Galapagos

[tabathapatchfur]

HI My husband & I are planning a trip to Sth America & the Galapagos Islands.

Could anyone recommend a cruise for up to 7 days.

Many thanks:)

[gdlamberth]

Silversea and Celebrity both do 7 day Galapagos cruises. Others may also; but, I think most tend to be 4-5 days. Overseas Adventure Travel, Odyssey Travel, and others also offer pre packaged 15-20 day trips including a 4-5 day cruise and Peru highlights.

 

We're currently booked on a 11 day land trip (Lima, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Sacred Valley, and Lake Tiitaca) that we cobbled together ourselves with assistance of a US based agent. Then following that up with a 7 day cruise with Silversea.

 

Your options are enormous.

 

Greg

[Floridiana]

We took the Celebrity package, cruised a week with a day before and after including program in Quito. This included pick-up at the airport and return to the airport. We had arranged our own flights from Miami.

 

We then added another package offered by the Napo Wildlife Center in the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle. This included the flight to and fro from Quito, the river canoe, the lodge and 2 guides for the 2 of us and a family of 5 adults from Belgium. We chose this lodge because it has its own parrot lick. We also saw many more animals than friends who had been on the Galapagos cruise with us and then went to a different lodge in the Napo valley. Our lodge was a real find that I recommend.

 

Advantages for us: We stayed in the same country which uses US $. The lodge is only a 30 minute flight from Quito, the river canoe is an adventure, the lodge is superbly located in a protected and virgin area of jungle. Quito is at a lower altitude than Cusco in Peru.

 

We had gone to Peru (Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Cusco, Lake Titicaca) on a different trip the year before. That trip was also superbly arranged by Escaped to Latin America.

[Floridiana]

There are other Galapagos cruises on smaller boats. I think they offer shorter trips of 3-4 days. The National Park controls how many boats are allowed in each area in order not to overload them. Sometimes, we saw the smaller boats, only 2 in one of the areas, usually none or just one. We never encountered their passengers except on the dock in one small town.

[hallasm]

I do have some tips for Galapagos planning as well as a review of a 7 night Xpedition cruise.

Just plan to fly into Baltra the day before the cruise if the flight into Galapagos is not part of the Galapagos Cruise package.

 

Link to planning: http://www.galapagosexpedition.info/

Link to my cruise review: http://www.traveltogalapagos.info/

 

PcxqKw51vOs

[LouisV]

We are planning a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. We can't decide between inner and outer loop itineraries. Any suggestions or comments would be most helpful!

 

Thanks

Maureen

[hallasm]

We are planning a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. We can't decide between inner and outer loop itineraries. Any suggestions or comments would be most helpful!

There is no big differences between the two itineraries - only reason is to allow the animals some rest between the visits.

You might see nesting albatross on the Outer Loop Itinerary and Nesting Frigates on Inner Loop Itinerary - other animals are the same.