The South American and Antarctic experience on the Zaandam

[scubacruiserx2]

44 minutes ago, anthonyy7 said:

Great review so far, we’ll be arriving in BA next week @ AEP, did you happen to notice if they have the prepay taxis there?   What port did you leave from, Valparaiso or San Antonio? 

Thank you.

We would recommend going to the taxi kiosk across from where you come out after getting your luggage. They were very good and reasonable. 

I would be very leery of anyone coming up to you. 

We left from San Antonio.

Have a great trip.

[dog]

scubacruzer--how did taxi men get money from your bank? did they have your card/pin?

 

Is there a taxi kiosk at SCL?

Edited January 21, 2019 by dog

[scubacruiserx2]

18 minutes ago, dog said:

scubacruzer--how did taxi men get money from your bank? did they have your card/pin?

 

Is there a taxi kiosk at SCL?

 

Don't know for sure maybe a skimmer at the gas station ATM . We didn't look for one at SCL but we wish would have .

Edited January 21, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

1st days when and where 

 

 

 

A little walk around outside after the lifeboat drill

 

 

 

 

Our suitcases had arrived and we really wanted to unpack

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Your photos are amazing. I can't believe how sharp some of the mountain peaks are! A couple of questions please.

Do you recall which deck was used to exit the ship when it was docked? And about how long did it take to get through customs in Buenos Aires? What exactly did they require for leaving the ship? Thank you so much.

[scubacruiserx2]

8 hours ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

Your photos are amazing. I can't believe how sharp some of the mountain peaks are! A couple of questions please.

Do you recall which deck was used to exit the ship when it was docked? And about how long did it take to get through customs in Buenos Aires? What exactly did they require for leaving the ship? Thank you so much.

 

Thank you . Sometime they used A , 1 or 2 depending on the port and tides . They are some very low and very high tides . No problems with customs just your room key and passport (it was returned the day before Montevideo ) . In Chile we had to carry a written form . Most of ports look at bags that you are carrying for "food".

[scubacruiserx2]

Another perk of the Neptune Suite is to get your menus in advance .

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow's When and Where

 

 

 

Anchors Aweigh 

 

[AryMay]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We will be boarding the Zaandam next week and seeing your photos are just adding to the excitement!

 

Do you happen to have a photo of the first page of the When & Where for the first sea day that shows the morning activities? The one posted only has afternoon and evening. 

 

Also...will you (or do you) have all of the When & Where available on your Photobucket site for viewing?

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, AryMay said:

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We will be boarding the Zaandam next week and seeing your photos are just adding to the excitement!

 

Do you happen to have a photo of the first page of the When & Where for the first sea day that shows the morning activities? The one posted only has afternoon and evening. 

 

Also...will you (or do you) have all of the When & Where available on your Photobucket site for viewing?

 

You're welcome and no I don't see that morning . I will eventually but I download , edit upload and transfer to CC usually in chronological order and it's a very labor intensive for me .

Edited January 21, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

We also found out that we could order dinner from the menu - delivered to our room .

 

 

 

Scallops

 

 

Ceviche

 

 

Spicy peanut cilantro salad with turkey

 

 

And turkey tenderloin

 

 

Enjoy !

[scubacruiserx2]

While we were waiting for dinner we noticed the ride getting bumpy as we turned South with the waves now on our Starboard side . We could also catch up on some paperwork and planning . These need to be turned in to collect your passport .

 

 

Tentative schedule 

 

 

 

There were rumors that this would disappear when the Zaandam was last refurbished . We were glad to see it still working .

 

 

It had been a bumpy night , as the morning weather report showed .65 MPH apparent winds across the bow .

 

 

The view from the balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mocruzer]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:27 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

It's hard to tell how large the glacier is from the photos but it's about 3 miles wide , 240 feet tall and about 19 miles long .

 

 

 

 

There are different colors on the glacier white , black  , light blue and a dark blue that we had never seen before 

 

 

 

Once again it hard to measure the scale of the ice chunk  until we saw a boat next to it . It was leaning a lot as all of the people rain to one side .

 

 

We did see more calving here because we stayed longer here , but this glacier is advancing instead of retreating .

