Sea Star Journey Galapagos Cruise

Great Experience!

I just went on the past two weeks on board the sea star journey and absolutely loved it. The service was welcoming as well as the staff. The activities, well planned, are different and amazing. The rooms were just as the pictures showed it, however I must say that the whole trip is an adventure.

Being n this boat however does provide you peace and relaxation after a long day of hiking.

Review from https://goo.gl/GEi7jE

Emilia P, 2nd April 2018

We Loved It!

We just completed our trip to the Galapagos on the Sea Star this week. We were very pleased with everything and it is well worth it. The yacht is in excellent condition, clean, well maintained with an excellent staff and crew. Very impressed with our cabin: very spacious.

The food was excellent; breakfast pretty standard, lots of variety for lunch and dinner. Always two types of meat, fish, seafood, meat or pork, vegetables, rice, salad and some kind of desert. Munchies and snacks all day after each AM//PM hike or snorkeling with something to drink.

Every day activities were varied, fun and interesting. Well planned, organized and informative. Lots of opportunity for snorkeling, lots of fish to see, underwater wildlife and much more. Tour guide was with us for the entire trip and he was excellent: very knowledgeable, spoke excellent English and very helpful. There was a briefing every night at 6:30 PM before dinner in which the next day's itinerary and schedule was explained and discussed in detail. We knew every day what we were doing, when, where, how and why. Very impressive.

Had the opportunity to kayak one afternoon; there were enough kayaks for all the guests, and it was interesting and fun. I snorkeled every day and the equipment was excellent and in great condition. We had great hikes every day and enjoyed the hills and scenery. We did the itinerary B, which covered a few of the islands, ample opportunity for snorkeling and had many amazing, beautiful landscapes.

We were very happy with this boat. It is///was well worth it. If you decide on this boat, and you will see that it is excellent and you will really enjoy your trip. You won't regret it.

Review from: https://goo.gl/N4c4Qr

Mrfoxycat, 8th February 2018

I Cannot Say Enough To Praise The Amazing Wildlife Experience

We visited Galapagos the first time in 2013 with my wife, we stayed at the Sol y Mar and did a hotel based program which was really nice, yet we felt we had missed out on the more remote islands like Fernandina and Isabela. The big issue was that we get seasick, yet we fell in love with the Islands and had to return. We contacted the same travel agent and they booked us on the Sea Star. This time we were joined by my son and his wife.

We just got back, we did a 6 day cruise from March 2 - 7th visiting the Western side of Isabela, Fernandina and Santiago islands. We had a wonderful time, the planning from our agent was excellent, this time of year the ocean is a bit calmer so it was perhaps the only window we could have and enjoy the western side of Galapagos which is known to be choppier. Another plus of this time of the year was the warmer water for snorkeling, for us it is a big deal, we live in Florida and are spoilt for warm seas.

I cannot say enough to praise the amazing wildlife experience, we got to spot everything from orcas to penguins. Swimming alongside both was exciting and really an unexpected adventure. Having our guide in the water with us while we had our surprise encounter with an orca was a small reassurance as well being close to the zodiac to climb out as a precaution. The amount of marine iguanas, sea lions, blue footed boobies was much larger than at visitor sites closer to Santa Cruz. We also enjoyed seeing the flightless cormorant and learning about its evolution process.

The difference from staying at a hotel was large, the cruising experience allows for more time efficiency as we did not have to transfer across an island and then navigate back and forth to a visitor site. By cruising we experienced at least 5 hours per day of time exploring the premier wildlife locations of the island vs 5 to 6 hours transfering back and forth from the hotel and then 2 hours of exploring a location and having to cut it short in order to get back. The downside was that we did get seasick, yet in the end with the help of pills we overcame it, it was the price we paid in order to have the superior experience that is cruising around the islands.

In regards to our yacht the Sea Star, it was very comfortable, well kept and met our expectations. Cabins were much larger than we expected on a boat. The captain was nice to hold back navigations until meals were finished and tried his best at anchoring inside calm bays to avoid movement, this was the advantage of being on a smaller yacht. The food was really good, we loved learning how to prepare ceviche Ecuador style and appreciated the good amount of food, at first we were worried it might be too gourmet, yet in the end the portions were large and having the buffet for lunch allowed for seconds. All in all I would recommend using the Sea Star, just note that it is also known as Domenica, at first we thought it was the wrong boat but once we walked around it matched the pictures and specifications.

I hope this information helps, we had a memorable holiday.

Review from: https://goo.gl/GEi7jE

Chad B, 1st December 2017