South Excursions

[WGTravel]

We've been quoted a decent price ($80us pp for 2) for a transfer from Santiago to Vina del Mar by South Excursions. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Thanks.

[WGTravel]

That's what I was afraid of!

[Keith1010]

I've not heard of them but just wanted to post to recommend trying to do a google search and also going to http://www.tripadvisor.com to see if you can find anything there.

 

Keith

[4774Papa]

We've been quoted a decent price ($80us pp for 2) for a transfer from Santiago to Vina del Mar by South Excursions. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Thanks.

We used Southexcursions and had an excellent guide. We were satisfied with our trip and the hotels they provided.

[sk99]

I'm also looking for any feedback on Southexcursions.com.

We were quoted some prices for tours in Punta Arenas, but I cannot find any reviews and not much info on CC boards.

Anyone actually used them before for something other than transfer? Looks like they are around since 2008, but no visibility… Thanks.

[4774Papa]

This was our two day tour from Southexcursions

 

 

Greetings from Chile and thank you for contacting Southexcursions. Our company provides private tours and shore excursions in all the main ports of call for the cruise industry in South America.

 

We can definitely help you with your request, please see bellow our suggestion:

 

Day 1

Valparaiso and Vina del mar city tour (4 1/2 hrs)

Pick up 08:30 at Valparaiso cruise terminal for city Valparaiso and Vina del Mar city tour,

here you will discover the exceptional beauty of Valparaiso, a centuries old port city recently declared a World Heritage by UNESCO. Prior to the construction of the Panama Canal (1914), the Port of Valparaiso was the most important in the South Pacific as ships from around the world called here once they crossed Cape Horn or the Strait of Magellan. Explore a labyrinth of streets that stretch over the many tiered hillsides facing the bay and see an antique funicular (wooden cable car elevator) used to transport the resident “Porteños” up and down. Enjoy the imaginative architecture and bright colors of the centenarian homes built by the first Europeans to settle here. Breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean await you at the "21 de Mayo" promenade and panoramic lookout point. Other city highlights include the La Matriz church, “Plaza Sotomayor” with its impressive Naval Heroes Monument, Ex-Governor’s Palace and the Justice Tribunal building. Contrasting the aged elegance of Valparaiso is the “Garden City” of Viña del Mar. Viña is renowned for its beautiful avenues lined with immense old trees, well-kept parks, popular resorts, long sandy beaches and holiday fun. Enroute to Viña, you’ll pass the Plaza Victoria, National Congress Building, and Santa Maria University. Upon arrival you’ll see the Viña "Flower Clock", impressive Presidential Palace, Brunet and Wulff Castles, and the posh Viña del Mar Casino and luxury hotel. Drop off at your Valparaiso Hotel

 

Price: USD 85 per person basis two passengers

 

 

Hotel San Martin, 4*, 1 Night:

Price: USD 115

HAB DBL NON SMOKING, No ocean view

 

 

 

Day 2

Santiago city tour (6 Hrs)

Heading towards Santiago, you’ll travel through the picturesque Chilean countryside including the famous wine-producing valley of Casablanca, here you can have the opportunity to try one of their most famous wines. In Santiago, you will travel to the historical center to see the Presidential Palace "La Moneda" and Constitution Square. You will also see the Ex-National Congress building and the Justice Tribunal buildings en route to the impressive Plaza de Armas (Main Square). Here, we find the Municipal Cathedral, Ex-Governor’s Palace, Main Post Office and National Historic Museum.

This tour finish at your Santiago Hotel.

*Santiago is located 120 km from Valparaiso

 

Price: USD 130 per person basis two passengers (wine tasting optional for USD 5 per person)

 

Hotel Diego de Almagro, 4*, 1 Night (located 5 min from Airport):

Price: USD 115

HAB DBL NON SMOKING

 

Day3

Transfer to the Airport on the 21st complementary by Southexcursions!!

