Cruising to South America on the Zaandam : A pictorial review

[scubacruiserx2]

I was initially surprised on the price for use of restroom. Could be another currency?

Very nice photo shot selections.

 

$300 Chilean Pesos = $ . 45 US . ;)

[Btimmer]

Dang it. Now I want to go back and repeat last year's 21 day visit to Australia on the Zaandam. Hmmm...

[Florida_gal_50]

I'm enjoying your review very much. Thank you for taking the time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love your review with wonderful pictures.

[cbr663]

I have noticed that the On Locations have a date of Dec 1, 2013 and Dec 2, 2013. Should I conclude that this wasn't a recent cruise?

[RuthC]

I have noticed that the On Locations have a date of Dec 1, 2013 and Dec 2, 2013. Should I conclude that this wasn't a recent cruise?

I would, as the photos are also dated 2013, and the ship has been in Alaska since last spring.

[scubacruiserx2]

Dang it. Now I want to go back and repeat last year's 21 day visit to Australia on the Zaandam. Hmmm...

 

We've been twice and we hope to go again !

[scubacruiserx2]

I'm enjoying your review very much. Thank you for taking the time.

 

You're welcome , we're happy that you are enjoying it . :) :D

[scubacruiserx2]

Love your review with wonderful pictures.

 

Thank you and they get better ! Practice makes perfect . ;)

[scubacruiserx2]

I have noticed that the On Locations have a date of Dec 1, 2013 and Dec 2, 2013. Should I conclude that this wasn't a recent cruise?

 

 

I would, as the photos are also dated 2013, and the ship has been in Alaska since last spring.

 

 

Anybody who has read any of our travelogue threads know that they move at the speed of molasses , on a winter day . But my hunt and peck style works great at dial up speed !

In fact , I'm still writing about our Baltic Cruise from June on the Celebrity Eclipse !!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2372103 :) :D

[scubacruiserx2]

With the arrival of the cruise tours , we decided to walk downstream.

 

 

 

The water has a unique crème de menthe color.

 

 

 

 

We found a nice place to sit - next to the raging rapids !

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop: The top of the volcano :) :D

 

[TiogaCruiser]

Anybody who has read any of our travelogue threads know that they move at the speed of molasses , on a winter day . But my hunt and peck style works great at dial up speed !

In fact , I'm still writing about our Baltic Cruise from June on the Celebrity Eclipse !!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2372103 :) :D

 

Thanks for sharing. I'm booked for the reverse of this in 2017. We missed P. Montt, Falklands, and Ush when we did Antarctica. So it's the cruise of unfinished business for me. I really want to see Petrohue. Can I ask who the tour operator was?

 

And I still have a ton of video to be processed from our last Alaska trip - in 2010! We were new with video and took looooooong scenes.:eek: we've since learned and reformed our ways, but that still leaves me with a huge task of "chunking down" into small VALUABLE clips before they can be assembled. (Did I mention that was a 14 day trip?)

(I guess the upside is once I get done, the entertainment value of that trip will be incredible if one calculates it as: cost of trip in dollars/ number of hours on trip + number of hours in video post production.);)

Edited September 26, 2016 by TiogaCruiser

[scubacruiserx2]

Thanks for sharing. I'm booked for the reverse of this in 2017. We missed P. Montt, Falklands, and Ush when we did Antarctica. So it's the cruise of unfinished business for me. I really want to see Petrohue. Can I ask who the tour operator was?

 

And I still have a ton of video to be processed from our last Alaska trip - in 2010! We were new with video and took looooooong scenes.:eek: we've since learned and reformed our ways, but that still leaves me with a huge task of "chunking down" into small VALUABLE clips before they can be assembled. (Did I mention that was a 14 day trip?)

(I guess the upside is once I get done, the entertainment value of that trip will be incredible if one calculates it as: cost of trip in dollars/ number of hours on trip + number of hours in video post production.);)

 

 

We are sorry to hear that you missed some ports . The weather is very changeable sometimes and we were very blessed with ours .

We used Turismo Nuevo Mundo for Puerto Montt last time .

I also tend to take long videos and don't know how to edit , and so I now limit the clips unless it's a song or something similar . :) :D

[scubacruiserx2]

The volcano is a perfectly shaped cone and dominates the landscape. Visible from the ship in port , it acts as a magnet drawing and locking the visitor's gaze. We had hoped to see the summit which is almost always obscured by clouds and had eluded us thus far. I happened to glance up for a second and there it was !

 

 

We began the long assent and about half way up we noticed something in the road . The mist was rising up from the road and getting thicker by the second. We were enveloped by a cloud with wind and rain. " It will be cold and windy" our guide informed us , we took that for a sign that we were close . Back and forth , left and right our driver seemed to know every twist and turn. Good thing for us because we were blind. After what seemed like an eternity we heard " we are here". Opening the sliding door she announced " its snowing ". We were like a couple of kids again stopping at the snowman before entering the lodge .

 

 

 

 

 

The hot chocolate ( and warm interior ) was wonderful .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ski lift wasn't working but I lifted this picture from the internet

 

 

 

http://www.snow-forecast.com/pistemaps/VolcanOsorno_pistemap.jpg

 

 

 

 

We were informed that lunch was waiting and we were off again ! After we cleared the cloud we made a brief stop at an outlook.

 

 

 

Loved the wildflowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The road down

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Your pictures are wonderful.

I feel like I am there with you.

[scubacruiserx2]

Your pictures are wonderful.

I feel like I am there with you.

 

Thanks , that's the right idea !! ;)

[scubacruiserx2]

Our lunch was in The Latitude 42 Restaurant at The Yan Kee Way Lodge. We first tried this place in 2007 and loved it. We didn't realize that the price of the lunch had been included with our tour so it was a pleasant surprise when we found out. The lodge has an interesting , eclectic décor.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately , the carved tree had seen 7 winters since our last visit and some of the beautiful images had lost their original splendor.

