Punta Arenas - Payne tours question

[sk99]

Anyone used Payne tours in Punta Arenas recently?

The reason for my question is here: we booked tour with them back in November 2012 for our March cruise, got email confirmation and all... Few days ago using their confirmation email with price and tour details I sent an email to check time, meeting place and other details. There was no answer for 3 days, I sent another email. I got reply yesterday that person I booked with is no longer there and they have no record of my booking. After a couple of emails Jennifer booked us back to the same tour (I hope). But I'm very concerned now...

Thanks in advance, Sofia.

[cruisesusie]

Just returned from our South America cruise and was going to post my experience with Payne. We also booked several months ago and received an email confirmation. A few weeks before our cruise, I sent them an email to confirm and Jennifer wrote back saying she didn't have our booking. She finally found it. While we were on the cruise we met another couple who was interested in joining us. I sent Jennifer an email and she replied that I would have to wire the money to a bank before the tour and the prices she quoted were not the correct ones. When I told her it was impossible to wire money from the ship, she said we could pay for the tour at the agency in the morning and take the tour in the afternoon. That is not what was agreed - we were supposed to start the tour at 9 a.m. But, the worst part was that morning when we walked to the agency to pay for the tour, we fortunately caught someone just leaving and he knew nothing about the tour. If we arrived 2 minutes later,we would have missed him and the day would have been ruined. He was able to find someone to take us to Otway Sound and the day turned out ok. However, I would not use them - they were very unreliable. When I was dealing with Patricio everything seemed to be under control.

 

Susan

[sk99]

Thank you Susie. That what I was afraid of...

It is probably too late for us to book with someone else. In case they do not show up, is it possible to see Punta Arenas on our own? We were not planning to go to Otway.

[cruisesusie]

There were cabs at the pier. You could also check your roll call. I don't know if there is anything to see within walking distance of the pier.

 

Susan