Live from Star Princess, Buenos Aires to Los Angeles

[nreeder]

We had another wonderful day in Argentina, and it was our last one. We’ve been two weeks now in Argentina and have had a great time. Yesterday, I mentioned that we were going to see Cape Horn. What we actually did was to circle the entire Horn island, the southern coast of which is “Cape Horn”. Other than a lighthouse keeper, it is uninhabited and very rugged with large rock formations at one end that waves crash against. The weather was spectacular with sunshine and puffy clouds and smooth seas.

 

One interesting aspect is that we did not stay out at sea to round the South American continent past Cape Horn. Instead we backtracked so the ship could enter the Beagle Channel which provides a sheltered passageway between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and leads us to Ushuaia.

 

Ushuaia

 

When we went down to the Princess Theater this morning to gather for our morning train trip, they announced that as usual here, there was a demonstration about the Falklands. This time they burned tires at the front gates of the port so the tour buses couldn’t enter. It took a half hour or so, but the port opened up the cargo entrance for the buses and so we all started off on the various tours.

 

We did the “Southernmost Railway Tour” in the morning. It was very nice. The steam locomotives look antique, but were actually built in 1995. They follow the narrow gauge tracks that were created by the prisoners when the penitentiary was built here. They used prison labor to log the forests for lumber and the railroad was built to carry the prisoners to the logging site, and bring the logs back for shipping. This closed sometime in the 1930’s but the tracks and new tourist passenger cars started to use the way for tours into Tierra del Fuego National Park.

 

It was fun as we went down a valley with threes on both sides of the mountains and patches of snow at the peaks. The valley floor had been logged clear and the trees never grew back there. There was a nice narration of the background of both the prison as well as the geography.

 

After we came back we had a quick lunch in the International Café in the atrium of the ship, and then boarded a catamaran for a cruise out to islands in the Beagle Channel. There are a couple of small rock islands where seals and cormorants lay out. So we spent time very close to the islands so everyone could take close up pictures. We also went by a red and white striped lighthouse for more photos. There was narration all along the trip.

 

We’ve now left Ushuaia and are headed for Punta Arenas, Chile tomorrow. At around 7:45 pm we are supposed to go past a number of “hanging glaciers” which are glaciers that are up in valleys along the way, but don’t come all the way down to the ocean. The end of glaciers just “hang” up in the valley, often with waterfalls

 

Again, today we had wonderful weather with sunshine and only a light breeze. It is chilly (54 degrees), but clear and the water in the bay was calm. The Captain, and our tour guides both tell us “its never like this”!

 

Update:

 

Oh my God, we were not prepared for the Beagle Channel experience. We left Ushuaia in the late afternoon and started a cruise up the channel. It was very similar to the “Inland Passage” in Alaska as there were mountains on both sides. At this point, we were really crossing the Continental Divide, the southernmost extension of the great mountain chain that starts with the Rockies in Canada, continues down the US, Mexico, Central and South America. We had jagged mountains that were separated by valleys that opened into the channel. As we went along, suddenly we had large glaciers in those valleys. Joe Mays provided commentary as we went along. The last glacier had a wonderful giant gushing waterfall coming out of the bottom (actually bad news for the glacier as it’s melting!). So it capped a wonderful day.

 

Punta Arenas

 

Today we arrived in Punt Arenas. We had booked a Patagonia Club hike down a hillside. They take you up in a cable car, and you walk down with a guide through the forest. The weather gods finally didn’t cooperate today as we had misty rain, and the views of the city and Straits of Magellan were mostly lost in the fog . However, the hike was actually enjoyable. Maureen and I had packed waterproof boots, pull on rain pants, GoreTex jackets and gloves so we were dry as a bone throughout. Some people had no clue and a lady in white canvas shoes with absolutely no grip pretty much fought the whole time to keep from slipping and sliding and wasn’t successful a lot of the time. The white shoes will probably never be white again!

 

We are now set for two days at sea. Tomorrow while at sea we will pass by the Amalia Glacier so we have invited our table mates from the dining room (a couple from Germany and another couple from England) for wine and cheese on our balcony during the visit.

 

Since we are at sea for a couple of days, I probably won’t report much until after Puerto Montt, our next port.

 

Norm

[K-Roo-Zers]

Hi Norm,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide a "live". DH and I have both really enjoyed your adventures so far. It sounds incredible.

 

The good news is that we have just booked the 49 night South American journey for 2014 on Crown Princess and can't wait.

 

Our Australian mate, Ray, is also on this cruise!

 

Keep well and we look forward to your next fascinating instalment.

 

Best wishes

Nicki

[MicCanberra]

Thanks, I am really enjoying the review and the picture you are painting for me in my mind. Love it. Can't wait til next year.:D

[jnc411]

The excursions sound wonderful, it makes us want to go even more. Thank You :)

The boots and rain pants sound like a very good idea, something to remember, and of coarse good foot gear is always a must not matter what.

Cori

[SailinC2C]

We also did that hike down the ski hill through the woods. We were fortunate and had a beautiful sunny and fairly warm day. It was so pretty in there with the trees, stream and little bridges. I got to wear my new hiking boots that I had bought to wear on the trip because it was going to be 'so cold and windy'! Not!

