Fernandina Route

It was wonderful We took the SE itinerary including Genovesa in July, and it was wonderful. The yacht is beautiful; sleek and fast with lovely wood in the public areas, and the crew is outstanding. We used the flippers and wetsuits provided by the ship, but we had snorkel masks made to our eyeglasses prescription. We may well never use them again, since we've only been snorkeling a few times in our lives, but it is absolutely worth the price even if you use them only for your Galapagos trip. The Galapagos is the single most expensive holiday we've ever taken, but it is worth every penny. And that goes especially for the Beluga. Feedback from: https://goo.gl/E93tNs

We were pleasantly surprised We just spent a week on the Beluga visiting the Tower itinerary (Genovesa, Espanola, Sombrero Chino and Santiago are not to be missed) and we were very pleasantly surprised and pleased by the whole experience. We are not the type to go on cruises and have rarely travelled as part of an organized group, but that is really the only way you can see the Galapagos. Juan Tapia, our naturalist guide, was amazing and we learned so much from him. He speaks excellent English, is very experienced and knowledgeable about the islands (an expert birder on our trip confirmed that he made not one mistake in his identifications), and has an enthusiastic, but low key personality that is perfect for his line of work. In fact, the whole crew was lovely and worked with professionalism and pride to make our time in the Galapagos enjoyable. The Beluga is not a luxury ship, but the boat is extremely clean and comfortable, including the cabins and bathrooms (great porthole in our shower so you can bathe and look out at the sea), and the open deck was a lovely place to relax as we travelled from island to island. The food was prepared with care and was quite hearty, at times even excellent, though of course no one goes to the Galapagos for the cuisine. I would definitely recommend the Beluga if your focus is on experiencing nature without leaving all of the creature comforts of home. Feedback from: https://goo.gl/E93tNs

Beluga Review My wife Sally and I did the Western itinerary from the 1st to the 7th May. I wont go into much detail about the wildlife as its covered very well in this forum but its safe to say it was everything and more than we had hoped for. The Beluga carries 16 people in 8 cabins. Everyone on our trip seemed pleased with their cabin. The toilet and shower were large enough and there was shower gel and shampoo in dispensers that were regularly refilled. Breakfast was 7 o'clock every morning and we were on our first trip of the day at 8. It generally lasted a couple of hours and we then went snorkeling for an hour before lunch was served at 12. We had a couple of hours to relax before we went on our next trip or snorkel which generally took us up till 6ish. Afft every excursion we returned to fruit juice and nibbles. Dinner was served at 7 and we normally had the briefing about our plans for the next day just before or after dinner. The food was always delicious with fruit, cereal, eggs, cheeses and toast for breakfast. Lunch was soup followed by a course of fish or meat with vegetables, salad and a dessert. The evening meal was as filling as the lunch and no one had a bad word to say about anything we were served. All juices, water, tea coffee were included. The crew were absolutely first class in everything they did. They were very professional in the way they went about their jobs and were always smiling and willing to go the extra mile to ensure we had the best opportunity to see the best of the wildlife. We read a lot of reviews on a lot of boats but could not have been happier with our choice. Everyone of our group said they would use the Beluga again and if we are fortunate to return to do the eastern itinerary this would be the first boat we would look at. It was as close to perfect as it possibly could be. It also helped having a great group and this comes from having only 16 people to share our experience with and i would recommend trying a smaller boat. We saw a couple of the larger ships and im not sure you can get the same feeling as you get with a small boat. Feedback from: https://goo.gl/E93tNs