Royal Princess Cruise Review

This narrative was put together at the specific request of my sister in Chicago, Jane, who enjoyed reading about our African trip. For me, it's simply great fun to be able to put together a story which can be shared with friends and family. This is not a reading to be undertaken lightly. There is no Executive Summary and I may tell some readers far more than they ever wanted to know about our travels. I have not used one word where two would do and there is no value to me to "netting it out." On the other hand, I believe we've included some useful information about traveling that might prove to be of value to some of you even though you may never undertake a similar trip.

The detail to which I go in describing all of our pre-cruise activities is intended to help readers should they ever be confronted with similar situations with which they've had no experience. If you are interested only in learning about the cruise portion of the trip you should, by all means, jump to that.

Neither The Buts (rhymes with "puts," a derivative of Butsie which, in turn, derives from her father's pet name for her of Butch) nor I had ever been to South America. Technically, our brief stop in the San Blas Islands during our Panama Canal crossing on the Fairwind 15 years ago might qualify us as having been in South America, but that really doesn't count for much considering the size of the continent and the scope of the cultures. Frankly, neither of us really cared whether or not we visited that part of the world as our preferred mode of travel is to rent a car and drive ourselves. Traveling that way in South America is reserved for people far more adventuresome or foolhardy than we. Further, the long distances between major spots of interest would have made travel by plane nothing more than a series of airports and hotels, something that interests us not after close to sixty combined years of that kind of travel in pursuit of commerce.

When we discovered that Princess Cruises offered a two-week cruise from Valparaiso (Valpo), Chile, to Buenos Aires (BA), Argentina, which could be combined with a follow-on two-week cruise from BA to Manaus (Manaus), Brazil, our interest was piqued. We found that we would have a couple of stops in Chile, a trip through the Strait(s) of Magellan, and a stop at Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. From the island of Tierra del Fuego where Ushuaia is located, we would then sail past Cape Horn and travel east to the Falkland Islands, aka Las Malvinas, over which Great Britain and Argentina went to war in the early 1980s. Great Britain "won" that war, thus retaining ownership of the islands and naming rights. It is yet to be seen who actually won and what they actually won.

From The Falklands, the ship would return to The Argentine, stopping at Puerto Madryn, jumping off spot for the world's largest penguin reserve at Punta Tombo and the Welsh villages. Next, the Royal would enter the Rio Plata and stop for the day at the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo. Finally, two weeks after leaving Valpo, the ship would arrive in BA.

For many that would be plenty of cruising. For us, it seemed that to have gone so far for just two weeks would simply not be enough to justify the distance traveled, the sleep lost, and the money spent on air fares. Take a look at the map and you'll see that Santiago and BA are just about the same latitude on the southern part of the continent albeit on opposite coasts. Thus, a very long flight to Santiago at one end of the cruise and a very long flight from BA at the other end were not hearty rewards for what we would have seen. (The flight arrangements on which we had to settle, described below, made this line of reasoning somewhat specious, but we can rationalize anything given time and motivation.)

Looking at the second cruise we saw that we could leave BA, revisit Montevideo for a day, and then continue up the massive coastline of Brazil stopping at Rio and Recife before reaching the Amazon. Santarem, Boca da Valeria,and Manaus (the cruise termination point) are all on the Amazon River. To us, the idea of a ship large enough to carry 1200 passengers and 600 crew almost 1000 miles up the Amazon was awesome. And, that's just how far Manaus is from the South Atlantic Ocean. A couple of obvious minuses here:

Our time in Buenos Aires would be limited to the short period of time it would take to discharge one herd (word chosen carefully) of passengers and take on a new one.

We would get the dubious opportunity to visit Montevideo twice, dubious because we weren't sure about stopping there the first time.

However, we have always taken the view that if someplace or another attracts us greatly, we can always return at a later date. So, this initial introduction would meet our needs perfectly. There will be those among you who will no doubt say that we will have passed up an excellent opportunity to explore Buenos Aires, that Iguazu Falls was not to be missed, or that (insert your favorite spot) would have been unforgettable. For us, there are simply too many places outside of South America we haven't been that intrigue us more. Consequently, on balance, these two cruises, back-to-back, seemed to be the right way for us to take our first look at South America.

Cruising is the only form of travel that we don't undertake to book on our own. We have found there are too many ins-and-outs involved that can result in unhappy results if we were to depend on our resources. Paul Halem at Cruise Holidays in Walnut Creek, CA, has learned a lot about our likes and dislikes having booked for us a number of cruises. We told him our reasoning, which he pronounced sound, and picked a cabin (Lido Cabin 335 in Category AB, the third highest). And, in this case, we reluctantly had him book our air through his air consolidator. Reluctantly because we can usually do air better ourselves than through others. That's because we like to buy the lowest ugradable seats in coach and use United miles to upgrade to coach thus accruing a few more miles whilst spending some.

In the case of getting to Santiago from San Francisco and home from Manaus, it became obvious that there aren't that many seats available between Miami and either Santiago (the airport we had to use to get to Valpo) or Manaus. When I tried to book on my own the results were discouraging: In order to get to Chile for a Saturday sailing we would have to leave San Francisco on a Monday, New Years Day. To get home from Manaus would mean we would have to fly from Manaus to Sao Paulo, 1,631 miles in the opposite direction and thence to Miami, a mere 4,072 mile, eight-hour flight. Clearly the cruise line and/or other consolidators had blocked all the good seats, including those on the one daily nonstop flight from Manaus to Miami. This meant I would have to use the consolidator after all if I had any hope of improving our situation. So I did. The end result: fly on Monday to Santiago, fly home from Manaus via Sao Paulo. In other words, no improvement. We might have realized a little cost savings but I doubt it was worth all the hassle.

Note: In July of this year we'll be flying to Copenhagen to take a ten-day Baltic cruise on the Crown Princess, then to Moscow to take a 12-day Russian River cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We'll fly from St. Petersburg to Copenhagen, spend the night, and fly home via London the next day. I've booked all the air travel myself and will report on those arrangements when I write that trip report.

The major challenge regarding this cruise had to do with clothing. We'd be starting from pleasantly warm, not hot, summer weather in Santiago and Valparaiso, transitioning to potentially cold and blustery weather around the southern tip of the continent, and ending up in hot and humid Amazonia. In addition to the shore excursion fashion statements we'd need to be prepared to make, we also had to plan on three formal nights per cruise, six black tie evenings in all. Now, if there is anything my wife likes, it is black tie events. She Who Must Be Obeyed (She Who) simply delights in dressing formally of an evening and especially likes to see me in a tux. And, let's face it, I've got a good tan right now, my hair has that suitable silver tone (an acquaintance given to Malapropisms once told me I looked domesticated...I'm not sure, on reflection, that she was wrong, but I hope she meant distinguished), and almost every man looks great in a tux. But, you do have to carry all of that stuff, don't you?

Then there is the matter of guide books and other reading material, all of which take up space (and add weight). Of course, you do want to be able to take pictures of significant places along the way. For this we find it best to carry the 80-210mm lens for the single lens reflex camera (SLR). And, for closer shots, you certainly want to have the advantage of the 28-80mm lens. Since the Good Lady Wife also likes to take snaps, the pocket camera with print film (I always take slides with the SLR) fits nicely into the camera bag. As the camera bag we now use was bought for the Africa trip especially to accommodate the 500mm lens and such a long lens has virtually no value on this kind of a trip, there is plenty of room in the bag for both our cameras. And, as long as there's room, why not bring the digital camera? Think how convenient it will be to simply upload pictures from the digital straight to the Internet to accompany this report. Oh, yes, better not forget plenty of film because it can be expensive and/or hard to get certain places. And you'd better take along spare batteries for each camera because you know you can't get them just anywhere. And, as a last minute addition to the camera bag, stick in that GPS receiver you just got for

Christmas. What fun that'll be when you're tromping around at the bottom of the world. Think also about the exciting prospect of helping the ship's captain find his way should the nav aids on the ship fail in some manner. It could happen.

