I'm totally a novice cruiser, I tend to do more land adventures, but to really see the Galapagos, the cruises allow you to take in more of the islands. This was my first time on a completely escorted program and only my second cruise ever. I have however, spent extensive time in Europe, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean and usually stay in more premium accommodations. Since this is Cruise Critic, I'm going to stick to just the cruise portion on here.

The Ship: We were met at the small airport by guides with signs for the M/V Santa Cruz, but our Tauck tour leader organized our group. There were a total of about 84 people on the ship, including our group of about 30-35 people. This was a Bridges tour, so specifically oriented toward multi-generational travel, so there were a lot of parents, grandparents and kids with our group, including a wide variety of ability levels. The bus ride from the airport to the pier in the small town was about 5 minutes, and when we got off the bus, there were tons of sea lions just hanging out on the public square, on the docks, on boats in the harbor. You will take zodiac tenders out to the ship, and the staff picks up your luggage at the airport and transfer that to the ship separately, so you don't see your bags until you get on board.(which, if you have damaged luggage, which we did, you can't report and get compensation from the airline). The ship is older, especially from a decor standpoint (one of the oldest still in service in the area), but very clean and it looked to be well maintained (i didn't see anything that scared me, but then again, I don't have tons of experience on ships, so I probably wouldn't have noticed anything that wasn't glaring). The ship was good sized for the group - it never felt too crowded, even when everyone was eating or gathered for briefings, 3 decks for cabins, plus a bar/lounge, and dining room. They also had a small gift shop on the main deck. There is a small library and computer room off the main bar. I was surprised to find out they had internet access for only like $12 for the entire cruise on their computers and $44 for wifi for the cruise (very reasonable all things considered, not that we used it at all) On the sun deck, there is an 8 pax jacuzzi (which the kids on board used extensively), as well as another bar, and sun loungers. The boat deck had storage for snorkeling equipment and a dryer that was free of charge to use anytime (but no guest laundry facilities). We had a standard cabin which had 2 twin beds, picture window, and a pull down third bed. Beds very very decent, not rock-like at all and pillows were comfy. The extra bed made it nice for my kid to have other kids come to the room and hang out, since we basically used the other bed as a staging area for day packs and such. There was also a small closet, with a safe and several drawers and storage on top, plus under bed storage for luggage, etc. The bathroom was small, but worked fine for us. The shower doors opened up all the way to maximize the space. It was a little tricky to figure out how to get in and out of the shower because of the door configuration, but there plenty of space once you got the doors opened right and AMPLE hot water at all hours (in some cases too hot). They also stock with bath towels and beach towels constantly. You were supposed to leave used beach towels in the bin on the boat deck, so even if we took one to lounge or use in the Jacuzzi, we'd come back to the cabin and find more. They don't have keys to the staterooms, as apparently many many sets have been lost, guests locked themselves out of rooms, etc, but you can lock them from the inside. We didn't have an issue with this, and I did use the safe to lock up valuables, but my laptop didn't fit. My folks had the superior stateroom, which was slightly larger, and had a floor to ceiling window and larger bathroom plus a table and 2 chairs. They include free snorkeling equipment (wetsuits were $15 for non-Tauck guests for the duration of the trip) and they have 2-3 mesh bags per cabin for equipment, and fresh water for rinsing.

Food: All meals were served in the dining room, with fixed hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was a shipwide wakeup call at 7am, as the morning excursions all left at 8:15am. The dining room wasn't supposed to open until 7:30, but it opened earlier every day. Breakfast and lunch were buffet, plenty of choices, cold and hot. Lunch always had a kids station with fries, pizza, hot dogs, etc. (it changed every day). Dinner was a la carte with a couple of appetizer choices, three main course choices and two desserts. We didn't have a bad meal, but there were some days where some of the offerings (the more locally oriented ones) might not have been great for seriously picky eaters. The kids were given the option of having early dinner around 6:30 (dinner usually started around 7:45 or so) and they did a really nice separate buffet for them, with burgers and pasta, etc. We just had to let them know before the 2nd excursion and they would set it up. We were there for Christmas eve, and they had a special buffet out with turkey, etc, plus live music afterward. They also put out snacks after each excursion and around happy hour in both bars (hot food though in the indoor lounge only). They had a great coffee machine, available 24hrs (I lived on the mochaccinos), along with water for refilling bottles, etc. They also did a couple of included cocktail hours for everyone. On the Tauck program, all soft drinks, wine with dinner and happy hour was included. I'm not sure what the beverage inclusions would be booking direct, but the listed bar prices were reasonable - $3 for a beer, $4-$5 for a basic mixed drink. Read more