Need help with tours!

[rollingstone]

We will be cruising SA in March & April. I really need some advice on some of the ports. (private guides, ship tours, on our own). There is a lot on some of the ports but very little on others.

Punta Arenas - The penguins will be gone by the time we are there. Has anyone done the horseback riding through portcompass? any other ideas?

Valparasio - Have been to Santiago so would like to avoid that. Any tours of Valparasio, Vina del Mar, & a vineyard? Found one with the ship but would like another option.

San Juan del Sur - Help, help!!!

La Serena (Coquimbo) - between "vicuna & ecqui valley" and "on our own"

Lima - not enough time to see the Nazca lines so I need another option

Quito - ?

Puerto Amadar - Is Panama itself worth a tour? Should I look for "panama hats"?

Believe it or not, I have booked several tours for other ports but have been somewhat stumped on these. A lot of people that I know have done the Rio to Santiago leg and have had feedback on those ports but from Santiago to San Fran is all new territory!

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated & passed on to the other people on my CC board

Thanks

Nancy

[Addictedtwo]

We will be cruising SA in March & April. I really need some advice on some of the ports. (private guides, ship tours, on our own). There is a lot on some of the ports but very little on others.

Punta Arenas - The penguins will be gone by the time we are there. Has anyone done the horseback riding through portcompass? any other ideas?

Valparasio - Have been to Santiago so would like to avoid that. Any tours of Valparasio, Vina del Mar, & a vineyard? Found one with the ship but would like another option.

San Juan del Sur - Help, help!!!

La Serena (Coquimbo) - between "vicuna & ecqui valley" and "on our own"

Lima - not enough time to see the Nazca lines so I need another option

Quito - ?

Puerto Amadar - Is Panama itself worth a tour? Should I look for "panama hats"?

Believe it or not, I have booked several tours for other ports but have been somewhat stumped on these. A lot of people that I know have done the Rio to Santiago leg and have had feedback on those ports but from Santiago to San Fran is all new territory!

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated & passed on to the other people on my CC board

Thanks

Nancy

 

We too are in the same process. I suggest you go to the "roll call" threads for your particular cruise line and look to see if one has been set up for your date. If not you can still surf around any other date because the itins. will be the same and get info that way. I find the SA board is pretty quiet with info but I have had good luck with getting a ton of info off the roll call threads, as well I found a roll call for our sailing.

You may also want to start with your cruise line excursions, and see what tweeks your interest, because chances are they have the most popular excursions. Hope this helps.

[rollingstone]

I have been on the roll call boards for my cruises for almost a year. My fellow passengers seem to be as stumped as I am. The problem seems to be that the second leg of this trip is only offered once a year. This narrows the number of people that have had any experience booking tours at these ports. We seldom book tours through the ship but since we are dealing with some language issues, we will consider doing so in certain ports. Having been on an extended land trip to SA, I have found that it is sometimes difficult to find English speaking people even in the tourist areas and my Spanish is limited.

 

Please, any help on the ports that I have listed above will be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Thank you

Nancy

[woody14h]

We will be cruising SA in March & April. I really need some advice on some of the ports. (private guides, ship tours, on our own). There is a lot on some of the ports but very little on others.

Punta Arenas - The penguins will be gone by the time we are there. Has anyone done the horseback riding through portcompass? any other ideas?

Valparasio - Have been to Santiago so would like to avoid that. Any tours of Valparasio, Vina del Mar, & a vineyard? Found one with the ship but would like another option.

San Juan del Sur - Help, help!!!

La Serena (Coquimbo) - between "vicuna & ecqui valley" and "on our own"

Lima - not enough time to see the Nazca lines so I need another option

Quito - ?

Puerto Amadar - Is Panama itself worth a tour? Should I look for "panama hats"?

Believe it or not, I have booked several tours for other ports but have been somewhat stumped on these. A lot of people that I know have done the Rio to Santiago leg and have had feedback on those ports but from Santiago to San Fran is all new territory!

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated & passed on to the other people on my CC board

Thanks

Nancy

La Serena was easy as we got off ship and booked one of the tours by the gangway. Most are similar in pricing and scope. Don't fret La Serena, not a lot to see but great vistas etc.

Lima we booked a tour with Hotel San Antonioabad Hotel. They have a web site. http://www.hotelsanantonioabad.com Very reasonable price, great tour, met us on time and where designated. Guide was a school teacher. Toured central Lima incl. catacombs, pyramids in Lima and miraflores area. Highly recommend them.

Other areas we were not familiar with. Great trip though.

We did the Infinity in April. out of Valparaiso. Too tired from the red eye to see this city, many regrets now.

[greatam]

Valparaiso-rent a car and do a winery tour if you have at least 8 hours in port

 

Lima-City tour-Indian market, LarcoMar shopping center (great place for lunch, not shopping), Lima Tennis Club (another great lunch place along the beach)

 

Panama hats are NOT made in Panama. They are made in Montecristi Ecuador, which is the Manta Ecuador port stop.

 

The chances you are going to Quito are slim. Quito is 12,000 feet up in the mountains, NOT sea level.

 

Fuerte Amador Panama is the Panama Canal. You can take the train to see the locks. You can also take small boat tours to see the Canal.

[Addictedtwo]

We will be cruising SA in March & April. I really need some advice on some of the ports. (private guides, ship tours, on our own). There is a lot on some of the ports but very little on others.

Punta Arenas - The penguins will be gone by the time we are there. Has anyone done the horseback riding through portcompass? any other ideas?

Valparasio - Have been to Santiago so would like to avoid that. Any tours of Valparasio, Vina del Mar, & a vineyard? Found one with the ship but would like another option.

