On our most recent cruise to South America, somewhere around the equator we were told about cruising the Galapagos Islands. At the risk of showing our ignorance, we first had to learn how to say it, and then how to spell it (we were okay with the “islands” part), and even now there seems to be one too many “a’s” coming out of our laptops.
Geography never having been our strong suit in school, the Archipelago of Galapagos sounded more like a high-ranking church official in a denomination with which we were not familiar. On the Celebrity Millennium, we learned the error of our “knowledge.”
Looking back now, we remember being told three things by the good people of the Millennium. One, Celebrity had the only cruise ship that went there, the Xpedition. Two, the Galapagos was ruled with people we used to call tree huggers but are now more appropriately described as environmentalists or “caretakers of the earth.” Three, that one day cruise ships wouldn’t be allowed to go there (so go before it’s too late).
Since the alternative is having “undertakers of the earth” we’re on board now, not just because we put our recycling bag out on time. That makes the cruise news coming out of Galapagos that much more interesting.
The news is that cruise ships — notice the plural — are now permitted to visit the same island site once every two weeks, instead of once a week. This may not seem like a big deal unless you’re facing a sensitive ecological situation, and Galapagos evidently is, has been and always will be.
A little geography/history lesson:
These are just over 20 islands in the South Pacific, about 600 miles due west of Ecuador, the country in charge. Close to 40,000 people live at this UNESCO World Heritage Site, which 150 years ago contributed to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The 70,000 square miles of ocean around it have been declared a marine reserve, the second largest in the world, and the Galapagos Islands were on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list until Ecuador addressed the problems…the main ones are invasive species, over-fishing and unbridled tourism.
Okay, school’s out.
Large cruise ships — Celebrity’s Xpedition is the only major cruise line vessel operating there —are considered to be those with 40 to 100 passengers, maximum. The Xpedition 
has 90, and this 8-day cruise is sold out all the time, with no deals. On a weeklong cruise, visitors could see all Galapagos’ highlights, but that changes with the new regulations. Now, 10-to-11 day cruises are recommended.
The good news is there’s no mention that cruising the Galapagos is on the endangered list, so there’s no panic to book one now. The panic could be finding the $500 or more — per person, per night — that it costs.
Oh…and did we mention that doesn’t include the cost of flying there?