HAL Overland Tours South America

[HALrunner]

We are considering an overland tour, Machu Picchu or Iguazu Falls, on an upcoming South America cruise. If you have experienced either of these with HAL, would you mind sharing your experience? Approximately how many were in the group? How were the accommodations and food? Any issues with altitude sickness on such a quick visit to Machu Picchu? Thank you.

[TiogaCruiser]

There was a thread about iguazu falls a few months back. Search is not working for me, but someone might be able to find it.

[HALrunner]

42 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

There was a thread about iguazu falls a few months back. Search is not working for me, but someone might be able to find it.

Thanks so much, I searched and found the thread you mentioned. I enjoyed reading about your experience at Iguazu.  Would you mind sharing which vendor you used? 

[BSinPNS]

We used 01Argentina a few years.  Had a group of about 24 from our roll call.  Great time and great tours.   Covered everything from hotel pickup in BsAs, flight, meet/greet in Iguazu,  two nights hotel, flight back and transport back to our hotel.   Next morning boarded the ship.    Iguazu is amazing.   Eleanor Roosevelt is reported to have said, Poor Niagara, after  seeing Iguazu.  Enjoy. 

[TiogaCruiser]

1 hour ago, HALrunner said:

Thanks so much, I searched and found the thread you mentioned. I enjoyed reading about your experience at Iguazu.  Would you mind sharing which vendor you used? 

It was 01argentina also. Pablo booked me into the Dazzler on Maipu in BsAs for the first and last days and the Melia (at my request) for 3 nights at the falls.

 

Tours and transfers in Iguazu were booked through him with Caracol. I was added to group tours. Pablo also handled booking all transfers in BsAs and flights to iguazu. If I did it again I would likely use 01argentina again but skip the group tour on the Argentina side. You really can’t get lost and a guide is not necessary.

[DoggyDaddy]

We are signed up for the 44 day tour in March,  also the overland to Igazu Falls with HA. Does anyone have any rough estimate of what private tours would cost, including air fare from Rio and ending in Buenos Aires for a similar itinerary?

 

DD

[Mtn2Sea]

Earlier this year while on the world cruise, we took HAL’s excursion to Machu Picchu. Passengers chose between the Gold Package and the Silver Package.  This excursion is expensive compared to what you can do on your own, but you don’t have to worry that something might go wrong and someone is always around to insure you get on the right plane, etc.  In addition to a local guide and driver, we had someone from the ship traveling with us.  Seems like the Gold Package was approximately $1000 more per person than the Silver Package.  The primary differences are where you stay, the train in which you travel and the time of day you visit Machu Picchu.  We chose the Gold Package and throughly enjoyed our time even considering the cost.  We stayed at the Palacio del Inka, a beautiful hotel.  Our train was the Hiram Bingham, which is definitely first class.  We had lunch and then later had dinner on the train.  

 

We entered Machu Pichu early afternoon.  The Silver group started their tour in the morning, when you have a better chance of staying dry.  For the most part, we avoided rain, but did find a shelter for a brief period to avoid the rain.  Overall I was thrilled with the weather we experienced in the afternoon considering what I had read.  One advantage of the Gold Package is you start the day a little later than the other group, although both are early for some people.  

 

We did get our doctor to write a prescription for the drug that helps when you’re traveling to high altitudes.  We started the pills a few days before the excursion began and had no trouble with our breathing or how we felt.  Many people relied on the local tea to ward off problems.  (We avoided the tea because I’d read it can affect your sleeping, but I didn’t hear anyone complain about that.  No one in our group of approximately 25-30 had any problem with the altitude.). The ship excursion people love to tell the story of someone who stayed at the Cusco hotel all day due to her altitude sickness while others went to Machu Pichu.  

 

I found the food to be good to very good, but not exceptional.  We had one box lunch (in the Lima airport during a layover to Cusco) and a nice buffet dinner the first night in Cusco.  A very nice buffet breakfast was available each morning at the hotel.  On the train we had a choice of two entrees, with wine, for our two meals while traveling.  Thankfully, we had some snacks we used for lunch on the last day after our brief Lima tour (I think our plane to Lima ran late, which caused us to be late getting back to the ship).

[HALrunner]

Great tips,  TiogaCruiser &  Wonderful recap, Mtn2Sea! 

Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences!

 

DoggyDaddy,  I looked at the 01argentina website. I think you would need to contact them, or another agency, for a quote for the open jaw option (Rio to Falls to BsAs) as that is not typical.  From what I have read, it sounds like the HAL overland is almost double what a tour operator would charge. Although, the HAL excursion does include a river adventure, meals, city tours in Rio & BsAs, etc.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

We are going to stick with the HAL tour.  Mrs. DD is terrified that something will go wrong and we would miss the boat. As you said, the tour sounds good and we will be staying at a great location in the park. I was just curious what others charged. 

 

DD

[0bnxshs]

We did the HAL silver package to Machu Picchu and were thoroughly satisfied with the level of service we received from HAL and its contractors.  Our peculiar situation made many who were on private tours miss their trips altogether because our stop in Trujillo, Peru was canceled due to weather (the ship couldn't port because of very large swells.)  Trujillo was where all of us on HAL and private tours to Machu Picchu (and a few other places) were to leave the ship for our 2 nights away.  The HAL EXC guides rescheduled the entire tour for us (flights, meals, train, hotel, entrance to MP among other things) to leave the ship in Lima very, very early the next morning and everyone (40 total, 15 gold package and 25 silver package) had a terrific time at a lower cost.  There were a few, but only a very few, private tour participants who were able to do this for themselves.

 

The food and experience were top notch all the way.  The GRM was our group's HAL escort and she was a blast.  I would not hesitate to use HAL for an overland tour again, especially when we need to get back to the ship as we and @Mtn2Sea did.  One thing we weren't worried about was how that would have happened had we missed the ship, something which kept some of the private tour participants from making a go at it.

 

Funny story @Mtn2Sea about the person staying in Cusco!  MP is at a lower altitude than Cusco; she might have found herself in better shape had she gone.  My FIL did use acetazolomide for altitude sickness (and had no problems), I didn't and had no need of it.  We did have one participant who got ill on the bus ride up Machu Picchu and couldn't continue once there; she waited at the entrance area for us.  I think the already very long day caught up with her unfortunately; we'd already been going for over 12 hours as we entered MP.  We did have some drizzle while there but were prepared with ponchos, something you can quickly purchase in town before you go up the mountain should you need.

 

However you go, enjoy this incredible place and people.

Edited September 23, 2019 by 0bnxshs