oakbender Posted August 30, 2015 #26 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I used a tour agency more than local guide (i got local guides in city ports) but Ushuaia is risky because of the wind , and is not a city. Those people are young guides, professionals, but they are not tour agencies with insurance policies. I can recommend: http://www.antarpply.com/en/about-us/antarpply-staff Edgar's tour group, tourguideushuaia, has sent me a notice that they do have insurance. They use travel agencies vans. If they did not have insurance they would not be able to enter the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Calicos Posted September 5, 2015 #27 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I am looking for some others to join our Ushuaia tour to the National Park. We are on the Star Princess, arriving in Ushuaia on February 9th, 2016. The tour is under my name, Karen Hughes. You can find the information about the tour under Tour Guide Ushuaia. It is option #1 tour. A $20 per person deposit is required. The price of the tour goes down as more people sign up. The maximum will be 18. If you sign up please send me an email letting me know. That way we can coordinate meeting and getting off the ship quickly for the tour. khughes@gvtc.com Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlak8 Posted December 14, 2015 #28 Share Posted December 14, 2015 From the start emails with Edgar were easy and returned promptly. As our initial group of 6 or so grew to almost 20 while we onboard NCL Sun Edgar was eager to please us. He added a van to our bus so that he could accommodate a wheelchair and scooter. We were met as notified and quickly boarded our waiting vehicles. Edgar is a good English speaker and shared lots of information about his county and Ushuaia with us. Our tour included a viewpoint near the airport, city tour, National Park with stops at the End of the Pan-Am road and the Southern most Post Office & Lighthouse. We took a short but powerfully beautiful walk on an easy pathway in the park. The tour end with Edgar guiding us in the Prison Museum then dropping some pax in town to shop and returning others to the cruise dock. A very enjoyable day and a super value compared to similar tours from the ship. tourguideushuaia dot net email Edgar transportetrasandino at gmail dot com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evita Posted February 11, 2016 #29 Share Posted February 11, 2016 If you're looking to spend an enjoyable, informative and fun day in lovely Tierra del Fuego National Park in Ushuaia, Edgar is your man. We had a very enlightening day with him. He's extremely personable, knowledgeable and interesting and made the time we spent together very special. We highly recommend him and know you'll appreciate his expertise as did we. You can contact him @www.tourguideushuaia.net. Johanna, CA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mintcake Posted February 27, 2016 #30 Share Posted February 27, 2016 We did Edgar's tour earlier this month. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. The guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. The minibus was comfortable and the itinerary was comprehensive and interesting. Highly recommended! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spuds MacKenzie Posted February 28, 2016 #31 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I am arranging a tour with Edgar for March 7, 2016 of the National Park and City Tour and Prison Museum. We are cruising on the Infinity. Come join us. We just did a tour with Edgar Feb 2016. We were on a 21 day S America and Antarctica cruise. We did all private tours and Edgar's was the best. He had notebooks full of reference material and pictures in the van. He really worked hard to find what was interesting to see and what we wanted to see. I would highly recommend him. Spuds Mackenzie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiqittaq foo Posted February 29, 2016 #32 Share Posted February 29, 2016 We (4 of us) were in a group of 16 who took the half day tour of The Tierra del Fuego National Park with Edgar. From the start, Edgar was excellent in communicating with me who acted as the group leader. He replied to each and every question which we had very promptly and clearly His instructions for the getting ready for the day was excellent including sending us a photo of the meeting point. The van was clean and comfortable. Gabriel, our guide was very knowledgeable, informative and courteous. We visited every sites as listed in the itinerary. The several short and easy hikes in the National Park were refreshing and quite enjoyable. Overall, it was a very positive experience. Highly tecommend Edgar and his tour company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altamira Posted March 3, 2016 #33 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Just returned from our Celebrity Infinity cruise to Antarctica with a stop in Ushuaia on Feb 18, 2016. With Edgar's help we got a group of 13 of us from our CC thread to do the visit to the Tierra del Fuego National Park with Hiking. It's Option #3 for Ushuaia on their web site. tourguideushuaia.net Our guide, Gaston, was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. He was a generous guide, sharing all kinds of interesting information about the location, history, fauna and flora. Our driver, and I could kick myself for forgetting his name, was also very knowledgeable and his English was also excellent. How often does this happen? They were great. The place is beautiful, the air