Valparaiso to Buenos Aires - semi live 1/17-31

[satxdiver]

Day 1

We arrived at the cruise terminal just after 11 AM. We were among the first to arrive and had to wait inside the terminal for the desk to open. There were not many pax there at the time. After finally finishing the processing, we were headed for the end of the terminal to board the bus to the ship as the ship was located over a mile away. There were a lot of small stands set up by different locals selling goods. Several were selling Chilean wine and one was selling hard liquor. We were told that whatever we bought we could take to our cabin so bought a 750 ml bottle of gin. We already had with us 8 bottles of wine we had bought at a grocery very near our hotel the day before. After some delay while they opened the security area, we went through the usual scanners without any problem and no alcohol table. We boarded the waiting bus and was the first bus to depart for the ship. Upon boarding the ship much like you do when returning to the ship at a port of call, we had to go through security but again no alcohol table so we took our stash to our cabin. We were standing on our balcony by 12:30. Lunch was served in the MDR on deck 6 per usual. It was the strangest processing we had ever done.

 

The mandatory safety briefing finally took place at 5:30. It was scheduled for 5:15 with sail away at 5:30. The briefing took longer than normal since the instructions had to be given in English and Spanish. We were back in our cabin by 6 PM and sail away happened shortly after. We have ATD so we decided to wait until 8 PM to go to the MDR after the crowds. The MDR was very busy when we arrived and had to wait behind several other couples. We were seated with 2 UK couples.

 

After dinner we stopped by the Promenade Lounge to listen to the pianist, Lyn Lawrence. She was good so it is going to be a great cruise. The lounge was full with standing room only. I left there to catch the end of happy hour (10 – 11 PM) in Skywalkers. At first it was not busy but pax started arriving and it soon was very busy with dancing and socializing. I think this group likes to eat late and party into the night. DJ Pedro was playing music from the late 70’s.

 

The CD is Marahscalh Stanton. The captain is Nicolo Bommarco. MUTS had The LEGO Movie but it was cold on the lido. The usual Welcome Aboard Show was at 8 and 10. Explorers lounge had Leal playing and Wheelhouse Bar had Orphea. I have not heard either band but intend to do so.

 

Checkin went fairly quickly and I was surprised about being allowed to bring our wine onboard without the now usual corking charge and to bring the bottle of gin as well. Food was the usual quality. Our cabin attendant, Ferdinand, is very friendly. Outside temperature is a little colder than expected so I doubt we will be spending much time on the balcony. We spent sailaway on the balcony with our mandatory glass of Chilean wine and it was around 70F. We did find out tonight that the ship had been hit by lightning and the WiFi had been out for 6 days on the last cruise. More to come.

[AE_Collector]

Alright! We just followed "Sox Fan Cruiser" from Rio to Valparaiso and now you are taking us back around the horn to Buenos Aires. Perfect preparation for those of us boarding Ruby in 13 days at FLL heading for LAX "the long way"!

 

Looking forward to your reports and enjoy your cruise in Golden Princess!

 

Sox Fan Cruiser's "Live":

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2145336

 

Terry

Edited January 18, 2015 by AE_Collector

[flamomo]

I'm boarding in FLL too, and would be interested to hear whether pax who purchase wine in the ports are allowed to have it to take to their cabins, and if so, whether they are charged the corkage fee.

 

I know the rigidity of enforcement varies from ship to ship, but it would be nice if they would be lenient, since So America produces a lot of nice wines.

[bonship]

Can't wait to hear more about your cruise. We board when you get off in BA on the 31st. Hope they are as "nice" to us about the wine as they were to you in Santiago. So much good wine in Argentina!

[Cruisingisthebestfun]

The CD is Marahscalh Stanton? I thought Sammie Baker is CD on Golden P.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for posting your live from thread. I am looking forward to following along. Enjoy your cruise.

[satxdiver]

Day 2

Today is formal night. Tonight the entertainment is a comedian (best in Canada) at 8:00 and 10:15 in the Vista Lounge. The production British Invasion is at 8:15 and 10:15 in the theater. MUTS is showing the NFL playoff Colts vs Patriots. Earlier the Seahawks and Packers game was shown in the Explorers Lounge. They were selling buckets of beer but no other special items including food.

