Reservations for SA private excursions

[S&B]

How far in advance do you suggest to make reservations for private excursions in South America, Buenos Aires to Santiago? When reservations are made is full payment expected or is it a down payment? We are going in February 2008.

 

Many, many thanks for those of you who have cruised to SA and are still willing to read the boards and help those of us who are going in the future.

[Marie-Claude]

Hi S&B!

 

We just returned from SA on the Golden. We booked most of our tours with Princess, but did one private in Puerto Montt.

 

I had contacted several companies found on this board for private tours, and most wanted payment at time of booking, or 14 days before departure.

 

I wasn't comfortable with that because most ports we stopped at were tendered in, and often ships miss ports of call because of bad weather. Also, in some ports the tendering process was very long... more than 2 hours to get everyone out... not great when you have plans with a private tour. And Princess did get their tours out first. They allowed 20 non-Princess tour people at a time on the tenders ...

 

But the operator we used in Puerto Montt didn't ask for any deposit, we payed after the tour and it was great.

 

One other factor to consider, because of the small size of the places we visit, like Falkland, most of the buses, taxis etc are chartered by the cruiseline. Depending on what you want to do, study the excursions offered by the cruiseline well, they may be the only one to offer it. We did two tours in the Falkland that we could not have done on our own, and they were both highlights of our cruise!

 

Finally, book early if you can. When we boarded the ship 90% of tours were sold out.

 

Hope this helps some - if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask!!

MC

[terpla]

Hi S&B,

 

My DH and I are also going in Feb. "08 on the 7th. If that is your date I started a thread and hopefully you will post there.

Marie Claude that is interesting info. I usually like to book private tours because the ship's is so crowded all the time and of course much more expensive. I will certainly keep in mind your comments. Did you book with GV tours in Puerto Montt? They seem to get great reviews.

[S&B]

Hi Terpla,

We are not going on the Princess Star. For several reasons we decided to go with NCL Dream. I realize it is a smaller ship and we could 'rock and roll' but we think we will be happier with that size ship in SA. We can learn things from each other posts as the months go by.

 

I saw that you have Tahitian Princess in your signature but cannot figure out when you are going. We were there in August 2007 and it is just marvelous!!! :) I only wish we had gone years earlier.

 

By for now.

[Marie-Claude]

Did you book with GV tours in Puerto Montt? They seem to get great reviews.

Yes we did, and it was great. As I said, it was the only tour I was able to book without having to pay ahead of time. I would recommend them warmly.

MC

[S&B]

Hello MC,

I looked on the internet for the tour company you used, found their website and it said they wanted 50% down after booking the excursion. Did they waive that deposit for you or is it something new?

 

Have a happy day!

[terpla]

Hi S&B,

Sorry we are not sailing together. I just did the Norwegian Spirit a couple of weeks ago but we like Princess so much better. It is just a matter of what you are used to I guess.

 

I just got around to changing my signature before actually I read your post. We are canceling Tahiti in favor of SA. We will go another time to Tahiti but just having been to Hawaii last summer I wanted to explore other parts of the world before we go back to Islands. I have heard they are beautiful and hopefully we will get there in the future.

 

As for tours I am now going to get into that this week since I have my pre and post hotels pretty much set in my mind. I have all the info I have gathered from the CC boards put into a SA folder so now I will go through it and get info from the tour people. Interestingly enough I have never on other cruises had to put money down before we took the cruise. It kind of makes me nervous too.

[Marie-Claude]

Hello MC,

I looked on the internet for the tour company you used, found their website and it said they wanted 50% down after booking the excursion. Did they waive that deposit for you or is it something new?

Have a happy day!

Hi S&B!

I saw that too on their website. But when I emailed Gail, I did ask if we had to make any payment ahead of time and he confirmed to me that we didn't, that we only had to pay 65$ at the end of the tour.

They have 1 van that holds 8 people + guide and driver. But when they have more people booking they can rent vans. That might be why they would ask for a deposit to secure an extra van reservation for a group.

Send them an email and you'll see... Also, if their vans are not full, they recruit people at the exit of the terminal to see if anyone is interested in completing the van...

Hope this helps!

Have a great day

MC

[crazy4cruisn]

We cruised Santiago/Antarctica/to Rio this past January. I reserved guides in each port and never paid in advance. You can find them and they are very good.

[Aussie Gal]

How far in advance do you suggest to make reservations for private excursions in South America, Buenos Aires to Santiago? When reservations are made is full payment expected or is it a down payment? We are going in February 2008.

 

Many, many thanks for those of you who have cruised to SA and are still willing to read the boards and help those of us who are going in the future.

 

 

On a matter of principle, I would never send a deposit for a tour especially in South America as one does not know whether you will get to that port or not. On our South American cruise, we ended up missing 3 ports due to bad weather.

