Is permission to disembark one day early in Valparaiso necessary from Viking

[Ready to Sail!]

We have an overnight in Valparaiso before disembarkation.  We are booking our own air and most all flights leave late evening which means having a very very long day at Santiago airport.  Have thought of several alternative plans.  Simpliest would be to disembark late afternoon prior day and arrange private transfer to the airport.  Do we need OK from Viking or can we just inform them of our plans?  There must be previous cruisers who have faced this situation.  

Second choice might be to find a private excursion on disembarkation day which would end at the airport later in the day.  I have seen this at other ports but can't seem to find anything on Viator.  Third would be to arrange our own transfer and book a day room at a hotel near the airport.  There is no way we will sit around an airport for 12 or more hours.  Thanks for any input or suggestions.   

 

[CDNPolar]

7 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

We have an overnight in Valparaiso before disembarkation.  We are booking our own air and most all flights leave late evening which means having a very very long day at Santiago airport.  Have thought of several alternative plans.  Simpliest would be to disembark late afternoon prior day and arrange private transfer to the airport.  Do we need OK from Viking or can we just inform them of our plans?  There must be previous cruisers who have faced this situation.  

Second choice might be to find a private excursion on disembarkation day which would end at the airport later in the day.  I have seen this at other ports but can't seem to find anything on Viator.  Third would be to arrange our own transfer and book a day room at a hotel near the airport.  There is no way we will sit around an airport for 12 or more hours.  Thanks for any input or suggestions.   

 

Yes, if you are disembarking before the final port you will need advance approval from Viking.

 

This is an immigration thing.

[Ready to Sail!]

11 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Yes, if you are disembarking before the final port you will need advance approval from Viking.

 

This is an immigration thing.

No, as I said we are in final port with overnight before disembarkation.  We just want to leave the ship the afternoon prior.  

[CDNPolar]

9 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

No, as I said we are in final port with overnight before disembarkation.  We just want to leave the ship the afternoon prior.  

 

Oh, sorry, misunderstood....

 

I would inform them.... so they know you are off the ship, but I don't think since you are in the final port that they care.  They would just want to know.

 

That is my opinion.

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Ready to Sail!]

15 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Oh, sorry, misunderstood....

 

I would inform them.... so they know you are off the ship, but I don't think since you are in the final port that they care.  They would just want to know.

 

That is my opinion.

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

No problem and thanks for your opinion.  I am guessing it would be OK but will wait until I hear from anyone else who has done this at this port.  Of course will confirm with Viking before I change my already booked flights.  Seems like there are plenty of options for transfers to Santiago airport.  

[CDNPolar]

3 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

No problem and thanks for your opinion.  I am guessing it would be OK but will wait until I hear from anyone else who has done this at this port.  Of course will confirm with Viking before I change my already booked flights.  Seems like there are plenty of options for transfers to Santiago airport.  

 

I cannot see why they would decline you...  

Personally, I would email tellus@vikingcruises.com and give them the following:

 

1) Your booking number

2) The date and time you want to leave the ship early noting that you are already in the final port

 

Just ask them to confirm that there is not problem and to confirm to you in writing.

 

Don't call the reservations line as you likely won't get the answer you want.

[Ready to Sail!]

5 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I cannot see why they would decline you...  

Personally, I would email tellus@vikingcruises.com and give them the following:

 

1) Your booking number

2) The date and time you want to leave the ship early noting that you are already in the final port

 

Just ask them to confirm that there is not problem and to confirm to you in writing.

 

Don't call the reservations line as you likely won't get the answer you want.

I was just planning on doing that.  I know it is often suggested on this site as getting the most correct response/answer.  Still would like to hear from others who did this.  With airports only offering late night flights seems like a good option if an overnight port.  Thanks again.

[Mike07]

It was like a 2 hour bus ride from Valparaiso to Santiago. There are probably Greyhound like bus transports from the port city to the airport that Viking could possibly assist you with.

[Mike07]

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

We have an overnight in Valparaiso before disembarkation.  We are booking our own air and most all flights leave late evening which means having a very very long day at Santiago airport.

 

 

 

For the expedition ships, they put us in the Santiago Marriot (in a hospitality room... not giving us day rooms or anything like that....) Though if you are arranging indie air, I have no idea if the Marriot would be opened to you. I would like to think that Viking wouldn't care or would let you pay a small fee to take the charter bus from the hotel to the airport.

 

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

For immigration purposes Viking holds your passports until you are ready to disembark on the final day. We didn’t see ours again until we were ready to depart. Then each departing group received theirs. You need to clear this with Viking. Chile gives you a receipt for your declaration when you enter the country and clear passport control and customs. Instead of a passport, that is the documentation they request on demand. Therefore we did not need our passports on shore excursions. 

