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Review Isabela II Pictures by Soledad Arregui During the second week of April, 2004 we took a three-night cruise tour with Metropolitan Touring, on the M/Y Isabela II. What a nice time of the year to cruise the Galapagos Marine Reserve, and definitely a great First Class Yacht!
		The Tour This company, Metropolitan Touring, has managed to hire some of the best crew I've ever been with while touring the Galapagos. The yacht manager, captain, naturalist guides, cooks and sailors are just top of the line. Isabela II is a medium sized yacht for Galapagos (40 passengers and 30 crew members), we consider it a perfect size for the purpose of island cruising.
The ship does 10 knots max. this is not bad, but it can take some 15 hours to reach the farthest northern islands, which are the ones with the most fascinating fauna, mainly marine fauna. This time we did an exception to the rule of reviewing Galapagos tourism services, because I badly needed to get out of the city. So we took a three night cruise. The minimum review is for a seven night expedition. On this particular itinerary, we only visited three islands: North Seymour, Espaniola and Floreana, you'll have to ask our free travel advisor for a detailed itinerary.
We think that a three night cruise to the Galapagos is too short because of the time you have to spend in air travel and connections to reach the archipelago.
The infrastructure of the ship offers guests total comfort in twin cabins and a couple of cabins with Queen size bed. They also offer a so-called "Owners Cabin" which is larger and nicer. Facilities include a great outside Jacuzzi, snack bar, reading room, a comfortable dining room and all the navigation security a First Class boat must offer. Don't expect a great variety of food or tasty delicacies; you'll get a buffet breakfast and lunch, and a choice of two different entrées for dinner. To say the truth, I was hungry. One afternoon after returning from a land tour I was starving, I couldn't get anybody to prepare even a sandwich, I had to settle for a bowl of peanuts and a couple of vodka screwdrivers until dinner time. Expect to get charged for all the soft drinks you consume, even the ones during lunch and dinner.

		Well, Isabela II is definitely one of the nicest ships I've been on cruising the Galapagos Islands. The two times we went snorkeling, it was incredible, I really like this part, we saw tons of colorful fish, I even saw a couple of sharks at the Devils Crown snorkeling site. A naturalistic guide is in charge of taping the whole activities, and prepares an edited video of your adventure that you can buy, I think this is really cool. Go2Galapagos recommends this ship.
What the review members had to say: Soledad (Mother, age 32) The host was excellent, all the crew was very polite, excellent guides, excellent tour. The rooms were very comfy, bathroom with plenty of water, the food was just OK. I really enjoyed this trip. Raúl (Father, age 33) I really enjoyed this beautiful ship, the trip was just too short, but the time of year made it one of the best experiences I've had in the Galapagos Islands.
For all the nice ship and facilities, that I saw and inspected, top of the line crew and Isabela II gets a 87/100 punctuation, becoming one of the best, first class yachts, RECOMMENDED by Go2Galapagos.com.

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