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Live from Silversea Galapagos! (July 7, 2018)


WorldTourPrincess
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Day 6

Tuesday, July 10th

Caleta Tagus and Bahia Elizabeth, Isabela

 

There were four activities to choose from this morning: a 2 hour strenuous hike, a 1 hourkayaking session, a 1 hr zodiac cruise, and a 1 hr deep water snorkel. If you were very ambitious, you couldhike, kayak, and snorkel. I was alittle tired, so I opted to do the zodiac cruise with my mom followed by thesnorkeling excursion. The hike wasfocused more on geology, and less on animals, so I didn’t feel bad missingit. Kayaking would have been fun,but my guess it we were able to see more animals from the zodiac.

 

The zodiac cruise ended up being FANTASTIC so I was veryhappy with my decision to take it a little easy this morning. We spotted flightless cormorants,blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans nesting on the cliffs, and to top if off,PENGUINS! I saw one swim by in thewater, and later our group spotted two young penguins up on the rocks. We got to watch them for a while and Iwas able to take some great pictures. Eventually they ended up in the water and swam away. It was a great sighting!

 

Another highlight of the cruise was that we finally got totake the zodiac into one of the dark scary caves! It actually wasn’t scary at all and it reminded me a lot ofthe Pirates of the Caribbean ride at WDW. We went in a pretty good ways and saw some lava gulls and another sealion. It was really beautifulinside.

 

Later that morning I headed out for another snorkelingtour. We spotted two morepenguins, and a marine iguana! Mymom saw it swim under her, but by the time I got there he was already half outof the water. I was reallydisappointed that I didn’t get to see an iguana underwater. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to go again! Anyway, I love all marine life so I was very excited to seea horse conch. The animal wasmostly out of it’s shell and it was a bright pink/orange color with bluespots. It was really cool!

 

As I continued onward I joined the rest of the group whowere watching a cormorant try to catch food! He dove down multiple times and was very skilled at catchingfish. The funny thing was that hewas intrigued by my camera and came right over to bite it! I got a great shot of him with his beakwide open biting my GoPro! Heeventually lost interest but got in a fight with another cormorant, so that wasexciting! There were also a lot ofcool starfish in the area as well.

 

They showed the second half of The Galapagos Affair in theafternoon, followed by another incredible zodiac cruise. This trip brought us deep into themangroves on Isabela. What aspecial place! There werepelicans, sea turtles, and numerous rays gliding in the water around ourboat. At one point we shut of themotor and our guide switched to using an oar to navigate us through thewaters. It was so beautiful. A real paradise.

 

As we headed out we spotted a cormorant who had caught an octopus! The brown pelicans got wind of thecatch so they flew over and started fighting the cormorant for it! After a robust tug of war the octopusended up back in the water. As weheaded back to the ship we spotted more sea turtles and sea lions, a great blueheron, and 8 penguins swimming in the water! We were also near Sierra Negra, an active volcano. I was able to take a picture of theship with the volcano erupting in the background!

 

That night the ship positioned itself as close as it wasallowed near the volcano so we were treated to spectacular views all evening! I got amazing shots of the volcano atdusk and at night erupting and flowing into the ocean. Many of the crew were on deck off andon all evening taking pictures as well. You could tell that this wasn’t something they saw everyday, so I feltreally lucky to witness such a spectacular event. It was really something special to be eating a nice dinnerin The Restaurant with a volcano erupting in the background.

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Many thanks for taking the time to post ( and now with easy to read paragraphs 😎) , Princess, sincerely appreciated, and your enthusiasm is infectious!

 

Happy future sailing and I look forward to hearing from you again.

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Many thanks for taking the time to post ( and now with easy to read paragraphs ) , Princess, sincerely appreciated, and your enthusiasm is infectious!

 

Happy future sailing and I look forward to hearing from you again.

 

Thank you! It's taking quite a bit of time actually! Now I know why I wasn't able to get it done on the ship!

