Mercruiser

We are stopped. This isn't the kind of "live from" thread I hoped to be doing!

The Captain just got on the PA system at 10:10 am local time. He announced that we are within the calm waters of the Chilean fjords. We will be stopping in 20 minutes. They will open up the failed motor and diagnose the problem.

The captain and wikipedia disagree. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azamara_Quest They probably do not understand how diesel electric propulsion works. There are four Wartsila diesel engines powering 4 electric generators. Almost everything on the ship is electric. There are two props, each connect to one electric motor each. The diesel engines turn the generators which make electricity to power the motors (and everything else.) The two motors turn the propellors. The reason the ship has to stop moving is so that they can open up the casing on the failed electric motor and inspect it. While moving, the failed prop-motor continue to turn because they are being dragged through the water. We have to stop so that they stop turning, making it safe to work on them.

Yes, 10% in Argentina and Chile.

This was very interesting reading for me. Thanks for posting this. I am very, very surprised to hear that they sailed to the Antarctic with only one operating engine/propeller? Is that what happened or am I misinterpreting this?

Early AM update, 6 am local time Norwegian Sun (circled in red) is arriving on time at Puerto Montt. Quest should be right behind Sun if she were operating on schedule. Instead, Quest (circled in purple) has been running at 13 knots all night and has fallen behind. The cruise activity staff made a quick adjustment and published an "At Sea" schedule for today. They had it printed and in our cabins when we returned at 10pm last night. We have an independent tour arranged in Puerto Montt. I was pleased to receive this email from GV Tours: GV Tours sent you a message: Hello everyone, We've just received news about the propeller issues currently affecting the Azamara ship, and we truly understand the impact this may have on your plans, especially your ability to join our tour. We want to extend our heartfelt sympathies for any inconvenience this situation may cause you. To proceed with the cancellation, kindly submit your request through Viator. Rest assured, we will promptly approve the refund.

I am surprised to see us cruising at 13 knots, with the Norwegian Sun cruising ahead of us 17 knots (per Marine Traffic) on the same San Antonio to Puerto Montt segment. I would expect us to be going slower than that. I'll share more news when we hear it.

The captain made an announcement at 6:00pm local time, that one of the two propellers shut down due to a problem with the (electric) motor that powers it. With only one propeller (instead of 2), we are cruising at a reduced speed (13 knots per my gps). This will result in a late arrival near Puerto Montt Chile around 4:30 pm, instead of our scheduled arrival at 9:30 am. Our port call tomorrow (Wed) in Puerto Montt is canceled. Once we are near the port (in sheltered water), the ship will stop and the engineering team will inspect the motor. (The motor cannot be inspected while underway because the propeller and motor continue to spin from the force of the passing water.) That is what we know for now. Otherwise, this is a very enjoyable cruise. We just started our cruise in San Antonio (Santiago) Chile yesterday (Jan 22). The cruise destination is Buenos Aeries Argentina.

After seeing these speeds, I would only buy Azamara Internet if there are a lot of sea days. Or for this cruise, lots of days cruising along uninhabited shores (Chilean Fjords). For a Mediterranean, Baltic, UK, Alaska, or Caribbean cruise, I would just use cellular data (esims).

Here are the signup screens. First, you buy the Voyage package at $299 less discount for this 15-night cruise. I got the 50% discount for Discoverer. Then you buy the "High Bandwidth" package for $134. There is no discount on this. In my opinion, the base level is too slow to be usable for anything but text emails, basic web pages, text messages, etc. The High Speed package seems very slow compared to what we all saw Starlink doing early last year. I am underwhelmed.

Just boarded Quest in San Antonio (Santiago), Chile. Here are the speedtest results. All results are while docked in the port. Cellar data from pool deck (LTE on Claro cellular) Base internet package (free minutes and full journey base package have the same speed). This is amazingly slow. Web pages load very slowly. This result is after upgrading to the high speed package. This is pretty darn slow for Starlink. I went to the Internet help desk guy. He said it is slower while in a city. I'll try again later when we are away from cities.

We are having a great time in Valparaiso Chile, before boarding Quest tomorrow. We are staying 2 nights in Valparaiso. We spent the previous 2 nights in Santiago. If the 2, I like Valparaiso better.

Sounds wonderful. Oceania Marina looks to have a great itinerary. I hope to try Oceania soon. Have a great cruise.

I made 1 purchase in Argentina for admission to a wildlife preserve that didn't take cards. I gave them a $20 and got Argentina notes as change. Other than that, I've used USD for tips, not purchases. Everyone in Argentina seems to take and want US currency. They post the US exchange rates on the menus at a better than official rate, but not as good as what my credit card provides. Have not used USD in Chile.

