January 26 - An interesting Start

It is always a good idea to leave yourself some extra time when making your travel plans. Thankfully that's what we did.

Originally our flight from Phoenix to Miami was at 13:00. However, although it was only delayed by half an hour, SilverSeas rebooked us on a later flight leaving around 16:00. The flight time to Miami is four hours and with a time difference of two hours we would only have fifty minutes to make our connection to Santiago. Believing that this was not sufficient time to make our connection, we made the decision to take an earlier flight and relieve our concerns of missing the Chile flight altogether. Little did we know what was to occur later that day.

Our morning flight left Phoenix at 09:45 arriving in Miami at 16:00. The flight was full, only middle seats in economy were available. Why do people with window seats and aisle seats believe the armrests belong to them? It was going to be a long four hours.

We are now in Miami with any concerns of missing the Santiago flight alleviated. Our business class fares allowed Janice and I to access the American Airlines Flagship Lounge where we would spend the next six hours. The lounge was very spacious, and the variety of food was excellent. By accident I ran into one of the people, Penelope and later Norm, who would be part of our group for the next 18 days. Two others, Lesylee, and Susan left from Dallas Fort Worth and would meet us in Santiago. We met Lesylee on a Wind Star cruise six years ago and during Covid she asked Janice what she was up to. Janice mentioned that we had booked an Antarctica cruise which Lesylee had been researching. She was interested, as were three of her friends, so they decided to join us on this adventure.

While in the lounge we also met a couple from Victoria (Jamie and Kathy) who also have a place in Scottsdale, Arizona. What a small world. They brought only carry on for the 18 days. We need to take some lessons from them on how to pack, we are hopeless.

Leaving the Flagship Lounge around 22:00 we made our way to gate D23 for our scheduled departure at 22:40 to Santiago. The business class section of the AA plane is designed in a one-two-one seat arrangement. Upon entering the plane, you immediately notice a problem with the air conditioning, and we see that the maintenance crew is already on board to address the problem. The flight crew plus the captain make an announcement to this effect. This has created a delay of approximately 45 minutes. A conversation with many of the passengers surrounding us suggests most of us are on the same expedition ship, the SilverSea Cloud. With the AC problem corrected and the necessary paperwork completed, the maintenance crew left the plane. The safety video is shown on our monitors as the plane pulls away from the gate. It is starting to cool down already.

While taxiing the captain notices another problem which causes the plane to return to a different gate where we are met by the same maintenance crew. An electrical problem is the concern now. It's now past midnight and the delay is 1.5 hours and counting. My sister would be asking where the nearest exit is as she would be freaking out and would want off the plane - sorry Susan. During this delay I learn another couple are booked on a Seabourn Antarctica cruise the next day so hopefully they will not miss their ship. Not sure when we will be leaving but luckily our ship does not leave until Saturday. A second batch of paperwork regarding the electrical problem has now been completed the captain pulls the plane away from the gate.

Let's hope the plane troubles have been corrected as we are hungry and tired. It is not a good way to start. I am trying to stay awake so I can try the Herb Roasted Chicken Breast and Janice is looking forward to some vino. The delay is now almost two hours. I say just go with the flow … and we're off.

Janice adds that we are extremely grateful that we are flying business class, especially with this delay and the length of the flight.

With dinner completed we convert our seats into beds so that we can sleep for the next six hours. Little did we know that during that time the captain had turned the plane around. I am not making this up!!

At some point during the flight, the flight status on the monitor has been disconnected. On most planes passengers can track the flight pattern, along with the distance travelled and how long it will be until we reach our destination. The passenger next to me went to the galley during this time for a glass of water. When he arrived, all crew members became silent. Returning to his seat he could see the flight information had been disconnected.

We flew for roughly five to six hours and the flight time to Santiago is just over seven hours but at some point, the captain slowly turned the plane around. It is now about 04:30am (Friday) when the captain comes on the intercom to say that he is sorry to wake us up, but we will be landing in Miami in 50 minutes. He is not comfortable with the problems he is seeing with his flight instruments. I am not making this up, maybe the plane should never have left Miami. He mentioned not to be alarmed but ambulances and fire trucks will be lining the runway which is normal procedure for an emergency landing as they called it. Janice went to the spare window seat to get a view of the landing.

American Airline officials informed us to keep our boarding passes which we would use on the new flight. Our luggage remained on board this plane so let's hope the repairs are completed.

While taxiing to our gate, Janice finds a text indicating American Airlines had booked us a room at Hotel Sonesta Miami Airport. We arrived at our hotel around 06:30 and the revised flight to Santiago was 15:00. Time to get some sleep.

The adventure continues…..

January 27 - I can't make this up let's try again!

We were supposed to be in Santiago today for a walking tour with Lesylee, Susan, Penelope, and Norm but this was not going to happen. I could not sleep much so I left the hotel for a walk. The Hotel Sonesta Miami Airport was situated in Little Havana, a district of Miami. It was agreed we would meet Penelope and Norm in the lobby at noon to catch the shuttle back to the airport and then to the American Airlines Lounge for lunch.

