Avalon Santa Cruz to Galapagos 3/10

[Bimmer babe]

My husband and I are going on this land tour/cruise, and I wonder if anyone else has been on this trip? Comments/advice?:confused:

[dpump]

Haven't been on the ship, but we just returned from the Galapagos Islands. Email me with your questions, I can at least help a little.

 

dpump@aol.com

[NJ Gal]

We were on this ship in '04 before it was owned by Avalon. The trip to the Galapogos was absolutely wonderful. I imagine that Avalon did some upgrading. The outside was not great, but the inside was just fine. There weren't any elevators. Our cabin was on the lower deck so we did have noise from equipment. It was probably the smallest cabin that we have ever had, but worked just fine as we were there only to sleep and shower. The food was just wonderful. Everything is casual. All you need will be bathing suits & t-shirts for the day. Throw in a couple of pairs of shorts. In the evenings, I wore capris with a nice shirt. I took all old t-shirts for the days and threw most of them away instead of bringing them home. Make sure that you either have Tevas or a pair of old sneakers for the wet landings on the islands. We had both wet and dry landings & found some of the dry ones even more difficult. Take a good hat, sunscreen, bug repellent, a backpack to carry things & your camera.

It should be a trip of a lifetime. Enjoy!!!

[Bigmare]

Myself with 5 friends are going on the Santa Cruz in April 2010. Will look for other posts. I know Avalon has done considerable upgrading including a hot tub on the upper sun deck. We are combining this with Machu Pichu and the Amazon extension. Really looking forward to it.

[Bimmer babe]

Regarding the flooding/road washouts in MP, we haven't heard from Avalon yet as to whether our cruise/land tour is still on. It must have been horrible for all those tourists who were stranded for several days in MP with no way out. Horrible that 5 died. :(

 

Thanks, NJ Girl, for your insights. :)