Port Compass Tours

[coiran]

Has anyone used Port Compass for pre cruise and port tours in So. Amereica?

 

Their prices semm to be way below ship tour prices.

 

Ron

[BCHappyGal]

Dear Ron

 

I have not used Port Compass as we only sail away in january

 

However in searching the internet I found a lot of tour operators that are cheaper yet and offer more options.

 

When do you cruisie & what ship???

[Bill S]

coiran: we used Port Compass for a transfer/tour last December in Chile. They took us and another couple in a mini-van with driver and a great tour guide from Santiago to Vina del Mar/Vaparaiso-it was excellent. She took us all around the coast cities with a nice lunch at a restaurant with a patio ovelooking Valparaiso. We wanted to use Port Compass for several other excursions at various ports but could not round up the minimum number of participants. I found working with Sue May at Port Compass, entirely by email to be very satisfactory. Hope this helps!

[coiran]

We will be on the Feb 11, 2006 Regal Princess sailing.

 

Ron

[Traveling Fools]

Ron,

 

We have used Port Compass. Wasn't all that happy with pre-cruise BA city excursion--could have done just as well through the hotel. We used them for our trip to the Falls. They delivered as promised. Did our own thing with others we met on this board or after boarding everywhere else except Santiago.

[joramrose]

I cannot get e-mail answers from PortCompass.

 

Are they out of business, taking a vacation, having computer trouble>

 

This has been off and on for weeks now.

 

love

joan

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Joan

I had the same problem - finally found out the messages from Port Compass were being dumped into my Junk Mail - I corrected this and all has been fine. You can also go back to the Port Compass Inquiry Form and fill it out again completely - it will then know who you are and direct you to a page that at the bottom will have all your correspondance and the Port Compass replys - I heard from them yesterday - so they are difinitly still doing business. They almost always reply within a day unless it's the weekend.

[pmcrusta]

I used them to take a tour of the city in Buenos Aires then they took us to the hotel, the Sheraton that is near the pier. Even though our flight was over 2 hours late due to a plane problem. The tour guide and the driver was waiting for us. After our tour they even helped us check in. And suggested other things to do the next day before we boarded the Royal Princess. We went from BA to Ft. Lauderdale. We used PortCompass and between them and the CC Board we had 7 to 9 people on each tour. Which was great. We could tell them when we wanted to leave or do a little diverting from the tour.

The biggest asset was when we went to Pt. Maydren (spelled wrong I'm sure)

but it's in Argentina and where a lot of people go see the penguins. When the Princess tours were just showing up. We'd been there and decided to leave.

Our guide Laura had told us that we should keep a distance away from the penguins. But the 6 bus loads from the ship, well it was people screaming and chaseing the birds and well, I was glad I was on a private tour. It was a better experience. And I don't mean they were kids either.

We did 6 tours with them in South America.

PortCompass was in the process of changing some of their ways of doing business when we used them in Feb. and March. They were requiring checks only but had started excepting other forms of payment I think.

There was never a tour they were not on time and had us back in plenty of time to the ship. Every guide spoke English. We had a tour on a smaller boat in Usahia. Somehow the boat operator had a German narrator for another group. Our PortCompass guide dropped us off with the Baracuda's crew. The dock in walking to the Cruise ships. Anyway it was OK as the guide had been pretty complete in his discriptions of the area.

My only real issue I wished I'd used them in Santiago. We took the ships tour

as the people staying on are just basically kept away all day so your not in the way (personal opinion). Our tour friend took a PortCompass tour to get to their hotel and had a great time and saw much more than us.

As PortCompass weren't doing many tours after Santiago. We used the ships tours for the second cruise.

Getting off the ship before the ships tours a couple times was a bit tricky. But it worked out OK.

It's a great area to visit. We enjoyed the Royal Princess. We will be sorry to see her go. Sorry for the spelling boo boo's but had limited time to write this.

They won't do the leg work getting groups together so be prepared to do the communicating if you want to get a group together. Hope this helps...

[flifish]

I have used port compass in South America. While they deliver what they offer, it's only that. I found the transportation to be okay, not great. They do not give any extras at all. Meaning they generally offer no cultural discussions to or fro while on the bus... it's only that... a bus ride, unless otherwise stated. Frankly, in one case I was surprised the bus made it. when you book understand that it's a discounted tour because that is exactly what you get. Personally, if I was going again I would pay more for the full deal. bus rides can get boring and an air conditioned bus/van would be nice to avoid all the dirt from the gravel roads.

[pmcrusta]

After taking 6 tours with PortCompass. We never had a guide that didn't tell us what we were driving through or what it was we were seeing. There were others using south star tours on our cruise. Their vans looked just like the ones we used. All though we did not know the people we toured with until we got on Board the ship. It was not a issue in our case. Everyone was pleased with the guides willingness to inform and keep us happy. As all of us were out

doorzy people I guess not having top of the line buses with air conditioning didn't occur to us that we should have had a better ride.

But having to take Princess tours also for the second part of the cruise. It was pretty obvious. The tour buses (Princess used) were pretty iffy when it came to air conditioning. You learned pretty quickly to get a sit near a window that opens or you could pretty uncomfortable in the afternoon when it got hot.

As your not allowed to bring food off the ship as you can be fined if caught and yes there are inspections in many ports. It was nice when you take a private tour to be able to stop when you might need something.

I'm sure no company is perfect, but I learned the hard way to not expect the best when traveling, it helps to have a better trip, and to not sweat the small stuff (no pun intended).

[AWOL]

Yes but you need to e-mail them with your itinerary. I did this a couple of weeks ago for our Antartic cruise, but I didn't find they offered that many tours and none of them appealed to me. Also, they were a bit expensive

[Splinter]

I have used them on two separate South American trips and have had good service when calling them (instead of using e-mail). They do not list their port tours on their website. You need to call them about this, and they can then e-mail or fax you a list of trips available depending on your ports. Their trips are cheaper per person than the ship's tours, esp. if you get together a group of 4 or more people.