Mercruiser

Fitz Roy peak (on the right) from our hike yesterday

We are on a DIY Patagonia trip in Chile and Argentina. We have been in Argentina for 2 days now, presently in El Chalten, an Argentina tourist town by the famous Fitz Roy peak. This evening, we went out to a wonderful dinner (langastino starter, steak, trout, malbec wine, bottled water, chocolate mouse). The total bill was 76500 pesos. At the "official" exchange rate, our dinner bill would be $93.88 USD. The restaurant, and just about every business in El Chalten, is offering an exchange rate on US cash of 1000 peso = $1 USD. So the restaurant would charge $76.50 in US cash. I put the bill on my USA Visa credit card. It charged through as $72.87 USD. The worst way to pay this dinner bill would have been to exchange currency at the official rate, using an ATM or bank. I'm glad I used my credit card instead. Every business in this tourist town accepts credit cards for anything, without any observable limit. Earlier today, we bought cookies at a bakery, using a credit card. The total amount $0.69. The bakery employee didn't bat an eye. I've been using US $5 notes for meal tips. The servers seem quite happy to have US currency. We went to a steak house last night. I paid the bill on a Visa CC. But the server suggested the tip in cash. I said it would have to be in USD. He said "that is even better". The Argentina pesos devalue very fast because of 120% annual inflation. Consequently, US currency makes a good store of wealth compared to local currency. Hint: Set up text alerts with your CC company on foreign transactions. You will get an immediate text alert on your phone, telling you the amount in your local currency.

I am in El Chalten Argentina now. Went to a steak house last night. I paid the bill on a Visa CC. But the server suggested the tip in cash. I said it would have to be in USD. He said "that is even better". Also, every business in this tourist town accepts credit cards, even for small purchases. We bought cookies at a bakery. The cost was $0.69 USD on a credit card.

Ellasabe, It is bad etiquette to post a question and then ghost the thread.

It might be a good time to upgrade your phone. Esims are so economical and easy to use for international travel. Now that I've used an esim, I would not want to travel without it. BTW, we are in Chile right now using the Airalo esim. It works great. For anyone new to esims, I strongly recommend testing the esim in your home country before going on a trip - buy the cheapest esim that works at home and give it a try. Like most things, it's easy once you know how how it works. But I wouldn't want to have to figure this out for the first time when on a trip.

You are welcome. A day at the Moorea Hilton sounds wonderful. The snorkeling is really good, and the setting is gorgeous.

Here is the email notice I received yesterday I called the number. They told me the cabin I had been assigned. It was a good cabin so I went ahead and paid for the upgrade. I like that you know the cabin number before agreeing to go through with the upgrade. There are some really bad noisy Oceanview cabins on R-class ships (Deck 4 front).

Here is the upgrade offer received for Quest, Jan 22 (Santiago Chile to Buenos Aries Argentina).

You will be a short taxi ride (8 km or so) for where the ship tender boats land. There are two bays that are used to anchor large ships. Both of them are a short taxi ride to the Moorea Hilton. Here is a map showing the driving distance for the most common anchorage, Opunohu Bay: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wcowj2KwDMe66YfMA The other possible anchorage is nearby Cook's Bay. Here is a picture, taken from our room at the Moorea Hilton, showing the Paul Paul Gauguin departing from it's anchorage in Opunohu Bay. This will give you an idea of the distance involved. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2830241-on-our-way-to-moorea/?do=findComment&comment=62672144

Papa goose, Unrelated to your original question, but when visiting USA, you might try Ubigi. I used them for three months and was quite happy with them. They use the T-Mobile network.

Not sure why the duplicate post, but the last one is the most complete

Unfortunately, South American esims are exorbitantly priced compared to Europe.& North America regional sims. The best price per GB seems to be on the single country sims. For example, an Airalo Chile esim is 7 GB, 5 days, $11. That is really cheap. But if you get their LATAM regional esim, it's 5 GB, 30 days, $60. Buying a separate esim when you change counties can be way cheaper. Chile and Argentina would cover most of a typical Buenos Aries - Santiago cruise. I have not seen an esim that works in the Falklands. I've used Airalo in Europe and Ubigi in the USA.. Both work great. I haven't used an esim in S.A. yet. BYW, we are flying to Chile today for a pre-cruise land trip to Patagonia.

Unfortunately, South American esims are exorbitantly priced compared to Europe, North America regional sims, etc. The best price per GB seems to be on the single country sims. For example, an Airalo Chile esim, is 7 GB, 5 days, $11. That is really cheap. But if you get their LATAM regional esim, it's 5 GB, 30 days, $60. Buying a separate esim.when you change counties can be way cheaper. I have not seen an email that works in the Falklands. BYW, we are flying to Chile today for a pre-cruise land trip to Patagonia.

