My 2012 Santiago to San Francisco photos are up for viewing

[Sandy R]

Hope you enjoy the photos I took on our March 2012 Santiago to San Francisco Cruise aboard the Star Princess. It was a great cruise... nice people, good food (especially the Crown Grill), great weather, some new ports for us, and only having to fly a long distance one-way was wonderful.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/sandyris

[paul929207]

Thanks for the great pics. We will be doing this next year, so it just whets the appetite.

[lovevacadays]

Thanks so much. That is a cruise I would like to do someday.

[cherrybear]

Lovely photos thanks for posting them.

[CruisingJs]

We're doing the 2014 one that ends in LA, so your pictures made me drool. Your hotel in Santiago looks great. Were those places within walking distance or did you book a tour with someone?

[Sandy R]

Cruising... the Grand Hyatt Santiago was walking distance to the Parque Arauco Mall, where we caught the on/off bus that made stops throughout the city. A terrific Peruvian Restaurant in the courtyard of the mall, was "The Place"... great food at great prices. We had hired a guide/driver to take us to Santiago's wine country. If you hire a guide, ask if everything is included or if the guide is merely a driver. We didn't read the fine print and discovered entrance fees and lunch were on us. The day became quite expensive. BTW... if you're seniors, the Grand Hyatt has a great deal if you book a concierge level room, almost 1/2 price. The concierge breakfasts were more than adequate and the canapes at night were filling enough to make them dinner a few nights. The concierge level was definitely a good deal.

[CruisingJs]

Cruising... the Grand Hyatt Santiago was walking distance to the Parque Arauco Mall, where we caught the on/off bus that made stops throughout the city. A terrific Peruvian Restaurant in the courtyard of the mall, was "The Place"... great food at great prices. We had hired a guide/driver to take us to Santiago's wine country. If you hire a guide, ask if everything is included or if the guide is merely a driver. We didn't read the fine print and discovered entrance fees and lunch were on us. The day became quite expensive. BTW... if you're seniors, the Grand Hyatt has a great deal if you book a concierge level room, almost 1/2 price. The concierge breakfasts were more than adequate and the canapes at night were filling enough to make them dinner a few nights. The concierge level was definitely a good deal.

 

Thanks. I'll check into that. Any tour operators in other cities you would recommend or did you do Princess tours?

[Sandy R]

We rarely do ship tours. For the past several years, I've arranged small private tours in a variety of places around the world, with the help of the CC board recommendations.

 

In Coquimbo, Chile, the tour operator sent another tour operator with a bus that didn't have enough seats for our group. So, we hired a van, driver and guide on the dock and visited Elqui Valley, Vicuna and La Serena. It turned out to be a great day.

 

Our Callao stop, for Lima, became a 1/2 day stop because fog delayed the Star's arrival. We had to re-negotiate the price with "Peru Inca Wonders" to reflect the 1/2 day tour but they did a great job of showing us an abbreviated Lima.

 

In Manta, we used Metropolitan Touring. We visited Manta, Montecristi and Pacoche Rain Forest. It was an interesting day but truthfully, had we been told that Pacoche was a 45 minute trek up and down crude pathways, with mosquitos, we would have arranged something other than Pacoche.

 

In Puntarenas, we used Okeydokey Tours. We've used them before and they didn't disappoint. We visited the Espiritu Santo Coffee Plantation, Sarchi and the El Jardin Flowers and Butterflies. In the past, we used Okeydokey to do the Crocodile Man Tour. If you haven't done that yet, I highly recommend it.

 

In San Juan del Sur, we booked the ship's excursion, "Granada and Isleta Boat Tour", because Granada was a long distance from the port. It served to remind us again, why we prefer to book private tours.

 

In Manzanillo and Cabo San Lucas, we explored on our own.

[azbirdmom]

Thanks for sharing, Sandy. We are taking the Santiago to LA cruise next year and were on the Star from Santiago to Rio this year. We stayed at the Santiago Marriott in an Executive level room and it was also within a short walking distance of the mall. We found the Italian restaurant there to be excellent and well priced too, although the concierge lounge at the Marriott had enough variety of food that we also had a couple of meals there. I've booked the Marriott for next year but will "comparison shop" the Hyatt to see if we can get a better deal there.

[caribill]

Any tour operators in other cities you would recommend or did you do Princess tours?

 

These were the tours that had been arranged on our 2012 South Amercan cruise. http://starprincesssouthamerica2010.webs.com/secondlegtours.htm

[CruisingJs]

These were the tours that had been arranged on our 2012 South Amercan cruise. http://starprincesssouthamerica2010.webs.com/secondlegtours.htm

 

Thank you for sharing this . It's really helpful! I'm having trouble seeing other ports, but it could just be my iPad. I'll try it on my other computer later. I noticed you sailed with Quinby (Chris), who we had the pleasure to meet on our Hawaii trip last month.