Galapagos, November 2004

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hey Jim

One more thing, there are NO seals in the Galapagos only Sealions.

I was made fun of the whole trip as I kept calling them seals when in reality they are sealions

How do you tell the difference

Sealions have ears you can clearly see and Seals dont

Dive Safe

Gaz
 
I think it's a trip of a life time too. If I didn't have a son in college right now, you better believe I would be going.
I'll have to live it through you guys right now.
Photos, when you return please!
 
Jim,
Do you make this trip every year? I can't go in '04, but '05 works for me. Sounds like it would take a couple of weeks to cover travel time and such? Man, wish I could make it next year, but my vacation time is already committed, which isn't bad, I would just love to dive the Galapagos Islands. :tree: Bob
 
regarding your seal v sea lion thing, I was differentiating between Galalagos Sea lions Zalophus californianus wollebacki and Galapagos fur seals Arctocephalus galapagoensis though I know that technically they are both sea lion species as the ears are exposed in both cases.

As for the $5000-$7000 price tag, well if the airfare was $600 from Houston that's still only $4315. Meals in Quito will bring it up by another $30 or so, plus maybe a t-shirt or 2: $4500 at the absolute max. I don't ordinarily cost people's personal shopping habits into a trip!

And as for the tip. Well the general view in the UK and mainland Europe is that crews should get paid more, and that the guests should not have to top up pay. A lot of people save up a long time to pay for a trip like this, and often cannot afford to consider a $275 tip. That is why I usually say a trip between $150-$250 as being suitable. We don't have a tipping culture in Europe like you do, but I always expect people to leave some sort of tip...

Bob - the answer to your question is NO, I don't do a Galapagos trip every year. I tend to do one group trip a year that I personally go on, and try and chose somewhere different every time (I have been to the Galaps, but not for about 7 years). I was thinking of Fiji in 2005, but that would be for only 10 people as the Fiji Aggressor only takes 10 people. So if the Galapagos trip is a success, I MAY do another one in 2005, but I cannot guarantee that would be the case (2005, rather than the success!). I can, of course, slot you onto any Galapagos Aggressor cruise that has space at any time of the year, but you would not get the discount as I would not have chartered the boat. Hope that assists.
 
Hey Jim

Not trying to give you grief or anything just posting what my personal experience was this past September when I went and discussions with the cost of the trip overall with the other 13 people on the boat. and all quoted around $6000 total the trip cost them

As far as the tipping is concerned I am a Brit so know full well the mentality of us brits where tipping is concerned however I still beleive that 10% of the trip cost is a fair tip especially when you consider the amount of crew on the boat and how hard they work for you during the trip, if you can afford $4500 or $6000 or whatever dont cheapen it by screwing the crew out of a decent tip they deserve every penny and work 24/7 for the enjoyment of the guests onboard. REMEMBER its shared between all the crew

While the general view in the UK and mainland europe is the crew should get paid more the reality is THEY DO NOT and must rely on tips to subsidize there salary and that is the reason you promote the Agressor so heavily as they offer superb service to your clientele (WHY because they are working for there tip from the guests thats why they are working so hard for you, not because they are being paid a large salary)

The owners structure there pay low knowing they will get tips which is averaged out at 10% of the trip cost anything less would be an insult, but of course they cannot tell you that as its back to service again but they will be thinking it.

When in ROME do As the ROMANS do and thats a min 10% tip
15% is better
:)

Have a great trip

Gaz Cooper
 

Back
Top Bottom