Silver Origin
Ths is the second leg of the trip and it was like having a completely new vacation. I believe we were Tauck's first trip this year.
Once we arrived in Guayaquil, it seemed that Silver Sea (SS) and its contractors took over. Off the ship, SS used Metropolitan Touring for transportation and coordination of the Covid testing. Metropolitan was excellent - very knowledgeable and on the ball. They even stayed with each of us to make sure our bags and we were checked in at the airport. We had an issue with our flilght being moved up and not having received our test results. Metropolitan worked with the lab and we had the tests delivered by email on time. PHEW!
Tauck had very little involvement in this leg of the trip. We had 18 on the tour. Two left the trip in Peru due to non Covid related reasons. We ranged in age from 55-77. Tauck arranged for a farewell dinner at the hotel in Guayaquil and a reception/dinner on the ship. The small group was great - I think the experience would be different if all 40 spots were filled.
Covid: **We had a PCR test required by Silver Sea when we arrived at the hotel in Guayaquil. Antigen test were administered at the end of the trip at the hotel. I had to remind the Tauck Rep that the test was scheduled too early for our departure. Others were in the same situation. A second testing was scheduled for the next day. The airline did check the test on the first leg of the trip and was particularly focused on the date of the test that had to be administered within 24 hours of departure. On the ship, guests were not required to mask but the staff were all masked. I felt safe, because except for 2 instances, all contacts were with fellow passengers and staff. While on a bus and in public places we masked according to local requirements.
Guayaquil: The Parque Hotel is a lovely property in a lovely setting. Its food was good. That said there is nothing of interest in Guayaquil. People who arranged for an extra day were disappointed and were warned about crime. The airport was beautiful - you are greeted with a Koi ponds and green walls.
Silver Origin:
Space: 87 of the 100 spaces were filled. Although the ship was small it was not difficult to find private public spaces. The lounge was filled during the daily briefing and lectures. Staff was 93.
We were in a cabin on Deck 5, with sliding glass doors to the balcony. We kept the doors open at night - no bugs. We viewed a room on Deck 6 with the balcony incorporated into the room. Missing were the sliding glass doors but there was a lip on the floor where the doors would have been. The balcony section had balcony furniture. The rail was the same as the Deck 5 Cabin but moved to the ceiling to close the room. We were very happy with our room as we like the separation of the balcony and we use it to dry clothes! Also I don't like the idea of deck furniture in the room. Others may like the extra room.
Dining: Three dining options - the restaurant on Deck 4; the Grill on Deck 7 and your room. A few places for beverages - Deck 3 and the lounge. Reservations were needed for the Grill at night - they have a feature called "Hot Rocks" where some entees are placed on a sizzling block so you can cook it! We ate lunch in the grill and enjoyed being outside in the shade and beautiful weather. Buffets were served at lunch, likely due to Covid concerns. Menus for the dining room and grill at lunch appeared very similar. The free alcohol list was very broad and we were not disappointed.
You can ask for certain items off the menu such as a burger, salmon or tenderoin. They even made cassava rolls for us when asked after having them one evening! The food was good, however the beef is not what we are used to in the US - It was not to our liking. The burgers were very good. Variety of fish and cerviche available. Breakfast included cooked to order eggs.
Dress in the dining room was casual however one guest was refused entry the first night for being too casual - shorts and sandles. Not a problem - he just wasn't thinking.
Activities: Hikes, Zodiac trips, kayaking, snorkling and lectures. Snorkling equipment was provided. Walking sticks provided. The Naturalists were excellent - educated, engaged, informative and happy to be there. This is an excellent job in Ecuador and well paid.
Silver Origin is a well oiled machine and a wonderful trip. A week later - I still have a glow.
Comments
Thanks your your report!
How many panga trips were scheduled? How many chances did you have to snorkel? What was the procedure for handling wet wetsuits and dive gear? Any good sightings?
Metropolitan Touring is Tauck's in-country provider for all Peru & Galapagos tours. They own and operate the Isabela II used on the standard P&G tour.
Some years ago when we went, the tour stayed in the Hotel Oro Verde, in Guayaquil. The rooms were just OK, but the whole place was dark, depressing, and looked like it was ready to be refurbished, sold or torn down!
The return testing requirement is within one day not 24 hours. It doesn't matter what time you depart, you can get tested any time that day or any time the previous day, e.g. If your flight departs 1 min. before midnight on fly-home day, Day 16, you can get tested any time the previous day, even 1 min. after midnight on Day 15- in that case you would actually be tested 47 hr, 58 min. before your flight and meet the US requirement.
