FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Galapagos on points/miles (including cruise potentially)?
Old Jan 3, 2018, 10:17 am
  #7  
JDiver
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I’ve been to the Galápagos three times (naturalist cruises and a live aboard dive boat). Select your cruise carefully. (The first cruise we were due to be on, the boat caught fire at sea - that got us to be more cautious, though fortunately the fire occurred months before we were due to board. The second boat was okay, but it brilliant - air conditioners were normal Land window hung devices which, though new, were already rusting and preparing for death.)

There is no safety-tasked organization, like Transport Canada or US Coast Guard, vetting the boats.

Be aware sime cruises are scams - a seven day cruise can be three and four day cruises sold together - you are visiting Islands close to your port of embarkation and wasting a day at that port in the middle.

Be aware different sized ships may be destination-limited. Some Islands are limited to small groups - the larger boats can’t stop there.

Be aware some boats have basic naturalist guides, others have u ivetsity trained naturalist guides. Your experience will be far better with the latter.

My advice is go for a cruise with sixteen or fewer passengers, and one sufficiently long you will see some of the westernmost Islands.

Unfortunately, Barry Boyce stopped publishing his excellent Guide to the Galápagos; he rated boars and agencies, and offered a huge resource to people interested in this unique, normally once in a lifetime, experience.

But do some preparation. Bradt, Moon, Lonely Planet, etc. do publish guides, and a natural history guide (Fitter and Fitter, Jackson, etc.) is indispensable to get the most of your fauna encounters.
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