For some bucket list vacations, there are not many variables. If you’re planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands, however, you could quickly become overwhelmed and want to throw up your hands. While the itineraries are regulated and only involve a few options, the ways to experience a Galapagos luxury cruise are almost as numerous as the number of species on the islands.
Ships must be approved and licensed to operate in this fragile environment way off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific. Slots are limited and valuable and if one owner doesn’t meet the requirements for renewal, someone else will be ready to take their place. There are currently 70 ships operating routes here and only some of them are in the same area the same day, thanks to how the itineraries are regulated, so you’re going to have a fine experience without overcrowding no matter what.
We do recommend that most travelers choose a small ship cruise rather than a land-based tour, partly because it’s better for the environment and partly because you get much further away from the population centers. You can’t get to the far side of some islands at all if you’re only taking day trips and returning to land.
For luxury travelers, there are several branches on the decision tree, starting with the trade-off over privacy/intimacy and facilities. Some agencies operating in the area, like Voyagers Travel, offer a wide variety of different ships on their website so you can compare the advantages, the layout, and the prices. Here’s our rundown of the different types of ships you can book a cabin in, however, so you can eliminate a few of the possibilities to narrow down your search.
Luxury Yachts and Catamarans in the Galapagos
Yachts carrying a limited number of passengers make up the majority of the options for a Galapagos luxury tour. These have several advantages over larger ships, a primary one being that they are good candidates for a complete buy-out. Families and small groups will often rent out a whole ship and have it to themselves since these luxury yachts and catamarans hold between 10 and 16 passengers.
Even if you’re not buying out the whole boat, these small ships tend to be good for families since it’s easy to keep an eye on the kids, the chef can easily modify dishes for the limited number of passengers, and these often have cabins with another bed or some kind of connecting room set-up. Or your family may have the whole floor or ship section together.
Service tends to be about as good as it can get on these intimate vessels and every member of the crew will know your name. You will also get to know the other guests and it’s not an overwhelming task to remember the names of everyone you haven’t met before. I’ve been on two ships like this and we’ve published articles on others in this category, like this story from when I was on the Ocean Spray.
A few of these are even sailing vessels, like the Mary Anne and the Nemo III. Just be advised that they won’t use the sails very often in reality: the schedule is too tight to take chances on not reaching the next island in time.
There’s one other advantage that you wouldn’t think about unless you compared it to the experience on a large cruise ship: everyone on board can go ashore at the same time. Zodiacs generally hold a maximum of 8-10 people and there’s supposed to be one guide for 16 people. So on the large ships there’s a long time spent trying to stagger everyone’s visit on every single excursion, but not with these small yachts and catamarans.
These ships give you more flexibility for side activities like snorkeling, paddleboarding, kayaking, or fishing. Or if you want to go for a swim, you just jump off the side when the boat is anchored. I think when I went on my last trip we went snorkeling almost every day. It was not a big hassle for the crew when coordinating only 14 people max.
Luxury small ships of this type include the Aqua Mare, Galaxy Sirius, Passion, Ocean Spray, Hermes, Delfina, and Endemic.
Mid-sized Ships of 18 to 48 Passengers
The middle range of ships in the Galapagos tend to host 18 to 48 passengers. After that the capacity nearly doubles: there’s not much available with a capacity between 50 and 90.
When you choose a vessel in this range, you tend to get more public facilities and more room to spread out, with some of these ships squeezing in a gym, for example, and having a larger bar/lounge area. The crew members will be more specialized instead of being jacks of all trades and there will be two or three naturalists on board instead of one. Some of these ships have a stabilizer, an advantage over the smaller yachts for those prone to seasickness.
You still get a relatively intimate experience, however, and you don’t have quite such long wait times for your shuttle to the shore as you would with the larger ships below. Most of these have a whirlpool on deck.
Ships of this type plying the islands include the Grace (18 pax) Celebrity Xpedition (48); Origin (20); Evolution (32), National Geographic Islander and Gemini (each 48); and Isabela II (40).
The Largest Cruise Ships in the Galapagos
Although a cruise ship holding 100 people in 50 cabins would be considered tiny for ocean traveling vessels and that’s smaller than many river cruise boats, in the Galapagos Islands it’s the largest one you can travel on. The Celebrity Flora is the longest and holds 100 passengers max.
There’s a cap on how big they can be here, partly to keep the crowds down and partly because of the limits for how many passengers can disembark on the islands at one time. The larger the ship, the more trips it takes to stagger the crowds and stay under the limits. There are also some bays that will easily accommodate the luxury yachts and they can spend the night there, but these large vessels are excluded.
The advantages of these ships can be worth the trade-off for many passengers though thanks to more varied amenities, more cabin type choices, and more stability on rough seas compared to the smaller vessels. They simply have more room to fit in cabins like these that you can upgrade to on the Silver Origin:
Ships of this type include the Galapagos Legend (100 pax), Celebrity Flora (100), National Geographic Endeavor (98), Silver Origin (98), and Santa Cruz II (90).
Practicalities on a Galapagos Cruise
There are a few other items that will influence your vacation choices when booking a Galapagos Cruise ship of any size.
First off, there’s the length of the journey. The first time I went for seven nights, the second time for four. While the second one was fine and we still saw a lot of wildlife, I found the landscapes to be more interesting at some of the outer locations you don’t have time to get to on a shorter cruise. Plus we saw different animals up close.
If time is limited, take a shorter one, but then you’ll mostly be hitting the common sites everyone does, including the day trippers staying on land.
If there are certain animals or places you want to see, pay close attention to the day-by-day itinerary of the voyages you are considering. The itineraries are tightly regulated in this protected marine reserve, but they hit different areas in order to disperse the crowds. There are 19 islands in all and no cruise gets to all of them. So if your heart is set on seeing a short-eared owl or penguins but you’re not going to the right islands for those, keep searching for other options.
The time of year you go here isn’t about high season and low season really. You’re close to the equator so it’s mostly a matter of moisture and water temperature (if you’re snorkeling or diving). In the driest times you can probably leave the raincoat at home, though you’ll still need a windbreaker at least. Some months you may be able to snorkel without a wetsuit if you’re hearty, at other times when the tides are running north from Antarctica you’ll definitely need one.
Last, know what your budget is and understand that a Galapagos luxury cruise is going to be a splurge: somewhere between $4,000 for a short cruise to more than $12,000 for a longer one on the most luxurious vessels. Extra if you get a suite. So splurge on the ship that looks right to you and the cabin where you’ll be sleeping if that’s important.
The cheapest ship and the most expensive are both going to visit similar places and you’ll have a great experience on land regardless since there must be one naturalist for every 16 passengers. What differentiates a luxury ship from a standard tourist one is the level of service, the comfort of the public facilities and cabins, and the quality of the food and drink included.
Speaking of food and drink, all these options are all-inclusive or close to it. The only asterisk on the price might be that alcohol is not included or if it is, you have to pay extra for premium wine and the like. Massages and other optional services will be extra.
To see some sample prices for Galapagos cruises, follow that link and start exploring.
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