Galapagos?

[Karen Lynn]

Anyone know if snacks and water are taken along on zodiac shore trips?

[tsavorite]

You get a metal water bottle which attaches to your Silversea backpack.  It is up to you to fill it in the morning and/or at lunch - there is a tap in the restaurant and the wait staff are happy to do it for you.  No plastics allowed on the islands.  No snacks are provided (except at the giant tortoise reserve in the mountains, where the ranch provides a spread).  The risk of bringing seeds etc on to the islands is high, and there are no litter facilities. But most of the trips are only 1-2 hours at a time, and are intensive, so you can catch up with drinks and snacks when you return, as they try to give you an hour or two between activities.

[Karen Lynn]

Many thanks ! I appreciate the info..

[TLCOhio]

On 10/17/2018 at 3:48 PM, tsavorite said:

You get a metal water bottle which attaches to your Silversea backpack.  It is up to you to fill it in the morning and/or at lunch - there is a tap in the restaurant and the wait staff are happy to do it for you.  No plastics allowed on the islands.  No snacks are provided (except at the giant tortoise reserve in the mountains, where the ranch provides a spread).  The risk of bringing seeds etc on to the islands is high, and there are no litter facilities. But most of the trips are only 1-2 hours at a time, and are intensive, so you can catch up with drinks and snacks when you return, as they try to give you an hour or two between activities.

Appreciate this great detail and follow-up about the way "things" work when sailing in and around this unique part of the world. We are still hoping to do this cruise in early 2020. Much to research and consider, especially with both Celebrity and Silversea adding new ships for this location.  A new ship is nice, but the newer one can be costing more.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 213,665 views for this posting.

Edited October 18, 2018 by TLCOhio

[Karen Lynn]

Just looking at flight details ...2 nights in Quito pre cruise , whom do they use to fly you from Quito to Galapagos ?  Thanks , again !

[Fletcher]

Karen - I would say this thread is fairly definitive -

 

 

[tsavorite]

It was the scheduled LATAM flight to Guayaquil and then on to San Cristobal. An early start, but the flight was fine. The 45 minute flight to Guayaquil was packed, but it emptied after that, so we could stretch out a bit. 90+ Silversea guests and a few others. Food and drink only available for purchase, but the Marriott in Quito laid out a good spread of food at 4.30 am, so we didn’t need any more. Planned to get a beer at the port, but the wildlife on the shore was so interesting that we didn’t get around to it. And then the zodiacs turned up. 

 

On on the way back all but a handful of guests got off the plane at Guayaquil to travel home. Just a few carried on to Quito. Again the scheduled LATAM flight, although I saw that a handful were on another carrier - did not find out if that had been their choice. Baltra airport felt a lot busier. Full plane, which refilled with passengers at Guayaquil.

[RachelG]

Our butler always made sure our water  bottles were filled.  incidentally , they are yours to keep and bring home as is the backpack.  I donated both to our homeless shelter.

No food of any kind is to be brought on the islands.  They are very picky about introducing foreign seeds.

[mommamd]

Thank you for airline information re LATAM, I like to check the safety ratings of all airlines myself, it looks it got the 7/7 stars so that is good! (on airlineratings.com)

I don't like to be surprised at the gate. Will check the other carrier situation. Esp after the Lion crash this week, so tragic. 

We have just booked this trip for Nov next year!