Can you recommend any shore excursion in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay?

Question

My family are going to 14-day South America cruise by Celebrity. The Ports are: Valparaiso, Coquimbo, Puerto Montt in Chile; Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Madryn, and Buenos Aires in Argentina; Punta Del Este and Montevideo in Uruguay.

What do you think is a must-do excursion? Have you done any fishing in any of the lake area?

Answer 1

From Puerto Montt If there is a day trip to Chiloe island to see Palafitos (houses on stilts over water) and the numerous old churches it may be worthwhile.  But walking over to Angelmo (1/2 mile) passing the artisans and crafts to eat Curanto (seafood mussel stew) is a must

Answer 2

We will be doing a South America cruise on Royal Caribbean in about a month.  We looked at all of the tours and did not really see any that we felt were that exciting as must do's.  So we booked the most inexpensive city tours in most stops.

We booked with the cruise line because the one thing you know about ship's tours is the ship will never leave you if there is a  problem on the tour, and the cruise lines guarantee you a quality tour because they check out the tour operators.  If there is a problem then you can complain to the cruise line rather than trying to deal with a company in a foreign country.

You can probably get tours cheaper on the internet and/or on the pier, but I would not send them money in advance.  If the ship is delayed or changes its order of ports you will be sunk.  When the cruise lines changes the itinerary and you have booked a tour with them you get an automatic refund, no questions or hassles.