Sendero al catamaran hielos Patagonia — Local services in Torres del Paine

Of course it’s nice to ship on boat in Torres el Paine, the meaning of the assessment is to evaluate the boatdrive not the lake, the view, the weather, or how exiting it was to start the tour. For approx 25k (one way) I expect something else.

Both times they had a delay of around 30minutes and I can explain why. This delay has influence on the schedule and plans of hikers and also (on the way back) on the buses which bring you back to Puerto Natales. So everything afterwards also gets delayed just because the staff does not know or does not want to work in an efficient way. The payment of every single passenger causes the delay because they do it at the entrance of the boat with one person. On every other boat or ferry I know, the payment takes place during the drive. There would be plenty of time to do that and there is plenty of staff as well. They would not even have to increase staff, they just need to change the process. But like this customers stand outside around 30min waiting and freezing.

Furthermore for these 25k there is no seating guaranteed, so it could happen that you are standing 30 in the queue outside and afterwards additional 40min in the ferry boat.

In numbers …if you do a daily tour (not 0 or W) you spend 50k for this 1,5 hour transport.

1 star more because they brought me from A...

We took this boat from Pudeto to Paine Grande to hike the French Valley. This boat is the only realistic way to get to the trailheads for Glacier Grey and French Valley / British Lookout.

The boat itself is fine, albeit slightly delayed both ways we took it and quite overpriced. It’s a monopoly - which is a brilliant business model for them - so we didn’t expect a whole lot. Seating isn’t guaranteed and you pay at a station in the boat once you first board. The crew is solid and the views from the boat during the ~30 minute trip are nice. They let you on the top deck as well.

I’m posting the latest timetable and prices (cash only in CLP or USD) in hopes of helping demystifying this process for...

We checked the ferries online for our planned day hike, morning outbound and evening return were available. You can only make one booking at a time so we booked the outbound and attempted to book the return immediately after, only to find both return boats were sold out. We were therefore unable to do the journey and hike we wanted to for fear of not being able to get back. We have requested a refund but the company are non-responsive. They have a monopoly on the route and don't seem to provide a reliable service. Seems good enough for those doing the W hike who may be more flexible for a one way trip, but it seems almost impossible to reliably book...