Ports in Chile Questions

[Rhea58]

Santiago (Valparaiso)

Concenption (Talcahuano)

Puerto Chacabuco

Punta Arenas

Ushuaia (overnite here)

Puerto Montt

Valdivia (Corral)

 

Any cruisers stop in the above ports & can offer tidbits?

Specifically looking to hire own taxicabs @ port arrival or in advance.

Anyone have any e-mails for same?

Prob. walk to town & take bus in Valparaiso unless new info is forthcoming.

 

If there is info out there I cannot seem to unearth it.

Thanx in advance for ANY help.

[Bill S]

Rhea: first, WELCOME to Cruise Critic! You will find many folks with helpful information.

 

We did a South America cruise several years ago. I went on the internet and found a guide for a private tour in Santiago and we hired Port Compass for a transfer from Santiago to Valparaiso, with a tour of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso includuded-they were great.

 

We did not visit Concenption or Valdivia.

 

Puerto Chacabuco, when we were there was a mere port with no infrastructure. Local busses were available to go to the nearby town. We opted for a ship's excursion to Lake Elizalde, which turned to be a disaster-would not recommend that one. I do not know if there are any private guides there.

I am confident that Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia will provide opportunities for private guides. On our cruise I could not find anyone on our cruise to go in with us on private tours, so we used the ship's excursions.

 

You will find a wealth of information over on the Ports of Call Section of Cruise Critic, specifically within the South America sub-forum, here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

[Rhea58]

Thanks Bill for the prompt reply...Is it permissible for me to re-post

under proper category?

 

Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia ports-did you mean

there are private guides ashore or to prebook??

 

This cruise is on NCL's Dream which I think may be a re-positioning one

Do you remember what ports you tendered in by any chance?

thanks again.

[SheilaNC]

Rhea,

I'll just move you over there :)

[Bill S]

Rhea: I think you should be able to find tour guides in advance, that is what I would recommend.

Another suggestion: here on Cruise Critic there is a "Roll Call" section. Click on your cruise line's name. You will then see a screen listing the names of each NCL ship. Click on the name of your ship and then you will see a listing of "roll calls" for specific cruises on that ship. Click on the roll call for your specific cruise and read all the posts before posting your question about guides and tours. In all probability there will be some folks already exchanging/sharing information about excursions, tours and guides. Usually the more people who share in private tour, the cheaper it will be.

One of the nice things about Cruise Critic is that you can post the same question within different forums.

With respect to tender ports, on our cruise, the following ports were tender ports: Puerto Montt and Puerto Chacabuco. I have read posts though where people reported having to tender in Punta Arenas--I guess there it might depend on how many cruise ships are in port that day.

Glad to answer your questions to the extent I can!

[edinburgher]

WELCOME RHIA

 

One of the very best things about CC is the ability to SEARCH the forums for info.

 

YOU NEED TO BE LOGGED ONTO CC TO DO THIS.

 

Log on then go to the S. America board.

 

Look for SEARCH THIS FORUM over on the right hand side.

 

Enter your ports one at a time. What will happen is that ALL threads which contain that/these word/s will pop up in the results and you can read through them at your leisure.

 

As an example, I just now keyed in Punta Arenas and 131 results popped up. Lots of reading and helpful info can probably be found in these.

[annski]

http://www.turismopaliaike.com/puntaarenas-eng.htm they have a variety :)

[Rhea58]

annski-

 

cannot access this thread but many thanks for the reply.

[Nancyquilts]

 

Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia ports-did you mean

there are private guides ashore or to prebook??

In those three ports we just went ashore and found tour guides who spoke English with vans or taxis - in Puerto Montt we had a 9-person van with just 6 of us (that we picked up as others got off the tenders), and in the others we took a taxi with another couple. I don't think you'd need to book ahead. For instance, in Puerto Montt we saw the crafts city, waterfall and lake for much less than a ship's tour would have been. Nancy

[szuther]

Last year we cruised on Holland America from Valparaiso to Bs Aires, prior our arrival we contacted a private transfer company, they went to pick us up at the airport and took us for a tour in Santiago and Valparaiso, i think this is the best way to do it, is a lot to see and not enough time to do it, so we think you have to hire some one to take you to the good places. As you know in some places they have diferent prices for turist so is better go with a local guide. If you like wine you have to go to Casablanca Valley, they have the best wine, is so nice, if you daont have time for a tour you have to at least try it.

I think the company name was MDT&CO and the website is www.mdtco.cl

Our guide name was Daniel, if you can get that one will be great.

 

All the best

 

Alex and Inger