Does any particular tour/cruise company do a better job than the rest? It seems like everyone loves their time in the Galapagos, but there are so many options. And is there a benefit to taking a smaller ( 20 person) boat rather than the larger one? thinking of adding Ecuadorean Highlands, with Otavalo before or after. Suggestions?
Galapagos cruise companies and Ecuador
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Hi there, The benefit to taking a smaller boat is that you have a more intimate experience with your fellow travelers and more personalized attention from your guide. One company you may want to check out that does Galapagos and Ecuador mainland tours to Otavalo and Highlands is Columbus Travel http://columbusecuador.com/. They are one of the top five travel agencies in Ecuador. Good luck planning!
There are so many options when you try to find a Galapagos Cruise, you have to make some research about what places you want to visit, but obviously you don't know what places you can find in Galapagos, so take a look at http://www.galapagoscruises.com/ there you will find a complete list of the boats that cruise in Galapagos, each has a specific price/features and itineraries, on this website you can click on each destination to have an idea of what you will actually visit, and there is also a list of activities and animals for each destination.
If you liked a boat's itinerary then check for availability and reviews in places like lonelyplanet about this boat, and if people liked this boat, go ahead and book for it. There are always websites like the one I mentioned where you can chat with a representative through the website, so that is also useful in the case you want to know more information about specific aspects of the trip.
I hope you have a great trip like I did, and if you want to visit other places besides Galapagos, you MUST go to Cuenca, and then of course to Inga Pirca and touristic places like that...
There are several differences in the overall experience on a small boat versus a large one (itinerary, guides, stability, etc) - I always suggest reading Barry Boyce's book which explains the various boat classes, itineraries, etc. For us the itinerary was the most important part of the decision as we wanted to go to the west side of Isabela to see the cormorants. We were delighted with a 44 passenger ship (the Eclipse) as it was spacious, comfortable yet still small enough for the small harbours and had enough zodiacs so that everyone could leave at one (in other words no shuttling to shore).
Here's a link to Boyce's book
http://www.amazon.com/Travelers-Guide-Galapagos-Islands-Guidebooks/dp/1588433897