 

Our video clip of calving :

 

 

 

 

Sorry for repeating, but thanks again for your wonderful pictures 

[scubacruiserx2]

34 minutes ago, mocruzer said:

Sorry for repeating, but thanks again for your wonderful pictures 

 

Thank you for your kind words , were glad that you like them .   

[SusieKIslandGirl]

More amazing photos!!! We board next week along with AryMay and I hope the weather for us stays clear-otherwise we may have to "borrow" some photos from your posts. My question about leaving the ship in Buenos Aires-I'm trying to decide how much time we need to clear the ship and customs in order to meet our tour guide who will show us the city and drop us at the airport. Thanks again for the effort you're putting into your posts and sharing them with all of us.

[scubacruiserx2]

26 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

More amazing photos!!! We board next week along with AryMay and I hope the weather for us stays clear-otherwise we may have to "borrow" some photos from your posts. My question about leaving the ship in Buenos Aires-I'm trying to decide how much time we need to clear the ship and customs in order to meet our tour guide who will show us the city and drop us at the airport. Thanks again for the effort you're putting into your posts and sharing them with all of us.

 

Thank you.

The weather can and will change, sometimes within a few minutes, especially in Chile, south of Puerto Montt and Antarctica. 

We were the last group leaving the ship (9:30 am) because we had a Signature Experience with HAL. That went pretty quick. Maybe 20 minutes.

You have to get on a bus from the ship to get to the cruise terminal. I would give at least 45 minutes.

You could "do it yourself", where you disembark with all your luggage - no help needed. That would be the first group off the ship.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Thanks-that's the information I needed. We're on a tour that won't be back to the ship until almost midnight so won't be up for an early departure from the ship!

[scubacruiserx2]

Most of our breakfasts were at the Pinnacle Grill which is more intimate than the MDR or the Lido .

 

 

But the food was the same with different dishes and service 

 

 

 

 

 

About a hour later HAL was nice enough to allow about 70 people from CC to meet in the Crow's Nest . They also provided coffee , tea , ice water and cookies . We are very grateful to HAL and we would like to thank them for their generosity and a job well done .

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

3 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

Thanks-that's the information I needed. We're on a tour that won't be back to the ship until almost midnight so won't be up for an early departure from the ship!

 

We also had a tour on the first day in BA from the ship but we got back in the afternoon . The first day had less traffic and people than the second because most of the people disembarked with their luggage on the the second day .

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 

 

Joice the concierge was extremely helpful to us on this cruise .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Dinner at sea

 

 

Escargot

 

 

Duck breast

 

 

Tenderloin and shrimp

 

 

No sugar added Black Forest Cake

 

 

Puerto Montt in the morning

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

This was our third trip to Puerto Montt and so we kinda knew what we wanted to do . We would be using Claudio from Tours by locals as our guide .Unfortunately our favorite place to eat was closed but we trusted Claudio to take care of us . We knew that we were getting close when we saw the pilot boat .

 

 

And the missing tender boats .

 

 

We had no trouble boarding the tender because we used our Neptune Suite cards in place of a tender ticket . When we got to shore Claudio was waiting for us and we based on his weather information we decided to make a beeline to Osorno Volcano for an elusive clear shot of the peak . These were the best that we could take in our previous 2 visits and we hoped that the 3rd time would be the charm .

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

On top of the Volcano it was cold , windy , and damp and the ski lift wasn't operating because the summit was covered by fog .

 

 

 

But the snowman was 

 

 

The view of the lake

 

 

At a lookout spot we could see the fog starting to roll in 

 

 

 

Next stop : Petrohue Waterfalls

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

There were quite a few buses here and there would be many more later .

 

Walking up to the falls

 

 

Behind Pat where the man is was a pretty , but smaller falls .

 

 

And up ahead was a shopping opportunity

 

 

A bridge over busy waters

 

 

At this point the river divides

 

 

And it can get busy here when a bus shows up

 

[scubacruiserx2]

One way cuts through a narrow gorge

 

 

 

And the other spills into a boiling , bubbling pool

 

 

 

 

A video clip :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We headed back to " The city of the roses " , Puerto Varas , where Claudio told us of a good place for lunch .

 

 

 

It was raining when we arrived there so we went inside instead of the garden .

 

 

 

We loved this fluffy bread , like a little pillow .

 

 

 

Lunch for 2

 

 

Abalone ,  Giant Barnacles , Clams , Oysters and 3 kinds of King Crab !