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Day 7

Wednesday, July 11th

Post Office Bay and Punta Cormorant or Champion, Florena

 

This morning offered another opportunity for kayaking aswell as a chance to visit the famous Galapagos Post Office Barrel. You could also relax on the beach andgo snorkeling if you desired. Thetrip to the beach/post office was a wet landing. The sand was nice and firm so we only had to walk through acouple of inches of water to get to the shore.

 

The “post office” is a 30 second walk from the beach. The story goes that sailors used tostop on this island to leave their mail in a box. They would also check the letters that were there, and ifthey were planning to travel to any of the destinations on the letters, theywould bring them with them to deliver. The box is now a barrel and has Ziploc bags inside it, but the traditionbasically remains the same.

 

We were all encouraged to write postcards on the ship andleave them on the island. Ourgroup sorted through the postcards that were there, and they were addressed topeople all over the world. Historically, if you accepted a letter, you would hand deliver it to therecipient. Although charming, it’snot quite practical in today’s world. My mom and I took a few postcards that were addressed to people in anearby state, and we put a stamp on them and put them in the mail upon ourreturn home. I’m sure they’llstill be thrilled to get them!

 

After our little jaunt to the postbox, we headed into thewater to snorkel. The water wasn’tas clear here, but there were several rays along the shore and sea turtles bythe rocks to the right. I was alsolucky enough to spot an octopus! Thisis NOT the best beach to lounge on, as there were yellow jackets (bees)everywhere! The crew placed a fewred buckets with fresh water in them along the dunes, but I don’t know how muchthat helped. My gear was crawlingwith them in the little time that I was at the mailbox. The ship strongly advised not to wearbright colors and to bring bug repellant. I would also recommend that you plan on spending most of your time inthe water or avoid altogether if you’re allergic. I know a few people did get stung.

 

The afternoon offered another deep water snorkelingexcursion and a nature walk. Theyrated the difficulty as High, due to strong currents in the water. I found this to be one of the mostrewarding times in the water due to several playful sea lions! Some of the guides were skilledfree-divers and the sea lions would follow them down and then back up. They seemed to have as much funinteracting with us as we did watching them. One of the pups favorite things seemed to be to swim at bereally fast, on his back, blow bubbles, and then veer off at the lastsecond! He also liked to open hismouth and show me his teeth! Thesea lion pups very much reminded me of playful puppies that like to getmouthy. I was able to get someincredible footage at this site! Additionally, the water was 74 degrees F, so a little cooler than it wasat our first few sites.

 

Later that day we had the chance to go for a one hour naturewalk, rated at “medium” difficulty. This was a wet landing onto a beach. I chose to wear Keen sandals that I could get wet in and wearfor the hike. Other than having alittle sand in my shoes (which I hate) the footwear worked out well. We were incredibly lucky to not onlyfind a blue-footed booby sitting on a rock next to the trail right off thebeach, but she was with her baby!!! He was almost as big as her but still just a big ball of white fluff! We were able to get quite close and taketons of pictures. Neither bird seemedto care that we were there!

 

The walk was really lovely over a wide variety ofterrain. Another highlight fromthis hike was spotting American Flamingos! We observed them in the lagoon and also flying which issomething I’ve never seen before! There was nice viewing platform over the lagoon that offered some greatviews. We then crossed to the otherside of the island (it wasn’t that far) and got to spend some time on the beachthere, which was gorgeous. Youcould even see the prints of baby turtles that had hatched and headed for theocean! So all in all, anotherfantastic day!

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Day 8

Thursday, July 12th

Cerro Dragon and LasBachas, Santa Cruz

 

My day started at 7:30 today hiking Cerro Dragon. This “exploration walk” lasted twohours and was rated as strenuous, but I didn’t find it that bad. It started off as another dry landingon lava rock, but didn’t involve too much climbing or too fast of a pace. We spotted more Sally Lightfoot crabs, marineiguanas, prickly pear cactus, and a lot different species of birds, including:black-necked stilts, great frigatebird, great blue heron, American flamingos,Darwin’s finches, and American oystercatchers. However, the main highlight was the Galapagos Land Iguanas! They are much larger than the marineiguanas and yellowish in color. Although not as easy to spot, we did find about a dozen on ourhike. Some were closer than othersso we were able to get some good photos. Interestingly, they dig burrows in the ground that are quite large.

