THE PORTS OF VALPARAISO & SAN ANTONIO
Some of you may recall but this is actually the 3rd time we have been down in this part of the world. We have done two 72 night “Circle South America” cruises on Regent back in 2012 & 2016. Ok, I admit it, I love South American and the people down here. My last approximately 6 years of flying was mainly to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Santiago. Any way, on both our two earlier cruises our port of call was to the port at Valparaiso. Not sure why but on this cruise we will be departing out of the port at San Antonio. San Antonio is 56 miles south of Valparaiso but the distance from the city center in Santiago is about the same to either one. So we are anxious to see the port at San Antonio.
San Antonio
The city’s population is only around 88,000 so is much smaller than Valparaiso with nearly 950,000. It’s port is the hub of the fishing industry and largest port in terms of freight handled. It is the busiest port of the west coast of all South America. It lies on the hills and coastal dunes just north of the mouth of the Maipo River. You winos may recognize the name “Maipo” as it is a major wine producing region in Chile.
The port was shutdown in February of 2010 due an earthquake but was back in operation within a month. Basically, it is a commercial port and not as interesting for cruise passengers as Valparaiso.
Valparaiso
They say this is their principal port and the city is the second largest in Chile. During the last half of the 1800’s and before the Panama Canal was built, this was the major stopover for ships traveling between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn. Opening of the Panama Canal devastated the economy here but it has staged an impressive comeback starting in 2000. Today it is a major distribution center for container ship traffic, copper, and fruits. During the summer months approximately 50 cruise ships stop here due to its close proximity to Santiago. Like San Antonio, it is on a fault line so subject to earthquakes. The mild climate here is much like San Francisco’s. The city was built on hillsides so there are 16 operating funiculars scaling the steep slopes so people can get around.
What We Did Last Evening:
Some of you may recall but this is actually the 3rd time we have been down in this part of the world. We have done two 72 night “Circle South America” cruises on Regent back in 2012 & 2016. Ok, I admit it, I love South American and the people down here. My last approximately 6 years of flying was mainly to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Santiago. Any way, on both our two earlier cruises our port of call was to the port at Valparaiso. Not sure why but on this cruise we will be departing out of the port at San Antonio. San Antonio is 56 miles south of Valparaiso but the distance from the city center in Santiago is about the same to either one. So we are anxious to see the port at San Antonio.
San Antonio
The city’s population is only around 88,000 so is much smaller than Valparaiso with nearly 950,000. It’s port is the hub of the fishing industry and largest port in terms of freight handled. It is the busiest port of the west coast of all South America. It lies on the hills and coastal dunes just north of the mouth of the Maipo River. You winos may recognize the name “Maipo” as it is a major wine producing region in Chile.
The port was shutdown in February of 2010 due an earthquake but was back in operation within a month. Basically, it is a commercial port and not as interesting for cruise passengers as Valparaiso.
Valparaiso
They say this is their principal port and the city is the second largest in Chile. During the last half of the 1800’s and before the Panama Canal was built, this was the major stopover for ships traveling between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn. Opening of the Panama Canal devastated the economy here but it has staged an impressive comeback starting in 2000. Today it is a major distribution center for container ship traffic, copper, and fruits. During the summer months approximately 50 cruise ships stop here due to its close proximity to Santiago. Like San Antonio, it is on a fault line so subject to earthquakes. The mild climate here is much like San Francisco’s. The city was built on hillsides so there are 16 operating funiculars scaling the steep slopes so people can get around.
What We Did Last Evening:
Started evening with cocktails in the Executive Lounge. Rebecca had martinis and I drank Manhattans. Used the sweet vermouth that I bought earlier at the mall then used some of my Woodford Reserve bourbon minis. Left the sweet vermouth in lounge for others to use.
We dined in the hotel restaurant. Rebecca really enjoyed her grill salmon. Wish I had ordered it too as my lasagna was not quite as good. After dinner we went back up to the exec lounge and had more wine. Closed down the lounge at 10:00 as was having nice conversation with a couple from Tennessee that we had met up there yesterday. Always nice to share views with fellow conservatives!
What We Did Today:
I woke up at 6:00 and could not go back to sleep but laid there until 7:00. Showered and went down to get some coffee for Rebecca. After she got ready we enjoyed breakfast in hotel restaurant as it was also complimentary due to my diamond status with Hilton. I had front desk call the port agent to confirm a private car would be picking us up at 11:00 am.
