Galapagos experience

Just came back from the Western route and want to share some of our experience:

1. Transfer - if you arrive in Quito the transfer is excellent, they met us at the airport (only 2 of us) and took us to the hotel and explained everything. If you are staying more than one night at the Marriott and want to go out for dinner, you may want to use the private taxi contracted with the hotel, cheap and safe, you can also call for a pickup from the same company. Oh, and do not miss Zazu, really good and reasonable.

2. If you have never been to Quito, you may want to consider arriving early and spend at least couple of days in Quito, a day trip to Mindo is nice in addition to Quito old town and the equator. Actually, if we have to do it all over again, we would arrive a lot earlier and do the Amazon or more birding ventures.

3. Not sure how effective insect repellent is, but the StingEze as recommended on Silveursea’s website is effective after the bites, we bought it from our local drugstore. We got lots of bites on two islands, especially the one that has the flamingos.

4. Trekking pole, useful if you have them. There is really only one hike that we need them and we probably could do without them.

5. Sun hat, must have, make sure you have the big floppy rim with chin strap. For that matter, bring lots of sunscreen too.

6. Sun shirt, I think you would need at least 4 or 5, unless you plan to have them laundered on the ship. Get the quick drying ones, they should dry within a day or two. The problem is not sweat, we got sprayed quite a bit in the Zodiac and we do not like to reuse salty clothes.

7. Hiking pants, I think you would need at least 2 to 3 pairs, again, they can get dirty and salty from the spray and wet landings.

8. Shoes, even dry landings could turn into wet landings depending on tides, we have Teva’s and found them not at all that useful, instead, I think it may be better to wear flip flops or crocs and carry water shoes or hiking shoes so you can change when you are on dry land. We collected enough sands from wet landings on beaches in our Teva’s that we can package them for sale on eBay.

9. Rain jacket, take a light weight Gore-tex windbreaker if you can, though it rained only couple of times when we were onshore, but if you have a DSLR it would help shelter it from the rain when you are not taking pictures.

10. Rash guard, if you plan to snorkel, it would be nice to have at least 2 so you can alter them when one is drying.

11. The Grill, food there is better if you like seafood since they always have grilled something from the ocean. For lunch, even though lunch hour starts at 12:00 noon, we found that most tables would be taken by 11:45am, so get there early if you want to have lunch there. You need reservation for dinner, but make it as early as you can - around 7:30pm, the reason is that you never know if it would rain and only a few tables are protected from the rain. It is nice to have the lava rock grill by yourself as it is cooked as you need it so food is hot and fresh.

12. Wine in general is good as far as free wine goes, so you need to have the proper expectation. Strange that they chill red wine as well, so you need to ask for non-chilled red wine if you want them served room temperature.

Thanks for the detailed information.

extremely helpful for those of us contemplating this trip in the future. Appreciate your taking the time to give back!

This is exactly the type of detailed information that is soooooo appreciated.

Good work !!! and thank you !!

Good info. We were on xpedition a few years back, but are going again with Silversea next year. Do you happen to remember the wines served? I am sure they are all South American, which is fine, as long as they are drinkable.

Thank you for your sharing you experience about this wonderful adventure.

You posted:

"3. Not sure how effective insect repellent is, but the StingEze as recommended on Silveursea’s website is effective after the bites, we bought it from our local drugstore. We got lots of bites on two islands, especially the one that has the flamingos."

Like you we experienced biting flies. I was the only person not to be bitten. I used Avon Skin- So Soft Bug Guard Plus- Very Water resistant Insect repellent with SPF 30 Contains Vitamin E.

I plan on bringing it on our next adventure to the Artic. I have heard that the bugs in Greenland can be aggressive.

Good info. We were on xpedition a few years back, but are going again with Silversea next year. Do you happen to remember the wines served? I am sure they are all South American, which is fine, as long as they are drinkable.

