Silver Galapagos mini report

[red4lisa]

Wow, thanks for the review! This cruise is on my wish list!

[taxare]

On 5/24/2019 at 7:03 PM, mommamd said:

Great tips! I am booked for November so love your review; how much snorkeling and swimming are included in the excursions? For example, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, per half day or more?  I am planning to start lap swimming this week to build up my swimming endurance.  Is being a strong swimmer recommended or can you be a medium swimmer (LOL).

We had three beach snorkeling and three zodiac snorkeling opportunities. Most of the time a medium swimmer is fine, but it depends on how rough the water is that day. We were very lucky and had very calm waters except for a half day when it was bumpy and a bit of a challenge getting in/out of the zodiacs. The zodiac trips were generally an hour, so figure 30-40 minutes of snorkeling.

[MBP&O2/O]

Are the snorkelling trips part and parcel of the daily activities ... if that makes sense .... or are they optional. I am concerned as Mrs. B does not swim if she can help it. I presume there are other options? 

[RachelG]

4 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Are the snorkelling trips part and parcel of the daily activities ... if that makes sense .... or are they optional. I am concerned as Mrs. B does not swim if she can help it. I presume there are other options? 

I don’t like swimming in ocean water.  There is plenty to do without snorkeling.  The snorkeling is just an additional option.

[taxare]

As Rachel said it is one of many options each day. I believe most passengers attended the excursion briefings that are right before dinner. They go over each of the next days excursions and explain how strenuous they are (and how early you need to get up). For example at the same island, there could be a short hike or a longer more strenuous  hike. You may choose to go kayaking or go to the beach, etc. Since certain activities, e.g. kayaking, have a limited capacity they also have signup sheets after the briefing.

[MBP&O2/O]

Thanks for the replies ... they answer other questions as well. 

My cruise calendar is fully booked at the moment so I am looking for 2021 with a view to making an onboard booking whilst on the Shadow in October, by which time the itineraries should be reflecting the Silver Origin?

[wendy_woo]

Hi, great to have found this post!  We are on the May 2020 cruise, I have a couple of questions:

 

Do they offer Scuba dives from the ship?  If so did anyone do them?

 

How did you get there?!!  We have booked a 7 day private tour through Ecuador at the end of the cruise, starting in Guayacal and ending in Quito, we are flying from Auckland New Zealand and as others have written it can take a long time to get there! 

 

Would anyone consider going through Bogota, Columbia, sounds dangerous but looks like its our fastest route?

 

I don’t see a roll call for our trip but its early still, thanks in advance for any help out there!

[Fletcher]

4 hours ago, wendy_woo said:

Hi, great to have found this post!  We are on the May 2020 cruise, I have a couple of questions:

 

Do they offer Scuba dives from the ship?  If so did anyone do them?

 

How did you get there?!!  We have booked a 7 day private tour through Ecuador at the end of the cruise, starting in Guayacal and ending in Quito, we are flying from Auckland New Zealand and as others have written it can take a long time to get there! 

 

Would anyone consider going through Bogota, Columbia, sounds dangerous but looks like its our fastest route?

 

I don’t see a roll call for our trip but its early still, thanks in advance for any help out there!

 

We were on the Silver Galapagos earlier this year and did just over a week in two lodges in Ecuador - Sacha Lodge in Amazonia and Mashpi in a private cloud forest reserve near to Quito.  In Guayaquil I'd urge you to stay at the Hotel del Parque - the nicest of all the 11 hotels we stayed at on our trip.  

 

Before Ecuador we stayed four nights down on the Peruvian coast at Paracas and saw more birds in 30 seconds than we did in a week in Galapagos.  And after the cruise we flew from Guayaquil to Cartegena via Bogota.  The airport at Bogota is surprisingly vast and the transfer from international to domestic was the proverbial nightmare.  Next time I'd take advantage of one of the Four Seasons hotels in Bogota and stay a night or two.  The days of open warfare on the streets are long gone.

[ejsnyc]

Hi.  We (me, husband and 11 y/o son) are sailing on Silver Galapagos in March and received an offer today to upgrade from Veranda Suite 5th deck to Silver Suite 6th deck for $2,500 extra total.  Does anyone have any insight on whether this is a good deal and we should take it - especially with three to a cabin.  Thanks.

[Lirio]

On 8/3/2019 at 10:13 PM, wendy_woo said:

Hi, great to have found this post!  We are on the May 2020 cruise, I have a couple of questions:

 

Do they offer Scuba dives from the ship?  If so did anyone do them?

