GeorgeCharlie

Charlie here, as today George wasn’t well enough to go on the tour. We had a full day booked with Abel P. with Tours by Locals. There were only 3 of us plus the driver & guide. We had to again make our way from the ship to the gate on the shuttle, but it was a lot easier today as they seemed to have a route just for the shuttle & people directing the big trucks. We drove to the downtown area & revisited many of places we saw from last night, we walked around from San Martin Square to the Square of Arms (the main plaza), unfortunately here we had to stay to the outside of the square due to threats of protests & a heavy police presence. In the square there were these young ladies from the Andes Mountains with baskets of treats to sell. The San Francisco Church was built in the late 1600s and has since become the most well-maintained church in the city. We were not able to see much of the outside, as it was undergoing maintenance. Even though the church features beautiful architecture and astonishing paintings, it has become known for its secret passageway that leads to catacombs. Hiding an estimated 25,000 bodies underground, many of the remains are exposed and even arranged in various patterns.The arrangement of the skulls has drawn much criticism. Apparently, it was decided that tourists would find it more interesting if the skulls were displayed like these are. Most local people view it as a desecration of a burial site into something that looks like a Halloween display. Found out that vultures sit atop the buildings & statues downtown, helps control the pigeons apparently. After all our walking, we drove through the residential areas of San Isidro & Miraflores, where we saw the famous Lover’s Park . And the famous statue “The Kiss” And of course, there had to be a cupid. We also visited the Huaca Pucllana (Pre-Incan temple pyramid of over 1500 years ago) & walked to the top of it – not your typical idea of a pyramid. Later we walked through Kennedy Square a beautiful park & had a typical Peruvian lunch at a nearby restaurant. The other couple left with another guide to see the Jewish Historic Museum, so Abel took me to the Koi & turtle pond, and the nearby 1600 olive trees that had been planted in the Spanish Colonial era, with an ancient olive press. Olive Trees. Olive Press. Apparently, these trees are protected & people are not allowed to pick the olives – seems kind of a waste to me. Since I was the only one left, they took me to the shuttle that ran from the Indian Market to the port gate, so I did see a little of the countryside.

After spending several hours walking around downtown Lima Tuesday evening, come Wednesday morning, my poor knees decided they couldn't take anymore. So I decided to stay on the ship and let Lynne go with the other couple, which were on the tours with us.

Some general comments regarding the fountains. The Circuito Magico del Agua (The Magic Water Circuit) first opened in 2007 and is in the Guinness Book record for the largest fountain complex in the world, displaying 13 distinct fountains and many are interactive. All of the fountains are illuminated at night, many with continuously changing color schemes, with an added choreographed show every Wednesday to Sunday. Unfortunately, we were there on a Tuesday! A couple of the fountains.

We were on the Oosterdam for the 31-day Miami - Buenos Aires cruise last Nov/Dec. When the ship stopped in San Antonio, we left the ship on a day-tour we had previously booked. As we had planned being off the ship while the mayhem of some 1,000 people disembarking and 1,000 people embarking, I cannot tell you if they had separate gangways. I know on previous B2B cruises, people who were continuing on, just bypassed the check-in lines and went directly to the boarding gangway. We left the ship just before 8am and pretty well just walked straight off through the announced gangway. As we were leaving the ship, they were still telling people who were disembarking, to stop going to the gangway and the wait in their assigned areas until their number/color was called - so it seemed we were leaving before the main disembarkation started. We returned just after 4pm and were able to board without delay.