We also had a lovely day in Ushuaia. Sunny, only slightly windy and I would say high 50's to 60. Light jacket weather.

[nreeder]

It’s catch-up time. We had two days at sea, and today was Puerto Montt, Chile. The first sea day was spent in the archipelagos of southern Chile. The tip of Chile isn’t solid land all the way down, it breaks up into islands as it reaches the furthest south. So we went on kind of an “inside passage” like you do in Alaska.

 

Just like Alaska, at the end of one of the fjords was a giant glacier at Amalia. This was truly spectacular with lots of “blue” ice coming down from two valleys that merged together to form one giant glacier as it approached the sea.

 

We invited the two couples who are at our dinner table to share this experience on our balcony. We had a couple bottles of wine, and ordered some appetizers to go with. Everyone on the ship was out on their balconies and public decks. The Captain made sure to turn the ship around 360 degrees so everyone could see the sight and he seem to stop the ship on our side for a long time so we had a great view and good photo opportunities.

 

That night for dinner our plans changed. We had originally booked the steakhouse (Crown Grill) for that night, but in the morning we learned we had been selected to go to the Chef’s Table. This is an extra cost dinner with many courses and different wines with each course.

 

You first meet the Maitre’D in the atrium. You are given white cotton coats to wear over you clothes, and he then takes you into the kitchen of the ship. This is at 7:00 pm when the kitchen is busiest. You are shown all of the various food stations and taken to a corner where there is a table set up with displays with carved vegetables and an ice sculpture. Then the head wine steward opens a bottle of Heisidek French Champagne.

 

The parade of appetizers then starts: shrimp ceveche in a martini glass, Ementhaler cheese mini quiches, and finally steak tartare (raw beef spiced up) on toast.

 

After that part you are taken to a table in the dining room set for the 9 of us that night. We then had shrimp risotto, a strawberry sorbet for a “cleanser”, then the show stopper platter of lamb chops, filet mignon, lobster, and scallops with assorted vegetables. The risotto was paired with a Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio, and the main course with Kenwood Jack London Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

Finally the dessert arrived and as my wife always says it’s all about “presentation”. The bowl of the dessert was made out of sugar molded in a bowl shape. Over the top was a spun cage of gold sugar with a green butterfly handle on top. The waiters took these off and inside the bowl as amaretto ice cream around a caramel center! There was a dessert wine that went with this one too. Truly an over the top experience.

 

The second sea day, the weather gods decided they had been nice enough, and now no more mister nice guy. It rained most of the day, and the seas were choppy and angry looking. We didn’t much care as we just did our usual walks around the decks for exercise,, went to Joe May’s lectures on Puerto Montt, Valparaiso, and Coquimbo, Chile, and then to the gym for more exercise. We had to do something to make up for the previous night’s dinner as well as last night’s formal night dinner with lobster.

 

Puerto Montt

 

Well the weather gods didn’t much improve things today at Puerto Monttt. We had a private group tour with GTV. When we first booked this it was a small group one, but later just before the cruise, a lot more people signed up. So when we asked the coordinator (another passenger) about it, she checked and they divided us up onto a bus with 24, and six of us in a much smaller van. This worked out great (there was a price difference for the van, but we didn’t mind).

 

They took us out to the lake district to Puerto Varas. This town was founded by Germans in the mid 1800’s and still to this day has about a one third German population. The architecture of many of the hotels and shops is quaint German, and many German restaurants are there too. The city is known for it’s roses and they were in bloom everywhere because this is late Summer here.

We then went around the lake to see the waterfalls, which were very nice but not spectacular. We have been spoiled by what we saw at Iguazu in Argentina. Then it was on to lunch which was very good (salmon raised locally) which was perfect for a Friday in Lent! They took us back to Puerto Montt and we stopped at an overlook where you could view the entire city with the ship out in the bay. Finally we stopped a couple of blocks away from the port entrance where there is a craft market.

 

All of the day was accompanied by gray clouds and off and on rain. We never got soaked, but the one special feature of this area is the 9,000 foot Orsonio volcano, which we could not see in the background of the lake.

 

So we had a nice day and saw some different things. Tomorrow is a day at sea, and is the last day of the cruise for 1,400 passengers. I have a feeling that most of the Argentine passengers will get off at Valparaiso and return home. We will then get 1,400 new passengers on board.

 

Thanks

Norm

[MicCanberra]

It’s catch-up time. We had two days at sea, and today was Puerto Montt, Chile. The first sea day was spent in the archipelagos of southern Chile. The tip of Chile isn’t solid land all the way down, it breaks up into islands as it reaches the furthest south. So we went on kind of an “inside passage” like you do in Alaska.

 

Just like Alaska, at the end of one of the fjords was a giant glacier at Amalia. This was truly spectacular with lots of “blue” ice coming down from two valleys that merged together to form one giant glacier as it approached the sea.

 

We invited the two couples who are at our dinner table to share this experience on our balcony. We had a couple bottles of wine, and ordered some appetizers to go with. Everyone on the ship was out on their balconies and public decks. The Captain made sure to turn the ship around 360 degrees so everyone could see the sight and he seem to stop the ship on our side for a long time so we had a great view and good photo opportunities.