Edited May 27 by OneSixtyToOne

[Ready to Sail!]

16 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

For the expedition ships, they put us in the Santiago Marriot (in a hospitality room... not giving us day rooms or anything like that....) Though if you are arranging indie air, I have no idea if the Marriot would be opened to you. I would like to think that Viking wouldn't care or would let you pay a small fee to take the charter bus from the hotel to the airport.

 

 

 

My understanding is that the hospitality room is not an option for those not using Viking Air. Actually doesn't sound like a great option anyway.  If we will just be sitting around in a conference type room all day not much different than sitting at the airport in my opinion.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

My understanding is that the hospitality room is not an option for those not using Viking Air. Actually doesn't sound like a great option anyway.  If we will just be sitting around in a conference type room all day not much different than sitting at the airport in my opinion.  

 

Even if you don't have Viking Air, you can purchase from Viking transportation to/from the Airport (must be bought BEFORE you sail, request form is on website) but it is only valid on arrival and disembarkation days. Also, all Viking extensions include airport transportation whether you have Viking Air or not. 

Edited May 27 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mike07]

14 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

My understanding is that the hospitality room is not an option for those not using Viking Air. Actually doesn't sound like a great option anyway.  If we will just be sitting around in a conference type room all day not much different than sitting at the airport in my opinion.  

 

 

More comfortable and relaxing than an airport, but not much better either. That being said, you won't be able to check in your luggage at SCL until four hours before the flight (you can double check on the off change it's really 5 or 6 hours). So, it'll be a lot of hurry up and wait. Also, if you're flying the American legacy carriers, Delta, United or American... the counter won't open up until like 4 hours before their first (and possibly only) scheduled flight. You *might* be able to curbside check a bag, but that's a big if.

 

There is not a ton of seating in the area outside of security. There is a little nook with about 30-40 chairs near the restrooms on the far end.

 

I'm definitely sympathetic to your plight and understand your reasoning to want to disembark in the afternoon, but unless you've been there or are fluent in Spanish, you're going to be up a creek if something goes wrong and you don't have status or didn't pay for the ticketing to bump to the following day's flight.

Edited May 27 by Mike07

[Mike07]

BTW - The Google Machine says it's 122 km between the two cities. I didn't enter the exact coordinates of the pier to the airport. But, whether it's really 110 km or 140 km, it's going to be a pricey taxi ride once you find a driver willing to do it.

[Mich3554]

We have booked a room at a hotel for the day when we had late night flights (we did this in both Buenos Aires and Santiago).  We dropped our luggage, went sightseeing, had a good dinner, came back to the hotel to shower and change and got a taxi to the airport.  Both of us bypassed meal service and just slept.  This was one of the better long haul flights.  
We had booked our own flights both times.  The second time, we did use Viking’s offer for a private car to take us to a Santiago hotel (we had a lot of OBC to kill from missed ports).  This was during Covid so Viator didn’t have much available.  The other time in BA, we got a taxi.  
Previously (pre Covid), getting from Santiago to Valparaiso, we used Viator for a wine tasting tour and dropped us off at the dock afterwards.  I’m sure it would work in the other direction too.  

Edited May 27 by Mich3554

[Ready to Sail!]

On 5/27/2024 at 12:03 PM, Mike07 said:

More comfortable and relaxing than an airport, but not much better either. That being said, you won't be able to check in your luggage at SCL until four hours before the flight (you can double check on the off change it's really 5 or 6 hours). So, it'll be a lot of hurry up and wait. Also, if you're flying the American legacy carriers, Delta, United or American... the counter won't open up until like 4 hours before their first (and possibly only) scheduled flight. You *might* be able to curbside check a bag, but that's a big if.

 

There is not a ton of seating in the area outside of security. There is a little nook with about 30-40 chairs near the restrooms on the far end.

 

I'm definitely sympathetic to your plight and understand your reasoning to want to disembark in the afternoon, but unless you've been there or are fluent in Spanish, you're going to be up a creek if something goes wrong and you don't have status or didn't pay for the ticketing to bump to the following day's flight.

 

We want to change our flight to a day earlier, not later.  Our flight isn't until 11:30 on American on disembarkation day so we are requesting to leave the ship around 6pm day before, take private transfer to the airport arriving 7:30ish.  If we get clearance from Viking we will need to change our flight out to one day earlier.  We do already have a transfer booked but would just cancel it as it is only good on disembarktion day as you said.  Thanks for the information regarding SCL check-in hours. 

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

12 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

BTW - The Google Machine says it's 122 km between the two cities. I didn't enter the exact coordinates of the pier to the airport. But, whether it's really 110 km or 140 km, it's going to be a pricey taxi ride once you find a driver willing to do it.

