Review: NG Islander, Galapagos, Dec 2012

I've waited awhile to write this review in hopes I'd be as even-handed as possible. The trip my wife and I took to Galapagos was a very mixed bag, and nowhere close to the standard we enjoyed with Lindblad on our trip to S. Georgia and Antarctica.

THE FORMAT

Various people have told me that Lindblad uses this week-long trip as a “gateway” trip to longer expeditions. If so, it's not really representative. The Galapagos itinerary isn't an expedition, it's a fairly regimented walking tour. Think of a museum tour where the museum is the great outdoors, and the guides aren't 100% sure what's in the next exhibit.

Significant mobility issues left me with specific difficulties. I went into that in great detail here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1753199

I won't rehash that in this post except to point out that all but the easiest walks were out of my league, yet the expedition leader Lynn Fowler made sure I saw a ton of stuff..

While expedition travel usually involves schedule switches on-the-fly, the Galapagos itineraries require exact permissions from the Parks Service, so they are mapped out in half-day blocks months or years in advance. This leaves the ship on a strict schedule, like a large cruise line.

Inside baseball: the Lindblad ships market one-week trips, but actually sail the islands on two week loops. The good news is that each week-long half-loop sees nearly everything; other than nesting albatrosses, we saw all species of wildlife of note.

THE LINDBLAD STAFF

Fowler and her team of naturalists (this week saw Walter, Giancarlo, and Juan Carlos aboard) were uniformly helpful and excelled at what they did. They bring a real passion for the islands to their work, and they are eager to share their knowledge and enrich guests' trips. Listening to these people and having them answer our questions were the best parts of the cruise, period.

In fact, we needed more of this. In the whole week there were only three short talks: Fowler gave a too-brief outline of her grad school research; chats on Darwin and Geology were actually cut short in favour of lunch and dinner being served—priorities were backward here on two levels: first, the talks were great; second, the food was often crap and could surely wait, but more on that later.

We usually had a 2-hour Siesta after lunch as the ship moved to its next half-day window; Antarctica never had that much downtime midday, and I wish this staff had laid on an hour's talk each afternoon. They had so much to share and they were good at it.

Extra excursions were often laid on by keen staff at Sunrise.

THE SHIP

In a word, NG Islander is “tired”. My wife and I had the least expensive cabin (the word “cheap” is rarely seen in a Lindblad review). It desperately needed updated furniture, new carpeting, and new bedspreads. The bathroom was tight.

Hallways were ridiculously narrow and poorly lit. Staircases are exceptionally narrow, essentially ladders with walls. The lounge area has load-bearing posts blocking the video screens for some seats. The dining room had a bright atrium section; the other section was dark.

The ship was clean, to be sure, but needed sprucing up. Part of this surely comes from the 90-minute turn-around time between departing and arriving guests each Sunday. I'm not sure where the rest of it comes from. Perhaps I'm unfairly comparing this ship to NG Explorer, which prowls the polar regions. Explorer was given a custom re-fit so everything's as it ought to be. Islander has a very awkward layout.

ZODIAC (“PANGA”) BOARDING

This was very well organized. The Galapagos' still seas make it a piece of cake. A very sturdy, five step metal staircase is fixed to the side of the ship. Step onto the Zodiac seat ring, level with the bottom stair, onto a solid soapbox, onto the Zodiac floor. Sit. Slide. The naturalists and panga drivers help you every step of the way. (I had my own mobility issues, but even I had no problems.)

LANDINGS

Landings are either “wet” or “dry”. Wet landings involve sliding off the zodiac into shin-high water and walking ashore. Very easy. Dry landings are marched off the panga's bow onto a staircase made of wood or carved out of rock. Rather trickier. Most passengers coped well.

WILDLIFE – WHY YOU'RE THERE

It's all happening, and it's all happening in your face. Blue-footed boobies, pelicans, terns, iguanas, turtles, tortoises, crabs, rays, sea lions, sharks. Walk, panga cruise, snorkel. The animals are right there. It really is amazing and there's nothing like it anywhere.

SWIMMING/SNORKELING

I swam, trunks only, 70F/21C water, December. For those who found that too raw, the supplied shorty wetsuits seemed to work very well.

FOOD

This ranged from sublime to gastro-crime. Breakfasts were buffet with eggs-to-order. They were perfectly fine. There were I think three or four plated meals all week, all dinners—upper-end of the airline food spectrum. Dinner choices were booked with a sign-up sheet at lunch.

Everything else was buffet. The Ecuadorean extravaganza, where regional dishes from around the country were offered, was fabulous. They should have done much more Ecuadorean cuisine: aside from it being interesting, it was exceptionally tasty.

