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Galapagos Disappointment!!!!

midgemidge
in General Discussion
we recently traveled to the Galapagos with Tauck on the Isabella ll...buyer beware, we were shown the itinerary that took you to the Darwin Research Center...where we would have seen Lonesome George (he died 4 days after this tour ended)...no Research Center, in fact we only had a brief glimpse of giant Galapagos Tortoises....the Naturalist was not informative about the stops on the tour and we never were told we would have only one chance to see the tortoises. my husband had difficulty walking, and was concerned he could not make the hike on the day we saw the tortoises, did the Naturalist explain ONLY CHANCE to see them...NO
so my husband spent all this money to go to the Galapagos and never saw the Giant Tortoises that the islands are famous for, nor were we informed until after we paid our final payment that the itinerary would not take us to the Darwin Research Center...Darwin is such a contributing factor to the islands, SHAME ON TAUCK for skipping it as a stop. we could have done without the walk in San Cristobal if the park service wanted to limit the stops.
NOW WE HAVE TO RETURN TO THE GALAPAGOS TO SEE THE TORTOISES, BUT WILL NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO SEE LONESOME GEORGE...AND YOU CAN BET NEVER TRAVEL WITH TAUCK AGAIN

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    jdurkinjdurkin
    edited September 2012
    I'm so sorry George died before he met you. Life can be very unfair. And poor George hadn't even reached his prime. I have to admit that when news broke of his demise .... some time ago now ... I searched out my photo of him and made him my "desktop". He was famously shy. He always loitered at the back of his enclosure and my shot could have been of any tortoise, really. I'm sure you can find a good photographic portrait of him online.

    As for the "hike" you describe to see the giant tortoises ... hmm ... that's not how I remember my own Tauck trip to the Galapagos. It was a short walk along dirt paths to find the animals ... they didn't get the memo that their solitude would be interrupted that day. Of course, they got their own back because they chose to trundle along the access road to the reserve ... no hiking or walking required at all on the part of the human invaders.

    Travel costs money. No avoiding that. Small price to pay, considering what we've done to the native habitat. Rats. Goats. Hunters and other insensitive humans.

    Cheers,

    Jan
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    Tauck EmilyTauck Emily
    Hello Midge,

    We appreciate your bringing your concerns to our attention, the Tauck home office is aware and will be communicating with you personally. We are sorry that you have not been satisfied with our attempts to address your concerns to date, but please know that we are taking the time to review all details pertaining to this matter, we will be in touch shortly after a thorough review process is completed.

    Thanks again for your patience,
    Emily

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    AHeltsleyAHeltsley
    My husband and I were on the Peru & the Galapagos tour in June, and had a wonderful time. I'm shy and not very outdoorsy but I thoroughly enjoyed the trip: the panga excursions, the hikes, the animals, the different islands, the swimming, even my attempt at snorkeling. The dunking several of us experienced during a particularly wet landing was handled very well by our tour guide, pangeros and naturalists. We found the naturalists were very knowledgeable, friendly, enthusiastic, well-trained and more than willing to share their expertise. The entire trip was strenuous but we knew that going in. We were very impressed with one of the guests who used a cane, never complained, and never fell behind, even on difficult terrain. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite photos is of him face to face with a tortoise, great shot. We knew that due to circumstances outside Tauck's control, that there could be itinerary changes (such as we experienced in Peru when work was being done on the road to Ollantaytambo, but we had a satisfying alternate excursion). I admit I was a little disappointed that I didn't see the amusing blue footed boobie dance -- but if it's not mating season, it's not exactly Tauck's fault, is it? We saw wonderful groups of the blue footed boobies as we landed on one of the islands and that made me happy. Aside from the belief that the Isabella II needs some upgrading, we felt the Galapagos trip lived up to our expectations. We also have a Tauck bucket list, and we're looking forward to the next adventure.
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