San Antonio port transport options to Santiago hotel

[SConner99]

On Celebrity Eclipse arriving into San Antonio port on March 24th 2019 ; looking for transportation (options; prices ; reliability) to get from the port to our hotel in downtown Santiago.

We have been quoted well over 200USD for a 2 person private transfer but all potential transfer companies include reviews where people have been left stranded or cancelled at the last minute ... so thinking getting a bus into Santiago then taxi from the bus station might be a better option. 

(I found some earlier posts from a year ago suggesting this was easy to do and is reasonably priced ...)

Has anyone done this bus journey recently? 

What about taxis that meet the cruise ships - are they reliable in terms of quoted pricing etc.?

All advice / recommendations welcomed...

[TMLAalum]

Looks like you are on the March 10 cruise from Buenos Aires to San Antonio and are brand-new to Cruise Critic!

Here is the roll call for our voyage:

There may be others who are booking transfers from San Antonio to Santiago, so please join the roll call and you may be able to join with others who have booked transfers!

[FredZiffle]

There was a post here in the past few weeks from someone who did this exact route.  We did Valparaiso - Santiago a couple of years ago, but the bus company is the same.  I believe the other poster said the bus station in San Antonio was very near the port as well (within walking distance w/ luggage).  Buses are standard motor coaches - very comfortable - and under $10 pp.  They will take you to Alameda Bus Terminal in Santiago, where you can catch a taxi to your hotel.

 

Check out Rome2Rio.com and plug in your route.  You'll see the bus options and the link to the bus company.  

Edited January 13, 2019 by FredZiffle

[mcmarya]

Apparently they even have a Santiago bus at the port you can take.  It picks up passengers there and at the San Antonio bus station before heading to Santiago.  The cost is very reasonable ($6 or $7) and the buses are very comfortable.

[AquariusCruiseGal]

We just returned yesterday to the US.  The Ship’s transfer package to Santiago was expensive and taxi was quoted around $140 as it is about 78 miles to Santiago.  We booked José Ramon Salgado at trips.sips.tips@gmail.com.

JAN. 13, 2019 - We did a wine tour on our way to the hotel and winery lunch.  He will design a custom itinerary for you, not sure if you drink wine, the wineries are beautiful.  Casa Marin is our favorite tour, after that you really don’t need additional wine tours of the operation. Tell him you don’t want any large group tours, to book private tastings. He is very reliable and will take care of you.   Send me a private message and I can answer any questions for you.

[Tampa Girl]

On 1/17/2019 at 12:04 AM, AquariusCruiseGal said:

We just returned yesterday to the US.  The Ship’s transfer package to Santiago was expensive and taxi was quoted around $140 as it is about 78 miles to Santiago.  We booked José Ramon Salgado at trips.sips.tips@gmail.com.

JAN. 13, 2019 - We did a wine tour on our way to the hotel and winery lunch.  He will design a custom itinerary for you, not sure if you drink wine, the wineries are beautiful.  Casa Marin is our favorite tour, after that you really don’t need additional wine tours of the operation. Tell him you don’t want any large group tours, to book private tastings. He is very reliable and will take care of you.   Send me a private message and I can answer any questions for you.

 

What was the cost, please?  

[AquariusCruiseGal]

The cost was $195 per person, we asked for a large  van.  The van was a large Mercedes that could hold 10 passengers.  The cost included 3 wine tastings, lunch was additional.

Casa Marin was the best winery experience, if you book make sure this one is on your agenda!

We also booked Jose Ramon for a Santiago city tour.

[SConner99]

FYI - When we disembarked, there were two taxi companies vying for business ... we picked the one that gave us the cheapest quote to our hotel in the downtown area (we had found one other couple from the ship to share the cost) - total was 150USD.  The van could have carried up to 7 people plus luggage.  The taxi driver was friendly, the van was clean and he even offered to stop along the way to give us a toilet break (because it is 1.5-2hours away)

[pspercy]

What was the name of the one you picked ?

[cruizinfools]

We are on a Celebrity repositioning cruise 11/20/19 which ends San Antonio and are seriously considering taking the bus from the port to Santiago. Check out this discussion on the this forum:

 

 

Embeded in this thread are links to other threads where fellow cruisers share very good information including photos of the bus, tickets, etc. Recent experiences are given if you read through all the posts.