The rest ran the gamut from poor to awful. Simple N. American/European dishes were totally beyond the kitchen's scope. Roast chicken was bloody. Steak was burned. Casseroles were buried in sauce. Everything was the same temperature. At least a quarter of the 42 guests told me they felt ill at one point or another.

Desserts were poor and whatever wasn't served completely (such as the brick-like mousse that was bizarrely laden with Bisquick) got run back out for subsequent meals.

Let's be fair—such a trip should never be about the food. It's about being in the Galapagos. But at a list price of $5,250 pp/dbl/wk and up, the food shouldn't detract from the experience.

SERVICE

Dining room service felt rushed—unusual for South America. Maybe they wanted to hurry us back to our rooms so we could vomit in private. Wine was sold by-the-bottle at reasonable prices, but I saw people nudged out of the dining room with glasses and partially-full bottles.

The wait staff were well-skilled, ranging from quiet-and-efficient to friendly-and-efficient. The exception was the headwaiter, who was overbearingly smarmy.

Bar staff were welcoming, helpful, and competent. Our housekeeper did an excellent job. Carla, the “hotel manager” in charge of food and housekeeping, assisted us whenever we needed it.

GUESTS

We were 42 (capacity 48). All but four were from the United States. A majority had post-secondary education. There was one young woman there with her father, four or five couples in their 30s/40s, and a majority of guests were 60+. The empty slots meant that women who booked on a share-basis ended up with single rooms. As school was in session in N. America, we had no children on the trip.

INTERNET

As on all Lindblad ships, uptime is sold to make money, not as a service at cost. Service is both spotty by ship position and by your location on the ship. Connection speed is good for e-mail only. Your best bet for coverage is to sit under the central skylight in the Lounge or at the table in the computer room nearest the lounge.

BOTTOM LINE

Fowler and her staff are excellent, but I don't feel that Lindblad provided value for money. My trip with the company to S. Georgia/Antarctica was so wonderful, I can't wait for my next true expedition with Lindblad. Thank heavens I went to the ice first: had NG Islander been my introduction to Lindblad, it would have also been my farewell. Considering Galapagos? Go! Just consider going with another company, or temper your ship-board expectations.

Thanks for your info, I am starting my work on the trip, a seasoned cruiser, and do not think I am interested in Lindblad.

You may want to consider Lindblad Endeavour as an alternative for the Galapagos. Our experience was outstanding - looking forward to repeating with one of our Grandchildren. As a seasoned cruiser, I am sure that you are not rejecting the #1 expedition line based on one partially negative review. You will be dazzled by the Galapagos adventure. Read the reviews on this site of Lindblad's NG Explorer Antarctic - that will be your next, if you have not been there.

@HrProf: do you have a detailed write up on Endeavour/Galapagos posted here? I would love to read it if you do--and if you don't I would encourage you to churn it out. We chose Islander strictly because Sunday-to-Sunday was a more useful to us than Endeavour's Saturday-to-Saturday. Maybe we just chose incorrectly.

You are spot on about Antarctica w/Lindblad, best trip of my life by a considerable distance. I can't let the chance go by, however, without proselytizing about the benefits of including S. Georgia on the itinerary. As magnificent as Antarctica is, it's my second choice to S. Georgia for scenery, diversity of wildlife, and history.

Shawnino

I am totally incapable of matching the quality and detail of your outstanding review of your Antarctic cruise. You may have noticed that I seconded your advice re S. Georgia - if time and budget permit, go there!

By way of full disclosure - our Galapagos trip was in '05 and the Islander was not an option. We did the Machu Pichu extension - quite an adventure. We have been seeking out information on Islander because we are considering taking a Granddaughter to Galapagos in 2014. Your assessment was valuable and not surprising. Our only basis for comparison was The Lord of the Glens - a sister ship of Islander - which does a cruise through Scotland - a cruise through locks and lachs - very different from the challenges of Galapagos. We've met lots of folks who prefer Endeavour to Explorer - fewer passengers - shorter lines at meals and boarding zodiacs etc. With our Granddaughter. more kids on board is an advantage (not always an advantage!) However, if we were to return to the Galapagos (with just the two of us) we might still be tempted to try the Islander. BTW, in '05 we did Galapagos on Polaris. We were on Endeavour on our 2nd Antarctic trip in '03

I stand by my original review, but, if somebody is still looking to go with Lindblad, I got an e-mail this morning that they are offering 50% off the Endeavour departures on May 31 and June 7.

Reason given is that Endeavour was slated to be in dry dock those two weeks, and now suddenly it isn't.

Would I suddenly recommend booking Lindblad for the Galapagos? Well, no. That said, hrprof asserts that Endeavour is a superior ship to Islander, and at 50% off then the value proposition might be more reasonable. So if a person had already made up his mind that Lindblad was the way to do this, he'll almost certainly never have a better opportunity.

Thank you for the review.

Keith