For Argentina, See my post on Don't Use Argentina Currency in this forum. For Chile, we have been here for a week. I'm in Santiago now. I've used a credit card for everything here, except a couple of purchases from street vendors. Like Argentina, there doesn't seem to be any minimum purchase required. Also, there doesn't seem to be any stigma using credit cards. Everyone seems happy to take them.

Hurricanes are a definite yes for Florida and the Caribbean. In contrast, hurricanes are rarely make it to NYC and points north. So id say it's possible but unlikely. Hurricane Sandy was the exception. Its rainfall caused a lot of flooding in NYC

I was studying these itineraries in detail while planning for this cruise a year ago. I signed up for a 7-day free trial on Marine Traffic that allowed me to see 1-year of historical data for any ship. Here is Island Princess' track from Feb 5 2023. This is not so interesting of a cruise compared to what I'll show next. Now lets look at a series of Oceania Marina tracks. WOW! I'm especially impressed with this Marina itinerary. They spent a lot of time exploring the fjords around Puerto Aisen. Which Oceania sailing are you going on? I want to try Oceania, but have not done so yet.

Torquer, Thanks for your response. I think my hypothesis is correct: Smaller ships are more likely (than big ships to) to take the "inside passage", versus heading out to sea. But you make a good point that my one example does not prove the hypothesis. We will get a better comparison next week when Azamara Quest and Norwegian Sun (1936 passengers) follow the exact same itinerary through the Chilean Fjords. 22 Jan - Depart San Antonio Chile 24 Jan - Puerto Montt 25 Jan - Puerto Chacabuco 28 Jan - Punta Arenas

We were having a discussion in a previous thread about the routes taken through the Chilian Fjords by various ships. Next week, we are sailing the Chilian Fjords on Azamara Quest from Santiago to Buenos Aeries. While waiting for our cruise, I've been monitoring the Quest's progress (heading from Buenos Aeries to Santiago) on one of the cruise mapping sites. While doing so, I also noticed that Sapphire Princess is running the same route as Quest. This provides an opportunity to compare a cruise on a big ship (Island Princess, 2214 passengers) versus a small ship (Azamara Onward, 710 passengers. Shown below is a side-by-side comparison of the routes taken by the two ships over the last few days. On the left, we have the track taken by the Island Princess. Notice how Island Princess goes to to open ocean on two occasions. This allows Island Princess to cruise faster, by being in the open ocean where there are no obstructions. It also makes a less appealing cruise, IMHO. I'd rather be looking at land on both sides of the ship than be out on the open ocean seeing land that is 30+ miles away. On the right, notice how Azamara Quest stays in the Chilian Fjords "inside passage" the whole way. IMHO, this makes a much better cruising experience. There is land to look at and photograph, at all times. As an additional benefit, there are little to no waves, compared to being on the open ocean.

Will be booking Sept 2025 Montreal to NYC during our Azamara cruise next week. We are looking forward to this itinerary.

We are newly retired and are traveling as much as possible. If you are planning to travel internationally, I strongly recommend getting a newer phone that can use esims (iPhone 14 or newer, newer Samsung or Pixels). An esim allows you to get a data package for your phone for most anywhere in the world. Airalo is my current favorite esim provider, but there are 100s of companies selling these. We are in Chile right now. An Airalo esim for Chile is $11 for 7GB of data. That is really cheap. The great thing about esims is they are a digital product. You buy them over the Internet and install them on your phone, like a software license key. This is way easier than the old way of buying a sim chip at the airport on arrival.

I agree. We have been in Chile & Argentina for a week now. All of our tour guides, and hotels have been contacting us on WhatsApp. This is also the case in Europe (lived there 2018 - 2020) and Tanzania. When traveling internationally, WhatsApp is much more useful than text messaging.

I'm using a Citi card. The $72.87 text is also the rate that's showing in the mobile app transactions list 3 days later. I was hoping to see even more of a discount if Citi was doing what you had experienced previously.

Log in to your credit card account. Search for "Alerts" and then find the alert for foreign transactions. Set it to send you a text message to your phone whenever there is a foreign transaction on your card. These text messages arrive almost instantly and contain the amount in your local currency, eg $56.45 USD. You can probably find specific instructions by googling: how to configure text alerts for Citi substituting your credit card issuer's name.

We are going on this Falklands penguin tour in a couple of weeks. Search for it in this forum for first-hand recommendations. It fills up fast. http://estancia-excursions.com/tour/volunteer-point/ They do NOT require a deposit. Payment is in cash only while on the tour.