Around The Horn Review

[Smooth Sailing]

We have just returned home from our voyage around Cape Horn on the NCL Crown beginning on 01/16/05.

Day (-1) - We arrived in Santiago, Chile at 09:30AM on Saturday 01/15 after a very long overnight flight. The weather was sunny and warm. We had pre-arrainged our transfers to our hotel in Vina del Mar and our small van was waiting for us - It was about an hour and a half drive through some very pretty and hilly contryside - the landscape was very dry - almost desert like - lots of grape vinyards - two very long tunnels through some tall hills (small mountains). We arrived in Vina del Mar shortly after noon - the city was much larger than we had expected. We checked into the hotel Marina del Rey around 12:30PM - our room was ready - we had booked a regular room with two queen beds - for some still unknown reason we had been upgraded to a beautiful suite at no additional cost - this hotel was very nice - nicer than our expectations - only $81.00 per night with a full breakfast included - I would rate this hotel at 4 stars. We spent the afternoon walking around town - down to the beach and casino area - lots of beautiful flowers - especially roses and cannas. Since we were very worn out from our mostly sleepless night on the plane - we had a late lunch/early dinner. We found this nice place called the Tip Y Tap about a block up from the casino - we ordered steak - we were served a 3 inch thick piece of beef done to perfection - I can honestly say this was the very best steak we have had in our whole lives - the cost was $8.00 each - I had the Rib Eye and Katie had the Fillet - We will never forget those steaks. We returned to our great room around 5:00PM - we had purchased a small bottle of Vodka for $4.00 and some tonic water - had a few drinks and crashed about 7:00PM.

Day 1 - We awoke around 8:00 AM after sleeping for 13 hours - we felt much better - had a great breakfast that was included with our room - several great homemade pastries - this area had many local bakeries just down the street - the cream puffs were to die for - you simply can't find this quality in most of the USA - this day was fairly cloudy and cooler. We took another walk around town in a different direction - very clean - we loved this place. We took a taxis to the Cruise Ship terminal around 11:30AM - about a 15 min drive - Valparaiso was also much larger than we expected - this city is built on the sides of steep hills - very colorful - very pretty. Embarkation was fast and smooth - we were in our room around 1:00PM - spent the afternoon exploring the ship and putting up all our cloths and stuff - our room had tons of storage space and hangers - the bathroom was somewhat larger than any we had had in the past. Spent the evening at the Lido Bar watching our great New England Patriots destoy Payton Manning and the Colts (I am originally from the Boston area) - called it quits around 11:00PM.

Day 2 - We awoke around 8:00AM for a day at sea - the weather was sunny, breezy, and mild. Had breakfast in the Dinning Room - very nice - good food and service - typical breakfast menu every day. We did our 2 mile walk around the track after breakfast - tried to do this every day. Lunch was our first experience at the buffet - the first negative - the Crown had had an outbreak of intestinal flu on it's previous cruise - we could not serve ourselfs anything in the buffet line - the crew served everything and we were not allowed to touch a thing - not very efficient. I could live with this - however, the food was usually cold, overcooked, dry and not so good - we did eat a few other lunches here during the cruise for some unknown reason - the lunch in the Dinning Room was much better - on port days - we always had a local lunch in town.

Day 3 - Puerto Montt - We got up around 6:00AM this morning - I always like to be on deck when we arrive at port - Had breakfast at the buffet - again a mistake - but better than lunch - really not too bad. Only one coffee station and again you could not get your own - had to wait in line at the one station to have your coffee or tea served to you. Puerto Montt is a pretty town - the weather was cloudy and quite cool - We put on our multiple layers and headed off the ship - we met 3 other couples on the pier and hired a private van for our tour. We had a great tour - Puerto Varas, Frutillar, Petrohue Falls, and the countryside - the skies cleared around 11:00AM - the sun came out - the temperature went up to about 75 degress and everyone was peeling off their outer clothing - luckily I had my Patriots tee shirt under everything else and this was very comfortable. We had great views of the Volcano Osorno and traveled around Lake Esmeralda - we made several stops - had lunch at a nice place on the lake - at the Falls it was very pretty - however, they have thousands of horse flys the size of humming birds - they do not bite, but were kind of scarry and a nuisance. We paid $75.00 per couple for this tour - It compared and was even better than the ships $149.00 per person tour. We found numerous private tour operators at every port (with the exception of the Falkland Islands ) offering the same excursions as the Ship at a fraction of the price.

I will continue this review in a bit.

[relevart]

Thank you for the beginning of your great review. Am looking forward to the rest of it. We are going Princess but it looks like the itinerary is similar.

[buffetking]

Just returned from the airport from Buenos Aires today. We were told that our entire airplane (arriving into Dallas) might be quarantined because the Norwegian Crowne and Celebrity Infinity ships cruising in South America both were quarantined by the CDC. Apparently all passengers were taken off the ships during the next cruise (the 1/30 NCL and 1/31 Celebrity).