Leaving the lounge, we make our way to the gate and board our flight to Santiago at 15:00. Again, there is a delay as the plane which flew in from Heathrow in the morning had not yet been refueled. Why no one had thought to refuel the plane is a mystery to me. This is not like taking your car to the gas station as planes of this size require approximately 50 minutes to refuel but no gasoline trucks can be seen.

The dinner menu is the same, so we both choose the Sea Bass on Norm's recommendation rather than the herb crusted roasted chicken, definitely a better choice. Two dinners in one day.

Our arrival time Saturday morning in Santiago is 02:00 local time which now will be delayed as refueling has just commenced. It looks like the time of arrival will be near 03:00. Then getting through customs with signed documents from yesterday might prove a difficulty. Time will tell. Not sure when we may get to the hotel or whether we will just stay at the airport for our 4-hour charter flight to Puerto Williams to meet the ship.

The captain indicated it will be another 15 minutes to refuel the airplane but now there is an unruly passenger who thought she could just walk into business class and take the open seat next to me. The flight attendant quickly informed her that this seat was for crew personnel only and she must return to her assigned economy seat as she did not pay for the business class seat.

Once notified of the situation the captain spoke over the intercom that any unruly passengers would be dealt with. A few minutes after his announcement he stormed out of the cockpit to deal with the situation. In fact, at least three passengers maybe more in economy were removed from the aircraft and would be placed on another flight.

Still wondering why our plane had not been refueled even though it had arrived from London that morning.

Two hours and twenty minutes and we are just taxiing to the runway. Saturday is going to be a long day.

January 28 - Embarkation Day
Due to yesterday's evening flight being delayed we arrived at 03:15 Saturday morning. Santiago International Airport is very large but few planes were landing at this hour so we were hoping customs would not be an issue.

There was a thirty-minute walk from our gate to customs to meet with officials which was a non-event. Nothing unusual here; the officers scanned our passports, and we were through.

An entry form was completed but it was not required when we left the custom and luggage area. Janice had purchased Apple luggage tags which are very useful for those who travel a lot as we were able to see that our bags had arrived in Santiago.

We exit the arrival area of the airport to see several hundred people waiting for family and friends. May I remind you that it is 04:00. Sorry but I am not getting up!!

We tracked down the SilverSea agent but had to wait for all the passengers. Some had connected to an earlier shuttle, but it was not until 05:00 that we were off to the Mandarin Oriental Santiago Hotel some 45 minutes away.

It is now nearing 06:00, we have checked in and make our way to our room for some downtime. I could not sleep so after a few hours I had a shower before leaving the hotel for a walk. Unfortunately, the phone rang while I was out so Janice answered it but she fell back to sleep easily enough. The rep for SilverSea wanted our luggage to be brought down but that was not going to happen. We brought it down later. The hotel was outstanding, too bad we were there for such a short period of time. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style but the variety of choices from eggs, bacon, cold cereal, fruit, and pastries hit the spot.

At the hospitality desk we were required to complete a health form, temperature check and provide copies of our Covid vaccinations. This information would be collected in Puerto Williams before boarding the ship. No other covid tests were required for the duration of the trip.

SilverSeas has their own planes which fly the passengers down to Puerto Williams. Puerto Williams is located on Navarino Island on the southern shores of the Beagle Channel and along with its 2,500 residents and considers itself to be the "southernmost city in the World". Unlike the city of Ushuaia across the Beagle Channel, Puerto Williams is not very touristy, however there are lots of good hiking in the area. On our cruise around South America in 2019 we visited Ushuaia but instead of buying an Antarctica cap like Janice did I thought I would wait until this cruise as our embarkation was to be from Ushuaia. However, this changed to Puerto Williams as flights from United States and Canada would be flying into Chile rather than Argentina.
No tee shirt or cap for me.

It is hard to imagine how far Puerto Williams is from Santiago. Total distance is 2,206 miles (3,550 KMS). The flight is just over three hours, and we are provided with a wonderful meal and a chance to try a Pisco Sour. Excellent views of the snowcapped Andes with dormant volcanoes can be seen from the plane windows.

It is a very small runway with no airport building so as soon as we leave the plane, we board the shuttle buses for the short ride to the ship. Our luggage would be delivered to our cabin.

Upon arrival photographs for our ship cards are taken and we hand over our passports. Then we looked for our friend Lesylee and new friend Susan who were a lot more relaxed than us, having arrived a day earlier without incidents.

The Silver Cloud is not scheduled to depart until 21:00. This will be our home for the next eighteen days. We can't wait.

After unpacking it was off to the main dining room for our first dinner. What I found interesting was all the chairs are chained to the floor. This is to prevent them from sliding during unexpected storms.