Hello, I was wondering if anyone here had booked direct for the Nemo II (http://www.galapagosinformation.com). I have booked my trip and made the deposit, but still a little nervous about the wire transfer of funds. I had been working with a woman named Monica. She has been extremely helpful and responsive, but wanted to know if anyone had experience with this company before I make my final and large payment on the trip. Thank you.
We're looking at Nemo II for February 2016, and would also appreciate any feedback about the boat/trip. Ryan, why did you pick it? Thanks!
5,206 posts
23 helpful votes Dear Ryan,
I've known Monica for a few years - she and her agency are 100% reliable.
Warmest regards,
Heather Blenkiron
hblenkiron, thank you for the insight. Makes me feel more comfortable about the money situation.
Celticgarder, we had looked at numerous cruises and decided on Nemo II for numerous reasons. First we did get a pretty good deal on the ship for the week we are going. Accommodations also seemed better and were able to find more positive reviews on this boat versus others we were looking at. The itinerary offered (North) was also more in line with what we were looking for. As I mentioned, we did book through www.galapagosinformation.com, which appears to be the owner/operator of the Nemo II. Monica was nothing but responsive to emails and easily accessible by Skype as well. Better experience than any other booking agent we had worked with on planing other trips.
@hblenkiron Thank you so much for vouching for her and for the website mentioned in the original posting. We were running into the same queasiness when booking for our Nemo II in March.
Edited: 8 years agoHeather, thank you for all your posts and the vouch for Monica, that definitely helped ease my mind transferring a large sum of money like that. We are booked for the NW cruise in Feb:)
The only thing left is to hope that the weather is good and El Nino impacts are mild!!
Cheers
How was your guide on the Nemo II tour and how many passengers/languages per guide, if you remember?
We just got back from a 8 day North itinerary NEMO II cruise one week ago. We had a great time. There were 14 passengers. Our guide was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English.The crew was excellent. I plan to write a post in the forum sharing our experiences soon.
My two young adult daughters and I just returned from Ecuador and a fabulous Nemo III cruise Jan 5-8, 2017. Chose Nemo III in Galapagos for reasonable rate, activities -- hiking, snorkeling (or kayaking instead of snorkeling) and wildlife we were likely to see. We had a three person cabin with myself and 2 daughters, all meals included plus snacks, 16 passenger small Class 1 boat with naturalist guide, though there were 13 passengers total including us (plus crew). We were thrilled with our experience -- saw ALL the Galapagos birds and animals we had hoped to see on land and in water, hiking and snorkeling was lovely, highlighted by very knowledgeable and personable guide, Jairo. Crew completely spoiled us on boat -- hot chocolate and snacks awaiting us after snorkeling, captain turned boat in circles to allow us to see nearby dolphins up close again and again. Wonderful meals, attentive staff. Though we didn't travel to the far-off islands on our 3 night cruise, we nevertheless saw blue-footed boobies, penguins in and out of the water, nocturnal gulls, frigate birds, great blue heron, giant tortoises, sea turtles (including swimming with us in the water and one on land returning to the water after laying eggs!), sea lions and baby sea lions (couple weeks old and up), eagle rays and spotted rays while snorkeling and from the boat, white tipped reef sharks, Galapagos sharks (swimming with both), all kinds of beautiful, colorful tropical fish, including whole big schools of fish, and so much more... Would highly recommend Nemo boats -- made all arrangements directly with Monica Ortiz.
We are trying to book a cruise for our family of four for Feb time frame. We have contacted couple of tour operators and we are getting price range around $3200 for a 8 day cruise. Is this reasonable cost for the cruise. This does not include the flights into the Galapagos from Quito and thta is another $500/person we are told. Any advice will be appreciated.
Mathew
"Reasonable" is completely subjective. You can pay a lot more, or a lot less, but what are you willing to give up in itinerary, accommodations, food, quality of guide, etc.? Have you compared costs for a comparable boat and itinerary? Did the operators suggest any other boats?
You can compare boats and itineraries here http://www.galapagoscruiselinks.com/ You'll see deep discounts for these "last minute" departures, but don't get too excited as they may not have space for a family of four.
