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She’s on the move!

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Norwegian-Star-706

The Norwegian Star has been in cold lay-up awaiting its turn to return to service. Our January 16, 2022 cruise is the first passenger cruise since March of 2020 onboard the Star. Each day since we made final payment Katie has been tracking the location of the ship. She onboarded crew and quarentined in Bar, Montenegro back in October/November. Since that time she has been in port in Naples, Italy. At about 1pm ET, 7pm in Italy on Christmas Eve she sailed away from the port and is en-route to Barcelona, Spain before her transatlantic journey to Buenos Aires!

This is finally feeling real that the pieces are coming together. The most important piece for our cruise is that there actually be a cruise ship and she is now moving with three weeks before we board!

Status Update from Prior Post: Chile Mobility Pass

Katie received her approval this morning for her Chile Mobility Pass ID and Vaccination Verification. Joe and Mac will no longer be leaving her aboard the ship and exploring on their own.

Flight Adventure

“Airplane” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Norwegian Cruise Line offered a promotion when we booked our cruise “Buy 1 Get 1 Airfare Free” given the expense of flying to South America we opted to give the promotional air a try. We went into the air promotion with a sense of adventure which we really needed.

At first we were routed from DC to Detroit to Atlanta to Buenos Aires on Delta. The Atlanta connection was about 45 minutes to switch from Domestic to International flight. Anyone who has flown through Atlanta knows that that is impossible!

On December 5th we received our Air Confirmation from the cruise line. The flights had been changed and we were now routed outbound via DC to Charlotte to Miami to Buenos Aires on American. We are returning also on American although a little more direct from Buenos Aires to Dallas/Fort Worth to DC. The cruise line air guidelines specify no more than 2 connections and less than 5 hour layovers. We went into the promotional airfare with an adventure mindset.

As soon as our air confirmation arrived, we were able to log into the American Airlines site. We upgraded our seats from Economy to Main Cabin Extra.

We are in for quite the flight adventure total flying time each direction will be 17 hours. The longest leg outbound is 13 hours from Miami to Buenos Aires. On the return the longest leg is Buenos Aires to Dallas/Fort Worth.

ThreeGTravels Flight Stats:

Longest Flights:

Joe:

  • Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia: 15 hours
  • DC to London, England: 9 hours
  • London, England to Abuja, Nigeria: 6 hours

Katie

  • Seoul, Korea to New York City: 14 hours
  • DC to Anchorage, AK: 10.5 hours
  • DC to Frankfurt, Germany: 8 hours

Mac and Chuck

  • DC to Seattle, Washington: 6 hours
  • DC to Reykjavik, Iceland: 6 hours
  • Reykjavik, Iceland to Barcelona, Spain: 4 hours

Minor Traveling with 1 Parent

Of course we picked one of the most stringent Hague Convention countries to travel through with Mac on the one trip Chuck isn’t able to make. Typically we plan our trips for Summer or Spring Break when Chuck is off of work. This trip geography plays a role, it is a Summer trip…for the Southern Hemisphere. School is in session at home that Chuck has to stay behind.

We are a blended family, we are used to needing to obtain documents and permission to travel. That was all a cake walk compared to what is required for traveling through Argentina. I could only find the requirements on the Atlanta Argentina Consulate Website and confirmed via phone call to the Washington DC Consulate.

Step 1: Official Birth Certificate

Step 2: Apostille Registrar of Vital Records on Birth Certificate from Maryland Secretary of State. This required a trip to Annapolis to present the document in person.

Step 3: Complete Travel Consent Form

Step 4: Notarize Travel Consent Form. A requirement for notary acceptance is the embossed seal not the notary stamp. The third notary had the needed embossed seal.

Step 5: Verification of Notary by Clerk of Court. Quick trip to the local courthouse to obtain this verification.

Step 6: Apostille Clerk of Court from Maryland Secretary of State. Second required trip to Annapolis to present this packet in person.

Step 7: Translation of above documents into Spanish.

All of this is now complete and with our documents for travel. The cruise line changed our itinerary thankfully without any new countries added. We’ll just keep that email with the packet.

Logic Puzzle: Travel Requirements

Joe and Katie spent hours pouring over the Norwegian Cruise Line website as well as each individual countries foreign travel websites as well as the United States Embassy Website for each country. The final result is the above calendars mapping out the time frames and requirements for each portion of the trip.

There are four main entry requirements:

Travel Insurance (proof of having Travel Health Insurance that covers COVID-19)

COVID-19 Vaccination Card or Digital Passport

Negative COVID-19 test (either antigen or PCR based on county requirement)

Completion of Attestation Form

Interesting Tidbits:

In reading through all of the requirements we opted to go with the most conservative interpretation of the requirements.

For Example: Uruguay requires that anyone testing COVID positive not enter their country for 20 days. As a result we will COVID-19 test on December 27th as peace of mind that we will be able to take the trip.

Chile Mobility Pass

Photo: Screenshot/Government of Chile

On Wednesday, December 15, 2021 we received updated information from Norwegian Cruise Line that all passengers must have a Chile Mobility Pass. This is a five step process. Two of the five steps must be completed between 45 and 15 days before arrival in Chile. That evening Joe, Katie and Mac each submitted their identification and COVID-19 vaccination information for verification and entry into Chile’s registry.

This morning Joe and Mac received their ID and COVID vaccination verification acceptance with their QR code for their Mobility Pass.

Katie received a notice that her’s was rejected. She called the Chilean Consulate in Washington, DC and resubmitted using their advice. Now we wait, again.

Steps 3, 4 and 5 will take place just prior to arrival in Chile with completion of an attestation document, submission of at least $30,000 in health insurance coverage and submission of negative COVID-19 testing result.

The cruise line obtained additional health insurance for all passengers on our sailing to ensure we all met the necessary requirement for entry to Chile.

The QR codes for the mobility pass will not become “Active” until all 5 steps for entry are complete and we are granted permission to disembark the ship in Punta Arenas, Chile.