Celebrity Shore Excursions South America

[Diva Onboard]

We are interested in several of the shore excursions offered through Celebrity for our South American cruise this February.

 

Here are a few we are interested in:

 

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands - Stanley Guided Walking Tour or Stanley Highlights

 

Montevideo, Uruguay - Montevideo Highlights

 

Puerto Montt, Chile - Petrohue Falls and the Childean Lake District

or the Osorno Volcano by 4 x 4

 

Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Punta Tombo Penguin Rookery or Punta Loma & Patagonian Ranch

 

Punta Arenas, Chile - Magdalena Island Natural Penguin Reserve or Punta Arenas City and Museum Tour.

 

Ushuaia, Argentina - Beagle Channel Navigation and National Park or Train Ride to the End of the World or Beagle Channel Catamaran to Sea Wolves Island.

 

If anyone is familiar with any of the above and can provide some comments, it would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Keith1010]

I visited many of these ports on another cruise line.

 

I would make a couple of recommendations.

 

In Punta Arenas I would highly recommend the penguin excursion. Our excursion was to a different penguin area in Punta Arenas but we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

 

Ushuaia, Argentina - Beagle Channel Navigation and National Park. I would recommend this one as well. Very pretty areas.

 

Keith

[dileep]

In Punta Arenas I would highly recommend the penguin excursion. Our excursion was to a different penguin area in Punta Arenas but we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

 

Ushuaia, Argentina - Beagle Channel Navigation and National Park. I would recommend this one as well. Very pretty areas.

 

Good recommendations. We also did private tour of Seno Otway in Punta Arenas and walked around town and had crab lunch at Sotitos.

 

We got off the ship in Ushuaia and picked up a Beagle Channel excursion at the pier followed by carb lunch at Tante Nina's.

 

Petrohue Falls and Chilean Lake district in Puert Montt was good too.

 

We used private tours on the entire cruise.

[Diva Onboard]

Keith and Dileep - Thanks for your comments. It will certainly help us decide what we'd like to do.

[Kupe]

Good recommendations. We also did private tour of Seno Otway in Punta Arenas and walked around town and had crab lunch at Sotitos.

 

We got off the ship in Ushuaia and picked up a Beagle Channel excursion at the pier followed by carb lunch at Tante Nina's.

 

Petrohue Falls and Chilean Lake district in Puert Montt was good too.

 

We used private tours on the entire cruise.

 

Great tips- thanks! My wife and I are doing the same cruise later this month. Did you find you were able to book your private tours on arrival at each port, or did you need to book them in advance? We'd prefer to do private tours with just my wife and I and maybe another couple, as opposed to the cruise-ship cattle-cars! ;)

 

Thanks!

 

Dave and Susanne

[dileep]

Great tips- thanks! My wife and I are doing the same cruise later this month. Did you find you were able to book your private tours on arrival at each port, or did you need to book them in advance? We'd prefer to do private tours with just my wife and I and maybe another couple, as opposed to the cruise-ship cattle-cars! ;)

 

We booked booked all our private tours beforehand except for Ushuaia and Port Stanley. We could have found a taxi in Punta Arenas.

[Bernerdaddy]

We booked booked all our private tours beforehand except for Ushuaia and Port Stanley. We could have found a taxi in Punta Arenas.

Booking private tours sounds great, but we are concerned about disembarking the ship and having enough time for tours. Past experience tells us that the first folks off the ship are holders of cruise-line-sponsored shore excursions (Celebrity)--when there is a tender. Did you have any problems with this?

 

I'm enjoying reading all the conversations about excursions, and also land-based tours in BA and Santiago. Thanks to all. Carol

[dileep]

Booking private tours sounds great, but we are concerned about disembarking the ship and having enough time for tours. Past experience tells us that the first folks off the ship are holders of cruise-line-sponsored shore excursions (Celebrity)--when there is a tender. Did you have any problems with this?

 

Disembarking can be a problem in tendered ports. We had priority since we were in Concierge Class and usually disemberked in the first or second wave.

[BettyNL]

duplicate........sorry!

[BettyNL]

We had a private tour in Punta Arenas last month ( Otway Penguins) ...... At the Cruise Critic meeting arranged by Celebrity, I asked if anyone would be interested in joining us (to lower the price :D ) We ended up with eight participants & probably due to status / concierge class, we had our own meeting place (Michael's Club) and were "escorted" on the first tender off that morning :)

[Diva Onboard]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

[Bernerdaddy]

Disembarking can be a problem in tendered ports. We had priority since we were in Concierge Class and usually disemberked in the first or second wave.

We will have to meet some folks in Concierge class and hustle off the ship on their coattails!

 

Thanks for all you great information. Bernermom

[pacmktg]

We just got back from the 1/14 sailing of the infinity and used Celebrity for all shore tours. I cannot comment on the Falkland's since we could not stop due to 25-30' seas. In Montevideo we went to the Day at the Estancia. It was great. The 4 x 4 volcano trip in Puerto Montt was in a van not a 4 x4, they do not use them anymore. It was a 5. Very rushed. The penquin caves in Puenta Arenas is a 10.

 

Bob

[Diva Onboard]

Pckmktg - I'm happy to hear that all of your excursions through Celebrity were good.

 

Can you tell me how cold it was throught he Horn - did you pack a winter jacket?

 

What shore excursion did you do in Puerto Madryn? We are a bit turned off about doing anything there because of the notice on all the tours about the rural conditions and the motor coach standards.

 

With 25' to 30' seas did a lot of people get sick? I have sailed 12 times and in the past have never experienced a problem with sea sickness. However, someone told me that if the seas a very rough, it can happen to anyone. Do you recommend that I bring some Bonine just in case?

 

Can you tell me what entertainment you had onboard? Any headliners?

 

This is our first time on Celebrity so anything you can tell us will be greatly appreciated.

[pacmktg]

Sailing around the Horn we stood on the balcony in shirt sleaves and took pictures and polished off several bottles of wine. (There were 6 of us)

 

The high seas were going into the Falklands and I was told by the room steward that even some of the waiters were having a hard time because of balancing the big trays. I really can't say how many got sick, but the ship has really good stabilizers. I wouldn't let that scare you. My wife took the pills the ship gives away but I didn't need anything.

 

We didn't take a tour in Puerto Madryn, matter of fact we didn't get off the ship. We used the day to enjoy the spa and T-Pool

 

We did pack winter jackets but only used a fleece and windbreaker.

 

We did see several of the shows and enjoyed them all.

No major headliners that I ever had heard of. We did enjoy the Pampas Devils, an Argentinia group of perfermors.

Bob