Silversea Air Question, why fly to Quito??

A little confused. I see that air is included in the Galapagos cruises. They stop in Quito for 2 night pre-cruise. Is there a reason for this? Not flying straight to Guayaquil??

I do not need the air part of the cruise. I would, obviously, get myself to the port of departure early. I'm sure I'm not the first that will be in the "area", and don't need the air.

Do they use Quito as a central "collection" spot for the Passengers to make sure they arrive 2 days before as insurance in case of delays?

Hmmm. It’s a bit more complex than it appears at face value.

Air is included with Silver Galapagos because it’s not the air to Ecuador that is complex, it’s the air to Baltra or wherever else the cruise departs from plus the transfers. If you go with Silversea air—such as their special from the US to Ecuador—it includes the transfers from either Quito or Guayaquil airport and back to the airport to get the flights to the Galapagos plus pre-cruise hotel and if applicable a day room on the return segment because most of the flights from Quito or Guayquil back to the US leave very late.

As mentioned, it’s a bit more complex than it appears.

And the flights from Quito to Guayaquil are semi-charters. If you miss that flight, you have missed the ship. There is no way to catch up with the ship if you miss it the first day.

I have done this trip twice. Most people want to see Quito. You really do need two nights in Quito because the flights the first night arrive very late. If you had one night, you’d probably arrive at midnight (if you arrive on time) and have a few hours sleep before getting up at 4am to head to the airport. If you have no interest in Quito you can go to Guayquil but you still need two nights.

The problem is really the flight schedules and that’s why you need two nights. And potential delays, so two nights are really necessary.

I see you are located in FL. What is your departure airport? Happy to answer any specific questions.

Yes, they do use Quito as a central collecting point for the charter flight to Baltra. it is not just Silversea that does this. Celebrity does as well. On our second trip, we actually did our own air from US to Quito and arrived a day later, in the late afternoon. There is an AA flight from Miami to Quito that arrives in the afternoon, or at least there was in 2016.

There were people on our cruise that did their own air all the way to Baltra though. So it is possible. Just not an option that Silverseas wants to advertise.

Even when we went using a local Ecuadorian TA and a 16 person catamaran the flights to the Galapagos were from Quito.

I would add that all flights to the Galapagos pass through Guayquil on the way to Baltra or San Cristobal. If you have issues with altitude, you can skip Quito and depart for the Galapagos from Guayaquil. But Quito is a UNESCO city so a lot of people want to see Quito as there’s more to see there than Guayaquil.

Thanks so much!

All excellent information from everybody. All of our cruises are "cruise-only" for various reasons. So, trying to logistically trying to figure out where we need to get to in order to board the ship (and if we had to go through Quito?) Knowing its not that easy to get to, we obviously would get to the port town, early, as we always do. And the flight times are kinda of wonky too, so we'll add that into the equation.

Thanks again to everyone who responded.