Has anyone taken the National Geographic Galapagos cruise?

Very timely ... we just returned last night from a Lindblad/National Geographic Galapagos expedition. It was amazing ... the trip of a lifetime. We were constantly on the go, in and out of zodiacs two or three times a day for hiking or snorkeling or kayaking. We always had a naturalist with us; most were extremely knowledgeable and personable. We learned and saw so much.

I highly recommend it and have lots of suggestions if you'd like them.

Fantastic. Yes, please I would love to heard about your suggestions. We're not great swimmers, so we're looking at Endeavor II which has the glass bottom Zodiac. Thinking about category 2 cabins. Don't want to spend too much on cabin, as long as there is sufficient room to move around for two.
Thank you so much.

Charlene,
Were you on the Endeavor (which I realize will be replaced by the Endeavor II in 2017) or the Islander?

If the larger ship, how did they coordinate folks going on land? (I assume, some were snorkeling or kayaking while others on land?) We had no down time w/ National Geographic in Antarctica, so assume similar "Groups A,B,C, then rotate" is used on the larger ship in Galapagos?

We are also considering National Geo for Galapagos, so Chun, thanks for making this posting.

Thanks.

We were on the second-to-last voyage of the Endeavor. I would recommend getting the least expensive cabin available because you'll spend very little time in it. You're so busy all day ... one day started with 6:30 am nature walk because that was the best time to see some particular bird or animal. You could always skip any activity if you wanted, but most of us tried to do everything and consequently there were few people awake past 9 o'clock at night!

The ship had plenty of zodiacs to take everyone to his or her chosen activity. One day there was an option of a long hike, so the zodiacs took them ashore first; then a short hike, so they followed; and then a long zodiac sightseeing trip, so they departed last. Sometimes we did rotate through multiple options (kayaking, snorkeling, hiking) and if we timed it carefully and had enough energy we could do everything.

We had a glass bottom boat available on two days. As far as snorkeling -- if you aren't really comfortable, they will take you to the beach and teach you to snorkel in the shallow water. People saw lots of fish and some sea lions doing beach snorkeling. We had a 93-year-old lady on board (!) who had never snorkeled. She was still uncomfortable after the beach so they took her into the small swimming pool on board and gave her more lessons.

My biggest suggestion is to have a good camera. We have little point & shoot cameras that we have always been happy with but the people with the bigger cameras got much better photos. One lady had a Canon Powershot SX530HS that she got at Walmart for $200 and it took great photos. She said it was easy to use -- she just left it on "auto" and zoomed when needed. Some people of course had the cameras with four-foot lenses. One man had two huge cameras around his neck. I'm going to look into that Canon for our next trip. It won't fit in our pockets but the pictures were fabulous.

Another key is shoes. We had mostly wet landings, which means hopping out of the zodiac and wading through maybe ankle-deep water to the beach. Some people wore Tevas or similar, and would bring walking shoes & socks in a backpack to change into for the walks. (The crew would always bring a bag of towels to dry your feet if needed.) Other people had closed-toed Keens, with openings along the sides. They tried walking in them but would get lots of sand in the bottom. If you're walking on rocks or lava, closed toe shoes are recommended. But we had a couple of beach walks and I just kept my Tevas on and did fine.

You'll need a good hat. Most people had shirts with sun protection they would layer over tank tops or t-shirts. Our weather was in the 70s and dry so that worked perfectly. Bring lots of sunscreen. And even if you're not usually seasick, come prepared. I had one little surprise bout and people shared non-drowsy dramamine and ginger chews with us. The ship had a doctor who gave me some pills to chew and something for dizziness but it made me more nauseous. I would bring patches next time, just in case. There was pretty much always some motion on the ship.

And of course pack light. Bring quick-drying clothing; getting in & out of zodiacs can get your shorts wet and dirty. Our ship had 2 dryers for passengers to use which was handy.

It was a great trip. Let me know if you have further questions.