We booked a cruise to the Galapagos on the National Geographic Endeavor through Lindblad Travel for myself, my wife and three adult children/partners. We paid a small fortune for the trip, and yes, we had a wonderful trip to and around the Galapagos. That said, however, I would never book another cruise through Lindblad/National Geographic. The cruise is listed as 10 days, but it is actually a short 7 days. The count one day to get to Guayaquil, one day in Guayaquil, and one day back at Guayaquil as part of the "10 days". The last day was the worst, in that we were forced to get up at 6 AM (through a mandatory announcement), have our baggage out the door by 6:15, and at breakfast at the same time. This was so they could clean the cabins for the next cruise. We then sat around in the lounge (we were not allowed to return to our rooms) for two hours watching advertising videos in the lounge before being ferried/bussed to the airport, where we again waited for two hours for our short flight back to Guayaquil. For the last day of the "cruise" in Guayaquil, we were offered a tour of a sad local zoo and historic park. The personnel on the trip were highly variable. The cruise "leader" was an absolute disaster. We got so we hated his smarmy voice coming out of the PA system every morning. At the end of each day he told us what a great time we had and then pushed for contributions to their various charities in the islands. We were told that $500 per person was the "average" contributed by passengers and we wanted to be sure to meet that average. The naturalists were also variable. They were obviously bored by the trip, having made it so many times in the past. When we asked about a bird or animal, we were given pat answers without them even looking at the critter. One of them had training in biology (iguanas were his speciality) and the other were simply "certified guides" who had "guide" training. They were not particularly knowledgeable about the local flora, fauna or geology, and not very interested in engaging in conversation about it. Food on the ship was at best average, with most of the main dishes overcooked and most of the sides the same thing meal after meal. We were told on multiple occasions that we were expected to tip $180 per passenger for the crew collectively. On a cruise this pricey, why don't they pay their personnel a decent living wage?

On the plus side, most of the dining room personnel were terrific. The ship cruised to several islands that are not accessible by way of the land tours or the smaller ships. The availability of good snorkeling gear, wet suits, paddle boards, and kayaks was very welcome and allowed us to do some terrific snorkeling interspersed with interesting walks and hikes. We swam with sea turtles, sea lions, penguins and beautiful fish, walked among land tortoises, nesting frigate birds, dancing boobies, and more iguanas than you could count. The Galapagos Islands are a fantastic world resource and we feel lucky to have visited, but we would not recommend the over-priced National Geographic/Lindblad expedition.