Don't forget to toss in all the little extras you need in the event of diarrhea, upset tummy, blocked ears, strange infections, and numerous other maladies that can assail one whilst traveling. Finally, as an inspiration, add the laptop so that you can actually keep a running account of the trip not to mention the odd game of Free Cell Solitaire during those long days at sea.

Got the picture? Beaucoup de baggage! But, think about it: we only have to schlep the stuff from home to SFO, from the airport in Santiago to the hotel, the hotel in Santiago to the ship, from the ship to the airport in Manaus, and from SFO to home. And, you can hire most of that done. Really, you only access your luggage twice the whole trip. And, if you've packed adroitly, you don't even have to get into the one big bag in Santiago. Once aboard the ship, you unpack absolutely everything for the next four weeks and stow the bags out of sight. Just be sure to bring plenty of tip money for those handling the bags in all the interim stops.

We weren't actually finished once we had booked the cruise and the air. We had to have a hotel in Santiago, make a tour plan for our land-based pre-cruise activities, and decide which of the shore excursions offered by the cruise lines we wanted to take. We also had to satisfy the visa requirement for Brazil, the only country we would be visiting that required visas from U. S. citizens (because the U. S. requires them of Brazilians is what the folks at the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco told us). There were no immunization requirements (we thought) in any of the countries we'd be visiting so that was not an issue.

When planning any trip I always make great use of information sources from the Internet, guidebooks, and various travel offices from countries and cities we plan to visit. For me, the single-most useful website for that purpose is the Tourist Offices Worldwide Directory (TOWD)at www.towd.com which generally provides direct links to e-mail and postal mailing addresses as well as informational websites not only for every state in the United States but for many cities and most countries in the world. More and more guidebooks are including websites these day so they can be useful in pointing you to additional information. I also make it a point to buy at least two good guide books. Such guides are helpful in validating data received from tourist offices and vice versa. The little bit of money spent on guide books pales compared to the large amount you're paying for such a trip. So, my practice is to spend a few more bucks and do a better planning job.

Based on hotel listings for Santiago in the City Guide sent to me free by the LAN Chile information desk in Miami (e-mail address and phone number obtained through the TOWD) and validated by Fodor's guide to Santiago, we selected the Hotel Kennedy. As She Who pointed out, a 50% discount on the rack rate of a first-class hotel ain't all bad (though I doubt She Who would used those actual words). The Kennedy is situated in Las Condes, an upscale area of Santiago directly across Avenida Presidente Kennedy from the Hyatt Regency. Fodor is very high on this hotel and gives it a star indicating a positive recommendation. The general manager (GM) speaks excellent English, is proficient with e-mail, and is very responsive. We knew we had made a good choice of hotels once the information flow started and I'll report on the results below. The Kennedy's website is: www.hotelkennedy.cl.

After an e-mail exchange with the GM I was all set to book our room and did so by e-mail, following up by faxing them my VISA credit card number. A confirmation was received in short order and we were all set for lodging in which we had a high degree of confidence which proved well-justified in the event.

Through other travel sites on the Internet I found various sources of information. One that proved helpful was an Aussie, Judith, who had recently visited Santiago with her husband and small child. While there they had engaged a driver/guide who spoke English and she had reported favorably on their experiences. She furnished me the name, phone, and fax numbers for the "driver." As her notes on the fax number were sketchy and she couldn't decipher whether one number was a something or another, I elected not to send a fax to a number of which I wasn't sure. Instead, I called on the GM at the Hotel Kennedy to have someone call the phone number for me and get the correct fax number.

The GM reported back to me that the hotel had made contact with this person but that he does not speak English. This was a mystery to me and to my friend, Judith. An interesting set of e-mails went back and forth between Oz, Chile, and California until the puzzle was solved: Judith had the name and phone number of the man who owned the car (and who did not speak English), not the name and number of the actual driver of the car who does speak English. Turns out the driver was in Canada for a time and would not be in Chile at the time of our visit.

The GM offered to get me quotes from their car service for airport pickup, a city tour, and a winery visit. In addition, she agreed to get quotes for a driver to take us to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso and deliver us to the ship. My specifications were for an English-speaking driver and a car large enough (for the airport pickups and the trip to the ship) to accommodate all of our baggage. The operations manager from the hotel, in turn, secured quotes and forwarded them to me. All were responsive and acceptable and so we agreed to them.

Because the hotel was agreeable to having putting the transportation charges on our bill, we would have two additional benefits: we could pay for them with our VISA, thus carry less cash as well as earn miles from United, and we wouldn't have to pay VAT on them.

Those of you who know us well are aware that we don't think that Princess is the greatest cruise line on earth. But, we have always found that the itinerary is more important than the cruise line. As a result, when shopping for specific itineraries, it has usually turned out that Princess has what we want. And, because Paul Halem at Cruise Holidays does so much business with them and we have our Captain's Circle frequent sailers' credentials with them, we do get good prices and accommodations through them.

Their forte, in our opinion (which is not colored by experiences with too many other cruise lines), is that Princess still has a lot to learn about shore excursions. On the other hand, Princess customers probably get what they pay for and do so with relatively little hassle in their eyes. Here's a good example of how poorly Princess can do things: When we landed in Bali we were there at the same time as the Marco Polo. Prior to disembarking, Princess cruise staff set up a table in the lounge where people waited to be called for their tender ashore. The purpose of the table was to enable passengers wishing to buy bottles of water to do so. When we landed, we saw Marco Polo passengers landing at the same time. As each Marco Polo passenger stepped ashore he or she was handed a bottle of water by the cruise staff. When I told the purser about this (and numerous other items) I said Princess would come off looking a whole lot better if they just added a dollar per person to each shore excursion and handed out "free" bottles of water. She disagreed saying that she thought the shore excursion prices were too high as it was.

Note: The Princess still sells water and makes a practice of encouraging you to always have water with you when you go ashore. As we were given two bottles of water in our cabin at the beginning of each cruise, we always had bottles which we could refill at leisure once back on board. I just wonder how many people actually threw away their water bottles once emptied. Hmmmm.

Our next disagreeable experience on Bali came when we found out the ship did not bother to reset its clocks to local time. Rather, they used their own time for all activities that day including shore excursions. It is all very well to do that if all of your passengers are using your package. For those of us who had booked privately, we found that we were an hour off which was most confusing to our tour guide. The ship's officer with whom I discussed this indicated by his response and demeanor that my problem was certainly not his (in other words, here's a quarter, call someone who cares).

The water bottle experience paled by comparison when we all reassembled to board tenders to return to the ship from Bali. Ruth (yes, she does actually have a first name although she is seldom called it by me) and I had made our own arrangements for a shore excursion and, of course, returned to the dock about the same time as everyone else. It was utter chaos. The only lines in existence were just near the tender boarding area. Otherwise, there was a huge funneling effect with absolutely no attempt at control by Princess staff. Consequently, when each new bus arrived people getting off those buses tried to find a way around the mammoth queues. When I pointed out to a cruise staff member that there were people jumping lines in an outrageous manner they made no attempt to do anything about it. Their attitude appeared to be that if passengers wanted to treat each other badly it was none of the cruise line's business. It goes without saying that there was totally inadequate tender service available to handle such a large crowd.

Another example of how Princess "just doesn't get it" may be found below in the description of the shore excursion we took at Puerto Montt.

Because we have generally found the shore excursions offered by Princess to be lacking in so many respects, we try to take only those which afford us opportunities we wouldn't be able to exploit on our own. Obviously, visiting a penguin reserve in a remote area is not something we could arrange easily on our own. Likewise, spending a day at a ranch would be difficult to put together on our own. By contrast, however, in Brisbane, Australia, when we stopped there on the Sky Princess a few years back, we did go out to the same sheep ranch that Princess used. But, we went using a taxi to get out there and took the local commuter train to get back, all in a third the time and about a third the expense, and with three times the local exposure. Plus, we avoided the group lunch. Boy, do we dislike group lunches!