 

That night for dinner our plans changed. We had originally booked the steakhouse (Crown Grill) for that night, but in the morning we learned we had been selected to go to the Chef’s Table. This is an extra cost dinner with many courses and different wines with each course.

 

You first meet the Maitre’D in the atrium. You are given white cotton coats to wear over you clothes, and he then takes you into the kitchen of the ship. This is at 7:00 pm when the kitchen is busiest. You are shown all of the various food stations and taken to a corner where there is a table set up with displays with carved vegetables and an ice sculpture. Then the head wine steward opens a bottle of Heisidek French Champagne.

 

The parade of appetizers then starts: shrimp ceveche in a martini glass, Ementhaler cheese mini quiches, and finally steak tartare (raw beef spiced up) on toast.

 

After that part you are taken to a table in the dining room set for the 9 of us that night. We then had shrimp risotto, a strawberry sorbet for a “cleanser”, then the show stopper platter of lamb chops, filet mignon, lobster, and scallops with assorted vegetables. The risotto was paired with a Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio, and the main course with Kenwood Jack London Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

Finally the dessert arrived and as my wife always says it’s all about “presentation”. The bowl of the dessert was made out of sugar molded in a bowl shape. Over the top was a spun cage of gold sugar with a green butterfly handle on top. The waiters took these off and inside the bowl as amaretto ice cream around a caramel center! There was a dessert wine that went with this one too. Truly an over the top experience.

 

The second sea day, the weather gods decided they had been nice enough, and now no more mister nice guy. It rained most of the day, and the seas were choppy and angry looking. We didn’t much care as we just did our usual walks around the decks for exercise,, went to Joe May’s lectures on Puerto Montt, Valparaiso, and Coquimbo, Chile, and then to the gym for more exercise. We had to do something to make up for the previous night’s dinner as well as last night’s formal night dinner with lobster.

 

Puerto Montt

 

Well the weather gods didn’t much improve things today at Puerto Monttt. We had a private group tour with GTV. When we first booked this it was a small group one, but later just before the cruise, a lot more people signed up. So when we asked the coordinator (another passenger) about it, she checked and they divided us up onto a bus with 24, and six of us in a much smaller van. This worked out great (there was a price difference for the van, but we didn’t mind).

 

They took us out to the lake district to Puerto Varas. This town was founded by Germans in the mid 1800’s and still to this day has about a one third German population. The architecture of many of the hotels and shops is quaint German, and many German restaurants are there too. The city is known for it’s roses and they were in bloom everywhere because this is late Summer here.

We then went around the lake to see the waterfalls, which were very nice but not spectacular. We have been spoiled by what we saw at Iguazu in Argentina. Then it was on to lunch which was very good (salmon raised locally) which was perfect for a Friday in Lent! They took us back to Puerto Montt and we stopped at an overlook where you could view the entire city with the ship out in the bay. Finally we stopped a couple of blocks away from the port entrance where there is a craft market.

 

All of the day was accompanied by gray clouds and off and on rain. We never got soaked, but the one special feature of this area is the 9,000 foot Orsonio volcano, which we could not see in the background of the lake.

 

So we had a nice day and saw some different things. Tomorrow is a day at sea, and is the last day of the cruise for 1,400 passengers. I have a feeling that most of the Argentine passengers will get off at Valparaiso and return home. We will then get 1,400 new passengers on board.

 

Thanks

Norm

Great post, lets hope the weather comes good again for you.I look forward to the next post.:D

[azbirdmom]

Joe May already gave his Coquimbo talk? I sure hope that he plans to repeat it for those of us who board tomorrow. And you should be able to say goodbye to that cold rainy weather for a while if today is any indication - it is hot, sunny and humid here in Santiago. Thanks for the continued reports and we look forward to joining you on the Star.

[caribill]

Joe May already gave his Coquimbo talk? I sure hope that he plans to repeat it for those of us who board tomorrow.

 

That is because the port is the day after you embark, so there is no time to give the talk before you reach the port.

 

However, it will probably be on the cabin TV the evening you embark.

[azbirdmom]

Greetings from the Star. At our roll call this morning, Norm encouraged folks to post on the live from, so I'll write a few lines about our experiences.

 

We boarded at Valparaiso two days ago. We had spent one night in Santiago at the Marriott and then took a tour with 3 others from the CC roll call from Santiago to the ship in Valparaiso. We booked with Leonardo Cuzmar who took care of us last year when we did the same thing enroute to our our around the horn cruise.

 

On the way to the ship we stopped at the Casa del Bosque winery in the beautiful Casablanca Valley. We toured the beautiful winery and then sampled 5 wines. Of course we bought some to enjoy on our balcony. We then went to Con Con and drove up the coast. We stopped at a restaurant that is dirt cheap but had the most wonderful empanadas and seafood. After that Leo took us through Vina del Mar and then finally to Valparaiso. Leo was going to give us a tour there but everyone was anxious to get on the Star so we cut the tour short.

