HappyKatya

We were in Lima December 13, 2023. We sailed Princess, they run a ships bus to Miraflores, be sure to take a ships bus! Callao is ultra-dangerous. Be sure to stay in Miraflores, we researched extensively, it's the only safe area and the only place to get near the spectacular cliffs overlooking the ocean. Barranco is supposed to be pretty and relatively safe but no ocean views. Government Center is a 40 minute taxi inland from Miraflores and full of demonstrations and police. I would never stay there Map of Miraflores Malecons (Ocean Promenades): https://*****.com/r839jxw2 -Larcomar, Malecon de la Reserva 610, Miraflores: Mall with ocean view coffee shops/eateries **We loved Trattoria Mambrino at Larcomar, great ocean sunset patio & Pisco Sours! -Parque del Amor, Av, Mal. Cisneros, Miraflores -Malecón de Miraflores, Mal. de la Reserva 275 -Mal. Cisneros, Miraflores 15074 [Mal.=Malecon] -Miraflores Chinese Park, Mal. Cisneros, Miraflores -Mal. de la Marina, Miraflores 15074, Peru Lima Restaurants Map: https://*****.com/3tmu5d2x -La Lucha Sangucheria Criolla, Av. José Larco 999, Miraflores 15074, Peru -Mercado San Martín, Ca. San Martín 482, Miraflores 15074, Peru -** Manolo, Av. José Larco 608, Miraflores 15074, Peru -Chicharrones Don Lucho, C. Berlín 612, Miraflores 15074, Peru -Costazul Seafood, C. Berlín 899, Miraflores 15074, Peru -La Mar Cevichería Peruana, Av. Mariscal La Mar 770, Miraflores 15074, Peru -Puerto Marisko, Av. del Ejército 182, Miraflores 15074, Peru -Beso Francés Crepería, Malecón Cisneros Miraflores Gobierno Regional de Lima LIMA, 18, Peru -Beso Francés Crepería, Mal. de la Reserva 131, Miraflores 15074, Peru We took a cab from Princess bus stop Miraflores to Plaza des Armas in Government Center, then walked south to Plaza San Martin, and took a cab back to Miraflores but stopped at MANOLO restaurant above and walked back to the ocean. Manolo looks like a local cafe and it is. The Lomo Saltado (below) was excellent and the thick Spain-style Hot Chocolate is actually a paste in which you dip churros, yum. Government Center Sights Map, 1 hour walk: https://*****.com/2pjcpe3n -Plaza San Martín**, Av. Nicolás de Piérola. Statue of José San Martin, led revolt vs Spain -Plaza des Armas, Plaza central, Lima (Google: "Lima Main Square") -Palacio de Gobierno de Peru (Google: Government Palace) - 11:45am Changing of Guard, Lima Instagram Sign, Plaza de San Francisco. Streets around Plaza de Armas are beautiful -Metropolitan Cathedral/Catedral de Lima, Jirón Carabaya (Gigi: Lima Cathedral) Traditional Peruvian Food: -Arroz con pollo - Chicken with rice, a Peruvian family favorite. -Ají de gallina - Classic traditional Peruvian chicken stew. -**Lomo saltado - Stir fried beef insanely juicy and tender. -Seco de Res - Beef on the bone stewed w. cilantro until fall apart tender. -Rocoto Relleno - Hot Rocoto chili peppers defanged & stuffed w. meat, spice & raisins -Spain-style Hot Chocolate paste -Chicharrón pork & sweet potato sandwich..... -Grilled scallops w. butter -**Arroz con mariscos Rice w. Seafood -Chicharron de pescado

