Which tour is best to see Penguins?

[azgrandmax3]

Help please? I will be doing the Santiago-Buenos Aires trip beginning Feb 14 for two weeks. My first time to the area. If you have taken any of the offered penguin tours please share your thoughts and experiences. I do not know how to decide which may be the better. Ports of Falkland Island, Pueto Madryn, and Punta Arenas each offer tours. Thank You

[IECalCruiser]

Help please? I will be doing the Santiago-Buenos Aires trip beginning Feb 14 for two weeks. My first time to the area. If you have taken any of the offered penguin tours please share your thoughts and experiences. I do not know how to decide which may be the better. Ports of Falkland Island, Pueto Madryn, and Punta Arenas each offer tours. Thank You

On our SA cruise a few years ago Princess wasn't stopping at Puerto Madryn and we missed Punta Arenas. That being said, the tour to Volunteer Point on the Falklands was amazing and not to be missed with colonies of Gentoos, Magellanic and King penguins in the same area. If Patrick Watts is still doing tours I would highly recommend using him. Keep in mind that both Punta Arenas and the Falkland are tender ports and your stop there may be cancelled due to weather conditions. Going eastbound you have the luxury of using Puerto Madryn as a backup tour. It is not a tender port but infrequently docking is impacted by high winds.

 

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[MTJtraveller]

On our SA cruise a few years ago Princess wasn't stopping at Puerto Madryn and we missed Punta Arenas. That being said, the tour to Volunteer Point on the Falklands was amazing and not to be missed with colonies of Gentoos, Magellanic and King penguins in the same area. If Patrick Watts is still doing tours I would highly recommend using him. Keep in mind that both Punta Arenas and the Falkland are tender ports and your stop there may be cancelled due to weather conditions. Going eastbound you have the luxury of using Puerto Madryn as a backup tour. It is not a tender port but infrequently docking is impacted by high winds.

 

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I was with you on that exact cruise IECalCruiser and did the Falkland tour with Patrick. That was an amazing experience from the moment we got into the 4x4's to the penguins and everything in between. HIGHLY recommend the Falklands if you are able to tender.

 

Ps, this was a great cruise, earthquake and all, lol.

[azbirdmom]

We are on the same cruise but I don't think you have joined the roll call.

 

This is our second time going to most of the ports and I can recommend Magdalena Island in Punta Arenas and Bluff Cove in the Falklands. I had wanted to go to Volunteer Point but had some back issues and didn't want to be jostled for as long getting there. It was still a bit of jostling to Bluff Cove but there were plenty of Gentoos and a few Kings to make the trip worthwhile. We're thinking of doing it again since there are restrictions on the number of visitors allowed at Volunteer Point.

[easyboy]

You may want to check a previous review by NorbertsNiece. It also covers a penguin tour starting on Post #503.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2449091&page=26

[IECalCruiser]

I was with you on that exact cruise IECalCruiser and did the Falkland tour with Patrick. That was an amazing experience from the moment we got into the 4x4's to the penguins and everything in between. HIGHLY recommend the Falklands if you are able to tender.

 

Ps, this was a great cruise, earthquake and all, lol.

It was a great cruise with an unplanned 11 more days on the Star. We have kept in contact with a number of fellow passengers on the cruise and have even taken a couple of additional cruises with one couple and met up with other for dinner when they have passed through Southern California.

 

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[caribill]

Ports of Falkland Island, Puerto Madryn, and Punta Arenas each offer tours. Thank You

 

The answer from my viewpoint is sign up for all of them. That is what we did when we had that itinerary (including two tours on the Falkland Islands).

 

 

And sign up as soon as the excursions are available. The number of people that want to take the penguin tours is far higher than the capacity of the tour vendors to provide, especially in the Falkland Islands.

[cdngrl]

when i went i had a ship tour for punta arenas. that was my back up excursion. i saw a few different penguins but no kings. volunteer point was the star of the show and i can't say enough good things about patrick watts' tour.

[wishfulone]

Volunteer Point is the must do excursion. Whether you go with the ship, Patrick or another company go for the earliest departure as all vehicles return to port at the same time.

[DougH]

The Falkland Islands Volunteer Point excursion with Patrick Watts is by far the best excursion I've been on anywhere. Simply amazing

[capriccio]

The Falkland Islands Volunteer Point excursion with Patrick Watts is by far the best excursion I've been on anywhere. Simply amazing

We agree. This past winter it had rained a few days before we arrived and the overland drive was very boggy. Luckily everyone drives in caravans to pull out any vehicle that gets stuck. The Princess excursion turned around and never made it to Volunteer Point while all the private excursions made it.

 

Another great excursion is Magdalena Island off Punta Arenas with thousands off Magellanic penguins. They are so cute!

[Kinkacruiser]

Another vote for Patrick Watts' tour to Volunteer Point . It was a never to be forgotten experience for us in 2012 and we'd love to do it again. There would have been 10-12 4WD vehicles assigned to us for the trip and all drivers are locals.

[MTJtraveller]

It was a great cruise with an unplanned 11 more days on the Star. We have kept in contact with a number of fellow passengers on the cruise and have even taken a couple of additional cruises with one couple and met up with other for dinner when they have passed through Southern California.

 

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It was a super cruise. We were unable to take up the offer to stay on the ship, husband needed to go back to work and my mom was watching my kids. We got off the ship, took a bus to Mendoza (QUITE the adventure) hopped on an airplane to BA without a reservation and took a voucher offer to take a later flight to the States for $1200 and arrived home only a day later than originally planned.

 

Patrick Watts and Volunteer Point was one of many highlights of this trip.

[bam1958]

Thank you for all the intel. We will be on the Star Princess (was Emerald until this morning) 14 Feb 2019. I will be looking up Patrick Watts shortly.