 

There are numerous companies that have charter bus service to/from the Valparaiso port / Santiago.

Also, the train station is right outside the port entrance.

[Ready to Sail!]

8 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

We have booked a room at a hotel for the day when we had late night flights (we did this in both Buenos Aires and Santiago).  We dropped our luggage, went sightseeing, had a good dinner, came back to the hotel to shower and change and got a taxi to the airport.  Both of us bypassed meal service and just slept.  This was one of the better long haul flights.  
We had booked our own flights both times.  The second time, we did use Viking’s offer for a private car to take us to a Santiago hotel (we had a lot of OBC to kill from missed ports).  This was during Covid so Viator didn’t have much available.  The other time in BA, we got a taxi.  
Previously (pre Covid), getting from Santiago to Valparaiso, we used Viator for a wine tasting tour and dropped us off at the dock afterwards.  I’m sure it would work in the other direction too.  

Great confirmation.  If we can't disembark one day earlier then  then this is a good option.  I did find one option on Viator for day tour to end in Santiago also.   One other thought is to keep our flights and transfer with Viking. After drop off at the airport take a taxi to a local (airport) hotel and then get their shuttle back to airport later in the day.  I would assume day rooms can be booked in advance.  We have never done this so don't know exactly how it works.  Thanks for the helpful reply. 

[Ready to Sail!]

3 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

There are numerous companies that have charter bus service to/from the Valparaiso port / Santiago.

Also, the train station is right outside the port entrance.

Yes, I found  a couple of shuttle transfer companies we could book with.  Will cost more but we are paying Viking $100 for the transfers anyway.  Taking public transportation not a great option for us.  In our lovely golden (rusty) years we try to keep it as simple and stree free as possible.

[dreamercruise]

I booked an independent, full-day excursion which visits Valparaiso and winery on the way to either airport or a hotel in Santiago. The operator grouped us by where we wanted to be dropped off, airport or hotel in Santiago.  The price for two people was almost the same as booking a private car to the airport. The excursion is intended for guests with late flight after 5pm.  The excursion was as good as, if not better, than the Viking included tour to Valparaiso.  The winery visit included lunch. If interested, I can look up the name of the operator.  The website where you sign up asks for the cruise line, ship name, and date of sailing.  There were a few guests from our Viking ship joining this excursion.

[Ready to Sail!]

8 minutes ago, dreamercruise said:

I booked an independent, full-day excursion which visits Valparaiso and winery on the way to either airport or a hotel in Santiago. The operator grouped us by where we wanted to be dropped off, airport or hotel in Santiago.  The price for two people was almost the same as booking a private car to the airport. The excursion is intended for guests with late flight after 5pm.  The excursion was as good as, if not better, than the Viking included tour to Valparaiso.  The winery visit included lunch. If interested, I can look up the name of the operator.  The website where you sign up asks for the cruise line, ship name, and date of sailing.  There were a few guests from our Viking ship joining this excursion.

Yes please, if you can find it easy enough. Sounds perfect and would eliminate changing our flights. Thank you

[dreamercruise]

The website is www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com. The excursion I took was Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. There is another option for Santiago City tour.  After they picked us up from the ship (we walked for about 1-2 minutes to the bus), they showed us Valparaiso (some parts repeated in Viking included tour) and Vina Del Mar (new), then went to winery in valley of Casablanca for wine tasting (tastes so so to me) and lunch (decent), before dropping us off at airport or hotel (separated us in 2 groups by our final destination). Cost was $189 per person.

[dreamercruise]

The tour operator requires flights to depart after 7pm.  Our original flight was to depart on the same day of disembarkation, at 11:59pm, just before mid night. Three months after booking, the airline cancelled our flight. We rebooked for departure the next day (same time), just to keep the fare increase to a minimum.  With the extra day, we stayed in Santiago, ate great dinner, and took a free walking tour before heading out to airport from hotel.  Both the shore excursion and the free walking tours were great.  They were as good as Viking’s, if not better.

[dreamercruise]

The website asks you for the cruise line, ship name, and sailing date, before showing you availability of excursion options.  I was on a regular ocean cruise ship (South America route from Buenos Aires to Santiago (Valparaiso). Not sure if the operator offers excursions on sailing dates of expedition cruises. Check out the website and find out.

[Ready to Sail!]

3 minutes ago, dreamercruise said:

The website asks you for the cruise line, ship name, and sailing date, before showing you availability of excursion options.  I was on a regular ocean cruise ship (South America route from Buenos Aires to Santiago (Valparaiso). Not sure if the operator offers excursions on sailing dates of expedition cruises. Check out the website and find out.

Thanks so much.  Will definately check to see if possible option.