Around the Horn South American cruise on NCL Sun - pictorial review

[tammyjw305]

Yes -- it was a great cruise! Your cruise sounds great; I want to do the Panama Canal some day. It is a longer one too, so we have to determine when we can with kids.

[tammyjw305]

March 11, 2017 - Puerto Montt, Chile

 

We had a shared group tour booked with www.puertomontt-excursiones.com/en, tour http://www.puertomontt-excursiones.com/en/excursion_OsornoVolcano_Petrohue_TodosLosSantos.htm. The tour provider kept a list of those that had signed up (we did not have to get a group committed or pool money to make one payment -- both were nice to not be in charge of). I did post the tour on our Roll Call after signing up. Some others signed up; we were not all in the same tour. The cost of tour depended on how many were in your group.

In the M&G, we coordinated a time and place to meet with one in each group getting tender tickets. The tour provider provided names and room numbers for those in our group -- if the person agreed to provide that info. For those not in our M&G that we had room numbers for, I called to coordinate or left a vmail.

We got up and met early with an expected 8am arrival. The ship did not make up all the time from the late departure from Valpo, so we waited and waited. The crew provided little cups of water and orange juice. Once they began calling tenders, we were all off and met the guide quickly. It was probably 10 or 10:30 am when we met the guide. There was a covered, enclosed area where we did baggage check and waited. Our guide directed us to the wi-fi details, so we could check on things back home, while we waited to met everyone. There were 2 couples from Canada, one from Scotland, and a family from France.

 

After we had our group, we had a group of 16, we went out to board the minibus.

It was also rainy, and I very much wanted to see the Osorno volcano with its conical top like Mt. Fuji.

Our first stop was this church

Next up, and I believe we got to take a restroom break here, were our wet alpaca friends

Then we went to the green lagoon

[tammyjw305]

One more from the green lagoon with my water-proofed husband

Next, we went to the waterfall. It is running through black lava. It was very beautiful with lots of rain

 

[tammyjw305]

A few more of the water fall.

The full time our guide kept up optimism that the mountain would come out. I thought he crazy, but look what is peeking out --

Now, clear skies with just one cloud on top

 

We stopped at various mountain vantage points as it peeked out.

 

[relaxatsea]

Amazing pictures, thanks so much!

[tammyjw305]

We stopped at Puerto Varas, a German community. Here we had free time to explore on our own.

 

Yay -- the volcano and a bird

[tammyjw305]

One more from Puerto Varas

 

Our guide noted the volcano just got snow the night before. We were on the Pan American highway during the tour.

Then we headed back to port. I forgot that we earlier stopped for lunch before it stopped raining and the clouds cleared. We had empanadas -- beef and chicken. We paid USD for the tour; we collected crisp, unwrinkled and non-written on US dollars. I organized money needs into port labeled envelopes.

When we got back to the port, we tried a call to the kids on hangouts over the port wi-fi. It was Saturday, and they had moved to my parent's house. They were gone to McDonalds with my Mom to eat and play. I talked briefly to my Dad, and it was so hard to hear on both sides so would not have been a good call.

Back on the ship, we had dinner in the MDR; we shared a table with two ladies. I had chicken cordon bleu and volcano cake; my husband had crab and fish cake and a mexican brownie. We played the Majority Rules game and tied for 2nd.

The tour was very good; the scenery was amazing.

[tammyjw305]

One more note on Puerto Montt -- the tour lists an optional trip up the mountain on ski lift, weather permitting. I wanted to do this and mentioned in email to the tour guides. I found the lift's web site, and it was pricy as far as planning money needs. I contacted them from the web site to ask if they took credit cards. They quickly replied that they did. With the weather and late arrival, we did not get the oppty to go up; sharing if others get the chance.

[tammyjw305]

March 12 - Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

 

This was also a tender port; we were in port from 10-6. We arrived on time, so tendering was less crazy. However, I think we decided to get in line just as they paused the tender operation - doh. We had planned taking the bus from Chacabuco to Aysen and the on to Coyhaique. The trip was the destination; I ride through the Andres Mountains.

