How to Book a Last Minute Galapagos Cruise from Quito – Agonizing, Anticipation, and ATMs

Disclaimer: This is exactly what I did to plan my last minute Galapagos cruise from Quito. I’m certain there are far better, cheaper ways to do it, but my method was based on my schedule, mental state, time allowance, and tolerance for risk.

The Galapagos Islands always hovered in the back of my mind as I was planning my trip to South America. It’s well-known as an expensive, though incredible, nature-filled, bucket list destination.

I knew that if I did it, I wanted to take a cruise to visit some of the islands not reachable by day trips. Plus, I didn’t hate the idea of having everything arranged for me – meals, daily snorkeling, hikes – on this otherwise backpacker budget DIY trip.

However, the planning process behind this cruise stressed me out more than anything during my travels thus far, so I’d like to tell others exactly how I booked my trip.


Pick a boat, any boat, just kidding, you can’t afford that big one!

I’ll admit this right now:  Part of me thought I was clever enough to arrive in Ecuador with plenty of time and the wherewithal to book a last minute Galapagos cruise for really cheap. Like I expected to get a really good deal. And it turns out I wasn’t alone in this thinking. Many, many people are now opting for the “last minute” Galapagos trip.

And while I’m so glad I did it, and I do feel like I got a good value for my money, spending that kind of cash on a week’s worth of travel killed me a little bit inside.

Me, in an underground lava tunnel, pretending I didn’t just drop all that cash!

If you’ve signed up for my weekly newsletter, then you know that I managed to travel around Colombia for a month – Scuba certification and paragliding included – for under $1,500 USD. And I was about to spend this amount on a week in the Galapagos. This is the reason many travelers, especially backpackers, skip the islands altogether.

But I really can’t think of a better place to drop cash like that. I’d venture to say that there is nowhere else in the world where you can experience this kind of nature, this scope of wildlife, with the ability to get so close to animals, even swimming with them in their natural habitats! It was not real life.

So how exactly did I book my Galapagos cruise from Quito?

I arrived in Quito and began my quest on November 9th – still the low season for the Galapagos, keep that in mind – and I reserved a dorm bed at a hostel in the Old City. Logistically, this is not really your best bet for exploring Galapagos cruise options as most of the tour operators, boat owners, and travel agents are located in Mariscal around Avenida Amazonas.

My first full day in Quito, I set out on foot with a list of a few addresses of tour agencies that I’d found on the Internet, and I walked the mile to Mariscal.

To start, I gathered some information about which cruises in my budget were leaving within the timeframe that I had set – I needed to be back in Quito by November 24th to meet Charlie. Seems like a pretty big range of days right? Well…

I had not done much research prior to this point. Oops.

Referred by other frantic travelers on TripAdvisor, I found Galapagos Cruise Links, a site which lists several boats by their departure dates, so I had an idea of the boats leaving during November. But the most helpful resource of all was Sangay Touring in Mariscal, where I spoke with a truly knowledgeable travel agent who gave me all the inside information on all of the boats leaving during the time period I had allotted. He listed the names of the boats, availability, and prices, as well as the giving me the inside scoop on the quality of the cruises… like which boats were truly bottom of the barrel, budget boats that he wouldn’t recommend.

Outside the fish market on Santa Cruz, where I spent my first night (not on those boats)

The travel agent helped me understand what really made a Galapagos cruise great – the itinerary, the guide, and the quality of the boat being among the most important things. I knew that I didn’t want a crappy boat; I wanted a cabin where I could comfortably sleep, fit my luggage, and then maybe have some good deck space for lounging. And I definitely wanted to spend at least four nights on the boat, as your last cruise day is always very short. I wanted to make this trip worth it.

Fatima, our faithful, bilingual, awesome guide – showing us the different species of rays

I also knew that I wanted to visit some of the pristine islands only accessible by a cruise, like Isla Española, one of the most beautiful (and the only one with the albatross). As it turns out, many of the boats leaving during the time I had available only visited Santa Cruz, Isabella, North Seymour, and/or San Cristóbal. The travel agent was honest with me, saying that booking a cruise to those islands would be more expensive than just doing the plausible day trips yourself.

Isla Española – you can see why I wanted to make it here!

I also learned that a cruise really saves you the time and misery involved in day trips by allowing you to travel the long distances between islands overnight. Otherwise, you spend hours of your daylight on small boats traveling at sea-sickness inducing speeds between islands. We heard a few vomit horror stories from a couple on our cruise who had taken a few of these day trips prior to getting onboard.

In the end, only two of the available cruises matched my interests, time, and budget. One of them was fully booked. The other, the yacht Floreana, had space.

