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San Antonio, Chile


Shawnino
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NCL has moved this year's port of call for Santiago, Chile from Valparaiso to San Antonio.

 

I understand this is new for NCL--does anyone have experience with San Antonio from sailings on other lines?

Specifically, how and where guides pick up pax, including pax with luggage (we disembark here).

 

It reads like a very industrial port. (I'm envisioning Livorno or Piraeus in my mind.)

 

Our guide is coming from Valparaiso to meet us (hurrah!), but he doesn't have familiarity with San Antonio either.

 

Thanks.

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This is an article from last summer that seems to detail certain reasons for the change to San Antonio.

 

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/valparaiso-cruise-calls-at-risk-on-berthing-labor-issues.html

Some people believe the real situation is not the labor problems in Valparaiso,,,,,the real situation could be that San Antonio port is cheaper for the cruises lines and they are interested in increasing the bottom line. This is not a good desition for the passengers because San Antonio is an industrial city that no have any interesting to show,,,, Valparaiso and viña del Mar are nice place to visit, regards

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  • 2 weeks later...

The guide I’m talking to for 2019 will come from Valparaiso to San Antonio too. When we last talked the change had just happened and they were scrambling to make tour changes. I’m hoping that the kinks get worked out before our cruise.

 

Bradshore13: Our ship doesn’t sail from San Antonio, it is a port of call so won’t be staying on shore.

 

 

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We will be on the Emerald Princess in January. I had booked transfer from Valparaiso to Santiago. We found out about the port change and had to contact the company we booked transfers with. They just changed were to pick us up. I am sure they knew before us. They emailed me back confirmation of new location pickup.

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We will be on the Emerald Princess in January. I had booked transfer from Valparaiso to Santiago. We found out about the port change and had to contact the company we booked transfers with. They just changed were to pick us up. I am sure they knew before us. They emailed me back confirmation of new location pickup.

 

Ruth,

 

We'll be on same cruise, What transfer company are you going with to get from San Antonio to Santiago. I would like to contact them.

Steve and Lorri, Roll Call members

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View from Celebrity Infinity of San Antonio cruise terminal, green building in background, tour buses etc can be seen nearby. Buses needed to get from ship to terminal as industrial port. Tour operators were all waiting where the buses can be seen to meet people, ships excursions come to ship.

 

jhq4q0.jpg

 

By the way, as comparison, view from same spot on Infinity of Ft Lauderdale.

 

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NCL has moved this year's port of call for Santiago, Chile from Valparaiso to San Antonio.

 

I understand this is new for NCL--does anyone have experience with San Antonio from sailings on other lines?

Specifically, how and where guides pick up pax, including pax with luggage (we disembark here).

 

It reads like a very industrial port. (I'm envisioning Livorno or Piraeus in my mind.)

 

Our guide is coming from Valparaiso to meet us (hurrah!), but he doesn't have familiarity with San Antonio either.

 

Thanks.

We disembarked in San Antonio a few days ago. We understand that the port in Santiago opted to deal with container ships vs cruise liners. It is too bad. San Antonio is trying to adjust to receiving cruise ship passengers. The transfer minivan that came for us was a disgrace. Filthy and no A/C.

 

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We disembarked in San Antonio a few days ago. We understand that the port in Santiago opted to deal with container ships vs cruise liners. It is too bad. San Antonio is trying to adjust to receiving cruise ship passengers. The transfer minivan that came for us was a disgrace. Filthy and no A/C.

 

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

Who did you book with?

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Sad news is that Valparaiso had just built a new cruise terminal last season with everything new. Pier workers held strikes on a few embark days to get some better working conditions. It was frustrating enough that the cruise lines looked for a safer option for people to connect to flights, etc. Time is money... But everything is on time now.

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Sad news is that Valparaiso had just built a new cruise terminal last season with everything new. Pier workers held strikes on a few embark days to get some better working conditions. It was frustrating enough that the cruise lines looked for a safer option for people to connect to flights, etc. Time is money... But everything is on time now.

Sounds like the Valparaiso port workers screwed themselves right out of a job. Maybe next years' cruise season will have the companies that relocated their ships to San Antonio reconsider going back to Valparaiso.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We will board Celebrity in San Antonio on Jan 7. We'd already decided to spend four days prior to embarkation in Valparaiso - UNESCO World Heritage status. We used Michael the German Pirate (crazy name, I know) for a transfer/tour from Santiago airport to Valparaiso and then a full day tour of Valparaiso the next day. When the port changed he immediately also arranged a direct transfer from our Valparaiso Hotel (Casa Galos -- fabulous boutique hotel in great location, impeccably clean, breakfast included, an architect's dream) to the San Antonio cruise terminal.

My fear, with this port change happening in almost all cruise lines, is that Valparaiso will be hit very hard in the tourism industry - which will really hurt their economy. Michael's tours are amazing - he is a wealth of information - has lived in the are since 1997, is fluent in German, Spanish and English, has amazing contacts and will customize an individual tour for you -- of Valparaiso, Santiago, and all points of interest between those cities and San Antonio. We did a tour of the Casa Blanca Valley and a visit to a former whaling village, where we had an amazing lunch at a local restaurant, overlooking the water. http://www.thegermanpirates.cl. Can't speak highly enough about him!

