HAL pre cruise Iguazo Falls questions

[TiogaCruiser]

Am trying to help out a coworker who leaves for Iguazo and Antarctica day after tomorrow. All of trip was booked via TA with HAL. Could someone who has done the pre-cruise Iguazo trip help please?

 

1) Did you find you needed Argentina pesos on the pre-cruise portion?

 

2) what meals were included? If not all meals were included prior to boarding, about how much were they? Did they accept US$? ( I got sticker shock at the $79 lunch at the Santiago Sheraton.:eek: )

[KirkNC]

Not been on the HAL version but have been on our own. We have found almost everyone would rather take USD versus pesos. In fact it gets kind of fun negotiating the rate. When we went to restaurants we could get 10-12 pesos per dollar. Much better then the official rate of 8 at the time.

[durangoscots]

I usually carry a small amount of local currency when off the ship for any extended (more than a few hours) tour. It is just a precaution in case you have the one time someone does not take $. If you carry about $10 worth you will not loose much if you have to exchange and then re- exchange. But it can help if suddenly you need something .....

 

In Brazil I used the little local I had to help a couple of our elderly passengers who had $ only and needed to get some of the very limited transportation up to our meeting spot. Not usual but can happen and it could have been me needing the transport.

 

Susan

[grayjay]

Credit cards are widely used and US-$ in general are happily accepted, but be aware that the notes you take with you are new and not dirty or crushed as Argentinian banks will not change them to pesos for the recipients.

We haven't needed pesos much but used them for taxi rides or a drink or sandwich at a food court etc. for example. We always changed about 20-50$ worth in the hotel depending on how long our stay was. We might have gotten better value on the street but went for safety and always got good rates, too.

Iguazu - I remember that place very fondly. It's a wonderful experience. We booked flights and hotel ourselves which was quite a lot cheaper than the excursion offered by the cruise line.