 

Once on board we learned that at least half the ship are cruisers continuing on from Buenos Aires, so it seems like there are a lot of folks who know each other. And the ship is not sailing full, despite that fact that it had been shown as sold out for many months until we got close to the sailing date.

 

Our first stop was Coquimbo which is the gateway to La Serena which is known for its beaches. We chose to do a Princess tour to the Elqui Valley and the Pisco distillery. It was extremely foggy in the morning and we did not have high hopes for the day but after we made our way our of the city, the fog started to lift as we entered the Elqui Valley where it was downright hot.

 

Our guide told us repeatedly that they are in dire straits in terms of drought and it was very sad to see a dam holding back a tiny amount of water. The Elqui valley is pretty much a desert but they grow quite a few varieties of grapes, especially those used for Pisco.

 

We traveled to Vicuna where we toured the Capel distillery where they make the Pisco. A small group of folks from the CC roll call who had independently booked their tour were added to our tour of the distillery because there weren't enough English speaking guides. The distillery was interesting and at the end they gave you a small plastic cup in which there were about 2 sips of either Pisco or Mango sour. They were also selling Pisco and mixes, and several people bought bottles - and there wasn't any problem taking it onboard.

 

The tour then went to the town of Vicuna where we had lunch (actually a feast). We each had a giant empanada then they brought a large steak with plates of tomatoes and other veggies for the table. They gave us all the very potent but tasty Pisco Sours and wine too. Dessert was a papaya. All very yummy.

 

We then drove the hour plus back to La Serena and stopped at the archelogical museum where we saw some interesting artifacts. Then we walked to Recova which has a lot native crafts, and then finally to the beach where we got off to take pictures of the Star in the distance and the 3rd Millenium Cross up above it. We hadn't heard of the cross before but it is quite magnificent and you can pay to go up to the arms where there is quite a view of Coquimbo and La Serena. Wish we knew about it earlier!

 

Everyone on the ship has been wonderful and we are liking that they have the "old new" menus here. On the Diamond they had the new menus without the daily beef Medallions but they are back on the Star menu. Now back to relaxing on the balcony!

[nreeder]

Ok, it’s a sea day and time for catch-up. We’ve visited two ports since the last cruise: Valparaiso (Santiago), and Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile.

 

Valparaiso

 

This port was the “turnaround” day for the ship as the passengers that booked only the 13 day segment got off, and 1200 new passengers got on. When we worked on tours for this one, Princess didn’t offer any winery tours for continuing passengers, only for disembarking passengers as they left the ship on the way to Santiago (2 hours form the port) to the airport and their homes.

 

Sharon, another CruiseCritic member and I worked on tours for here. We could see that if we wanted to do much of anything, Santiago would have to be eliminated because of the 4 hour round-trip. So we found a tour company (South Tours) that we kind of customized what they did. After reading about Valparaiso, we wanted to explore this unique place as well as go out to the wine country possibly for two wineries. They were able to accommodate us and so 11 of us were on the van. We had “Dixie” as our guide and she was great.

 

We drove around some of the hills of Valparaiso which are something similar to San Francisco. Instead of cable cars, they have “funiculars” which climb steeply up the hills. We had asked for a ride on one of these as it wasn’t on the standard tour. So we drove around the city first seeing the central square and some of the views from up in the hills. Then we took one of the funiculars up the hill even higher and saw some of the old Victorian homes which are painted in very bright colors (yellow, turquoise, orange etc).

 

We then drove out to the Casablanca valley which is one of the two best wine growing areas (Maipo Valley being the other). Casablanca specializes in white wine and pinot noir, a lighter red wine. This was about an hour from Valparaiso. We first went to Casas del Bosque. The architecture was spectacular with long green roofed buildings with mostly plate glass fronts that gave you views of the vineyard. They even had lounge chairs at the edge of the vineyard and umbrellas so you could have a glass of wine and relax in the vineyard!

 

They poured Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. We liked the whites especially so bought a couple of bottles. Our guide had said that the second winery would have even better reds so on we drove to Vina Indomita Winery.. This reminded me a little of the Sterling Winery in Napa. It was at the top of a hill and was a very modern 2 storey white building with large arches across the front. You could see the whole valley from up there. Again we had a nice tasting and we bought some Carmenere and Cabernet.

 

Carmenere is Chile’s unique wine and grape. The grape came in with batches of Merlot vines from France long ago. After a number of years, some of the wineries couldn’t figure out why some of their “Merlot” vines didn’t ripen at the same time as the rest of the vineyard. They brought in some French consultants who were totally surprised to find out that what they had was Carmenere which in France had been totally wiped out by the Pholx epidemic years ago. So now Chile has a unique wine to themselves and it’s quite good.

 

After the wineries, some of us wanted a light lunch. Some wanted empenadas, but some wanted salad. The guide said that most empanada places don’t have salad, but she knew a small restaurant in Vina del Mar, the resort section of Valparaiso to which we were going anyway. So everyone could have their fill of whatever they wanted. Maureen and I shared a salad and she had a seafood empanada, and I had an appetizer portion of small shrimps sautéed in garlic, lemon, sun dried tomatoes and a little olive oil. We also tried some of the local beer. So we had an absolutely wonderful day again.

