Santiago Hotels

[highplanesdrifters]

Doing a B2B on the Wind this fall that drops us in Santiago.  Love the city. Have stayed at the W Hotel in El Golf. Loved the area and hotel.  Thinking of switching it up.  Perhaps the Ritz also in El Golf or Mandarin Oriental.  MO is in a high end neighborhood I am not familiar with.  Thoughts?

 

Any favorite excursions from Santiago?

 

Do what you do best CC intelligentsia. 

[cruiseej]

And if I can piggyback on this: for those who did Antarctica cruises this winter season, what hotel(s) did Seabourn use in Santiago for the pre-cruise overnight? (We've been scheduled for, and cancelled from, Antarctica cruises the past two years, so we're hoping the third time will be the charm this December. We're planning to fly to Santiago a day early, to try to dodge any potential flight snafus, so we'll likely want to book our extra angst at the hotel SS is using — but it would be helpful to know which hotels people consider good or not.)

[highplanesdrifters]

@cruiseejPiggyback welcome!  I've heard in the past that SS have used the Mandarin Oriental.  Not sure about Seabourn.  As we all know too well.....it's different now.  

 

While on a SS cruise last September we reserved Antarctica on the Wind. Talk about a hard sell.  I was shocked by how aggressive they were. Phone calls to our cabin,  emails, paper confirmations for 3 different Antarctica cruises we didn't even ask for. 100% assurances the Wind was ready and crew were headed to the ship. We had a bad feeling so never pulled the trigger. Whew!  We were in Antarctica in 2018 on Seabourn Quest and look to return in the future.  Who knows what ship we'll take. The new Ponant looks Fab, and we are on Seabourn Venture this summer.  Good luck to you this year.  

 

 

[cruiseej]

Oops, I'm mixing my cruise forums! Our Antarctica trip is on Silversea! I typed Seabourn by mistake above; I wish we could edit our posts! 

 

We've wanted to do the longer trip to South Georgia Island, which is only about twice a year, and due to my wife and our friend spork schedules, the holiday trip in December-January is the only one which works. It was supposed to be on the Wind in 2020, and of course nothing was sailing at that time. So we rescheduled for the Wind in 2021 — and then they didn't finish the renovation and merged some, but not all, of the Cloud & Wind itineraries for Antarctica, and we were among the ones who got the short end of the straw. So we're really, truly hoping December 2022 will be the one! and we've been switched to the Cloud, after waiting 2+ years for the Wind!

 

I really wanted to book the Seabourn Venture — it looks fabulous — but it came out a lot more expensive (well over $10k more) than Silversea, especially with Silversea including economy air and a very reasonable business class upgrade while Seabourn doesn't include air at all. We did a Greenland cruise on the Silversea Cloud and had a great time, so I know we'll be fine on the Cloud. (But I know the Venture would be even better.)

[taxatty]

Our Silver Cloud cruise last Dec-Jan used the Mandarin Oriental Santiago as the pre-cruise hotel--it is a beautiful facility with excellent rooms, a nice pool and grounds, and a great (included for SS) buffet breakfast. (Can't say we've ever stayed in a crappy MO). We had to buy our own lunch and dinner--room service didn't have many choices but was better than decent for lunch (we were stuck in the room then waiting for COVID test results), and the hotel's Matsuri Peruvian-Asian fusion (!) restaurant in the evening was terrific. Not far away is a high-end shopping mall and other stores. The only downside was that in traffic, it's quite a ways from the airport.

Edited April 5, 2022 by taxatty

[highplanesdrifters]

12 hours ago, taxatty said:

Our Silver Cloud cruise last Dec-Jan used the Mandarin Oriental Santiago as the pre-cruise hotel--it is a beautiful facility with excellent rooms, a nice pool and grounds, and a great (included for SS) buffet breakfast. (Can't say we've ever stayed in a crappy MO). We had to buy our own lunch and dinner--room service didn't have many choices but was better than decent for lunch (we were stuck in the room then waiting for COVID test results), and the hotel's Matsuri Peruvian-Asian fusion (!) restaurant in the evening was terrific. Not far away is a high-end shopping mall and other stores. The only downside was that in traffic, it's quite a ways from the airport.

Thanks for a very helpful reply. I was leaning toward the MO.

[highplanesdrifters]

13 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I really wanted to book the Seabourn Venture — it looks fabulous — but it came out a lot more expensive (well over $10k more) than Silversea, especially with Silversea including economy air and a very reasonable business class upgrade while Seabourn doesn't include air at all. We did a Greenland cruise on the Silversea Cloud and had a great time, so I know we'll be fine on the Cloud. (But I know the Venture would be even better.)

We will let you know if Seabourn Venture is worth the Nosebleed prices after this summer's trip.  We are on SS Wind right after that so it will be an interesting comparison.   We have several Submarine excursions booked on Venture. Will we really see anything is the big question. But heck, I'll try anything 10 or 20 times.