After tendering, there was a quick xray security. We tried the terminal wi-fi when arriving and leaving and did not have any luck getting on. From the terminal, we loaded a big coach that takes one outside the port gates to the three white dome tent shopping area that others mentioned. We did not go in.

 

We started looking for the bus to Aysen and started asking people. We caught it walking from the tents, back toward the port gates, and toward the water. There is no bus stop sign or any indication and the bus is really a minivan that people pile in and out of -- it was an interesting experience. It was a $1 US each, and on the way back, we paid in CLP, though I don't remember how much, guessing 500 Pesos. We just handed the driver money when we got off, and we had to ask them to stop when we wanted to stop. We read to get off after passing the red bridge (picture coming). We went a little further before we ask them to stop. Another interesting detail is that stop signs in Mexico say "ALTO", but in S. Amer., they said "PARE". Either probably works with the bus driver.

 

In Aysen, almost everything was closed because it was Sunday. We had read about 2 bus companies that went to Coyhaique; one was open on Sunday. We found the office (from looking at Google maps street view before) of Buses Suray and bought tickets. Also on our bus from Chacabuco was another couple from the cruise ship, so we looked for the office together. I read to be sure to buy return tickets when you buy your to Coyhaique ticket to be sure to get a seat. As far as we can tell, they could not sell the return ticket; though it may have been our lack of Spanish skills. We paid in CLP, which we planned about $6 / person for a round trip.

 

This was a big coach with assigned seats, though sparsely labeled, so hard to tell which seat was really which. We had to move once to get to the right set. And, sorry I have pictures from a bus...

 

The pretty scenery

Granite wall

From my research notes, I believe this waterfall is called Virgin Waterfall

 

[relaxatsea]

Our cruise did not go to Puerto Chabuco, so this is even more interesting to me. Lovely countryside!

[tammyjw305]

Coyhaique is down there

In Coyhaique

 

We ran into some of our CC roll call friends in Coyhaique. We got the last two seats on the bus back. We were not together; I guess we should have waited. However, there was not much open on Sunday. My husband was entertained by his seat mates. He was in the very back.

[tammyjw305]

Here is the red bridge that you need to get off the minivan from Puerto Chacabuco after passing. We took this picture from the bus stop (there was a bus stop here) where we caught the minivan back to Puerto Chacabuco. The first minivan was very full, so we waited for the next.

After returning to the three dome tents, we had to catch the port shuttle. The port was not far away, but it seemed secured that one has to enter on the shuttle. Though I do not remember if they looked at our ship key cards before letting us on the shuttle. We stopped to take these pictures, and they seemed to be keeping an eye on us that we did not roam too far. The cruise ship with a beautiful mountain backdrop.

View from the ship

Looking back at Puerto Chacabuco from the ship

[tammyjw305]

I did not take as many notes from tonight. We went to the Argentinean tango dancers show. I had not sold my husband on seeing them in Buenos Aires, so I had to see this. They were very good. After someone tall sat in front of us, we moved to the far side, where I think the opposite side is reserved for suite guests. These were annoying seats with a bar that goes across eye level. We had to lean on it or look under to see. Weird design.

Here is our first towel animal. Before we left home, my husband noted on deck 4 (not across from balconies) we would not have towel animal priority. I thought he was crazy, but he was right. We only got 3 or 4 towel animals on a 15 night cruise. Our room steward came by once and met my husband. I never met him. He kept us in ice, which is good. I had trouble keeping our third towel -- my hair towel. I left a note one night for an extra, one night my husband went out to get one, and one night I did. When I did, a maintenance guy was walking by, so I asked him if I could have another towel. He was fine with it :). On future cruise, I will need to ask at the beginning.

 

[buggins0402]

Thanks for writing this review. We are on the Sun for a cruise in the same direction in Feb 2019.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your posts.

