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Disembarking in Chile. How late can we stay aboard?


muffin
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On the Royal . Doing 2 out of 3 segments of a 49 day total cruise. Arrive Santiago at 7 am. Flight out in mid evening. Can we stay onboard for several hours, rather than have to hang out at the airport? Or does everyone disembarking have to meet to do customs and get off at a set time? Can you do customs and then hang out onboard? What happens to the luggage? Our plan is probably going to be a private tour for the day, but I need to know options. I know princess has tour, but it gets to airport at 3pm. Still early. Hope somebody has done this. Thanks.

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A 3 PM arrival at SCL is really not too early. For an international flight you want to be there at least 3.5 hours in advance, 4 hours would be safer. Even for long haul flights on wide body aircraft there will likely be only a single check in line open for your airline.

 

If disembarking at San Antonio is similar to how Valparaiso was when I did so a few years ago, they will want you off the ship at the crack of dawn. The agricultural inspection of your person and your hand luggage is long, laborious and very thorough. You will be given an inspection slip when the ship arrives at its first Chilean port, which you must carry with you whenever off the ship and guard with your life as you must turn it in when disembarking. Getting back on the ship after Customs inspection is unthinkable under normal domestic disembark procedures, never mind South America. It won't matter one whit how many continuing passengers there may be.

 

If you take the Princess tour your luggage will be shipped ahead to SCL airport on a separate truck. I would hope independent tour providers would be expecting you to have your luggage with you, as otherwise I would not want it on separate transport.

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You will have to be out of your cabin by 8am. Latest disembark might be 9am/9:30am. Suggest you contact Michael Arnold, The German Pirate. We used him for a private transfer/tour in 2017. It was just the two of us and it was worth the money, really nice. Also, some on your roll call might have arranged some airport transfers/tours. Princess may also have a transfer/tour.

Michael Arnold <miguelarno@gmail.com>

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Normal disembarkation. You’ll be asked to be out of your cabin by 8am and all passengers will be off the ship by 10am.

 

Most passengers take a transfer combined with a tour to the airport, either with Princess or independently.

 

You will need to be at the airport at least three hours (at the latest) before your flight.

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Normal disembarkation. You’ll be asked to be out of your cabin by 8am and all passengers will be off the ship by 10am.

 

Most passengers take a transfer combined with a tour to the airport, either with Princess or independently.

 

You will need to be at the airport at least three hours (at the latest) before your flight.

We took a tour from Princess that included a very nice lunch and a bus tour of Santiago. At the time, the tour operator was not allowed to let passengers tour Santiago on foot, as there was some political unrest and a high percentage of pickpockets.

We still got to the airport early for our flight.

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The ship lands at the port of San Antonio, an industrial port with little to do at the port or even San Antonio. It is not the cleanest port we have ever been to. San Antonio is about 60 miles from Santiago and over one hour to get to the airport on the other side of Santiago. You will most likely be off the ship by 9:30 or 10:00 at the latest.

 

The German Pirate will acknowledge you inquiry and then keep you in mind just don't expect quick responses. Michael will finally respond with details maybe a month before your trip. He will most likely have other pax and will set the departure time according to the pax with the earliest flight. Michael is good and we did enjoy our time with him but he is not very quick on responses. Patience is the key word.

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Whoooo. Thanks to those who understood why I asked.

Sounds like the pirate and us will not connect. I want to get this set up sooner rather than later. See th Princess transfer tour, but as we leave on either the 9 ish or 11 is pm flight getting there before 3 is early for me. We get a transfer included in our travel agents package, but it is leave ship at 9:00 and drive straight to the airport trip. WAYYYYY too early. Thanks

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On the Royal . Doing 2 out of 3 segments of a 49 day total cruise. Arrive Santiago at 7 am. Flight out in mid evening. Can we stay onboard for several hours, rather than have to hang out at the airport? Or does everyone disembarking have to meet to do customs and get off at a set time? Can you do customs and then hang out onboard? What happens to the luggage? Our plan is probably going to be a private tour for the day, but I need to know options. I know princess has tour, but it gets to airport at 3pm. Still early. Hope somebody has done this. Thanks.

 

 

I agree.......as stated, out of the cabin by 8:00am and everyone off the ship by 9:30-10:00am.

Edited by Colo Cruiser
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I agree.......as stated, out of the cabin by 8:00am snd everyone off the ship by 9:30-10:00am.

 

I will be on that cruise on that date and no way will I be getting up and out by 8 or off early.if I have already done that country's immigration.

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Hi griller . True, but remember we are LEAVING the ship to LEAVE the country later in the day. As we will have our luggage with us I am sure Chile will want to know what we are importing into their country. I am assuming they want all of us leaving the ship in a group so one agent does it all. Fishywood has done it before, so I am thinking it will be similar to what he experienced.

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Hi griller . True, but remember we are LEAVING the ship to LEAVE the country later in the day. As we will have our luggage with us I am sure Chile will want to know what we are importing into their country. I am assuming they want all of us leaving the ship in a group so one agent does it all. Fishywood has done it before, so I am thinking it will be similar to what he experienced.

 

Very likely, good luck

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We get a transfer included in our travel agents package, but it is leave ship at 9:00 and drive straight to the airport trip. WAYYYYY too early. Thanks

 

Is this a Princess transfer or a transfer with another company?

 

If this is a Princess transfer, you should be able on board to switch to a Princess transfer that includes a tour on the way to the airport, just paying for the difference in cost. Just check early in that cruise segment at the shore excursion desk.

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