 

We attended the port talk covering the first two ports by Julio Delgado which was very informative. Don’t miss it. It was later telecast on the TV. We had our meet and greet in Skywalkers without any ship personnel present but thanks to one of our fellow cruisers for scheduling it. There actually were pax in the enclosed pool today. We have seen maybe 10 children on the ship so far but appears to be quite minimal. There are a number of Germans, English and Asians aboard as well as South Americans. There were two talks given today, one in Spanish and one in Portuguese (Brazil). The majority rules game show was tonight. They had disco fever in Skywalkers.

 

We had our usual room service breakfast in the stateroom this morning and they delivered it 10 minutes early. Lunch was in the HC and was good per usual but nothing outstanding. Dinner was in the HC due to the evening schedule with no time for the MDR. Temperatures today was 60’s during the day with a lot of wind (30 knots!) and we woke up to fog. The ship whistle was going off on a regular basis due to the fog. The seas were rough so my partner had to use her Dramamine. The ship was rocking most of the day due to the high (7 foot) waves.

 

We went to see the British Invasion which we had seen on our last cruise in November. It was good as we remembered. Afterwards we listened to the piano player who is from London we learned and then went to hear the comedian. He is a Canadian from Toronto and was really funny. If you get a chance don’t miss his act.

 

Tomorrow is our first port of call, Puerrto Montt which is a tender port.

 

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was when we checked in and got our seapass, they kept our passports, Chile entry document and copy of the Argentina entry fee. The Argentina entry fee had to be paid in advance and you must show it when entering the country. We were given receipts for our passports. More to follow.

[satxdiver]

The CD is Marahscalh Stanton? I thought Sammie Baker is CD on Golden P.

 

The current CD is Marahscalh.

[Cruisingisthebestfun]

The current CD is Marahscalh.

 

 

Thank you.

Looking forward to your more live reports and enjoy your cruise.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thanks for taking the time to do the Live From. I'm looking forward to reading your reports......:):):)

 

Bob

Edited January 19, 2015 by Woobstr112G

[DistinguishedCruiser]

Looking forward to checking this page daily. We will be aboard the Ruby FLL to LA in a couple weeks.

 

Thanks again,

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

After just getting off the Golden, I'm excited to follow the ship back the other way!!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

The current CD is Marahscalh.

 

Yeah, I should have mentioned that my cruise was the last one for Sammi. Her husband was onboard with us and they both got off when we did.

 

Her husband is a really good piano player and sat in with Orphea a couple of nights in the Wheelhouse. Orphea does tend to play a lot of the same stuff each night but if you have spanish dancers onboard (passengers), it's great to see them strut their stuff.

[shredie]

Yeah, I should have mentioned that my cruise was the last one for Sammi. Her husband was onboard with us and they both got off when we did.

 

Her husband is a really good piano player and sat in with Orphea a couple of nights in the Wheelhouse. Orphea does tend to play a lot of the same stuff each night but if you have spanish dancers onboard (passengers), it's great to see them strut their stuff.

 

Sammi was great! There was some kind of entertainment happening in nearly every venue every night. So much to choose from. I especially liked that they made such good us of the Vista rather than let it sit empty half the time. Lots of mini shows in the Piazza. Sammi was the best CD I've ever had.

[satxdiver]

Sunrise: 6:40 AM Sunset 9:23 PM

Today we are at Puerto Montt. The port was founded by the Germans in the 1850’s when Chile had invited them to colonize the area. This is the lake area of Chile and the source of a lot of Chile beer started by the Germans of course.

 

The ship arrived at 7 AM and began tendering to shore at 7:30. We had chosen to take a private tour with some of our CC shipmates. We met and went to the MDR on the Piaza deck to get our tender tickets. We were ashore by 7:45. We had been given Chilean forms to complete the night before for the Chilean authorities. We have to carry them with us for all three of the Chile ports of call. The ship still has our passports and other documents so I suppose this document is a replacement. We had to swear that we were not bringing any food onshore, non-personal items or large amount of cash ($10,000). We were told it is a hefty fine if you get caught with any food. Since we were to leave early we had breakfast in the HC. We arrived at the HC at 6:15 and were greeted with huge lines out the door to the pool area and another line out the door near the elevators. They only had one side open. They opened the other side at 6:40 and it helped a little. We managed to get our food by 6:45. Advice is to go early before the HC opens and wait.