[tammyjw305]

Thanks for writing this review. We are on the Sun for a cruise in the same direction in Feb 2019.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your posts.

 

It's a great cruise!

[tammyjw305]

I have to post a few more pictures from the drive from Puerto Chacabuco from my phone

 

 

[tammyjw305]

Notes we pulled on Puerto Chacabuco before going:

 

Walk to your left to the pavement road and take the shuttle bus to puerto aysen (Most were miniVans), they cost $500 pesos chilenos (less than a dollar). From puerto chacabuco to puerto aysen its like 15 minutes. Remember that they only accept chilean pesos here, there are no currency exchange at puerto chacabuco or puerto asyen.

This is important you must get down when the minivan turn left at the first bus and taxi stop, 2 blocks after crossing the red bridge. You could also ask the driver to stop where the bus to Coyhaique leaves). To buy a ticket you must enter to the office located just next to the bus stop (Buses Ali). Another bus company (Buses Suray) is located on the same street as the bridge, but half block on the opposite direction. I dont remember the exact price but it was less than 10 dollars.

 

This is also important the bus leaves every hour or something like that (11:30-12:40) so I recommend going quickly to buy a ticket and skip the visit of puerto aysen (there is nothing to see anyway). I also recommend to ask for the hours to get back and buy in advance so you dont have to worry later.

 

Round trip ticket = Billete de ida y vuelta

 

The bus will leave you near the city centre. Where you can find stores and restaurant. Much better than puerto aysen and puerto chacabuco.

---

 

You can hop on the local bus for about $1.00 each and take it into the next town then go into the bus station and buy a ticket to Coyhaique about $5.00. The bus takes you on the same road as the ship tour and it's fun to be with the locals. When you arrive in Coyhaique make sure you buy your return ticket to ensure a seat on the bus and get back in time. You may be able to buy a round trip ticket but we didn't know about it until someone on the bus informed us that we had to make a reservation for our return. This is sort of their Greyhound bus service.

 

We enjoyed doing this on our own and the drive going through the Andes was beautiful.

 

I did this local bus tour to Coyhaique on my own in January 2011. I bought a return ticket. The bus was very fast, about 3/4 hr. from Aysen to Coyhaique. I didn't start out early enough, so I just took the bus to Coyhaique and returned on the same bus. The scenery was very good, and it was fun to watch people get on and off in the different areas. It's best to go into Aysen and buy your ticket right away to Coyhaique, so that you have some time to look around the town before returning to Aysen, and then going back to Puerto Chacabuco. In Aysen, the grocery store would only take Chilean money, no US or credit cards, so no one bought anything, as none of us had any Chilean pesos with us. The store did have Chilean wine for sale, so if you want to buy some to take back to the ship, make sure you have some Chilean money with you.The bus station took US dollars, and the bus from Puerto Chacabuco into Aysen took US dollars.

 

 

Im going to Puerto Chacabuco in a few weeks and I am planning to take a bus to Coyhaique (capital region). From what I know the bus to puerto Aysen from the port cost around $ 2 US dollars (10-15 minutes). Puerto Aysen is a small city with the largest suspension bridge of Chile. From here you could take a taxi and ask for a tour around the different waterfall near the town (but dont expect that they speak english) or take a bus to Coyhaique for $ 7 US dollars (45-1 hour) every 30 minutes. From what I have read the journey between the two town is similar to the Lord of the Ring movies (A lot of green and mountains) and the best view of the valley is in the Salto de la Virgén (Virgin Waterfall).

[tammyjw305]

March 13, 2017 - Sea Day

 

The Captain warned us the night before that the seas would be rough again today. That we had to sail outside of the channel into the open waters of the Pacific. Side note on the Pacific, the wake was green on the Pacific side, and what I think of as the normal blue-turquoise color on the Atlantic side. Is this all the Pacific? I have sailed Alaska and did not notice it that far north.

