South American Adventure - Days 4-5
Day 4 – Tuesday March 2, 2010 – “We’re Just Happy to Be Here”
The alarm clock on Allan’s iPhone went off at 7:20, yet we could have easily slept until 11. But up we got, did last minute packing, and had the bags out the door by 8AM. Because of a bad piece of information we received at check-in, we headed up to the breakfast room on the 11th floor (remember, walking up stairs the whole way). Once we got there, a sign said, “Breakfast served in the Terrace Restaurant on the main floor”. Back down we headed, and felt that at least we got a little cardio workout this morning.
Breakfast was nice, although the coffee was in short supply for some reason. One last time we walked up to our room, got our carry-on bags, and headed down to the lobby for a 9AM meeting time with other who would be heading to the ship. There were about 15 other people that were heading out as well in our group, and the bus left close to 9:45 than the previously announced 9:15. But who cared? We were heading for the ship!
The drive to the port of Valparaiso, about 75 miles northwest of Santiago, took us through a couple of long tunnels and several beautiful valleys, including one of the main wine producing regions of the country. Again, the roads seemed in excellent shape, with only a few slowdowns at overpasses where they were still dealing with the huge gaps between the roadway and the bridge. Several joints were as much as two feet apart!
We stopped once along the way, at some tourist trap where we could, in the words of our guide Ana Maria, “Wash our face and brush our hair”. What she failed to mention is that we could also buy the shelves of chotchkes for sale, not to mention postcards and “traditional hats” that the staff were wearing. To paraphrase an old World War II slogan, “Was this stop really necessary?”
As the highway ended at Valparaiso, we started seeing signs of damage from the earthquake, mostly in older building facades that had fallen off in pieces, as well as a church with several large cracks along the front facing wall. But the city was bustling, and all seemed fine on this sunny day.
We arrived at the ship terminal, which was a large airy structure built in the 20s or 30s. At one end sat approximately 125, waiting to board. Princess personnel were running around taking care of the newcomers, checking our documents and taking our tagged luggage. But the problems were just starting to surface: it seemed that not everyone disembarked from the prior cruise today, and most certainly many people hadn’t made it for today’s sailing.
We waited for about an hour, and then one of the ship’s personnel, Sonia, announced that they were having problems printing the room keys that act as your shipboard pass (like a credit card, with your name on it). Thus began the painful wait as batches of cards started coming from the distant ship (docked in the cargo area due to damage to the regular passenger ship pier). A batch of keys arrived from the ship, and Sonia stood on one of the chairs and called out the names on those keys. Several dozen people left the area. Another batch of keys, and another dozen went.
Then they started phoning names from the ship to Sonia, who repeated each name to the waiting crowd. At this point there were probably 100 people left. More waiting. Finally, someone made the decision to just get everyone to the ship and deal with us there. Before we went through the security checkpoint, Allan bought a nice map of South America for US $5.00 that was rolled up and tied with a ribbon. On the bus to the ship, I opened the map, only to discover that its three-color printing was completely mis-registered. It looked like it was done in the style of Andy Warhol! Allan said “Get rid of it”, but I thought it would make a perfectly lovely souvenir…and a lesson to never buy something without checking it first.
After a few minutes driving through mountains of containers and huge cranes, we pulled up alongside the beautiful Star Princess. And we waited once again, this time under an awning, while a few more room keys were handed out. At this point, someone made the brilliant decision to get us on the ship and put us in one location, where they could handle the rest of this process.
We were brought on board, shepherded to the Capri Dining Room and sat at tables. We shared one with a delightful couple from Chico, CA., Scott and Marilyn. It helped the time pass. And there was plenty of time to pass, as it took several hours for all of the keys to be made – yes, the key making machine actually broke down at one point. The ship also had to leave the pier, as another vessel was coming in to use that space. The captain informed us over the intercom that the ship would be heading three miles offshore into Valparaiso bay and there we would be at anchor until after midnight Thursday.
Did I also mention that since about 1100 passengers were still on board, not everyone would be able to get into their assigned cabins, but would be put into another until those passengers debarked? It made for some uneasiness.
The crew brought some sandwiches and juice and water (yes, bread and water for the prisoners of the Capri Dining Room!), which everyone gobbled up rather quickly. After about an hour or so, the machine was fixed and more names were being called. Alas, mine was called and Allan’s wasn’t. We stuck together until his name was finally called, about 3 hours after this rigmarole began. Luckily, things started to improve at that point: our assigned cabin, #222 on the Dolphin deck, was available. We walked into our beautiful mini-suite, replete with a living room area, a large balcony with two chairs, two chaise lounges, and a table, and a bathroom with a tub/shower. Quite nice.
At this point, we started exploring the ship, stopping for a couple of slices of pizza on the Lido Deck. I have to say that I prefer this ship, the Star Princess over the Crown Princess that we took in the Baltic in 2008. The Piazza Atrium is more oval than round on the crown, and therefore seems airier. The public spaces, such as the lounges and dining rooms, have a low-key, contemporary elegant look. We stopped by the Lotus Spa and were given a tour of the Thermal Suite, which includes the warm stone chairs that Allan is fond of, as well as the “rain shower” showers and aromatic steam rooms. We signed up for the duration.