 

How did you get there?!!  We have booked a 7 day private tour through Ecuador at the end of the cruise, starting in Guayacal and ending in Quito, we are flying from Auckland New Zealand and as others have written it can take a long time to get there! 

 

Would anyone consider going through Bogota, Columbia, sounds dangerous but looks like its our fastest route?

 

I don’t see a roll call for our trip but its early still, thanks in advance for any help out there!

 

I believe the best way to fly from NZ to Ecuador is by ANZ or Latam. ANZ flies with a stop in Buenos Aires (Argentina)  to several cities in Latin America ( I am not sure about Quito or Guayaquil) and Latam, with stop in Santiago (chile), flyies to Quito and Quayaquil, but it is easy to arrive in Quayaquil (we did that). I know that because my daughter lives in Auckland and we live in Rio de Janeiro and that’s the way we come and go from Brazil to NZ.

 

When we went to Galapagos (July 2018) no scuba diving was offered by the Silversea. I went to Bogota and Cartagena in 2017 and was safe enough. The Gold Museum of Bogota is the best I have ever seen.

[wendy_woo]

We are finally running up to our cruise to the Galapagos, May 28th Departure, no-one else is going as we are the only ones on the Roll call!  We are flying Auckland NZ to Santiago, overnight then to Lima and on to Quito, should be there by the afternoon!  Coming back we have gone for a private 7 day tour from Guayacil up to Quito then direct flight Quito to Santiago, 7 hours layover in the airport.

 

I am an ex-scuba diver and love snorkelling, my husband likes it but not as enthusiastic, could we split up and take one of the hikes or just take the zodiac for viewing whilst I am snorkelling? Has anyone else done this?

 

 

[besberry]

17 hours ago, wendy_woo said:

We are finally running up to our cruise to the Galapagos, May 28th Departure, no-one else is going as we are the only ones on the Roll call!  We are flying Auckland NZ to Santiago, overnight then to Lima and on to Quito, should be there by the afternoon!  Coming back we have gone for a private 7 day tour from Guayacil up to Quito then direct flight Quito to Santiago, 7 hours layover in the airport.

 

I am an ex-scuba diver and love snorkelling, my husband likes it but not as enthusiastic, could we split up and take one of the hikes or just take the zodiac for viewing whilst I am snorkelling? Has anyone else done this?

 

 

I'm the only one on my cruise next week!  I looked to see if there were any cabins free and they're all waitlisted, so I guess the other 98 people don't want to talk here on CC!

[caradara]

We have not taken Silversea to the Galapagos but we have been there and we have been on the Explorer several times and other lines.  One of the pleasures of cruising is that we can each take a different excursion and meet back afterwards.  We're not alone as we're part of a group and we can follow our different interests when they occur.  No problem if you snorkel and your husband hikes.

[Lirio]

On 2/7/2020 at 7:26 PM, wendy_woo said:

We are finally running up to our cruise to the Galapagos, May 28th Departure, no-one else is going as we are the only ones on the Roll call!  We are flying Auckland NZ to Santiago, overnight then to Lima and on to Quito, should be there by the afternoon!  Coming back we have gone for a private 7 day tour from Guayacil up to Quito then direct flight Quito to Santiago, 7 hours layover in the airport.

 

I am an ex-scuba diver and love snorkelling, my husband likes it but not as enthusiastic, could we split up and take one of the hikes or just take the zodiac for viewing whilst I am snorkelling? Has anyone else done this?

 

 

My husband did all possible snorkelling and I did all hikes and zodiac hides. We always had 2 options. 

[tsavorite]

If I recall correctly, there were three major snorkelling opportunities on the Western itinerary.  Two of the three were set up so that less strong swimmers/inexperienced snorkellers could enjoy the unmissable experience as well as those who were more accustomed to it.  And as those included swimming with turtles and sealions, they are one of the core Galapagos experiences.  Only the third one was more challenging, with a long distance in a strong current, and as that one included swimming with penguins.  'Gentle' hikes were generally offered to all passengers, but where they were a little more strenuous, that was made clear, and other options were available.  The only possible issue is the kayaking, which has to be limited by numbers.  I think everyone who wanted to kayak on our cruise did manage it each time it was on offer, but it is possible that there might be over subscription.  And the conditions mean that kayaking is almost always possible.