 

After the hike I had just enough time to change clothes foran “Extreme Deep Water Snorkel” at Guy Fawkes, a popular dive site. The water was 73, beautifully clear,and with a strong current. Was itany worse than any of the other site? Eh… I didn’t think so. If you’re a strong swimmer and aconfident snorkeler it was totally fine. It was a bit of a ride out to the site, which is famous for its sea lionpopulations. The zodiacs droppedus in one spot and the current took us most of the way around the island. The highlight was all the sea lions inthe water. I thoroughly enjoyedthe time in the water, but I actually had better interactions with some of thesea lion pups on previous excursions. It was a beautiful location though.

 

The afternoon’s activity was leisure time at the beach withan optional nature hike. The hikewas short (only one hour) and peaceful, with the chance to see some more birdsand the remnants of an old iron shipwreck eroding on the sandy beach. Weather conditions had deteriorated abit by the time we were done with the hike, so my mom and I just a short swimto cool off before heading back to the ship. Snorkeling gear had been collected that morning, so unlessyou brought your own, that really wasn’t an option. I had heard they were going to bring some masks for guests,but I don’t know if anyone did. Wereally enjoyed watching 3 boobies circle the skies and dive into the ocean togetherto catch fish.

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Day 9

Friday, July 13th

Los Gemelos, PuertoAyora and the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center, Santa Cruz

 

Today’s itinerary included a trip to two pit cratersfollowed by a hike to view land tortoises in the wild. There was also an option to visit LavaJava Coffee plantation, and a guided tour of the Darwin Tortoise Breeding Center.

 

I had my heart set on scuba diving, so I actually went offon my own today. Javier, theExpedition Leader, arranged to have a zodiac for me at 6:45 in themorning. He personally took me tothe harbor, and then walked me to the dive shop in town. It was just across the street, but itwas nice to have someone bring me there. I wasn’t able to complete my registration online ahead of time, but hadno problem doing it in the shop. Iwent with a company called Nautilus Diving that Javier said would be ok. His first choice was a company calledScuba Iguana, but they weren’t going to Gordon Rocks and that was the site Iwanted to visit. Gordon Rocks is aworld famous dive site in the Galapagos, known for large schools of hammerheadsand other pelagic creatures.

 

So after I finished my paperwork at the shop, I expected tohead back out to a boat in the harbor. Nope! Their boat wasactually moored in Baltra, a 45 minute drive away! From there we hopped onto a zodiac and were driven to theirdive boat a few minutes away. Interestingly enough, it was a large sailboat. You could tell the boat was a little old, but it was niceenough. There were four berths,two heads, a small sitting area, a galley, and a large dining area. They provided us with ScubaPro BCD’s,regs&octos, 7mm wetsuit with hoods, boots, masks, fins, weights, andtanks. Once we had our gear allset, we could relax inside or out for the almost 2 hour trip to the dive site.

 

There were 10 divers total: 8 were certified and two weredoing a Discovery Scuba dive. Everyone seemed to be in their 20s or 30s, and were from all over theworld, including: United States,Canada, Chile, Korea, China, and Israel. There were two divemasters, and a couple of crew members. Only the head divemaster seemed tospeak English. He spent a lot oftime discussing the site and going over the plan. However, he said the plan could change depending on thecurrents. He separated us into twogroups based on certification level. Four divers went with him, and the other four went with the other guy.