I only drink red wine so I can only comment on that, they served maybe 6 different reds, mostly from Chile and Argentina though there was one Merlot from Ecuador, I actually regret not trying that as our guide in Quito told us that Ecuador wine though not well know is better than other South American varieties. Anyway, I think they were Malbec, Syrah, Merlot and one Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec from Chile. I drank mostly Cabernet while onboard, it was not bad and drank like a 20.00 wine, quite good as far as free wine goes. On one of the days they actually had a wine tasting thing but I did not attend, the tasting seemed to consist of all the wines served on the ship.

Thank you for your sharing you experience about this wonderful adventure.

 

You posted:

 

"3. Not sure how effective insect repellent is, but the StingEze as recommended on Silveursea’s website is effective after the bites, we bought it from our local drugstore. We got lots of bites on two islands, especially the one that has the flamingos."

 

Like you we experienced biting flies. I was the only person not to be bitten. I used Avon Skin- So Soft Bug Guard Plus- Very Water resistant Insect repellent with SPF 30 Contains Vitamin E.

 

I plan on bringing it on our next adventure to the Artic. I have heard that the bugs in Greenland can be aggressive.

Thanks for the info, we brought insect repellent but kept forgetting putting it on by the time we finished coating ourselves with lotion and sunscreen. I noticed one thing and told my wife that too, I used Clinique sunscreen on my face and neck and I did not get a single bite in those areas, so maybe the mosquitos did not like that?

If there is a mosquito within 20 miles, it will bite me. That said, I did not have any bites on our previous trip, so maybe the mosquito issue varies depending on time of year?

If there is a mosquito within 20 miles, it will bite me. That said, I did not have any bites on our previous trip, so maybe the mosquito issue varies depending on time of year?

Rachel, the mosquitos were all vacationing in Greenland while you were visiting! :D

rayho94066, nice to read about Silver Galapagos. We too (like RachelG) have visited previously on Celebrity Xpedition, but unlike her, we don't have a repeat trip booked yet...

I've been looking all over cruise critic for some information on Silver Galapagos. I am taking my grandchildren leaving Dec 19 - 26th 2015.

Thank you for sharing!

Thanks so much for the nice review. We are planning on going either in 2016 or 2017. Spinnaker and Rachel == when are you going?

We are on November 5-12 2016. Would really love for you to join us. Galapagos are fantastic.

Emtbsam, we haven't looked at anything definite.

We keep hoping Antarctic will open for us. We are waitlisted and have been since last March.

Maybe Galapagos is something to look at onboard in November?

As far as bug repellant I have used lemon eucalyptus Repel. It's a natural product, I spent a lot of time researching it.

the bugs in the arctic and Yellowstone hated it.

and silly looking as they are, head nets are so wonderful.

Some have uv protection and repellant in them.

We are on November 5-12 2016. Would really love for you to join us. Galapagos are fantastic.

We are considering doing back to back cruises since it is a lot of travel for such a short cruise. Have you done both itineraries before? Do you recommend November as the best time of year to go? What type of cabin do you recommend? Since we will have a free week to us, we have some flexibility in choice of cabin.

Hope to see you then.

I would definitely do the back to back if I could afford more time off work. When we went before, we were on celebrity xpedition, so our itinerary was not exactly the same as the silversea ones. I think both itineraries sound interesting. And on xpedition, we did not have a cabin with a balcony. There were very few that had balconies. Our youngest son was with us, and our cabin was pretty small and dark, with a fold down from the wall bed which I slept in since I was the smallest of us three. We just didn't spend much time in the cabin.

On the upcoming trip, we have one of the terrace cabins. There are only two, and the other one is taken as well. These have a huge balcony which is not private, but according to everyone I have asked, hardly any one other than those in the terrace cabins ever goes out there, so these 2 cabins are the big bargain on the ship.

We went previously in the summer, but since the Galapagos are really near the equator, I don't think it really matters what time of year you go.

Also meant to add, I really do hope you and Bob sign up for the trip. George and Bob can have fun with rangers yelling at them to behave and stay on the trail.

Also do recommend at least a day or two in Quito if you have not been there before. It is an interesting place. We got caught up in a big political rally downtown when we were there. Also got the required standing of both sides of the equator pix.