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I just got back from Galapagos which was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I have traveled to more than 50 countries but I can say this trip was in my top 3 trips ever. I used www.lastminutegalapagosdeals.com and they were amazing. As an experienced travel, I contacted approx 30 different sites to compare boats and prices and Last Minute Galapago (LMG) s was the best on all fronts. I do not usually use other people to book my trips and prefer to go direct but Galapagos is a different type of trip and I found it best if not the only option to go through a vendor. LMG responded promptly and with the best price. I actually used their price and contacted about 5 other vendors I was communicating with to see if they could match or beat the price and NO ONE could. About the Galapagos. Do your research before you go. After coming back and talking about one of the most amazing trips I have ever had, I hear more from people how disappointed their galapagos trip was. 1.) a cruise is the best way to see the galapagos. AND you will need minimum 5 day cruise but one week trips are the best. 2.) Within one week trip you will not see everything. You have to choose either West island trip or east/north island trip. I did a lot of research and knew I wanted to go to the west islands (youngest islands). I met several people that have done both trips and everyone I met agreed that they enjoyed the west island the best... But I sure there are several people out there that would disagree. (if you have 2 weeks you can do both) 3.) Time of year. I say do some research so you can see what you are most interested in. I choose September which ended up being a really good time. We saw hundreds of baby animals. Also which year you go matters. I did not know this before I went but El Nino has a huge effect on the animal population. Best year to go is the year before El Nino (happens about every 7 years). El Nino brings in warmer water that kills off a lot of fish which will kill of the sea lions and bird which kills off may other animals. Not sure if it is true or not but I hear HALF the animals die off during El Nino and the islands are most populated the year right before. But note that the water if VERY cold for snorkeling this time of year, Bring a wetsuits. With regard to price for a cruise. Basically you get what you pay for. There is several crappy boats and tours in the galapagos. I chose the boat Eden and I really enjoyed it. This boat if you book 4 - 6 months in advance is approx $2000 - 2400 per person for a week. Maybe more on peak time of the year. If you roll the dice and wait one month or less before you go, you can get some great deals. Not sure the details because with my work I needed to plan ahead. Contact Last Minute Galapagos and they can find the right boat within your budget.
Melissa Kenlay
Date of Cruise: February 24th to February 28th 2014 Cruise: La Pinta, luxury yacht. Luckily we fully recovered the next day and were able to travel and enjoy the cruise in february 10th. The cruise La Pinta exceeded our expectations, both the boat and the beauty of Galapagos islands. Thank you so much for organising. We will recommend you to our friends. Regards,
Natalia Avdeeva
Date of Cruise: March 18th to March 28th 2014 Cruise: Anahi, luxury catamaran. I would like to thank you for arranging our trip of a lifetime.. It was unbelievable We really did not know what to expect%u2026 We had heard about the Galapagos but did not realize how beautiful and interesting it was the animals and landscape was absolutely spectacular I took 1800 pictures if you can believe it. The Anahi was a wonderful, comfortable and enjoyable catamaran to be on. We found the bedrooms to be extremely roomy and the public areas (decks and lounge areas) to be usable and friendly. The food was great. We do not know how the chef (Carlos) managed to prepare different meals and desserts every night in that small galley area. But he did and surprised us every night with two different selections. He had fish every night and each night he alternated with pork, beef and chicken and all were prepared differently every night. He also had different salads and vegetables every night and a variety of desserts. We liked the way you could order scrambled eggs or an omelet every morning and the fruits were fresh and delicious every day The schedule on the 11 day 10 night was so varied and interesting. I am so glad we chose the longer one as I am sure it was a once in a life time trip and covered so many islands. We hiked either once or twice a day and snorkeled either once or twice a day. Snorkeling was spectacular. I never thought I would be snorkeling with sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, fish and even an iguana. It was so exciting every time someone saw an animal they would yell sea lion or shark or whatever animal it was and everyone would swim over to get a look. And the birds. They did not even move when you came close to them. And not to forget the turtles and iguanas. They were magnificent. As you can tell we have not as yet come down from the excitement of the trip. We did not experience any altitude problem in Quito. We were worried about it But no problem at all. Thank you again.
