We flew from Las Vegas to Dallas, where we joined our long-time friends from LA, Tommy and Oya Holgado. The trip to Buenos Aires took more than 14 hours including the layover. The carrier was American Airlines 787 Dreamliner which was fully booked (almost 300 passengers!). There was a slight delay as one passenger was too sick to travel so they had to remove him and all his luggage that were already in the plane’s cargo hold.
We landed in Buenos Aires before 8:00 am and had to go through the long customs queue. With our passports, proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and PCR negative tests results. The unsmiling customs guy squinted at our PCR test results and summoned his supervisor. They talked in Spanish and started using their fingers to count, I was tempted to ask them if they wanted to use my fingers too. The supervisor asked us when we flew out of the U.S. and at what time as they seem to compute (with their hands) that the tests were more than 72 hours prior to our first flight. I told them (in my limited Spanish) that we left on March 16th at 12:45 pm and the tests were done on March 13th at 1:10 pm. After intensely staring at us for what seemed like interminable seconds, we were allowed to go. Whew! However, that was not the last time we were questioned about the timeline of our PCR tests.
After the Viking guides herded us we were told to wait for the buses to take us to the ship. The temperature in Buenos Aires was warm and a little humid and people started to shed they warm jackets and sweaters. By now, we were hungry as they only fed us yogurt and mixed nuts for breakfast. Luckily, we brought some snacks with us.
We were taken to the port embarkation area where we had to again show all the necessary documents. Stage One – Wait until your turn to approach one of the tables to answer the same health questions: Do you have a fever? Have you been in contact with someone with COVID? And so on. Step Two – Proceed to the upper level. There they check your documents again. The person that screened us scrutinized our PCR test results again, and like at the airport called his supervisor to decide whether the timeline is acceptable. Despite me showing them the Viking Pre-Departure Checklist that states, “PCR test must be taken within 72 hours prior to boarding OUTBOUND FLIGHT FROM HOME COUNTRY”!!! There were several cruisers in the same predicament and understandably all were angry and frustrated! The issue got passed from one employee to another until finally a ship’s female officer read the Pre-Departure Checklist since none of the previous employees even bothered to read it. To make a long story short, we still had to do another test! But what was irritating was EVERY CRUISER that checked in had to do a saliva test in their cabin upon boarding! To add insult to injury, we were all prohibited from leaving our staterooms until the results have been displayed in our TV monitors. While I’m typing this blog, we’re still held captive in our rooms (it’s now 8:45 pm and the ship pulled out of Buenos Aires. The shore excursion (Argentine Tango Dinner Show) that we pre-paid was cancelled. Hence, no one was able to see the city except the skyline as we were pulling out from the pier.
After these frustrating and disappointing events that transpired, we decided to order a nice meal and opened a chilled bottle of Chardonnay (like I said before, wine is free with your meals) so we can unwind and relax a little bit. We sat in our balcony and watched the tugboat pull the ship into position. Trini and I breathed a sigh of relief and agreed that things could have been worse…..
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