So, I took my meclizine before going to bed, and a second one when waking up. The ship was rolling. We got ready and went up to the buffet for breakfast. We got food from the Great Outdoors and brought it back inside in the buffet seating area in the back. It was a challenge to walk and hold on to drinks.

Today was our "behind the scenes" tour; I was determined to not be affected by the movement. The tour met at the Four Seasons restaurant around 11am. We were visiting backstage Stardust, the galley, and the laundry. Accompanying us was a member of the cruise director's staff and security. We each got tour labels and were off.

First the Stardust, where we met the stage manager (we think this is his title -- trying to remember), who planned and coordinated all the shows. He explained the process, showed us his clipboard, and let us ask questions. Then we when backstage, entering through the outside (promenade deck), being very careful since the ship was still rolling.

Backstage is very small. They had a place to store microphones; they were labeled: iMic green, iMic blue, etc.

Each dancer had their own closet section. Some had their outfits in the order they would wear them during the show. They have to keep their own space organized.

 

On stage

 

[tammyjw305]

Next up, the galley. We have gotten a galley tour on one previous cruise with a request by our CC roll call. On the other tour, we got to see more food storage -- all the ice cream and vegetable rooms. I had a had time hearing when we were in the galley this time.

We interrupted a team meeting in progress; when complete, we got to go in.

Everything is clean and shiny (which is good :)). Prepared appetizers. It would be really interesting to see while dinner is in progress; though we would be quite in the way.

 

Soup vats

How the food should look and be arranged

 

 

[tammyjw305]

On to the laundry room. It cleans all the laundry from the staterooms as well as guest laundry sent in. Higher ranking officers get their laundry done for them daily; other crew members do their own laundry.

This is the tagging machine for the guest clothes send in. The tag is like a stiff material and pulls off without being sticky.

The pressing machine

 

[tammyjw305]

This was awesome; it folded! Though probably works best on just table clothes and sheets.

Feed it in

Folding

Piled and sent out

 

This ended our tour.

[relaxatsea]

Great ship tour! Thanks!

[tammyjw305]

After the tour, it was late, and we were hungry. We had lunch in the MDR. There are two MDR lunch menus. I like the one with the fish and chips and calamari the best; this one is rarer. Today, we had the other. We both had the greek salad. My husband had the omelet, and I had the bacon burger (which is good, though not fish and chips :)). I did not note a dessert; we likely skipped to have ice cream and cookies in the buffer later. The cookies can be hard to get on some cruises; some people stock up a little too well. On this cruise, though, they did a good job keeping the choc chip available in the Great Outdoors at the 3-5pm snack time.

We moved back into the channel, and the seas calmed by lunch.

Some beautiful channel pictures we got.

I'm not sure what is up with this picture. It looks rainy; maybe it was splashes from the morning rough seas. Or, maybe from another day. This is looking out our port hole. At one port, at the end -- I think Buenos Aires, they were finally cleaning port holes. Though not on our side... The picture looks pretty cool anyway.

 

[tammyjw305]

More

See that green wake!

 

Birds

 

[tammyjw305]

To finish this sea day, we had dinner at Le Bistro. We got our second bottle of wine. One came with room for platinum. It was supposed to be a sparkling wine, but they had regular white instead. My husband was happy with the substitution. Between them, he had a white and red depending on the meal he was ordering, and only remembered the wine claim tag if he was wearing his sports jacket with them in the pocket :). The waiters kindly found the needed wine without the claim tag.

We ate at Le Bistro twice during this cruise. On this visit, we got the complimentary salmon mousse with crusty bread that they give frequently (such that I'm insulted if we don't get it) and is delicious. I had french onion soup and their delicious filet. My husband had muscles and vegetable Napoleon. We both had the choc Napoleon for dessert. He thought it was very good, but I thought it had been better in the past.

After dinner, we went to the Argentinean Beatles cover band show. They were good; you could hear their accents when any one sang solo. Then we went to the game show, and husband participated in the Battle of the Sexes. Here they had to sing a real song that had not been sung previously in the game when the mic was put in their face.