sights we wanted to see when touring Santiago. He edited and planned a route for us.

First stop was the Mercado Central... I love markets like this. Very touristy, but fun to walk around.

Next up was a visit to the Plaza De Armas

The food court leaves no question about what you'll get when you order lunch.

We then took a slow and scenic drive up to the top of San Cristóbal Hill, to get a real idea of the scope of Santiago as a city

After a few more quick stops, we returned to the hotel to change and head out for dinner. My restaurant was a short walk from the hotel; we had dinner at La Tasca de Altamar.

There I had one of the most astounding meals I have ever had! This Crab Pancake was.... amazing.

Back to the hotel, to rest up for the drive to Valparaiso in the morning.

Day 1 - Casablanca Valley, and on to Valparaiso

Breakfast first and then, checking out of the hotel, we were picked up by Christian.

Heading out on the highway for our trip thru Casablanca Valley; it had a very 'California' feel to it.

Our plan was to stop and tour two favorite wineries...and have lunch on the way. It was not long before we found ourselves in wine country.

Our first stop was Emiliana, an organic winery.

Christian watched over us like a bodyguard.

He arranged a private tasting session away from the crowds, one-on-one.

Between tasting the wine and the olive oil, we stayed longer than planned. :p

Next stop, Casas del Bosque. A larger and more commercialized winery, with restaurant and several wine bars, as well as patios to sit and sip on.

We attended a tasting there, and found a few folks on an Oceania excursion from the prior leg of the Marina's cruise.

Back on the road, driving thru the valley

We stopped for lunch at a little local roadhouse, Los Hornitos de Curacavi

The local food...again, amazing.

I even got to finish up with a Cafe Cortada and some sweets.

Back on the road for the last leg to Valparaiso

There is nothing more exciting than that first glimpse of your ship...

We settled into our Concierge Cabin...

Luckily, we caught up with Grace (plimsol), who helped with the Meet and Greet...and had a nice dinner in the Grand dining Room.

That famous "Cruise Grin" is on... we are s-o-o ready to sail!

-More to follow as we have our first Sea Day-

Very nice photos. Brings back memories. We are taking a similar cruise in reverse in April. We go to Lima, though. Can't wait to see more of your photos. I'm waiting to hear if you made it ashore at the Pitcairn Islands!

Wow, absolutely gorgeous pics! Can't wait for the rest! Thank you so much for sharing.

I'm waiting to hear if you made it ashore at the Pitcairn Islands!

Spoiler Alert - ...nope. :cool:

You brought back wonderful memories of Santiago. Thank you.

Love the way you tell a story with such attention to detail and fabulous pictures.

Looking forward to the rest of the story.

Catherine

Ron I am looking forward to the rest of this review. You've already taken me to Santiago, a city I may never get to see. As always you and your wife look like you are having the time of your lives. I am living vicariously through your great photos and story-telling.

Thank you!

Norris

Computerworks, thanks for taking the time for others to enjoy. Really looking forward to the rest of the report. But your on vacation so enjoy your time-we can wait until you have spare time and are ready to post.

Rick

Here it is, some time later, and I've booked this cruise for this coming January. I guess I need to see if there are more posts from you? In any case, thanks for the wonderful posts and pictures. I'm trying to decide if we should splurge for an extra day in Santiago/Valparaiso or not! Might depend upon whether we have to pay extra for that, other than the deviation fee. We don't live in NY, so probably won't get a nice non stop on LAN, but just curious if you had to pay extra for yours.

Great review so far ... do you time for the rest? I hope so! :)

Great review so far ... do you time for the rest? I hope so! :)

I guess not

it is over a year & half ago it was started :D

Hope computerworks is ok......

Well, did anyone search to see if he posted other threads after that? I figured maybe he just planned to post in a number of different threads. I was going to check, then got distracted and never did. Maybe once he got on the ship, the internet in the South Pacific was so horrible he said the heck with it.

There was someone who was posting a "live from" blog on a Viking Star cruise a while back in the Baltic. She was with her mom and her postings were quite informative. She hasn't been heard from since, so people are wondering and worrying. I know I have good intentions when I get on a cruise ship of posting once in a while. Then I get so into the cruise I don't follow through on my good intentions. Hopefully that's the case with these two posters and nothing bad has happened.

Here it is, some time later, and I've booked this cruise for this coming January. I guess I need to see if there are more posts from you? In any case, thanks for the wonderful posts and pictures. I'm trying to decide if we should splurge for an extra day in Santiago/Valparaiso or not! Might depend upon whether we have to pay extra for that, other than the deviation fee. We don't live in NY, so probably won't get a nice non stop on LAN, but just curious if you had to pay extra for yours.

We did a Buenos Aires-Valpo cruise on NCL's DREAM in January '02 (a replacement for our Renaissance Singapore-Hong Kong cruise at the same time that was not to be). We spent several days pre- and post-cruise. I highly recommend a visit to Santiago if you can do it ... but one day won't be enough!

(We did our own air at the time, not a deviation. And we ARE in NYC.)

Feel free to write privately if you want further information -- I realize that our info is old, but we did love both visits in those wonderful cities.

Mura

So if you can't spend 2-3 days, then I'd suggest you skip it. It's a great city, we loved our visit.

Great review so far ... do you time for the rest? I hope so! :)

Holy crap! ..this got abandoned. Mea Culpa!

Life must have gotten in the way.... :( ..not like me.

What a great project for this holiday weekend.... dig out the pics and finish this pup.

Thanks for the smack upside the head.

roothy123... I'll reply shortly (at work now)