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Coral Princess/Cruisetour/Machu Picchu

jow623

By jow623,
in Princess Cruises

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  • 3 weeks later...
EuroTraveler12

EuroTraveler12

Posted
Posted
We are considering a Cruisetour on the Coral Princess that includes Machu Picchu. I have not been able to find any reviews on this. Has anyone done this cruisetour? Thanks.

 

 

 

I am doing this cruise tour in 2020, so I am also interested. I have researched some of the places and it looks like a great trip.

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EuroTraveler12

EuroTraveler12

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I assume the tour is either before the cruise or after it, not in the middle of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

Although we have not taken this tour, we were on a ship with people that did and they were 100% happy with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can probably search this forum and find some threads about it.

 

 

 

Five days after the cruise ends in Chile.

 

I found the information my travel agent sent me.

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Greg4502

Greg4502

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Three day tour during cruise. I did not go on this tour, but I did talk with some that did. It is a very long three days. They left the ship in Pisco and rejoined us in Lima. They bus you to the airport, fly you out to Cusco, which is at 11,000 feet. You stay over night in Cucso. The next day you go to Machu Picchu. Which is about 7,700 feet. A lot of walking they said. A lot up hills. The altitude will be a challenge. If you are not use to it, it will make you tired. We where there in March of this year. They said that it had rained on them, up until they got to Machu, it cleared and was a good day.

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  • 2 weeks later...
mreasier

mreasier

Posted
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First, definitely go to Machu Picchu if you can. It is fabulous. I would strongly recommend booking a private tour rather than through Princess. Our cruise was Santiago (Valparaiso) to Buenos Aires. We booked a tour in 2016 that gave us a couple days buffer in Santiago at the end of the tour in case there were any problems. I just looked at the Princess site. The additional cost of the Machu Picchu tour in 2020 is $3,900 per person ($7,800 per couple). We paid $1,920 per person ($3,920 per couple) and it included airfare from Los Angeles to Lima. Additionally, rather than large groups of 20 or more, our largest group was 6.

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TheRabbit

TheRabbit

Posted
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First, definitely go to Machu Picchu if you can. It is fabulous. I would strongly recommend booking a private tour rather than through Princess. Our cruise was Santiago (Valparaiso) to Buenos Aires. We booked a tour in 2016 that gave us a couple days buffer in Santiago at the end of the tour in case there were any problems. I just looked at the Princess site. The additional cost of the Machu Picchu tour in 2020 is $3,900 per person ($7,800 per couple). We paid $1,920 per person ($3,920 per couple) and it included airfare from Los Angeles to Lima. Additionally, rather than large groups of 20 or more, our largest group was 6.

Be aware that on a 2016 sailing of the Star, the second flight out of the airport to go back to Lima, had a bird strike and the flight was aborted. The cost for the private tour personnel to meet back up with the ship was very high where as the Princess tour personnel on the same flight received several hundred in compensation. Not sure if travel insurance covered all the private tour cruisers additional costs of around a thousand each if they were lucky. One small group (I think 5) had to fly up to Costa Rica and wait for the ship. Maybe someone with better knowledge of the event can post. If you search through CC you will find other threads on the same subject from a few months ago. There is additional info on this event there.

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TheRabbit

TheRabbit

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Here was a post off the other thread.

 

My understanding from talking with some folks that there was at least 12 that did not reboard until Costa Rica. Trying to remember the local company they booked with. But apparently the problem was that they could not get there, due to limited space. The story I got from one of them was that the company did a good job trying to help them, but they ran into a problem getting tickets to get them to Ecuador on top (the Princess tour got the tickets and not seats were left), so they ended up having to go to Costa Rica.

 

The 4 traveling together via American Express indicated that AE did an excellent job making arrangements. Never did hear about the couple doing it independently but they pulled up in a taxi about an hour before the Princess bus pulled in.

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mreasier

mreasier

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I would NOT recommend a private tour to Machu Picchu in the middle of a cruise, however either before or after the cruise there is much less risk. When we did it, the cruise left Santiago/Valparaiso on Saturday. We scheduled getting there on Thursday, giving us 2 days if there were any problems. There is even less risk if it is done after the cruise ends in Santiago.

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thinfool

thinfool

Posted
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The Princess tours are 4 or 5 star...you ride the Hiram Bingham train...really posh/elegant. Cuzco is at 11,000 ft...consider meds to help with high altitude. Machu Pichu is considerably lower...way more air to breathe. You cannot avoid Cuzco...your Lima flight ends there.

 

When you get to the ruins nothing is posh or elegant. You are outside, hiking up and down over rock and ruin...it could be raining heavy, or maybe a drizzle.

 

Many of your fellow tourists at the site will be the mountain bike crowd....albeit without the bikes.

 

An adventure? You bet.

 

5 star service...major overkill.

 

As suggested, book a tour before or after your cruise.

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caribill

caribill

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Be aware that on a 2016 sailing of the Star, the second flight out of the airport to go back to Lima, had a bird strike and the flight was aborted. The cost for the private tour personnel to meet back up with the ship was very high where as the Princess tour personnel on the same flight received several hundred in compensation.

 

OP is asking about a cruisetour which means the visit to MP would either be before the cruise or after it, not as a shore excursion in the middle of the cruise.

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