Looking for excursions (Princess or Private) for photography Buenos Aires - Santiago

We're going on the South American Cruise in January and am looking for recommendations on active excursions with outdoor photography focused, with animals highlighted. Our itinerary is starts at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madrid, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, ending at Santiago. In particular, is there a recommended Falkland Island private tour that is available? Or is there a Princess excursion that would work? I don't want to just sit on a bus and would prefer smaller groups. Hiking is desirable and natural outdoor activities is preferable. Recommendations?

Best tour I've taken anywhere was the Patrick Watts Volunteer Point penguin tour in the Falklands. Highly recommended but you're probably too late. When I took it the tour was sold out 18 months before the cruise. Princess offered a similar tour at twice the price but it may have still been worth it, Great tour

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

For private tour recommendations, there are the Ports boards, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

where all sorts of info on each port is found. TripAdvisor (a sister website of Cruise Critic) is another good place for info.

You should also join your Roll Call, where you can meet others on your cruise, and see what they have researched and are doing. Start here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106

We're going on the South American Cruise in January and am looking for recommendations on active excursions with outdoor photography focused, with animals highlighted. Our itinerary is starts at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madrid, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, ending at Santiago. In particular, is there a recommended Falkland Island private tour that is available? Or is there a Princess excursion that would work? I don't want to just sit on a bus and would prefer smaller groups. Hiking is desirable and natural outdoor activities is preferable. Recommendations?

Have you checked in with your roll call? This is where private excursions are formed. It is one of these for the 3rd or the 31st: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2400920

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2370906

In B.A. contact Justine at BuenosTours Info <info@buenostours.com>. They operate private tours in groups and privately that can focus on anything you like. We used them for totally private walking tours of B.A. It was worth the extra cost.

In Montevideo we used https://www.tourguideushuaia.net/montevideo-tour-guide/. We took the city tour with BBQ. The BBQ was in a private home and was really nice.

We also used the same service in Ushuaia where we took the Nat. Park + Hiking and went to the End of the World.

In Valparaiso we used Michael Arnold <miguelarno@gmail.com>. He gave us a private, 2 person tour of the wineries in Casa Blanca Valley, plus some other sites. He can customize tours for you if he isn't already booked up. If you want tours of Santiago museums and churches this isn't your guy.

In the Faulklands there are shuttles that take you to a nearby cove to see Magellan Penguins. If you want to see the large Penguins see if you can get onto Patrick's Tour. It is a long off road ride.

At Puerto Madyrn the ship docks right in town. The town is very walkable. There are also trips to see wildlife on Peninsula Valdes and tours to the Penguin reserve. Both are long trips. There is a short trip to see sea lions.

In Puerto Montt you can also walk. Turn left as you exit the pier area.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to cruise critic! This is a great itinerary. We were on the Crown Princess last winter and visited a number of the same ports.

I second the recommendation for Patrick Watts. Passengers are in 4 to 6 person all wheel drive vehicles traveling in a caravan of about 4 or 5 vehicles so that any vehicle that gets stuck (and if it has rained everyone will get stuck one time or another!) can be pulled out by another -- and they are absolutely necessary since most of the drive is off road. The King penguins number in the thousands and are not the least bit fazed by the attention they receive from visitors (who are instructed to stay at least 3 feet away if I remember correctly). There are also smaller colonies of two other types of penguins. If Patrick is full, some members of our roll call spoke equally highly of Estancia.

In Punta Arenas we went with Solo Expediciones to Isla Magdalena which has an enormous colony of Magellanic penguins. The island has a nice path that encircles it and visitors are directed to stay on the path. The penguins are everywhere (including the path!) and when we were there in late December there were many babies too. We were supposed to do a sail by of another island with more wildlife but the seas were too rough.

In Ushuaia we planned a Beagle Channel boat excursion that would have seen lots of wildlife but unfortunately was cancelled due to choppy water. The tour company, Patagonia Adventure Explorer replaced that excursion with a visit to the National Park which was interesting and quite beautiful in places but we didn't see any wildlife other than birds.

We were in transit in Valparaiso (our first cruise was LA to Valparaiso followed by Vlaparaiso to Rio) so we had a full day to enjoy a day of "urban trekking with a local guide" with Patatour Chile. We rode the rail system, a streetcar, a couple of funiculars and walked all about visiting fish and vegetable markets, viewing the incredible murals, etc. Our group (organized on the roll call) also requested that a full lunch be included in the tour and our guide picked a lovely restaurant with very good food and service.

Do post your questions on the South America Ports of Call board. It will reach a wider audience (i.e., passengers on all cruise lines) than just posting on this forum.

Where do I find Patrick's Tour's? It was mentioned a couple times in this thread but I don't know how to find it.