Consequently, when the shore excursions booklets arrived (they came in two separate mailings, about two weeks apart, because we were, as noted, effectively taking two separate cruises), we examined them carefully. Our goal was to pick only the best of the best, based on our own very personal likes and dislikes as developed after 24 successful and happy years traveling together, and eschew the rest. In the narrative below I'll comment where appropriate.

Princess has implemented something I found very neat: you can select your shore excursions online. In addition, you can complete some other pre-cruise administrative stuff online thus saving some paper, theoretically. Unfortunately, their website is, in my view, rather primitive because a) there is absolutely no way you can confirm or print out your choices and b) there is no way you can send anyone an e-mail to ask them to confirm your keying efforts. The only way I was able to do that was to call the 800 number and have them verify it. In addition, the preregistration of my credit card was without value as I still had to go by the purser's desk and give them an imprint. But, it will be a boon when they learn how to do it right.

It was so pretty on New Years Day when daughter Linda picked us up at 11 a.m. that we almost didn't leave. But, as we were heading for supposedly even nicer climes we pulled ourselves away and went to SFO to join a surprisingly large number of folks going to places all around the world. We were quite early so Ruth and I kissed Linda goodbye and went to the Red Carpet Club to await the departure.

We haven't been traveling by air lately nearly as much as we used to but we are aware of the negative impact cell telephones can have on people. When we entered the club, we took seats as far away from the television set as we could get and quite some distance from the phones. A guy was standing at the other end of the one windowed wall from us and talking on his cell phone. The position he was in assured that every word he said traveled down that wall, rather like Da Vinci's "whispering" wall.

My belief was that the cell phone user would eventually finish his conversation and go away. He did finish it and went and sat down near the television set. Then he thought of someone else he needed to talk to (this was New Years Day!) and called them. During the course of that conversation he told us, and everyone else in the club, that he and a group had been in New York (or somewhere) on business and that he was on his way home to Seattle. Because it was the end of the year and he needed only a few more miles to qualify for the next frequent flyer level, he had elected to fly home via SFO. So, to kill time, he was simply calling everyone he knew and chatting them up. To make matters worse, he had an earpiece and a microphone and literally walked all around the club room talking without any semblance of awareness on his part that anyone else was there. I finally went over to suggest that he take it outside and received sincere thanks from several people who were apparently less reluctant than I to confront.

Re the frequent flyer (we call them "painful flyer) mile situation described above, I can relate to this very well. Just before Christmas in 1990 I found myself in the same boat. For less than 1,000 miles I would qualify for United's Executive Premier status, then at 75,000 actual flying miles. Qualifying would mean free upgrades for a year as well as double mileage and a few other perks. So, on a Saturday morning Ruth drove me to the Oakland Airport where I boarded a United flight to Los Angeles International (LAX). When I got there I walked out to the curb and got on the first hotel shuttle bus that came along (it happened to be from the Sheraton) and went over there to have lunch. While seated in the Red Carpet Club at LAX waiting to board my flight back, I was paged and, ominously, my name was pronounced correctly. This could only mean one thing: trouble at home. Trouble, indeed. It had been very cold the night before and one of the pipes in Ruth's office had burst. Before that day was over, Linda would have come over to help Ruth move furniture and books and son John would have put his plumbing skills to work. Three chaps from the local fire station had answered Ruth's call for help (she didn't know who else to call...they told me they had taken over 500 calls that day) and had done an absolutely super job of helping her. On the way home from the airport we went by the fire station but they wouldn't accept any money. A suitably generous orchid letter was sent by us by way of thanks.

Our 767 for Miami was full but our seats in business class were a whole lot better than domestic first class seats used to be. The individual television monitors and the 777-type fully adjustable seats plus an extraordinarily large amount of legroom made for an exceptionally pleasant flight. The flight was made even nicer by two of the friendlier flight attendants we've seen in quite some time. They must have felt the same way because they took a great deal of joy in explaining that on every flight they each get to give a passenger a bottle of wine and, in our case, they both wanted us to have one. You will have noted from above that we probably didn't need to add any weight or bulk to our baggage, but, let's face it, a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Chardonnay would be most welcome in our cabin. Naturally we were appreciative and expressed that appreciation.

About an hour from Miami the lights suddenly went out on the aircraft. They were restored in about ten minutes and we got an announcement that they had lost a generator but had been able to recover it. That loss was going to have a rather significant impact on the up-until-now smooth trip upon which we had embarked.

We landed on time and headed immediately for United's Red Carpet Club. We remember the early days of this club when it had just been acquired from Pan American (remember them?) and it was a dark, wood paneled room with a great deal of elegance. That room today is brightly lit with equally brightly colored paintings and watercolors. Quite a change and not for the better. It is scarcely a restful and calming environment when waiting for a plane.

At the boarding time shown on our boarding passes, we checked the departure screens in the Club, saw that the flight was on time, and headed for the gate, not too many steps away. The first clue we got that we would be in for a longer trip was when the Sao Paulo flight, scheduled to depart five minutes after ours, began to board with no signs of preparation for our flight in evidence. When our gate agent started to make an announcement I moved hastily over to be in front of that counter (some of the gate counters in Miami are shared and across the terminal from the actual gates). Good job I did. We were told that the flight to Santiago was being delayed and that, in order not to delay its passengers, we were going to be put on that evening's United nonstop flight to BA and then flown from there to Santiago. We were also offered the option of taking the nonstop to Santiago the next night.

Those of you who know us know that we plan our trips very carefully with stress on maximum comfort and lack of stress. This means that seat assignments are very important to us and we can read seating charts very well. Those by the toilets and galleys are obviously subjected to a great deal of traffic and its resultant noise. Some of that noise is introduced by passengers seeking a "convenient" place to chat and stretch their legs. Another part of our planning is to avoid unnecessary connections, especially those over which we have zero control or influence. Thus, we agreed immediately that taking whatever seats in business would be offered to us (most likely either in the middle or otherwise located unsuitably) followed by an Aerolineas Argentina flight to Buenos Aires with seats in coach and arriving in Santiago at 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening was not a good option for us.

While standing in my line, one of four, I was amused by the number of people who refused to join lines but, rather, came up to the agent next to ours and stood there until they could get that agent's attention. When that agent looked up anywhere in their direction or in any way lapsed in the process of helping the passenger in front of her, the line jumpers would then pose questions. The agent was apparently not well trained or too polite to tell them to wait their turns and, consequently, would answer their questions in a rather limited manner hoping they'd go away. I finally told one line-jumper that every second that agent took to answer his questions meant it took that much longer for us to be processed. It had, as you can imagine, absolutely no effect but I experienced some personal gratification as well as the thanks of my fellow travelers closest to me. The fellow behind me agreed that it was a cultural issue. We have all been places in the world where queuing or politely waiting your turn is considered a rather novel, perhaps even naive, concept.

The agent got to me rather quickly and was most apologetic. I began our dialogue by telling her that she was in for a long night and that her apologies were appreciated but that the situation was certainly not her fault. A long time ago it became clear to me that shouting at anyone and venting anger or frustration on people for situations totally beyond their control and not their fault in any way was rude and boorish. (Our adult children will probably read this in amazement that I can obviously be so nice to total strangers and wonder why they never got treated the same way when they were growing up.) It remains amazing to me how many people still seem to blame gate agents for blown generators or bad weather.

We did find out, while waiting in line, that the reason for our delay was that the airplane which we were take to Santiago had to have its generator replaced and that would not be able to be done until the morning. This was a little bit of game playing on the part of United because the airplane we took from SFO to Miami was scheduled to continue to BA. Now someone had apparently decided to call it the Santiago plane and we were out of luck. We were to learn a little later that there were no spares in Miami and that one had be flown in. One passenger told us this was nothing more than a continuation of the labor problems United has been experiencing with mechanics since just after Labor Day. Remember that United is an employee-owned company.

