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Paula Kay booked a transfer from the hotel to the cruise ship terminal for us before we left home. It is about 120 kilometers from Santiago to Valparaiso on the coast. The driver was scheduled to start picking up passengers at 11:00 then drive to the port arriving within three hours. On the evening before we were to go, we received a note from Grayline, the tour company we used for all three trips in Santiago, that we would be picked up at 10:30. We were checked out and ready to go on time, and they arrived to pick us up fairly quickly. As it turned out, we were the first stop of six that the van made before filling up and heading out of the city. We were in the shuttle van for one and a half hours before we started toward Valparaiso.
The drive from city to port was about two hours once we got going, and we made one stop along the way at the Rio Tinto winery and restaurant in the Casablanca valley. Our guide claimed that the best wine came from this valley. After the rest stop, it was just a short drive to Valparaiso, through the city, then out to the port to check in and board Cunard's Queen Mary 2.
We found the entrance to the line for Grills guests to be completely empty, and when we got up to the head of it, we were checked in right away. Boarding the ship was easy, and we found our suite on our own. We dropped off the hand luggage and went straight to the buffet for lunch. As so often happens on cruises, the tables are small and close together so we chatted with the two women at the next table as we ate which made for a very pleasant start to the cruise. They have been on the ship since New York. We are taking only one segment of a world cruise that left Southhampton in early January and will be back there in May. People can choose to take the entire voyage or any number of segments. We will be gone from home for exactly one month which is long enough for us this time.
Jerel, our suite steward, seems to be good and showed up quickly when we returned after lunch. He eagerly showed us around the suite and asked our preferences for fruits and drinks for the room. This Princess Grills Suite is about one and a half times the size of the balcony stateroom that we reserved, but we were happily upgraded to the suite. It seems to be equivalent to Business Class on a plane if you think about the regular cabins as coach and the bigger Queens Grill Suites as First Class. We are in the mid-section of deck 10, but slightly nearer the aft section and right by a bank of elevators. They are positioned so that they open away from the suites, but will be easy to access.
Our regular dining room is the Princess Grill, and we went tonight with table assignment in hand. As it turned out when we arrived to be greeted by the Maitre d’Hotel, he asked what type of table we wanted. We chose to share a table and were seated with Janet and Robin from near Ipswich in East Anglia. They will be our table companions for any meals we have in the Princess Grill for the entire voyage.
The drive from city to port was about two hours once we got going, and we made one stop along the way at the Rio Tinto winery and restaurant in the Casablanca valley. Our guide claimed that the best wine came from this valley. After the rest stop, it was just a short drive to Valparaiso, through the city, then out to the port to check in and board Cunard's Queen Mary 2.
We found the entrance to the line for Grills guests to be completely empty, and when we got up to the head of it, we were checked in right away. Boarding the ship was easy, and we found our suite on our own. We dropped off the hand luggage and went straight to the buffet for lunch. As so often happens on cruises, the tables are small and close together so we chatted with the two women at the next table as we ate which made for a very pleasant start to the cruise. They have been on the ship since New York. We are taking only one segment of a world cruise that left Southhampton in early January and will be back there in May. People can choose to take the entire voyage or any number of segments. We will be gone from home for exactly one month which is long enough for us this time.
Jerel, our suite steward, seems to be good and showed up quickly when we returned after lunch. He eagerly showed us around the suite and asked our preferences for fruits and drinks for the room. This Princess Grills Suite is about one and a half times the size of the balcony stateroom that we reserved, but we were happily upgraded to the suite. It seems to be equivalent to Business Class on a plane if you think about the regular cabins as coach and the bigger Queens Grill Suites as First Class. We are in the mid-section of deck 10, but slightly nearer the aft section and right by a bank of elevators. They are positioned so that they open away from the suites, but will be easy to access.
Our regular dining room is the Princess Grill, and we went tonight with table assignment in hand. As it turned out when we arrived to be greeted by the Maitre d’Hotel, he asked what type of table we wanted. We chose to share a table and were seated with Janet and Robin from near Ipswich in East Anglia. They will be our table companions for any meals we have in the Princess Grill for the entire voyage.
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