One thing stood out regarding our visits to Lima's downtown area, both while we were there in the evening and when we were there the next day, and it was the large number of security personnel decked out in full riot gear, along with various crowd control vehicles. Our guides mentioned that protests were common and we should be okay, as long as we were cautious. We were able to pass through some of the blocked off areas to visit sights, after the guide explained that we were just tourists. Of course, we were lucky, because a few days later, the proverbial "sh*t-hit-the-fan". 😟

After a sea day, we arrived Callao (Lima), Peru, Late afternoon on Tuesday Nov 29th. We were there for another 2 full days, departing on Thursday Dec 01st at 6pm. The longer than normal stay was necessary to allow enough time for people to go to Machu Piccho. We had booked tours for all three days we were there. The Night of Lights, the evening we arrived, a tour of the City of Lima on the 2nd day, and then a tour to some Inca ruins outside Lima on the 3rd day. We had used Tours by Locals to book the tours and had booked one guide for the Tuesday evening and Thursday tours, and a different guide for the Wednesday tour. We originally booked the tours in May 2022 and the Tuesday evening show was the Water Fountains Light Show and Dinner & Peruvian Dance Show. About a month later the guide notified us the Dinner & Dance show was no longer available and suggested a walking tour of downtown Lima combined with the Water Fountain show, which we agreed to. Then a couple of months later we found out the tour guide was no longer offering tours through Tours by Locals. But, Tours by Locals told us he would still be doing the tours we booked with him. In checking what other guides they had available, we found one which was offering our preferred evening tour which included the Dinner & Dance Show. After giving it some thought, we decided to stay with the original guide. Not the best decision, as we found the guide to be more, or less, just going through the motions. The walk through the downtown area was interesting enough, but we found ourselves just wandering around looking at many similar sights, with little in meaningful narrative. As I mentioned, the downtown area tour was interesting, but eventually became a long boring walk. The evening tour mainly consisted of walking around the downtown area for a couple hours, then driving over to see the lighted fountains. A lot of the buildings featured restored balconies. One of the churches we visited. Other pictures from the downtown area. The lighted fountain park is a fairly large area, but we only saw a small part of it, as it was after 10pm and we were getting hungry. You could even get your picture taken in Santa’s sleigh.

We were in Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile in the early part of last December. When researching the port stop, we found there were basically two tours normally taken. One is driving inland, along with visiting La Serena, on a full day tour, or taking a half-day tour of La Serena. Besides the opportunity to see some of the countryside, the full day tour normally includes a visit to a Pisco Distillery, and a visit to see the City of Vicuna's square and church. With a number of the sites being closed on Mondays (day we were there), we saw little value taking the full day tour, so we opted for the half-day La Serena tour. I am in the process of doing a review of our cruise and will be reviewing our stop in Coquimbo fairly soon. You can see my review at: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2902718-‘just-back’-from-31-day-south-american-cruise-on-the-oosterdam/#comment-64566093

In a condensed version, we found the ship to be ill prepared for the cruise. We were told over 40% of the passenger-facing staff were new. Not only new to the ship, but new to HAL, and in many cases, new to the position they were placed in. In addition, the ship was understaffed in most areas we saw. We ate at all the restaurants and only found the Canaletto to be somewhat enjoyable. Most of the Pinnacle Grill tables were vacant, likely due to staffing, and we found the atmosphere to be one of pressuring us to eat and leave asap. The quality of food was dismal. Selection was to a large extent based around pasta, and/or spicy food. For us, pasta soon becomes tiresome, and neither of us enjoy spicy food. The entertainment and drinks were as a whole very poor in both selection, and/or quality. We had already started seeing small improvements by the end of our cruise, so I would expect things will have reached a somewhat acceptable state by the time you board.

We ended a cruise in BA on Dec 19th & 20th and had a very good local guide by the name of Tomás Hughes. We arrived in BA just as Argentina had won the World Cup, so the city was in total chaos and very difficult to get anywhere. Although on our first day, he did manage to show us some parts of the city and gave an excellent river boat tour of the delta. On the second day we used his services to get us from the cruise terminal to the airport and with the day being declared a National Holiday to celebrate the World Cup win, that trip was an adventure on it's own!! We found his rates to be very reasonable and he speaks good English. You can find out about what he offers at: https://www.bonaventuratrips.com/our-excursions

We then visited the downtown area of Montecristi. First a church. Then the town square. There were a number of street vendors selling clothing and regular household goods to locals. Including clothing you would not expect to see in a coastal town in the northern part of South America, but being Christmas time, I guess they may make a good gift. Lynne bought her 'Panama Hat' here - actually a Christmas toque! Best to leave sleeping dogs lie.

