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PortCompass is a company committed to total customer satisfaction, from the initial inquiry all the way to the tour and beyond. It is, therefore, very gratifying for us to receive praise from our many satisfied customers. We are pleased to share some of their thoughts with you. If you have taken one of our tours and would like to drop us a line, please email us at feedback@portcompass.com. We appreciate all comments and suggestions, from a brief note to a full-fledged port-by-port review. Thanks to all for choosing PortCompass for your shore excursion needs! CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALSWe just returned from a trip to South America combining a cruise and land tour. We used Port Compass for four of our excursions and could not be more pleased with the services we received. The guides were great, there was someone waiting as we came ashore, and we were returned to the ship at the agreed upon time. We toured the Tierra del Fuego in Ushuaia, Coyhaique and the Simpson Valley in Puerto Chacabuco, Petrohue Falls and The Chilean Lake District in Puerto Montt, and had a full day excursion after disembarkating with a wine tasting and tours of Valpariaso and Santiago. In each of these instances, we did the "grow a group" approach, and upon return from our trip, we found a refund check waiting because our numbers had warranted a lower price than we had originally paid. Our primary contact at Port Compass was David, and he was professional, efficient, and a pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend Port Compass to travelers who want quality tours but not the cruise ship pricing. Kathie and Bob Thank you for everything. We went on an extended vacation after our cruise, and just got back to Bombay. My wife and I had great time, and we are especially thankful to you and to Port Compass for organizing everything. It all worked perfectly. We were received by your representatives wherever we went, the sight seeing arrangements were perfect, and the hotels very satisfactory. When we booked through you, we were apprehensive because we weren't sure if it would work out as we had heard horror stories about internet bookings. But everything went off excellent. Thanks ,once again, and we will surely use your services, hopefully soon. Shree & Viju A. In B.A., we had a fabulous older woman as our guide (which is great for us: same generation)..please let your B.A. staff know we're just loving Catalina (she joined us for dinner/tango last night which was a delightful surprise!)..she is handling us throughout the whole stay with a driver...she is Jewish so will probably have a great sense of what to show us on Tuesday...her BA highlights tour on Saturday was unbelievable!!..we were ALL OVER this city!!..walked all the way up to the San Telmo area today where the street fairs and entertainers are...what a hoot!!...I would come back to this city for a week just to do museums, etc...much too much to see in a few days...thanks for everything...Terry Terry M. Thank you David, the day we spent in Buenos Aires was great. We had a sweet, knowledgable guide, and a very nice driver. The van was comfortable and held ALL of our luggage and us very comfortably. We enjoyed our day very much, felt safe, and relaxed. Would do it again in a heartbeat! Naomi Hi, David, We just arrived home from Iguazu Falls 2 days ago after over 24 hours of flying. My last 2 days of schedule has been occupied with work again, sleep and paying month-long overdue bills, but decided we really owe you a great, big thank you for arranging the most enjoying Estancia day for us. Visiting a Uruguay estancia was a new experience for all of us and a very pleasant one indeed. As the estancia day was not supposed to start until 10 am, and we were ashore bright and early at 7:30 am, the guide gave us a quick drive through tour of the city of Montevideo, then stopped at the beach for about an hour enroute to kill time. When we arrived the gate of Estancia Renacimiento, we were greeted by the gaucho family which consisted of the grandfather carrying his 2 year old grandson on horseback and 4 young men/women, two of them carrying Uruguayan flags also on horseback. They rode their horses, or rather canter in front of our bus and trotted all the way through the long driveway, leading us who were sitting in the bus in a slow 15 minute ride to the main meeting place. That was an interesting, friendly estancia welcome that gave us plenty of opportunity to take pictures of the gaucho entourage. On arrival, the owner promptly announced that there would be no horseback riding for security reasons. That was okay for most of us, but probably a little disappointing for a few who had experience riding and had wanted to ride a Criollo horse out on the pampas. The disappointment was made up, however, by a very entertaining zapateo song and dance with bombo drums and guitar by 6 or 8 performers. The dance troupe was contracted by the owner and gave a very good quality performance for more than half an hour. The owner personally gave us a ride in a carriage around his grounds pulled by his tractor, passing some small lakes and sheep, who explained to us that his farm had now transformed from cattle to soyabean production. He did, however, kept one cow for milking, with which all of us each gave a hand, and discovered that milking a cow was really not an easy task. The good old cow was very good natured, what with so many pairs of inexperienced hands squeezing her teats. Each couple was given a carriage ride for 2 minutes around the lawn, driven by the 9-year old grandson of gaucho. Then, Grandfather gaucho gave a demonstration of how to saddle the Argentinian horse. A younger ranch hand also showed us a very elaborate toy train set that was a replica of the historic train that transported products (coal and cattle) from Punta del Este to Montevideo, showing the train stations of both towns, complete with a recorded narration of the history of this means of transportation in the late 19th C., of course all translated into English by our guide. We all saw the serious, gigantic-sized brick-built open barbacue grill roasting huge chunks of steaks, beef ribs, chicken and sausages for our lunch. The lunch was accompanied by local wine, salad, home-made butter with rolls, ended with dessert and liquer. The lunch ended at 1:30 pm. We did some shopping of mate cups and boleadoras swings at the bar and left at 2 pm to return to the ship before 4. Some of our group thought the estancia day was the most interesting experience of the trip. It completes our 3 week tour! Thank you! Rachel B. We had a Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, and Santiago tour with Christian on Sunday, 2/15/09. It was amazing. Christian was very knowledgible. He was able to answer all of our questions in great detail and obviously loves his country and city. We ran into some traffic in Vina del Mar so he added on additional time to be sure we would see all the sights he had planned to show us. The tour was in depth, entertaining, personal, a good pace with no rushing (we take lots of photos). We couldn't have asked for a better experience. Patricia was our driver - she was a total joy, very caring. Even though we don't speak much Spanish, we were able to converse some with her and get to know her. A very delightful experience in every way. It was hugs all around when we were dropped off at the airport - tough to say goodbye. Raymond K. Hi Sue: We want to tell Port Compass how great your tours were. We went to Florence/Pisa,Rome and Naples. Your guides were excellent and knowledgeable. David in Florence/Pisa was wonderful and took us to places we would not have seen on a ship's tour. Marchello in Rome was so helpful and the driver in Naples helped us find the shopping we wanted. With your smaller cars we were able to ride in the small streets. We can't say enough good words to recommend your tours. Hope to use them again in the future. Thank you Eleanor O. Hi Sue, Just wanted to let you know that the group I booked with you for Santiago/Valparaiso on March 18 was thrilled with your company. My clients said things like "excellent", which was in dire contrast to their report on the cruise ship's tours :-( So I thought you'd like to know that they were very happy with their day tour and had many nice things to say about the driver guide and the tour. Please quote me and you can even put my contact info out there too, just in case someone wants to verify that the feedback comes from a travel professional. I've heard back from 6 of my 8 clients and they were very pleased with PortCompass, and very glad that they bypassed the ship excursion. Let me know if I can ever be of assistance with referrals for you. Judy Lowstuter [travel agency owner] Last week we took your tour from the ship Splendour of the Seas in Valparaiso to Santiago. The young man who was our tour guide was a most delightful and informative young man, and the driver also was excellent. The guide stood very prominently at the exit so we could not possibly miss him, so our transfer was the smoothest in all the cruises we have taken. We will certainly use your company again ,when we take future cruises and will highly recommend you to our friends. Thank you very much. Judith G.
Just to say that our trip to Rome went very well. Our driver took us to all the places we wanted to visit and conveniently waited outside for us. It certainly made it possible to visit the sights without tiring ourselves out too much. The car was comfortable and airconditioned. In all a very memorable day! Thanks very much for your help in arranging our trip. Sarah C. THANKS! THANKS! THANKS! for your superb program. We were a little skeptical when our dinner table mates told us about the excursions and the cost, BUT after the first tour we were sold on your services and cancelled the rest of our pre-booked tours and joined the PortCompass clan. Your guides were great and the equipment used was top of the line. You sure exceeded our expectations and made our cruise experience very rewarding. We will use your company for our next cruise. Frank and Lani F. Dear Sue: As I told you when we talked, I could not be happier with the service we received from Port Compass, and you in particular. I will recommend you to every one, anytime I have the opportunity. We will never again take a cruise without booking every one of our excursions with Port Compass before we leave home. I have never had a more positive experience with any company of any kind -- EVER! I don't know what more I could say. I want you to know I just posted these comments on two internet boards: "We sailed on the Royal's South America itinerary last month and booked all our shore excursions with Port Compass. I can not say enough good things about this company. Their excursions pretty much parallel cruise lines excursions, except they enhance them, are small groups with a very personalized experience, and all at a price far below cruise line prices. Sue, I hope you continue to see all the business you deserve. Tom and Sharon H. I just want to drop you a line and thank you. The 2 tours in BA you arranged were great. The Tango show was a real treat. The troupe was Las Vegas quality. Everything went without a hitch(well we missed the Tango bus - our fault) and all the people in BA were professional, accommodating and informative. Thanks again Lorne T. Hello, We just returned from a Buenos Aires to Valparaiso cruise and used PortCompass for five of our port tours. We can't say enough great things about your company and the tours. At every port the operator/guide was waiting for us ready to begin our day. I requested that we try to