South American & Chilean Fjords Excursion Questions

[loafin]

We are going on this amazing cruise in March. We are so excited! We’re curious if those of you who are cruising before us have received the price lists for Viking’s excursions. Have you found that certain excursions have sold out (meaning that they not available to book) or that there are ones that seem to have many availabilities? Do you have any other tips or suggestions? Many thanks, in advance, for your advice!

Edited August 2 by loafin

[Peregrina651]

Price list might be available but it is not routinely sent out to guests. You can call and ask for it or ask your TA to get it for you.

 

Shore excursions will be loaded into MVJ (MyVikingJourney.com) about 160 days before your sailing. At that point you will be able to see the shore excursions that will offered on your sailing.

147 days prior to your journey booking will begin for the OS cabin and will proceed by cabin category thereafter. Your Viking Guest Statement will tell you what date booking opens for your category (OS, ES, PS, PV, DV, V -- we book by the letters not the numbers -- all the ES, all the PS, and so on).

 

At 160 days, some of the shorex may say SOLD OUT. It's freaky to see. BUT they probably are not sold out before booking even opens. So, sold out at this point can mean "we are still working on it" or "it's listed but it really isn't being offered" or even "this one will have to be booked on the ship." I've seen them all.  Once booking actually open, even when you see SOLD OUT on the top screen, you need to drill down to the next level of screens, where you may see that multiple times slots are available and that some slots still have space available.

 

Santiago to Buenos Aires is gorgeous. So much to see. If they are still at the nesting grounds, seeing the penguins is really cool.

 

[Moonlion]

A group of six of us went on this cruise in February 2023 and loved it! If you haven't already done so, you may want to read through this post (South America & Chilean Fjords - Excursion list?) which includes a pdf of Viking excursions and prices for our cruise and some suggestions for Viking excursions and independent tours:

Have fun!

[Mich3554]

We have done this trip twice, once in each direction.  
 

We enjoy looking at wildlife, so schedule excursions that tend towards that.  The penguin colony at Punta Tumbo is nice, but a decent bus trip away.  Magdalena Island is another penguin colony, but a shorter boat ride.  I’d do either again.  The first trip we took (late Dec) there were penguin chicks that had just hatched.  The second time (early Dec) it was too early.  There is also a penguin colony in the Falklands, but there is about a 50% success rate of this port.  We hit it 1/2 times.  We also only managed to make it around the Horn 1/2 times.  
 

I really do suggest you take the time and  go to Iguazu Falls.  We wound up going with a private company for this, so got to see both Argentina and Brazil falls.  This was before Brazil started requiring visas, I’m not sure I’d jump through visa hoops if going today.  I haven’t heard anything more about that mess, and whether it’s improved.  
 

This is one of my favorite cruises….I would do it a third time too!

[Peregrina651]

You are traveling in March. It is late in the penguin season. I would do a little bit of reading up on any of the places you are thinking of visiting to try to get a handle on when the penguins leave.

 

YES!! Iguazu is gorgeous. We did it on our own -- First flight out Day 1, stayed in the hotel in the inside the park, next to last flight Day 2. Used cabs to and from the airport. Regardless of what you plan, bring a bathing suit and clothing for very hot weather.

 

They can't leave until the chicks lose the baby fuzz. This was taken in early January (Punta Tombo).

 

Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands

 

Ushuaia harbor cruise to see the wildlife -- cormorants, sealions, etc

[donap]

Love your pictures!

I do have a question:  what airline did you fly to Iguazu, and which airport did u use?  My early research show nonstop going there leaving between 6-8:30 PM, same on the return to BA.

Thanks for your help.

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, donap said:

Love your pictures!

I do have a question:  what airline did you fly to Iguazu, and which airport did u use?  My early research show nonstop going there leaving between 6-8:30 PM, same on the return to BA.

Thanks for your help.

