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Zpend-Quito - Galapagos (MV Explorer II)

We were very pleased with our trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. This was the first time I had booked a big vacation online rather than using a travel agent and I was happy that everything came off as it should.
Our flights were as expected, our hotels, transfers and cruise were all there on time and great.
The people from Metropolitan Touring in Ecuador were very professional and helpful. We were met at the Quito airport and the guide told us all the day trips we could take there before our flight to the Islands.
We took a couple of their tours and they were very nice and only had two other people besides the two of us. We went to Otavalo Market and did the City Tour to the churches and old town. The La Rabida Hotel is very nice, although some people might have preferred a big American hotel. We liked that it was small and we enjoyed sitting by the fireplace and reading while their pet rabbit hopped around.
We were met at our hotel and taken to the airport for the Galapagos, which, of course was a wonderful cruise. Metropolitan runs the Santa Cruz ship which did a great job for a 4-night cruise. We liked the size of the ship with about 90 people because we wanted some room to walk around between trips to the islands. The tour guides were excellent and we learned a lot about the animals as well as a bit about Darwin. We were thrilled when we finally saw giant tortoises walking around freely on San Cristobal at the preserve. I think we, like others, assumed we would be seeing them on several islands, because that`s the scene that you remember from documentaries. So some of us were concerned when we asked the guide about tortoises and she said we wouldn`t be seeing them in the wild, but the preserve was satisfying. The food was good but not great on the ship, although they certainly tried hard with great presentations and cordial service. And of course we just loved the activities of the islands and the experiences with nature there. We loved the snorkeling.
Again we were very efficiently delivered to our hotel in Guyaquil although Metropolitan could offer us no tours the next day because all of the guides were on an outing together. So we went to the Historical Park by taxi, which was recommended and really enjoyed it. We then went to the steps of the Bario Las Penas and walked the Malecon 2000 and enjoyed it a great deal.
Our flight home was delayed but we still made our connection in Miami. It was great that we had such a long layover of 4 hours in Miami because the passport and security process there is so slow.
All in all it was a wonderful trip and I found LatinDestinations.com to be a great way to book it.

Zpend-Quito - Galapagos (MV Explorer II)