Beagle Galapagos Kreuzfahrt

Fantastische Tour

Diese Erfahrung war unvergesslich, vielen Dank dafür! Alles verlief nach Plan, ohne Verzögerungen und Probleme. Die Crew und der Guide waren brilliant, immer hilfsbereit und respektvoll. Die Verpflegung war ausgezeichnet. Zusammengefasst ein einmaliges Erlebnis, welches man nie wieder vergisst.

Qulle: https://goo.gl/Mp5hGS

Maurice Caplan, 15th May 2017

Make It 15 Days If You Can!

My husband I have been on the beagle just a week ago. Overall, I can say it was really the trip of my life. We both liked the ship, the crew, the food and our guide.

A few details: Because we couldn't decide which itinary to choose, we booked two weeks on the beagle. First week was the west itinary /Genovesa, Santiago, Isabella, Fernandina, in the second week we visited Florana, Espanola, San christobal, Barolome, North seymor.

I was really glad, that we booked two weeks, because, as it is a motor sailor, they try at least at one time to give you a sailing experience. So half a day of one week you are just sailing, not visiting an island. For us it was fine- I loved it. Sitting on the boad, watching the marine life (dolphins, birds ect..). But for persons who are only for one week on the boat it might be a "waste of time". (Nobody on our tour complained about it, everybody was happy).

Both itiinaries are good. Personally I liked the first week more than the second. The west route, when you go to Genovesa, Isabella and Fernandina, is less "crowed". There were other boats as well, but we rarely saw any of other groups. In the second week, sometimes we had the big lindblad ship beside us, which means that either before us or after us, 90 people were vistitng the place. Our guide tried as best as she could, but on one island we had to wait, until the group from the other ship were moving, so that we can walk, than we had to wait again...and so on.

On both itiniaries you see all animals, and you have kind of the same ecological development (young and older islands). The landscape might be a little bit more "spectacular" on the south itiinary. But basically it depends what you want to see. I really wanted to go to fernandina, while my husband wantet to see espanola.

The other reason why I enjojed more the first week was because of the group. The beagle has place for 13 people. In the first week, my huspand and I were one of the youngest people on board (we are both in the early 30ties). The other guest were mostly retired, but very experienced couples. From the very first day everything went really smooth, because everybody was very aware of this special place.

For the second week I am sorry to say, but there were people on board which belong for me to the sort of galapagos tourist, who should stay on the mainland, because they went only to galapagos because it is "cool". Our guide had a really taff job in the second week to keep the people on the tracks and to protect the environment from their ignorance. Interesting in the second week there were mostly young people on board. One example: We were on a panga ride, very early in the morning into the mangroves. Sunset, manta rays beside our panga. Two young ladies (the same age as me) were talking about hair colouring)....Our guide was not very good in hiding her dislike, but I cannot blame her. But this was not really professional. So there was a little bit of tensions in the air. Our guide had a really good knowledge, and what I liked her, she was really taking the time to explain and to show the beauty of the islands. Especially in the first week, she knew nobody would walk off the tracks, she didn't mind, when I was a little bit behind the group because I wanted to take a foto, or when two guys were walking in front of us looking for animals. Her english was quite good.

At the end of the first week, when the other guest were leaving for the airport, we got for half a day another guide and a special program on santa cruz, so we didn't had to wait on board until the new guests arrived.

The crew was really, really nice, attentive and courteous. On the second week there was one girl with a broken foot and one elderly lady, and the whole crew including the guide did everything they could so both could also enjoy the trips on the islands. The food was excellent. We were told that some of the fruits wich are served are directly coming from the owner's farm. The owner of the beagle is coming on board every last day of a week to look if everything is ok. One thing which differs from other boads is, that the beagle has a big sitting area outside, we had every meal outside and were only for sleeping inside the boad. The cabins are ok. It was clean and we had everyday hot water.

The snorkeling gear was also very good nevertheless we brought our own gear with us.

Sorry for any mistakes I hope it was helpful, and I am happy to answer more questions. (When I have more time I will write a more detailed review about our trip).

Last thing I want to say, I am very happy that we spend 18 days on galapagos. First we thought about the "typical" trip, one week galapagos, and two weeks on the mainland. But the more we read, the more we wanted to spend the whole time we had on the islands. These islands are so special, and I dreamed since I was a child to go there.So for us it was the right thing to concentrate on the islands. The last 3 days after the boat trip we spent in a nice small hotel in puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. This was the perfect. combination.

Carmen From Frankfurt, Germany, 5th April 2017

Shame That Guides Are Rotating

The Beagle is a good choice and I would certainly use it again. Our guide was good but they do move around from ship to ship on a weekly basis so its unlikely you would have the same one. Those doing the 2 week cruise had a change of guide midway. This was a shame because we really loved Eddie, our guide on the first week. The second Guide, Jonas, was also great but we would have loved for Eddie to stay on board!

There is little difference in wildlife viewing times between ships as most walk the same set paths. With larger ships you may get some groups doing shorter trails. They were flexible enough to stop and launch the panga when we spotted a pod of dolphins - we were able to enter the water ahead of them and swim with them.

Note that the Beagle does alternating iteneraries each week so check which islands you wil visit on the week you are going.

The bed arrangements are one double with a single bunk above. Many people find the double rather narrow and hence end up using them as upper/lower bunks. They have one even smaller cabin that is offered as a single with no supplement.

The food is good quality but no choice. Let them know in advance about dislikes and you will get special meals when required.

Dencil Jones, Washington, 25th January 2017