Carol Perlmutter
Date of Cruise: June 22th to 30th 2013. Thank you for organising such a wonderful trip for us ,to Quito & Galapagos isl , both Tania & Jorge were very informative & helpful . We thought the ship Santa Cruise was overpriced & outdated ,however the food , staff & guides were excellent . the wonderful wild life that we saw up close in natural wild surroundings made it a holiday of a lifetime. Thank you both for all you did to make our holiday amazing!
Federico Parentti
I booked my cruise through Last Minute Galapagos Deals. Good service. I had the best vacations of my life. I went with my wife it was our honey moon present. We went in a Humbolt Explorer. We dove Darwin and Wolf. Words can describe the beauty of this islands. Thank you so much Tania Haws. I will defenitely recommend you to my family and friends. Ho prenotato con Last Minute Galapagos Deals per una crociera sub alle Galapagos....
Federico Mantegazzi
Hi Tania! Thank you, we are all very much. Cruise was wonderful! You help us a lot with a profesional service. Ecuador is beautiful!
Antonina Arakelova
We booked through lastminutegalapagosdeals.com. The boat was well represented on their website - we got what we expected. Small room, but you really only sleep there anyway. The common areas were nice - especially the top deck. The crew and food was fantastic. We only had 10 people on our trip, so it was a great experience. The guide on our trip was an independent guide on his first boat tour (he had only day tour experience before this) - I would say that was the only downfall. He didn't really have more information than I had read in guide books, but he was good at spotting things and pointing them out quickly. His english was very good. Daily life on the boat was: Breakfast at 7am; depart 8am for a hike or snorkle; return around 11am; lunch at noon; rest; depart at 2ish for a hike or snorkle; return around 5pm; dinner at 7 with a preview of the next days adventure. There were always snacks/juice when we returned from our excursions. The meals were way better than we expected - lots of fruit and plenty to eat. There was more downtime on the boat than I expected, so I wish I had brought more reading material. There were a few books on board to read and there was a tv/dvd player - although most of the movies were in spanish. I have had issues with seasickness in the past, so I took every precaution (dramamine, wristbands, and the patch) and had no issues. Any time we were on dry land, we felt like we were still moving. I did have some side effects from the patch (vision) and I felt nauseous after the trip was over and I was done with the patch - but it was so worth it for the trip of a lifetime!
Marry Din
Jorge and Tania - just wanted to let you know that we have returned home and had an AMAZING trip. Wanted to take the time to thank you both for all of your extra time, effort and hard work to help make this trip a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. http://lastminutegalapagosdeals.com/ Thanks to Jorge for taking care of us for our airport transfers and give us helpful tips, while we were in Quito (local specialties and where to get them, tips about the various taxis, etc). Jorge, we can't wait to taste your special homemade salsa that you gave to us after us telling you how much we liked the flavors of your country. We will remember your help and this trip forever. The Queen Beatriz was amazing, the boat, the crew and especially our guide Mauricio who under his leadership, we were able to see all of the wonderful animals, flora and fauna that the Galapagos had to offer. I HIGHLY recommend that boat to everyone. Please feel free to share my email address to anyone that may need a referral or have any special questions about your company or the Queen Beatriz. Again thanks for everything, Pam & May-li
Pam Burns
After a lot of thoughts and a difficult choosing of place for vacation, we are chose Galapagos Islands. And we didn’t regret! We were in Galapagos Islands not long ago – in June of 2013. We chose the cruise, because we prefer the comfort and prepared complete program. There is a wide variety of yachts here with capacity 8 – 16 persons (оr even 100) and time of trip 4-15 days. We booked a tour through Internet very easy on lastminutegalapagosdeals.com/ without any share from Russian touristic companies. Later it turned out, that cruises have to be booked beforehand, because it is much in demand here. The boats was well represented on their website - we got what we expected. Although we worried to be disappointed, as is often the case. But this time everything happened like we wanted it. We had yacht with beautiful name - Estrella del Mar. Small comfortable rooms with conditioners, tasty food with a plenty of fresh fruits and sea food, pleasant crew. The service from Tania and Jorge was fantastic! We spoke by Skype with them before and during the trip, they watched out for us. Everything was perfect. It should be mentioned that Ecuadorians are very friendly and smiling people. So talking with them is really pleasure. But the most interesting is of course impressions from amazing nature of islands. We waked up in early morning (7 am), had a breakfast and go to the snorkeling or excursion, then we had a launch and all over again. We saw a big variety of animals such as we had never seen in any other place. And all of this is so close to us! Fur seals and iguanas posing for photo, frigates and pelicans flying above us. And I have no words to describe an underwater world! We had about 12 persons on our yacht, but there was a lot of place. There were always water, coffe and tea for free in bar. So we relaxed laying on the chaise-longue and drinking in a free time. In general our vacation was really great! I would recommend for everyone to visit Galapagos islands. It’s just a paradise on Earth!
