Is it worth doing with Holland America Galapagos and Iguazu Falls

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I am in the planning stage of a Holland America cruise, Grand South America They have 2 Excursions I need advise on Galapagos Islands Overland Adventure 5days/4 nights, and Iguazu Falls Overland Adventure 2 days/1 night . Has any one here don them ?? THANKS Marty

[Floridiana]

The Galpagos have restrictions on the number of visitors. You may have to take HAL's excursion to stay in the desired time frame. We decided to book a separate cruise for the Galapagos.

 

If your cruise starts or ends in Buenos Aires, doing your own excursion to the Iguazu Falls beforehand or afterwards is a lot less expensive. We did it on our own last year. Some people fly in from Rio de Janeiro.

[loum140]

 

If your cruise starts or ends in Buenos Aires, doing your own excursion to the Iguazu Falls beforehand or afterwards is a lot less expensive. We did it on our own last year. Some people fly in from Rio de Janeiro.

 

What tour company did you use for Iguazu Falls?

Edited February 18, 2014 by loum140

[Cruzin Terri]

You do not need a tour company for Iguazu Falls. It is easy to book your own plane on LAN airlines or through the American Airlines website. We actually stayed at the Sheraton in the National Park, which is the same as the one HAL uses, for half the price HAL charges. I made my own reservations and then emailed them to have a driver meet us at the airport. Also had them arrange a driver to take us to the Brazil side.

We stayed two nights and did the whole thing on our own. No one led us around. Made our own schedule, followed the map they provided and it was great and very easy.

Terri

[Cruzin Terri]

I am in the planning stage of a Holland America cruise' date=' Grand South America They have 2 Excursions I need advise on Galapagos Islands Overland Adventure 5days/4 nights, and Iguazu Falls Overland Adventure 2 days/1 night . Has any one here don them ?? THANKS Marty[/quote']

 

We are thinking about the Galapagos also and are also on the Grand South America but only to Buenos Aires. We have contacted Abercrombie and Kent for a quote to the Galapagos. We have no desire to go to Quito as HAL does on their Galapagos tour. They spend two days in Quito first and then only one night in the Galapagos. If you wish I will be happy to send you the preliminary itinerary that A&K has presented to me. They have not yet given me a quote. Just click on my email. Also think about joining the roll call.

Terri

[greatam]

I am in the planning stage of a Holland America cruise' date=' Grand South America They have 2 Excursions I need advise on Galapagos Islands Overland Adventure 5days/4 nights, and Iguazu Falls Overland Adventure 2 days/1 night . Has any one here don them ?? THANKS Marty[/quote']

 

Take everyone's advice and do Iguazu on your own. Very easy and a darn sight cheaper than the cruise line or a tour company's price.

 

For the Galapagos-decide whether you want a "BIG SHIP" experience or one of the smaller ships that go to more islands (the smaller islands have more interesting animals IMHO) and are much more intense.

 

As Floridiana posted, there are restrictions on how many people can be on various islands at the same time. And do you really want to go to Quito? Are you trying to do this while you are on the cruise or is this pre/post cruise stuff?

 

There are probably at least 50 ships/boats sailing in the Galapagos. Everything from true live aboard dive boats to tall ship sail boats and lots of catamarans in between. Here's a list of just about every boat that cruises the Galapagos. http://www.galapagosislands.com/galapagos-cruise.html You can see-the amount of boats/ships is vast and vastly different experiences. My brother and his buddies have done the Dancer dive boats 3 times. I have done both a yacht and a sail boat. I LOVED the sail boat because it was so quiet and we anchored off little seen islands. Any of the boats will put the entire package together for you OR you can book the boat/ship you prefer and make your own airline arrangements. Just make sure you fly into the correct airport for your ship (there are two airports in the Galapagos) and flying from Guayaquil is faster/easier than flying from Quito.

 

You have a lot of research to do unless you are trying to do these excursions in the middle of a cruise. Then you may be STUCK to the cruise line's options just due to logistics.

[Cruzin Terri]

The package that A&K is putting together for us will fly us out of Guayaquil. The problem is the ship will not dock in Guayaquil so this will involve a 3 1/2 drive from Manta and an overnight. Flight next day. We are then staying three nights with daily boat trips.

Greatam, I would really like to run this itinerary past you once we have the full program if you don't mind. I am waiting for A&K to email that to me.

Terri

[greatam]

The package that A&K is putting together for us will fly us out of Guayaquil. The problem is the ship will not dock in Guayaquil so this will involve a 3 1/2 drive from Manta and an overnight. Flight next day. We are then staying three nights with daily boat trips.

Greatam, I would really like to run this itinerary past you once we have the full program if you don't mind. I am waiting for A&K to email that to me.

Terri

 

I'll be glad to take a look.

 

But I am curious what you mean about "daily boat trips". Are you staying in one of the hotels in the Galapagos and then doing day trips??? I can't say I personally would like that-shuttling back and forth on a daily basis to a hotel. But that may be your cup of tea. But to me, being out there among the animals 24/7 on the water is a very peaceful trip, particularly in the sail boat.

 

I have arranged transport myself from Guayaquil to Manta and return. NOT particularly hard-you just need to make arrangements with a GOOD hotel in Guayaquil. I am sure that is much cheaper than letting A & K make the arrangements.

 

I am not a cheapskate when I travel by any means of the world. BUT I save my dollars on things like transport, touristy excursions and use those dollars instead for "well off the beaten path experiences" for the most part. Going to some of the outer islands where few tourists go is definitely more exciting to me than going on a group tour or even by yourself with a guide to the MAIN islands that everyone sees.

 

My best example is probably Alaska to help you understand what I mean. You take the cruise which is pretty standard no matter which cruise line. But then I bet 80% of the people who travel on land for a few days go to Denali. And they pack themselves into the cruise line or other overly crowded hotels where everything is expensive because you are a captive audience. If you want to see McKinley (does anyone even call it that anymore?), a flight seeing trip from Anchorage accomplishes that where you have a wide choice of hotels from Motel 6 to upscale hotels. And rental cars, if booked at the right time, are relatively cheap. So you saved hotel money and rental car money to be able to pay for the expensive flightseeing trip.

 

If you want to see bears up close and personal, you can take a bear trip out of Homer for a couple of nights which is truly spectacular (particularly in late summer/early fall-Labor Day until the 15 of September).

 

And then for the real over the top experience, you can either take a Northern Alaska tour to Prudhoe Bay or just fly yourself up there. Same thing to Barrow if you have the time.

 

Book these things with a tour company and you generally pay through the nose. Book a good percentage of stuff yourself, particularly transportation and hotels, you may get a real dream vacation that is truly different than what everyone else saw at just about the same price as the packaged trip.

 

Just my way of traveling. I will be glad to help any way I can.