 

Oh, by the way---the good weather god is back--it was 83 degrees!

 

Coquimbo

 

This is a big fishing town (as are most of the Chilean ports). We took a Princess tour called Petroglyphs and Vina Tabali Winery. We drove in a bus out to the Limari Valley. We went to the winery first. The area is mostly arid like parts of California with little rainfall. But they hired some of the Israeli experts for drip irrigation and now grow almonds, olives, and grapes out there. Since this is in the land of ancient Indian tribes there was a conscious effort to integrate the winery into the landscape. The flat land is just sagebrush (except for the grape vineyards), but the Indians lived in the small gulley’s and valleys that had streams and small trees.

 

So they built this winery into a gulley! It has a swooping metal roof that covers the fermenting tanks which are insulated and refrigerated while the alcohol process goes on. The barrel room is set back into the cliff so it’s underground. We had a tour with our guide, and then a tasting of Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere. Unfortunately, we didn’t like the wines here as much as we did the day before. They weren’t bad, but just not as good as the day before. The Sauvignon Blanc was so light that it almost looked like water, and really didn’t have any real taste, good or bad.

 

They later took us to look at the petroglyphs that the ancient tribes had carved into the rocks not far from the winery itself. They were quite interesting. Finally they took us to a restaurant that had a wonderful view of the valley where we had one of their Pisco Sours, beef and rice, and lots of free flowing wine (actually better than the winery we had just visited!)

 

Finally they drove us back to the ship.

 

So the last two days were a lot of fun.

 

Six Degrees of Separation

 

We are 5,000 miles away from home. However, on both legs of this cruise we have met people from home who either know us, or know my family. The first leg of the cruise, my 94 year old mother had told us there was a couple she knew that was going on the cruise. Turns out they worked with my mother’s next door neighbor for 20 years. The next door neighbor is a widow like my mom and they pal around together. This couple had met my mom numerous times as the neighbor would bring her to work and family social gatherings. So we did meet them at the wine bar aboard and they were with us on tour as well as the Chef’s Table dinner I described earlier.

 

The next leg of the cruise has begun. Just before Maureen and I left, we said goodbye to the volunteers who work at our Church’s food bank each week where we also volunteer. One of the volunteers said to Maureen “where are you going?” Maureen explained that we were taking off for Buenos Aires and going on a cruise. Celia then told her that she was going on a cruise from Santiago to Los Angeles but after we left---she’s on this ship now!

 

The world works in strange ways!

 

You won’t hear from me for a while as we have one more day as sea before we go to Lima and up to Maccu Picchu for 3 days off the ship. It’s unclear as to whether we will have Internet access on land.

 

Thanks

Norm

[MicCanberra]

Greetings from the Star. At our roll call this morning, Norm encouraged folks to post on the live from, so I'll write a few lines about our experiences.

 

We boarded at Valparaiso two days ago. We had spent one night in Santiago at the Marriott and then took a tour with 3 others from the CC roll call from Santiago to the ship in Valparaiso. We booked with Leonardo Cuzmar who took care of us last year when we did the same thing enroute to our our around the horn cruise.

 

On the way to the ship we stopped at the Casa del Bosque winery in the beautiful Casablanca Valley. We toured the beautiful winery and then sampled 5 wines. Of course we bought some to enjoy on our balcony. We then went to Con Con and drove up the coast. We stopped at a restaurant that is dirt cheap but had the most wonderful empanadas and seafood. After that Leo took us through Vina del Mar and then finally to Valparaiso. Leo was going to give us a tour there but everyone was anxious to get on the Star so we cut the tour short.

 

Once on board we learned that at least half the ship are cruisers continuing on from Buenos Aires, so it seems like there are a lot of folks who know each other. And the ship is not sailing full, despite that fact that it had been shown as sold out for many months until we got close to the sailing date.

 

Our first stop was Coquimbo which is the gateway to La Serena which is known for its beaches. We chose to do a Princess tour to the Elqui Valley and the Pisco distillery. It was extremely foggy in the morning and we did not have high hopes for the day but after we made our way our of the city, the fog started to lift as we entered the Elqui Valley where it was downright hot.

 

Our guide told us repeatedly that they are in dire straits in terms of drought and it was very sad to see a dam holding back a tiny amount of water. The Elqui valley is pretty much a desert but they grow quite a few varieties of grapes, especially those used for Pisco.

 

We traveled to Vicuna where we toured the Capel distillery where they make the Pisco. A small group of folks from the CC roll call who had independently booked their tour were added to our tour of the distillery because there weren't enough English speaking guides. The distillery was interesting and at the end they gave you a small plastic cup in which there were about 2 sips of either Pisco or Mango sour. They were also selling Pisco and mixes, and several people bought bottles - and there wasn't any problem taking it onboard.

 

The tour then went to the town of Vicuna where we had lunch (actually a feast). We each had a giant empanada then they brought a large steak with plates of tomatoes and other veggies for the table. They gave us all the very potent but tasty Pisco Sours and wine too. Dessert was a papaya. All very yummy.