 

We arrived with 2 extremely sick passengers to the airport today. Seems it may be the Norwalk Virus??? Customs finally allowed us to get off the airplane after doing some tests of the airplane. We were on the airplane while they conducted the tests (about 30 minutes or so).

 

Does anyone know what happened? This is the information the airline stewardesses gave us.

[NewCruiseFan]

Dave & Katie!

 

welcome back! it sounds like you had a lovely time and i'm sorry that you weren't on my ship, i would have enjoyed meeting you guys. next time i ask your advice for hotels - the one i was in in Valpo wasn't nearly so lovely as yours and there was little price diff.

 

lisa

[Smooth Sailing]

As you all have read - We have just returned from our South American Cruise on the NCL Crown - I was going to address the Intestinal Flu (Norwalk Virus) issue later in my review, but since this issue has been raised, I will address it now. When we got on the Crown, we received a notice that the previous voyage had had an outbreak of Norwalk Virus and several hundred passengers and crew had been sick. The chief hygiene and health officer (Barry) for NCL was on board - extrodinary measures were taken to prevent another outbreak on this trip - I have already mentioned the buffet line and coffee station - we were also required to disinfect our hands before every meal - also when getting off and on at each port. The bartenders told us about how they had to sanitize everything at the bar before and after every shift. The stairwell rails were also sanitized frequently each day. I'm certain many other precautions were being taken. The first week we were told (by my friend Barry the hygiene officer) that only a handful of passengers and crew were sick - he also told us that more than 600 passengers on the Infinty ( which was just about next to us everyday) were sick with the virus. The second week things went downhill - many more passengers got sick, we knew several couples that we had met that were confined to thier cabin for a day or 2. I am not sure of the exact number - but, I would say that again several hundred passengers and crew were affected. Katie and I felt fine the entire trip - never sick - still not sick - so we made it. In Montevideo, everyone was delayed an hour from being cleared to leave the ship because of health concerns by the Uruguay officials. We returned home Sunday night on Delta to Atlanta and had no problems.

[Aussie Gal]

Dave and Kate,

 

Thanks so much for posting Part 1 of your review. I am enjoying it as we are doing the cruise next January. I have one question. I was interested to read that in Puerto Montt that you found quite a few people with vans waiting to take passengers on excursions, we especially want to do a similar one to yours.

 

Were you one of the first off the ship? The reason I ask is that we were going to do this excursion independently and were told by the operator we contacted, that there were very few vans available and to reserve one we would have to pay up front. We will not pay before we arrive, and so thought we would have to use the ship's excursion for this port. You have put a different light on this. Do you think it wise to wait until we arrive in that port?

 

Jennie

[xpcdoojk]

I share my buddy Jennie's interest as well!

 

thanks for the help!

 

jc

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Jennie

We didn't rush to get off the ship - but, I guess we did get off fairly soon after we had been cleared - maybe within 1/2 an hour. When we got off many vans with tours for small groups were still available - usually for 6 to 8 people - no problem getting the group together - we were couple number 3 and couple #4 came right behind us. The operator wanted a total of $300.00 - since we had 4 couples - it was $75.00 per couple - we gave him $80.00 at the end of the tour or $40.00 per person - this compared to the ships $149.00 per person - and we had a better, more personal tour. I love saving all that money - the price for the ships excursions are ridiculous.

I have now posted Part 2 of my review - Part 3 coming tomorrow.

[ALadyNCal]

Can you tell me about sunset times? We sailing B.A. around to Valparaiso (next week). I read somewhere that it was light till 10 pm around the most southern part. What about Santiago & B.A. Was it also light till late? Thanks :)

 

Also appreciate the information on the virus outbreak. My husband are traveling with our parents (65-75 y.o.) and want to be sure and take as many precautions as possible.

[Smooth Sailing]

Sunset on days 5-11 was 10:00 to 10:30PM - on the first and last several days (Santiago and Buenos Aires) it was 8:30 to 9:00PM. Remember the days are now getting shorter in this part of South America - you may have sunset a 1/2 hour or so earlier than we had - the later you go the shorter the days are going to be.

[Aussie Gal]

Dave and Kate,

 

Thanks for clarifying re the tours in Puerto Montt. I think we will take a gamble and not book and get off the ship as early as possible. I have been reading a review on the HAL board from a C.C. member who was on the Amsterdam and she did the ship's excursion. There were buses everywhere and no time to really look around.

 

Jennie

[cruiseyguy]

I was on the infinity 1/17-1/31 SA cruise and it was NOT quarantined by the CDC or anyone else. A number of passengers (certainly NOT 600 or 1/3 of the ship) came down with something or many unrelated things. Most, but not all, were Europeans (who comprised about 1/2 of the passengers). Most of what we heard was second-hand and I personally met no one who got sick. People get sick for many reasons-flu, seasickness, food problems (especially S. America) and even over-indugence and it is not prudent nor accurate to assume it is some special ship-borne ailment.

