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Hotel Suggestions for San Antonio, Chile


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Would you happen to know if there was somewhere nearby the hotel to buy wine and liquor for bringing onboard the ship? Thanks!

 

Yes, the hotel is right across the street from the huge and modern Arauco Mall. It has many restaurants, shops, and a food court, and the Santa Isabel grocery store is on the ground level.

 

We were not specifically looking for wine or liquor, but the grocery store seemed to sell almost everything.

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We received a quote of $200 for the transfer from Santiago airport to our hotel in San Antonio. Does this seem about right? Thanks

 

 

At the time we booked it, The Hotel Mellatti's transfer varied from $130.00 to $160.00 depending on how far in advance you booked it, and/or the season. It still seemed worth it to us, as we avoided the hassle of doing it on our own using a bus to downtown Santiago and then a bus to San Antonio.

 

By the way, if any of you book with the Hotel Mellatti, ask for a room with a sea view. We had a room right on the front with a view of the harbor and watched our ship sail in. Also, the location across the street from the mall is very convenient. We also enjoyed walking along the seaside promenade and seeing the sea lions.

 

Another thing about the Hotel Mellatti is that they have a wonderful breakfast included in the price. We expected continental, and were very happy to find that we had fruit, toast, butter and jam, eggs, cheese, ham, as well as juices, coffee, and tea. Excellent breakfast with a view of the harbor. (And no, the hotel is not paying me a commission, I just thought they were wonderful!)

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Thanks for all you info and we can tell you like the hotel and enjoyed your stay--that means so much to fellow travelers. The small airport I was asking about, I thought there was maybe one in San Antonio, but Santiago it is--probably easier to do air with Celebrity as we come in Santiago and then go out BA, maybe after a couple day stay. We are up in Vero Beach, are you Florida too? gives us a couple airport choices, but we agree, as we get older--nice to sail home-with a few sea days!! Thanks again Marge

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At the time we booked it, The Hotel Mellatti's transfer varied from $130.00 to $160.00 depending on how far in advance you booked it, and/or the season. It still seemed worth it to us, as we avoided the hassle of doing it on our own using a bus to downtown Santiago and then a bus to San Antonio.

 

I'm pretty sure our higher quote is due to the fact that we're arriving early morning on New Years Day!:D

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Yes, the hotel is right across the street from the huge and modern Arauco Mall. It has many restaurants, shops, and a food court, and the Santa Isabel grocery store is on the ground level.

 

We were not specifically looking for wine or liquor, but the grocery store seemed to sell almost everything.

Thank you for all of the information you've shared. It is greatly appreciated!

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Thanks for all you info and we can tell you like the hotel and enjoyed your stay--that means so much to fellow travelers. The small airport I was asking about, I thought there was maybe one in San Antonio, but Santiago it is--probably easier to do air with Celebrity as we come in Santiago and then go out BA, maybe after a couple day stay. We are up in Vero Beach, are you Florida too? gives us a couple airport choices, but we agree, as we get older--nice to sail home-with a few sea days!! Thanks again Marge

 

 

Yes, we are Floridians, and live in Miami.

 

I lived 21 years in Michigan, and then 20 more years in Los Angeles. My job transferred me to Miami quite a few years ago, and I met my husband here. We love to cruise, and living here makes it much easier.

 

Happy cruising!

 

Barbara

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Thank you for all of the information you've shared. It is greatly appreciated!

 

 

You are very welcome! I read so many negative things here about San Antonio before our cruise. People were saying it was too small, and there was nothing to do, but we found it to be the perfect place for our pre-cruise stay.

 

We had spent four days post cruise in Santiago two years ago, so we wanted to try something different.

 

Our idea was to just relax after our long flight, do some walking by the water, and generally take it easy.

 

One day we took a ride around the harbor on a small tourist boat. The Emerald Princess was docked there, so it was very interesting to see her up close.

 

We went to the Arauco Mall every day. We enjoyed lunches at the food court, and the wonderful ice cream at Grido's. We had a very nice lunch on Valentine's Day at Cheer, also inside the mall. There is also a casino there which we investigated, but decided not to risk our money. We each bought a very nice cap that said "Chile" from one of the many vendors beside the harbor.

 

I think our favorite things to do in San Antonio were to walk along the Bellamar seaside promenade, go to the fish market, and look at all of the sea lions (mostly behind the fish market). Oh, and did I mention the ice cream at Grido's! Yum!

