When we woke up, we were delighted to find that it was FINALLY time for the ship! We are not planners and prefer spontaneity at all times- especially while traveling. But, we have had this trip booked for…at least 6 months. Good Lord, that’s too long to have to think about a trip coming. How do you planner people do this? It’s exhausting. Now, just because we had it booked that doesn’t mean we did any form of actual preparation until about 3 days before- this is normal. But anyway, I was excited to be heading to the sea! Bring it on, already!
Our driver was there- early even. He spoke not one drop of English so I got to practice my Spanish some more. And thank God for it because the first thing he said was, “Adonde vas?” - where are you going? I thought that was odd because a) I had to list all the details when I booked the transport and b) the concierge went out and talked to him. But easy enough- I say, “al cruzero- Majestic Princess”. He said, “NO!” I said, “Si!” He said, “No Valparaiso?” I said, “NO! San Antonio!!” He said, “El medije a Valparaiso.” Dang man, you’re giving me a heart attack. So, there are 2 cruise ports that serve Santiago - one to the north, Valparaiso. And one to the south, San Antonio. We were going to San Antonio but our concierge told him the other. Whew! Crisis averted.
We settled in after that and enjoyed a gorgeous drive over the mountains to the sea. We passed by thousands of acres of gorgeous farmland- including grapes and olives! Everything seemed to be tended by hand. We didn’t see any big machinery. The driver played a fun blend of local pop/US pop and Christmas music. It was perfect.
As we rolled into the little coastal town, the driver once again struck fear into my heart by asking me where he should turn. Bro- do I look like I know this area? No one is more dumb than me right now. However, both of us joyously shouted a moment later when we spotted the ship! Thankfully, there was only one in port and only one way to get to it.
If you’ve ever cruised, you know that boarding can sometimes be…a situation. You might be in line for hours. You might arrive before the process starts and wait hours BEFORE you wait hours. It’s anarchy.
But this time was the best ever! We walked up, gave our luggage, got a number because they said they hadn’t started yet, walked in, sat down, and immediately they called our number. It was so fast that we were up to the processing station before I’d ever found our medallions!
Next thing you know, we were cruising into the piazza and it was…like 10 am! YO! Tradition requires a first stop in vines so we pulled up to the bar for the requisite gin and tonic and met Julio who was really lovely but absolutely not James. James ruined us for life. So, a toast to James, our all time favorite bartender and one time underground smuggling ring master. Simply the best!
Our friends had all gotten off the boat for an excursion so we’d have to wait a bit to be reunited. We went up to our room just to see if it was ready and it was. It was also completely decorated! Our friends had partnered up with our room steward to deck the halls before we arrived! So fun. We also found our unique t-shirts (spelled the name of the city we will visit on Xmas day wrong) and a special gift wrapped in….sanitary napkin bags - LOL! Improvising gift wrap like a boss. We got a tiny light up Christmas tree and a penguin wearing a santa hat to hang on the wall. So fun.
Our cabin steward popped by to meet us. His name is Sep, so quickly ‘sup, Sep? Became my favorite greeting. Unfortunately, for the first 24 hours or so we kept forgetting Sep so it was sup sip, sup sup, sup soap and many other things before we could lock in on Sep once and for all.
We spent the afternoon getting unpacked and settled in the room and then had lunch at Alfredo’s, which is this terrific pizza place on many of the Princess ships. Before long, it was happy hour so we headed to Vines and grabbed a glass and waited for friends to arrive back on the ship! Eventually, everyone wandered in except Jerry who was worn out already so there we all were again - Rich and Ginny, Mike and Diana, and Sue (and Jerry). We all met on the trans-Atlantic Mediterranean cruise and various groupings of us have seen each other pretty consistently since then. This is our 3rd cruise with them - should have been the 4th but you may recall we bailed out of the Iceland cruise last June to divert to the south of France for the magical wedding of Pete and Mandy.
Anyway, things are looking good for another amazing time full of laughs and storytelling and general mayhem. Just what the doctor ordered.
Right about the time this glorious fairytale was really kicking in, however, something else happened that was less glorious and that was we were unable to get into our room. Neither medallion worked. Now, this happened earlier too but they said it was fixed. We’d actually never yet been able to get into our room by ourselves but twice Sep happened by and let us in and once the door was open because he was cleaning it. Jason had already spent time at the guest service desk trying to get it fixed. The poor staff had been dealing with mad and rude customers all day so we poured on the charm and tried to exceed all expectations of niceness. When the latest fix didn’t make our medallions work OR the key card they printed, they called a supervisor who came to open it…which was great but also did not actually fix anything. You know? But we were too tired to care at the moment so we went to bed and figured we would solve it the next day.
All things considered, a wonderful day and it feels so great to be back on the ship and on the sea.
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