Another Live from the Oosterdam? 1/29-2/20

[0106]

Cake Me Away!🎂🍰🧁🍥🥮

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Haljo1935]

Tha ks @0106 for the Cake Me Away pictures. The bakery chefs do beautiful work - it's nice to see those edible artworks. I've not been able to get there early enough to get "clean" pictures. I really like the picture of the chefs.

[0106]

Extremely cloudy while sailing the fjords this morning.

 

 

Enjoyed another cooking demonstration this afternoon.

[0106]

Sunset last night.

Good morning from Puerto Chacabuco!

We are getting ready to leave for a HAL tour, The Natural Beauty of Patagonia using our final credit.

[0106]

HAL tour review.  Description from website is in italics.  Tour was to leave at 8:15.  At 8:46, the bus left.  Ten minutes later we stopped for a 5 minute potty break.  19 minutes later, the bus departed for a two minute ride to the trail head.  There were 3 busses.  We waited 20 minutes as we were divided into small groups.  Finally we started walking, very slowly.  The half mile walk took  more than an hour on a congested trail.

 

A 15-minute ride from Puerto Chacabuco takes you on an outstandingly beautiful road up to Aiken del Sur Private Park for a wilderness adventure in the virgin forests of Patagonia. The natural beauty of Aiken del Sur includes Lake Riesco, waterfalls, indigenous perennial forests, caducifoliae, ferns, moss and lichen, myrtle and turf prairies with wild fuchsia and calafates, as well as macal and mallines or swamps.

 

 

 

 

An easy half-mile stroll (or longer if time allows) follows a path to the Barba del Viejo waterfall.

A refreshment is served at the park's restaurant before you return to Puerto Chacabuco to re-board the ship.

Regardless of the $300 HIA credit,  ship’s tour not for me.

[Sea42]

39 minutes ago, 0106 said:

HAL tour review.  Description from website is in italics.  Tour was to leave at 8:15.  At 8:46, the bus left.  Ten minutes later we stopped for a 5 minute potty break.  19 minutes later, the bus departed for a two minute ride to the trail head.  There were 3 busses.  We waited 20 minutes as we were divided into small groups.  Finally we started walking, very slowly.  The half mile walk took  more than an hour on a congested trail.

 

A 15-minute ride from Puerto Chacabuco takes you on an outstandingly beautiful road up to Aiken del Sur Private Park for a wilderness adventure in the virgin forests of Patagonia. The natural beauty of Aiken del Sur includes Lake Riesco, waterfalls, indigenous perennial forests, caducifoliae, ferns, moss and lichen, myrtle and turf prairies with wild fuchsia and calafates, as well as macal and mallines or swamps.

 

 

 

 

An easy half-mile stroll (or longer if time allows) follows a path to the Barba del Viejo waterfall.

A refreshment is served at the park's restaurant before you return to Puerto Chacabuco to re-board the ship.

Regardless of the $300 HIA credit,  ship’s tour not for me.

While it looks beautiful, it sounds awful.

[0106]

4 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

While it looks beautiful, it sounds awful.

Honestly, most people on the bus were happy with the tour.  However, I just couldn’t stand the slow pace and the number of people.  It is difficult to appreciate the beauty of nature surrounded by so many.  Of course there were no birds because of the noise.  These tours work for some people, just not for me.

[NorbertsNiece]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

Honestly, most people on the bus were happy with the tour.  However, I just couldn’t stand the slow pace and the number of people.  It is difficult to appreciate the beauty of nature surrounded by so many.  Of course there were no birds because of the noise.  These tours work for some people, just not for me.

Me neither. I'm rubbish at big group/bus tours. In future will likely pass and go independently. 

[ajstahle]

May I ask a favor? Would you check with Guest Services and see if they have Chilean and Peruvian currency to be able to break larger bills into smaller ones? Sometimes when I get foreign currency from my bank, they are not able to provide small bills that you could use for tips and small purchases. I would greatly appreciate it since we board the Oosterdam in BA on 3/5.

If you have any other money tips, please share,  We would be grateful.

[0106]

1 hour ago, ajstahle said:

Would you check with Guest Services and see if they have Chilean and Peruvian currency to be able to break larger bills into smaller ones?

I have not used any local currency.  I have charged everything on my credit card.  All of my tours in Argentina  and Chile have requested payment in US dollars. Especially in  Argentina where the currency is largely fluctuating.  There are ATMs in most ports.  I will attempt to find an answer to your question at guest services tomorrow.

[cccole]

We used local currency in Argentina and Chile.  Agree with using ATM's in Chile.  Your guide in Argentina should be able to get you the Blue rate for U.S. $.

0106, I am hoping you have a great last couple days on the ship.  And, if your transfer from San Martin to Santiago includes the Casa Marin vineyard you are in for a treat.  We spent two nights at Casa Marin before boarding the Oosterdam on January 7 and just loved it.  An amazing vineyard where we talked to people who had just left the Oosterdam.  Beatriz, Yasna and the entire staff are awesome.  Cherie 

[Hlitner]

9 hours ago, 0106 said:

Honestly, most people on the bus were happy with the tour.  However, I just couldn’t stand the slow pace and the number of people.  It is difficult to appreciate the beauty of nature surrounded by so many.  Of course there were no birds because of the noise.  These tours work for some people, just not for me.