 

We had an excellent tour arranged by one of our fellow CC cruisers. We hit all the high points mentioned on the ship tour description. There was 6 of us in a small van. When we arrived in the terminal the tour person was there waiting with a sign. After a quick trip to the small van, we were off on our adventure. They got us back to the tender by 3:25. The last tender was scheduled to leave the pier at 4:15. So we were back in plenty of time and were back on board by 4:00. When I went through the terminal before boarding the tender, there were small booths selling wine. I did not see anyone taking advantage but did notice after going through the ship onboard security, there was no liquor table set up.

 

The day had started out colder with a mist falling and complete cloud cover. By lunch the clouds had left so we had a clear blue sky and the temperature had risen into the 70’s. When we returned to the ship we were able to have our wine on the balcony while waiting for sail away. Sail away was supposed to happen at 5 PM but at 5 PM three of the tenders had not been loaded on our side yet. We actually sailed away at about 6 PM.

 

We hit the HC again tonight since we did not want to get dressed for the MDR. One thing I have noted on this cruise is that pax eat late which may be due to the number of South Americans onboard along with other nationalities. I had stopped by the Explorer’s Lounge late last night to check out the band Leal and they were really good. They were playing tunes from the 50’s and 60’s. At 9:15 they had the Rock ‘n’ Roll Night in the Explorer’s Lounge.

 

MUTS tonight had Gravity. DJ Pedro in the Skywalkers was playing Latin Fiesta tunes. In the Vista Lounge they showed the movie The November Man and then later the Brazilian movie Central Station with English subtitles. Pianist Sebastian Jimenez and Tango Sur have been playing every night in the Piaza. The theater had Musical Showtime with KUBA, a one man show which we did not attend. It was presented at the usual times of 8:15 and 10:15. This was no smoking night in the Casino.

 

One new thing on the ship is the ship website. When I turned on my computer for the first time, I was requested to create a logon for the ship website. This is not the same as the WiFi website. On the ship website I can look at my folio. I can look at the events coming up that day by time and place, look up locations on the ship like the Explorer Lounge with ship map, view the cruise itinerary including interesting facts about that port of call and more. It really is nice to use and I hope they continue improving it.

[AE_Collector]

Yes the Princess@Sea wifi is a step in the right direction. It seems overly complicated with different log-ins for it versus the ships Internet access so hopefuly they can streamline that part soon. It is nice to be able to keep an eye on your ship board account there every few days.

 

Terry

[Woobstr112G]

Sunrise: 6:40 AM Sunset 9:23 PM

Today we are at Puerto Montt. The port was founded by the Germans in the 1850’s when Chile had invited them to colonize the area. This is the lake area of Chile and the source of a lot of Chile beer started by the Germans of course.

 

The ship arrived at 7 AM and began tendering to shore at 7:30. We had chosen to take a private tour with some of our CC shipmates. We met and went to the MDR on the Piaza deck to get our tender tickets. We were ashore by 7:45. We had been given Chilean forms to complete the night before for the Chilean authorities. We have to carry them with us for all three of the Chile ports of call. The ship still has our passports and other documents so I suppose this document is a replacement. We had to swear that we were not bringing any food onshore, non-personal items or large amount of cash ($10,000). We were told it is a hefty fine if you get caught with any food. Since we were to leave early we had breakfast in the HC. We arrived at the HC at 6:15 and were greeted with huge lines out the door to the pool area and another line out the door near the elevators. They only had one side open. They opened the other side at 6:40 and it helped a little. We managed to get our food by 6:45. Advice is to go early before the HC opens and wait.

 

We had an excellent tour arranged by one of our fellow CC cruisers. We hit all the high points mentioned on the ship tour description. There was 6 of us in a small van. When we arrived in the terminal the tour person was there waiting with a sign. After a quick trip to the small van, we were off on our adventure. They got us back to the tender by 3:25. The last tender was scheduled to leave the pier at 4:15. So we were back in plenty of time and were back on board by 4:00. When I went through the terminal before boarding the tender, there were small booths selling wine. I did not see anyone taking advantage but did notice after going through the ship onboard security, there was no liquor table set up.

