Unrest in Chile

[DoggyDaddy]

What’s the story about the recent unrest, riots, and looting in Chile. We have a South America cruise next March with several stops in Chile. We would hate to miss them due to the unrest there. If we do cancel stops, when could we expect Holland America to reschedule the itinerary? It is a 44 day cruise starting March 15, so it is not that far away.

 

DD

[Sir PMP]

The unrest is mainly in Santiago, in the villages along the coast, you shouldn't notice anything..

[rkacruiser]

Chile is a beautiful and a North American citizen friendly country.  The diverse background of its citizens surprised me as well as delighted me.  I felt significantly more safe staying at the Santiago Sheraton Hotel and touring for a couple of days prior to my Zaandam cruise than I did during the HAL shore excursion in Buenos Aires.  

 

Geopolitical events happen and we, the traveling public, have to adjust.  Based on my experience during such events, i.e. the Bali tourist attack in 2002, HAL will not place its guests into any port where they could be harmed.  

 

When an itinerary change will be known, if needed?  No one knows and, I think, that includes HAL  The Volendam's stop at Bali was cancelled a day or two before our arrival and  a new port was announced.  (There were many very disappointed Indonesian crew members as well as guests when that happened.)

[Storylady]

6 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

The unrest is mainly in Santiago, in the villages along the coast, you shouldn't notice anything..

Valparaiso has had vandalism and demonstrations also, but things seem to be calming down. Tours to the wineries should be fine. And HAL does not use Valparaiso anymore so San Antonio shouldn’t be a problem.

 

If Hal does cancel San Antonio, there are plenty of other interesting cities that they can substitute.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Storylady

[Sir PMP]

1 hour ago, Storylady said:

Valparaiso has had vandalism and demonstrations also, but things seem to be calming down. Tours to the wineries should be fine. And HAL does not use Valparaiso anymore so San Antonio shouldn’t be a problem.

 

If Hal does cancel San Antonio, there are plenty of other interesting cities that they can substitute.

San Antonio is a dump, I wish we had Valparaiso as a port, but the Chinese threw all cruise ships out...

[rkacruiser]

4 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

San Antonio is a dump

I embarked Zaandam at San Antonio.  I spent no time there.  But, I met several fellow guests had spent 1-3 days there and enjoyed their stays and the experiences that they had.  The cruise terminal there is surely not world class.  But, it's quite satisfactory and the transfer needed from the terminal to the ship's pier is pleasant.  

[thinfool]

11 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

 the Chinese threw all cruise ships out...

 

Interesting...can you support this?  I would like to read about it because I heard an entirely different account of why they are no longer using Valparaiso.

[Sir PMP]

6 minutes ago, thinfool said:

 

Interesting...can you support this?  I would like to read about it because I heard an entirely different account of why they are no longer using Valparaiso.

Yes, the Chinese bought the port, and only allow their freighters in, as they did with other ports, there is a map that shows their strategy buying up ports around the world..

[Storylady]

25 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

San Antonio is a dump, I wish we had Valparaiso as a port, but the Chinese threw all cruise ships out...

I agree with you, but at least you can see the sights in the area. And it certainly will be quieter than Valparaiso which could have problems. I also heard the story about the Chinese throwing all the Cruise ships out. But later I heard that the problem had to do with strikes, berthing issues and limited pier-side services at the new terminal. Ships were having problems docking at the new terminal as the port was closed due to strikes.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Storylady

[thinfool]

A quick scan of port calls for Valparaiso indicates that a lot of cruise ships still call there.

The Carnival Panorama left there this morning.

In fairness, most of the ships are not mass market lines but include Hurtigrunen, Ponant and several others.

San Antonio hosts port calls by cruise lines that may be more familiar....Princess, HAL, NCL, etc.

I guess this is accurate...

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/san-antonio-port-9465?month=2020-02#schedule

 

https://www.puertovalparaiso.cl/comunidad/itinerario

[Sir PMP]

53 minutes ago, Storylady said:

I agree with you, but at least you can see the sights in the area. And it certainly will be quieter than Valparaiso which could have problems. I also heard the story about the Chinese throwing all the Cruise ships out. But later I heard that the problem had to do with strikes, berthing issues and limited pier-side services at the new terminal. Ships were having problems docking at the new terminal as the port was closed due to strikes.

I guess they allow some (think $$$) cruise ships, but not us, I don't know why, that's what we heard from the captain on the Prinsendam 2 years ago, same thing is going on in Walvis bay.

[TiogaCruiser]

We were told by our local tour guide that the dock workers union had pressured the port into taking commercial containers over cruise ships as they make more money loading and unloading freight, and that there are a number of businesses that are lobbying hard to get the cruise ship contracts back when the new contract expires. 

[Storylady]

2 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

I guess they allow some (think $$$) cruise ships, but not us, I don't know why, that's what we heard from the captain on the Prinsendam 2 years ago, same thing is going on in Walvis bay.

Not sure who I heard the story from that it was labor strikes, but I believe we heard it from one of the officers on the Prinsendam this year. I found an article that talks about the cruise ships moving to San Antonio. See link: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/valparaiso-under-pressure-to-build-cruise-terminal 

 

I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be on the cruise ships that had to wait to get into Valparaiso.

 

I also checked Cruisemapper to see if ships are still docking in Valparaiso. There are lots of small cruise ships with 1000 passengers or less. MSC has two ships docking there. But no NCL or Royal Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rkacruiser]

It is my understanding that Valparaiso was dropped in favor of San Antonio because of Union labor problems at that port.