avoid the ship's buses, and they did everything possible to make sure this occurred! It was a pleasure to enjoy the same places that the ship offered at our own pace, staying as long or as short as WE wanted for a fraction of the cost! The fact that we were "alone" made it much more personalized. On most of our tours, we had around 30 people and each and every one of them RAVED about the great time they had. It always seems there is usually someone who may have a concern or complaint, however this was not the case with any PortCompass tours. All the operator's/guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. We will most definitely use PortCompass on future cruises and from comments made from our group, I can assure you they will also! As an added note...Sue was wonderful, very timely and SO helpful!! It was a pleasure working with her to coordinate the tours! Looking forward to many more PortCompass tours!! Tom and Joyce C. Just wanted to let you know how pleased we were with Portcompass at our stops at the ports of Rome and Florence. The drivers were professional, their English was good, the cars were clean and top notch and our schedules went as planned. I would definitely use Portcompass again. In fact, we will be on a RCCL trip later in the year and would be interested in booking Portcompass tours again. Harry M. To Sue - - I just wanted you to know how much we enjoyed our full day excursion in Ushuaia which you arranged for us. Diego was a great guide and Cali was a great driver and we had an outstanding day. Everything went flawlessly. I appreciate everything you did for us and I'm sure we will use Port Compass again in the future. Thanks again. To future Portcompass customers -- Port Compass had been spoken of highly on several of the cruise message boards so I approached Sue and threw out some ideas of what we might like to do. Our cruise to Antarctica was leaving from Ushuaia, Argentina, and we were flying in a day early. We had been in Ushuaia the previous year as a port stop, so we were looking to do something a little different this time. We also had an entire day to devote rather than just the few hours afforded to us the previous year. Sue made some suggestions while emphasizing that since we were creating a custom tour, a guide and driver would be at our disposal for the 10 hour day so we could make adjustments as we went along. On the appointed day, precisely on time, Diego our guide and Cali our driver picked us up at our hotel, and from there it was a wonderful day travelling along Route 3 to Estancia Harberton, where we took a small boat to Isla Martillo's penguin colony. Other stops included Lago Fagnano and Lago Escondido, where we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at a lodge called Hosteria Petrel. Throughout the day, Diego shared information about the area and included many stops that were fun and interesting, such as a dogsledding camp, peat bog, beaver dam, and many others. We learned a lot about Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego and there is SO much more to see and do there. I can recommend that you think of Port Compass not only for a conventional excursion, but I can also wholeheartedly recommend that you think of them for a custom one too! Laura U. My wife & I returned from our Caribbean cruise yesterday. Just wanted to give you some feedback with the 12/10 Nassau tour we had booked through PortCompass. As we walked of the gangplank from the Crystal Harmony 15 minutes early, there was the guide waiting for us with the appropriate sign. We found we were the only 2 on the tour. We were very pleased with "Whitey" (he had white hair) and it seemed he knew half the people in Nassau! He gave us a good overview of the island during the tour and offered us the option of staying on Paradise Island at the Atlantis resort or returning to the ship. We opted to stay at Atlantis, and he changed his route to show us the things we would have seen on the way back to the ship. In summary, we had a very positive experience using PortCompass for our shore excursion in Nassau. This was our first time with PortCompass, and we'll be looking to use you again (we cruise once or twice a year). Gary N. We're back from South America, and I want to thank you for your help in setting up the Otway Bay Penguin tour in Puerto Arenas and also the transfer to Santiago. Your help with arranging the motorized wheelchair for my husband was so appreciated. It really helped so much. Also the suggestion to go later in the day meant that we had the penguins to ourselves. We got there between the buses from the ship's tours. There were only a handful of people there when we were, and so many penguins. It was great! The tour guide on the Santiago tour, Maria, was wonderful. My husband was ill, and Maria was so helpful in getting us quickly to our hotel. I would not hesitate to recommend PortCompass to anyone. We were a little hesitant about using a "private tour company" but thanks to PortCompass, we are sold! Your personal attention meant so much, and you went way above and beyond. We've done a lot of traveling over the years but it is not so easy now at our ages. My husband is in his nineties and tells everyone that "this was our best trip ever!" Thanks for all you did to make it such a memorable trip! Karen H. The Lima tour was very good, but the Manta tour really blew us away. The bus was great and the guide was stupendous. In Manta we were supposed to have a boxed lunch on the beach as part of the tour. As it was a little rainy they decided to take us to a hotel for lunch instead. What a treat. It was a beautiful hotel (Mantaraya) and the three course lunch was great. Great food and service. After lunch, the manager offered to let us stay and enjoy their glorious pool. Not only that, but he offered us guest rooms to change and shower. We all had a great time. The