Easy to pick up a tour upon arrival in port?

In most cruise ports there are usually local tour companies, excursion companies, and taxi drivers, waiting at the port hoping to be hired by cruise pax who have not arranged anything in advance. There are almost always tours similar to the most popular ones offered by the ships. Is this usually true in most South American "around the horn" ports? (Those between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso/Santiago.)

I am hoping those of you who have cruised to these ports can tell me.

Thanks for any info!

What specific ports are you asking about?

In most cruise ports there are usually local tour companies, excursion companies, and taxi drivers, waiting at the port hoping to be hired by cruise pax who have not arranged anything in advance. There are almost always tours similar to the most popular ones offered by the ships. Is this usually true in most South American "around the horn" ports? (Those between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso/Santiago.)

 

I am hoping those of you who have cruised to these ports can tell me.

Thanks for any info!

Having done the around the horn cruise as well as the repo through the Panama Canal, I would not recommend relying on what is at the port.

Except for the ports in Uruguay, all the ports are in somewhat remote areas. If you find someone to take you around, you will be using the leftovers.

Also, many of the places to visit from these ports require considerable driving. Unless you have a group, you are not likely to same money that way.

We used SouthExcursions, as tour company out of Chile for most of our tours, but did take a bike tour at Punta del Este and a ship's tour a Ushuaia (private tours sold out).

Here is my review of the trip.

It includes details on tours.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878

I wish the OP would specify which ports will be on their itinerary.

Actually, we were in Ushuaia twice on our recent B2B2B series, and that is one port in which folks on our cruise were able to pick up a tour upon arrival.

Thanks for the replies so far.

The reason I didn't post all the ports was because I thought there might be others wondering the same thing who would be visiting additional or different ports on a similar itinerary. Some of them might take a look at this thread and find things for additional ports.

To be specific, the ports I am wondering about are:

Valparaiso

Puerto Montt

Punta Arenas

Ushuaia

Puerto Madryn

Punta del Este

Montevideo

We'll also be in Santiago and Buenos Aires, but we'll likely stay in those cities a couple of days, so that's a different situation.

Montevideo in Uruguay had a booth in port where you could book tours. We didn't take one, so can't vouch for quality.

I don't remember seeing other ports offering this, but I didn't look for it either. (A storm prevented us from going to Ushuaia.)

Our observations follows:

Valparaiso was a "turnaround day" port for us between legs 2 and 3 of a B2B2B. This is a very industrial port with an amazing number of containers. My husband found the crane operations simply fascinating. You are not allowed to walk to the port entrance, but a shuttle is provided. At the port entrance taxis were available, but I didn't notice any independent tour operators. However, we were on a pre-organized tour so I really wasn't looking.

At Puerto Montt we were on a private tour, which met us in the building at the tender dock. There were clearly private operators offering tours.

Our particular cruise missed Punta Arenas as the port was closed due to extremely high winds.

We were in Ushuaia twice on both the first and second leg of our set of cruises. Both times we had pre-booked with Pira Tours (to go to Harberton Ranch, which was the best quality penguin tour we did). The pier in Ushuaia is rather long, and even has a gift shop. But at the end you leave the restricted pier area, and there will be a number of taxi drivers offering private tours. Also the tour companies have a series of little high roofed buildings to the right of the restricted area exit. You will see these little buildings as you walk down the pier toward town. While the tour companies have their offices downtown this is where they pick up their customers. At least four folks from our ship were able to purchase the Pira Tour Harberton Ranch excursion that day (i.e., they hadn't pre-booked). Also, across the street from the port entrance is Ushuaia's tourist info center. The Antarctic center is located beside the tourist info center.

We also were in Puerto Madryn twice. The first time we had a private shore excursion to Peninsula Valdes, and the tour company's van met us on the pier. The second port call we took the no additional fee ship shuttle downtown (the drop off point was their tourist info center). Puerto Madryn is a very industrial port, again with restricted port entry. I wasn't paying close attention, but it didn't seem to me that folks were allowed to just walk to the port entrance. Also, trips to either the Peninsula Valdes or Punta Tombo are all day trips, so really need to be pre-booked.

Punta del Este is a wonderful little resort town and a great beach day. Across from the tender dock was a tourist info place, but we didn't enter. We didn't notice any tour operator offering tours, but there were a number of taxi operators who could have provided a local tour.

We were on Montevideo twice, and both times were the only cruise ship docked. Passengers are allowed to walk along the pier, and both times there folks from the local tourism bureau (dressed in khakis, light blue shirts and name tags) greeting passengers and handing out maps. There was a small white building which offered tourist info and wi-fi, but we didn't enter. We found Montevideo very walkable and didn't bother with any sort of organized tour.

Thanks for some very good and helpful info! Knowing if there are options upon arrival can be a big help. Especially for places where you aren't quite sure what you want to do; or you just want an overview of an area; or don't want to pay the ship's prices but haven't arranged an independent tour ahead of time.

Puerto Madryn:

My photos show a very long pier with busses to shore. No containers or other industrial items. Passengers walk to town on the pier. The small town is right at the end of the pier and easily walkable but not particularly interesting. Some of the crew used the chance to go to the beach which is also right there with a small seaside park and promenade.

Since we had booked a ship's tour, I did not look if there were local providers waiting for interested passengers. The photos show an excursion boat at the pier.

The port of Punta Arenas was closed due to high winds.

Great info! I must admit, I have seen a number of posts where the poster's ship was unable to dock at a couple of the ports in the southernmost ports of South America (I think Punta Arenas and Ushaia were often mentioned) due to inclement weather or high winds/seas. I wonder just how common this is? One poster had mentioned it took them 5 cruises and another said it took them 3 to finally visit whichever port they had mentioned. Just wondering if it's really VERY common to miss those or other ports often visited in around the horn cruises? We have cruised in the Caribbean many, many times. Grand Cayman has been missed by others I've known due to wind in March, but we've always made it, even though once dive and snorkel trips were mostly cancelled.

Great info! I must admit, I have seen a number of posts where the poster's ship was unable to dock at a couple of the ports in the southernmost ports of South America (I think Punta Arenas and Ushaia were often mentioned) due to inclement weather or high winds/seas. I wonder just how common this is? One poster had mentioned it took them 5 cruises and another said it took them 3 to finally visit whichever port they had mentioned. Just wondering if it's really VERY common to miss those or other ports often visited in around the horn cruises? We have cruised in the Caribbean many, many times. Grand Cayman has been missed by others I've known due to wind in March, but we've always made it, even though once dive and snorkel trips were mostly cancelled.

We missed no ports on our Jan 2014 Infinity cruise around the horn. I cannot say about how frequent this happens.

We booked tours with firms that would refund most of the tour cost if we missed the port.

January is probably the best month for this part of South America. Weather patterns are known to be unstable that far south.

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

The reason I didn't post all the ports was because I thought there might be others wondering the same thing who would be visiting additional or different ports on a similar itinerary. Some of them might take a look at this thread and find things for additional ports.

To be specific, the ports I am wondering about are:

 

Valparaiso

Puerto Montt

Punta Arenas

Ushuaia

Puerto Madryn

Punta del Este

Montevideo

 

We'll also be in Santiago and Buenos Aires, but we'll likely stay in those cities a couple of days, so that's a different situation.

In 2012, we used Turismo Comapa for Punta Arenas

Email: comapaxii@gmail.com

Phone: +61 200 229

Contact: Luis Soto Avendaño

If Luis is still there, he is on Skype and speaks pretty good English.

Thanks for the tips! I will make a note of the info. for when I get around to looking into tours more closely.