 

Once at Gordon Rocks, we transferred to a zodiac. The guys moved all our gear for us,which was nice. We only had toboard with our mask, fins, and cameras if we had them. We suited up on the zodiac and wheneveryone was ready, did a back roll into the water at the same time. Almost immediately he had us descenddue to the rough water. The firstdive was 35 minutes and conditions were really challenging. The water was clear enough near thewalls, and there were a lot of fish at the shallower depths. Almost immediately we spotted a fewwhite tip reef sharks circling around. They were fairly large and seemed unconcerned that we were quiteclose. As we headed out anddropped even lower, we saw a HUGE Galapagos shark! He was easily 12 ft long, and stayed close enough so I couldget a video of him. We then headedinto the crater to try to spot the hammerheads. Conditions deteriorated rapidly. Visibility was pretty crappy away from the walls and makethe dive quite challenging. Atmost we had a murky 20-30 ft of visibility, which I guess it pretty poor forthere. I guess it can be a lotbetter. Our guide would spot stuffand then chase after it, so there was a lot of hard swimming and rapid depthchanges which I didn’t care for. We did spot a manta ray way off in the distance, and then finally thehammerheads! Every now and then wewould spot one alone, but mostly we saw them in large schools. Our max depth was 81 ft, and the divelasted 35 minutes. One of the guysended up sharing air with the divemaster because he ran out early.

 

We then had a surface interval of about 50 minutes. The cook brought up juice, a breadedappetizer of sorts, and chunks of hot chicken with a dipping sauce. Everything was really good,surprisingly. We then head backinto the water for our second dive. What I didn’t like was that they gave me someone else’s gear. When I hit the water I realized the regwas breathing funny. I signaledthe DM multiple times to surface but he ignored me. Not wanting to be left alone, I dove down to join the groupand signaled again that I was having a problem. He had me switch to the octo, and that worked better. The second dive was more of thesame. Tough conditions, low vis,but we were rewarded with a lot of hammerheads swimming by. We were never that close, which wasfine, but I wish the water had been more clear so I could have seen thembetter. Max depth was 88 ft, witha total dive time of 35 minutes again.

 

As a side note, I believe our divemaster brought the twoDiscovery Divers down during our surface interval. So that means he would have done three dives in a matter of2 ½ hours…. Not exactly safe. Anyway, they stayed near the wall were conditionswere better and were very excited to see a shark. However, if you are NOT a certified diver, I do NOTrecommend this dive site! I’m aRescue Diver with over 40 dives and I thought this was a very tough dive with alot of challenging factors.

 

After the dives we had a nice lunch on the boat. The cook served chicken pieces in asauce with onions, mushrooms, and green peppers. There was also white rice and a type of cold potato salad. I expected a boxed lunch, so this wasdefinitely a pleasant surprise. After the meal I asked me DM to sign my Log Book. He did, but then also gave me a surveyto hand out and an envelope that said Tips. Tacky…

 

We arrived back in Baltra at 3:15, and were in Puerto Ayoraby 4:00. I grabbed a taxi for$1.50 and headed over to the Darwin Research Center to see the tortoises. The drivers can only go so far, sothere was a long walk ahead after being dropped off. There was no fee to enter, nor a map or any explanation ofwhere to go or what to see. Presumably, all the cruise ship passengers received guided tours withthe ship’s naturalists. However, Imanaged to figure things out well enough to plenty of tortoises of all ages andsizes, a land iguana, and the taxidermied remains of poor “Lonesome George”,the last known tortoise of his species. I even managed to hit a couple of gift shops before heading back. I was able to get a cab back to theirpier and was on the ship by 5:45. There were sea lions all over the pier, and I even watched a pup nurseon her mom who was fast asleep!

 

So all in all, a very long day, but I was happy I got todive and see the turtles! When Igot back all I wanted to do was shower, eat dinner, and pack. I skipped the final goodbye toast andviewing of the DVD. We bought it,so I can watch it at home. My momand I were the first ones in the restaurant and got a nice head start oneveryone.

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Thanks for the reports!

 

My friend and her boyfriend (both 40-somethings) are going on Silver Galapagos this year. They live in California, Silicon Valley, where dress is so casual, lots of jeans and T-shirts. She says her boyfriend owns no slacks other than jeans. I told her about the official Silversea dress code, but I'm wondering, is dinner dress in the Galapagos just as strict as on other ships and on other itineraries? In other words, would a button-down shirt, nice shoes and jeans work in the restaurant or get you kicked out? I will pass on advice from those who have done this cruise. (I've already told her to buy him some khakis!) Thanks.