A blessed and safe New Year to everyone! Thank you for your kind. Thank yous 😍

Hello @vantec, @edinburgher, @GeorgeCharlie , Thank you for your invaluable help which greatly improved our Dec 1 sailing from LA to Santiago! Reporting back to you: The "Princess Shuttle in Lima" Lives! So does the Princess Bus from the San Antonio dock to the Cruise Terminal (details below). We rode the Princess Shuttle in Lima from the ship dock to Larcomar Mall in Miraflores, Lima. About 55 min depending on traffic. It ran from 7 am all day every 20 minutes and literally all night on the hour, the overnight we were there, and until 7 pm the second day when we sailed away at 10 pm. No fee, no reservation, just get off the ship and ask ground officers for the Lima shuttle to Larcomar Mall. Just as Edinburger said, Princess does not talk about this shuttle ever until 48 hours before docking-- they want guests to buy Princess excursions instead. We did buy one just in case and it was cancelled. Tip: Once on board the cruise ship, GO to the Meet & Greet because the ship's officers are there in person and you can ask them on Day 2, exactly what shuttle services they will have in each port. The ship does not volunteer this info, but officers will tell you if you ask in person on board. On Day 2, I was able to chat with the Guest Services Director who told me exactly what would happen in Lima -- and it did. "Callao port and the Callao area outside the port gate, are much too dangerous, so cruise passengers are not allowed to transit those areas on their own," he said (Thank you, Edinburger!...). "Ship lines run their own private coaches from the dock, through the port, and past the entire Callao area, straight to Miraflores which is a safe haven in Lima." On exiting the Princess coach at Larcomar on the ocean-view cliffs, a Princess rep is there to introduce you to their friends with private taxis to go to areas too far to walk -- such as out of town ruins, Government center at Plaza de Armas/Lima Cathedral, etc. Please note it's another 1 hour taxi ride inland each way from Larcomar Mall to Plaza de Armas, which was entirely roped off due to huge demonstrations the day we arrived. The Princess-introduced taxi charged us US$30 worth of Peruvian Soles to go to Government center. The yellow cab we found on the street at Plaza San Martin near Government center only charged $10 in Soles to return us to Manolo in Miraflores. Maybe my Spanish was helpful. Or maybe most taxi drivers in these areas are pretty honest unless they think Princess passengers are easy to up-charge. Here's my map of the several Miraflores ocean-view Malecons (boardwalks). One can start walking with lovely ocean views on top of the cliffs from Larcomar and walk for an hour or more. We had an online dinner reservation at Rosa Nautica but when we saw onsite how high the cliffs are and how tricky the highways up and down, we canceled, deciding it might take too long to taxi down and back: https://*****.com/r839jxw2 Here's a map of the restaurants we saw on YouTube with with the best reviews on Google. These are all a bit inland (no ocean views). We took a taxi back from Government center right to Manolo, the only inland eatery we had time to try. Looks like a coffee shop but everyone knows it for it's real Peruvian food. Serious Lomo Saltado (beef and vegetables) and thick Spanish chocolate with churros, yum! https://*****.com/3tmu5d2x The best restaurant we found with an ocean view on the Malecons for sunset Pisco Sours and tapas is Trattoria Mambrino. Get there by 5 or 5:30 for an outside patio table to view the ocean sunset. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gAa3f25nyNE2ChjB7 On Day 2 at the M&G, the Guest Services Director also answered all my questions about San Antonio-Santiago. Ships dock very close to the Terminal but it's not permitted to walk even the 7 minutes through the working port, so all ships as George Charlie thought, including Princess, run a bus from the ship dock to the San Antonio Cruise Terminal ("Terminal de Pasajeos San Antonio"), which takes about 5 minutes. This also worked very smoothly. The bus started running right at the ship's dock from 7 am day of disembarkation until everyone was at the Terminal. Easy peasy. If you are not on a Princess Coach from San Antonio to Santiago, as we were not, this Terminal has a nice coffee & breakfast shop inside where we enjoyed authentic Chilean empanadas and excellent local fruit juices while waiting for our Booking dot com taxi to fetch us to drive to Santiago (1 hour drive). Nice rest rooms in the Terminal as well. Tip: Once outside the Terminal on the street side, Princess kind of monopolizes the area. If you're not on a Princess Coach, then you'll have to walk about 5-7 minutes with luggage to the gate of the Terminal since non-Princess taxies or drivers can not go inside the gate. It's a very safe area, just keep asking anyone who looks official "Where can the private taxies meet us?" and you'll find your driver. Highly recommend booking dot com, their drivers always show up on time and on budget as they did for us this time in San Antonio. Have used them all over Europe, the US, and now South America. Happy Holidays! Here we are below at the Larcomar Christmas Tree:

Thank you so much! The night your ship stayed overnight in Lima, about what time did the last Princess bus leave the mall to return to the ship? Just looking for a guess-timate: 5pm? 9pm? Thanks this is great!