And Yet I Still Almost Didn’t Book It

The costs associated with traveling to the Galapagos extend beyond the cruise itself. And that’s what almost killed my dreams of visiting.

Flights are pricey. Roundtrip flights from Quito to the Galapagos were showing up around $460 when I began my search. What?! I thought the islands were in Ecuador!!! Well they are, but they’re actually a two hour flight from the capital city.

Then I got word that several folks in my hostel had gotten flights for $218. Eventually, sensing my frustration, a lovely South African guy showed me how to tinker around with the dates on Skyscanner to get the same price. I’d have to leave a day before my cruise started and thus pay for an extra night of accommodation, but the price difference was worth it. Using some Chase points, I got the flight for $177 on Avianca. And to be clear, I booked it only five days out.

Another thing to keep in mind is that in order to even set foot on the Galapagos Islands, you have to pay an entrance fee of $100 and purchase a tourist card for $20. In the airport. Literally, you cannot leave the airport on the islands until this is done.

Oh yeah, and you have to tip your nature guide and the crew on your cruise.

Feeling sick yet?

Puerto Ayora, where I was scooped up in a Zodiac and taken to my yacht.

I’m Ashamed to Tell You This Next Part…

Basically, once you learn all of the information about the boat you’re interested in, it’s often possible to search the Internet and contact the boat owner directly. If the cruise you’re interested in shows up on Galapagos Cruise Links, you can email them directly via that site. If not, you’ll have to do a little Internet sleuthing.

Which I did.

In short, I circumvented the aforementioned fabulous and ever-so-helpful travel agent by emailing the owner of the Floreana directly. And I got a better price. Like $150 better. (Hell, that covers the entrance fees to the Galapagos.) I do feel a little bit bad, but everybody I’ve told has responded with a version of, “Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!”

Note:  Cruise prices often depend on whether or not a boat owner thinks he’ll be able to fill the remaining spots on a cruise in the days remaining before the boat is set to depart. You can wait, but it’s such a gamble.

So after a series of emails, I showed up at the yacht owner’s office in Mariscal the next day to pay the full amount in cash. (It costs 10% extra to pay with a credit card.)

After hearing all the rumors of crime, theft, and pickpocketing in Quito, the thought of paying for this cruise in cash almost turned me off of the idea completely. I felt like people could just see the money on me. (Thank goodness, I learned how easy it was to take the red Ecovía buses for 25 cents directly from the Old City to Mariscal.) I actually showed up at the boat owner’s office with $500, laid it in front of him, and headed off to gather the rest from nearby ATMs… because I couldn’t mentally handle carrying the full amount on me all at once.

And to be fair, nothing sketchy at all happened; I was just paranoid.

I left with a voucher in hand and a sticker (bearing the boat’s likeness) to wear on the Puerto Ayora docks the following Saturday… you know, so they’d recognize me as their next passenger. I’d be joining a cruise already in progress.

And, thankfully, all went as planned. After all that, I flew into Baltra, paid a $25 for a private room on Santa Cruz within walking distance of the port, had a lovely dinner at the seafood market nearby, and readied myself to get on the boat and join my fellow passengers at noon the next day…

View from the boat the first night, when I realized it was all worth it…

Deck space, check!

So… What Exactly Did I Pay?

Do I have to type it? Really? I have trouble even saying it out loud. For a cruise of five nights, six days, including a guide, snorkeling every day (plus all the gear included), and hikes on the islands…

I paid $1,250.00 *

In the low season. Plus all those other costs we talked about. Flight, entrance fee, tips.

Once in a lifetime though, right?! YOLO.

I regret nothing.

Other Options

Alternatively, you could book a cruise from Guayaquil as one young couple on our boat did (they did pay $100 more than me though). Or, if you have a higher tolerance for risk and more open schedule than me, you can fly to the islands and book a boat from Santa Cruz. A girl at my hostel said she managed to book a seven night cruise for $1,000 by waiting around in Puerto Ayora and approaching people around the docks. Just be aware that you run the risk of there being no cruises in your budget that leave in your allotted timeframe. And the thought of paying for a flight to the Galapagos and not being able to get on a boat made my head explode.

Regardless of all the stress and agonizing that went into this decision to venture to the Galapagos, it was one of the best things I have done on my trip thus far, so stick around for a post with all the fun parts of touring the Galapagos Islands via cruise!

*  Regardless of whether you think this price is great or terrible, nothing is guaranteed. Lots of factors go into the pricing that I’ll never fully understand. One thing I do know is that there are no “cheap” cruises.

Do you guys want to visit the Galapagos? Is it worth the splurge or not? What do you think? Am I an idiot?