Sao Paulo vs Santos?

[harlor]

Any advice on whether or not to go to Sao Paulo from the Santos cruise Port? We're on the Oceania Marina in January 2024. 

I've read that traffic is really bad, so we need to allow extra time to get back to the ship. Wondering if it's even worth going there since traffic could cause our visit to be so short. Should we stay closer to Santos?

I've read that, if going to Sao Paulo, it's better to take a tour that goes by car or minivan because those vehicles can take a faster route back to the ship than buses or bigger vans. 

Thoughts?

Thank you

Loretta

[EJL2023]

Have you thought of an Oceania excursion that goes there? I know excursions can be such a horrible concept for many on here.  But, if somewhere you really want to see and there are concerns of pulling it off time wise it may make sense to bite the bullet and take an excursion.  Also never know if they may shorten the port stay also that could complicate it even more if using private and already a tight timeline.  I’ve never been there so perhaps someone who has may say easy peasy to do with the time allotted. 

[harlor]

Thank you

The big negative, other than cost/crowds, is that the O tour bus is required to take the crowded road back to the Port, same as the road the trucks take. Therefore, the O tour is more of a "drive-by" tour. If in a minivan, then we could take the faster road back and have a real tour. So I'm told. I don't know if that is accurate.

[ORV]

Only the 4th largest city in the world. I guess it should be busy there. 

[Cape Hernlopen]

Dear S or S Question:

 

We were on Marina in February 2020 (days before Covid struck) and chose to stay in Santos.  We visited the "Coffee Museum" (outstanding with a great coffee shop), the Maritime Museum (fair) and walked along the beach (beautiful) and viewed the "leaning structures" suffering from saltwater intrusion. It was a very pleasant, low key day requiring three taxi rides and two admissions. 

Joel Barry

[alcpa1]

We had the children of friends in Sao Paulo and really wanted to see their newest baby but they urged us not to come. They mentioned distance and, of course, the traffic.

We stayed in Santos and went to the Coffee Museum as well. They opened on their closed day for tours BTW. We spent a wonderful couple of hours at the botanical gardens and toured the outskirts of the city.

We hated to miss the children but in the end thought it was the wisest thing we did.

[alcpa1]

PS

We were on the same cruise as Joel Barry.

[DOJO466]

I was on this itinerary pre-covid. We opted to stay in Santos and were glad we did. Marina did not sail on time due to 2 O excursion busses stuck for more than 4 hours due to traffic and fog. Many said they would not do it again as it was just a huge city.  Marina sailed almost 5 hours late.

[harlor]

Thank you all for the very informative responses!

Keep them coming!

Loretta

[MEFIowa]

Sau Paulo is no Rio or Buenos Aires. Think more business than tourism, culture, or history. (Though I did enjoy the rather small size and easy-to-use international airport there in April & May 2022.)

[meg1021]

On 8/10/2023 at 4:59 PM, harlor said:

Any advice on whether or not to go to Sao Paulo from the Santos cruise Port? We're on the Oceania Marina in January 2024. 

I've read that traffic is really bad, so we need to allow extra time to get back to the ship. Wondering if it's even worth going there since traffic could cause our visit to be so short. Should we stay closer to Santos?

I've read that, if going to Sao Paulo, it's better to take a tour that goes by car or minivan because those vehicles can take a faster route back to the ship than buses or bigger vans. 

Thoughts?

Thank you

Loretta

We took the Sao Paulo tour with Oceania, while cruising on Insignia this past February.  You are correct that the bus trip is rather long and that Sao Paolo, a city of 22 million people, has a lot of traffic.  One thing that's not mentioned, is that the Oceania tour is mostly panoramic, meaning that you actually get off the bus on very few occasions.  The main reason for this seemed to be their overwhelming concern with street crime.  For example, we passed many interesting public plazas and parks, but were told that homelessness, drugs, and the risk of street crime, made it too dangerous to venture into the area.  We did stop at the Parque da Independencia, and the Pinoteka, an art gallery, but under the watchful eye of police.  We also ate lunch at a traditional steak Brazilian steak house. We also arrived back to the port late, but of course, being on a ship's tour, means that they will wait for you.  We opted not to do Santos, because we had already been to a working coffee plantation and coffee museum in Guatemala, during a previous port stop.

