Has anyone booked with a tour operator called El Pedral in Puerto Madryn? They want our Passport numbers!

[gam888]

We are going on Sapphire Princess to South America in February. We are have inquired about a tour with El Pedral in Puerto Madryn. They want us to provide our Passport numbers when we start the tour. I asked them why they would need it, they said it's for insurance purposes. Has anyone done a tour with them? How do you feel about providing your passport number to a tour operator? We have never been asked that before with all the tours we have done previously. Also, they don't have a on time arrival guarantee back to the port before the ship sails. I am a bit nervous about that. It is a full day tour. The next day is a sea day, and the next day after that is Falkland Islands that we might or might not get to either if it's windy. So if we miss the ship after their tour, it's major problem. Please share your experience at this port, if you have booked with another local vendor. Thank you.

[saffy12]

Yes, I booked with them for our trip in February also (Celebrity Eclipse), and they also requested our passport numbers.  I just responded back with the rest of the information they requested, and advised that I was not comfortable sharing our passport numbers, and they didn't press it any further.  They did confirm our reservation still.  

 

I've always traveled with operators other than the ship's and not had a problem with them returning on time, but that's a personal risk assessment.    I don't have any more concerns with them than I would with any other company, but it's odd that they wouldn't guarantee that.

[gam888]

Hi Saffy12, I have read your post prior to booking with El Pedral. So I told them on the email that I was not comfortable with giving them our passport numbers. They replied and said they will still book us now, but when we get to the bus with them, we will have to give the numbers  to them. I wrote them again to ask why they would need the passport numbers, they answered and said it is for insurance purposes. So I wonder if they will just ask you to provide them with the numbers once you get on the bus. Perhaps you could ask them that question. I wonder if you would get the same response as me. Just to give you a heads up in case you a get a surprise from them later, when you don't think you need to give them your passport number. Would you still feel comfortable about that?

[Torquer]

I'm just curious why you don't want to give them your passport number.  I have never heard of a scam or ID theft that involves a passport number, and I really keep up with these things.  I'm not saying that you should give it to a tour company, but I just want to learn in case I am missing something.

[gam888]

I guess it is just something new to us. We have booked many many excursions before with local vendors, and no one has ever asked for passport numbers before. Speaking of ID theft, is passport number, and social security number usually something you don't want the wrong person to have?

[foodsvcmgr]

We are booked on this tour for January 31st.
I didn’t really think about it negatively when asked for the passport #’s as I had already been asked by a different Argentine tour company prior.

Unlike Social Security, not like your financial info is tied to a passport.

Also this company allows payment on the bus if you don’t care to pay in advance so to me further mitigates any fraud concern.

[saffy12]

6 hours ago, gam888 said:

Hi Saffy12, I have read your post prior to booking with El Pedral. So I told them on the email that I was not comfortable with giving them our passport numbers. They replied and said they will still book us now, but when we get to the bus with them, we will have to give the numbers  to them. I wrote them again to ask why they would need the passport numbers, they answered and said it is for insurance purposes. So I wonder if they will just ask you to provide them with the numbers once you get on the bus. Perhaps you could ask them that question. I wonder if you would get the same response as me. Just to give you a heads up in case you a get a surprise from them later, when you don't think you need to give them your passport number. Would you still feel comfortable about that?

That's interesting- they sort of ignored it all together when I asked and just confirmed our booking!  But, I think I'll be OK with giving it to them when we are there.  There is just something about providing it in advance that makes it feel a bit unnecessary,  although I guess they could do whatever shady thing just as easily once we finish our tour with them.

 

I'd say I'll let you know how it goes, but sounds like we will be there at the same time

[gam888]

7 hours ago, saffy12 said:

I'd say I'll let you know how it goes, but sounds like we will be there at the same time

Hi Saffy12, When is your cruise?

 

[saffy12]

1 hour ago, gam888 said:

Hi Saffy12, When is your cruise?

 

Feb 3-17, 2024.

 

[Crewbie]

If it helps - it has been a few years at this point(!), but I'm pretty sure I have been on this excursion before on a Star Princess itinerary including Puerto Madryn. I do remember having similar uncertainty about whether this excursion would come through in terms of trust/reliability, but our actual experience was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.

 

The form I see online looks nearly identical still to when we filled it out (down to the price!), so I guess we didn't have a Return On Time guarantee, either. The balance to that is that our independent group had a great lunch and left around the same time as the ship excursion group at the tables around us, so it didn't feel like it mattered in the end.

 

I don't see that we had to provide passport numbers beforehand, and I don't recall having to check that the day of. However, even though I do share the reluctance to do so, I will say that at this point I wouldn't think necessarily of it as a red flag for a request: For one, I wonder if it is an invisible working sometimes happening anyways when we happen to book a ship-based excursion (or other interactions, or when we hand over our passports for extended lengths to the ship to facilitate processes in various itineraries). Additionally, I have encountered recommended, well-reviewed vendors that have asked for that piece of information in booking with the ensuing services being professional and all we could have asked for.

 

This is not to discount your misgivings, of course! Just wanted to note that this is a provider in my experience that has worked with both independent and cruise excursions in the past - if you can book it independently, it will hopefully save you some expense and moreover provide a great experience like we had. I hope a happy cruise to you (both)!

[crafter188]

We did this tour with them from our cruise in February 2023, and it was definitely a highlight to see the penguins! Our ship ended up missing Falkland Islands because of weather, so we were really glad to at least have had this penguin experience. The El Pedral tour got us to the penguins before the influx of cruise passengers so we had a great experience. Highly recommend!

 

Cheryl

[Mercruiser]

I am presently making several tour reservations in the Patagonia region of Argentina. All of the tour operators require passport numbers for foreigners and federal id numbers for locals. I've traveled to 60 countries (mostly for work), and have been asked for passport numbers in probably 15 or so of them. 

[Mercruiser]

One more thing, these Argentina tour operators also require passport numbers when using a credit card for an online purchase. Id never seen that before. I emailed one of them about it and they said it was standard practice in Argentina to require national ID numbers with all credit card purchases, to prevent fraud. For foreigners, they use the passport number.