princess south American cruise, Antarctica excursion

[SantaCruiser2]

Hi! We are taking the South American cruise on Princess in december, and were wondering about the cancelation policy on the Antarctica excursion. The way we read it, if the excursion is canceled, they force you to go on the Paine National Park excursion for $1000 per person. Is that really the way it works? Because we do not want to do Paine. We would sign up for Antarctica today, but we don't want to loose 2 grand if the Antarctica excursion is canceled. Anybody know about this?

 

And while I'm at it, Does anybody have thoughts on Paine and why it is worth $1000 / person? It sounds like you sit on a bus for 3.5 hours, in order to sit on a bus while driving through the park for 3 hours, followed by sitting on a bus for 3.5 hours to get back to the ship. Am I missing something here? Is paine really worth $1000/person, and if so, how so?

[paul929207]

Wow, a $1000. That is a lot higher than in 2013. As I recall the replacement tour was $250 pp and I thought that was steep

[skynight]

Personally if Antarctica was on my to see list I would sail on one of the smaller vessels that go there. I would not book the flight tour. That is my personal opinion.

[SantaCruiser2]

Paul - yes, I agree, hence my questions about it.. There are other excursions that we would take ahead of that one. I've been on any number of bus tours with Princess, and none of them cost that much, so it really isn't 'adding up' for me/us. I'm trying to wrap my head around why it would cost so much more than what I would consider comparable tours. Plus there is the added aggravation that they seem to be forcing us into that as a backup plan, when it is not an option we would want at even a quarter or an eighth of the cost.

 

sknight - that may be the better way to go, but it isn't a practical option for us on this trip. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

 

So - has anybody been on the Paine National Park tour, and if so, do you know why it is worth so much?

[fishywood]

If you booked the Antarctica flight tour and it was cancelled, and you didn't want to substitute the Paine National Park tour, wouldn't you only be responsible for the cancellation fee (which is of course unspecified in the tour description) rather than the $1000 cost of the Paine flight tour?

[SantaCruiser2]

Fishywood: I see what you're saying. Normally, outside of some window (24 hours?), there is no cancellation fee. So maybe that's the way out - if they cancel and reschedule us onto Paine, we cancel that (assuming this is all outside of the 24 hour window), book onto a tour we want, and we're fine. I hadn't thought of it that way - I think because the Antarctica tour has a 45 day cancellation period, and a stiff fine for cancelling inside that window. Hmmm... Thanks!

[GKR]

We took the excursion to Paine National Park last February. Yes, it is $1000 per person. We thought it was worth the price. There is a flight on a small plane up to the park area, small van tour through the park with a very knowledgeable guide, plenty of time to get out of the van and look around, take pictures, incredible scenery, decent lunch. That tour was one of the highlights of a remarkable cruise.

[Aus Traveller]

I did the Torres del Paine National Park trip around 16 years ago. I hate to admit it cost US$1,350 which at the time was around AUD$2,200. For one person for one day. We had a short bus ride, a flight in a small chartered plane, then a long bus ride into the park. The weather was glorious that day and the scenery spectacular. Was it worth it? I would have to say it probably was not worth $2,200, but the park was something I had wanted to see.

[cherylandtk]

The non-refundable cancellation period for this excursion and the alternate to Torres Del Paine is 45 days before the start of the cruise, which is about 52 days before the port stop. There is no option to switch to something different 24 or 48 hours before the excursion. As I understand it, the reason for this particular excursion to have the expensive 'alternate' and such a long non-refundable period is because they must charter the jet and commit to it in advance. If the weather prevents the Antarctica excursion, they still have to pay for the jet and you are sometimes already in the air when they make that decision.

 

When TK did this last January, they still did not have a final weather OK for landing until well into the flight down, perhaps halfway into the 2.5 hours. But they did get there. The ship captain was ecstatic as on the prior 3 cruises they did not get there and had diverted to Torres Del Paine. There were a couple of workers from the station that had been trying to get down for 3 or 4 days and that was the first flight that got through.

Edited September 1, 2017 by cherylandtk

[SantaCruiser2]

Thank you all for your responses. Cherylandtk said pretty much what Princess gave as an explanation - they have to book the flight and pay for it well in advance, so, basically, if you book it, you are flying somewhere. GKR and Aus Traveler - thanks for your info. Somehow I had the impression that the Paine excursion was all bus ride.

[lrgaster]

Hi! We are taking the South American cruise on Princess in december, and were wondering about the cancelation policy on the Antarctica excursion. The way we read it, if the excursion is canceled, they force you to go on the Paine National Park excursion for $1000 per person. Is that really the way it works? Because we do not want to do Paine. We would sign up for Antarctica today, but we don't want to loose 2 grand if the Antarctica excursion is canceled. Anybody know about this?

 

And while I'm at it, Does anybody have thoughts on Paine and why it is worth $1000 / person? It sounds like you sit on a bus for 3.5 hours, in order to sit on a bus while driving through the park for 3 hours, followed by sitting on a bus for 3.5 hours to get back to the ship. Am I missing something here? Is paine really worth $1000/person, and if so, how so?

 

We did the Antarctica excursion last February. Had a fantastic time. Well worth every penny. I was also concerned that the excursion would not happen. We actually had 2 more sign up than the stated number on the website. And a waitlist. Fantastic weather, cloudy, 25-30o with light winds. Also, if this excursion did not happen,

My family practice doctor spent 4 days in Paine and told me it was the 1 park everyone should visit.

[caribill]

Thank you all for your responses. Cherylandtk said pretty much what Princess gave as an explanation - they have to book the flight and pay for it well in advance, so, basically, if you book it, you are flying somewhere. GKR and Aus Traveler - thanks for your info. Somehow I had the impression that the Paine excursion was all bus ride.

 

It has been 10 years, but on our cruise the flight to Antarctica had to turn back mid-way due to changing weather conditions at the landing site.

 

Passengers were told there would be no refund as they did fly, just not to Antarctica. The passengers, as you would expect, did not like that and after much pressure did get a refund.

 

I suspect it was after this that a written policy was put into place about having no refund if the plane did take off, even if it could not get to Antarctica.

 

I guess at some point they added the National Park itinerary for if the plane could not head to Antarctica.

 

I am not sure what would happen if the plane headed to Antarctica and had to turn back when almost there. There certainly would not be enough time left to substitute the National Park.

[SantaCruiser2]

Hi - Thanks to all for your time responding. We've decided to take Antarctica off of our Princess itinerary. My wife did some further investigation, and we've decided to push off visiting Antarctica until we can work it into a cruise of its own. {Basically, we're taking sknight's advice.} We think we will get more enjoyment out of the experience that way. Thank you all again!