Punta Arena tours

[mike35]

We're booked on the Oceania 1/3/06 South America cruise. I notice that we will be in Punta Arenas 7 a.m. on 1/9 through 2 p.m. on 1/10. Does anyone have experience with private guides while in this port? We rarely go with ship tours, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[spindrift]

You are booked on a great trip. Did it last year, and it was wonderful. We did our own thing around town. Remember that it is very, very windy. We tried to do the Penguins of Otoway sound, and when we got there it was so windy & cold that we couldn't walk the distance to see them. Fortunately we had done the penguins at Punto Tombo.

 

There were some wonderful shows in the square in town. Even tho they say you need to take a taxi, you can really walk as we found our taxi went round and round, and yet we walked back to the ship when we got our bearings (even tho we thought we would blow over).

 

Hope you aren't there on Sunday for everything is closed. We did take a taxi out to a small shopping area to buy some liquor for our stateroom. The shops close at 11 and don't open until 3, so that was a wasted trip. Got there right when the shop closed. They just smiled at us and told us to come back at 3. Oh well.

 

Anyway, we actually loved it. We loved every part of the trip, and it was great to do this trip on Oceania. Folks were great.

 

If you try the internet cafe in town, be prepared to use a Chilean typewriter. The charge was only a $1.00 but we couldn't do it, even tho they were so nice and tried to help me. :-(((

[shoshona2]

Hi Mike,

 

Go to the "Ports" section of this board (bottom) and click on "South America". You will find lots of info there on ports. We used Portcompass.com when we were on the Infinity February 2004 and had good results. We had to find other people to "grow a group", but we are still friends with the people we met on line. A few are going along with us on the new Nautica to Asia.

 

Sheila

[mike35]

Thanks, Sheila -- I've posted on the "South America" ports section as well, so hopefully between the two boards we'll get some great suggestions.

 

Mike

[Queen of DaNile]

We were on the same cruise with Spindrift so we can attest to the wind in Puenta Arenas!!! We made reservations with Comapa Tours ahead of time to take the ferry to Isle Magdelena for the penguin colony which is supposed to be much better than Otway. When our cab got us to the ferry pier we found out that the trip was cancelled because of the heavy winds! Our enterprising driver then offered to take us to Seno Otway so we saw penguins after all and at about 1/2 the price of the ship excursion. No problem in getting a credit card refund from Comapa and I would recommend using them if you are in port on one of the days the ferry runs to Magdelena. Have fun!

[ricktalcott]

We made reservations ... to Isle Magdelena for the penguin colony which is supposed to be much better than Otway.

 

We went to Otway (it wasn't windy) and our tablemates went to Isle Magdelena. In comparing our stories, it seemed like the Otway trip had fewer penguins, but more of seeing Patagonia, wild rhea, a tour of the town etc. Our friends were happy with Isle Magdelena because it was nothing but penguins -- maybe 10,000 to our 500. We liked the "bit of everything" approach to our tour.

 

Pix at

http://ricktalcott.smugmug.com/gallery/241469/9/3757579 and following,

 

Rick

[Liat]

When we sailed on Mercury in January 2002, we did a private tour I found on the net. I just looked at my review, but I neglected to mention the name of the company. I know it cost $40.00 each for the Seno Otway Tour and another $40.00 each for a visit to Nandu Park. I would skip the Park. There will probably be several choices available.

If you are stopping in Puerto Montt for a full day I would greatly recommend a German company in Puerto Varas called Aqua Motion. They took us on a rafting trip down the Petrohue River. Again the price was $40.00 per person. They wanted a four person guarantee and we found another couple on board, although there were enogh people for two rafts. This is basically an all day trip, but well worth it.

If you are landing in the Falkland Islands, get in touch with Patrick Watts for a private (four person) tour. He is a living history of these Islands. He ran the radio station through the Argentine war and was awarded a MBE by Queen Elizabeth, and is a fantastic person.

Do NOT take the Train to the End of the World in Ushuaia - it is a total rip-off. We caught a local bus to the National Park and walked around for a couple of hours on our own before catching the bus back. We had friends who did it in a taxi.

This is a great cruise, and my lengthy review can be found under Celebrity and Mercury at http://www.cruisereviews.com

Philip M. Haggerty

[mike35]

Thanks for the great suggestions, Phil!

 

Mike