[ACJV]

I just returned from the Infinity Jan.17th sailing. I have to disagree with the last poster about the illness on board. My husband was sick with the stomach bug. He did not go to the doctor because we heard that you would be quarantined. We brought our own medicine anyway, and were traveling with a doctor who is our dear friend, so we didn't need any medical treatment other than what we already had. The ship was full of sick people. Everyone we talked to was either sick of someone in their group was sick. I am an American citizen, and the people that we interacted with and heard this from were all Americans. There were two tables next to us in the dining room who had two men that were so sick that they required IV treatment and we understood that one of them had a $2000 bill at the doctor's office on the ship. The last two days on board, I felt as though I was coming down with an upper respirtory illness. Since I have been home, since Tuesday morning, I have become sicker and sicker with a fever and aching all over. I finally got some medication from the doctor yesterday. I think that this was the worst case of illness on a ship that we have ever been on. We have cruised around 20 times over the past 20 years.

Vicki

[buffetking]

We were aboard the Infinity 1/17 - 1/31 sailing. We brought along a can of Lysol which kills germs, a container of Lysol wipes to completely wipe down the cabin before we unpacked and settled in, and most importantly 3 or 4 large bottles and many small, purse size bottles of Purell Hand Sanitizer.

 

We had the good fortune of meeting a chemist on our cruise and he stated that he thought using Purell was a great idea since the active ingredient is ethyl alcohol 62%. He said that it wouldn't evaporate as quickly as regular alcohol. Any way, we did everything we could to sanitize. We used the ship's sanitize station before going through the buffet lines, then used our own Purell after going through the buffet lines and touching the serving forks that everyone on the ship has touched, then were sat at our table by dining room staff and again hand sanitized before touching or eating our food. We did this for 14 days continusouly sanitizing after touching anything, especially before eating. Also, we sanitized after the crew member took our card and scanned it through to let us off and back on the ship (he touches everyone's card). It seemed to have worked as neither of us got really sick.

 

However, even with all of that sanitizing and refilling of our small bottles to carry with us to our shore excursions, we did get a slight upper respiratory cold after we got off the ship. So far it's only been a few days of the sniffles. Definitely nothing life threatening.

 

It was one of our VERY BEST cruises out of 18 cruises that we've done in the past 15 years!!! It would be such a shame to miss a wonderful ship, great crew, good entertainment--all because of a fear of sickness. Just be wise and BRING YOUR PURELL WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cruiseyguy]

Sorry ACJV but I did not meet a single sick person on the cruise (maybe they were in their rooms) and the fact that several excursions I wanted to be on were sold out attests to the fact that the ship was not "full" of sick people. By the way, several of my friends were sick at home while I was away with different ailments. A cruise ship with 2,000 people onboard is not a sanitized island without illness. It's a microcosm of life ashore. Agree about Purell and it should be used when visiting onshore sites and restaurants as well as using ship facilities.

[bobg]

We had pre-arrainged our transfers to our hotel in Vina del Mar and our small van was waiting for us -

 

We are going on the Royal Princess, departing from Valparaiso on March 7th, to Fort Lauderdale and will arrive in Vina del Mar a day early.

 

What is the name and contact for your transportation from Santiago AP to Vina del Mar? We are staying at the Best Western hotel the night of March 6.

 

Thanks in advance

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Bobg

We booked our transfers through Go Chile (http://www.gochile.cl/home/default.asp) - the agent's name was Anibal - the cost was $87.00 total for the 2 of us in a nice small van.

We also stayed at the Best Western/Marina del Rey - as you saw in our review - we were upgraded to a suite and were very pleased with this hotel - total cost was $81.00 - no tax was charged - it appeared to us that we were never charged tax for anything on this cruise - except (of course) the $100.00 per person entry fee at the Santiago airport.

[bobg]

Hi Bobg

We booked our transfers through Go Chile (www.gochile.cl/home/default.asp) - the agent's name was Anibal - the cost was $87.00 total for the 2 of us in a nice small van.

We also stayed at the Best Western/Marina del Rey - as you saw in our review - we were upgraded to a suite and were very pleased with this hotel - total cost was $81.00 - no tax was charged - it appeared to us that we were never charged tax for anything on this cruise - except (of course) the $100.00 per person entry fee at the Santiago airport.

 

Thanks, I just requested a booking from them. The price has gone up to $90, but I am only paying $75 for the hotel. My total is about the same. There is no hotel tax if you pay with a non Chile credit card.

 

Fortunately I already have a Chile visa good for the life of my passport. When I got it the cost was only $20. :)