The agent then assured me that we would be given seats in business class to Buenos Aires but would have to sit in coach on the flight to Santiago. I told her that we'd just as soon take the flight the next night. She accepted that and began to find seats for us. We settled on a window and aisle seat somewhat farther back in the business section than I would have wanted but still acceptable. She took down our baggage tag numbers and assured me I could collect the bags in baggage claim in a few moments. But, she told me, I should first stop by the customer service counter in the main terminal and they would help us with hotel arrangements. She also told me, when I asked, that if we claimed any one bag we would have to claim all three. After a short consultation with The Buts, we decided that we could manage one night without any of the bags, a prospect much more desirable than claiming three large bags, taking them to the hotel, and rechecking them in the morning.

We moved rather smartly, especially for me with my faux hip and knee and inborn dislike of haste while traveling, and found ourselves at the front of the line for the service counter which was staffed by a total of one. He finished the transaction for the person in front of us and turned his attention to us. He expressed some surprise that we had opted not to take the BA flight, then shrugged and began the process of finding a hotel. This required that he disappear behind the counter and deal with another United employee. When he returned he tossed a $10 phone card over the counter to me and said it would be a few minutes before he had hotel information. He also confirmed their policy with regard to baggage and made a phone call to confirm that it was being removed from the BA flight. He then turned to help the next people who had arrived needing assistance.

The line began to grow, but not swell, and no other United folks seemed to be working at this point. Whilst the agent was helping the next folks in line a young woman ran up to the desk and said that she and two others were on the BA flight and that it had to be held for them. He told them the doors were just closing and that they were out of luck. After a little dialogue, he finally called the gate and asked that the flight be held. All of this, of course, while we're standing around waiting and the night is ebbing on.

Finally the agent went behind the counter and returned with a voucher for the Radisson Hotel which covered lodging, dinner and breakfast and a separate voucher for Super Shuttle to get to the Radisson. During the earlier part of our transaction I asked about flight discount certificates. He acknowledged their existence and said he'd take care of us. When he came back to tell us about our hotel he placed two $50 discount certificates on the counter face down making it obvious he had no intention of handing them out to anyone in line who wasn't smart enough or experienced enough to request them. He also told us, just before we left, that the flight was not actually canceled, merely delayed, and that a new departure time had been set for 11 a.m. on Tuesday (it was now almost midnight on Monday). This was new information and something which he had not been in a position to tell the person in front of us whom he had been helping when we arrived at the counter. We would have to be back at the airport by 9:30 a.m. and, no, he couldn't give us seat assignments, we would have to get them in the morning.

I then went down to baggage services to assure that our bags were being pulled from the BA flight and that they would then be put on the Santiago flight automatically. Two different, and very helpful people, gave me their personal, and highly credible, assurances that that was exactly what would happen. One even told me that we could take one of the bags if we wished to. As the bags were still on the BA plane, waiting for one would mean an even later arrival at the hotel so I declined. The agent very generously gave me two toilet kits containing everything we would need overnight. And, because we always carry our medications with us on board, we were all set.

The next step was to go to the proper exit and level to get to Super Shuttle to get to the Radisson. At this terminal that meant a different level from the hotel shuttles. During this process Ruth overheard that some people were staying at the Marriott. I concluded that, because the agent had been specific in asking if we were in business class, the Radisson was the hotel they used for us and that the Marriott was for coach passengers. We went downstairs to the Super Shuttle stop and the first driver who pulled up asked me where I wanted to go. When I told him he asked which one. How the hell did I know? I told him I assumed the one closest to the airport. He consulted with the ground dispatcher and they both played dumb. The dispatcher asked the driver if he wanted a run to South Beach and I told them to forget it, I wasn't going to go South Beach on a whim.

Back to the customer service counter where the guy who had helped us had now been joined by several fellow employees and quite a few other passengers. I signaled to "my friend" and told him that Super Shuttle was playing dumb and wanted to know which Radisson. He and another employee both snorted at this saying that there was only one anywhere near the airport. I asked if the Marriott still had rooms and he said they did and agreed to give us one. The second employee now had to take my old vouchers and write new ones, an astonishingly slow process at this point. "My friend" also asked if he had given me a phone card and I told him that he had but that I could always use another. He tossed two more over the counter to me.

Next, we went out to the curb to wait for the Marriott shuttle. One had just pulled away and the United folks told me they had called for another. While we were standing there what should pull up but a shuttle bus for the Radisson. At this point, all we could do was laugh. Why did we need a Super Shuttle?

At 12:50 a.m. the Marriott shuttle dropped us off at the front door. When Ruth and I had "shopped" this property in 1996 it was a 600 room hotel. At that time they were planning to convert its older buildings and former old-style motel rooms to a Courtyard by Marriott and a Fairfield Inn. That transition was now complete and the actual Marriott Hotel was probably half its former size. My recollection was that they used to have all-night room service. When I asked the desk clerk she told me it stopped at 1 a.m. Ruth picked up on that and headed for the house phone to order two Marriott Burgers. The hotel operator told The Buts that Room Service was closed for the night. Bad move. She Who simply asked for the MOD (Manager on Duty) and was connected to that person. The Buts then asked what the person's normal job was: night audit manager. A short conversation ensued during which The Good Lady Wife was advised that Room Service would be delighted to take our order. They may not have been delighted but take our order they did. (By the time Ruth had gotten someone to take her order I was able to call our room number across the lobby to her.)

When Ruth concluded her conversation with Room Service a woman standing nearby had overheard her and asked her what that was about. The lady then picked up the phone and called in a similar order. As Ruth was wearing a straw hat I laughed and commented to her that people always know to "follow the lady in the straw hat." This was a reminder of the time we had a major screw up in Mexico City while attempting to change planes to Acapulco. (The flight was scheduled to stop in Puerto Vallarta before continuing to Mexico City. The airline, in fact, has us disembark and go through Immigration, then announced there would be a "slight" delay before we continued. Slight delay indeed: they actually took the same plane and crew and flew a load of passengers to Denver and returned while we sat around the airport waiting for the continuation of our flight.) We typically divide and conquer where that seems advisable and I had agreed to claim our luggage while Ruth sorted out the connecting flight with a different carrier (and rather late in the evening at that). I overheard one young woman say to her husband, "Follow that lady in the straw hat, she seems to know what she's doing." Smart young woman, I've been doing that for years to excellent benefit.

The desk clerk was hampered by the fact that she had been called over from the Fairfield Inn to help check in the unexpected arrivals from our flight. As a result, she simply didn't know the proper room codes and the only other clerk on duty had to come over and help check us in.

After getting to our room I called the Hotel Kennedy in Santiago to advise them of our new arrival time and told the night desk clerk that our transportation would have to be adjusted. I also called United in an attempt to get a seat assignments but was not successful. We did get a reasonable night's sleep and were back at the terminal at 9:15 a.m.

On a hunch I suggested we stop and check in for the flight at the main terminal rather than go the whole way in to the gate area to the Red Carpet Club. Good job I did. The counter agent assured me that our baggage had been pulled off the BA flight and that it was down in Baggage Services. Now all I had to do was go down there, claim it, and bring it back up to the ticket counter to recheck it. Wrong! After she had a conversation on the phone she, somewhat truculently, told me I wouldn't have to do that after all because she had satisfied Baggage Services that we were, in fact, on the premises and she had issued us boarding cards. At this point I asked if they didn't have some kind of compensation for such inconveniences as had been imposed on us. She said they did, disappeared for a few minutes, and returned with two more $50 off certificates.

A note about these certs: they're not actually as good as they sound. Each is worth $50 off any flight within the 50 United States and some places in the Caribbean. However, they are only valid for one year from the time issued and cannot be combined with others. Nevertheless, half the folks issuing them tend not to stamp them with an issue date and they are, in any event, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Besides, I like to pull United's chain. After all, they've pulled mine often enough and I've always had to pay them for it.

After getting our seat assignments I then went back to Baggage Services just to double-check that what I had been told was correct. We were able to physically observe our bags and the service director on duty told me he had been the one who told the agent checking us in that we were okay. Good, now off to the Club.