 

Happy cruising!

 

Barbara

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Thanks Barbara, I am starting an e mail conversation with the hotel and will look at flights also. We love the Princess line too. Started cruising after we got to Florida 25 yrs ago as working folk. Started our lives in Mich. also, Dearborn and Ypsi areas, in '81 headed to Maine, then PA before Fla. Enjoy your Sunday!

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Thanks Barbara, I am starting an e mail conversation with the hotel and will look at flights also. We love the Princess line too. Started cruising after we got to Florida 25 yrs ago as working folk. Started our lives in Mich. also, Dearborn and Ypsi areas, in '81 headed to Maine, then PA before Fla. Enjoy your Sunday!

 

Wow, a Michigander! I'm from Detroit! Cool!

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In your emails to the Hotel Mellatti, please tell them that they were recommended by Barbara and Orlando who were there in February this year. I'm sure they will remember us. They are such nice people. The hotel reminded me in a way of some of those old farm houses in Michigan where my relatives lived. It is very clean, and the rooms are small, and we were very happy there.

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Thanks, I will do that as they just answered my e mail-- and will get back to me soon--we must look into our flights as will help with their transportation. Nice you are in south FLA and close to ports and all the airports, we are always heading one way or the other--Melbourne Air has nothing and Cape Port is basically Carnival! :p Love chatting!

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We are also staying at hotel Melia. It came highly recommended by friends who stayed there.

 

Gosh, we have been talking here about the Hotel Mellatti in San Antonio, Chile, not the Melia in Santiago. I wouldn't want you to book the Mellatti and think it was a Melia!

 

Melia is a Spanish chain of very fancy, modern hotels. We stayed in one in Sitges, Spain once. However the Hotel Mellatti in San Antonio is a 14 room hotel converted from a large family house into a hotel. It Is charming, but very simple.

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Thanks, I will do that as they just answered my e mail-- and will get back to me soon--we must look into our flights as will help with their transportation. Nice you are in south FLA and close to ports and all the airports, we are always heading one way or the other--Melbourne Air has nothing and Cape Port is basically Carnival! :p Love chatting!

 

Love chatting with you too! In case you don't know this yet, the Hotel Mellatti only accepts cash, they are not able to process credit cards. Marcelo told us we could pay when we checked out, but we preferred to pay him on arrival since we didn't want to be carrying around so much cash. Our room, number 4, with the great harbor view, had one of the drawers in the dresser converted into a "safe" with a key, so we used it to lock up our passports and other important stuff.

 

The main entrance to the hotel is locked with a secure gate, so we felt very safe there. Once you get in the gate, you walk up a flight of stairs to the main lobby and breakfast room. Then, there is another flight of stairs up to the rooms. When we arrived with our suitcases, an employee carried them up to our room, and again, down to the street on Boarding Day.

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Thanks Barbara for info about cash, dollars or Spanish money??? Have not got that far with the San Antonio hotel yet. We need to look at flights so we know how many days ahead of cruise we want to stay, also good to know for them--our arrival time into Santiago. Seems so far off, but like to get some things checked off list. Glad I found you on this site:) On our own roll call, everyone is planning tours, not so much hotels, will get to that soon. Where in Detroit did you call home? Bob graduated Dearborn Fordson 1956, I grew up in Ypsilanti--1961 grad. Thought we would never leave Mich.BUT work has other ideas!! Still so many family friends there, do not get back often--plus cold!!! Now finding Florida too hot after 25 yrs--never satisfied!

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Thanks Barbara for info about cash, dollars or Spanish money??? Have not got that far with the San Antonio hotel yet. We need to look at flights so we know how many days ahead of cruise we want to stay, also good to know for them--our arrival time into Santiago. Seems so far off, but like to get some things checked off list. Glad I found you on this site:) On our own roll call, everyone is planning tours, not so much hotels, will get to that soon. Where in Detroit did you call home? Bob graduated Dearborn Fordson 1956, I grew up in Ypsilanti--1961 grad. Thought we would never leave Mich.BUT work has other ideas!! Still so many family friends there, do not get back often--plus cold!!! Now finding Florida too hot after 25 yrs--never satisfied!

