Galapgos Islands - Cruise Advice

[amandajholden]

I'd like to plan a Galapagos Island cruise in spring 2013 and am looking for some direction on where to start. Particularly pro's and con's of various ships, sizes, itineraries.

 

Has anyone seen any boards or threads that have this kind of discussion started already?

 

Thank you

[Colorado Kat]

Could you look in the Port of Call threads? Read a bit, and see what people say. See what ships they discuss, and then research those ships.

 

I envy you!

[eh2zed]

You might do a Search on the South America board and also on TripAdvisor.

[Essiesmom]

The Galapagos limit the number and size of ships calling there, so your choices are going to be limited. A travel agent is a good place to start. EM

[Keith1010]

I'd like to plan a Galapagos Island cruise in spring 2013 and am looking for some direction on where to start. Particularly pro's and con's of various ships, sizes, itineraries.

 

Has anyone seen any boards or threads that have this kind of discussion started already?

 

Thank you

 

One of the ships to look at that is part of Celebrity Cruise lines is the Celebrity Xpedition. You can visit the Celebrity Cruise line internet site at http://www.celebritycruises.com to look over its itinerary. You'll see that some of the 2013 voyages are posted.

 

Keith

[bbwex]

I had the same problem when we started to set up our trip for next June. There are lots and lots of small boats, and the question was where to start. I found the site http://www.galapagosislands.com, which had links to various sizes and qualities of boats. In our case, we decided to sail on the Athala which is a catamaran, but there are lots of choices, and the site mentioned gives you links to information about each of them.

 

We use a very good cruise TA, but she has had very limited numbers of people who have gone to the Galapagos, so I felt much more comfortable doing a good bit of the research first. I liked the very small group -- 16 people (8 cabins). You will have choices though -- some bigger, a few even smaller.

 

We did find that the smaller boats work through one or more booking companies, and our TA worked out all the details easily.

 

There was surprisingly little information, unfortunately, on CC. I had asked a couple of different times if anyone had been on one or the other of the boats I had in mind, and never got any responses. You won't find much in the South America section either!

 

Unfortunately, the best I can say is that I will post a lot of information when I return, but that is in June, 2012.

[wwcruisers]

If you go to the Celebrity roll-call board, and click on "Xpedition", you'll see a sticky at the top of that page that goes something like: "Xpedition, anyone just back?" There's a lot of info on X's Galapagos cruises, there! :cool:

[SadieN]

Throwing this out--

DD did a land trip to the Galapagos & the cloud forest of Ecuador.

The group was Ecology Project International.

[MJC]

Celebrity Xpedition and Lindblad/Nat Geo Explorer are the biggest that cruise the G at 99 passengers. My impression is that the X is the most cruise-like experience you will get down there.

 

We did the Nat Geo Islander at 48 passengers. Definitely not a luxury trip but more a nature expedition. That was what we were looking for and we loved it. Enough people to provide variety but not enough to have any strangers at the end of the week.

 

Then there the many, many smaller ships that, as a previous poster said, you can read about on Trip Advisor.

 

You can also stay on Santa Cruz and take day boats to the various islands. The drawback to that is that you will spend a significant portion of your day getting to and returning from the site.

 

One thing to consider too is what language will be primarily spoken on your chosen vessel.

 

The Park Service has very strict guidelines and schedules for visiting the sites, so that will not vary from ship to ship very much. My suggestion is to read up and first choose what kind of experience you hope to have, and then choose a ship. Do you like roughing it? Do you want the plush terrycloth robe? Are you a picky eater who wants things from home? Would you rather try some of the local cuisine? Stuff like that.

[Love.II.Cruise]

There is some great advice here. We hope to do one of these cruises in the future. I had no idea there were catamaran cruises. Thanks for the info!

[amandajholden]

Thank you everyone for the input. Much appreciated and I will keep digging.

[CSloan]

We did a Galapagos cruise with Celebrity a few years ago. It started with a precruise in Quito.

 

Very soon after we boarded the ship on day one of the cruise, we were off on our first excursion (all excursions were included, as was all non-premium alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as gratuities).

 

When we got back to the ship after the first excursion that first day, I said "if we were to go home right now, this trip would already have been worth every penny!". It really was the most fabulous experience. Each excursion is guided by a professional guide, per the National Park Service.

 

Here's a link to my pics, if you want to take a look.

[amandajholden]

We did a Galapagos cruise with Celebrity a few years ago. It started with a precruise in Quito.

 

Very soon after we boarded the ship on day one of the cruise, we were off on our first excursion (all excursions were included, as was all non-premium alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as gratuities).

 

When we got back to the ship after the first excursion that first day, I said "if we were to go home right now, this trip would already have been worth every penny!". It really was the most fabulous experience. Each excursion is guided by a professional guide, per the National Park Service.

 

Here's a link to my pics, if you want to take a look.

 

Really enjoyed looking at your pictures, thank you!

[worldtraveller99]

We booked directly with Metropolitan Touring, who own the excellent Isabela II ship. This holds up to 40 people (there were only 24 on our week in May this year).

 

They are in Quito, but took the booking by email - we did not have any problems at all, and it was a lot cheaper than booking through a travel agent in England.

[SheilaNC]

As you can tell, most people love going to the Galapagos no matter which ship they choose. We, also, did the Celebrity Xpedition and loved every moment...it was a life changing experience. Suggest you follow the previous advice to go to Roll Calls and read a variety of messages posted by those who have done this trip and read, read, read the Galapagos info online. There are so many wonderful ideas and so much info...re: time of year, size of boat and length of trip, clothing, weather, experiences offered, etc. AND, believe me....everyone who does this trip loves talking about it. Went in 2005 and would go back in a heartbeat IF there weren't so many places still on my bucket list :) Enjoy your search for info

[ShipsandDipper]

We were on a 16-person sailboat (only 14 passengers on that sailing). It was wonderful when they put the sails up! I really enjoyed having such a small group, but others might want the more traditional cruise experience. One group from a larger ship we ran across mentioned dressing for dinner; one of the other folks from our ship said something like, "you mean putting shoes on?":)

[dpump]

Been there, done that. Trip of a lifetime. Check out Nat'l Geographic ships/itinerary's.

[sparks247]

I'd like to plan a Galapagos Island cruise in spring 2013 and am looking for some direction on where to start. Particularly pro's and con's of various ships, sizes, itineraries.

 

Has anyone seen any boards or threads that have this kind of discussion started already?

 

Thank you

 

We sailed with Ecoventura on the Eric (20 pass), www.ecoventura.com and booked direct with their Miami office, did the Machu Picchu extension too.

Just bear in mind that the larger vessels are not allowed to visit some of the smaller interesting islands due to the size of the groups on board.

As others said Galapagos/Machu Picchu is the trip of a lifetime.

 

Enjoy!

[onespots]

I'd like to plan a Galapagos Island cruise in spring 2013 and am looking for some direction on where to start. Particularly pro's and con's of various ships, sizes, itineraries.

 

Has anyone seen any boards or threads that have this kind of discussion started already?

 

Thank you

 

 

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH. JUST RETURNED FROM A 21 DAY TRIP DISCOVERING PERU & ECUADOR. THE LAST 5 DAYS WERE ON A SMALL BOAT ( 16 ) PASSENGER TO VARIOUS ISLANDS. GREAT TRIP, NICE FELLOW PASSENGER, & AN EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME.

 

OUR DAYS WERE VERY ACTIVE, WITH AN EXCEPTIONAL GUIDE WHO CARED ABOUT OUR INTERESTS, KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT ALL ISLANDS WERE VISITED, & POINTED OUT THINGS OF INTEREST WE WOULD HAVE NEVER SEEN OR UNDERSTOOD. WE LIKED THE SMALL BOAT EXPERIENCE. WE HAD A GREAT CREW FRIENDLY & HELPFUL, NICE CABINS WITH EXCELLENT HOUSE KEEPING, BETTER FOOD THAN MOST MDR ON OTHER LARGE CRUISE SHIPS. AFTER DINNER MOST PASSENGERS WERE VERY TIRED WITH DAILY ACTIVITIES & HEADED TO BED BY 9PM.

 

2 MAJOR ADVANTAGES OF SMALL BOAT FOR US ( BOAT WAS 100 FEET IN LENGTH )

ABLE TO GO TO SMALLER VERY INTERESTING ISLANDS

TIME TO LOAD ON & OFF THE PANGAS MUCH SHORTER. SMALL VESSEL COULD ANCHOR CLOSER TO THE ISLAND & ONLY 8 PEOPLE EACH IN THE

LAND CRAFTS. ALSO THIS ALLOWED FOR GREAT PICTURE TAKING FROM THE PANGA,AS WE WERE VERY CLOSE TO THE WILDLIFE FROM THE WATER.

 

CHOOSE CAREFULLY THE TYPE OF VESSEL & SERVICE YOU REQUIRE. WE ENJOYED GOOD WEATHER & CALM SEAS. ALL LANDINGS WET OR DRY WERE EASY. IF YOU WANT MORE DEATAILED INFO YOU CAN EMAIL ME.

 

BEST WISHES, JOHN

 

sfaigle@aol.com