South American Cruise Valpariso

[roberts2005]

Celebrity's website shows the Millenium leaving at 9:00 PM from Valpariso. Does that mean the first night's dinner is open seating?

 

Also, any one have an idea how early you can board? I'm thinking of trying to board early and go back ashore to see Valpariso?

[MLinFL]

We will be on the Millennium - Valparaiso to Buenos Aires on 2/5/06. Which sailing are you taking?

 

Although I don't really know what time you can board, it usually is a bit earlier than they advertise. We will try to get aboard around noon. We are arriving in Santiago 2 days prior to the cruise to do some touring, so by Sunday, we will be most eager to get aboard! :)

 

You might try posting your question on the South America Ports of Call board.

 

Mary Lou

[roberts2005]

Any prior South America cruisers. How early did you board?

[Petert]

Hi Robert,

 

It's been a couple of years since we boarded th MS Ryndam in Valparaiso, however the boarding process is mainly in the hands of the customs and immigration service. We made the trip from Santiago on our own and arrived at the docks about noon. There were no long embarkation lines, and we were aboard within a half hour or so. The taxi ride from valparaiso was about a dollar US, and was just about a ten minute ride if I recall correctly. You should have no problem spending some time in town, and there are some intersting things to see in the twin cities.

 

Petert

[Liat]

We did our South American trip on Mercury in January 2002, and it was one of the best we ever took. We travelled by public bus to Valparaiso from Santiago's main Bus Station for a little over $6.00 apiece. It was a clean, comfortable Greyhound type inter-city bus with reserved seats and plenty of luggage room. It is a pleasant trip of a little over an hour. We arrived in Valparaiso about 11:00 and took a taxi to the pier, where we were informed that no check in was done there [despite the message in our Celebrity cruise docs.]. We were sent to a nearby town called Vina del Mar, and a place called the Sports Club where we had a light lunch and were checked in. We returned to the ship by bus and boarded about 2:00 P.M. Celebrity reimbursed us for the cab fare from the pier to Vina del Mar. I do not recall what time we sailed and my extensive review on http://www.cruisereviews.com does not mention the sail time, but I think it was shortly before our first seating dinner. My review notes that we ate with our regular cruise assigned table companions that first night.

I am not sure Valparaiso has many "sights", since it is built on a hillside, with only a small level area near the docks, and funiculars up the hill. Vina Del Mar is the "coastal resort" town and seemed a more attractive place, but it is a good 15-20 minutes drive from the pier, and the cab fare was $20.00, per cab, not per person. With our luggage we travelled by ourselves, but if you are taking a cab without luggage, you might be able to get four poeople in the vehicle.

We spent two days in Santiago before we left, and found it a very pleasant if not terrible exciting town; with excellent and reasonably priced restaurants, and a very good public transportation system.

My review has some good suggestions on things like our favorite Santiago restaurant, and excursions booked through the net; especially for the Falkland Islands.

[ajpack]

I just read your wonderful review. We're going there in Jan. of '07 on Infinity and will be referring to it often.

[roberts2005]

Phil

 

Once you go to the link, where is your review listed

[NHTraveler]

Mary Lou ~ My husband and I are going on the same cruise in Feb 06. We are also staying in Santiago at the Intercontinental for 2 nights!

Maybe we could hook up - we are doing our research now for tours in Santiago! We are very excited about our upcoming South American adventure on the Millennium (our first with Celebrity)!

Lee Ann

[ajpack]

Phil

 

Once you go to the link, where is your review listed

 

If you click on the link he provided, it's under Celebrity...the only cruise listed to South America.

[cruiseyguy]

I did the same cruise on Infinity last year. Arrived in Val around noon, toured around a bit and boarded at 1:00 PM. A lot of folks were already onboard. Regular assigned seating the first night. Great trip!

[roberts2005]

Found the review. It was great, lots of detail.

[Liat]

This is the middle of their summer and the latitude of Santiago is as far south (33 degrees) as Phoenix is north. Not that it is as hot there as our summer! But it can get fairly warm. The good news is that you probably will have no rain.