Just noticed Roca Souvenirs also has a Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/rocasouvenirs/

Yes, it is likely difficult to find souvenirs of the Cape Horn statue in Ushuaia, Argentina, as the statue is actually located in Chile. This is due to the ongoing political differences between the two countries. We were in both ports-of-call, while on a cruise last month, and visited a number of souvenir stores in Punta Arenas, all which had Cape Horn souvenirs. Because we wanted something sturdy, but light weight, we purchased the following souvenir. It is made out of wood and is about 6 inches square. It also separates into two pieces, which makes for easier handling. We bought in from Roca Souvenirs. Their website seems to be non-functional right now, but they say they provide delivery, so maybe try writing them. Their address is: Address: Pdte. Julio A.Roca 973, 6200000 Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena, Chile It cost 10,000 Chilean Pesos.

Montecristi is famous for being the birthplace of the Sombrero de Paja Toquilla, more commonly known as the Panama Hat. In the 1850's, several Ecuadorians went to Panama to sell their straw hats at the busy trade centers. As people from Panama travelled to California for the gold rush sporting their straw hats, they were often asked where they got their cool, breathable, shady sombreros. Since the hats were purchased in Panama, people started calling them Panama Hats even though they originated in Montecristi, Ecuador in the early 1600's. A lady demonstrating the traditional way Panama hats are made. Our guide and shop owner showing the different qualities in Panama hats. Molding the crown of a Panama hat. A statue commemorating women making Panama hats.

Not sure what blog you are referring too, as we didn't go to Antarctica?

In regards to what's happening (and has been happening) have a look at this link.

We have found in most cases we did not pay for independent tours until we took the tour. We just completed a 31-day South American cruise on HAL and the only ones we had to pay in advance were tours we booked through HAL. Plus, when we cancelled one of the tours, it took multiple trips to the Shore Excursions desk to get the errors they made straighten out.😠

If you are interested in seeing SpaceX's Starlink constellation, have a look at this active map. https://satellitemap.space/# I am a early Starlink beta user and I'm located at the outer edge of their service area. Their service area is limited to location of ground stations and this will remain a limitation until they get their satellite-to-satellite laser communication links working - hopefully within the next year, or two.

We visited Iceland on the Zuiderdam in 2018 and you can see our views on Iceland in my review of that cruise. As you will notice, we used independent arranged tours and strongly recommend them over cruise ship tours. We have cruising all over the world for some 40 years now and see little value in the cruise industries scare tactic of not leaving passengers behind. They are just as likely to leave people behind as private operators are - because, in most ports, the tours they are offering are by private operators in the first place!! All you have to do is read about people they left behind lately, such as, the storms in Central America last fall and the current unrest in Peru. Yes, the passengers in these cases did manage to catch up with the ships at another port, but that was because the tour operators managed it, not the cruise ships. We have found the small tour operators provide, on average, a much better tour and at a much reduced cost. We have taken a number of extended shore excursions in countries where people would normally have travel concerns (India, Cambodia, Miramar, etc.) and we have seen people who booked through the ship, were with the same tour company we had used - just at 2-3 times the cost. Plus, there are cases of where you can only get see some sites by a private operator, e.g. our visit to Falkland Islands last month.😎

After the visiting the lighthouse viewpoint, we drove over to Montecristi, a small town on the eastern side of Manta. On a hill overlooking the town is the local Civic Center building, which contains a museum. On the grounds of the Civic Center is the Mausoleum of José Eloy Alfaro Delgado, who was born in Montecristi. He was president of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911 and the leader of the Ecuadorian Liberal Revolution. He credited for finishing the construction of the railroad connecting Guayaquil and Quito, the separation of church and state, establishment of many public schools, implementing civil rights (such as freedom of speech), and the legalization of civil marriages and divorce. Inside the Mausoleum. Outside the Mausoleum is the steam engine brought to Ecuador in 1907, which once operated along the railroad traversing the Andes Mountains, linking the once disconnected highlands to the Ecuadorian coast. The Mausoleum is the red building behind the front end of the engine. View of Montecristi from the Civic Center.