Lovely morning as is sunny and 60F. Will warm up into the 90's later however. Saw on internet where it is 9F this morning in Durango.
Our private car showed up right on time to take us to the port in San Antonio. It was a nice 11/2 hour ride through the valley when all kinds of fruits, vegetables, vineyards, and corn are raised basically year round. We arrived at the pier at 12:30. This port does not have much of a passenger terminal. They took out checked luggage and we proceeded through security/xray of our carry on bags. Then we had to board a shuttle bus that took us out to the ship. The line there was long and clear outside of ship. Surprisingly, however it only took us 45 minutes to get to check-in which was in the show room.
As titanium our suite has to be ready for us by 1:00 and it was as not fully checked in until 1:30. So we went directly to our suite. I went back down to make another reservation in Prime 7 (steakhouse) for later in cruise. Now we will be dining there three nights on this cruise segment. I also stopped by internet manager and had him refresh my memory on how to log onto the ship's internet.
Included as part of our titanium benefits is upgraded nice bottle of champagne, fresh flower bouquet, box of Lenidas candy.
This is my work area for doing the blog.
Nice, big walk-in closet.
Bath with double sinks
Yes, we get Fox News on the tv.
The bed faces the balcony which is not normal way on all other ships we have sailed on.
Our luggage arrived in the suite at 3:00pm.
This is our suite stewardess, Beniliza, from the Philippines. She will be going home in 5 days when we arrive at Lima, Peru.
Ok, it is now 3:30 and time to unpack the bags. I hate this task. Our emergency drill will take place at 5:15 as Regent always has it prior to sailing. Sailing time is 6:00. Then it will be time for cocktails prior to our 7:00 reservation in Prime 7. We are joining Marcia Rector there for dinner.
We have already ran into many crew members that we know and gave them all hugs. They all remembered us too. We also saw David & Marge, our friends from LA. We met them when on our 2012 Circle South America cruise. Dave is battling cancer so was very happy to see him. We also talked with the head sommelier, Georgiana from Romania, about our special order of La Crema chardonnay. She will have two bottles chilled and sent to Prime 7 for tonight. As usual, we are being totally spoiled by the crew!!
We dined in the hotel restaurant. Rebecca really enjoyed her grill salmon. Wish I had ordered it too as my lasagna was not quite as good. After dinner we went back up to the exec lounge and had more wine. Closed down the lounge at 10:00 as was having nice conversation with a couple from Tennessee that we had met up there yesterday. Always nice to share views with fellow conservatives!
What We Did Today:
I woke up at 6:00 and could not go back to sleep but laid there until 7:00. Showered and went down to get some coffee for Rebecca. After she got ready we enjoyed breakfast in hotel restaurant as it was also complimentary due to my diamond status with Hilton. I had front desk call the port agent to confirm a private car would be picking us up at 11:00 am.
Lovely morning as is sunny and 60F. Will warm up into the 90's later however. Saw on internet where it is 9F this morning in Durango.
Our private car showed up right on time to take us to the port in San Antonio. It was a nice 11/2 hour ride through the valley when all kinds of fruits, vegetables, vineyards, and corn are raised basically year round. We arrived at the pier at 12:30. This port does not have much of a passenger terminal. They took out checked luggage and we proceeded through security/xray of our carry on bags. Then we had to board a shuttle bus that took us out to the ship. The line there was long and clear outside of ship. Surprisingly, however it only took us 45 minutes to get to check-in which was in the show room.
Ok, it is now 3:30 and time to unpack the bags. I hate this task. Our emergency drill will take place at 5:15 as Regent always has it prior to sailing. Sailing time is 6:00. Then it will be time for cocktails prior to our 7:00 reservation in Prime 7. We are joining Marcia Rector there for dinner.
We have already ran into many crew members that we know and gave them all hugs. They all remembered us too. We also saw David & Marge, our friends from LA. We met them when on our 2012 Circle South America cruise. Dave is battling cancer so was very happy to see him. We also talked with the head sommelier, Georgiana from Romania, about our special order of La Crema chardonnay. She will have two bottles chilled and sent to Prime 7 for tonight. As usual, we are being totally spoiled by the crew!!
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