only minor glitch was that they forgot to include a cooler on the bus for the beer and wine. This was not a big deal. When we got to the hotel the guide immediately iced the beer and wine and we were able to enjoy them with our lunch. The guide even stopped on the way back and bought us all cold beers. (We tipped him handsomely.) When we returned to our ship, panic struck. One of our party could not find his passport. Despite much searching it was not to be found. This was particularly frustrating as we were told the day before that a couple who had gone to Macchu Picchu had lost their passports and were forced to fly to the American Embassy in Quito to get replacements and lost three days of their cruise. Well, to make a long story short, the next morning the driver of the van found Rich's passport and returned it to the ship (it had fallen out of his bag onto the floor of the van). We couldn't believe how professional and courteous this was. Jim M.
Hi, Dave and Sue : I want to thank you so much for all that you both did to make our trip so wonderful. Everything went so well as I mentioned before to you. Our time in Buenos Aires at the end of the tour went equally as well. We had Alex as a guide and he was just the nicest man. I was so impressed with the gentleness of the Argentine people .... always so patient and kind. He took us for the full day tour with the other couple and we really felt we had seen the city after our day with Alex. The best thing was at the end of the day, we visited the Recolleta cemetery at closing time and then we went across the street to La Biela, an open air restaurant and just relaxed before it was time to take the others to the airport .... it was as if we were all old friends! Again ..... thank you for all of your time and knowledge ... you did so much to make our trip so very memorable. I have already recommended you to a friend and will do that whenever I can! I hope that we can also use your services again in the future. Susan M. Just want to tell how IMPRESSED I was with the tour group that met us at both Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. They were on time, very professional, very friendly and very knowledgeable. I am really happy that after all the emailing we did, everything turned out to be 'beyond my expectations'! I have recommended Port Compass to another friend of mine (who works in the building) and is doing the exact Caribbean route in a few weeks. I told her all about our trips and she is going to be booking with you as well! The snorkeling in Grand Cayman was a dream come true for me! I just could not imagine myself experiencing something so amazing....also I feel the charges for each excursion was good value to us. Once again I want to THANK YOU immensely for a job well done. I had to email you back today...I was so excited about our entire trip and how well everything worked out to be. Thanks again and I would definitely book our next cruise excursion with you for SURE...Take care. Jenette A. We just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our tour to Berlin with Tomas in June. We arrived in Warnemunde on the Norwegian Dream and Tomas was there to meet us. He took us to Berlin where we had the most amazing day experiencing the fascinating mix that is the city...the old and new, the past and the future. The itinerary was just what we wanted to see. The Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Holocost memorial among other sights. We must give our praise to Tomas who was knowledgeable, sweet and funny and who so generously shared himself with us..giving us insights to the impact of reunification and the wonders and challenges facing Berlin and Germany today. He is a real asset to your company and we hope you will share this note with him. He was just as exciting as the places he took us to. It was a really wonderful experience. Serena K. We wanted to particularly commend our tour guided Ernesto who met us at the Santiago Airport and provided an excellent tour of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. About 2 Hours after the pickup, while in Valparaiso, one member of our party discovered that she had misplaced a bag during the exit screening process at the airport. Ernesto immediately located a Celebrity representative at the airport, the bag was found, and identified. The bag was sent to the ship and its owner's stateroom before departure that evening. This hand luggage bag contained many items of value and its loss would have ruined the trip for the owner. Our sincere thanks to Ernesto for service above and beyond. Len L. Dear Sue, Thank you for ALL your help, especially in the last minute scramble, as well as your professionalism! Sadly enough, I was unable to go on the first excursion, came down with the flu!!! My husband went on and met the drivers. He said it went fantastically! I did all the other excursions, and was very impressed! I will never travel in a big bus again! All the drivers were great, we only had trouble wrestling the microphone from my husband! They were all on time, and professional, we were all good friends by the end of the trip! Everyone in my party thanked me over and over for arranging a much better way of seeing the sights. In Rome we bought wines/cheeses/breads/meats for happy hour on the way home! It's the only way to go, and I'll let all my clients know of this fine service! Mia A. [travel agency owner] Dear Sue: Thanks for your efforts regarding our lost bag. We wanted to let you know what a fabulous time we had on our Berlin tour and it was mostly due to Daniel - he was wonderful! Very personable and knowledgeable and gave us some great perspectives. You're blessed to have him on your team. We've already recommended your company to several friends and also travelers we met on this past trip. We'd use you again in a heartbeat. Thanks again. Christina and Kenneth C.