When we got back to our cabin, our bags had just arrived! Now we could unpack and settle in to our home-away-from-home for the next fortnight. Allan napped while I unpacked: I hate living out of a suitcase.
[Every time we encountered someone who asked how we even made it aboard, we’d tell them our tale of getting to Santiago and then the ship, ending with “We’re just happy to be here”. It became the mantra of the day.]
We went to dinner in the Portofino Dining Room, and enjoyed crisp vegetable spring rolls and then a fresh salad. Allan had the Luau Pork in apricot dressing that was quite delicious and I had Fettuccine Alfredo that hit the spot (not the best I’ve ever had, but tasty nonetheless). For dessert I had some sugar-free chocolate torte, while Allan had a chocolate mousse cake.
After dinner, we went for a stroll on the deck and watched the lights of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar along the not-too-distant shore. And, I’ll remark again, how everything seemed absolutely normal on shore. It was as if this weekend’s natural disaster hadn’t even occurred.
Day 5 – Wednesday March 3, 2010 – “Rest and Relaxation”
I think our bodies were telling us something when we didn’t awake until 10:30AM. I showered and dressed while Allan slowly got out of bed and put some clothes on. We got to the Horizon Terrace just in time for the last 15 minutes of breakfast buffet. To our surprise, the coffee, which was miserable on the last Princess cruise, was quite good. Perhaps because there were so many South Americans on board they couldn’t risk serving weak coffee!
It was another lovely day which enticed us to do more strolling around. We played ping-pong a few times, took plenty of photos of the ship, enjoyed the 72 degree temperature and sunshine, looked at the mostly questionable art in the gallery, and pretty much didn’t do anything. Well, I went to the gym and got back on my P90X workout routine, which I’d had to forego the last three days (Saturday was a designated rest day anyway). It was good to work up a sweat in the gym, have a steam, and feel like I was doing something good for myself. I’m still watching those calories, and while I don’t want to add pounds back on and lose the progress I’ve been making, I also don’t want to come back from this trip and be full of regrets for not actually enjoying it. There’s a balance, and I’m figuring it out.
Later in the afternoon, we were sitting on our balcony when the ship shuddered strangely. We noticed it but didn’t pay much mind. As we later found out from the Captain’s announcement, there had been an aftershock and that’s what we felt. Amazing! Again, on land, nothing seemed changed or out of the ordinary.
We enjoyed dinner at a table for six with a couple from Gainesville, FL and another couple from Vancouver Island, Canada. The food and service were quite good, and the company turned out to be quite delightful.
The alarm clock on Allan’s iPhone went off at 7:20, yet we could have easily slept until 11. But up we got, did last minute packing, and had the bags out the door by 8AM. Because of a bad piece of information we received at check-in, we headed up to the breakfast room on the 11th floor (remember, walking up stairs the whole way). Once we got there, a sign said, “Breakfast served in the Terrace Restaurant on the main floor”. Back down we headed, and felt that at least we got a little cardio workout this morning.
Breakfast was nice, although the coffee was in short supply for some reason. One last time we walked up to our room, got our carry-on bags, and headed down to the lobby for a 9AM meeting time with other who would be heading to the ship. There were about 15 other people that were heading out as well in our group, and the bus left close to 9:45 than the previously announced 9:15. But who cared? We were heading for the ship!
The drive to the port of Valparaiso, about 75 miles northwest of Santiago, took us through a couple of long tunnels and several beautiful valleys, including one of the main wine producing regions of the country. Again, the roads seemed in excellent shape, with only a few slowdowns at overpasses where they were still dealing with the huge gaps between the roadway and the bridge. Several joints were as much as two feet apart!
We stopped once along the way, at some tourist trap where we could, in the words of our guide Ana Maria, “Wash our face and brush our hair”. What she failed to mention is that we could also buy the shelves of chotchkes for sale, not to mention postcards and “traditional hats” that the staff were wearing. To paraphrase an old World War II slogan, “Was this stop really necessary?”
As the highway ended at Valparaiso, we started seeing signs of damage from the earthquake, mostly in older building facades that had fallen off in pieces, as well as a church with several large cracks along the front facing wall. But the city was bustling, and all seemed fine on this sunny day.
We arrived at the ship terminal, which was a large airy structure built in the 20s or 30s. At one end sat approximately 125, waiting to board. Princess personnel were running around taking care of the newcomers, checking our documents and taking our tagged luggage. But the problems were just starting to surface: it seemed that not everyone disembarked from the prior cruise today, and most certainly many people hadn’t made it for today’s sailing.
We waited for about an hour, and then one of the ship’s personnel, Sonia, announced that they were having problems printing the room keys that act as your shipboard pass (like a credit card, with your name on it). Thus began the painful wait as batches of cards started coming from the distant ship (docked in the cargo area due to damage to the regular passenger ship pier). A batch of keys arrived from the ship, and Sonia stood on one of the chairs and called out the names on those keys. Several dozen people left the area. Another batch of keys, and another dozen went.