We booked about a year in advance, as their service capacity is very limited. Max 3 people per trip and number of trips they can make depends on how long the ship is in port. We were there from 8am - 6pm and I understand they made 3 trips to Volunteer point and 3 trips to see Rockhoppers, which I understand is about the max they can currently do. I know some people on HAL's Grand SA cruise tried to book many months ago for their Feb 06th visit to Stanley and were unable to.

Last month we were very fortunate to be able to appreciate penguins in their natural habitat. Firstly, that it was a nice day, so we able to get ashore in the Falkland Islands – which is normally an achievement in itself! And secondly, that we were able to use Falklands Helicopter Services to easily get out and see the penguins. This meant, rather than spending 2 plus hours getting to Volunteer Point in a 4x4 vehicle, the trip by helicopter was about 20 minutes. King Penguin nesting site at Volunteer Point. King Penguin chick still in it's winter coat. Then, seeing we still had lots of time, we were also able to fly out and visit a colony of Rockhopper penguins. Rockhopper - "The penguin with an attitude". By the way - the cost to fly out to Volunteer Point, was the same as what the ship charged to go by 4x4!!

I missed mentioning about something else regarding the Pacoche Wildlife Refuge. There is a roadside restaurant beside the entry to the refuge park. While we were standing around waiting for a guide, I noticed staff coming out and getting things out of concrete vault with burning wood on top of it. So I wandered over to have a look at what they were doing. It seemed it was acting as a warming oven for food wrapped in leaves. The temperature was not high enough to cook as they were able to remove the food packages with bare hands.

Thanks. Now if I could just find the time to do more work on it.🙄

From there we drove over a restaurant near our next stop, the San Lorenzo’s Lighthouse viewpoint. Lunch was included in the tour cost and consisted of deep-fried fish with rice. On the beach in front of the restaurant there were a number of fenced off turtle nesting areas, where turtle eggs had been laid and now waiting to hatch. From there it was a short drive to the viewpoint. The walk over to see the lighthouse was apparently very strenuous, so none of our group went any farther then the to top of the first hill.

Manta was our first stop in South America and, seeing we were the first large cruise ship to visit a number of these ports for several years, we encountered some tourism start up hiccups. Here in Manta, our guide was struggling with English, as he had not been speaking it for over 2 years. In addition, there was lack of organization with our scheduled visit to the nature park. Our guide mentioned several times that we had to be at the park at a certain time, as a park guide was necessary in order visit the park. When we got there at the scheduled time - there was no guide. After several phone calls, it seemed no one knew if a park guide had actually been booked and if so, where he was. This required us to wait around for over an hour, before a guide returning from another tour, was able to take us out. And, as he had another group to take out in about an half an hour, we ended up seeing only about a half of what the regular tour offered. Again, even with getting a shortened tour, we found the park guide to very informative and the the park to be an interesting place to visit. The park guide only spoke Spanish and our guide then had to translate it to English. It was here where he was having a difficult time with his English. There were times where the park guide would give a rather lengthy presentation on a particular animal, or plant, and after our guide tried to translate it unsuccessfully - we didn't end up getting much out of it. Fortunately, the park guide sometimes had pictures of he was talking about on his tablet, some with even English explanations. The Pacoche Wildlife Refuge is about 30 minutes from Manta. The facilities were actually reasonably good, with a regular flush toilet and sink with running water. Once a guide arrived, we set off down the rather hilly trail. Some sections were reasonably steep and had crude steps which were difficult to navigate in some cases. The park nature guide describing a tree.