We recently returned from our South America trip, and I wanted to give you some feedback on how things worked. In a word...beautifully! We had our vouchers, and at each place where we expected to be met, the person was waiting for us. All the transfers went smoothly and the tour guides were good. When we left Buenos Aires for Iguazu, the driver transferred our bags to the Dazzler Hotel (for storage) before taking us to the local airport. We had plently of time and encountered no difficulty anywhere. The weight limit for carry-on bags to Iguazu was supposed to be 4 kilos, but no one weighed anybody's carry-on luggage. One thing that had concerned me was that I (accidentally) gave my Iguazu voucher to the girl who met us in Buenos Aires. At the Buenos Aires airport, I called your emergency contact person and she assured me that it wasn't a problem and sent a replacement copy which was handed to me when we arrived at the Iguazu airport. It was nice to have someone to call. Thanks again. I would recommend you to anyone traveling this area in the future. Pat H.
I just wanted to let you and your owners know how pleased my wife and I were with the Valparaiso Santiago tour. The experience with you was positive right from the start. It was a wonderful day, that I could recommend to anyone traveling that part of the world. What made it was the outstanding driver and guide. Carlos is one the most sane drivers I've ecountered south of our border...and that's a rarity. He also is very good at keeping an eye on our things, parking in impossible conditions and backing a trailer in tight streets. Beside that he was a very pleasant man. Then there is Patrick. What I can say about him would easily fill this page and I don't want to embarrass him. He is a wise man beyond his 23 years. Not only did he take personal responsibility for informing us, but he was honest enough to say 'I don't know,' when he didn't. He was very serious about safety and I always felt secure with him. I must say one more thing about him. A very awkward and potentially dangerous event occurred while in traffic and he masterfully handled it. He also loves Chile a great deal and I would think Chile should be lucky to have such representatives...even if they are from New York! Patrick, I believe I detected a Chilean accent. Good job, man! Please feel free to use my comments on your site. The ease in which we booked, and the rest of the experience was quite memorable due to your competent staff. Ron F.
Just a brief note to thank you for a fantastic all-day tour in Buenos Aires on Sunday, Jan. 22nd. Our tour guide, Laura, provided a private tour for my family of 4, and gave us an outstanding experience. She is knowledgable, friendly, and extremely kind and helpful. We had an absolutely wonderful day with Laura. It was also great having an excellent driver, Alejandro, who took us around the city and kept an eye on our luggage while we were taking the train, the river cruise, shopping, and sightseeing. We'll be visiting Rio next year, and will certainly be back in touch with you to plan our visit. Dr. Richard H. Dear Sue, I'm sorry it took me this long to thank you for arranging our tours. I was exhausted after the trip! I did not join the tour at both Athens and Amalfi. My clients who joined Amalfi were raving how nice the Mercedes van was and they loved the driver/guide. They told me that he was so good. I was also told that the Athens tour guide was very knowledgeable and precise. They liked her too. As always, Nellie Q [travel agency owner] I just wanted to follow up with you on the two tours that we booked through PC. The driver Ruben and guide Mariano in Puerto Madryn were great. Mariano was very friendly and answered all our questions. The seals and sea lions were very hard to find the day we were there, but Ruben did not give up until he found them. Our horseback ride in Ushuaia was excellent, as was the guide and we had a fantastic time. We will definately recommend PC and book with you in the future. Jean Van H. My husband and I just returned from a trip to South America, and when we docked in Valpariso, we were met by a lovely tour guide, a young lady named Amalie. She was a delight to be with, and very informative. She showed us all the sights from Valpariso to Santiago, spent 10 hours with us, and made sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. She even helped us bargain for some items we wanted to purchase. She was English/German, but fluent in Spanish as well. I would highly recommend your tour company. Alan and Susan M. |
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