Welcome to cruise critic! This is a great itinerary. We were on the Crown Princess last winter and visited a number of the same ports.

 

I second the recommendation for Patrick Watts. Passengers are in 4 to 6 person all wheel drive vehicles traveling in a caravan of about 4 or 5 vehicles so that any vehicle that gets stuck (and if it has rained everyone will get stuck one time or another!) can be pulled out by another -- and they are absolutely necessary since most of the drive is off road. The King penguins number in the thousands and are not the least bit fazed by the attention they receive from visitors (who are instructed to stay at least 3 feet away if I remember correctly). There are also smaller colonies of two other types of penguins. If Patrick is full, some members of our roll call spoke equally highly of Estancia.

 

In Punta Arenas we went with Solo Expediciones to Isla Magdalena which has an enormous colony of Magellanic penguins. The island has a nice path that encircles it and visitors are directed to stay on the path. The penguins are everywhere (including the path!) and when we were there in late December there were many babies too. We were supposed to do a sail by of another island with more wildlife but the seas were too rough.

 

In Ushuaia we planned a Beagle Channel boat excursion that would have seen lots of wildlife but unfortunately was cancelled due to choppy water. The tour company, Patagonia Adventure Explorer replaced that excursion with a visit to the National Park which was interesting and quite beautiful in places but we didn't see any wildlife other than birds.

 

We were in transit in Valparaiso (our first cruise was LA to Valparaiso followed by Vlaparaiso to Rio) so we had a full day to enjoy a day of "urban trekking with a local guide" with Patatour Chile. We rode the rail system, a streetcar, a couple of funiculars and walked all about visiting fish and vegetable markets, viewing the incredible murals, etc. Our group (organized on the roll call) also requested that a full lunch be included in the tour and our guide picked a lovely restaurant with very good food and service.

 

 

Do post your questions on the South America Ports of Call board. It will reach a wider audience (i.e., passengers on all cruise lines) than just posting on this forum.

Thank you for replying. I'm very new to cruise critic. How do I find and make reservations for Patrick Watts, Solo Expediciones, Patagonia Adventure Explorer, and finding a local guide? Where do I make reservations?

We're going on the South American Cruise in January and am looking for recommendations on active excursions with outdoor photography focused, with animals highlighted. Our itinerary is starts at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madrid, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, ending at Santiago. In particular, is there a recommended Falkland Island private tour that is available? Or is there a Princess excursion that would work? I don't want to just sit on a bus and would prefer smaller groups. Hiking is desirable and natural outdoor activities is preferable. Recommendations?

Joann -Post this on the Roll Call for your cruise date. You will be able to book tours with other Cruise Critic's on the same cruise.

There are at least two identical tours to Volunteer Point out of Stanley. Ship tours charge well above $300. pp for this trip.

Patrick Watts and Estancia Excursions both offer trips to see the location where several thousand King Penguins live, along with two nice colonies of Magellanic and Gentoos.

Basic price is 120 GBP (USD are taken but there is a conversion penalty). It is an all day trip, 2 hour drive out via 4X4, 1.5 hrs at the site, then 2 hours back. It is wonderful. Both seem to offer a small box lunch and water.

Our driver gave us a thorough driving tour of Stanley on our way back from Volunteer Point. Being generous, the tour took 10 minutes.:cool:

Where do I find Patrick's Tour's? It was mentioned a couple times in this thread but I don't know how to find it.

Patrick's email is pwatts@horizon.co.fk

Thank you for replying. I'm very new to cruise critic. How do I find and make reservations for Patrick Watts, Solo Expediciones, Patagonia Adventure Explorer, and finding a local guide? Where do I make reservations?

Patrick's email is pwatts@horizon.co.fk. He takes reservations via email. Just google the others - they have websites where you can make your reservations on line. When looking for a local guide I consult TripAdvisor and the appropriate Cruise Critic Ports of Call board (in the case of South America: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76).

There are at least two identical tours to Volunteer Point out of Stanley. Ship tours charge well above $300. pp for this trip.

 

Patrick Watts and Estancia Excursions both offer trips to see the location where several thousand King Penguins live, along with two nice colonies of Magellanic and Gentoos.

 

Basic price is 120 GBP (USD are taken but there is a conversion penalty). It is an all day trip, 2 hour drive out via 4X4, 1.5 hrs at the site, then 2 hours back. It is wonderful. Both seem to offer a small box lunch and water.

 

Our driver gave us a thorough driving tour of Stanley on our way back from Volunteer Point. Being generous, the tour took 10 minutes.:cool:

Thank you! We're booked for Patrick's tour!

Thanks, JKLong, I email to Patrick.

Cynthia