We did that trip with Tauck on the Silver Origin back in September 2021 - there were only 10 Tauck people on the tour. The silver Origin was great. To answer a couple of AlanS questions, I think people could snorkel at just about every stop. They snorkeled off the Zodiacs. Wet suits and dive gear were washed (by you) when you returned to the ship (on the back of the ship) and hung on a rack with your cabin number on it.
Just a humorous side note, one woman was washing her wet suit in a sink full of water and was wearing her flotation gear. The bottom of the flotation unit went into the water of the sink and the device popped open. It was like an air bag and loud. Shocked everyone on the back deck. But it was interesting to see how it worked.
We stayed in a Deluxe Veranda cabin with the Horizon window (Silversea calls it a horizon veranda, if I recall correctly) and it was wonderful. You can electrically lower and raise the window. This gives you more interior room than if you had a real veranda. Cruise ships usually quote their cabin sizes with the veranda included. This way, the size quoted is all livable room. And the interior room is normal room, just like the rest of your room. We really preferred it to having a veranda. We just don't use an outdoor veranda - it usually gets dirty and coated with sea salt. This allowed us to have the window open to get outside air, but sit in the cabin in a sofa, with a coffee table.
The additional thing the Deluxe veranda offered is that the bath is along the side of the cabin, with the shower bump against the outside of the ship - and with a window to the outside. Now, you may say that you don't want a window to the outside while you're taking a shower and they have you covered. You can flip a switch and the window is electrically opaqued.
We loved that cabin and wish more cruise ships offered the equivalent. Most cruise ship cabins are all the same. This one was innovative, interesting and enjoyable. And as a side note, it was very well designed with lots of storage space and electrical outlets all over. A great cruise ship.
To see our blog of the trip, go to **https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2021-1Galapagos-01.htm **
Mike: Thank you so much for sharing your blog. Incredible details and images. I thoroughly enjoyed the video by David Padilla. How wonderful, that he gave each cabin a copy. Looks like it was a great trip and actually a plus that you only had 10 participants rather than 40.
On our trip there were 6 opportunities to snorkle and 5 to Kayak. I think a lot depends on the itinerary which is controlled by Ecuador. We were told that the ship was not allowed to visit certain areas more than every 2 weeks. Weather is also a factor. A deep sea plunge was cancelled due to the weather.
The kayaks have rudders and are tandem. We do not use a rudder so asked that it be raised out of the water. Although there was a mandatory kayak briefing, there was once couple that did not have a clue - they acted like we were playing bumper boats! Totally obllivious to other craft, and were paddling incorrectly or not paddling or steering at all in a choppy sea. We ended up steering far, far away from them! It is not for beginners.
Out itinerary was changed a few weeks before the tour - it did not matter to us as we saw many wonderful places and wildlife. They really strive to give a good experience, even the zodiac drivers who will divert the craft if there is something interesting ahead.
We had a single who wanted to kayak but was a bit reluctant to do it on her own- my wife volunteered me to be the person's, motor and helmsman. It can be interesting trying to paddle when the other person has never done it!
@travel maven: Thank you for your kind comments about my blog. My post with the blog URL disappeared. I think I did something wrong with Markdown and the system deleted it (I'm a Markdown neophyte). The post was too long to try to reconstruct but at least I'll post my blog address of the trip - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2021-1Galapagos-01.htm
In my original post, I spoke about our time on the Silver Origin and how much, and why, we enjoyed our Deluxe Veranda suite. I recommend that suite level to anyone going on the Galapagos tour.
Mike is this the post you are looking for? https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/comment/72029/#Comment_72029
You can easily find your (or anyone else's) old posts without doing a search, by going to their profile page (click on the person's name) and under "Activity" at the right, looking in "Discussions" (threads you started) and "Comments" (your comments in other threads)
Mike - Thank you so much for the information regarding suites. Right now we are waitlisted for the Deluxe Veranda for next May on the Silver Origin. We travelled with Silversea to Iceland and had the Deluxe Veranda on the Silver Shadow and it was wonderful. This July we will have the same suite again on Silver Shadow for our trip on the Inside Passage of Alaska. Your original post was extremely helpful.
@AlanS: No, that's not the one. I had replied in this thread right before Travel Maven's post. I was trying to use Markdown to make the URL of my blog blue but it caused my post to be deleted. I'm sure it was my Markdown that caused it, there was nothing in the post that would cause a moderator to delete it.
There wasn't a draft either? Hmmm.
Mike, Sometimes writing the markdown is a bit tricky. I have attached a sample of a markdown link that will take you to the Tauck Forum. Substitute whatever description you want in place of “Tauck Forums” then the URL would be the full where you want it directed. My example also has a tooltip that when hovered over with a pointing device such as a mouse will give a description of the URL. Put whatever description you want in there and make sure the quote marks are there.
@JohnS Thanks. I'm still learning.