Mercruiser

We arrived in Punta Arenas about 30 minutes ago. Here is a GPS recording of our route from San Antonio Chile (Santiago) to Punta Areas. You can view these files in Google Earth (or just about any other mapping program.) Here is what a small section of the track looks like in Google Earth. Here are the track log files. There are a couple of gaps in the track, when my GPS logger battery died. 20240128.kmz 20240127.kmz 20240126.kmz 20240125.kmz 20240124.kmz 20240123.kmz 20240122.kmz

Our favorite glacier was the Perito Moreno in Argentinian Patagonia. We went on a 10-day DIY car trip to Patagonia before the cruise. It was wonderful and easy to do.

Perhaps this is the shipwreck you speak of. We passed this while dining in the specialty restaurant. In contrast, the Norwegian Sun missed this scene while cruising offshore in 4 meter swells. This scene reminds one that constant vigilance is required to sail in the Fjords. All it takes is a few minutes of in inattention to put your ship on the rocks. I suspect this is why many cruise ships prefer to sail 30 miles offshore. Out there, you can sail in the wrong direction for over an hour before hitting anything

We enjoyed a wonderful evening at Aqualina tonight. Sure, I'd rather pay $35 than $50. But non the less, we had a wonderful evening. This was our view from our table (through the windows). This shows the very interesting scenery that you experience in the Chilean Fjords. Notice the shipwreck. This is probably why many ship captains prefer to cruise 30 miles off shore rather than navigating the narrow Fjords. In just a few minutes time, you can put your ship on the rocks in the Fjords. In contrast, you can sail in the wrong direction for over an hour offshore before hitting anything.

Thanks Phil. Indeed, Mercury was my first cruise ship too, and as you deduced, the origin of my username. This first cruise was on a Vancouver to Seward, AK itinerary. I especially enjoyed the "inside passage" experience on that cruise, particularly the Wrangell Narrows. Sadly, few cruise ships take that route anymore. As the ships get bigger, they seem to favor cruising in the open ocean instead.

I started a thread in the South America forum that may be of interest to Azamara passengers. We just completed a 2-hour detour to see a tidewater glacier in the Chilean Fjords. I think this shows one of the advantages of cruising Azamara, a cruise line that allows (and hopefully encourages) captains to make this kind of decision. In contrast, Norwegian Sun, running the same itinerary as Quest, just sped on by.

Glacier Detour At 8:00 am, our Captain announced that we are running 2 hours ahead of schedule. So with 2 hours in our pocket, we will spend it making a detour to view a tidewater glacier (I don't remember the name). Here is a map showing the glacier location (red dot). A side trip like this, is something that a small ship like Quest will do. Now let's see what Norwegian Sun, our traveling companion, is doing. The orange ship is the Norwegian Sun, showing her track in blue. The Sun did not detour to see the glacier (red dot). Looking at her progress, Sun had plenty of time to make this detour, but her Captain chose not too (or maybe is not allowed to by Corporate). Also note the Sun has exited the Fjords. There were large swells when we were on the open sea. I'm glad we are staying in the Fjords. The water in the Fjords is calm and the scenery is way better.

The Captain said in his noon report, "Everything is working normal with the propulsion." Because the issue is resolved, I will make this my last post in this thread.

I found this in the cabin "Directory of Service" book.

Here is an update on Sapphire Princess' recent southbound track from Valparaiso to the Antarctic. This itinerary completely ships the Chilean Fjords altogether. This is a tradeoff of including the 5-day RT to the Antarctic in 16-day Valparaiso to Buenos Aeries cruise. You have to cut things out to make it fit in 16 days. I am on Azamara Quest right now, enjoying our mostly inside passage cruise. Between Valparaiso and Montt, there is no sheltered water route. We had large swells all the way down to Puerto Montt. The barf bags were stationed all over the ship. We were not bothered by the swells, but many were. We have 11 hours of open water cruising today, before ducking back into the Chilean Fjords for the remainder of our journey to Punta Arenas. I'll post Quest's and Norwegian Sun's tracks when completed.

Prime C

Here are the menus pictures onboard Quest. Sorry for the poor quality, but they are decent enough to answer questions about what items are still available. Aqualina

I verified these prices ($49 & $120) with the Prime C host last night before posting. They also agree with what I was told on the phone reservation line in boarding day. I rechecked with Prime C to make sure my recollection was correct.

I'm on Quest right now. It's $49 or $120 for a 3 night package. Sounds like there has been a lot of inflation recently.

We had a wonderful day in Puerto Montt. The weather was sunny and the temperatures were in the low 80s (very warm for this location). We went on our GV Tours excursion to Osorno Volcano and the lakefront town of Fruitillar. The photo is taken from the city beach in Fruitillar. We are now back on board Quest. The captains departure announcement said we need to average 17 knots to make Punta Arenas on schedule. That happens to be our speed right now, per my gps. All is well.

The mailing went out at 4:12 pm local time. Your friends should have it now. There are no cruise ships scheduled in Puerto Montt tomorrow (Jan 25), so I'm sure they are glad to have Quest.

The only snafu I saw today: Right after the 3:30 announcement, I raced down to the Azamara excursions desk to see if I could make a last minute booking for Puerto Montt. There was NOBODY at the excursions desk, except for a lot of frustrated passengers wanting to do the same. Fortunately, I had already texted GV Tours and got their response whilst at the Azamara excursions desk.

Norwegian Sun with Puerto Montt and one of the volcanoes in the distance.

Passengers who have excursions previously booked with Azamara are automatically switched to the same Puerto Montt excursions, just one day later. Puerto Chacabuco excursions are cancelled. I texted my independent tour company GV Tours (via Viator) and let them know about the reschedule. They responded within 10 minutes. We are rescheduled tomorrow at 730 am. They are sending out a message to all their other previously scheduled clients.

I want to give a shout out to our Captain. While asking him about the last tender time, I had the opportunity to thank him personally for the excellent communication he provided over the last 24 hours. I do not hand out compliments (or complaints) gratuitously. He really did a great job communicating with the passengers.

330pm announcement by the Captain More good news and a twist The technical problem is fixed. It turned out to be a small electrical connector that came loose due to vibration. Azamara had already dispatched a specialist that wil arrive in Puerto Montt tonight around 23:00. This specialist will stay on the ship for a few days as a precaution. Here is the twist. Our port stop in Puerto Montt begins immediately (tenders were already in the water for technical stop). We will spend the night in port and leave tomorrow (Thursday). Last tender back to the ship is 16:30 - per a direct question I asked the Captain who was talking to passengers. The port call to Chacabuco is cancelled. We will proceed to Punta Arenas tomorrow evening.

Same side. Interesting!

This wake photo shows what the captain said about proceeding on one propeller.

Noon update The captain announced that we are proceeding to Puerto Montt on one propeller. The engineering team will work on identifying the suspected instrumentation problem. We will anchor at Puerto Montt for the technical call.

1125 am Good News announcement from the bridge. There is nothing wrong with the motor. They could not find anything wrong. The captain believes it is an instrumentation problem, which he says is much easier to address while underway. We will now proceed to Puerto Montt for a technical call to allow crew members on/off the ship who were scheduled to arrive/depart today.