 

We then drove the hour plus back to La Serena and stopped at the archelogical museum where we saw some interesting artifacts. Then we walked to Recova which has a lot native crafts, and then finally to the beach where we got off to take pictures of the Star in the distance and the 3rd Millenium Cross up above it. We hadn't heard of the cross before but it is quite magnificent and you can pay to go up to the arms where there is quite a view of Coquimbo and La Serena. Wish we knew about it earlier!

 

Everyone on the ship has been wonderful and we are liking that they have the "old new" menus here. On the Diamond they had the new menus without the daily beef Medallions but they are back on the Star menu. Now back to relaxing on the balcony!

Thanks for the review, I look forward to more as you journey up the coast.:D

[OCruisers]

Norm .... Thanks for the update. As mentioned earlier, my friend is on the cruise so following closely. Happy to hear your weather is back to being good! :)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[azbirdmom]

The good weather continued today and the sun actually peeks out from the clouds every so often. Yesterday the clouds were thick but no rain with pleasant temperatures. We will be happy if this continues, although I think we are in for some real heat and humidity in the next couple of days.

 

Today we received a letter from the captain reminding us to be vigilant in Callao / Lima. There has apparently been an uptick in robbings and muggings, so they are just reminding folks not to be mindful and to not wear flashy clothing, jewelry, etc. The letter also indicated that local authorities and Princess will be providing extra security.

 

Joe May also had indicated during his port talk that the thieves are so good in the center of Lima that they can take your socks off without removing your shoes and you won't notice a thing! Probably a bit of an exaggeration but it is a nice reminder that we should stay alert.

[san diego sue]

We did this trip in reverse(Dec-Jan) on the Star.

We also were warned about Lima. Don't think there were any incidents,

but we were careful and wore no jewelry. Actually felt safe walking around, just was aware of our surroundings.

It is so nice reading about your experiences, some the same, some different. Brings our wonderful trip back to us.

Thank you for taking the time to do this live.

[MicCanberra]

Ok, it’s a sea day and time for catch-up. We’ve visited two ports since the last cruise: Valparaiso (Santiago), and Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile.

 

Valparaiso

 

This port was the “turnaround” day for the ship as the passengers that booked only the 13 day segment got off, and 1200 new passengers got on. When we worked on tours for this one, Princess didn’t offer any winery tours for continuing passengers, only for disembarking passengers as they left the ship on the way to Santiago (2 hours form the port) to the airport and their homes.

 

Sharon, another CruiseCritic member and I worked on tours for here. We could see that if we wanted to do much of anything, Santiago would have to be eliminated because of the 4 hour round-trip. So we found a tour company (South Tours) that we kind of customized what they did. After reading about Valparaiso, we wanted to explore this unique place as well as go out to the wine country possibly for two wineries. They were able to accommodate us and so 11 of us were on the van. We had “Dixie” as our guide and she was great.

 

We drove around some of the hills of Valparaiso which are something similar to San Francisco. Instead of cable cars, they have “funiculars” which climb steeply up the hills. We had asked for a ride on one of these as it wasn’t on the standard tour. So we drove around the city first seeing the central square and some of the views from up in the hills. Then we took one of the funiculars up the hill even higher and saw some of the old Victorian homes which are painted in very bright colors (yellow, turquoise, orange etc).

 

We then drove out to the Casablanca valley which is one of the two best wine growing areas (Maipo Valley being the other). Casablanca specializes in white wine and pinot noir, a lighter red wine. This was about an hour from Valparaiso. We first went to Casas del Bosque. The architecture was spectacular with long green roofed buildings with mostly plate glass fronts that gave you views of the vineyard. They even had lounge chairs at the edge of the vineyard and umbrellas so you could have a glass of wine and relax in the vineyard!

 

They poured Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. We liked the whites especially so bought a couple of bottles. Our guide had said that the second winery would have even better reds so on we drove to Vina Indomita Winery.. This reminded me a little of the Sterling Winery in Napa. It was at the top of a hill and was a very modern 2 storey white building with large arches across the front. You could see the whole valley from up there. Again we had a nice tasting and we bought some Carmenere and Cabernet.

 

Carmenere is Chile’s unique wine and grape. The grape came in with batches of Merlot vines from France long ago. After a number of years, some of the wineries couldn’t figure out why some of their “Merlot” vines didn’t ripen at the same time as the rest of the vineyard. They brought in some French consultants who were totally surprised to find out that what they had was Carmenere which in France had been totally wiped out by the Pholx epidemic years ago. So now Chile has a unique wine to themselves and it’s quite good.

 

After the wineries, some of us wanted a light lunch. Some wanted empenadas, but some wanted salad. The guide said that most empanada places don’t have salad, but she knew a small restaurant in Vina del Mar, the resort section of Valparaiso to which we were going anyway. So everyone could have their fill of whatever they wanted. Maureen and I shared a salad and she had a seafood empanada, and I had an appetizer portion of small shrimps sautéed in garlic, lemon, sun dried tomatoes and a little olive oil. We also tried some of the local beer. So we had an absolutely wonderful day again.

 

Oh, by the way---the good weather god is back--it was 83 degrees!

