post

Valparaiso, Chile

March 20, 2020 – reprovisioning in Valparaiso, Chile

2020 South America cruise

We arrive in port this morning on time and anchor in the harbour. The fuel barge comes alongside and the bunkering commences. I have breakfast with four other Canadians: a couple from New Brunswick and two women from Orillia and Montreal.

It is a dull and rainy morning in Valparaiso, but I’m hoping it will clear a bit so I can take some panoramic photos of the city later today. Executive Chef Vinod attends the coffee chat this morning, which is proving very popular now that the passengers are bored and can’t leave the ship. He tells us there are 64 chefs and kitchen staff working for 11 hours each day, with breaks between the meals. There are also two chefs who take care of the room service meals 24/7. The kitchens produce 6,000 to 8,000 meals every day.

There is storage for: fruit & vegetables, meats, seafood, dairy. Corporate chefs determine the menus, depending on the ship’s route. In our case, he has full authority to determine our menu on this cruise. There is 15% wastage, especially from Lido. Vegan and vegetarian options are being featured more often. He is working on food planning for the upcoming Canada and New England cruises.

Sure enough, the weather clears in the afternoon, giving us a nice sunny 17°C day, so I spend quite a bit of time on the Lower Promenade Deck. A Sea Lion is sleeping on the bulbous bow of the fuel barge beside us, so passengers take lots of photos, including me!

Jamsheed Master playing piano on Main Stage
Jamsheed Master playing piano on Main Stage

After dinner I go to see Jamsheed Master play a piano tribute to The Golden Age of Song in the Main Stage. It is a very good performance, and apparently this is one of only 12 live performances with a live audience that is running worldwide today, due to coronavirus crowd restrictions! They are live streaming the performance, but I can’t find the URL to share.

March 21, 2020 – reprovisioning and departing Valparaiso, Chile

I sleep in until almost 9am this morning, since there is nothing to look forward to today. We are still in Valparaiso harbour, and still waiting for the provision loading to complete. I have breakfast with a couple from Spain who are originally from Brazil, and an oriental couple from Australia. Wildfires in Australia and speculation on where we are headed next dominate the conversation. The Australians arrived a few weeks before the ship departed Buenos Aires and visited Peru and Igazu Falls, which they saw from both the Argentina and Brazil sides – on my bucket list.

Our provisions are being barged from shore, so it is a very slow operation, but the captain updates us at noon saying our remaining supplies are on their way and we should be able to depart today at 5pm.

This afternoon, our captain tells us that all our stores are aboard and the ship is full of fuel, so we weigh anchor and once again head north. He shares with us that Plan A will take us through the Panama Canal and onward to Fort Lauderdale with a tentative arrival of March 30th. Should circumstances change, Puerto Vallarta is Plan B and San Diego is Plan C. Complimentary wine is served to everyone at dinner this evening in celebration of our departure from Chile. The captain tells us no Chilean wine will be offered, which amuses the passengers!

I call home before we leave port to let my family know where we are and the situation in general terms. I assure them the ship is now sailing as fast as possible northward, with three possible ports currently in play: Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Vallarta, and San Diego.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.