Intrepid Travel Warning

My wife and I travelled with Intrepid to the Galapagos Islands. I would advise no-one to ever consider travelling with Intrepid after our experience; not simply because we were involved in a shocking accident that I will detail below but because Intrepid's response was and still is appalling. Essentially what happened was that the boat we were travelling in, the Spondylus charted from Kemperry Tours, crashed in to rocks of a deserted island at full speed at 3 in the morning and rapidly began to sink. While we were given a cursory safety briefing when we alighted the boat, non of these procedures were followed as the crew simply panicked - only due to the actions of the other passengers was one passenger actually rescued! Furthermore the lifejackets on the boat were old and all siezed up making it almost impossible in the pitch dark to put on. As the boat rapidly sank we all jumped in to a dingy made for 10 people when there were nearer 20 of us - as the bung was missing from the dingy this also began to rapidly sink. The next day the sister ship of the Spondylus, the Angelique arrived to 'rescue' us. However we soon discovered that our boat had not completely sank and was wedged on the rocks half submerged. Our crew then went back to the Spondylus and looted all of the belongings of the passengers - we could actually see them emptying bags etc on the Angelique before they gave them to us missing of all things valuable. Wallets were emptied but returned, cameras were taken from cases/bags with the bags returned - impossible that these things simply fell out and got washed away. When back in a 'safe' port (puerta Ayora) Intrepid were nowhere to be seen and instead placed mis-information on their website and directly to our families about how they were helping us through all this - rubbish, luckily a friendly local spend 2 days helping us out but Intrepid were nowhere to be seen. Our subsequent contact with Intrepid initially assured us that each passenger would be fully reimbursed for their lost belongings - however 10 months down the line they have not done so and do not accept any responsibility for what happened. As a group we kept faith in intrepids promises on the understanding that they would improve safety and refund all our loses - they have not followed through with any of these promises. No-one has ever been prosecuted for the thefts or for the accident and Intrepid have not helped us in pursueing these issues - essentially because they were ultimately at fault. This company is expensive, irresponsible and has no morals. Having spoken to many people in the industry I have discovered that Intrepid's corner cutting in pursuit of a fast buck is well known and has resulted in many incidences they would rather you did not know about - no doubt as with all my posts on this matter they will have this removed asap. My advice is avoid Intrepid.

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SusanInToronto on Apr 30, 09 at 09:11 AM

Wow, what a horrible experience. In the past, I've heard good things about Intrepid, but your experience is terrible.
qwovadis on Apr 30, 09 at 09:14 AM

Intrepid has had major issues for a while...

Their Galapagos misadventure is just the latest...

http:www.intrepidhell.blogspot.com
Scarlett on Apr 30, 09 at 11:47 AM

You should send this in to the NYTimes... this is just horrible and they don't deserve to be in business if this is the way they do things.
robinslater on Apr 30, 09 at 03:29 PM

The Intrepid (often referred to as Intrepido) was formerly know as the Enterprise (or Free Enterprise). Prior to that, it was originally named the Discovery. As is the case with several Galapagos boats that change the name (I believe to try and mislead people into thinking it is another boat and thereby avoid the negative image), this boat has gone through numerous name changes. As of March 2009, the Intrepid(o) has gone out of commission (i.e., currently not operating).
http://sangay.wordpress.com
skittle on Apr 30, 09 at 09:19 PM

Did you have any travel insurance? If so, they may be interested in persuing any responsible party on your behalf.

karma09 on Nov 6, 09 at 11:37 AM

1. travel insurance - all Intrepid Travel trips require you purchase travel insurance for unfortunate circumstances such as the one you mentioned
2. you were traveling in a boat that was owned, managed and crewed by Kemperry tours. Blame for the poor navigation and looting should be directed towards Kemperry not Intrepid Travel
3. I have traveled with Intrepid Travel many times. Their guides and logistics have always been top notch. There is always risk involved with travel, otherwise one would opt to stay home. When I was robbed in Lima my Intrepid guide accompanied me to the police station, made sure I had the proper paperwork to submit an insurance claim and followed up with several e-mails. What happened in the above story is unfortunate however Intrepid Travel alone can not be blamed for the mishap

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