San Juan del Sur - Help, help!!!

La Serena (Coquimbo) - between "vicuna & ecqui valley" and "on our own"

Lima - not enough time to see the Nazca lines so I need another option

Quito - ?

Puerto Amadar - Is Panama itself worth a tour? Should I look for "panama hats"?

Believe it or not, I have booked several tours for other ports but have been somewhat stumped on these. A lot of people that I know have done the Rio to Santiago leg and have had feedback on those ports but from Santiago to San Fran is all new territory!

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated & passed on to the other people on my CC board

Thanks

Nancy

 

Ok go to the NCL roll call for Sept 4/2008 there is about 14 pages of info that you can get some tips from. Also look at other dates that have a large amount of posts.

I know it's time consuming but it will be worth it.

[rollingstone]

Woody,

The Lima tour sounds like what I was looking for. I have e-mailed them and am waiting for a response.

Thank you

Nancy

[coo359a2]

We were on the Golden Princess from Buenos to San Francisco in March 20007. For Lima, I booked with this company. What was nice is that at that time they had a 877 number (1 877 260 2370) so I could actually talk with them plus the emails. They tailored the tour to what we wanted to do and it was excellent.

 

http://www.peru-explorer.com/index.html

 

What we did is:

 

Price per personUS$78 (private service up to 8 people)

Price per person US$95 (private service up to 4 people)

 

 

PACHACAMAC RUINS

We will pick you up from the port at 8:30am aprox. Transportation to the Pachacamac Ruins, these ruins are located at 19.26 miles (31 km) of Lima, in the valley of Lurín. Pre-Inca and Inca archaeological construction.

Main pre-Inca adoration and ceremonial center of the inhabitants of the valley of Rímac in which the God Pachacámac was venerated.

The investigations presume that this place was inhabited since the year 200 up to 1533. From the pre-Inca constructions stand out the "Templo Pintado" (colored temple) and the "Templo Viejo" (old temple), built with small adobes and pyramids with ramps.

After the Inca conquest they built next to them the "Templo del Inti" (Temple of Sun) and an "acllahuasi" (house prepared for the chosen girls). The Temple of Inti has a flight of stairs made of stones and passages that go along the edge of the main structure, built with adobes. On him a great terrace exists with view to the sea, and is related with the islands in front of this group with an old legend.

Pachacámac was the God creator of life and of the universe and it was not personified. The state of conservation of this location and its restoration offer a great show of cultural historical interest. (Lunch at Mangos)

 

GOLD MUSEUM

After lunch, we will also visit the Peruvian Gold Museum, this excellent collection includes pre-Columbian gold, silver and bronze, ceramics, weavings, mummies, etc. Upstairs is a remarkable arms collections with an impressive exhibition from Spanish colonial times.

 

 

LIMA CITY TOUR

In the afternoon, Lima city tour. The city tour begins with a visit to the Plaza de Armas, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Running along two sides are arcades with shops: Portal de Escribanos and Portal de Botoneros.

In the center of the Plaza is a bronze fountain dating back to 1560. Located in the Plaza is the Cathedral, note the splendidly carved stalls, the silver covered altars surrounded by fine woodwork, mosaic covered walls bearing the coat of arms of Lima and Pizarro. Next to the Cathedral is the Archbishop's Palace. Then you'll visit the Monastery of San Francisco. This is famous for the Sivillian tilework and paneled ceiling in the cloisters, the catacombs under the church and part of the monastery are well worth seeing, You'll visit the old colonial streets in the center of the city, and the modern Lima with the district of San Isidro and Miraflores. At the end transfers back to the port.

[lawgirl]

Hello. Just back from 14 day SA cruise and mayu be able to help.

 

In Santiago we used About Chile (actually Chileabout.com) for a transfer/tour from Valpairso to Santiago. They picked us up at the port and gave a wonerful 8 hour tour of Valparaiso,

Vina Del Mar and two wineries. It was great. HIGHLY recommend. The next day they gave us a 4 hour tour of Santiago as well.

 

For Lima we did possibly THE BEST tour I have ever taken on any of our cruises. Go2peru (Monica Sisniegas ) arranged a day of tours which involved two different companies per our specific requests. The first company took us ona 4 hour excursion from Lima to Palomino Island to swim with sea lions. although the water was cold, there were literally thousands of sea lions inhabiting this tiny island and they all swam with you! You were literally among them. It was the most exhilerating thing to have them pop up a few feet from you and do tricks. We were in the water with them about 40 minutes. We will never forget it. We also saw penguins and tons of birds. The boat was very nice and the crew gave us pisco sours and snacks. Wet suits were provided as well for the swim. .

 

The second half of the day was with another company (arranged by Go2Peru) who did a short city tour with a fabulous lunch and shopping. I cannot rave enough about our tour - espoecially the sea lions -- this kind of thing is not offered by the ships and I can tell you that everyone on board was so envious that we found such a unique tour. Hope all who read consider this!!!! My expectations for this tour were high and I was not disappointed.

[barjolov]

If you want a good guide to take you around the casablanca valley on a wine tour from the valparaiso port or a transfer stroke winetour to santiago you should get in contact with winetoursvalparaiso

 

We had a tour with them in october and it was quality run by an English guy from London so the language is not a problem.

 

 

We just got back from our cruise to SA and I just would say that Michael from winetoursvalparaiso was the best ever. It was a great tour. I highly recommend him too.

[barjolov]

If you want a good guide to take you around the casablanca valley on a wine tour from the valparaiso port or a transfer stroke winetour to santiago you should get in contact with winetoursvalparaiso

 

We had a tour with them in october and it was quality run by an English guy from London so the language is not a problem.

 

Agreed - they were terrific.