 

The day had started out colder with a mist falling and complete cloud cover. By lunch the clouds had left so we had a clear blue sky and the temperature had risen into the 70’s. When we returned to the ship we were able to have our wine on the balcony while waiting for sail away. Sail away was supposed to happen at 5 PM but at 5 PM three of the tenders had not been loaded on our side yet. We actually sailed away at about 6 PM.

 

We hit the HC again tonight since we did not want to get dressed for the MDR. One thing I have noted on this cruise is that pax eat late which may be due to the number of South Americans onboard along with other nationalities. I had stopped by the Explorer’s Lounge late last night to check out the band Leal and they were really good. They were playing tunes from the 50’s and 60’s. At 9:15 they had the Rock ‘n’ Roll Night in the Explorer’s Lounge.

 

MUTS tonight had Gravity. DJ Pedro in the Skywalkers was playing Latin Fiesta tunes. In the Vista Lounge they showed the movie The November Man and then later the Brazilian movie Central Station with English subtitles. Pianist Sebastian Jimenez and Tango Sur have been playing every night in the Piaza. The theater had Musical Showtime with KUBA, a one man show which we did not attend. It was presented at the usual times of 8:15 and 10:15. This was no smoking night in the Casino.

 

One new thing on the ship is the ship website. When I turned on my computer for the first time, I was requested to create a logon for the ship website. This is not the same as the WiFi website. On the ship website I can look at my folio. I can look at the events coming up that day by time and place, look up locations on the ship like the Explorer Lounge with ship map, view the cruise itinerary including interesting facts about that port of call and more. It really is nice to use and I hope they continue improving it.

 

Sounds like a great day.....:):):)

 

Bob

[bvm49]

We're enjoying your "live posts" - we also board the Ruby princess on 31st Jan for 49 nights.

[Suzez]

Looking forward to reading more about it...

[satxdiver]

Day 4 Tuesday Puerto Chacabuco

High 74 Low 57 sunrise 6:29 AM sunset 9:34 PM

 

This port is again a tender port. We were scheduled to arrive at 8 AM and begin tender transport at 8:30. We were 30 minutes late arriving and tendering. We had breakfast via room service on the balcony as it was warm today with full sun and blue skies. We chose to do an independent tour with some of our fellow CC pax arranged ahead of time. We were able to get a tender ticket in the MDR with a very short wait before being put on the tender. This port is mostly a viewing nature port as the landscape was beautiful. Don’t miss the waterfalls as well as driving through the national park. The snowcapped mountains and rivers were beautiful. We were told that the week before they had had heavy rains so we were glad the day was so perfect. There were quite a few pax in shorts today onshore.

 

We returned to the ship about 4:45 – last tender was 5:15. We had our usual afternoon wine on our balcony as we watched them load the tenders in preparation to sail. We did manage to grab two pieces of pizza per usual to enjoy with our wine. We do love the Princess pizzeria. When we went to get our pizza, we noticed that there were a lot of pax in both pools and more sitting around the pool in swim attire enjoying the warm weather and sun. The end of a truly wonderful day.

 

There was not a lot going on tonight that we wanted to see. We again chose the HC about 8 PM and once again the HC was very busy and quite full. Pax seem to like to eat later and many choose the HC instead of the MDR. It was casual night in the MDR. After a leisurely dinner we went to the Jeopardized Game Show which showed us how much we did not know. Skywalkers was hosting happy hour from 10 to 11 so we headed up there. The music was billed as 80’s retro but included music from prior decades. As I have seen before the place was hopping with pax with many dancing. Perhaps it is the long daylight that is messing with schedules.

 

Showtime in theater: Hawley Magic

MUTS: Winter’s Tale

Vista Lounge: a night at the movies “Jersey Bo

Cocktail of the day: Ultimate Cooler

 

There was a notice in the patter for those who had not submitted an Argentinian Reciprocity Fee Receipt at embarkation to do so no later than tomorrow. I don’t know what will happen to those who do not comply. Princess still has our passports, reciprocity fee receipt and document we received when we entered Chile.

