Pre-Departure
About two months past checking the
Internet for travel to Chile requirements, I found that a “Mobility
Pass” was required by Chile. So began our sojourn into the Land
of Documentation.
The Mobility Pass simply verifies one's
COVID vaccinations including booster. Ours were approved in one week. One uploads a photo of
his/hers CDC vaccination card. In addition to the pass, each of us
received an ID number to be used to link the Mobility Pass to an
Affidavit.
The Affidavit cannot be requested
before 48 hours before one's flight to Chile. The affidavit attests
that one tested PCR negative within 72 hours of one's final departure
to Chile and that one has travel insurance. One uploads PDFs of the
test result and insurance. To meet the test requirement we scheduled
“same day test results” tests for 9AM Monday morning at Any Lab
Test in Venice at a cost of $199 ea. We received our test results
shortly before 1 PM. The process for the Affidavit changed but not
the instructions. The ID number linking the Mobility Pass to the
Affidavit had been eliminated; the link is now automatic. Upon
completing our requests, the Affidavits showed up in our emails
almost immediately.
Viking uses Verifly to verify one's
COVID vaccinations. Using the Verifly app, one takes a passport style
photo and uploads a photo of the CDC vaccination card. Mine went
right through providing a green good to travel check mark on the
Verifly app and our record on the Viking website. Joanne's green
good to travel check mark did not transfer to Viking. I called
Verifly whose rep said I was Viking's problem. We called Viking; nope
it was Verifly's problem. Eventually, someone at Viking requested
Joanne to send her a screen shot of her Verifly green good to travel
check. Issue resolved, we were issued our Viking ship boarding
passes.
I printed two copies of all of our documents. I also downloaded all the documents to my tablet and
phone. We were ready to go! We flew from Fort Myers through Houston to Santiago, Chile. United asked us to upload our documentation to their Travel Ready Center 24 hours before our flight. Didn't matter. A United Representative reviewed our our documentation before issuing our boarding passes.
Flight
Wind and more wind. We woke to wind. We
dropped Bleu off at the Cat Cottage and returned home for our our
ride to RSW. Trash was blowing down the street from overturned
garbage cans. Palm branches littered the streets. The sun shade on
the back of the boat held in place although one motor cover dangled
alongside the boat.
Upon arriving at RSW, we found far
fewer passengers than expected. We checked in right away at an United
kiosk with the assistance of an Untied rep. Oops, the handle on my
brand new bag popped right off as the baggage handler hoisted the bag
unto the belt behind the check-in stations. We passed through
security like a breeze.
At RSW in light wind about 11 AM, our
security camera showed the sun screen blowing over the top of the
boat but otherwise OK - light wind at RSW and crazy wind at PGI.
Following an uneventful flight to
Houston, our security camera showed the sun screen blown over and stuck on
one of boat lift's guide poles. It looked weird. Our neighbor,
Brian, looked it over and reported that the bimini frame was probably
bent. That will be something to repair when we return. |
| Flight Delay in Houston |
Missing airplane cleaners delayed our
night flight to Chile by one hour. Only 2 out of 10 cleaners showed
up to work. Otherwise, we enjoyed a nice flight although we missed a
night's sleep.
Airport Arrival
 |
| Fly Fort Myers to Sanitago, Chile, About 6000 miles |
After our plane landed about 9:30 AM
Chile time, we found ourselves in a long long line both ahead and behind
us slowly moving forward. Eventually we reached a rank of maybe
twenty or more stations where officials checked our documents:
passport, mobility pass, affidavit, PCR test results and insurance.
Satisfied, we each received a token and proceeded to PCR testing.
At 11:42 AM, we entered our passport numbers on a touch screen to receive
printed BioNet tickets. We bobbled a little as the touch screen
proved to be a little finicky. A couple of dozen stations setup for the testing
were manned by technicians suited up as if for major surgery. With our ticket in hand, our noses and mouths were swabbed. Upon
exiting the testing area, we surrendered our tokens and walked on and
on.
At immigration, following another review
our documents, our passports were stamped. We were off to retrieve
our bags. Somehow we missed the customary customs declaration forms
upon which you state that you have nothing to declare so we just
passed our luggage through x-ray machine without them.
Out the door about three hours and
about what seemed like half a mile of walking after we landed, a host of
Viking reps greeted us, checked us off their list of arriving guests,
collected our bags, and led us to Viking bus #10. Socially distanced
with every other pair of seats occupied, we rolled down the freeway
through tunnels under the mountains with vineyards along the way to
Valparaiso.
At the cruise ship terminal, all of our
documents were reviewed again followed by a temperature check. And then at check-in all our documents were checked again before our room key cards were presented. Photos were taken to be
used by facial recognition temperature check stations on-board the
ship. Finally, we received GPS trackers that will track each us
through out our cruise.
After another bus delivered us to the
ship a short distance away, we finally reached our room about 3 PM.
Following a late lunch, we unpacked, listened to a “Port Talk”
about Valparaiso, consumed a wonderful dinner, attended a
presentation on Astronomy and slept for eleven hours.
 |
| Viking Jupiter at Pier 8 in Valparaiso |
Day Two - Quarantine
 |
| Panorama - Starboard Side |
A number of guests tested positive at
the airport and are now quarantined on the ship. About thirty of us
on the flight from Houston are considered to possibly have been in
close contact with one or more of them so we are quarantined to the
ship. We were not allowed to leave the ship for our tour of
Valparaiso. What to do?
 |
| Quarantine in the Infinity Pool |
We wandered about the ship, checked out
the Infinity Pool, consumed a wonderful seafood dinner, attended an
Abba concert, listened to Christmas Carols, listened to a beautiful piano and
cello rendition of “Send in the Clowns plus more music and worked on our blog +
photos.
 |
| View from Our Balcony on Port Side - A Dry Dock |
 |
| Valparaiso from the Port Bow |
 |
| Temperature Check |
All of us are PCR tested every day. So
far all of our
tests have been negative as far as we know. We also
have the daily temperature check. Masks are mandatory in all public
areas unless one is eating or drinking. Every day we must complete
a health survey on a Chilean website.
Day Three will be at sea. We are
cruising South.
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