Galapagos national parks fee when cruise only & increase in fee

[catspaw1]

Hi all,  The Galapagos has increased their national park fee from $100 to $200 PP effective this August, 2024. We booked already for June 2025 but no one is grandfathered with the new fees so be aware.

 

Also, final payment is 150 days before the cruise & not the normal 90 days so that makes a huge difference.

 

We are doing the cruise only (Celebrity was a lot more expensive for the 10 day than what we can do on our own. We can stay at the Marriott redeeming points for free so didn't need their hotel portion - plus you don't get points or nightly credits for going with Celebrity. We also have use of the Concierge lounge as a lifetime titanium. The only thing Celebrity did was have the flights included in the price but we decided to just fly to Baltra early & chill for a few days before starting the cruise. Celebrity would not let us pay for the flight to Baltra only. We have a private guide a friend used a few years ago that we will use for a tour. We were not interested in the group tour or lunch as we would rather do it on our own).

 

Anyway, the national parks fee has to be paid upon entry at the airport. Celebrity gave us a letter indicating this was already paid with our cruise but I am anticipating problems with customs on this since we are not on the Celebrity chartered flight.

 

Has any cruise only passengers been asked to pay the national park fee at Baltra when Celebrity said it was included in our cruise price?

 

FYI the Galapagos requires mandatory medical evacuation insurance. Costco had the best insurance prices even though we purchased the trip through a TA.