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We will board Celebrity in San Antonio on Jan 7. We'd already decided to spend four days prior to embarkation in Valparaiso - UNESCO World Heritage status. We used Michael the German Pirate (crazy name, I know) for a transfer/tour from Santiago airport to Valparaiso and then a full day tour of Valparaiso the next day. When the port changed he immediately also arranged a direct transfer from our Valparaiso Hotel (Casa Galos -- fabulous boutique hotel in great location, impeccably clean, breakfast included, an architect's dream) to the San Antonio cruise terminal.

My fear, with this port change happening in almost all cruise lines, is that Valparaiso will be hit very hard in the tourism industry - which will really hurt their economy. Michael's tours are amazing - he is a wealth of information - has lived in the are since 1997, is fluent in German, Spanish and English, has amazing contacts and will customize an individual tour for you -- of Valparaiso, Santiago, and all points of interest between those cities and San Antonio. We did a tour of the Casa Blanca Valley and a visit to a former whaling village, where we had an amazing lunch at a local restaurant, overlooking the water. www.thegermanpirates.cl. Can't speak highly enough about him!

 

Thank you for this. I have arranged for a small group to use his services in March for a Valparaiso/Winery tour. He was the first one to let me know about the change in ports, several weeks before Princess made it official. He has been great to work with in rejigging and rescheduling things to make the tour work out of San Antonio. I look forward very much to his tour!

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We will board Celebrity in San Antonio on Jan 7. We'd already decided to spend four days prior to embarkation in Valparaiso - UNESCO World Heritage status. We used Michael the German Pirate (crazy name, I know) for a transfer/tour from Santiago airport to Valparaiso and then a full day tour of Valparaiso the next day. When the port changed he immediately also arranged a direct transfer from our Valparaiso Hotel (Casa Galos -- fabulous boutique hotel in great location, impeccably clean, breakfast included, an architect's dream) to the San Antonio cruise terminal.

My fear, with this port change happening in almost all cruise lines, is that Valparaiso will be hit very hard in the tourism industry - which will really hurt their economy. Michael's tours are amazing - he is a wealth of information - has lived in the are since 1997, is fluent in German, Spanish and English, has amazing contacts and will customize an individual tour for you -- of Valparaiso, Santiago, and all points of interest between those cities and San Antonio. We did a tour of the Casa Blanca Valley and a visit to a former whaling village, where we had an amazing lunch at a local restaurant, overlooking the water. www.thegermanpirates.cl. Can't speak highly enough about him!

I thank you for the recommendation! We don't leave until 2019 but I love the planning process!

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I thank you for the recommendation! We don't leave until 2019 but I love the planning process!

 

 

 

Happy I am not the only one planning for 2019 now. I love planning and have found that when I have time to plan early we have a much more enjoyable trip because I have the time to find things to do we wouldn’t find otherwise.

 

 

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Happy I am not the only one planning for 2019 now. I love planning and have found that when I have time to plan early we have a much more enjoyable trip because I have the time to find things to do we wouldn’t find otherwise.

 

 

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I agree. We may not do half of the things I look into but I know what my options are! With your upcoming trip I bet you're in planning heaven!!

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I agree. We may not do half of the things I look into but I know what my options are! With your upcoming trip I bet you're in planning heaven!!

 

 

 

That is exactly how I feel about knowing what my options are.

 

I am in planning heaven with this trip. In July 2015 we booked our last big cruise (for Jan 2016) while on an 4 month cruise/land combo trip that got back to the US about a month before we left for the Jan cruise (which included a few weeks on land before boarding the ship). Planning was quick and much of it while on that 4 month trip. Planning for the 2019 trip is much more enjoyable since I have so much more time.

 

 

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Happyyaya writes in part: "My fear, with this port change happening in almost all cruise lines, is that Valparaiso will be hit very hard in the tourism industry - which will really hurt their economy."

 

...and this will almost certainly be the case.

 

We booked through Perro Tours (they were great; can't recommend them enough...) and when I asked the proprietor how everyone docking in San Antonio would affect his business going forward he was very cheerful: "oh it's no big deal; I haven't lost any business--everybody I wrote was more than happy to modify the tour the way you were... pay an extra 25K CLP [40 USD] for a pick up in San Antonio, drive here to Valparaiso, and away we go".

 

And I replied 'fine, but if I knew we were docking in San Antonio, or to put it another way if we were coming next year instead and we knew it was docking in San Antonio all along, I never would have found your company because I never would have looked for you. I would have naturally looked for an operator in San Antonio.'

 

It hit him all at once, and he looked like he wanted to throw up.

 

He circled back to it a couple times later in the tour, and is now scratching his head on how to improve his business visibility: 60% of his plan-ahead business is shore-ex.

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