a pleasure to breathe, the ground is mostly soft and flat and the hikes are broken up into three segments, and the leisurely walking is at the speed of the slowest in the group so there's not any short breathness at all. There are a few spots, I think three short spots, where you have to do a bit of climbing over rocks in inclined ground. In our group only one lady needed help with those and Gaston was there to provide it. I think we all felt grateful to not have physical limitations that would have prevented us from enjoying this mostly secluded walk in the woods. Still, we're in our 70's with knee replacements and more than a few pounds overweight. We were mostly on our own, away from the hordes of bused cruise ship passengers. We saw a fuegian red fox, a pair of enormous Magellanic woodpeckers, the big show-off male with its red head who pecked away for the benefit of our cameras until we eventually just moved on, and lots of other birds, ducks and geese. The weather was cool to chilly, layers worked well, we got some light rain. My light rain jacket was perfect for it. I took it off and put it away in my backpack when I didn't need it. On the way back to the ship most of us asked to be dropped off in the "downtown" area for a bit of sight seeing/shopping on our own. Finally, do not, for any reason, miss doing this: Drink a cup of hot chocolate that you will never, ever forget. We drank ours at the Laguna Negra, but I suspect any of those chocolaterias on that street must serve this most outstanding and delicious hot chocolotate. (And it will cost you less than $3 USD! - ridiculous.) All in all, a day doesn't get much more perfect than that. Thank you, Edgar! Guy and Maria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pompeii Posted March 3, 2016 #34 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Guy and Maria, Thanks so much for the review. We are thinking of doing that exact excursion next January so I appreciate all the details. Did you organize the group yourself, or did Edgar put your group together from whoever signed up from your ship? I didn't really want to have to organize the group myself and was hoping to just be a part of the excursion and pay based on the final total number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzCanuck Posted March 3, 2016 #35 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Just returned from our Celebrity Infinity cruise to Antarctica with a stop in Ushuaia on Feb 18, 2016. With Edgar's help we got a group of 13 of us from our CC thread to do the visit to the Tierra del Fuego National Park with Hiking. It's Option #3 for Ushuaia on their web site. tourguideushuaia.net Our guide, Gaston, was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. He was a generous guide, sharing all kinds of interesting information about the location, history, fauna and flora. Our driver, and I could kick myself for forgetting his name, was also very knowledgeable and his English was also excellent. How often does this happen? They were great. The place is beautiful, the air a pleasure to breathe, the ground is mostly soft and flat and the hikes are broken up into three segments, and the leisurely walking is at the speed of the slowest in the group so there's not any short breathness at all. There are a few spots, I think three short spots, where you have to do a bit of climbing over rocks in inclined ground. In our group only one lady needed help with those and Gaston was there to provide it. I think we all felt grateful to not have physical limitations that would have prevented us from enjoying this mostly secluded walk in the woods. Still, we're in our 70's with knee replacements and more than a few pounds overweight. We were mostly on our own, away from the hordes of bused cruise ship passengers. We saw a fuegian red fox, a pair of enormous Magellanic woodpeckers, the big show-off male with its red head who pecked away for the benefit of our cameras until we eventually just moved on, and lots of other birds, ducks and geese. The weather was cool to chilly, layers worked well, we got some light rain. My light rain jacket was perfect for it. I took it off and put it away in my backpack when I didn't need it. On the way back to the ship most of us asked to be dropped off in the "downtown" area for a bit of sight seeing/shopping on our own. Finally, do not, for any reason, miss doing this: Drink a cup of hot chocolate that you will never, ever forget. We drank ours at the Laguna Negra, but I suspect any of those chocolaterias on that street must serve this most outstanding and delicious hot chocolotate. (And it will cost you less than $3 USD! - ridiculous.) All in all, a day doesn't get much more perfect than that. Thank you, Edgar! Guy and Maria Laguna Negra is awesome! We dropped a wad of pesos in there and left with a few bricks of chocolate. (Because, like, you NEED more chocolate when you're on a cruise ship...