We have just returned from a week trip to Quito/Galapagos/Guayaquil with our family (my husband, myself, and 2 adult sons aged 21 and 27). This trip is definitely in the top favorites of my trips. We began our trip with 2 nights in Quito at Casa Gangotena & did a day of sightseeing in Quito of the old town, cable car & Equator. We then did the 5 days / 4 nights expedition cruise on board our MV Santa Cruz (Monday-Friday, Northern Island)with Metropolitan Tours. WOW! The staff at Metropolitan are pros on this trip and made our trip very special and amazingly fun & organized.

The itinerary aboard the ship is very active (if you choose to do all of the activities) with a snorkel and hike each morning & afternoon. Then 7:15pm review of next day’s program and dinner at 8pm. We were ready for bed each night! We saw all of the wildlife listed on our itinerary - Blue footed, Red footed and Nazca boobies, Galapagos penguins, marine & land iguanas, sea lions, fur seals, great frigate birds, vermillion flycatcher,herons, starfish, sharks, rays, huge parrotfish, sea turtles, giant tortoises & much more. Just amazing wildlife that are not one bit afraid of people!

We booked 2 twin upper deck cabins but were upgraded to the Master Suite and the Junior Suite which was totally unexpected but was such a lovely enhancement to our trip. The Master Suite is very spacious and has a lovely balcony with table and chairs + a king size bed - such a nice way to travel! The Junior Suite had 2 twin beds & was also very spacious. The food on the boat was very good & there are enough seats for everyone to eat at the same time with no reservations which is really great. Read more