MakingArrangements in Buenos Aires and Valpairaiso

[7SeasLover]

We have booked our flights in to BA the day before our 3/25/07 cruise. We'll be flying into EZE airport. We will make our own way from the airport to the hotel.

 

Any recommended hotels between the airport and the pier, under $200 per night?

 

We will be leaving the day we disembark in Valparaiso and we understand the drive is about 90 minutes. Any recommended transporters? Taxi? Shuttle? Bus?

 

Thanks!

[earljr]

Hi Sevenseaslover -- We flew into EZE from Miami in March, '06 for a cruise aboard Princess Regal from Buenos Aires to FLL

 

We stayed at Argenta Towers--we paid $85.00 per nite incl. tax plus a great hot breakfast. I understand from fellow cruise pals the price has gone up but I dont know by how much. The hotel is very nice, clean, well maintained and has a great roof top pool and lounging area. We were in BA for 5 days and wish we had more time as there was so much to do.

 

We booked all of our tours, events, airport pickup and delivery to the ship, etc thru WOW Argentia. We cannot praise them enough for the excellent way they took care of our every wish.

 

If I can be of further help just let me know.

 

Earl

[7SeasLover]

Thank you! I'll check it out. We're two old gals alone for one day, so all the info we can get will help!

[earljr]

7seaslover --

 

Finally found the address for WOW Argentina

 

Cintia@wowargentina.com.ar

 

Earl

[7SeasLover]

Thanks! The first link didn't work. Mail kept coming back.

 

Surprisingly 4 men from Buenos Aires happend to sign on to our Jewel Roll Call for an upcoming Med cruise! Needless to say I'll be meeting up with them to get the skinny on Buenos Aires!

 

Booked our air today, so I guess I'm going! Thank you for your recommendations. By the way - the hotel you gave me wasn't taking reservations for that time. I booked the Hilton.

[earljr]

Have a great cruise-- I know you will love BA and the other ports --

Dont forget to try the Pisco Sours:) A MUST -- Tango show -- not to be missed -- we liked the one at Piazzolla the best.

 

Earl

[7SeasLover]

I still have not been able to make contact with Wow.Argentina. As a matter of fact, not one single place I've contacted has responded. I'll keep searching. Tour prices seem quite reasonable. I saw the tango add-ons to tours. I'll see about going to a performance.

[Francine]

Hi Earl,

I guess this is the right place to talk about WOW Argentina instead of the San Antonio thread. ;)

7SeasLover,

I was able to contact Cintia and this is her email address.

cintia@wowargentina.com.ar

I had the same problem you had at first, but I finally heard back from her.

Due to the instability of the economy, she is not able to give us prices, etc. more than four months out. Since I want to set things up before then, I will have to go with another tour company.

I have heard back from:

www.privatetours.com.ar

www.defrantur.com

Both of these companies have contacted me with suggested itineraries and prices.

I hope this helps,

Fran

[7SeasLover]

I saw those websites too off the Buenos Aires Tourisim office. I like PrivateTours and there's one other I'm checking. I need 2 day tours both before and after the cruise.

 

I'll report my findings! I booked my air though and I switch my TA and saved $963!!!

[earljr]

Hi all

 

WOW (no pun intended?)) I am really sorry to hear of the problems with cintia of WOW. the folks that I know who have used her (incl. us) have really nothing but praise for her and her company. Oh well -- here today and ? tomorrow.

 

We know a cruise pal that has used defrantur (they were on the same cruise on the Regal with us) and they were pleased with their services.

 

Nice day to all -- Earl

[7SeasLover]

Wow Argentina responded but quoted $574 for 4 hours the first day and 2 hours the second morning. Way too pricey. Grayline offers the same for $72 pp.

 

I think we'll take a taxi from the airport to the Buenos Aires Hilton, then take a Grayline city tour. We did that in NY and had a great time.

[Francine]

Well, we thought we had secured our flights on Continental. Tonight, after transfering 100,000 miles from our AmEx account into the Continental "bank", we were informed that the flights we had on hold were now going to cost us 100,000 EACH! They told us that the dates we had selected were 100,000 dates, not 50,000 dates. We had planned to arrive in Buenos Aires on March 4 for our March 8 cruise. Oh, they told us we could fly out on the 5th and arrive on the 6th or we could fly out on FEBRUARY 24. Those are the only 50,000 mile dates they had to offer us. :mad:

And they could not give us our dates for leaving Santiago, either.

What a mess! We were on the phone for over 2 1/2 hours. We always use a speaker phone when we talk with the airlines. We both heard very clearly that these flights were going to cost us 100,000 TOTAL, not EACH. Oh,and when we asked to speak with this supervisor's supervisor,we were told that her boss does not accept phone calls. Well, someone high up will be getting a phone call, I can assure you.

The point is we had nothing in writing to prove our point. They had the notes from the people who took our reservation. I told this supervisor that I would be letting people know about the way we were deceived into believing these flights would cost us 100,000, so here I am.