Hello @dalibi Please could you let us know was that Larcomer Mall in Lima's Miraflores district? Or which mall and was it in Lima? And how did you get from the ship to the mall and back to the ship? Thank you!

I did read everything on Callao in the initial link you send, but forgive me, did not realize there is more? It does seem clear from your initial link that Callao is not a place to drive through except on a ship's coach! Is there another set of Callao posts we need to see? Thank you so much for helping everyone out!

Dear @edinburgher Thank you so much! That makes enormous sense. I'll post on the Princess board as you suggest! If there's anything to add, I'll get back to everyone here. But you probably have given all the information which we'll get until a few days before Dec 13 docking in Lima...

@GeorgeCharlie Thank you! You are the Best! 💗😍 Now we're all set for how to navigate San Antonio port, thanks to you and the other kind folks here! All we have left is answer the original question in this thread: Princess shuttle in Lima? I have a contact inside Princess LAX looking into will they run a shuttle Dec 13-14? Neither she nor I can find it on Princess.com or Medallion app. All they have is 1 excursion to Miraflores "Lima In Your Own" which returns to the ship at 2:45 so no sunset at the Malecon and not much time to try seafood.... Every other excursion is a bus tour where you can't get off more than briefly, but we love to walk. I do hope @kremerlorraine enjoyed a real shuttle August 27-8? But it could be Princess discontinued it. Maybe they were worried about security... Right now we see no way to get thru the purgatory of Callao port, into Lima, other than buying Princess' Lima on Your Own tour. Even if Princess did run a shuttle across Callao port to the port gate, and even if there are still police there so we could meet our driver going to town safely, there's no way for us to navigate that checkpoint when we return to the ship by car...🤔

Dear @Nebr.cruiser, Thank you so much for everything, you have been so helpful on ocean conditions and ports! Please keep us posted on your husband's health and whether we can see you on board. Warm wishes, Kathy

@GeorgeCharlieThank you so much for your reply and a great picture ! I'm really enjoying your review, too. It seems like the building in your photo is close to where ships dock but since ships line up end to end, some may be closer than others... Would you think it's the long green building on the left side of this screenshot from the video "Terminal de Cruceros DPW San Antonio" ?

@Nebr.cruiser So sorry about your poor husband! We do hope he heals up! Please, since you know Santiago, do we need a shuttle from the dock to get across Santiago's large container port San Antonio and out to the port gate or a public street? Where the driver we booked online can find us? We stay in Santiago 2 nights but not at an official Princess hotel so we can't use their coach to Santiago...

@edinburgher @GeorgeCharlieThank you so much! Please: What about San Antonio, port for Santiago Chile? It looks just as huge and full of container equipment as Callao on Google satellite. Does Princess run a shuttle from the ship at San Antonio through the industrial area to a port gate or to outside the "cruiseport" building on Google? Where the driver we booked online can find us?

Dear @Nebr.cruiser, Thank you so much! After reading your kind post and those by @PhD-iva and @SVBing, we bought this cruise and hope to see you on board 🙂 We're in Santiago Dec. 19-20, flying home to LA Dec. 21. It's our first time in Santiago, will you be in town? Also: Does anyone have specifics on a Sapphire Princess shuttle in Lima Dec 13 & 14 from Callao port to Larcomer in Miraflores? I've seen posts here that Coral Princess ran shuttles from Callao to Miraflores this past August, but it was only announced on board, 3 days before docking. My husband and I love to explore ports and cities freelance but given Callao's reputation, a Princess shuttle would be great...

Yes, please remind me in January! I hope @kremerlorraine can tell us this month or in November, we sail Dec 1 !

Hello @vantec and @kremerlorraine, We sail Sapphire Princess leaving LA December 1 for Santiago, Chile. We're in Lima Dec 13-14, ship departs Lima Dec 14 at 10:30 pm We'd love to use a Princess shuttle from Callao Port in Lima to Larcomer Mall Miraflores! Please: When you actually sailed: --What time morning did first Princess shuttle leave port for Miraflores? --What time did the last shuttle leave Miraflores to return to the ship? --Did it take 50-60 minutes or about how long each way? Thank you so much!!! - Kathy