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altamira Posted March 3, 2016 #36 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Originally we signed up on their website for the visit to Tierra del Fuego National Park with Hiking, or Option #3, but Edgar responded explaining that there weren't any others signed up and he needed, I believe he said, a minimum of six for the excursion to "make". So I copied and pasted and posted the information on our CC thread and within a day or two we had more than the minimum signed up. Edgar took it from there. I didn't do much at all, frankly. It was super easy and the rewards were through the roof. If we go back to Ushuaia for a third time, this is what we will want to do again. Maria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue322 Posted March 4, 2016 #37 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We just got back from out Antarctica cruise and had 2 great tours with Tour Guide Ushuaia. We did a tour to Tierra del Fuego and the prison museum in Ushuaia. Our guide was on time, he stopped where we asked. It was perfect. In Montevideo we did a city tour with 14 others in the van. Our guide was wonderful. But the best part was the barbecue at a private home. The food was great and the family was warm and very welcoming. I heartily recommend Edgardo's company. Web site is: tourguideushuaia.net, Sue from Florida Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MizzNoma Posted March 6, 2016 #38 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Just returned from our Celebrity Infinity cruise to Antarctica with a stop in Ushuaia on Feb 18, 2016. With Edgar's help we got a group of 13 of us from our CC thread to do the visit to the Tierra del Fuego National Park with Hiking. It's Option #3 for Ushuaia on their web site. tourguideushuaia.net Our guide, Gaston, was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. He was a generous guide, sharing all kinds of interesting information about the location, history, fauna and flora. Our driver, and I could kick myself for forgetting his name, was also very knowledgeable and his English was also excellent. How often does this happen? They were great. The place is beautiful, the air a pleasure to breathe, the ground is mostly soft and flat and the hikes are broken up into three segments, and the leisurely walking is at the speed of the slowest in the group so there's not any short breathness at all. There are a few spots, I think three short spots, where you have to do a bit of climbing over rocks in inclined ground. In our group only one lady needed help with those and Gaston was there to provide it. I think we all felt grateful to not have physical limitations that would have prevented us from enjoying this mostly secluded walk in the woods. Still, we're in our 70's with knee replacements and more than a few pounds overweight. We were mostly on our own, away from the hordes of bused cruise ship passengers. We saw a fuegian red fox, a pair of enormous Magellanic woodpeckers, the big show-off male with its red head who pecked away for the benefit of our cameras until we eventually just moved on, and lots of other birds, ducks and geese. The weather was cool to chilly, layers worked well, we got some light rain. My light rain jacket was perfect for it. I took it off and put it away in my backpack when I didn't need it. On the way back to the ship most of us asked to be dropped off in the "downtown" area for a bit of sight seeing/shopping on our own. Finally, do not, for any reason, miss doing this: Drink a cup of hot chocolate that you will never, ever forget. We drank ours at the Laguna Negra, but I suspect any of those chocolaterias on that street must serve this most outstanding and delicious hot chocolotate. (And it will cost you less than $3 USD! - ridiculous.) All in all, a day doesn't get much more perfect than that. Thank you, Edgar! Guy and Maria I honestly think Guy and Maria have covered it all so wonderfully and concur that you should definitely do your tour in Ushaia with Edgar. I also got to do the Montevideo tour that ended up with a fabulous bbq - don't miss this one either. Edgar will respond to your message extremely promptly which is just one more plus. Viv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikvahx3 Posted March 8, 2016 #39 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Our experience with Edgar's guide Named Gabriel was amazing. He covered everything we expected and more. We learned soooo much. It was a pleasure to spend the day with him. I would be happy to recommend your company, this tour and Gabriel to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpickman Posted March 24, 2016 #40 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I,along with other passenger on the STAR Princess sailing on March 15,2016, used Edgar and his company for a tour of Ushuaia. All I can say was it was excellent,reliable and they did what they said they would. His email address is transportetrasandino@gmail.com. Have fun...Claire P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jigger_b Posted March 31, 2016 #41 Share Posted March 31, 2016 What a find! We used Edgar's services in Montevideo (City Tour & BBQ) and in Ushuaia (we had four full vans for the Half day trip to Tierra del Fuego National Park). His communication is tops - price more than fair - the guides were great and the vehicles comfortable. You will not do better. A note about our Montevideo City Tour and BBQ. DO IT...we are all still talking about what a great day this was. Our guide, Herbert, and his family are the most gracious hosts and the meal was about the best we had the entire cruise. Plus, on the way back to the ship, Herbert took us to a local wine store where we all loaded up on wines to bring back on board (Tannat, one of the wines he served, was a whopping $6 a bottle). Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEBtravelguy Posted April 17, 2016 #42 Share Posted April 17, 2016 (edited) The Tour we took with Edgar Tour group 3/19,2016 was excellent and his employees did a great job. The van was comfortable, everyone was on time, the driver was very careful. Our tour guide (sorry, I do not remember his name} spoke clearly and loudly and his English is excellent. He provided us with information about the city, current events, environmental concerns as well as the hot topics of tourist gossip and information. The trip into the park was quick followed by many great photo opportunities. In weather started out with a little drizzle but then cleared up to a cool and eventually dry day. The lunch (not included) with bathroom break was well timed. The Gift Shop at the lunch stop was WAY over priced. The trip to the Post Office at the End of the Earth was a treat. We were also well taken care of in town where the guide happily helped us find a reputable money changer and then accommodated our different small group needs and let us off the van to go our separate ways. We had plenty of time to tour the city and to do some quality shopping. Edgar is a dedicated business owner and followed up on our tour experience. I would highly recommend this company and definitely want to thank our fellow passengers Barbara and Norm for their extensive research on Cruise Critic and and for sharing with us this excellent company. Edited April 17, 2016 by NEBtravelguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgillam Posted April 24, 2016 #43 Share Posted April 24, 2016 We all enjoyed our tour in Ushuaia. It is a beautiful area. Our guide and driver were excellent - they did a great job getting us to each area before the large cruise ship buses arrived. We wouldn't have been able to experience the peacefulness of the park had we arrived at the same time as a bus-load of people. The tour guide was patient and very informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonebaker Posted June 9, 2016 #44 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Has anyone used PiraTours' Walk with the Penguins tour? We have seen them on several Roll Calls and was wondering if anyone has a comment about them. Joe :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryann ns Posted June 10, 2016 #45 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Yes we took the Pira tour to the Haberton Ranch and to Martillo Island to see the penguins in February. This was before we went to Antarctica and it was a wonderful introduction to penguins. There were three species there: Magellanic which you do not find in Antarctica, Gentoo, and King. We saw only two king penguins. There are apparently several strays there. It was great to walk among all these. The tour was very well organized. It is quite a long drive from Ushuaia. Then you go in two groups taking turns to take the smaller boat to the island and touring the interesting museum at Haberton Ranch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonebaker Posted June 10, 2016 #46 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Yes we took the Pira tour to the Haberton Ranch and to Martillo Island to see the penguins in February. This was before we went to Antarctica and it was a wonderful introduction to penguins. There were three species there: Magellanic which you do not find in Antarctica, Gentoo, and King. We saw only two king penguins. There are apparently several strays there. It was great to walk among all these. The tour was very well organized. It is quite a long drive from Ushuaia. Then you go in two groups taking turns to take the smaller boat to the island and touring the interesting museum at Haberton Ranch. Thanks, Maryann. Did you have any difficulty in contacting Sebastian? Joe :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted June 11, 2016 #47 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Has anyone used PiraTours' Walk with the Penguins tour? We have seen them on several Roll Calls and was wondering if anyone has a comment about them. Joe :cool: We were on a South American B2B2B series in 2015. There were port calls in Ushuaia on both the first and second legs of that series. Since South American ports can be missed due to weather issues we booked Pira Tours for both port calls. The ship made both Ushuaia port calls so we did the Pira Tours trip to Haberton Ranch twice, and both times were extremely pleased. The small groups of people didn't seem to bother the birds at all and the bird guides (we had Santi and Augustine) were excellent. We had no problem contacting Pira Tours, but I have read some posts since then that folks have had some problems in reaching them. So Joe, if you are having problems just post again and I can check if I still have the e-mail address which we used. Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryann ns Posted June 11, 2016 #48 Share Posted June 11, 2016 This email address worked for us: operaciones@piratour.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted June 11, 2016 #49 Share Posted June 11, 2016 We were corresponding with Pira Tours during the fall of 2014, and the e-mail address we used was: info@piratour.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonebaker Posted June 12, 2016 #50 Share Posted June 12, 2016 This email address worked for us: operaciones@piratour.net We were corresponding with Pira Tours during the fall of 2014, and the e-mail address we used was: info@piratour.net Thanks. I have used both those email addresses with no response. I also called and the lady I spoke with said it was too early to discuss 2018. I will keep trying! It's possible my email is not going through. If yours did, perhaps you can ask Sebastian to contact me at joe@joegoldblatt.com. Joe :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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