Language
English
Spanish
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84%
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent
We have a rather lengthy story to tell you and I hope there is adequate space here to tell it. In a kind word, our trip was disappointing. More realistically, it was pathetic. Please allow me to explain. It all started fairly innocently. ..Instead of a direct flight to Galapagos, we were booked on a flight that stopped in Guayaquil, so our flight was even longer. We were not aware of that, but we did finally arrive at the Baltra airport. We arrived at Baltra and a guide met us, then immediately turned us over to a different guide. In fact, we had SEVERAL guides that day so we were constantly shuttled from guide to guide. We soon lost track of who we were supposed to be following. We then went on a short tour of some of Santa Cruz and headed for our hotel. But instead of the Ninfa, we were told that they had a "bug problem", so we would be going to a different hotel. It was supposed to be an equivalent and we should have expected trouble was ahead when we saw it. (If you are familiar with U.S. hotels, I would place that hotel one step down from a Motel 6.) It was the Santa Fe, which had no phone, limited desk attendance, no eating facility and limited services overall.When we challenged our guide on this change, he promised that we would be transferred to a "suite" at the Ninfa for our final two nights. But we chose to make the best of a bad situation. Next morning, instead of being picked up for our daily tour, we were met by a ******* a bicycle and told to follow her on foot. We walked several blocks to a tour office, then more walking to the boat. Again, we had multiple people identified as our guides. As a side note, when we signed up for this particular tour, we told your on-line people that we were not big-time snorkeler or scuba people, and would like to see more of the land-based activities, especially some to the animals that were supposed to be found no place else. "No problem", I was told, "just mention this to your guide". When I did so, our guides had no other options for us. As we soon found out, this tour was almost exclusively for "water people" and we spent most of our time on boats. When our tour ended, (to Santa Fe Island), our guide disappeared as soon as we came ashore, so we had no idea what was going on. We managed on our own, but it was disconcerting to say the least. Our luggage was to be transferred to the new hotel next morning to the Ninfa, and we had no idea where the Ninfa was located. When that day's tour ended, our guide, once again, was no where to be found. We went back to that tour office and they helped us get to the hotel. To say that we got a "suite" was a tremendous overstatement. I might view it as an upgrade to a Motel 8, but, that was hardly a "suite"! Mold in the bathroom, broken light fixtures, live and dead beetles inside the room and, in general, poorly maintained. Front desk attendants knew very little about pick up times, and we struggled to get information on when, and where, we were to meet our guide. We had no cell phone, so we needed verbal instructions, which were, quite honestly, non-existent. In general, we did not get much out of this tour package. It did not meet our requests nor our expectations. Guides came and went, and left us as soon as we returned from the daily "tour", leaving us basically on our own. Lunches that were supposed to be part of our package were not provide (one "lunch" was on a boat. It was OK, but not what we expected). On another day, we were abandoned by the guide and ended up up buying our own lunch, and one other day, the guide put us on a truck with others without telling the driver where to take us for lunch, not did we have any idea what was next on the agenda, nor how to get back to the boat. We, again, had to rely on the goodness of a travel nearby agency to help us get it all sorted out. It really seemed as if those of us who were "day-trippers" were mostly ignored and.or forgotten. If water events were not of interest, there was way too much "down time". Lot's of boat rides, but little else, and we paid far too much for boat rides. Yes, we saw turtles (over and over and over), but nothing of the birds and other wildlife so prominent in all the literature about Galapagos. Tour guides changed way too often and we were constantly with new groups pf people, not with others who had booked the same tour we did. Many of those multiple tour guides were not easy to understand and we just felt like numbers to be run through the process, not valued customers. Only once did a guide "count noses" to make sure he/she still had the right number of people. And, as older customers, we could not run at a rapid rate, but there was no attempt to assist or even slow up a little bit, i.e., there was no leadership. We were not made aware that there were constant demands for payments of money and, as mentioned, we even had to pay for our own lunches a couple of times. Information regarding the various trips was sketchy, at best, so we were never certain what was entailed. In summary, our trip did not measure up to it's billing and we paid far more than this tour was worth. There was too much concern for the few animals we saw and too little for the people. We have no problem with conservation and avoidance of waste, but this experience was carried to the extreme in that regard. If I thought anyone cared, I would ask for a refund of the cost of this package in total. It was not worth the price and came no where near our expectations, nor its advertising. Gerry and Carole Witt Read full review
The great service we received is worth mentioning, it allowed us just to concentrate in enjoying the unique visits sites on the islands
Our guide was really helpful always giving good answers to our questions, the room we stayed in was clean and confortable.
thanks for a wonderful experience, we really enjoyed our stay in the galapapagos islands
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