a few years ago. It was a great opportunity to see Patagonia in all its glory, to visit the "edge of the world" in Ushuaia, to see dangerous and mysterious Cape Horn, to ride on real jeeps in the Falkland Islands and meet the Royal and Magellanic penguins, as well as walk around Uruguay's capital, Montevideo!
This cruise was called the scenic cruise. This is when the ship doesn't moor, but floats slowly along the scenic shores so that the passengers can enjoy the surrounding views and take pictures of the beautiful landscapes. Usually, there are only 1 or 2 sea days.
This was our route: Valparaiso, Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco, Chilean Fjords, Patagonic Channels, Magellan Strait, Punta Arenas, Beagle Channel, Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Stanley / Falklands, Puerto Madryn, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
I booked the cruise 9 months in advance. It lasted 15 days, from March 12 to March 26, 2016.
Here's some information about the transfer.
You can go from Santiago to Valparaiso by bus or by car, the latter takes 1 hour and 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there isn't a car rental office in Valparaiso, so you can't return the car there. So, we had to look for other options to get to the cruise port that wasn't by bus. We could have taken a taxi from the airport, but it would cost $300. Since there were four of us and everyone had 2 suitcases, we had to take 2 cars and it was too expensive. I managed to find a tour guide in Santiago who organized a shuttle on a minivan for $250.
The cruise terminal was located 2 miles (3.5 km) from a liner's mooring place. So passengers were carried to the ship by free port buses.
The first step was to check in our luggage and register onboard. Then we were given a ticket with a bus number, which took us straight to the boarding site.
This was our 6th cruise and the second one with the
.
After boarding the ship, everyone had to hand over all the alcohol and sharp objects they were carrying to the staff. They would be returned at the end of the cruise. Then, after passing through another registration process, passengers were given the keys to their cabins. By the way, this was the first cruise where all the passengers had to give the staff their passports, which were also returned on the last day. This was done according to the customs rules, since we departed from the coast of Chile, on our way to Argentina.
Since the budget for the entire month's trip was quite big, we decided to first take a look inside our cabin, and we were pleased with it. Together with our friends, we had two spacious cabins near each other on the 10th deck, with an area of 172 sq.ft. (52.5 sq. meters).
Our steward was from the Philippines; such an attentive man!
After settling in, we looked around and celebrated the beginning of our trip. We also attended a 30 minute drill before departure.
I selected and ordered wine and strawberries on the cruise company's website, when we were at home. All that I had ordered was waiting for us in our cabin. The wine was tasty - Australian White Muscat!
Now I'll show you some pictures of the ship.
Here's a hallway.
This is the Reception Desk.
Norwegian Cruise Line doesn't have a formal dress code, so tuxedos and evening dresses are not necessary.
There's no special time for dinner either, so you can visit any restaurant between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The liner has 2 à la carte restaurants, one buffet and a couple of bars.
Food on the cruise was very tasty, and the waiters were kind and friendly!
Here's one of the restaurants.
Here's the entrance to the second restaurant.
Several times during the trip, lunch was cooked and served by the pool.
Here's the bar by the pool.
The average price of a cocktail was $8, beer was $4 and a bottle of whiskey was $106. Moreover, the waiters told us that it was cheaper to buy a bottle rather than shots.
Here's one of the halls.
This was the farewell party.
Here's the library.
Evening shows and tour gatherings took place in this theater.
Here you can see your pictures, with the option to choose the best ones and buy them, if you like them.
You can buy paintings at auction.
This is the gym.
This is the Casino. I got lucky and won $250! :)
Here is one of the decks.
Here are a few of the attractions.
There were two pools with warm water, one with a temperature 84º Fahrenheit (29º Celsius) and the other with a temperature of 78º Fahrenheit (26º Celsius). There were also several whirlpools. However, we did not expect to swim every day of the cruise, as the weather varied over the course of 15 days, from +86º F (+30º C) to +41º F (+5º C).
Below, you can see how many people there were on the first day. Then the number dropped to only a handful of people swimming at a time.
The pool was drained and closed during large waves, but that happened only twice.
This was the children's pool.
There was even a hail storm once, when we were passing through Cape Horn.
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