 

As you will be cruising around South America I would like to offer you excursions in all the ports of call of your cruise. We can also arrange tours, transfers and Hotels in Buenos Aires Argentina.

 

 

 

Please note all our services are private dedicated to your party only provided in modern fully equipped vehicles with the assistance of professional guides and drivers.

 

 

Total price was $420 since another couple went with us on the tour. Price included hotels for two nights. We did the wine tasting as well.

[lentlers]

Hi

 

We organised all our transport and tours with a private guide called Sergio Kendall. He's great fun, reliable and a good price! He's also a travel photographer and emailed a set of photos after the trip as a momento. Email is skendalltravel@gmail.com

[sk99]

Thank you 4774Papa. I'm trying to find out if anyone used them in Punta Arenas, but all I was able to find is Santiago/Valparaiso, no other ports.

[madera1]

We will be using Southexcursions in Feb for a 2 day tour pre cruise in Santiago and Val including wine tasting. They have also sent me quotes for several ports as well as post tour in Buenos Aries.

[emo]

We will be using South Excursions for 3 ports (Lima, La Serena, Valparaiso) on our cruise in December. A number of other groups on our roll call are using them as well. I see you're going in February, so I'll try and report back after our trip :)

 

Since ours is the SA repo cruise, we won't visit any of the same ports as you besides Valparaiso, but at least we can share info on the quality of the tours.

[emo]

Having returned from our trip, I can say without a doubt that South Excursions provides an excellent product. We used their tours in Lima, La Serena, and Valparaiso. There were a few hiccups (primarily due an inconsiderate group of fellow passengers on our tours and a tendering problem, no issues on the tours themselves), but our contact Javier was so helpful and understanding.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions or provide more details on a specific port on request.

[madera1]

Emu,

We will be using South excursions in just 4 weeks for two and half days while in Santiago and Valpraiso. Did you go to any wineries while with them? What did you visit in this area?

[Orlando Vic]

Emu,

We will be using South excursions in just 4 weeks for two and half days while in Santiago and Valpraiso. Did you go to any wineries while with them? What did you visit in this area?

 

I think you mean Emo. An Emu is a large Australian bird. :D

[emo]

Emu,

We will be using South excursions in just 4 weeks for two and half days while in Santiago and Valpraiso. Did you go to any wineries while with them? What did you visit in this area?

 

The South Excursions tour we did was a transfer from our ship in Valparaiso to Santiago. We spent about 4 hours on a walking tour in Valparaiso, a drive through Vina del Mar, lunch, and a stop at the William Cole Winery in the Casablanca Valley. Fairly commercial, but the property was beautiful. I wish we would have planned to spend more time in Valparaiso, or had time to do a full day wine tour, as both were amazing.

 

From Santiago, we did a full day excursion to the Andes to hike to the El Morado Glacier (with EcoTours Chile, not South Excursions). We also did a really great free walking tour that meets daily at the Plaza de Armas.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[patrinka]

Where did you find the free walking tour? What time do they have these?

Would you spend 2 nights in Santiago vs 1 nt there and 1 nt Valparaiso or Vina del mar? We are departing on ship from Valparaiso and trying to determine how many days ahead of the cruise we need.

[emo]

Where did you find the free walking tour? What time do they have these?

Would you spend 2 nights in Santiago vs 1 nt there and 1 nt Valparaiso or Vina del mar? We are departing on ship from Valparaiso and trying to determine how many days ahead of the cruise we need.

 

Below is the website for the "Free" walking tour in Santiago. It is really a tip based tour, for a recommended tip of $10 US/ $5000 CLP per person. There is absolutely no pressure to give a certain amount, but we felt it was well worth the $10, if not more.

 

http://www.freetoursantiago.cl/portada.html

 

Santiago and Valparaiso really were both amazing, so I'd say spend as much time as you can! We were only in Santiago for 2 full days (and one we were hiking), and I wish we could have stayed longer. Whatever you do, do NOT book a hotel near the airport if you plan on sightseeing, as it is a good 20-30 minute (and about $30) taxi ride away from town. If possible, I think 2 nights in Santiago and 1 in Valparaiso would be good.