Yetakerina Arboozova
Los dias que pasamos en Galapagos han sido una experiencia unica y quisiera agradecerles el buen servicio y la buena atencion. Todo se ha cumplido como previsto.
Saludos cordiales, Alexander Götz
It is already more than one month ago that we have enjoyed our beautiful travel through Ecuador. Our trip to the Galapagos and to the Amazonas were unforgettable. Again I want to thank you because you had arranged such a beautiful lodge for us. But I also want to thank Jorge for here great hospitality. I only do'nt have a mailadres and I do'nt know how to write it in spanish So I hope you wil translate this letter to her. I will remember Ecuador as a beautiful and hospitable country. I truly hope I will soon return. With Love, Marie-José Vernooy
Marie Anne Rushom
My wife, and I recently went on a cruise in Galapagos with lastminutegalapagosdeals.com we had an incredible time! We reserved the cruise through Tania Haws. She is a very reliable and very helpful. She helped us get a great deal on the Millenium cruise. It was an 8 night stay. We had an itinerary, in which we had activities every day. During my stay, this was our itinerary and the list of things we did: Millennium - Itinerary TRIP 8 days - 7 nights We arrived in Baltra we had to pay $100 cash Fee entance park ( Galapagos National Park) WED: Baltra airport/ Sta. Cruz island : Cerro Dragon THU: Mosquera island / Isabela island visit to Pto. Villamil - Santa Fe island FRI: San Cristobal island / Interpretation Center /Lobos Island SAT: San Cristobal island Punta Pitt / Natural Galapaguera SUN: Cerro Brujo Highland / Leon Dormido island MON: Española island: visit to Punta Suarez / panga ride in Gardner Bay TUE: Floreana island: Cormorant point / Post office bay WED: Santa Cruz island: Charles Darwin Station – Baltra airport We flew from USA to Ecuador landed in Quito, the airport is far away from the city, you must have transfer reserved to go to the city. Quito was a fantastic city to visit we stayed at Anahi, lovely boutique hotel food was exquisite we went to Rumi Loma restaurant, with magnificent views to the city, in top of the mountain with view to the city another one we found was Vista hermosa, we are keen of restaurants with views. we thoroughly enjoyed both meals. I just want to Thank Tania Haws and her staff for organizing such an amazing and unforgettable trip. The Galapagos should be on a list of places to visit before you died.
George Lyon
We book a cruise with Last Minute Galapagos also and they had been one of the best tour operator we've ever contact. We are not used to book via Internet and were a little afraid about the result, now we are confident about them. All the information we get in order to decide the best choice for us was exact, they gave us useful information that helped in the travel organization, even in those aspects that we didn't contract with them. I want to thank Tania Hawks and her staff for the trip and recommend them for traveling to Galápagos to anyone who want to visit this spectacular place. Reservamos un crucero con Last Minute Galápagos Deals, uno de los mejores tour operadores con los que he tratado nunca. Nos daba reparo contratar un crucero de estas condiciones vía Internet sin embargo esta agencia ha demostrado ser digna de toda confianza. toda la información que nos dieron para decidir cual de las distintas opciones se adecuaba mas a nuestras necesidades fue exacta y nos proporcionaron información muy valiosa para organizar nuestro viaje incluyendo aspectos que no contratamos con ellos. Desde aquí quiero agradecer a Tania Hawks y a su personal por el viaje y recomendarles para viajar a Galápagos.
Martha Espinalt