More to follow

[DistinguishedCruiser]

Thanks again for posting. We are headed that direction and it is all good information. A special thanks for the temperatures at the top - please keep doing that and if you have reports of the wave height on sea days, that would be interesting also.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We didn't get our passports back until a couple of days before the end of the cruise. I think it was the first of the last 3 sea days. We had taken copies of our passport picture page and the Brazil visa just in case we needed them onshore.

[satxdiver]

Day 5 Wednesday At Sea

High 57 Low 52 Sunrise 6:19 AM Sunset 9:42 PM

 

Since it is a day at sea, we rose later and had breakfast in the stateroom delivered by room service. They have been bringing it 10 to 15 minutes before the time we selected so they are very punctual. It was too cold to sit out on the balcony like yesterday. We went to the port lecture again given by Julio Delgado. It was on Punta Arenas and very good as usual. We learned that using the Magellan Strait saves 300 miles going around the horn. Tomorrow he is going to make a presentation on Ushaia, Argentina. We followed that with another lecture on Cruiseships Through the Ages which was good but Luis Correia’s Portuguese accent was difficult to understand. Today was the pub lunch which we chose to skip. We generally skip them these days. There are many nationalities on board. We shared a table with a couple from Sweden and they said there were other Swedes aboard. Since it is summer vacation here, we have a lot of Spanish speaking people aboard. With clear blue sky but colder temperatures and wind, there were many out sunbathing on the lido deck both in the solarium and outside in the MUTS area. There were pax in both the lido pools with more in the solarium than outside. Sitting outside in the sun with a sweatsuit on and out of the wind was comfortable.

 

Afternoon happy hour was poorly attended. We once again went to Trivia this afternoon and found out how much we do not know. Again due to the evening entertainment schedule we had dinner early in the HC which again was crowded. It was German night. I had decided to try BBQ at the Trident Grill. They offered Texas BBQ Brisket which I decided to try. In a word, don’t try it! The meat was inedible in that I was not able to chew it. It was like eating leather. I know Texas BBQ brisket and I have never seen anything that looked like this much like taste like it. The pax in front of me in line ordered the “large” wings. I have never seen wings that small. Princess has a way to go before they have real BBQ.

 

In the evening we went to see the comedian Scott Harris in the Vista Lounge (7:00 & 8:30 PM) who did comedy based on intergenerational issues. Harris who said he was 60 based his monologue on the baby boomers vs the young. He had us laughing. Greg Schlotthauer in the theater (8:15 and 10:15 PM) whose show was titled “Piano Man.Classics of the 70’s”. He started with Elton John and ended with Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody. If you like piano music and get a chance to see him go. After a stop off in the HC for dessert – black forest cake – we went to Skywalkers for happy hour. I have never seen that many pax in Skywalkers after 10 PM. It was SRO. This crowd likes to party into the night.

 

Tomorrow we will be sailing past the Amalia Glacier starting at 7:00 AM.

 

Activities:

Afternoon movie in theater – Winter’s Tale

Morning MUTS – On The Town

Afternoon MUTS – Diamonds are Forever

Evening MUTS – If I Stay

Happy Hours – 3 to 4 PM in Wheelhouse Bar and 10 to 11 PM in Skywalkers

Maitre ‘d Wine Club – 3 PM Bernini MDR - $25

Crab Shack - HC

Liars’ Club – 9:15 PM Explorer’s

Skywalkers – DJ Pedro playing 50’s and 60’s

 

Ship’s time is the same as Chilean and Argentinian time which is -3 hours GMT/UTC. The time is +2 hours EST. When it is noon here, it is 10:00 AM on the US east coast.

More to follow.

[satxdiver]

Thanks again for posting. We are headed that direction and it is all good information. A special thanks for the temperatures at the top - please keep doing that and if you have reports of the wave height on sea days, that would be interesting also.

 

Today was sea at 1.5 to 4 feet. So very smooth sailing today for the most part.

[Astro Flyer]

We felt the same way about the nightly "BBQ" & when I saw it being prepared on the Royal they boiled the brisket & ribs, added a dry rub & put it in a broiler. :eek:

Edited January 22, 2015 by Astro Flyer