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We are so enjoying your report. Can you please tell me what kind of camera equipment you are using? Many thanks.

 

Yes, I'd like to ask this as well, especially about lenses. I'm thinking that you don't need a big telephoto for the Galapagos as the wildlife is so friendly.

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Day 10

Saturday, July 14th

Disembarkation inBaltra

 

It’s always sad when a trip comes to at the end, and thishas truly been an incredible week filled with so many wonderful memories. Breakfast was served from 6:30 – 8:30as usual, though we had to be out of our cabins by 7:30. Many guests chose to stay in theircabins until the last minute and then go down to breakfast at 7:30. The restaurant was busy, but everyonewas able to find a seat that wanted one. Disembarkation began at 9:30, so most guests spent the remainder oftheir time onboard in the Explorer Lounge or upstairs in piano bar.

 

Our luggage had been collected the night before, so all wehad was our carry-ons. Amazingly,our favorite waiter that we had met on the airplane and who had carried ourbags for us in the airport, was there to take our bags down the stairs to thezodiacs! Once we disembarked inBaltra, we got to say goodbye to our lifejackets for the last time! Yay! A short bus ride brought us to the airport where wecollected or luggage and went through the whole process of checking in for ourflights. I had to pay for mysecond suitcase and it took a while due to super slow internet connection forthe credit card reader. They mighthave been using a dial up modem, but I’m not positive…. ;-)

 

Once we were through security and all the other fun stuffthat you get to do at an airport, we had time to go shopping! There were a lot of gift shops right inthe terminal so I was able to make up for 7 days of not being able to buyanything. I noticed a VIP loungethat Celebrity guests had access to, but not us…. Hmmm….. are you paying attention Silversea? Boarding was a big free for all. The luggage police were out again,looking for oversized carry-ons. Once our tickets were scanned we had to walk outside a ways to theairplane and climb up the stairs to board. It was loud. The flight to Guayaquil was a couple of hours I think. I slept through it.

 

After landing in Guayaquil we had to collect our luggage andbring it with us to the hotel. Silversea had reserved day rooms for us at Hotel Oro Verde. Holy moly, what a hotel! After some confusion over whichelevators to take, my mom and our found our room on the 4th floor inthe Towers. It was an ENORMOUSsuite!!! We had a living room witha desk, couch, and chairs. Abedroom with two queen-sized beds, two flat-screen TVs, a large guest bathroomwith toilet and sink, a master bathroom was a huge walk-in shower, toilet area,double sinks, and a large walk in closet. It was spectacular. My onlycomplaint was that we where only go to be there for a few hours.

 

We had a nice late lunch/early dinner in the hotel’srestaurant downstairs, and then went up back up to the suite to relax. Our flight home was aroundmidnight. The airport was modernand very nice, but a lot of the food places were closed due to the latehour. Eventually we boarded forthe 4 ½ hour journey back to Miami. Once at Miami we had to collect our luggage AGAIN, and go throughcustoms. By the time we did allthat and walked about a mile through the airport our flight to Boston was alreadyboarding. Three hours later welanded at Logan and picked up our luggage for the last time. Luckily, we still had everything! So about 24 hours after we left theship we were arriving home.

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We are so enjoying your report. Can you please tell me what kind of camera equipment you are using?

 

Many thanks.

 

Sure! I have a GoPro with dive housing for my underwater shots, and a Canon PowerShot (point and click) style camera with 18x optical zoom for everything else. Since everything is so close you really don't need a huge telephoto lens. If you have one, and love it, and don't mind packing it, go ahead and bring it. Otherwise, it's not something you need to buy or bring for this trip.

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Thanks for the reports!

 

My friend and her boyfriend (both 40-somethings) are going on Silver Galapagos this year. They live in California, Silicon Valley, where dress is so casual, lots of jeans and T-shirts. She says her boyfriend owns no slacks other than jeans. I told her about the official Silversea dress code, but I'm wondering, is dinner dress in the Galapagos just as strict as on other ships and on other itineraries? In other words, would a button-down shirt, nice shoes and jeans work in the restaurant or get you kicked out? I will pass on advice from those who have done this cruise. (I've already told her to buy him some khakis!) Thanks.