 

Coquimbo

 

This is a big fishing town (as are most of the Chilean ports). We took a Princess tour called Petroglyphs and Vina Tabali Winery. We drove in a bus out to the Limari Valley. We went to the winery first. The area is mostly arid like parts of California with little rainfall. But they hired some of the Israeli experts for drip irrigation and now grow almonds, olives, and grapes out there. Since this is in the land of ancient Indian tribes there was a conscious effort to integrate the winery into the landscape. The flat land is just sagebrush (except for the grape vineyards), but the Indians lived in the small gulley’s and valleys that had streams and small trees.

 

So they built this winery into a gulley! It has a swooping metal roof that covers the fermenting tanks which are insulated and refrigerated while the alcohol process goes on. The barrel room is set back into the cliff so it’s underground. We had a tour with our guide, and then a tasting of Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere. Unfortunately, we didn’t like the wines here as much as we did the day before. They weren’t bad, but just not as good as the day before. The Sauvignon Blanc was so light that it almost looked like water, and really didn’t have any real taste, good or bad.

 

They later took us to look at the petroglyphs that the ancient tribes had carved into the rocks not far from the winery itself. They were quite interesting. Finally they took us to a restaurant that had a wonderful view of the valley where we had one of their Pisco Sours, beef and rice, and lots of free flowing wine (actually better than the winery we had just visited!)

 

Finally they drove us back to the ship.

 

So the last two days were a lot of fun.

 

Six Degrees of Separation

 

We are 5,000 miles away from home. However, on both legs of this cruise we have met people from home who either know us, or know my family. The first leg of the cruise, my 94 year old mother had told us there was a couple she knew that was going on the cruise. Turns out they worked with my mother’s next door neighbor for 20 years. The next door neighbor is a widow like my mom and they pal around together. This couple had met my mom numerous times as the neighbor would bring her to work and family social gatherings. So we did meet them at the wine bar aboard and they were with us on tour as well as the Chef’s Table dinner I described earlier.

 

The next leg of the cruise has begun. Just before Maureen and I left, we said goodbye to the volunteers who work at our Church’s food bank each week where we also volunteer. One of the volunteers said to Maureen “where are you going?” Maureen explained that we were taking off for Buenos Aires and going on a cruise. Celia then told her that she was going on a cruise from Santiago to Los Angeles but after we left---she’s on this ship now!

 

The world works in strange ways!

 

You won’t hear from me for a while as we have one more day as sea before we go to Lima and up to Maccu Picchu for 3 days off the ship. It’s unclear as to whether we will have Internet access on land.

 

Thanks

Norm

Thanks Norm, it is wonderful how you meet people (you know or know of) in the strangest places. Keep the reviews coming and enjoy your cruise.:D

[MicCanberra]

The good weather continued today and the sun actually peeks out from the clouds every so often. Yesterday the clouds were thick but no rain with pleasant temperatures. We will be happy if this continues, although I think we are in for some real heat and humidity in the next couple of days.

 

Today we received a letter from the captain reminding us to be vigilant in Callao / Lima. There has apparently been an uptick in robbings and muggings, so they are just reminding folks not to be mindful and to not wear flashy clothing, jewelry, etc. The letter also indicated that local authorities and Princess will be providing extra security.

 

Joe May also had indicated during his port talk that the thieves are so good in the center of Lima that they can take your socks off without removing your shoes and you won't notice a thing! Probably a bit of an exaggeration but it is a nice reminder that we should stay alert.

Be aware of all around you, only take what you are willing to lose off the ship and do not resist if you are mugged, it will only make it worse. Good luck.:D

[OCruisers]

Today we received a letter from the captain reminding us to be vigilant in Callao / Lima. There has apparently been an uptick in robbings and muggings, so they are just reminding folks not to be mindful and to not wear flashy clothing, jewelry, etc. The letter also indicated that local authorities and Princess will be providing extra security.

 

Joe May also had indicated during his port talk that the thieves are so good in the center of Lima that they can take your socks off without removing your shoes and you won't notice a thing! Probably a bit of an exaggeration but it is a nice reminder that we should stay alert.

 

You and Norm please do let us know how things went in Lima and if you or others had safety problems -- anyone robbed, mugged, etc. ?

 