We sat down to wait for boarding time with the screen showing an 11 a.m. "On time" departure. At about 10:15 I went to the desk and asked for, and got, a United system timetable. I always enjoy looking at various flight options and combinations, distances, et al. The person at the desk asked if we were on the Santiago delayed flight and I verified that we were. She told us that the flight was delayed an additional hour for "cabin crew rest." At this point I decided to ask her for some form of compensation for this additional inconvenience without mentioning that we had already received some. My specific reason for asking was that while the cabin crew was apparently able to sleep an hour longer we had been forced to give up that extra sleep and be at the airport by 9:30. She told me we would be given something on the airplane. I asked if she knew that for a fact or was just guessing. She assured me it was a fact.

At the appropriate time we went downstairs, boarded the plane, and took off without incident. The flight attendants were not nearly so forthcoming as those from SFO but I know that they had their arrivals home delayed (they were Santiago-based) by the same problem and were probably a little grumpy. About halfway through the eight-hour flight I asked one of the flight attendants if we were going to be compensated for all the inconvenience including the last minute extra hour's worth of insult. She allowed as how she didn't know but would leave a note for the purser who was on his break period.

When the purser finished his break he came to our seat and asked how he could help. I explained the situation with emphasis on the last minute's shift in departure time and he said he was directly responsible for that. He said that when he got to the airport he found the cabin crew had a report time of 10:45 a.m., in order to have a legal rest period, and there was no way the plane could be boarded and readied for departure in 15 minutes. So, he had it pushed back to a more realistic time. He said he didn't know what the Red Carpet Club staff had in mind but that he had nothing to give us, that the best he could do was fill out a form which we could send in and Chicago could do with it whatever they wished. (You know the form, the kind you send in if someone spills something on you for which you'll get a voucher to cover the dry cleaning bill.)

When the purser returned with a voucher for each of us I read them and found he had cited the reason for our complaint was not being notified of the hour's delayed departure from 11 a.m. until noon. I called him back and said that while he may have understood fully the reason for our being annoyed the people at home office surely would not based on his description, that his wording actually trivialized the situation. He got very defensive until I told him everything that had happened to us along the way. He then decided he would send in the forms himself attached to the report he planned to submit to the Miami station manager about how badly United had handled the entire delayed flight. He returned before we landed and insisted we accept a bottle of wine. Great, more carry on stuff!

We touched down exactly one minute later than we were told at the beginning of the flight. Of course, even though it was 10 p.m. the gate which we were assigned was occupied so we waited a few more minutes but didn't care. After all, we usually fly in and out of SFO, an airport whose on time record is one of the worst in the country. (No matter how many miles I've flown, it still amazes me that someone can predict the exact duration of an eight-hour flight time. I'll forgive them the extra minute). Our luggage was there as promised and we claimed it and went through the green line. At that point, we were directed to put everything through the scanner (we had apparently been the subjects of racial profiling) which declared us clean.

When we left the customs area we were greeted with not one, but two, drivers. One was there from the Kennedy and had a chalkboard with the names "Mr. & Mrs. David S. McCahan" on it. The other was from a hotel whose name I don't recall at this point and he had a sign that said "Mrs. Ruth McCahan." Interesting situation, this. The drivers had apparently seen each other and were standing together. José, our driver, had in his possession an e-mail from me which I had sent to the hotel. The other driver had nothing.

José helped us with our six pieces total (three of them on wheels, two of them laden with wine because I had chosen to carry a bottle of Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel from California to the hotel GM, so we were now carrying four bottles of wine) out to the parking lot. The other driver tagged along and I had to struggle with my weak Spanish to tell him I really didn't know why he was there. José apparently didn't understand what was going on and was of no value in this situation though I couldn't expect him to be. The other driver said that his hotel had gotten an e-mail from me a couple of days before and I told him that was impossible. We left the airport leaving him standing there. Later I was able to recall that in March I had sent the hotel which he represented, a Best Western in the Bellavista section of Santiago, an e-mail giving our flight information asking for room rate and transportation information. They had replied at that time and I sent them a note thanking them and advising them we were staying elsewhere. Apparently, on the basis of that request for information and without any hotel reservation or credit card information, they chose to send a driver. As the driver knew well that we were at the Kennedy, I expected to get a phone call there from the other hotel. We did not. And, there was not an e-mail from them waiting for us at home.

José was so genuinely enthusiastic and pleasant that we overlooked the fact that his English was somewhat limited although a great deal better than our collective Spanish vocabulary. He told us he would be our driver for our entire stay and that pleased us because familiarity can become synergistic in such cases. He laughed over the amount of baggage we had and seemed to understand that we justified carrying so much because we were going to be gone a total of five weeks. One large case was assigned to the front seat of the Hyundai Sonata four-door sedan along with two smaller pieces.

On the way into town José asked if we wouldn't prefer that our city tour, scheduled for 10 a.m. the next day, take place in the afternoon instead. We both almost kissed him because that was exactly what we were thinking. We agreed on 2 p.m. and he said he would have a guide with him who spoke better English. He left us at the hotel with smiles all around.

Our reception at the hotel was outstanding. The bellman was friendly, enthusiastic about demonstrating his good command of English, and helpful. The front desk associate equally friendly and forthcoming with an even better command of our language. We had been given a corner room on the 11th floor with plenty of closet and drawer space and a built-in safe. The bathroom was quite large with two washbasins, a toilet, and the obligatory bidet. A truly excellent choice at a very good price of US$125 tax-free with full breakfast included.

After a great night's sleep, we went down for breakfast to a very pleasant dining room which becomes the Aquarium Restaurant for lunch and dinner. (Our initial impression was that we were not disposed to have dinner there. That impression was reinforced when we stopped in after dinner that evening and found it as brightly lit and as relatively sterile as it had been for breakfast. In addition, the menu wasn't nearly so varied as we had been presented for our first dinner which is described below.) The cold buffet offered salami, cheese, yoghurt, fruits, pastry, and juices. Eggs, omelets, and French Toast were available on request, so breakfast was more than adequate. By contrast to the rest of the hotel staff, the dining room contingent was much more reserved and formal, not just with us but with everyone. Had they been as friendly as the front office folks, breakfast could have been more than just a refueling stop.

At 1:55 p.m. the concierge rang to tell us our driver was there with the guide. We went down to be greeted by José and Nicole. Nicole proved to have Spanish as her first language, French as her second, and displayed an exceptionally good command of English as her third. Our tour of the city took almost three and a half hours.

We drove into the center of the city taking a circuitous route so that we could pass through a particularly good restaurant district comprising Avenida El Bosque Norte and Avenida Isidora Goyanechova (more on this later). We then drove down the main street, Bernardo O'Higgins, and were given information about sites and sights along the way. We went into one racetrack park and then back out to the Palacia Moneda. Here we were deposited by José and we walked in and out of the Palacia, then up the pedestrian mall to the Plaza de Armas, the spot from which all distances in Chile are calculated. A few blocks over José waited for us with the car just outside the former home of Congress which now meets in Valparaiso due to significant earthquake damage to the building in prior years.

We were to hear more about earthquakes in Chile. In Santiago, they have had some devastating ones over the years and that accounts for the fact that most buildings are typically less than a hundred years old and that there are relatively few skyscrapers in the city.

José drove us by the Mercado Central (the fresh fish market), over the Mapocho River into Bellavista, which is apparently the happening area for the young professionals today, then around Santa Lucia Mountain which is a park area right in the middle of Santiago. From there we went to the top of San Cristobal Mountain to take in a view of the entire area from a higher vantage point. Finally, we returned to the hotel after driving out into the newest of the wealthy districts being developed to the east of Santiago past Las Condes.

Santiago was a major surprise to us. I had anticipated a Mexico City only farther south. It is not. It is, in fact, one of the cleanest cities we've visited although nothing like Singapore, of course. Further, although we certainly didn't go into the favelas it was obvious they were nothing like the incredibly poor ones we've seen described in Rio and viewed personally in South Africa and elsewhere. Generally speaking, people were friendly, courteous, and relatively well-dressed. We saw almost no evidence of homeless folk or street beggars but the extremely high visibility of the policia can help to account for that. And, unlike numbers of other places we've been, the locals were absolutely disinterested in staring at us on the streets or the Metro even though it was clear from our dress and appearance that we were tourists. (I still remain surprised at the number of times in Mexico and in Santiago that people have asked if I'm German.)

