Ecuador, Galapagos

I liked Ecuador and the Galapagos. Have a great trip.

We have been to Ecuador three times, the last one on a tour that included three days in Quito and a week long cruise of the Galapagos. It was fantastic. We used Celebrity cruise lines for that tour/cruise.

Gate 1 has a more affordable tour of Ecuador that includes three days in the Galapagos, but is it not a cruise.

If you really want to see the Galapagos well, take a cruise, but it is expensive.

Also, be careful on the mainland, pickpocketing is not good and you need security, so recommend taking a tour. If you Son lives there, he can provide you with some tips for touring safely.

Have a wonderful time. Once son gets established, he can provided details with regards to political and economic situations. As mentioned, you want to be aware of your belongings and not flaunt any signs of affluence.
Galapagos, in my opinion, is best done by boat. There are dozens of local small boat companies out of Ecuador that can do this. Smaller ships get into areas ships of 100 passengers cannot. The islands are vastly different. If you can financially swing it, aim for a long cruise (or back to back) that encompasses all the islands.

Celebrity Cruise lines has luxury cruises of the Galapagos. Our ship has less than 50 passengers. Celebrity has two ships.

Also, they have three different cruises, the North, Middle and South Galapagos.
We did the North and it was super.

Don't miss one that goes to a small island called "Bird Island." It was amazing the thousands of birds that we saw, many were beautiful and very different from what we see in North America.

We took the Celebrity Cruise on the Xpedition. It was wonderful. It was their only ship there back then. We went to Quito a few days early and extended our trip to include Cuenca where we had a private guide and driver for an excursion that lasted 12 hours. I just can’t remember where we went. It was along time ago. We enjoyed that day.

There were warnings back then to not go out at night. We went out for dinner while it was daylight and took a cab back to our B&B set up by the owner.

We went in 2/24 and had a wonderful time despite picking a bad cruise line. Our top advice would be to never book a small cruise line for a couple of reasons. First, over 1/2 of the passengers were sick with motion sickness on our small boat (16 person boat) because you felt every wave in that boat. Plus, we were only given 2-3 activity options/day that lasted 1.5-2hr each, which meant you were on the boat most of the day. We also had only one tour guide, and he was awful. On larger cruise lines you get more options and space.

Our top advice would be to never book a small cruise line for a couple of reasons. First, over 1/2 of the passengers were sick with motion sickness on our small boat (16 person boat) because you felt every wave in that boat. Plus, we were only given 2-3 activity options/day that lasted 1.5-2hr each, which meant you were on the boat most of the day. We also had only one tour guide, and he was awful. On larger cruise lines you get more options and space.

I couldn't have had a more different experience. I was also on a 16-passenger boat, and it was a magical experience. I will grant you that when I was there the ocean was very calm. But the number and timing of activities is completely regulated by the national park. The cruise ships have absolutely no control over that. They are told where to go when, and the naturalists are told where and when they can take groups for snorkeling or hiking experiences.

Every boat has to have a naturalist. We had our guide from the tour company (Overseas Adventure Travel) plus a naturalist from the national park, and they worked together as if they were a regular team, even though this was their first time working together.

And the time on the boat was also very pleasant, with opportunities to enjoy the views, chat with fellow travelers and crew members, and eat fantastic meals.

I don't know in what ways the experience on a larger cruise ship would be different, but if I were to do it again (and I'd love to!) I'd go with a small cruise similar to the one I did with OAT.

I served two years in Ecuador with the Peace Corps. Incredible experience and of course life-changing. I loved Ecuador. I did Galapagos as my end-of-service trip before returning to the US. Was a week-long cruise on a 100-person ship (Metropolitan Touring). Visited the islands that constitute the "southern route." Had wanted to go there since I was a little kid so it was a wildlife dream of a lifetime. Where else were you planning to go? I served in Guayaquil so I spent most of my time on the coast, with fairly frequent visits to towns up in the Andes. Only got over to the Amazon once, to visit another volunteer who was stationed just at the edge of the rainforest region.