My husband and I are considering a 7 night Galapagos expedition next April. We would stay in Quito 2 nights before and 2 nights after it. We are interested in the Celebrity Xpedition. Has anybody been on this trip? What can you tell us about it? We are also thinking about Lindblad. We would appreciate any information. Thanks very much!

Carole

Hi - don't have any direct information about Lindblad or Celebrity Xpedition - but have a couple of comments re planning.

We spent 7 nights on the Eclipse (about half the size of the two boats you are considering) and really enjoyed it. I always suggest people read the Barry Boyce book A Travelers Guide to the Galapagos which reviews the various sites by island. That way you can look at the various boats' itineraries and make decisions based on what you want to see, in addition to the boat itself.

For example I very much wanted to see the flightless cormorants which are only on the west side of Isabela - it was part of the Eclipse's itinerary but not the Lindblad one (at that time anyway). But on the other hand Lindblad stopped at Isabela and there was an excursion up to the rim of the caldera (a great trip we did separately)

If you want to see pics of the Eclipse here's a link to our blog (scroll down past our first two weeks staying in Galapagos......)- we liked it for the size (44 passengers) and the fact they had 4 zodiacs which means they could transport all passengers at the same time (no waiting for zodiacs). Since we were on it the rooms have been redecorated

Happy to answer any other questions - great destination!

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...th_/galapagos/

Thanx so much for your prompt response and all your helpful info. We have already looked at Barry Boyce's book, very informative. We still are considering our options; it's difficult to decide. Again, many thanks!

Carole

Hi! We just returned from a trip on Quasar Expedition's Grace - 18 pax, about 1/3 the size that Elizabeth_S took.

I would highly suggest a much, much smaller boat for your trip to the Galapagos. To compare, we took Lindblad to Alaska Inside Passage 2 years ago and LOVED it - but Lindblad is considered a "BIG" ship in Galapagos while it's considered "small" in the Insipde Passage. Many of the islands are very limited re: the # of people that can visit, and some of them (e.g. Genovese) are simply not on the larger ships' itineraries. Much of your time in Galapagos is spent on trails or in zodiacs, watching the animals. If you are on a larger boat and the naturalists have a larger group to take around (the max size is 16 guests per naturalist, per Galapagos Nat'l Park rules), you may not have as much opportunity to linger at places on the trail where there is interesting animal action or where you want to take more pictures.

I'm not sure if there has to be be a 16:1 or better ratio all the time, or if park rules only require that ratio when youre snorkeling or hiking. If the latter, I'd be very wary of multiple hikes in succession (i.e. groups 1 and 2 get to go ashore from 9-10am while groups 3 and 4 go ashore form 10-11am) because then you are not getting to maximize your time with the animals. So if you are still seriously considering the larger boats, ask how many naturalists are on the boat - if it's more than 16 guests to 1 naturalist, that means the naturalists are doing double duty. (to compare, our trip with 18 pax had 2 naturalists, and one of the guys was a bird expert while the other one was more about the marine life)

Also, the towns are small (and few and far between), and you will find that a large ship means that most of the people you run into in town will be our fellow cruise mates and not any locals. We stopped at the towns on San Cristobal and Puerto Ayora, and even with just 18 pax, we kept running into each other in the town.

Finally, with a smaller boat, there is generally more flexibility in the schedule if you happen to see whales or dolphins from the boat, it can usually stop for a while so you can watch them, or if you want to work in some extra snorkeling or beach time, you can do so. Our naturalists were also readily available on the boat to answer questions and chat about what we had seen that day and what we were going to see the next day.

Also happy to answer any other questions, it was a tremendous trip to a magical place. We loved it.

Thanx so much for all your info on your very recent trip to the Galapagos. I am so glad that you had such a fantastic time! I appreciate your detailed advice. We are still undecided about how to do this trip. There are a good number of exciting options described on this board. Again, many thanks.

Great post! I have found Galapagos Inc by Wildlife Vacations (www.galapagos-inc.com) to be a helpful source for booking travel to the region.