It was not quite 5:30 p.m. when José and Nicole dropped us and I didn't need a nap (The Buts almost never needs one). As we weren't planning on dinner until around 9, we felt a snack might be in order. We walked up to the Parque Arauca Las Condes, the largest shopping mall in Santiago, therefore, in Chile, and found numerous options in the food court: Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, and a host of other local knockoffs. Personal size pizzas were just right and enough fuel to sustain us as we covered the top floor of the mall looking into shops as we went along. As is usually the case, The Buts couldn't find a single thing without which she couldn't live and this shopping excursion proved to be very low cost.

When we came back into the hotel the concierge greeted us and introduced himself. He showed me a copy of the e-mail I had sent the operations manager and said he wanted to review it with us. We discussed it in detail and fine-tuned it. I tipped him for his efforts in arranging for everything and we went to our room. I noted at the time that he seemed to be unaware of the fact that we had been told by Jose that he would be our driver for the whole visit but decided to let it play out as the drivers didn't actually work for the hotel.

Prior to arriving in Santiago I had done some research into dinner options and had printed out a list of likely spots. In addition, we had the guidance of Fodor and Lonely Planet. In the event, the best guidance of all came from one of the flight attendants on our Santiago flight, a woman from Atlanta who has been based in Santiago for the past five years. She told us about Avenida El Bosque Norte and specifically recommended Coco Loco for seafood and Isla Negra for typical Chilean dishes. She told us that El Bosque Norte was only a short ride from the hotel (she lives in the Las Condes area) and that we needn't book a table anywhere, just go over and find any of the restaurants which appealed to us, and ask for a table.

At 8:45 p.m. we went to the lobby and asked the doorman for a taxi. We had earlier noted one or two standing by on the street but were especially aware of a group of unmarked cars parked on the hotel property and on the street as well. The drivers all wore dress shirts with ties and we became aware that our driver, Jose, appeared to be part of this group. The doorman signaled to one who pulled up immediately and we got in. The doorman asked the driver to take us to Coco Loco and we left. There was no meter in the car and all I could do was go on instinct which proved to be sound. When we got to El Bosque Norte the driver entered from the end closest to the hotel and we were stopped by a traffic jam. He pointed out the restaurant to us just across and up the street and told me it would be C$2,000 (at C$570 to the US$). As tipping is not expected in cabs, this meant a cost of US$3.50, as reasonable a trip as you can take anywhere.

We walked up one side of the street past a few restaurants, then crossed over and stopped as Isla Negra and looked at their menu. We agreed it was a good choice for the next night. For this evening, bring on the pescada and mariscos. On to Coco Loco where we got a nice greeting and a window table in the corner. Great spot!

To our dismay, the people at the table next to us were the same Chilean family we had seen in our hotel at breakfast. (In a city of five million people, what are the odds of this happening?) As near as we could make out, they were having a small reunion which consisted of the parents, an adult son with his wife, and an adult daughter with her husband and their little girl, a rather cute three-year old. At breakfast, the grandmother got up from her table to help feed her grandchild (her parents had come in after the first group and were seated at the next table). The little girl was well-behaved at breakfast. However, at dinner, she was seated at the end of the long table nearest us (Grandpere was not with the group for dinner) and had, apparently, been causing a disturbance just before we got there. Her father picked her up, walked past us carrying her, and left the restaurant. My dismay began when he returned to the table with her having clearly been told what was expected of her and that nothing less would be acceptable. It was extremely painful to watch this poor child have to sit there while the adults had a full dinner (she had apparently been fed earlier) and ignored her completely. She had no toys, no crayons, no books, and no one ever made an attempt to include her in anything. When the waiter was asked to take a group picture, she stood at her chair with her back turned to the camera. No one even seemed to care, let alone even notice. Try to imagine the looks on their faces when they get the pictures back.

As a side note, on our flight from SFO to Miami, an American woman and her little girl, who also appeared to be about three, were seated behind us. The father was in the window seat one seat behind them but I didn't know that at the time. While we were still on the ground and for some time after we had taken off I was aware that the man seemed to be talking to his seat partner quite loudly. In fact, he was so loud that I turned around to look a couple of times. Because he was quite tall, well over 6' 6", I concluded that his higher position caused his voice to carry (there is always one, no matter where you go). During the flight the little girl behaved rather badly and the father took no role in handling her. The mother was reading a book and clearly believed her daughter to be a major distraction. I looked back once and saw only an empty crayon package. No crayons, no pictures, no books, no stuffed animals, nada. At one point the little girl started playing with the passenger console that includes a flight attendant call button which, of course, she pushed. When the flight attendant responded and the mother became aware of what had happened, the mother then shifted her position so that her arm covered the call button. When the little girl objected her mother first hit her hands with the book, then hit her over the head with it. I'm sure the little girl was delighted that her mother wasn't reading the huge hardback autobiography of Margaret Thatcher which I later checked out of the ship's library. Thank God for paperback books, eh?

One final note on this diversion: at one point I became aware that the tall man two rows back from us had taken the little girl to the toilet. And, someone had also switched seats with him so that he was now across the aisle from his wife. It turns out that he had been sitting in his window seat carrying on a regular conversation with his wife in front of him. No wonder the guy beside him wanted him to switch.

Back to dinner. We both had seafood starters and main courses with a Chilean Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc (don't worry, I'm not going to tell you about each meal and each bottle of wine, this one has significance). The food was delicious and the wine a pleasant accompaniment. The reason for this specific wine choice was that we would be visiting that winery on Friday. The bill, including the standard 10% tip, was US$70. We walked out the door and the cab driver who had been standing on the street in front of the restaurant and cleaning his fingernails throughout our dinner jumped into action and agreed to take us to the Kennedy which he assured us he knew. His bill was C$4000 (how about double?) after rounding up. Obviously it cost more to get home than to get there. We were to find a few variations on this as the week progressed.

A note on parking: during the day parking on Avenida de El Bosque Norte is parallel with the curb. After 8 p.m. it apparently becomes diagonal and, in some places, in order to maximize space, even perpendicular. So, while we were eating dinner we were amused by the sight of doormen from restaurants "arranging" the proper parking of cars. Imagine if you had parked your car parallel to the curb and returned to it sometime after perpendicular parking had begun. Getting out of such a space would be an obvious challenge.

This was to be our independent touring day. The Buts had sussed out the options based on our introductory city tour and plotted a course. We were to walk to the Metro, take it to the Estacion Central (the hauptbahnhof, if you will), look it over, possibly with an eye to taking a short haul train out of the city and back just to get a different flavor for the area. We would then take the Metro, transferring to a different line, and visit, on foot this time, the Mercado Central and the shopping areas across the river in Bellavista. (Spanish is a wonderful language, by the way. Bellavista is pronounced by gringos easily as Bell-a-vis-ta, right? Wrong, try Bay-ya-beesta.)

The walk to the end of the Metro line at the Escuela Militar (the West Point of Chile) was a pleasant stroll down Avenida Amerigo Vespucci. The line, like the rest of Santiago, was clean and apparently well-maintained. We had been forewarned by numerous people that the city was safe and the only thing about which we need be concerned was flashing jewelry about. We had stripped away the gold we display normally and Ruth was not even carrying a purse. As we moved in and through crowds of people I simply shifted my wallet from my left rear pocket into my right front pocket where it was completely safe. We were not in the least uncomfortable at any time.

Our first stop, the Estacion Central, was a major surprise. This once huge train station with its multiple platforms had been transformed into a shopping mall, a Chilean version of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. At the rear of the mall were the various buses which now comprise the primary means of movement throughout the country. At the time we were there we counted three traffic directors on the ground and another in a control tower situated above the buses. There were over 60 platforms, each representing either a different destination or a different bus company. Only when we came out of the station and turned right did we see the current rail offering: five or six tracks for Metrotren and only one of them actually occupied by a two-car intercity rail train. Obviously rail travel was currently in a major state of decline in the nation's capital. And, as became clear, as Santiago goes, so goes Chile.