LuLu

~~~~

[azbirdmom]

We arrived in Callao about 2 hours ahead of schedule but the tours are still going on time. The weather is warm and the morning fog is still burning off but it will be a sunny day.

 

For those of you interested in such stats, there are 553 first time Princess passengers on board, with 620 Gold, 837 Platinum, and 458 Elite.

 

Will write more about our adventures later!

[MicCanberra]

We arrived in Callao about 2 hours ahead of schedule but the tours are still going on time. The weather is warm and the morning fog is still burning off but it will be a sunny day.

 

For those of you interested in such stats, there are 553 first time Princess passengers on board, with 620 Gold, 837 Platinum, and 458 Elite.

 

Will write more about our adventures later!

Have a good day and stay safe.:D

[caribill]

For those of you interested in such stats, there are 553 first time Princess passengers on board, with 620 Gold, 837 Platinum, and 458 Elite.

 

 

With 1285 platinum and elite aboard, skip the platinum-elite-suite lounge on disembarkation day. There will not be room for more than one third of those who qualify. Better to just go to the disembarkation lounge assigned to your tag color.

[azbirdmom]

We are leaving Lima after two half-days in the port of Callao. The weather has been warm and the sky hazy. Yesterday we were told that it was due to mist from the sea but today our guide owned up to the fact that it is pollution thanks to way too many cars. Oh and talk of heightened risk of muggings and robbery was greatly exaggerated, thankfully. We felt safe everywhere and have not heard of a single incident.

Yesterday we took the “Lima on Your Own Tour” through Princess which drops you off at the Marriott in Miraflores. We met some friends who are down here for the winter and wandered through the parks that line the top of the cliffs. There is a shopping center built into the sides of the cliff too, but we resisted the urge to shop and enjoyed the views that would have undoubtedly been spectacular without the smog / haze. Miraflores is one of the best neighborhoods and it is very safe to walk around. The downtown is quite interesting too.

After our visit with friends, we took the Princess bus back to the ship and wandered around the “Peruvian Market” which is set up right by the ship. The prices weren’t bad at all. Folks kept saying “wait for the Indian Market”, but if you’re paying $2 USD for a carved leather bookmarker, how overpriced can it be?

After a wee bit of shopping, we got cleaned up for dinner and the dining room was a ghost town as folks were either off on late tours in Lima or enroute to Machu Picchu. Despite the meager attendance, we managed to join a couple from London and a gentleman from San Francisco for a lovely dinner. The wait staff was downright giddy since they weren’t running like crazy for a change. In fact, several sang at times and one of the waiters played an ice bucket stand like a trombone and got a standing ovation. It was all so festive and relaxed.

Princess brought on a Folklorico group called “Magic Peru” and they put on quite a nice show of the native music and dances. The acrobats doing the Caesar dance were particularly memorable, and we were glad we kept our eyes open for this show which lasted an hour, a marked contrast to the 30 minute shows that Princess has been putting on.

This morning we did the Princess “City Drive and Indian Market” tour. We drove through some not so nice areas, but amazingly the streets and sidewalks were litter free. Although it was clear that many of these areas are poverty stricken, the residents still had pride in their city.

We learned that Lima is made up of 43 neighborhoods, each with their own mayor, taxes, and government. Callao has another 7 neighborhoods, so you have 8 – 10 million people (depending upon which guide you believe) in a fairly small, congested area.

We went to Plaza Mayor first which was one of the places the captain warned us about. There was obvious police presence and we felt very safe as we took pictures of the cathedral and the Presidential Palace. The churches in particular are very ornate here, but I guess that holds true for many parts of the world.

We drove through the congested streets, and all of us were thankful that we had a skilled bus driver. You need nerves of steel to get behind the wheel here. Many intersections don’t even have traffic signals or stop signs and with narrow roads, it gets really interesting.

We traveled through the streets of Lima and the bus driver would occasionally pause for us to shoot pictures. Then we got to Miraflores for a stop at Parque del Amor that has the famous statue of a couple kissing. Several tried to imitate the pose while others wandered while oohing and ahhing over the mosaic walls and the ocean way below.

We got back on the bus for the final stop which was the Indian Market. It is several blocks of stalls and shops with vendors selling all sorts of Peruvian trinkets such as blankets, scarves, sweaters, gold and silver jewelry, and all sorts of artwork. The prices were great and we did manage to pick up a few items in the short 50 minutes that we were there.

At the end there were probably 8 busses worth of people congregating and trying to find their bus. While we were waiting, we ran into a couple from our roll call who raved about the Culinary Tour from the day before. We made a mental note to do that when we return!

We were all safely picked up although we got back to the ship about 45 minutes later than planned, and folks raced over quickly to the Peruvian Market to spend the rest of their Nuevo Sol’s (or American dollars) in the 15 minutes before we were due back on board.

Despite the rotten traffic, everyone managed to make it back to the ship and we left on time just after 2 PM. We have another sea day tomorrow before we arrive in Manta. Oh, and those who booked the Quito excursion are disappointed. The airport in Quito in is under renovation and is closed. We’re doing an independent tour near Manta so it wasn’t a big deal for us, but I understand that some are disappointed as this stop was billed as “Manta / Quito”. It could be worse – we could be working and not on a lovely ship!

By the way, the Internet has been quite speedy and reliable compared to the usual Princess standards. I hope I haven’t jinxed it by saying that!

[WarEagle76]

Really enjoying all the reports. Regarding Quito:

 

Oh, and those who booked the Quito excursion are disappointed. The airport in Quito in is under renovation and is closed.

 

Interesting as I was the understanding that Quito opened a new (much needed) airport on February 20th.

[bcnvcanada]

For your information, when you were at the Marriott in Miraflores, you were about 7 blocks from the Indian Markets.

Also 4 block is a great supermarket, with Peru coffee---rare and quite expensive, and also Peruivan choclate. At the Marriott you can take a taxi or walk. At the Indain market they will call you a taxi if you would like. It is safe to walk around these area in the daylight.