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South America Excursions


hylasgirl
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Is there a website like Shore excursions in Europe for South America? I like small or private tours and am a little overwhelmed by our 30 day adventure coming up. Is there a good place to search shore excursions without gong to Trip Advisor for every single stop?

 

Thanks so much!

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We did a 31 day LA to Rio cruise this past winter with 2 ship's excursions and about 11 privately arranged excursions. I looked at TripAdvisor for each first port first, then looked on this forum, and finally checked to see if any of the other members on our roll call had made any arrangements. Given that some of my private excursions were reserved 13 months in advance and all were reserved by 8 months in advance, I was often the person putting the info out on the roll call :D. It worked out very well according to the 3 others in our traveling party and many folks from the roll call who joined us on an excursion (or 2 or 3 or more).

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We did a 31 day LA to Rio cruise this past winter with 2 ship's excursions and about 11 privately arranged excursions. I looked at TripAdvisor for each first port first, then looked on this forum, and finally checked to see if any of the other members on our roll call had made any arrangements. Given that some of my private excursions were reserved 13 months in advance and all were reserved by 8 months in advance, I was often the person putting the info out on the roll call :D. It worked out very well according to the 3 others in our traveling party and many folks from the roll call who joined us on an excursion (or 2 or 3 or more).

So, how did you organize payment for an excursion through your roll call members?

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So, how did you organize payment for an excursion through your roll call members?

The only vendor requiring a deposit was our private (for just our travel party of 4) guide in Rio so that was no issue getting reimbursement from my sister and brother-in-law. None of the others required payment in advance so everyone was responsible for paying on the day of the excursion. In each case I just posted on the roll call the website of the vendor and a brief description of the tour. Those who were interested directly contacted the vendors and made arrangement on-line.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Is there a website like Shore excursions in Europe for South America? I like small or private tours and am a little overwhelmed by our 30 day adventure coming up. Is there a good place to search shore excursions without gong to Trip Advisor for every single stop?

 

Thanks so much!

 

We haven't used them. Just started the process for a January cruise but this company offers excursions in quite a few ports. http://www.southexcursions.com/

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Is there a website like Shore excursions in Europe for South America? I like small or private tours and am a little overwhelmed by our 30 day adventure coming up. Is there a good place to search shore excursions without gong to Trip Advisor for every single stop?

 

Thanks so much!

We used http://www.tourguideushuaia.net in many ports of South America and they did a great job.

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So, how did you organize payment for an excursion through your roll call members?

 

I did the same thing for Asia... just had them contact the vendor personally to pay deposit. Most didn't have one which is nice

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
We did a 31 day LA to Rio cruise this past winter with 2 ship's excursions and about 11 privately arranged excursions. I looked at TripAdvisor for each first port first, then looked on this forum, and finally checked to see if any of the other members on our roll call had made any arrangements. Given that some of my private excursions were reserved 13 months in advance and all were reserved by 8 months in advance, I was often the person putting the info out on the roll call :D. It worked out very well according to the 3 others in our traveling party and many folks from the roll call who joined us on an excursion (or 2 or 3 or more).

 

We're going a Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise in December 2017. I'd be interested in knowing what private tours you used - can you tell me what Roll Call you were on last year, and I'm happy to search through that.

Thanks

Josette

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We're going a Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise in December 2017. I'd be interested in knowing what private tours you used - can you tell me what Roll Call you were on last year, and I'm happy to search through that.

Thanks

Josette

 

Josette - our roll call was the Crown Princess, December 21, 2016: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2216875 but I can provide the information from my pre-cruise spreadsheet.

 

Our excursions included

 

 

  • Valparaiso (if you are in the area a day before boarding): Patatour Chile
  • Punta Arenas: The Magdalena Islands Penguin Tour with Soloexpediciones
  • Ushuaia: Patagonia Adventure Explorer (they were great when they had to cancel the boat tour due to high winds; they immediately arranged a van tour with an excellent guide and at a cheaper price).
  • Falklands: Volunteer Point with Patrick Watts at pwatts@horizon.co.fk. He is probably full by this time; if so, try Estancia since they get equally good reviews.
  • Buenos Aires: Walking tour with Bueons Tours

If you can extend your vacation a few days, I highly recommend going to Iguazu Falls; they are spectacular.

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Josette - our roll call was the Crown Princess, December 21, 2016: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2216875 but I can provide the information from my pre-cruise spreadsheet.

 

Our excursions included

 

 

  • Valparaiso (if you are in the area a day before boarding): Patatour Chile
  • Punta Arenas: The Magdalena Islands Penguin Tour with Soloexpediciones
  • Ushuaia: Patagonia Adventure Explorer (they were great when they had to cancel the boat tour due to high winds; they immediately arranged a van tour with an excellent guide and at a cheaper price).
  • Falklands: Volunteer Point with Patrick Watts at pwatts@horizon.co.fk. He is probably full by this time; if so, try Estancia since they get equally good reviews.
  • Buenos Aires: Walking tour with Bueons Tours

If you can extend your vacation a few days, I highly recommend going to Iguazu Falls; they are spectacular.

 

Thanks for all this info. We've booked flights to Puerto Iguazu and now trying to work out accommodation - the Sheraton is getting slated for being run down, and it's just been sold and I can't find how to book anyway! Any recommendations?

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Thanks for all this info. We've booked flights to Puerto Iguazu and now trying to work out accommodation - the Sheraton is getting slated for being run down, and it's just been sold and I can't find how to book anyway! Any recommendations?

 

Our cruise went all the way to Rio so after spending two days in Rio we flew to the Brazilian side of the falls so I'm no help with hotels on the Argentine side. Do a search on this forum and I'm sure you'll find some recommendations. Have a great cruise!

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Thanks for all this info. We've booked flights to Puerto Iguazu and now trying to work out accommodation - the Sheraton is getting slated for being run down, and it's just been sold and I can't find how to book anyway! Any recommendations?

I'm not sure that there are any really good hotels in Puerto Iguazu. We stayed at the Grand Crucero, one of the top 5 ranked on TA, and it was just okay. IMO, the Sheraton is overrated anyway and not worth the price just to stay in the park. Not only will you spend 3-4 times what other hotels cost, but you're so far away from town, that a taxi will be rather expensive if you want to go into Puerto Iguazu for dinner.

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You can find a Tour Manager that resolve all South America with expert guides and totally bilingual.

I spent some time but I did a local great experience with the tour manager Liz Andrea (liz2arg@yahoo.com) top 10 in Trip Advisor.

Luxury Travel Award. Small Groups. Private Tours.

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Is there a website like Shore excursions in Europe for South America? I like small or private tours and am a little overwhelmed by our 30 day adventure coming up. Is there a good place to search shore excursions without gong to Trip Advisor for every single stop?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Hi Steph,

I used www.patagoniashorex.com for my first SA cruise. They did a great job for several of the ports we went to. It appears that he also arranges tours for most of the ports in SA. We are using him again in January. I did arrange some tours with other companies for the upcoming cruise, since I didn't realize he covered so much of SA.

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