[scottjeanne]

Seabourn uses the Ritz in Santiago and Silver seas uses the Mandarin Oriental.  We styed two nights precruise in the MO and it was wonderful.  The facilities are lovely, silverseas has a hospitality room in the lobby for questions, tours and beverages.  There is a lovely street that is contiguous that has lots of restaurants.  You probably can't go wrong with either.

[labrasett]

Recent very pleasant stay at MO before the Cape to Cape trip.   Lovely garden for outdoor drinks and also a dining area.   Comfortable room.  

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We will let you know if Seabourn Venture is worth the Nosebleed prices after this summer's trip.  We are on SS Wind right after that so it will be an interesting comparison.

 

Too bad the trips aren't in the reverse order; I'm afraid the Wind will suffer by comparison, even being shiny and polished after its retrofit. I'll look forward to seeing your reports.

 

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We have several Submarine excursions booked on Venture. Will we really see anything is the big question.

 

(Sorry, I know this is way off-topic!) They look fabulous, although the cost for those excursions takes my breath away. (But we would splurge for them, too, if we were aboard.) I thought I had read the sub excursions were not going to be offered in some areas this summer; where are your excursions? Do they give descriptions of what you should get to see in each different port, or is it just "climb aboard and we'll got out to see what there is to see"?

 

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

But heck, I'll try anything 10 or 20 times.

 

🤣

 

Back to Santiago… thanks to those who have shared hotel information. It may be too early to find out, but I'll try to get confirmation via our TA whether Silversea will be using the MO again this winter, and then try to book our early night there so we won't have to move hotels.

[$hip to $hore]

I'm so glad I found this post on Cruisecritic - I too will be sailing on Silversea to Antarctica in late January and was wondering why it is such a secret regarding the pre night hotel. Couldn't SS just say, likely staying at either A or B or C. I'm planning to go out an extra day early so that I absolutely do not miss my flight - especially since there is a connection in Toronto (the worst airport for connections in my opinion). Does anyone know if transfers are included if we don't stay at the hotel SS is using for the pre hotel?

Thanks!

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 minute ago, $hip to $hore said:

I'm so glad I found this post on Cruisecritic - I too will be sailing on Silversea to Antarctica in late January and was wondering why it is such a secret regarding the pre night hotel. Couldn't SS just say, likely staying at either A or B or C. I'm planning to go out an extra day early so that I absolutely do not miss my flight - especially since there is a connection in Toronto (the worst airport for connections in my opinion). Does anyone know if transfers are included if we don't stay at the hotel SS is using for the pre hotel?

Thanks!

 

Would you make a reservation at all three hotels, and cancel once Silversea confirmed?  Do you see why Silversea might not want to make its hotel partners angry by leading people to do that?

[alithecat]

We are also going to Santiago a day early. If you are using SS Air, and you book the extra night at the hotel thru SS, then you don't have to pay a deviation fee and you still get the transfer from airport to hotel. It's more expensive, $210pp, but worth it to eliminate the hassle.

 

If you don't book the extra night thru SS then the transfer will not be included, plus if you used SS Air you will have to pay a deviation fee for going a day early.

 

Unfortunately, after we booked the extra night at the hotel we received our SS Air flights and they were unacceptable. We live in SF and they routed us thru NY going and Toronto returning. We will not risk flying into winter that time of year. So, we cancelled SS Air, booked our own flights, and are paying extra for the airport to hotel transfer.

[$hip to $hore]

Thanks alithecat for your response. I'm sorry the SS air didn't work for you, but glad you were able to find a routing that was better for you.

[Stumblefoot]

On 6/13/2022 at 4:37 PM, $hip to $hore said:

Does anyone know if transfers are included if we don't stay at the hotel SS is using for the pre hotel?

Nope, not included.

[labrasett]

On 6/14/2022 at 12:14 AM, alithecat said:

We are also going to Santiago a day early. If you are using SS Air, and you book the extra night at the hotel thru SS, then you don't have to pay a deviation fee and you still get the transfer from airport to hotel. It's more expensive, $210pp, but worth it to eliminate the hassle.

 

If you don't book the extra night thru SS then the transfer will not be included, plus if you used SS Air you will have to pay a deviation fee for going a day early.

 

Unfortunately, after we booked the extra night at the hotel we received our SS Air flights and they were unacceptable. We live in SF and they routed us thru NY going and Toronto returning. We will not risk flying into winter that time of year. So, we cancelled SS Air, booked our own flights, and are paying extra for the airport to hotel transfer.

It didnt work quite like that for us.   We were offered SS air flights from Heathrow via Madrid because British Airways werent flying on Sunday night in March of this year.  We spoke to our SS rep and he suggested we might consider going the night before on BA and having an extra night in the hotel in Santiago.   We did this, yes the extra night in the hotel charge was higher than if we had booked it ourselves but we did get an SS transfer from the airport and no deviation fee for the flight change.

[alithecat]

@labrasettPerhaps you misunderstood my comment. I said that if you book the extra night at the hotel thru SS, you get the free transfer and no deviation fee. This matches what you received.