They need to clean the ship for new passengers. So to get those staying two weeks off the ship one of the guides took us thru town for a two-hour history of Galapagos tour. You can check the link if you want details, but there was a lot of misery until mid-way into the 20th century. I didn’t know that during World War II the US built a base and stationed thousands here to ensure the Galapagos was not used as a forward base to attack the Panama Canal.
Tidbits!
- When you have more than 100 days with Silversea they give you a perk – laundry service is free. That is HUGE. You completely sweat out your hiking gear every day in the Galapagos. For a one-week cruise you can only pack so many changes of clothes. I don’t know what the non-100-day passengers are doing, but since I earned 132 days during my 2019 World Cruise, I’m washing my outfits every day.
- My world cruise was crewed by people from all over the world. Stopping in the Philippines, there were 30 families waiting to meet their loved ones who worked as crew on the Silver Whisper. It’s one of the things that made it so cool. The Silver Origin stays in Ecuador territory, so the entire crew is from Ecuador. It is its own kind of cool, but I do miss the different accents and points of view.
- There were 97 guests on the first week from: the USA, Canada, Mexico, France and the Netherlands
- There are no “Fancy Evening Dress” here. The only rules are after 6:00pm no shorts or jeans. Many passengers brought semi-fancy outfits. I packed some business trousers and a light jacket, but did not need to.
- We had a guest in a wheelchair, which brought up the question of accessibility. It’s a hard balancing act on a ship. The exterior doors have big 5cm lips all around to ensure water tightness. We have an elevator to move passengers from deck 3 (marina) to deck 7 (grill), so that’s helpful. I can’t think of a way around that.