I think you have done a great job describing while we avoid cruise line excursions (on any line) unless it delivers something we cannot reasonably do on our own.  Some folks like being in large buses with large groups, have no problem sitting around waiting for the late arrivals, and love all the time spent so everyone has time to use the rest facilities.  Not our style.  The other issue is that we can usually accomplish much more for a fraction of the cost of the cruise line excursions.  But the excursions do serve a valuable purpose of enhancing the bottom line of the cruise line while satisfying those that love being part of a large tour group.

 

Hank

[perrysburg]

For future travelers:  We had an EXCELLENT excursion with independent tour company

We saw many beautiful places, we had a delicious lunch, and there were no more than 24 people. EnPatagoniaTours : https://www.enpatagoniatours.com/ 

 

The tour guide was also excellent (and can be hired independently for a private tour- Jorge Lepio: jlepio8@gmail.com, +5698416088)

 

[perrysburg]

11 hours ago, 0106 said:

Regardless of the $300 HIA credit,  ship’s tour not for me.

 

That is exactly how I felt after the HAL "Food & Wine" tour in Montevideo!  (3 or 4 large buses of tourists arriving to what felt like a wedding banquet.)

[perrysburg]

Another note for Future Travelers:

 

In Ushuaia:  English speaking cab driver Diego Joel Giles. The price for 3 hours in the National Park was $140. We booked him and he waited at the cruise port gate for us with a sign. He took us exactly to the places we wanted in the Tierra Del Fuego National Park and could talk to us easily. We spent 4 hours with him and were very pleased. Diego can be reached at +54 290 146 4119  or diegojoelgiles@yahoo.com

 

[NorbertsNiece]

EnPatagonia tours as mentioned earlier in Chacabuco were very good.

 

Am a tad confused as Marine Traffic shows you heading to Castro and not Puerto Montt.... 🤷‍♀️

 

 

 

 

[slewis7]

Today is Castro.  Tomorrow is Puerto Montt.  Castro was added to the itinerary pre-cruise when some scheduled dates were shifted and a port was dropped.

[scubacruiserx2]

Castro is a much nicer place with its wooden churches and Castro is famous for it 's palafitos , traditional wooden stilt houses which were common in many places in Chiloé. 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

We loved Castro on our Grand SA voyage and highly recommend it.

[NorbertsNiece]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

Today is Castro.  Tomorrow is Puerto Montt.  Castro was added to the itinerary pre-cruise when some scheduled dates were shifted and a port was dropped.

Thanks for explaining. Tenders are out and working.

 

 

Edited February 17 by NorbertsNiece

[slewis7]

My wife and I did a HAL horseback riding excursion today in Castro.  It was a very small group of 11 passengers and a HAL rep.  The ranch owner accompanied us on the van and told us about his ranch and how he obtained it.  He was a very friendly fellow named Julian.  After a scenic half hour ride, we arrived and Julian gave us a demonstration of training a horse.  Then we all got saddled up on horses accompanied by Julian and a number of his family members.  The area was absolute beautiful with some nice grades at various spots.  We saw plenty of dogs and passed by a lake.  It was wonderful!  After a 2 hours ride we returned to the ranch.  We were treated to sandwiches, fruit, nuts and honey sweetened lemon juice and then returned to the port.  It was an amazing outing and by far the best ship excursion I have ever taken!

[NorbertsNiece]

Tendering in Puerto Montt. Seven Seas Voyager also in town.

 

 

[tjcox9]

4 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Tendering in Puerto Montt. Seven Seas Voyager also in town.

 

 

Actually unrelated to post, but wanted to ask you a ? since you were on a previous cruise, same itinerary. Did you also have to tender in Ushuaia? Seems like this time they did and it was a bit of a snafu. Thanks

[NorbertsNiece]

24 minutes ago, tjcox9 said:

Actually unrelated to post, but wanted to ask you a ? since you were on a previous cruise, same itinerary. Did you also have to tender in Ushuaia? Seems like this time they did and it was a bit of a snafu. Thanks

Hi.

No. We were berthed. Was a nightmare though walking back to the ship. Was incredibly windy and quite exposed. Berth was far from gates. We left several hours late because of the wind.

 

I can see from my earlier post that the pier berths were full with other vessels/cruise ships on this cruise.

 

I missed the snafu. What occured?

[0106]

51 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

missed the snafu. What occured

In Ushuaia, there was only one pier available for all boats needing to disembark passengers so HAL tenders shared with fishing boats and other excursion boats.  There were very long lines and incorrect information was given by HAL personnel about which line to stand in.  We made it back in about an hour and a half but I’ve heard stories from people were waited for a tender for more than 2 hours.