Antarctica Cruise - Getting there

 1-6-2026

It took a bit to get to Santiago, Chile, the start of our cruise. First was the Hop to Charlotte Airport and a flight to Orlando. Spent the night and next day took a flight to Panama City, Panama. Spent the night. Next day, a long flight to Santiago, Chile. Spent the night. No pics of the trip. It was relatively uneventful. 

We were supposed to take an excursion on embarkation day, 1/10 (Friday), but it was a madhouse in the hotel lobby. We were signed up for the 9am departure, but the evening before they said that all of those tickets were given away and we'd have to go at 10. In the morning, Arch showed our reservation and they gave us tickets for 9am. 

We went off on a tour of Santiago. My sister had said that it was a very European city and certainly the architecture bore that out even though we could not spend any time exploring it. We did do a bus tour of the city. Here are some pictures.




Top image is the presidential palace and below is the changing of the guard outside of the castle. Fun fact, the Parliament is not in the capitol which is Santiago. They meet in Valparaiso. 

Here are some other pictures of Santiago. 

The first was a city park and the one directly above is the Chilean Flag. It is red/white/blue with a lone star in the upper left  corner. The symbolism of the flag: red for the blood shed for freedom, white for the snow-capped Andes, blue for the sky and Pacific Ocean, and the white star ("Estrella Solitaria") symbolizes honor, progress, and a unitary state (taken from the internet). You can see some of those snow-capped Andes above Santiago. 

This is also a large grape growing region and so contains many wineries. We were able to visit one with a brief tour and a wine tasting of 3 wines of the region. The first was a white Sauvignon Blanc, the second was a Carmenere, a wine unique to Chile, and a Shiraz. 

The vineyard:


Our first tasting:


Aging tanks made of concrete. Used where they do not want the barrel flavoring. 


Tasting the Shiraz:


A sign near a little park area. I liked it's sentiment. 


The bus dropped us beside the terminal where we quickly checked in and proceeded toward the ship. The cruise port is the same as the cargo port and we were taken by bus to the side of the ship which was docked alongside cargo ships. See below. 



This is our cabin's veranda. We are on the aft corner portside. We were fortunate enough to be able to get a cost effective upgrade over our original cabin. 


End of day one of the cruise. Day of cruising tomorrow and then a couple of days of excursions. See you then. 



Comments

  1. Mia MamaJanuary 14, 2026 at 8:46 AM

    Thank you for sharing the pictures of your grand tour so that this desk chair traveler can enjoy your trip vicariously. Janie

    ReplyDelete

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