Days 265 – 266: Antarctic Cruise Days 1 & 2 – Valpariso & Sea Cruising
Today we embarked on the most ridiculously extravagant portion of our-long trip: a 24-day luxury cruise from Chile to Antarctica to Argentina! I mean, we knew a grown-up gap year was a financially stupid idea to begin with, but no amount of YOLO-ing can justify this expenditure. We acknowledge that we are incredibly blessed to be able to afford this, and we can only hope that we are still young enough to replenish our retirement savings. J
Navigating Santiago’s metro system and bus terminal was a breeze, so we arrived in the coastal city of Valpariso a good hour before the ship started boarding. The only down side was we couldn’t really ditch our luggage and explore the city – Lindsay had the lucky chance to visit once before during a business trip, but poor Igor missed out on the artsy, bohemian charm of Valpariso’s San Franciscan hilly streets and graffiti-covered buildings. However, his disappointment was soon forgotten once we were onboard and served glass after glass after glass of complimentary champagne.
Catching a bus from the Pajaritos metro station in Santiago to Valpariso
We are among the first passengers to check-in and board the ship
Let the endless food and booze begin!!! We enjoy the first of MANY buffet lunches on the deck of the Seabourn Quest, with a view of the Valpariso harbor
When we enter our suite, we find a complimentary bottle of champagne…not only is it *true* champagne, it is Nicolas Feuillatte – THE SAME CHAMPAGNE WE SERVED AT OUR WEDDING. This is the HOUSE CHAMPAGNE on board the ship.
Trying on our bright orange parkas – stylin’!
Sailing away from Valpariso and heading south
Our first full day onboard the Quest was an at-sea day, which gave us plenty of time to explore the ship. While we’d both been on cruise ships before, the Quest was the smallest ship we’ve sailed. On our previous trips we’ve always booked interior staterooms (just a bedroom and bathroom – no windows) as those are the least expensive and we don’t plan to spend much time in our room anyways. The Quest, however, wasn’t big enough for interior rooms – all the rooms had either windows or balconies. As if that wasn’t exciting enough for us, turns out the Quest also doesn’t do basic bedrooms – all guest cabins are suites, and when we were booking, there was just enough vacancy that Seabourne offered to upgrade us from a window to a veranda at no extra cost.
The only downside to our lovely, spacious room, was the location. As we knew from our ferry experiences in Thailand, the top and front of a boat are the rockiest locations when passing through choppy waters – if one is prone to seasickness, the bottom and rear of the boat is the steadiest place to be. Since we got a “free” upgrade, our cabin was #502 – right at the very front of the ship. And boy!, once we got into open waters we could *feel* it! On previous cruises, the rocking of the boat as we went to bed was always gentle and soothing – like laying down in a hammock or a train ride – and lulled us right to sleep. During our first night on the Quest, however, the bow of the ship would sometimes pitch up and down so much our bodies would lift off the matress and catch a little air before thunking down! And this is only 30KM off shore! We were more than a little worried what the conditions would be like a week from now, when we sail through the Drake Passage – “the most turblent waters on earth”! Good thing we stocked up on Dramamine in Thailand…
While we couldn’t stomach sitting in our cabin for long periods of the day, the majority of the public areas on the ship are located in the aft (smart move!), so we spent the day attending presentations on the ports of call, the history of Chilean Patagonia, and an introduction to photography, as well as an intro to playing Bridge and a visit to the ship’s Bridge – you’d think days at sea would be very lazy, but we were kept surprisingly busy!
We wake up to a foggy, cloudy day for our first all-day at sea
Exploring the ship, and attending info seminars on the upcoming ports of call
A small tour visiting the bridge
Checking out the ship’s autopilot (we’re 30KM off shore, so…nothing really the bump into out here), and the captain’s whale-spotting cheat-sheet
That evening, we had our first formal night – after 6PM, jeans are banned in all public areas of the ship, and men are required to wear a jacket to dinner. It’s so fun to people watch on these nights – some ladies get really decked out with prom-like formal dresses, covered in sequins, and even the men can get rather flamboyant (although nothing will ever top the pimpin’ red suit and top hat we saw a guy sporting on a Carnival Caribbean cruise a few years back!). We, however, were pushing the envelope on what could be considered “formal” – does a dark blue suit count as “black tie”? And will anyone notice that Lindsay is wearing sandals and a bikini top instead of a bra under her backless bargain-store black dress?
Our first formal night! Igor sports his new suit and used shoes (unfortunately, they aggravate his injured toe – poor guy!), while Lindsay gets dolled up in her USD $10 Bangkok dress and Indian pashmina – bring on the wine, bubbles and caviar, baby!