 

It was 15 years ago; schedules have probably changed since then, prices too. Can't remember the airline but it was local. We flew from the airport in town, non-stop early in the morning. We had multiple choices for non-stops throughout the day.  Airport was 15 minutes from our B&B in SanTelmo (no longer in business from what I can tell). We carried just an overnight bag; left everything else at the B&B (and, yes, we paid for the night at the B&B as well as the hotel in Iguazu).  Wish I could be more helpful.

[Mich3554]

7 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

It was 15 years ago; schedules have probably changed since then, prices too. Can't remember the airline but it was local. We flew from the airport in town, non-stop early in the morning. We had multiple choices for non-stops throughout the day.  Airport was 15 minutes from our B&B in SanTelmo (no longer in business from what I can tell). We carried just an overnight bag; left everything else at the B&B (and, yes, we paid for the night at the B&B as well as the hotel in Iguazu).  Wish I could be more helpful.

We did almost the same thing.  We left our bags at the hotel in BA and took backpacks as we were only there 3 nights.  I know we also left from the domestic airport in BA, which is very close to town (we passed it on the HOHO bus we took).  It was a direct flight.  I went looking for our reservation for airlines, but couldn’t find it.  I do remember leaving Iguazu and it was crazy.  There were 4 flights leaving from 2 gates at almost the same time.  There were no jet bridges, you went out to the tarmac to your plane.  
 

For us, I booked it with a local tour company.  Flights, ground transport, hotel and guides for both days at Iguazu Falls was about $500pp.  I think that the only thing we paid for was dinner the second night and the boat ride under the falls, everything else was covered.  We had a fabulous steak dinner (probably the best beef I’ve ever eaten) dirt cheap…..maybe about $10pp for tenderloin?  

[donap]

Thanks Peregrina 651 and Mich 3554, I did find more flights from the local airport AEP to Iguagu IGR, I must have not looked at the pull down tab. LOL

 

I decided to go for it and book a flight the same day we arrive from the US, but 7 hours later.

My plan is to hire a guide to take us around BA (hopefully get out into the sunshine and walk)

have lunch and take us to IGR for our flight.  Fingers crossed all works out well and don't fall asleep during the tour.  BTW, I did buy a changeable and refundable ticket, there is an earlier flight (4 hours) and would consider trying to fly stand by.

 

Again, thanks for your assistance.

 

[Hazel52]

On 8/1/2024 at 10:33 PM, loafin said:

We are going on this amazing cruise in March. We are so excited! We’re curious if those of you who are cruising before us have received the price lists for Viking’s excursions. Have you found that certain excursions have sold out (meaning that they not available to book) or that there are ones that seem to have many availabilities? Do you have any other tips or suggestions? Many thanks, in advance, for your advice!

Our favorite excursion was an independent with Animal Travel in Puerto Madryn to Punta Tombo. Our guide was Hugo, one of the best we’ve ever had. Early start, by the time we were done the buses from Viking arrived so we missed the masses. Included a pretty decent box lunch for the trip back. Some in our van wanted to go back to the port but Hugo then took the rest of us to some of his favorite spots in Puerto Madryn.

[Peregrina651]

It is a LONG drive to Punta Tombo but so worth it. 

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

It is a LONG drive to Punta Tombo but so worth it. 

This was one of our best Penguin excursions!  This was also the excursion where the bus got into an accident with a semi (the semi clipped the side view mirrors off) and we wound up back in port almost 90 min late. 
The Penguin colony is so large that even with several busses there that the facility wasn’t horribly crowded.  

[loafin]

8 hours ago, Hazel52 said:

by the

Thanks for all the great suggestions! We are doing the pre extension to Lima and Machu Picchu and the post to Iguazu Falls. We’ve now booked several independent tours - the above mentioned one in Puerto Madryn and others in Buenos Aires, Falkland Islands and in Valparasio. We’ll probably do the remain 3 ports with Viking. Again, thanks so much!