 

Just as an aside, the concern with street crime was also a worry for the cruise line during previous stops in Guayaquil, where we had a police escort alongside the bus, an officer riding on the bus, and a constant police escort while walking in the city.  In Santiago, our guide would not let us leave the bus to walk in the city, with jewelry, purses, or cellphones.  I, along with most other women, left everything on the bus, and my husband had everything in his front pockets.  I felt this was another advantage of taking a ship's tour, in order to get the added level of security, but everyone has to make their own assessment of risk, and act according to their level of comfort.  I hope this information helps you out a little.

[harlor]

3 hours ago, meg1021 said:

We took the Sao Paulo tour with Oceania, while cruising on Insignia this past February.  You are correct that the bus trip is rather long and that Sao Paolo, a city of 22 million people, has a lot of traffic.  One thing that's not mentioned, is that the Oceania tour is mostly panoramic, meaning that you actually get off the bus on very few occasions.  The main reason for this seemed to be their overwhelming concern with street crime.  For example, we passed many interesting public plazas and parks, but were told that homelessness, drugs, and the risk of street crime, made it too dangerous to venture into the area.  We did stop at the Parque da Independencia, and the Pinoteka, an art gallery, but under the watchful eye of police.  We also ate lunch at a traditional steak Brazilian steak house. We also arrived back to the port late, but of course, being on a ship's tour, means that they will wait for you.  We opted not to do Santos, because we had already been to a working coffee plantation and coffee museum in Guatemala, during a previous port stop.

 

Just as an aside, the concern with street crime was also a worry for the cruise line during previous stops in Guayaquil, where we had a police escort alongside the bus, an officer riding on the bus, and a constant police escort while walking in the city.  In Santiago, our guide would not let us leave the bus to walk in the city, with jewelry, purses, or cellphones.  I, along with most other women, left everything on the bus, and my husband had everything in his front pockets.  I felt this was another advantage of taking a ship's tour, in order to get the added level of security, but everyone has to make their own assessment of risk, and act according to their level of comfort.  I hope this information helps you out a little.

Thank you so very much! 

Our January 2024 cruise begins in Rio, and ends in  Santiago. We don't go to Guayaquil but here are our other stops: Ilha Grande, Itajai, Montevideo, Punta del Este, Port Stanley, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Chacabuco, Castro, Puerto Montt. We're hoping to see penguins in either Port Stanley or Punta Arenas depending on weather! Is there any advice you can give us on these other Ports, if you did any of these?

Really appreciate it!

Loretta

[meg1021]

3 hours ago, harlor said:

Thank you so very much! 

Our January 2024 cruise begins in Rio, and ends in  Santiago. We don't go to Guayaquil but here are our other stops: Ilha Grande, Itajai, Montevideo, Punta del Este, Port Stanley, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Chacabuco, Castro, Puerto Montt. We're hoping to see penguins in either Port Stanley or Punta Arenas depending on weather! Is there any advice you can give us on these other Ports, if you did any of these?

Really appreciate it!

Loretta

We stopped at several of these ports. Following are the tours we took, all through Oceania, and what we liked or disliked:

 

Puerto Montt was definitely a favorite.  We took the Osorno Volcano, Petrohue Falls, and Puerto Varas.  Spectacular scenery!  You can walk up a path quite far from the ski lift to a wonderful vantage point for views of the volcano and the lake district.  I would highly recommend this, especially if you don't mind walking.  The falls are more like rapids, but beautiful none the less.  We ate lunch in the beach town of Puerto Varas, where there are shops, an artists guild, featuring products at extremely low prices by local artists, and once again, spectacular scenery.  We were delayed by an accident on the highway, and once again, the ship had to wait for us, but absolutely loved this tour!

 

Puerto Chacabuco was exactly the opposite.  It's a tender port, but there is no town there.  There are no shops, restaurants or much of anything for that matter.  We took the ship's tour to Coyhaique and Simpson Valley.  The weather was mostly rainy, the bus transportation in very poor condition, and while Patagonia has lovely scenery, both of the stops were underwhelming.  I wouldn't recommend this.

 

In Punta Arenas, we took the tour to Magdelena Island to see the penguins.  We were ferried there, and were able to walk on a roped off path up to the lighthouse and back, walking amongst many, many penguins.  It is very windy, so dress appropriately, but well worth it, if you are as fascinated by penguins as we are!

 

In Ushuaia, we took the End of the World train/Tierra del Fuego National Park tour.  This was another favorite of ours.  Our boat went through the Beagle Channel, where we got tons of pictures of sea life.  It was amazing to  ride so close to the tiny islands and see them in their natural habitat.