[SharonN]

We just returned from a South America/Antarctica cruise on the Veendam. We used South Excursions for a pre-cruise package and were very pleased with them and would recommend them. The 2 day pre-cruise package included pickup at the airport with transfer to the hotel, City Tour of Santiago that afternoon, full day tour from Santiago to Valpairiso/Vina Del Mar including a stop at a winery the next day, and transfer from the hotel to the Ship the last day. The package included the hotels for both nights with early check-in in Santiago so we had time for a quick nap before our afternoon city tour. We also booked some tours in Buenos Aires thru them and were happy with those too.

[ibfern]

1/4/13--Buenos Aires, Argentina—Disembarkation and Half-day city tour

 

This is my first time here, it is a beautiful city and seems like it deserves a week or two of discovery. Sadly I only have a few days here, but I will make the best of it following my favorite theme; go go,go!

 

After a bit of a stressful disembarkation from the star princess, we are taken off the ship as a group and have a private transfer and half day tour of the city all lined up. After finding lost luggage, and figuring out how to deal with four extra people and their luggage, we realize it was fairly impossible. The tour organizer had indicated there would be enough room for all and there was not. They had to call for another car to pick up the extra luggage and that was taken to the hotel ahead of us, I was glad my luggage was in the van with me! This tour operator was horribly inaccurate and our initial impressions were not so good. My husband, Mr. Safety said it was dangerously full, and one person got hit in the head by flying luggage. Lots of people were pissed off by the time we got to the hotel.

 

In any event, after settling down into the over crowded bus, we began our tour which was really just a drive by overview and not my favorite kind of thing, we asked to be taken into Recoleta cemetery to see Evita's mausoleum. We practically had to force the tour guide to stop, but we did. We walked through the interesting cemetery and after got some ice cream, a bathroom, and a quick leg stretch before we went back into the bus for the rest of our driving tour. Finally after 4 hours we were taken to our hotel, the Savoy. We were glad to get rid of the sourpuss tour guide whose name escapes me.

The Savoy in downtown Buenos Aires is a beautiful hotel built in the 1920’s; it's Art Deco style evident everywhere. Recently renovated, this hotel is a trip advisor winner and comes highly recommended. I asked if they had any upgrades and I was given a slightly bigger room at no extra cost. The room was lovely, high ceilings with beautiful crown molding, and all the necessities including a safe, refrigerator, desk, king sized bed, and flat screen TV. Another bonus was that the free Internet that can be accessed from the lobby worked in my first floor room!

 

We met up with our group and walked a few blocks to a market for snacks and water, it was Friday afternoon and busy. We lingered at the hotel and decided to go to a recommended Argentinean restaurant close by called Chiquilin, a four-block walk which was easy and quick. We ate a meal of caprice salad and filet mignon, the meat was the best I have ever had anywhere in the word. OMG. If you stay here you should visit this restaurant! The cost for the meal for two, including tip, tablecloth, and bread was $64 dollars, quite a good deal.

 

http://www.chiquilin-argentina.com.ar/

1/5/2013 --Buenos Aires, Argentina—La Tigre River tour

The tour operator we used for the transfer and half day tour, plus the following day tour to La Tigre, and finally the transfer today to the airport was horrible. He changed the la Tigre tour from 6-7 hours to 4 and the person who organized it had to “pout” to get the train ride we were promised. However our guide Petra was an angel and when we showed her what we were promised by the idiot Javier, she gave us the full tour as promised. We thoroughly enjoyed her tour, we took a bus to the river, then had a nice boat ride. After we shopped a little, went to a train station where we had a half hour to shop, or eat. Then we drove to another station, waited for the train and boarded it for a quick ride illuminated by Petra. After, we walked and she pointed out some interesting elements of the environment including trees and places and even flowers indigenous to the area. She did her best to make us happy and we all appreciated her efforts. It was a nice day.

