We flew into Santiago on 1/3/10 and were sorry we had only a couple of days to spend there. It was our first visit and we were very impressed with this beautiful city and its wonderful people. We met a couple at breakfast in our hotel who were fellow Bay Area residents and also going on the cruise. They had reserved a private tour of the city and since their traveling companions had been delayed by bad weather and hadn't yet arrived, they invited us to join them. We accepted and spent a very rewarding day visiting Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal, both with great views of the city and lovely park surroundings. Visited a really fun Mercado and most barrios of the city, as well as the highlights, Plaza de Armas, etc. We had an excellent lunch and then continued our drive, with stops for picture taking or shopping. It was a wonderful way to spend our first day in Santiago and to make friends with a terrific couple (we had dinner with them on the ship and hope to stay in touch.

I was able to arrange, on the Cruise Critic Boards, a transfer/tour with fellow cruises from Santiago to Valparaiso to board the ship. Once again, we were fortunate to meet a wonderful group of people, again whom we hope to stay in touch with, and enjoyed another interesting day. After a short tour of Santiago we continued to Valparaiso, stopping at the beautiful Amalia Winery, where we purchsed wine, walked around the grounds and enjoyed visiting with some of our travel companions. Next stop was Vina del Mar where we had a delicious seafood lunch and tour of this resort city.

Arrival at the pier was pretty chaotic, but we managed to get checked in and on our way to the bus for transport to the ship. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and general bad manners displayed, but we finally boarded a bus and got to the ship. Incidentally somehow out of all this confusion our bags arrived at our room shortly after we boarded. Read more