 

Hi Erica! Great question! I'm planning to do another post soon about what to pack and what not to pack. This is my first cruise with Silversea, but I was told that dinner attire is much more casual than on their other ships. However, they mentioned every single day in the newsletter that the evening dress code is casual, but NO JEANS and NO SHORTS. Most people were dressed nicely, but not too fancy. I brought two dresses but wished I hadn't bothered. Also looking at the way it was worded, this dress code seems to be for the entire ship at night, not just the restaurants. I'd tell your friend that he should get a real pair of pants to bring! :):): )

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Thanks for this. I'm doing the trip in reverse, but not until 2020. My first time on Silversea too. The cost for a solo traveller from the UK for 9 nights is about half what my 106 night world cruise in 2013 cost!

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Thanks for the information on the cameras.

 

When you post about what to bring, could you also please mention the size of luggage that is allowed.

 

Thanks again for such a wonderful trip report. I am going to print it out so we can refer to it before our trip.

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Dear WTP, thank you so much for doing this LIVE report. I am thinking of doing this cruise on SS in the next couple of years - either with my husband or daughter (or maybe both?) and you have provided so much delightful detail! When I go on a cruise, I often try to provide an update, but it takes so much time to do, so ends up being kinda half-a$$ed! I just want you to know how much your efforts are appreciated - you have done a wonderful blow-by-blow account that will benefit so many people. Thanks again!

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HI WTP. Fantastic posts with so much information to plan with! I loved that you gave information on the other options even though you didn't take them. Your dive on the final day sounded amazing.

 

One question I had for you and everyone else that has been on the Silver Galapagos. I noticed in the brochure that it mentions "Laundry Service". What is this and how much does it cost? The reason I ask is that our vacation is split in half with the Galapagos on the front end and then another 8 days on the backside in Peru. In an effort to keep my partner from over-packing, I was wondering if it wasn't too expensive to get undergarments, polo shirts, and chinos laundered on board. That way we can lower the packing by at least 1/3...

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In an effort to keep my partner from over-packing, I was wondering if it wasn't too expensive to get undergarments, polo shirts, and chinos laundered on board.
Define expensive Spree. This way folks can let you know. To us, laundry is very expensive which is why we do our own onboard ourselves.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Define expensive Spree. This way folks can let you know. To us, laundry is very expensive which is why we do our own onboard ourselves.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

$50/bag isn't bad. $2-3 for a piece of underclothing or a pair socks would be reasonable. $4-5 for a polo shirt or a pair of pants would be reasonable. I'm looking at this compared carrying extra luggage and the cost and hassle of that. Thanks.

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$50/bag isn't bad. $2-3 for a piece of underclothing or a pair socks would be reasonable. $4-5 for a polo shirt or a pair of pants would be reasonable. I'm looking at this compared carrying extra luggage and the cost and hassle of that. Thanks.

 

We sent our laundry out several times on board, and it was not outrageously expensive. Usually got it back the same day. You cannot do your own laundry on this ship unless you want to try washing things in the tiny bathroom sink, so this for us was the only reasonable option. A good use of onboard credit if you have that.

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HI WTP. Fantastic posts with so much information to plan with! I loved that you gave information on the other options even though you didn't take them. Your dive on the final day sounded amazing.

 

One question I had for you and everyone else that has been on the Silver Galapagos. I noticed in the brochure that it mentions "Laundry Service". What is this and how much does it cost? The reason I ask is that our vacation is split in half with the Galapagos on the front end and then another 8 days on the backside in Peru. In an effort to keep my partner from over-packing, I was wondering if it wasn't too expensive to get undergarments, polo shirts, and chinos laundered on board. That way we can lower the packing by at least 1/3...

 

Sorry, but I don't know how much laundry was. I know it cost me $30 each way for a second suitcase...

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