 

 

 

 

Here is the story of the carved tree

 

http://www.southernchilexp.com/_CHILE_Hotel_and_Lodging/YAN_KEE_WAY_LODGE/Yan_Kee_Way_Spa/Sculptured_Tree/sculptured_tree.html

 

 

 

The restaurant sits on the lake

 

 

 

 

The view of the lake and the volcano was the same (but my wife's hair color had changed from dark - to snow white ! ).

 

 

 

 

 

And the food ! - first was a local seafood and chorizo soup. Delicious and HUGE. We asked the guide and driver why they were not eating and they said that they could never finish it all. They also informed us that time was becoming an issue.

 

 

 

 

Taking a cue , we moved on to the main. All of the ingredients are caught or grown locally , and they taste that way . Next up was Salmon with berries and

they were as good as any I ever have eaten before !

 

 

 

 

 

For wine I chose a tinto (red) of their choice. It was perfect but we were told by the guide that we had to go. We had finished our main but the chef was concerned that we would miss dessert so he came to our table to talk to us and show us a picture of the dessert on his smart phone. We thanked him for a great meal , and requested a box to go ( being good Americans ). It seemed like a shame to put his work into a box but we enjoyed a special taste of Chile on the ship.

 

 

Next: The perfect storm

[scubacruiserx2]

We had to cut lunch short to make it back to the ship for the last tender at 4 pm. If I had one gripe - it would be time compression. The scheduled time in Puerto Montt was 8am - 5pm. With last tender time @ 4 pm and a tender ride from ship to shore , the time ashore is diminished considerably. Anyway , while ashore I tried to make an ATM withdrawal and noticed that my card was missing. We had left some jewelry , money, ATM and charge cards in the safe. Upon our return a through search revealed a missing ATM card. I had last used it in the Santiago airport 60 hours earlier . We went to the ship's desk to explain and request a phone call to our bank. They seated us at a desk informing us that there was only 1 phone line available and to try it periodically. It took more than 30 minutes for the line to open and during that time we noted another passenger on the phone at the desk . We surmised that she had been using the line and as soon as she hung up we had an open line. 50 minutes later we had our answer and had answered many questions . A thief had a shopping spree and had withdrawn / charged $ 6500 in one day ! :mad: :mad:

 

 

I'm usually very careful and don't usually check my balances online while traveling. Since we had nothing to lose from our bank account we went online to document our losses . Seeing the other couple at the internet café , we shared our tales of woe . When they were having lunch in Puerto Montt she had left her handbag hanging on the back of her chair to use the restroom. A thief grabbed and dashed - leaving her husband in the dust. My mistake was impatiently getting money at an ATM while my wife went to the ladies room. I usually like to have both of us work together when getting money. Lack of sleep didn't help . I thought that I had secured my card , but I was wrong. Being at sea for a couple of days meant that I didn't notice it right away . There was nothing that we could do at this point so we vowed to have the best time that we could under the circumstances. We hoped ( and prayed ) that the bank could recover our money and trusted them to take care of it. Several long days latter , they did and credited

our money back to our account. We would like to thank Holland America for their help and for not charging us for the long distance phone call. I must say that Holland America has become our favorite cruise line and we have been on quite a few cruises . Please be very careful when traveling. Work together while paying or withdrawing money. Check your accounts . We were concerned that our banking information could be stolen online but as this point I feel better checking it frequently while at sea .

 

 

 

Next port: Isla Chiloe

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful pictures.

So Sorry that your ATM card was stolen.

[scubacruiserx2]

Wonderful pictures.

So Sorry that your ATM card was stolen.

 

Thanks , and please be careful with you card while traveling because - it can happen to You !!! :eek:

[Krazy Kruizers]

I know -- we all try to take precautions no matter whether we are at home or away.

[scubacruiserx2]

We had found a tour on the internet for Chiloe and knew that we would be sharing the tour with others. We were up early to catch the first tender and while we waited , we talked with Daniel and Sarah. As it turns out they were booked on the same Holland America tour that we were on in Punta Arenas - Torres del Paine. As we chatted , we soon found out that we had a lot in common. They had not booked anything for the day so we suggested that they check with our guide to see if there was additional seats available. There were so we slid in the mini bus to wait for the others. Soon we were off and running.

 

 

 

 

With the tide out it was obvious why we had to use tenders.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the ramp that you will walk up. The picture quality is low because of the overcast conditions and the pocket camera that I used to take these.

 

 

 

 

 

As we left Castro , we could see that the land was lush and green and hilly and reminded of Sao Miguel in the Azores . At our first stop I observed the kind of scale shake siding that we had seen in Norway when we visited in September.

 

 

 

 

 

It could also be seen in this church that we walked past.

 

 

 

 

 

As we settled in for a long ride to the Parque Nacional Chiloe , our guide begin to share some information about Isla Chiloe.

[scubacruiserx2]

Rather than bore the reader with the details we will move on to the visuals. If you care to read about Chiloe , a good link is found here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilo%C3%A9_Archipelago

 

We would be walking the Sendero El Tepua trail through the lowland rain forest.

 

 

 

 

While unimpressive in a close-up the Chilean Firebush put on an impressive show roadside while we were riding to the park.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a walk across the flatlands to reach the forest.

 

 

 

 

It looks a little like The Beatles Abbey Road album cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the walk through the forest has a walk way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To me , the forest seems more like a jungle ( and I know jungles because we live in one ) . Complete with ferns

 

 

 

 

and birds

 

 

[easyboy]

Very nice photos!

[scubacruiserx2]

Very nice photos!

 

Thank you and stay tuned in because they get much better in Patagonia . :) :D