Tours-NCL Crown 1/15/06 South America

[HowieCA666]

My wife and I will be on the Jan 15,2006 Norwegian Crown sailing from Santiago to Buenos Aires, with stops in Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Port Stanley, Puerto Madryn and Montevideo. We have made tour arrangements for Santiago and Buenos Aires, but prefer not to have to take the tours offered on the ship at the other stops since they tend to be impersonal and expensive.

Can anyone recommend reliable tour operators at the ports we will be visiting? In the past we have tried finding tour guides when we get off the ship. Sometimes this has worked well, but we have had a few problems, including guides that did not speak English as well as we were told, old junky cars, etc.

Also, we have been told the ship occasionally has to skip ports or arrive at times other than those planned due to weather issues. Has anyone had experiences like this where they booked and paid for tours, and then were unable to take them due to changes in the ship’s schedule?

Is anyone out there going to be on our sailing? If so, e-mail me at hfoster@hfcorp.com so we can make some early contacts.

[gerena]

Howiee. Look throughout the pages on this website--awesome help. I list those I have booked for our HAL cruise beginning Jan 11. They are mainly recommendations from this website, Frommer's, etc. I have e-mailed and I feel very confident that all will be OK. Ship tours are too big and too expensive. All are private except Puerto Montt which may have up to 10 people.

 

Puerto Montt--gvtours.com. gvstein@surnet.cl. Full day tour & lunch $50pp

 

Punta Arenas--Turismo Viento Sur (http://www.vientosur.com) FD tour with Seno Otway Penguin Colony and city tour. Guide, private trans and museum tickets. $94pp. Contact Francesca. agencia@vientosur.com

 

Ushuaia---we are taking the ship tour because we couldn't work things out with independent tours for the 1-7 pm time we are there. Had to bite the bullet.

 

Stanley---doing our own thing after we get there. Guides are hard to find particularly if 2 ships are in port like we have. Had one found, but decided against it.

 

Montivideo--doing own thing. Using info from Frommers Chile and Argentina.

 

Hope this helps. It's a short time before you go, too.

 

Rena

[Lvteks]

Definitely the Faulklands penguin tour. If you can't tender, no problem about charges. (One thing about the Crown, she's small enough to dock everywhere else. Capt. Holte is great at getting to that fjord or glacier for the best views.) We had very good weather and enjoyed it. While there are some guides on shore for other areas of the island, we had part of that just taking the bus/4 wheel drive excursion to see the birds.

 

We also did NCL /Ushuaia for the same reason as you....the time. We opted for the catamaran on the way back which I felt was a great finish after all the park views etc. You have to like flora and fauna....but the sea lions and birds steal the show, so this makes a grand finale.

 

Are you going to consider a post trip to Iguazu Falls? Our two days with Sergio through Ricardo were unforgettable. I could only have done all we did by booking just the two of us. Our pace, his patience and we did it all!!! Wow!

 

Get enough rest....and go for it. P.S. If ever a cruise was meant for "Freestyle" this was it. Loved not keeping a ship schedule and making impromptu (more or less) plans with fellow adventurers.

 

Blessings,

 

Gail