Contact the Wyndham Lima Airport hotel. It is connected to the airport by a skybridge. https://wyndhamcostadelsollimaairport.reservationstays.com/hotels/RGa0EEoj?utm_source=adwords_semro&utm_campaign=G%3ARS%3AUS%3APPC%3ANB%3AProp%3AUS-ROW%3AEN%3A4-Star&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkeSsBhDUARIsAK3tiecrNzX83Ph5DjmOFwDH2rYnmsY2A_59U0ABmnkQskNZJ82DR1bzV9YaAr01EALw_wcB&expand_params=false

That's kind of ironic if Argentinians want large USD notes, given that the largest Argentinean note is 2000 pesos = $2.47 USD, at the official exchange rate and $2.01 USD at the blue rate. If the coming year has the same rate of inflation as last year, 2000 pesos will be worth 70 cents in a year. USD notes of any denomination seem like a wonderful store of wealth by comparison. I'm not arguing that $1 bills might be hard to use in Argentina. I'm just amazed at the absurdity of their currency situation.

Google lens translates this as (red emphasis mine): OFFICIAL DIARY OF THE UNION Published on: 01/04/2024 | Edition: 3-A | Section: 1- Extra A | Page 1 Body: Acts of the Executive Branch DECREE No. 11,875, OF JANUARY 4, 2024 Amends Decree No. 11,515, of May 2, 2023, which revokes Decree No. 9,731. March 16, 2019. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, in the use of the powers conferred on him by art. 84, caput, item VI, line "a", of the Constitution. DECREE: Art. 1 Decree No. 11,515, of May 2, 2023, comes into force with the following changes: "Art. 3° This Decree comes into force on April 10, 2024." (NR) Art. 2 Decree No. 11,692, of September 5, 2023, is hereby revoked. Art. 3 This Decree comes into force on the date of its publication. Brasilia, January 4, 2024: 203rd of Independence and 136th of the Republic. LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA Ricardo Garcia Cappelli Maria Laura da Rocha President of the Federative Republic of Brazil This content does not replace that published in the certified version. A LOT 1806

I copied this from a FB post. It looks legit, but I cannot attest to its authenticity.

We will be in Argentina soon, for a Patagonia land trip and Buenos Aeries cruise. I think I'm bringing lots of small bills in USD. See photo below. At home, I grumble about our worthless pennies, and nickels. Why do we still have them? But Argentina has taken this to a whole new level, where all coin and paper money doesn't buy anything.

Reading about all the refit improvements makes me think I need to book another QM2 crossing!

I had not previously read the QM2 Refit threads. Given that they added/replaced the Wifi access points on QM2, then my spreadsheet, describing the previous locations, is obsolete. And that is good news. 👍 So yes, I agree you should remove the Sticky on this topic.

I would say yes. But I am biased since I started the topic. Rationale: 1) Starlink improves the speed and reliability of the communications between the QM2 ship and the Internet (the rest of the world). It does nothing to improve the final connection between your smartphone (iPad, notebook, Kindle, Android phone, etc.) and the QM2. If you cannot get a good Wi-Fi connection on QM2, the improved Starlink does you no good. 2) Have they done anything to improve cabin connectivity on QM2? I have not been on QM2 since this topic was started, but I have no knowledge that Cunard has increased/improved the Wi-Fi access point locations since then. I think the fundamental problem of poor Wi-Fi still remains. If you want good Starlink Internet access on QM2, you will still want a cabin near a Wi-Fi access point.

Had it in February of this year (2023) for our two port stops in Ecuador. On this same cruise, we had to individually go through passport control (and show our passports obviously) to enter Panama for our Panama City port call.

Yes, the thought had occurred to me as well.

Supporting tourism is not Brazil's motive here. They are upset with USA, Canada, Australia, Japan because Brazil removed VISA requirements for those four countries in 2019, hoping to convince those same countries to reciprocate. USA, Canada, Australia, Japan did not reciprocate so Brazil reinstated the VISA requirements to what they were before. In other words, If you are going to make Brazilians go through an onerous VISA process to visit the USA, we are going to make USA citizens go through an onerous process to visit Brazil. It's tit-for-tat. The visa application requirements for Brazilians to visit the USA is far more difficult than what we all are experiencing. Brazilians have to make and wait for two separate appointments: 1) visit an "Application Service Center" to get fingerprinted and photographed, 2) visit a US embassy/consulate to be interviewed. There is no "e-Visa" option. The non-refundable application cost is $185 USD. Of course, I agree that the Brazilian e-Visa application process is way harder than it needs to be. And it's very frustrating to have this pop up now, so close to travel dates for many of us. Sources: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-us-tourism-visas-lula-bolsonaro-e206025994b64fa5695484b99a807971 https://br.usembassy.gov/visas/nonimmigrant-visas/

Yes, this is very frustrating. Their published directions assume the traveler enters Brazil using a scheduled carrier. From what I understand, most Iguazu tourists cross the border using a couple of taxis (1st taxi drops you off at the border, 2nd taxi picks you up on the other side after walking through passport control.).