 

Hi Marge,

 

I paid Marcelo at the Hotel Mellati in U.S. Dollars, cash, the day we checked in. I just counted the money out on his desk, and he gave me a receipt. It included the price of the hotel for four nights plus the transportation from the airport. He looked kind of surprised that I wanted to pay up front instead of waiting until checkout, but it was just easier for me, so I did it that way. Before we left home, I had put the correct amount of money in an envelope, so it was easy to do.

 

I'm pretty sure you could pay in Chilean pesos if you wanted to, but paying in USD just meant less money we had to change ahead of time. We have a good currency exchange place here in Miami at one of our shopping malls, so we had gone there and gotten some Chilean pesos before the cruise. In our case, we were staying in San Antonio for four nights, then also visiting Coquimbo and Arica, also in Chile, so we wanted to have some pesos in our pocket.

 

We used our Chilean pesos for all of our purchases at the Arauco Mall across the street (lunch, ice cream, souvenirs, bottled water, and a few snacks from the grocery store), as well as souvenirs at our next ports. I went to Oanda.com and printed out a pocket-sized currency converter to help us out.

 

About Michigan, I went to Redford High School, and graduated in January, 1961 (like you!). After that I went to MSU, and later moved to L.A. to attend the Univ. of So. Calif. for graduate studies. Orlando and I went back to Detroit for my 50 year high school reunion, and again for my 55th. I have one friend left there, and we always go to see her, but we don't go very often.

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You are very welcome! I read so many negative things here about San Antonio before our cruise. People were saying it was too small, and there was nothing to do, but we found it to be the perfect place for our pre-cruise stay.

 

We had spent four days post cruise in Santiago two years ago, so we wanted to try something different.

 

Our idea was to just relax after our long flight, do some walking by the water, and generally take it easy.

 

One day we took a ride around the harbor on a small tourist boat. The Emerald Princess was docked there, so it was very interesting to see her up close.

 

We went to the Arauco Mall every day. We enjoyed lunches at the food court, and the wonderful ice cream at Grido's. We had a very nice lunch on Valentine's Day at Cheer, also inside the mall. There is also a casino there which we investigated, but decided not to risk our money. We each bought a very nice cap that said "Chile" from one of the many vendors beside the harbor.

 

I think our favorite things to do in San Antonio were to walk along the Bellamar seaside promenade, go to the fish market, and look at all of the sea lions (mostly behind the fish market). Oh, and did I mention the ice cream at Grido's! Yum!

 

Happy cruising!

 

Barbara

 

 

 

Thanks for the great information on San Antonio. I had found mostly negative comments about the town and it is great to hear about things to do in town instead. We are trying to decide between a winery/brewery day and just staying in town. We are there 8a-5p on a Tuesday.

 

Could you tell me more about the boat ride around the harbor..what did you see? Was there commentary in English? Where did it leave from?

 

Sounds like we will have a bus ride from the ship - is that to the port entrance? Is it a walkable city from where the bus drops you?

 

 

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Thanks for the great information on San Antonio. I had found mostly negative comments about the town and it is great to hear about things to do in town instead. We are trying to decide between a winery/brewery day and just staying in town. We are there 8a-5p on a Tuesday.

 

Could you tell me more about the boat ride around the harbor..what did you see? Was there commentary in English? Where did it leave from?

 

Sounds like we will have a bus ride from the ship - is that to the port entrance? Is it a walkable city from where the bus drops you?

 

 

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It sounds like you will be getting off your cruise rather than getting on as we did, but the procedure should be the same. You will get on a bus for about a five minute ride to the cruise terminal (where I would imagine you will go through customs).

 

One couple in our hotel did walk to the cruise terminal, so it is possible, but might take 20 minutes or more to get to the Seaside Promenade (Paseo Bellamar), which you can then continue walking untill you get take to the Arauco Mall and the Casino.

 

About half way between the Cruise Terminal, which is at the port entrance, and the mall, you will come to a small marina called Puertecito San Antonio. You will see many fishing boats there and your cruise ship docked behind the marina.

 

Walk down to the building where they sell harbor tour tickets, go up to the ticket window and buy your tickets.

We paid CLP 5000.00 for two tickets or about USD 8.24 for both of us.

