porsena

Starboard definitely best for the Zaandam's itinerary out of BA. She goes around Cape Horn clockwise. 

As Cupcake said, there seems to be little to do in San Antonio. If that is your port of arrival, one of the two major bus lines in Chile runs a coach from the port exit to the main bus station in Santiago. It leaves when it's full but, if you miss it San Antonio's bus station is just a couple of blocks from the port exit and has a couple of scheduled departures to Santiago every hour. I remember the cost as under $10 a ticket. Highway coaches in Chile are comfortable and safe, and are the way many Chileans travel between cities. If San Antonio is your port of departure, you might want to book a tour that includes a winery or two on the way.  

We spent 5 days in Santiago at the end of our cruise last November. It's a major city with lots to see, lots of green space and interesting parks with nice walks, lots of shopping. We took a tour one day out to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar arranged by our hotel, the Mercure Santiago Centro. I recommend the Mercure, whose staff are excellent, among the best we've met. Santiago has curious traffic patterns with many one-way streets not necessarily signposted as such. Though I'm comfortable driving in most cities we visit I would not want to rent a car in Santiago.   

We did a day tour with Marcelo Mansilla on a November stop. We booked with him because of his consistently excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and were rewarded with a great tour. We walked in town in the morning, lots to see, with an informed and responsive dialogue. He had full answers to any questions about what location and culture. The lunch venue was a bonus, in a restaurant whose decor was themed to historic racing drivers and cars. In tha afternoon Marcelo took us with a van and driver to more outlying neighbourhoods like La Boca. The van and driver was a useful arrangement becuase we could be dropped in one place and picked up in another. We were back at the port with no worries about pushing our boarding time. 

Marcelo speaks excellent English and, just as important, we felt safe with him at all times. His itinerary is flexible if you have specific sights in mind, and I have no hesitation in recommending him here. 

Victoria has been enjoying several days of officially 'good' air quality in a row.

A large map is posted as you walk out of the terminal area that displays the different walking routes to downtown.

Thanks for the review and photos! We're looking forward to sailing on Zaandam in November, our first smaller HAL ship since the unlamented (by me, at least) Ryndam.

I agree with your comment about the too-small bathtub. I'd much rather have a walk-in shower in most of the same space.

Marquis Wine Cellars carries a more interesting and up-market selection and is a great place just to walk through if you like wine. It's not all that far from the Pan Pacific.

I hope I can post this without running foul of the administrators. Canada celebrates its 150th birthday this July 1st. Various levels of government are sponsoring events right across the country that will be free to all. In Victoria these events include over 100 free cultural performances in the afternoons and evenings between June 21 and July 1 on stages at Ship Point (across the inner harbour from the Legislature) and on the lawn of the Legislature itself. If you will be in port in that period you might want to do a search on "Canada 150 events in Victoria" to find out what's happening during your visit.

..and we look forward here to hearing what it's like to be swallowed by the whale. :D

We were on the Westerdam's Mexico cruise Jan 31. We had one night of fog. On deck 6, where we were, the foghorn could not be heard at all but it was pretty loud on deck 10 behind the Crowsnest, where the new cabins will be added in April. HAL will have a serious sound-proofing issue with these cabins if the occupants are to get any sleep while it's foggy out. I wonder if it can be done?

Appoarently sold in two days, but the(anonymous) purchaser has to wait until she's removed from service.

Thought of this thread last week on a Westerdam cruise to the Mexican Riviera. The Atessa IV was moored in Cabo, with helicopter.

We did the end-of-season cruise in 2015, Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale. It did not visit Bermuda but the Saguenay and Gaspe stops were pretty interesting.

You'd expect water temperature in the low 60s near the shore, higher over tidal flats.

I was in the Bengal Lounge at the Empress Hotel today for a final lamb curry. The Bengal Lounge closes for good at the end of this month. Staff seem to think the space will be turned over to retail.

Major renovations at the Empress started last fall. All the ivy has gone from the façade, a good structural move but leading to a less traditional appearance.

The tea lounge has been gutted and a new oval bar placed into its centre. Reconstruction is underway and the new lounge should be open by the start of the season, albeit smaller by a few tables. Unlike its last incarnation, the space will be used as a bar/lounge in the evening.

The renovations are being done sympathetically and much of the old character will remain.

There are roughly 5 craft breweries in Victoria, of which my all-round favourite is Hoynes. You'd find it inconvenient to visit but some of Victoria' s pubs will carry their and other local brews. I'll just add a recommendation to visit Spinnaker's for lunch. It's the oldest brew pub in BC and has good food. The restaurant downstairs is open to children but not the upstairs taproom. You'd get there on one of the cute little Harbour ferries from the stop in front of the Empress Hotel.

Try posting this question in the Canada-New England thread

Reserving in advance--sometimes long in advance--is essential for the Empress' afternoon teas. I have no experience with the evening tea but it seems a good idea to me, if only to find out about the situation where the room has been block-booked by someone else.

And others here are right about the value for money, which lies, like lunch at Simpson's, in the essentially British experience.

While government regulations in BC allow kids in pubs, not all pubs welcome them and most give them a curfew of 9 pm. You'll find an incomplete list of pubs in Victoria that welcome children here. One not on the list you might consider is the Canoe Brew Pub, which allows kids on the patio and in the dining room. One of my favourites for the food, view and beer, it's located at the foot of Swift St., next to Victoria's Chinatown.

If you have time after visiting the suspension bridge, consider a trail-walk in the Capilano River Regional Park. You can take a bus north from the CSB to the Cleveland Dam for a scenic entry point. The park is regularly missed by visitors to the suspension bridge, which is a bit of a shame.

The expected gratuity in a Vancouver restaurant is about 15%.

Hat tip to an article by Jack Knox in today's Times Colonist on BC Ferries capital spending plan. The print edition has photos of all 35 vessels in the fleet.

I too was across and back this week for a short trip to the Okanagan. I agree that the Wifi is good, much faster than cruise ship speed, though I had to change seats to find reception on-board the Coastal Celebration. And it's free! My guess is that it's powered through the cell-phone network for the South coast routes.

I suspect, but don't know, that the WiFi on BC Ferries runs off one of the major's cellular networks, because their internet is surely faster than it is on board a cruise ship.

I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet, which seems to connect well to unsecured sites but has issues talking to sites that require password verification when I'm outside the Telus network. I was quite frustrated with its recent performance in AZ and CA for that reason, and it was essentially unusable with Amtrak's WiFi. I don't know the cause, but I've had similar trouble with my also Android LG cell phone on and off in Europe.

Yes, the Victoria Harbour Commission has contracted the shuttle service for 2013, though BC Transit's routes 30 and 31 continue to provide scheduled service to the terminal area. I've read in the paper that the service was contracted to Wilson's Transportation. Wilson's has its own bus fleet and drivers and may not need to run afoul of BC Transit's union, but the article I read did not make that clear.

There's been recent friction between the union and management at BC Transit over the latter's proposal to replace some service by the "regular" sized buses with service by smaller vehicles, whose drivers would be paid at a lower scale. There was also the usual contracting-out objection by the union to the trial balloon of a contractor using buses owned by BC Transit for the shuttle. As you may have heard, the James Bay Residents' Association has also been vocal about impacts of the cruise industry on their neighbourhood. Partly in response, the Victoria Harbour Authority piloted shuttle service with smaller buses last year. I don't know what is actually being provided and I don't know what the fare is this year but can look into it if you're interested and nobody else here is better informed.