Our stroll through the Mercado Central was punctuated by offers from the numerous restaurants located within which specialize in cooking the very fresh fish on sale by the multiple vendors. We went across the street into another shopping mall and found the food court in order to have a light, and less daring, lunch. It is a point of interest to me to try a McDonalds in every country we visit. I am intrigued by them and how they're implemented locally. For example, the best one we've ever been in is the one near the Spanish Steps in Rome. It has clean bathrooms, the seating areas are marvelously decorated with live plants, and the salad bar features, among other things, fresh mozzarella. The one in Arles sells wine and the folks there actually carried my tray for me noting the stick I needed at that time for stability. So, this was to be my McDonald's fix for Chile. Ruth was happy with a broiled chicken sandwich from the Colonel. As we had noticed in the other shopping center, the teenagers, male and female, seemed to be oblivious of adults and didn't mind crowding us at counters or walking between us. This being summer vacation for them, no one was in school. (We were to learn that the reverse schedule applies in the Andes when school is out during the winter because the weather can be so harsh and roads are closed by snow and avalanches. So, if you live in the Andes, don't count on the snow days off from school that those of us who went to school in the east looked forward to so much.)

Back into the streets, across the river to Bellavista and the flower vendors. Most of the offerings were for funeral arrangements leading me to believe the country must have an abnormally high death rate. Then, back over Mapocho River to jump on Metro line 2 to ride to the end of the line, Lo Ovalle. The decision to do this was based on the fact that this line runs above ground most of the distance between Los Heroes and the Mercado Central. We reasoned, incorrectly as it turned out, that it might do so south of the city thereby giving us a chance to see more. Nevertheless we rode to the end of the line and got off and were starting to go to the other side of the platform to take the train back to line 1 to return to the hotel.

A young man wearing a suit and carrying a brief case stopped us and asked if we spoke Spanish. I gave him the standard reply of "poquito" ("a little") He cautioned us in English that this was a very dangerous area of Santiago. We thanked him for his concern and assured him we were only going to the other platform and returning to the Central District. He then pulled out his wallet and showed us his driver's license from his five year residence in Hartford, CT, some four years prior. We pointed out that we had been forewarned and showed him that we had on minimum jewelry and that Ruth didn't even have a purse. He told us that we were seeing one side of Santiago that many don't, that the people in this area walked around without smiles because they had poor food, poor clothing, and poor housing in sharp contrast to the Las Condes area. He seemed quite impressed with the fact that we were staying at the Kennedy, invited us to enjoy his country, and went about his business.

The ride back was a pleasant one because a young woman got on with her three daughters, aged probably seven, four, and two. They sat opposite us and the middle daughter froze when Ruth winked at her. She covered her eyes and turned away for a time until her older sister persuaded her we were safe. We then played winking games, finger games, and generally smiled a lot at each other. These are the kinds of delights only to be found by getting off the tourist track.

The walk from the Metro at the Escuela Militar was only about twice as far at it had been that morning. This was due, in part, to the bright sunshine with little shade provided by the trees because of the sun's position in the sky. We ameliorated some of the effect by sharing a Coke purchased at the Metro station.

That evening we repeated the process of getting a cab from the concierge (the standard C$2000) and went to Isla Negra for some typical Chilean food. My main course was Pastil de Choclot which is described in one guidebook as sweetcorn pie. It is a hot dish with some creamed, some whole, corn baked with pieces of chicken and ground meat. It was quite delicious. Ruth had a beef version of osso buco and found it to be good but rich. I tried to order three different Concha y Toro red wines but they were out of them all. We settled on a Miguel Torres Cabernet Sauvignon. The cab ride back to the hotel was just over C$1,000, slightly more than half of the cost to get there. This was becoming an interesting exercise.

We were expecting to be picked up by José at 10 a.m. to visit Concha y Toro. The concierge had told us it was less than an hour's drive to get there but agreed that we could walk around the gardens if we were early. At 10:10 we had not had a call so I went to the concierge desk. The concierge told me that the driver had said it only took 45 minutes to get there so why didn't we come back at 10:45? We did so and found that José was, indeed, our driver. However, it was a different José, a very nice and pleasant man who spoke almost less English than I speak Spanish (and, I want to tell you, that is going some!). Big surprise here and no explanation. José drove like a madman through a great deal of traffic and we arrived at the winery seven minutes after the tour departure time of 11:30. Obviously if we had left when we planned there would have been no rush at all and we would have been on time. We signed in, paid our admission fee, were given our glasses, and instructed to walk down the allee to the first stopping point where we would join the group in progress.

There were about 30 people of whom probably two-thirds had English as their first language. We walked through the gardens and the winery stopping a total of three places for tasting. This was the home of the Casillera del Diablo, the Devil's wine cellar after which the wine we had consumed our first night was named. During our visit we tasted the Sauvignon Blanc, the Merlot, and the Cabernet Sauvignon. They represented the wineries middle-grade wines and were quite acceptable.

For lunch José took us to a local restaurant tipica where we sat al fresco (the weather in Santiago throughout our visit was exceptionally pleasant) and enjoyed a local singer along with our food and, of course, a bottle of Concha y Toro Cab. Ruth had the Pastil de Choclot which was a larger and better version of the one I had the prior evening. I had the steak with fried eggs and caramelized onions which is also apparently one of the national dishes. José, who had to be persuaded to join us, had a steak wrapped in bacon which came with mashed potatoes laced with red pepper. We had a pleasant lunch with my referring constantly to my pocket dictionary in order to find the words we needed to communicate.

Two women were seated at the next table and we could tell that the one was an American who spoke fluent Spanish. On our way out, Ruth stopped to ask the American the translation for a particular word we were seeking. She told us, then asked where we were from. When we said, "San Francisco," she said that she was, too. She works for a San Francisco design company and was in Maipo designing a label for one of the local wineries. The world grows ever smaller...

Following lunch José drove us farther up the Maipo Valley to San José del Maipo, crossed the river, and drove down the opposite side of the valley. We drove by the Cousiño Macul winery on the way back into town and were at the hotel at a reasonable hour.

For dinner that evening we had pre-determined that the German restaurant across from Coco Loco and Isla Negra would be just right because of the size of our lunch. The cab ride over was the standard C$2,000, the greeting from the restaurant positively Teutonic in its dourness. Ruth had the sauerbraten with a glass of Chilean red wine and I had eisbein (ham hocks which I love dearly) and a half liter of local German-style beer. Our cab driver was cute little man who showed us a still different way back to the hotel which proved to cost C$2,000. In the end we had struck close to an average.

When we got back from the winery the day before I chatted up the concierge and told him that although José #2 was a fine fellow, we preferred José #1 as a driver. Not the least of the reasons was his better English. Another aspect was that José #1 was just a jovial guy who was most pleasant to be around. The concierge said he would do what he could.

When we arrived at the driveway curb with our baggage the next morning José #1 was there with a huge smile on his face. The struggle then began to reinstill the luggage in and on the car. José's initial plan was to use the luggage rack on the car for two of the larger pieces. This did not sit well with me as we were going to be on the highway where I could envision the bags picking up every bug between Santiago and Valpo. Ruth pointed out that there were no bugs because it was so dry but I prevailed and everything got put inside. In addition to my concern about insects (and the wind ripping off the Princess Cruise luggage tags), my fertile imagination had me thinking of the possibility of someone heisting our luggage at a red light á la the Ciudad de Mexico.

José drove us through some parts of Santiago that we hadn't seen before and pointed out the various places of interest along the way. We then went out on the highway where his pace was leisurely and comfortable, not least because of the presence of policia with radar guns controlling the speed. En route to Viña del Mar, the beach resort city north of Valpo, we enjoyed looking at the fertile valleys where high quality fruit for export was growing alongside grapevines.

Approaching Viña from the west we saw we were on a huge hillside and took a circuitous road down to sea level. We then drove along the beach to the north end of town, then reversed direction and went to the south of town headed for Valparaiso, just a few miles down the coast. Just before we got to the river José stopped at the casino to allow us a chance to use the facilities and to look at the gambling rooms.