1/6/2013 --Transfer to Airport, COPA Airlines, and Panama

The next day for the transfer he also sent a tiny car to pick up 4 of us and all of our luggage, which did not fit, and had to be tied to the roof. It was awful. I have to get the name of the tour operator; I did not make the arrangements and the person who made the arrangements was uncomfortable sharing the tour operators info. Suffuce it to say, be careful and mindful of the amount of people and luggage on buses and always keep it small rather than large! I would follow this advice regardless of whom you use. While I don't like to recommend or bash tour operators, this operator sucked so bad, he used bait and switch tactics, increased the prices and changed the tours without notifying the person who organized these tours and transfers. Be careful of these tactics

We flew COPA air, the airline of Panama. We flew business class and it was fantastic, fully reclining chairs and all the trimmings of first class including unlimited drinks, toiletry kit, blankets and pillows, nice meals with real silverware and table cloths, snacks, desserts, and bottles of water. I had not heard of them, and had read a few negative comments on tripadvisor about coach, but in business (their first class) it was completely different. I paid a few hundred more for this and it was completely worth it. In addition, we were able to use the VIP lounges in both Buenos Aires and Panama and they were fantastic, with food, drinks, and free wifi. Panama's airport is really nice with tons of shopping, they even had a Helly Hanson store. Helly is a great place to get all the goretex pants and sports wear for Penguin poop and cold weather jaunts!

 

 

The transfers and excursions were organized using South Excursions and Javier was the contact. The person who organized these tours and transfers had great experiences with this same company in several different ports, these experiences were positive and timely and there was no complaints regarding them. Our disembark transfers were problematic as stated earlier, and there were a few issues with the tours but all of those issues were settled and we were all happy with them. My best advice here is to make sure your transfer tours will accommodate all people and all of there luggage so that nobody has to share seating space with luggage. Also, several pieces of luggage had to be sent directly to the hotel we were all staying at. There were no problems with the luggage sent ahead, the hotel Savoy had them stored securely and safe.

[peterscot]

Amelia,

 

Can I suggest you summarise your response to what the person is looking for - feedback on the company.

 

Your trip to BA, and Panama is not really relevant.

 

More people will read it if its short.

[ibfern]

Amelia,

 

Can I suggest you summarise your response to what the person is looking for - feedback on the company.

 

Your trip to BA, and Panama is not really relevant.

 

More people will read it if its short.

 

Its too late to change this. I realized after I posted this that I did include other ports, but probably the travelers I am addressing would be interested in this as well. Or not!

[Kiki and Barney]

We've been quoted a decent price ($80us pp for 2) for a transfer from Santiago to Vina del Mar by South Excursions. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Thanks.

we are planning on using them for tour in Santiago and transfer to Valparaiso. we are party of 4.

[Kiki and Barney]

That's what I was afraid of!

what was response that triggered your response of 'that's what I was afraid of"

[WGTravel]

what was response that triggered your response of 'that's what I was afraid of"

 

Initially, there were no responses to my post. I assumed the worst. Since then I have seen several positive posts on South Excursions.

[Happy174]

We have just returned from a 30 day South American voyage on the Zaandam. We toured with South Excursions in Arica, Coquimbo, and Puerto Chacabucco. The company was easy to work with and responded quickly to emails. Guides and transportation were good. We always arrived back to the ship with time to spare before sailing. Remember to print out receipts for deposits or other payments made before you leave as the guides may not have the latest information.

[lcmslady]

I'm surprised by those of you who are saying they are quick to respond.

 

I've been trying for a couple of months to finalize a trip with them and it's been a struggle.

They should be picking us up a month from tomorrow and some of the group is still trying to make arrangements to pay.

I can't seem to get them to tell us when we will be picked up - nothing.

 

I realize that high season is starting and that they are probably busy but.....

 

Unfortunately, this isn't the only operator that's been this way. I guess it's their culture to not be in a hurry but I'm in a hurry to put all the planning for this trip to bed :eek: