galapogas cruise tips and traps

Hello Everyone,

We are due to take our galapagos cruise on 16th February with Silversea, Western itinerary.

Would really appreciate any more advice or reviews on the trip or tips in what to do in Quito pre cruise

We came into Quito a day early and booked a tour through Viator and it was excellent! Check out Viator.com. We have used this company in Singapore, Iceland,Barcelona, and Mexico and they, ve proven very reliable. You will love this trip! The Galápagos are amazing!Please read my Silver Galápagos reviews under cruise critic reviews.

(we've been on Silver Galápagos voyages 8422/8423/8633)

Assuming you're staying at the JW Marriott, you'll be offered some local options. We took the combo city/equator/cable car full day tour. You can assort the parts for shorter tours.

Cable car: Definitely. Fine views of the city from Pichincha. Donned a serape and sombrero for picture with burro.

Equator: Goofy picture opportunities. Been there, don't need to go back. Opinions may vary.

City tour: Maybe, if you were going to be there several days, and wanted an overview ...

Also available:

Yanacocha Highland Reserve - 5 hrs -hummingbirds

Otavalo Market - full day - textiles, crafts, lunch at hacienda

Cloud forest, hummingbirds, orchids - full day

Antisana Ecological Reserve - lava flow, Isco Cliffs home to Andean Condor.

Other advice:

If you are on a cruise that visits Post Office Bay, be brave and take two or three postcards home for personal delivery. We probably drove a couple hundred miles dropping off the postcards, talking with people about their experience (and, getting fed). One group of girls booked a private boat vacation on the internet. They were seasick the whole time, and the food was so bad they ate on shore.

This cruise tends to attract unruly (American) children that you will not find on other Silversea cruises (except, maybe, Alaska)

Hello Everyone,

 

We are due to take our galapagos cruise on 16th February with Silversea, Western itinerary.

 

Would really appreciate any more advice or reviews on the trip or tips in what to do in Quito pre cruise

We are getting ready to book for 2018 - great sale price right now!

I also would love to read any advice or reviews.

My very detailed blog can be found here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2419936&highlight=Galapagos

My very detailed blog can be found here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2419936&highlight=Galapagos

Thanks, Rachel!

very insightful blog. I really appreciate it, since we will also be cruising in the fall, and should experience similar conditions.

Our trip is so far away (2018) but this is such a long anticipated trip that I am spending as much time researching Galapagos as I am our trip for this fall to New Zealand and Australia!

Thanks, Rachel!

very insightful blog. I really appreciate it, since we will also be cruising in the fall, and should experience similar conditions.

Our trip is so far away (2018) but this is such a long anticipated trip that I am spending as much time researching Galapagos as I am our trip for this fall to New Zealand and Australia!

Galapagos is really a unique and amazing place!

Didn't know Silverseas did galapogas looking at celebrity xploration how would you rate the two? Thanks

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I've never cruised Celebrity. (Hey, once you qualify for free laundry, it would take a lot to switch ...)

The Silversea and Celebrity ships are the same size.

Silversea has two itineraries, both seven nights on the ship. All the Celebrity voyages are also seven nights, despite the extra shore days they claim.

We did a back-to-back on Silversea. (They give you a 5% discount.) I'd say a 10 ship-night cruise would be just right.

Our first time down, we got one included night in Quito. Our second time, we got two nights. You'll have to look at the deals that are being offered.

Didn't know Silverseas did galapogas looking at celebrity xploration how would you rate the two? Thanks

 

 

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I haven't been there yet nor have I ever been on a Silversea cruise.

But while i was investigating I found that for the tours in the Galapagos all guides are authorized and trained by the park service in the Galapagos so there is little difference in the quality of the tours.

First decision was what size boat. Celebrity, National Geographic, and Silver Galapagos are all in the same size category 96-100 passengers.

Celebrity charges extra for some of what Silversea includes routinely such as wifi, and wine. I was looking at National Geographic because they have free airfare now for trips in 2017, but I wanted to book for 2018. My travel agent found a sale price for Silver Galapagos, airfare for $199, including the flights from east coast USA to and from Ecuador, and from Ecuador to Galapagos. The cruise includes 2 days in Quito plus the 7 days in Galapagos, so for the price similar to Celebrity and National Geographic for 7 days this one is includes days in Quito. All in all this made Silversea a significantly more cost effective cruise and the important part to me - the tours in the Galapagos are reportedly controlled by the local government and virtually the same.

Didn't know Silverseas did galapogas looking at celebrity xploration how would you rate the two? Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My husband and I have done both. No comparison. Silversea is superior in all regards. Biggest difference is quality of the food, but the ship is also much nicer. The excursions are going to be the same, but your time actually on the ship is nicer on Silversea.

My husband and I have done both. No comparison. Silversea is superior in all regards. Biggest difference is quality of the food, but the ship is also much nicer. The excursions are going to be the same, but your time actually on the ship is nicer on Silversea.

Appreciate these details with this posting/thread. While we are primarily focused for our early 2018 first trip to Hong Kong and SE Asia, including Vietnam and a sailing up the Mekong River, I started researching early 2019 options. Want a new, different "adventure"!!

The Galapagos seem like a very good option to consider and Silversea has some excellent potentials. Might have many more questions to ask. Fortunately, the Cruise Critic search function works well.

Any new or more recent reports and details to share here? What did people love the most in doing this trip? What was the biggest surprise/thrill?

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting and dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 34,219 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

We just got back from the Aug 10-20 sailing. On our arrival day we got to the hotel at 1:00 a.m. and our companions didn't arrive until 3:00 a.m. Needless to say we were pretty tired the next day. We did the free tour that was provided by Silversea (about 2.5 hours, we only had two stops, though we did get an extensive tour of Compania de Jesus church, which is not normally included). After lunch near the hotel we were pretty bushed and had a short rest, then did the Equator Park tour (was supposed to include the cable car but due to the national holiday there was a 90-minute wait for the cable car so we passed on that). As we had an early start to get to the Galapagos the next day, this was more than enough for us. I'm glad we didn't book anything in advance and were able to just play it by ear when we were there as I hadn't anticipated how tired we'd be from our travel day, and how early we'd be departing on embarkation day.

This cruise tends to attract unruly (American) children that you will not find on other Silversea cruises (except, maybe, Alaska)

There were no unruly children, American or otherwise, on our sailing. There was 1 child, 4 teens in our group, and 3 other teens altogether.