 

In Port Stanley, we booked the Bluff Cove Penguin Safari, but Oceania cancelled our particular time slot, never informed us of the change, blamed the problem on the Miami office ( a recurring theme with the Shore Excursion Department, but that's another whole thread).  So we scrambled at the last minute to get on another tour, and chose one of the few left, describing the Battle of the Falklands between England and Argentina.  It was quite good, informative, and gave us quite the tour of the island.  Also remember that Port Stanley is frequently cancelled because of sea conditions.  During our stop there, tender service was suspended several times because conditions were rough.

 

Punta del Este is a beach town, and the walk from the tender pier to the sculpture El Mano, is about 20 minutes or so, along a wooden walkway along the beach.  We did this on our own in the morning, which I enjoyed.  In the afternoon, we took the ship's tour to Sea Wolves Island.  The seas were rough, and we couldn't get very close to it, so somewhat of a disappointment.

 

We did stop in Montivideo, but we were off the ship on an over land tour with Oceania to Iguazu Falls.  We flew from Buenos Aires to the Falls, which was spectacular.  If you decide to do the Grand Adventure and take the zodiacs under the Falls, take a dry set of clothes to change in to, because you will get soaked (but worth it).  We also had time to walk the upper circuit before going to our hotel for the evening.  Another highly recommended tour.  Oceania chartered a plane to fly  us back to Uruguay.

 

These are only my opinions, and you may certainly have different interests than us, and will select different tours, but I tried to be as honest as possible, giving a description of the highlights, as well as some of the problems, some of which were attributable to Oceania, while others, such as weather or rough seas, which were out of their control.

[harlor]

Incredible information....thank you very much, again!  I've now learned to double check with Oceania to make sure our tours aren't mistakenly canceled!  In Port Stanley, we're hoping to get to Volunteer Point in a 4x4, but once again, only if the ship doesn't cancel the Port. As you did, we booked O's tour to Magdelena Island, so hopefully we will be able to see penguins at one of the Ports! I'll study the other Ports too with your suggestions.

Much appreciated!

Loretta

[grmmybtty]

On 8/12/2023 at 10:19 PM, harlor said:

Incredible information....thank you very much, again!  I've now learned to double check with Oceania to make sure our tours aren't mistakenly canceled!  In Port Stanley, we're hoping to get to Volunteer Point in a 4x4, but once again, only if the ship doesn't cancel the Port. As you did, we booked O's tour to Magdelena Island, so hopefully we will be able to see penguins at one of the Ports! I'll study the other Ports too with your suggestions.

Much appreciated!

Loretta

We will be on the South American cruise right before yours, beginning in Miami and ending in Rio. We've done similar itineraries with Oceania a couple of times and have missed the Falklands both times due to high winds. We are hoping to do this again and will book Patricks tours once again. He does not take money up front, knowing that the chance of making the port is unpredictable. This time we will book the Oceania tour to Magdalena Island since both times we booked with Solo Expeditions and they cancelled on us. We took a private tour in Puerto Madryn to Punta Tambo and saw thousands of penguins up close.

[harlor]

3 hours ago, grmmybtty said:

We will be on the South American cruise right before yours, beginning in Miami and ending in Rio. We've done similar itineraries with Oceania a couple of times and have missed the Falklands both times due to high winds. We are hoping to do this again and will book Patricks tours once again. He does not take money up front, knowing that the chance of making the port is unpredictable. This time we will book the Oceania tour to Magdalena Island since both times we booked with Solo Expeditions and they cancelled on us. We took a private tour in Puerto Madryn to Punta Tambo and saw thousands of penguins up close.

We're also doing Patrick's tour, now called Adventure Falklands I think since Jimmy retired. I tried to book Solo Expeditions to Magdalena Island, but because we don't dock until noon, they couldn't take us (nor other tours I had contacted.) So we're also on the ship's tour.

If you don't mind, could you let me know afterwards how both your tours went. Hope you make it this time!

Loretta

[grmmybtty]

4 hours ago, harlor said:

We're also doing Patrick's tour, now called Adventure Falklands I think since Jimmy retired. I tried to book Solo Expeditions to Magdalena Island, but because we don't dock until noon, they couldn't take us (nor other tours I had contacted.) So we're also on the ship's tour.

If you don't mind, could you let me know afterwards how both your tours went. Hope you make it this time!

Loretta

Thanks Loretta. Will do.