One of our goals was to go to the Galapagos Islands and this experiential trip did not disappoint. You'll find scenery and wildlife not found anywhere else in the world. We were pleasantly surprised with the friendliness of the crew. Many greeted us by name, even without our name badges on. The crew is quite talented which provided an additional layer of fun. They even made us a special cake for our honeymoon/anniversary complete with song and other festivities.

We've been on other cruises, however, make no mistake, this is an expedition versus a traditional cruise. There are at multiple outings each day and you don't want to miss any of them. One of the other unique aspects to this particular expedition is every staff member on the ship was Ecuadorian. The Naturalists were locally trained experts who internalized the nuances of the area throughout their entire lives and were able to pass on that knowledge to us-the interlopers. We were so happy with this experience, our first with National Geographic, we plan on taking another adventure in the next year or so.

One word of advice I'd give to serious photographers is you may want to stick with specific photo expeditions versus a general expedition.