My dress in Santiago was shorts, short sleeve shirt, and Birkenstock sandals. The weather was comfortable and we weren't planning on going anyplace where such dress would be unacceptable. The guide books had told us that Santiago was a little more formal than many places and that shorts would mark one as a tourist. Well, we were obviously tourists in any case, so that didn't bother me. But, I seldom choose to offend (there are times, however...) so I wanted to be sure. The flight attendant assured me shorts were just fine in Santiago. Her opinion was reinforced when male members of the Chilean family staying at the Kennedy were attired similarly both in the morning and evening. Finally, shorts were quite common on men in the places we chose for dinner.

As regards the casino, I asked José if I could go in dressed as I was. He assured me I was just fine. I then told him about our day trip to Macao from Hong Kong a few years ago. We had taken the hydrofoil to Macao on a very warm day and I was dressed as above. At about 11 a.m. we came to a casino and started to go in when the Fashion Police stopped me. They had no problems with my shorts but my lack of socks required them to deny me admission. And, no, I didn't ask if they rented them or had any I could borrow.

We then drove in the city of Valparaiso in the middle of a very busy Saturday shopping crowd. First we went by the National Congress building, then up into the hillsides. Things were a little more mean here than most places we saw in Santiago. Valpo is a port town with relatively little there these days to attract tourists. There are only about five streets running north and south through town before the hills start to climb sharply. The city has solved this problem by running ascensors (the word translates to elevators but they are more like what we call trams or funiculars climbing hillsides) in about 18 locations. They run in pairs, counterbalancing each other. From our balcony on the ship we were able to watch three pairs carrying people up and down.

During the drive we learned that José's family was planning to meet him at the pier as they were having a weekend at the beach. When we pulled up his wife was there with their van and José's mother. We had a short and pleasant meeting with them and then went over to unload our baggage. José parted from us with the traditional abrazo (embrace with the obligatory two pats on the back) and wished us farewell.

José is an extremely warm person anxious to improve his English. He and his wife have three children, a 28-year old son who is a lawyer, a 26-year old daughter who is a medical doctor, and a 20-year old son who is an engineering student. He explained that families in Chile are very close and that the older son told his parents not to worry about tuition for the younger son, he would take care of it. I wonder if the three-year old girl at the Kennedy and Coco Loco will ever experience such strong family ties.

Note: I have José's business card with his address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address if anyone reading this is interested in an excellent and pleasant driver in Santiago.

We arrived at the pier at 1 p.m. and boarding was in progress. It was a smooth transition from land passenger to sea traveler and we were very quickly in our cabin, 335 on the Lido deck, which is the top deck on the Royal Princess for lodging. (There is one more deck above us, the Sun deck). We were in Category AB, the top category being the two suites, and the next category being AA. All the AA cabins were on the same deck as we and the Royal Suite was two doors away. These cabins, staterooms if you wish, all have private balconies, an amenity we really learned to love when we sailed on the Sky Princess from Sydney to Bangkok in 1997. Even if it's too cold or blustery to sit out there, the ability to look out one whole end of your cabin at the sea and land is wonderful. It's also nice to be able to let in some fresh air periodically.

Note: For a closer look at our ship as well as the others in the Princess fleet, go to:www.princess.com.

This was to be our first sailing on a Grand Class Princess ship. One of the amenities is the butler assigned to your cabin. The butler handles Room Service, laundry, items relating to shore excursions, and a myriad of other things. The room steward is essentially there to keep the cabin in order.

Our room steward was (and presumably still is) a Filipino male, our butler an English male. Both came by, separately, after we had finished packing and introduced themselves. I pre-tipped them both after getting from each of them a delineation of their responsibilities as they viewed them.

The next stop was the dining room. At this point we differ from many other people who enjoy cruising. Meal times are our private times. The Royal Princess cruise director told us that people take cruises in order to meet people. We do not. We take them to see places we wouldn't be able, from a practical viewpoint, to see otherwise. We are not seeking new best friends, we like the ones we have, thank you very much, indeed. On the other hand, we're not anti-social and do enjoy chatting up people on board ship and on shore excursions. We learn a lot that way. But, meal times, especially dinners, belong to us. We have, other than at the meal table, met lots of nice folks on our trips and this trip was to be no exception.

When we first started cruising we were told that no cruise line will guarantee you a table for two, that only the maitre d'hotel could assign you one and then only once you were on board ship. So, I learned how to bring that about and we have always had a table for two on every cruise. Very quickly I will tell you that the last three requests we've made on Princess ships for tables for two were honored. At that point, it is only a matter of improving one's position.

Princess knows that people will have specific table requests and arranges for the maitre d' to be available on sailing days, usually between 3:30 p.m. and 5. So, I always head for the dining room to have that meeting. On this ship the maitre d' was gracious, friendly, and accommodating just as they have all been on all the Princess ships on which we've sailed. (People who earn their livings in tip-based environments know how to optimize their annual income.) I thanked him for the nice table for two he had assigned us and wondered if he would be in a position to give us a four-top set for two. He perused his seating chart and determined that he could do just that on the first cruise but would have to reevaluate it on the second. As breakfast and lunch were to be open seating I expressed a desire for tables for two when we came in for those meals. He told me to simply advise the dining room captain (they are now called head waiters on Princess) when we came in and those requests would be honored. I told him that his needing to reevaluate seating for the second cruise was perfectly understandable, thanked him, and gave him a generous pre-tip, for which he expressed appreciation in return. On the first Thursday out, the maitre d' told us at dinner that he was getting off the ship in BA and would have seating worked out for us before he left. He was, at that time, still unsure whether we could enjoy our four-top from BA to Manaus but would try his best.

What's the difference between what he had assigned us and what we got? Space for one thing, location for another. None of the deuces was near a window. Our four-top was at a window in the middle section of the dining room and it was set for two people. This gave us a very large and comfortable table, all the better to hold the massive quantities of food and drink we were to consume.

For me, the hardest part of the cruise was over. The Good Lady Wife was pleased with the cabin and the table. All we had to do from this point on was enjoy ourselves. And, that is exactly what we did.

Day	Date	Location	Dress*	Activity
1,	SA1/6/01	Board in Valparaiso	C	Initial sailing at 6 p.m
2,	SU 1/7/01	At sea	F
3,	MO 1/8/01	Puerto Montt, Chile	C	Shore excursion to German Villages
4,	TU 1/9/01	At sea	SF
5,	WE 1/10/01	At sea	C	Visit Pio XI Glacier, Seño Eyre Fjord
6,	TH 1/11/01	At sea	SF	Visit Amalia Glacier
7,	FR 1/12/01	Punta Arenas, Chile	C	Independent visit to the city
8,	SA 1/13/01	Beagle Channel/Ushuaia	C	Fuegian Train shore excursion
9,	SU 1/14/01	Cape Horn	F	Cruise by Cape Horn (an island)
10,	MO 1/15/01	Port Stanley, Falklands	C	Independent visit ashore
11,	TU 1/16/01	At sea	SF
12,	WE 1/17/01	Puerto Madryn, Arg	C	Penguin colony at Punta Tumbo
13,	TH 1/18/01	At sea	F
14,	FR 1/19/01	Montevideo, Uruguay	C	Estancia visit
15,	SA 1/20/01	Buenos Aires, Arg	C	City tour, independent visit in p.m.
16,	SU 1/21/01	Montevideo, Uruguay	C	City tour in afternoon
17,	MO 1/22/01	At sea	F
18,	TU 1/23/01	At sea	SF
19,	WE 1/24/01	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	C	City tour
20,	TH 1/25/01	At sea	SF
21,	FR 1/26/01	At sea	C
22,	SA 1/27/01	Recife, Brazil	C	Independent visit ashore, shuttle bus service to town available
23,	SU 1/28/01	At sea	F
24,	MO 1/29/01	At sea	C
25,	TU 1/30/01	At sea	SF