Then they started phoning names from the ship to Sonia, who repeated each name to the waiting crowd. At this point there were probably 100 people left. More waiting. Finally, someone made the decision to just get everyone to the ship and deal with us there. Before we went through the security checkpoint, Allan bought a nice map of South America for US $5.00 that was rolled up and tied with a ribbon. On the bus to the ship, I opened the map, only to discover that its three-color printing was completely mis-registered. It looked like it was done in the style of Andy Warhol! Allan said “Get rid of it”, but I thought it would make a perfectly lovely souvenir…and a lesson to never buy something without checking it first.
After a few minutes driving through mountains of containers and huge cranes, we pulled up alongside the beautiful Star Princess. And we waited once again, this time under an awning, while a few more room keys were handed out. At this point, someone made the brilliant decision to get us on the ship and put us in one location, where they could handle the rest of this process.
We were brought on board, shepherded to the Capri Dining Room and sat at tables. We shared one with a delightful couple from Chico, CA., Scott and Marilyn. It helped the time pass. And there was plenty of time to pass, as it took several hours for all of the keys to be made – yes, the key making machine actually broke down at one point. The ship also had to leave the pier, as another vessel was coming in to use that space. The captain informed us over the intercom that the ship would be heading three miles offshore into Valparaiso bay and there we would be at anchor until after midnight Thursday.
Did I also mention that since about 1100 passengers were still on board, not everyone would be able to get into their assigned cabins, but would be put into another until those passengers debarked? It made for some uneasiness.
The crew brought some sandwiches and juice and water (yes, bread and water for the prisoners of the Capri Dining Room!), which everyone gobbled up rather quickly. After about an hour or so, the machine was fixed and more names were being called. Alas, mine was called and Allan’s wasn’t. We stuck together until his name was finally called, about 3 hours after this rigmarole began. Luckily, things started to improve at that point: our assigned cabin, #222 on the Dolphin deck, was available. We walked into our beautiful mini-suite, replete with a living room area, a large balcony with two chairs, two chaise lounges, and a table, and a bathroom with a tub/shower. Quite nice.
At this point, we started exploring the ship, stopping for a couple of slices of pizza on the Lido Deck. I have to say that I prefer this ship, the Star Princess over the Crown Princess that we took in the Baltic in 2008. The Piazza Atrium is more oval than round on the crown, and therefore seems airier. The public spaces, such as the lounges and dining rooms, have a low-key, contemporary elegant look. We stopped by the Lotus Spa and were given a tour of the Thermal Suite, which includes the warm stone chairs that Allan is fond of, as well as the “rain shower” showers and aromatic steam rooms. We signed up for the duration.
When we got back to our cabin, our bags had just arrived! Now we could unpack and settle in to our home-away-from-home for the next fortnight. Allan napped while I unpacked: I hate living out of a suitcase.
[Every time we encountered someone who asked how we even made it aboard, we’d tell them our tale of getting to Santiago and then the ship, ending with “We’re just happy to be here”. It became the mantra of the day.]
We went to dinner in the Portofino Dining Room, and enjoyed crisp vegetable spring rolls and then a fresh salad. Allan had the Luau Pork in apricot dressing that was quite delicious and I had Fettuccine Alfredo that hit the spot (not the best I’ve ever had, but tasty nonetheless). For dessert I had some sugar-free chocolate torte, while Allan had a chocolate mousse cake.
After dinner, we went for a stroll on the deck and watched the lights of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar along the not-too-distant shore. And, I’ll remark again, how everything seemed absolutely normal on shore. It was as if this weekend’s natural disaster hadn’t even occurred.
Day 5 – Wednesday March 3, 2010 – “Rest and Relaxation”
I think our bodies were telling us something when we didn’t awake until 10:30AM. I showered and dressed while Allan slowly got out of bed and put some clothes on. We got to the Horizon Terrace just in time for the last 15 minutes of breakfast buffet. To our surprise, the coffee, which was miserable on the last Princess cruise, was quite good. Perhaps because there were so many South Americans on board they couldn’t risk serving weak coffee!
It was another lovely day which enticed us to do more strolling around. We played ping-pong a few times, took plenty of photos of the ship, enjoyed the 72 degree temperature and sunshine, looked at the mostly questionable art in the gallery, and pretty much didn’t do anything. Well, I went to the gym and got back on my P90X workout routine, which I’d had to forego the last three days (Saturday was a designated rest day anyway). It was good to work up a sweat in the gym, have a steam, and feel like I was doing something good for myself. I’m still watching those calories, and while I don’t want to add pounds back on and lose the progress I’ve been making, I also don’t want to come back from this trip and be full of regrets for not actually enjoying it. There’s a balance, and I’m figuring it out.
Later in the afternoon, we were sitting on our balcony when the ship shuddered strangely. We noticed it but didn’t pay much mind. As we later found out from the Captain’s announcement, there had been an aftershock and that’s what we felt. Amazing! Again, on land, nothing seemed changed or out of the ordinary.
We enjoyed dinner at a table for six with a couple from Gainesville, FL and another couple from Vancouver Island, Canada. The food and service were quite good, and the company turned out to be quite delightful.
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