Beware Of Colonia Express

[DontMindMe]

Of course I've been lucky with Colonia Express. That was kind of the point of my post. It comes down to luck here a lot of the time, as you well know. The way you handled your experience indicated to me that you must be new in town. No offense.

My boyfriend and I have had a case with LAN for a year and a half. Neither of us are holding our breath. If this situation with Colonia was spectacularly bad for you and you've been in Buenos Aires for 10 years, consider yourself... lucky.

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Of course I've been lucky with Colonia Express. That was kind of the point of my post. It comes down to luck here a lot of the time, as you well know. The way you handled your experience indicated to me that you must be new in town. No offense.

My boyfriend and I have had a case with LAN for a year and a half. Neither of us are holding our breath. If this situation with Colonia was spectacularly bad for you and you've been in Buenos Aires for 10 years, consider yourself... lucky.

You really don't get the point, but that's all right. Perhaps others will.

 

[allcraz]

Will just add that I've used Colonia Express twice without any problems. We were actually quite pleased. And just to be annoying, I'll say that I smiled a bit at the comment the woman threw at you about taking the bus. I think I would have said something quite similar in her situation. It's not her problem you chose to go back and forth and back and forth in taxis. I do agree that they should have rebooked the ticket no questions asked, and I'm glad they did in the end.

 

[Rich One]

The Fog is to blame, maybe that day BQB also had problems. With that said I would never take Colonia Xpress even at half price. The small lancha scares me...!!

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Look.

I'm glad that many of you had good experiences with Colonia Express.

I posted this message as a warning to people about what can happen to you when things don't go as planned. We were treated very badly, lied to, and given incomplete and incorrect information, not once, but many times during the course of one day. It was very shabby treatment, even by "bad" Argentina standards.

I've been here a long time and dealt with a lot of bad treatment. Enough to write a book. I don't need to be told how things work here, or what I should or shouldn't have done. That's not why I wrote this post. My wife was already in school here before the dictatorship. I don't need to tell you her opinion on the advice given on how to manage in Argentina.

@allcraz: You're right. I could have just sat in that lousy terminal for 5 or 6 hours and wasted the day until maybe I got things sorted out. If that sounds like it would have been a more satisfactory option to you, that's good for you. I guess you're very tolerant of very bad service. With the time frames involved, the bus would have been impossible in any case. Either way, the service was abysmal by any standard, even that of Argentina.

@Rich One: It wasn't just the fog. Read my post again, re: the experiences of other passengers who had traveled in the days just prior to the fog. Read nikad's link (I wish I had). Do a Google search about problems with Colonia Express. Again, I wish I had.

I didn't do enough research before booking with Colonia Express. That was a mistake. They have a terrible reputation in any weather. I posted this in the hope of saving someone else from making the same mistake.

Again, I'm happy so many people have had good experiences with them, but it's when things don't go right that you really see what kind of company you're dealing with.

@DontMindMe: I don't think there's anything lucky about dealing with a bad company, other than being lucky that you didn't have a serious problem. Why take the chance after you know what's possible?

It surely wasn't worth saving a few pesos and having a docking point a bit closer to home.

 

[Page8383]

My girlfriend and I used Colonia Express over the long weekend, 2 weeks ago.
They were ordinary at best. Going was OK, but coming back took an eternity. We got their bus from Monetvideo to Colonia, which left 2 hours after it was scheduled (apparently this is normal for Sundays, but CE failed to tell us and even had the incorrect time printed on the ticket). So we sat around the bus terminal for a while.
Then the boat from Colonia was rescheduled, then it was delayed ... then it was delayed again.
The lack of communication was the most frustrating thing.
We got home at 1:15am Monday morning after the long weekend.
I was not impressed and wont be using them again.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I have taken both Colonia Express and Buquebus. I can't complain about Colonia Express, but Buquebus clearly has better boats and other infrastructure, including the Puerto Madero terminal (far better access from my Palermo apartment as well).

 

[Rich One]

2006 BQB collided with a fishing boat, 700 tourists stranded...!! the huge gap was fortunately above the water line....! otherwise.

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/774140-buquebus-reprogramo-sus-salidas-por-el-choque-de-un-ferry-con-un-pesquero