 

We used guides in Buenos Aires, Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt and we did not have to pay a deposit to any of them.

 

We went in January of 2006 and I booked them in May, 2005. We used Carlos of Private Tours in B.A., Carlos Galindo in Puerto Montt and Pamela of Payne tours in Punta Arenas. They were all from recommendations on this Board.

 

They were all excellent, they were all waiting for us on the dock and we enjoyed the tours were immensely.

 

If you are interested I can give you the email addresses.

 

Jennie

[terpla]

MC and S&B, I just booked the tour with GV tours and communicated with

Gail. I asked about the deposit and she said she trust people and we will pay at the end of the tour. So my DH & I are set for Puerto Montt.

 

Jennie I would love the emails for the guides for Buenos Aires and Punta Arenas.

I have also contacted Port Compass since we want to go to Iguazi Falls for one night when we disembark in Buenos Aires. They seem to have a good reputation but their prices are high and before booking with them I would like to check out some other recommendations if there are any. If not I will probably go with them.

[beckntom]

As for tours I am now going to get into that this week since I have my pre and post hotels pretty much set in my mind.

 

 

I would appreciate knowing what BA hotel you chose. It's difficult not knowing what area of the city is "best," etc. We are sailing in March 2008 on the Star Princess. Thanks!

 

Becky

[terpla]

I would appreciate knowing what BA hotel you chose. It's difficult not knowing what area of the city is "best," etc. We are sailing in March 2008 on the Star Princess. Thanks!

 

I am just in the process,as I read your email notification, of booking the hotel as I write. I chose the Regis Orly Hotel for many reasons; 1) Trip Advisors reports, not one negative one albeit only 5, 2) centrally located in the Microcenter near Florida St 2a) on a pedestrian only street, 3)has a cold buffet breakfast and large rooms incl. bathroom,4) has a safe and air conditioning and lastly the price was right. She just quoted me a price of $75 incl. the 21% tax. You can get it for $65 on the discount sites but then there is no backing out without losing money Oh by the way the more expensive hotels with the exception of the Park Tower all got very mixed reviews and more negative than positive I must say. So if you are interested here is the link to the hotel and also you can check it out yourself on Trip Advisor.

http://www.orho-hoteles.com.ar

[beckntom]

Thank you very much, Terpla. I will indeed check it out. I, too, depend a lot on the information gained from TripAdvisor!

 

Thanks again.

 

Becky

[7SeasLover]

I contacted several SA tour companies and would not book if they wanted advance payment. I finally selected two that did not require advance payment other than to pay on the day we arrive. That's ok with me.

 

The two private tours I selected are a pre-cruise tour of Buenos Aires and a post cruise tour from Valparaiso to Santiago. Both tour companies provide shuttle to/from airport/hotel/pier.

 

I'm very pleased with my selection. I'll post our experience with the private tour companies here after our return. We're staying at the Hilton Buenos Aires.

[S&B]

Hello 7Seas,

Did you do your own air from CA with your cruise line or did you use their airline? Have you arranged all your transfers from the airport to hotel and ship? What I am reading it sounds as if you did.

 

I will be interested to know what excursions you took when you return.

[BCHappyGal]

We did this cruise in 2005 and it is the best cruise / itinerary we have ever done - absolutely loved it!!!

 

We booked private guides in every port and had great tours. All were great and 4 were superlative giving what I felt was much more value than what I had contracted for.

 

If you would like my contact list feel free to e-mail me

ann at century 21 vancouver dot com

 

As to Time for booking tours we sailed in janurary and I spent months finding the tour operators and disucssing the tours with them but basically booked most of the tours in Sept / Oct timeframe that is 3 - 4 months ahead - except for the Falklands where you need to book really early as they have a limited number of guised & vans.

 

Also Iguazu Falls try to go for at least 2 nights - 1 night is not enough. Also the hotel to stay at is the Sheraton as it is the only hotel in the park that overlooks the falls. all the other hotels are 20km away int he town.

The Sheraton books up a year in advance. If you even thinking of the Sheraton call the Sheraton internation reservations # and book yourself a room for the nights you MIGHT want - you can cancel without penalty at any time but you then have a room held. I did that and hated my very $$$ rate but the tour company in BA that I used managed to use my reservation but change the charge to his much lower rate.

Teh reason we only spent 1 night in Iguazu was that we could only get the Sheraton for the 1 night it was fully booked up for the 2nd night and that was calling the Sheraton 9 months prior to being there.

[dileep]

Also Iguazu Falls try to go for at least 2 nights - 1 night is not enough. Also the hotel to stay at is the Sheraton as it is the only hotel in the park that overlooks the falls. all the other hotels are 20km away int he town.

The Sheraton books up a year in advance.

 

Ricardo was able to get us a room about 5 months ahead.

 

He is the only one that we paid before hand for the Iguazu hotel and flights from BA.