South America Forums

Start a new topic Change Forum
Advanced search

Trip Report Intrepid Travel Warning

Jump to last reply

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.

8 Replies |Back to top

| Add a Reply

Sign in to comment.

Recent Activity

View all South America activity »
  1. 1 Help needed - how to get from Iguazu border to Foz do Iguazu hotel?
  2. 2 car rental Foz Iguazu (arriving), leaving Iguazu Fall, Argentina
  3. 3 Iguazu falls itinerary options... ...which one makes sense?
  4. 4 Machu Pichu accomodation
  5. 5 Estancia near Mendoza?
  6. 6 11-day trip to Easter Island and Santiago.
  7. 7 Galapagos -- Anahi or Millenium
  8. 8 Taxi fares for my options at the Falls (Argentina).
  9. 9 Taxi fares for my options at the Falls.
  10. 10 Recommendations for Amazon tours
  11. 11 19 day Peru Itinerary, your thoughts?
  12. 12 Trip Report Buenos Aires and Beyond for a Beginner
  13. 13 Trip Report Back to South America
  14. 14 Vaya Adventures
  15. 15 Should we go to Iguazu Falls?
  16. 16 travel to iguazu?
  17. 17 First South American 2 month trip: Help review please !
  18. 18 We will be in Rio during carnival. Advice needed please.
  19. 19 Had to cancel our trip to Peru
  20. 20 Van rental in Punta Arena, Chile
  21. 21 Route planning- 28 weeks and counting. 1 year South America
  22. 22 Crees organisation and foundation and Manu Learning Centre
  23. 23 Recommendations for Galapagos islands tours
  24. 24 Backpacking South America 2014, Gringo + Backpack = Mochilero
  25. 25 A spare day at Machu Pichu
View next 25 » Back to the top