We will probably pay for our flights, and this will allow us to enjoy our trip, no thanks to Continental Airlines.

Fran

[7SeasLover]

Can't you pay with miles and the difference in cash? Things like this just frost me. I hope you can get it all worked out.

[Francine]

7SeasLover,

Believe me, we asked what the cost would be if we used miles for one of us and paid for the other. The price she quoted us was more than twice the cost of the ticket on the website.

The point is we feel like we were lied to. We have earned these rewards. We had set up our flights, selected our seats, and had them on hold. And now we went to pay using the amount of miles they told us it would cost us. Suddenly the miles cost was doubled. If we hadn't both heard the prices as 100,000 for the two of us on the speaker phone, we might not be so sure of ourselves. If we weren't fighting for our point, we would not have spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone tonight.

Thanks for your support.

Fran

[7SeasLover]

I hope you don't lose your miles! That's a shame.

 

I just spent some wated time with Wow.Argentina. They quoted $574 for a 4 hour tour and pick-up/drop off at the hotel, and 2 hours the next morning with drop off at the port. I told her I thought that was too pricey and she wrote back saying sorry first class service wasn't in my budget! How rude is that!?

 

We have private drivers in Rome and Naples, and they aren't NEARLY as pricey as Wow.Argntina!

 

I'll keep searhing. I don't mind paying for a private drive, but I sure do mind being taken advantage of, which is what Wow made me feel like. I'm off to bed. I'm tired of searching for tours! ha ha ha!

[Francine]

We won't lose the miles because eventually, we will fly on Continental, using those miles they are holding. Or, we can fly on one of their partners, but book through Continental. But, those miles are not usable to us now, they are just sitting there.

Try those other companies I mentioned earlier. Their prices were much more reasonable for tours.

Fran

[7SeasLover]

I have already contacted both of them! I also found Grayline tours.

[Dbedros]

I know that this is an old thread but I used it to make decisions for my recent trip in December and wanted to say thank you to everyone for your previous postings as they were very helpful.

 

My trip was wonderful. We stayed at the Claridge, the bar was outstanding, they let us store our luggage prior to check-in as we went to Iguazu first, gave us a very comfortable place to wait until departure for the airport after check out and stored the luggage again.

 

We used Ricardo at defrantur@fibertel.com.ar and Cintia at cintia@wowargentina.com per your suggestions. They both gave us very personal service, answered all of my questions timely and accurately. Thanks again to all that have posted and I hope this helps the next person doing research.

[englishmum]

Good to hear your comments regarding Ricardo,we have made all our arrangements through him for our various excursions and pick ups in Buenos Aires,including a trip to Iguazu.We are also staying at the Claridge,was this a good choice and is the hotel centrally placed? Your comments about the Claridge and your trip to Igauzu would be most appreciated.

[englishmum]

Good to hear your comments regarding Ricardo,we have made all our arrangements through him for our various excursions and pick ups in Buenos Aires,including a trip to Iguazu.We are also staying at the Claridge,was this a good choice and is the hotel centrally placed? Your comments about the Claridge and your trip to Igauzu would be most appreciated.

[raringtogo]

Hi. We are hoping to take a cruise which ends in BA next December so I have just started to do my research - thanks to you all for the excellent info.

 

Could I ask, where is the best booking site for hotels in BA? (i'm only used to Asia so this part of the world is all very new to me)- certainly I am going to look at Claridge first. We will spend two nights at the end of the cruise in BA.

We are also visiting America for the first time and are very excited. We will at last be able to visit our many family members in LA on our way to FLL.

 

Also, Earl, I'm hoping you will be able to give us some good advice on private tours we could take at some of our ports such as

Recife, Montivideo and Trinidad.

 

thanks in advance

marilyn

[pacmktg]

It is very good to hear your comments regarding the Claridge and Ricardo as he has made all of our arrangements for next week including the same hotel.

 

Bob

[BCHappyGal]

On our trip (cruise) to Buenos Aries we used Ricardo of http://www.defrantur.com and I can highly recommend him. Ricardo was excellent and he handled all of our tours & transfers in Buenos Aries as well as our flights to Iguazu & tours & hotel there. He did a great job and his prices were very fair.

[raringtogo]

thank you for the info regarding Ricardo- we will be sure to contact him regarding tours.

[mygirlscats]

Raringtogo, when you ask which is the best booking site, do you mean web site? I rely heavily on tripadvisor.com; it's kind of like CruiseCritic in that people write in to critique or comment on hotels. You can search for hotels by city and (roughly but inaccurately) by cost, then scroll through the results. That's my first stop when I'm looking for a hotel in a new city.

 

(BTW, I found a very posh hotel in BA -- Park Tower -- on that site, but thought it was too expensive. By returning frequently to the hotel's own website, I finally found a special price and saved over $100 a night compared to what they were quoting for this week a few months ago!):)