 

We waited a few minutes and were ushered onto a boat with an awning, given life jackets, and off we went. The tour was maybe 30 to 45 minutes and very enjoyable. We had an excellent guide who explained everything we were seeing. It was in Spanish, and we speak Spanish, so it was fine. I don't know if they have guides who speak English, but I think you would enjoy it even without the narrative. Be sure to get one of the larger boats with an awning, and not a small rowboat. Our boat held around 35 to 40 people.

 

I'm thinking a good day trip would be to take the boat tour, then walk up the promenade (Paseo Bellamar) to the Arauco Mall and have a nice lunch there. We recommended a restaurant called "Cheer" inside the mall, but there are many to choose from, including a huge food court. We also highly recommend Grido Helado, for wonderful ice cream!

 

After lunch, you could walk over to the fish market, walk through it to the waterfront and see many sea lions up close. There are also lots of vendors in this whole area. We bought two very nice caps that said "Chile" for USD 2.00 each.

 

There is not much to see in "downtown" San Antonio (we gave it a try on our first day there), but I think you would have an enjoyable day if you stick to the waterfront area, the mall, and the casino if that interests you. We went inside for a look, but did not gamble. The mall also has a grocery store and a pharmacy on the ground level.

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It sounds like you will be getting off your cruise rather than getting on as we did, but the procedure should be the same. You will get on a bus for about a five minute ride to the cruise terminal (where I would imagine you will go through customs).

 

 

 

One couple in our hotel did walk to the cruise terminal, so it is possible, but might take 20 minutes or more to get to the Seaside Promenade (Paseo Bellamar), which you can then continue walking untill you get take to the Arauco Mall and the Casino.

 

 

 

About half way between the Cruise Terminal, which is at the port entrance, and the mall, you will come to a small marina called Puertecito San Antonio. You will see many fishing boats there and your cruise ship docked behind the marina.

 

 

 

Walk down to the building where they sell harbor tour tickets, go up to the ticket window and buy your tickets.

 

We paid CLP 5000.00 for two tickets or about USD 8.24 for both of us.

 

 

 

We waited a few minutes and were ushered onto a boat with an awning, given life jackets, and off we went. The tour was maybe 30 to 45 minutes and very enjoyable. We had an excellent guide who explained everything we were seeing. It was in Spanish, and we speak Spanish, so it was fine. I don't know if they have guides who speak English, but I think you would enjoy it even without the narrative. Be sure to get one of the larger boats with an awning, and not a small rowboat. Our boat held around 35 to 40 people.

 

 

 

I'm thinking a good day trip would be to take the boat tour, then walk up the promenade (Paseo Bellamar) to the Arauco Mall and have a nice lunch there. We recommended a restaurant called "Cheer" inside the mall, but there are many to choose from, including a huge food court. We also highly recommend Grido Helado, for wonderful ice cream!

 

 

 

After lunch, you could walk over to the fish market, walk through it to the waterfront and see many sea lions up close. There are also lots of vendors in this whole area. We bought two very nice caps that said "Chile" for USD 2.00 each.

 

 

 

There is not much to see in "downtown" San Antonio (we gave it a try on our first day there), but I think you would have an enjoyable day if you stick to the waterfront area, the mall, and the casino if that interests you. We went inside for a look, but did not gamble. The mall also has a grocery store and a pharmacy on the ground level.

 

 

 

Exactly the info I needed. Thank you.

 

San Antonio is a port day on our cruise. We aren’t starting or stopping the cruise there....it is the round trip Fort Lauderdale Holland America South America Circumnavigation.

 

 

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Exactly the info I needed. Thank you.

 

San Antonio is a port day on our cruise. We aren’t starting or stopping the cruise there....it is the round trip Fort Lauderdale Holland America South America Circumnavigation.

 

 

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Glad to help! I realized you had asked me what we saw on the harbor tour, and I hadn't really answered that.

 

The boat started out going past a rocky point with a few large sea lions, then crossed the harbor until we were in front of the mall and a large cargo ship. After that, we came back to the area where the Emerald Princess and a few more large cargo ships were docked. We were able to see the huge cranes up close where they were loading the cargo ships. We thought it was a very interesting trip, plus I love to be out on the water anywhere.

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your port stop in San Antonio, and Bon Voyage.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We found no acceptable hotels at San Antonio (the couple that looked OK are booked for our cruise), so we booked the night before the cruise at the Holiday Inn at the Santiago airport so we will be transported from there to the port on cruise day.

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