LA PINTA DARWIN’S LEGACY (Fri-Thurs)

Extraordinary experience! Everything was perfectly coordinated and organized. The guides were very well informed and knew how to interest you on what they said. The yacht was comfortable, cabins enough big and beds very comfortable, and the food excellent. We went with our three grandkids (18,16 and 13) and they never missed a trip, a snorkeling or kayaking plan. Great way of interesting them in a different trip! Although is an expensive trip, value for money is not! I wish I could take my small (5 and 2) grandkids one day to this trip, although we are 81 and 78 years old and do not recommend the trip for kids younger than 10.

Excellent trip overall. La Pinta is a very well-fitted ship--rooms are good size, and plenty of space to socialize or spend time on your own. The hot tub was a lovely bonus! The days were filled with excursions, well-narrated by the naturalists onboard. We booked with Carolina at Metropolitan Touring, who gave us all the info we needed to have a great trip!

My friend and I had an amazing cruise with Metropolitan touring on La Pinta this past week. This was on both of our bucket list. This is an expedition cruise & very active. If you were expecting a Caribbean or Mediterranean cruise with relaxing on the boat and one excursion a day, this is not the cruise for you. If you want to be able to see all of the amazing wildlife and landscape of Galapagos and experience it through the knowledge of local guides than this trip is for you. We were treated wonderfully from the nine months ago planning with Anddy at Metropolitan touring who upgraded our cabin the day before we left, to the local Quito guide, Andres and driver Roland who took us to the middle of the world, old town Quito a local restaurant for a snack, a baroque church that was covered in gold leaf, and a final chocolate sampling tour. Anddy helped us fill out our declaration card ahead of our trip the next day to the Galapagos. Then we were picked up by another guide early the next morning, who provided us with our checked luggage tags, our boarding passes and our transit control cards. Everything was done for us. It just made the travel so simple we didn’t have to think about anything. Once we got to the Baltra airport in the Galapagos, Vicky and Indy two of our Galapagos national Park guides who were on the ship with us, got us on the bus down to the dock where we boarded our pangas to La Pinta. We were then greeted at the front desk by Gaby and shown to our rooms by Luis our cabin Steward. Our previously gathered checked luggage was delivered to our rooms during our safety briefing and our wonderful buffet lunch on the ship. Then our first day we were off to North Seymour Island, where we saw our very first blue footed booby greeting us on the volcanic rock next to our dry landing strip. From there, the rest of the week was amazing. We mostly traveled at night to the next island(s). It was a very active cruise with breakfast at 7 am and excursions starting at 8 am from panga rides to explore island coasts, to wet landing hikes, to beach snorkeling, to deep sea snorkeling to dry landing hikes, to kayaking and glass bottom boat options. We also had some time after the Charles Darwin tortoise breeding center to explore downtown Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz before going to the Finch Bay hotel for a buffet brunch and swimming in the pool for some. We saw 11 of the Big 15…I think were likely to see the Albatross, too but my group did not but that will have to be for a next time maybe🙂. We snorkeled with green sea turtles, Manta Rays, penguins and playful sea lions…saw baby sharks resting on the ocean floor as well as Eagle Rays. Beautiful schools of fish and even a seahorse! The cabin was perfect and right next to back of boat door to the drying hangers for shoes and the two dryers for wet swim clothes. Fortunately at our Quito hotel and on ship we were able to brush teeth with tap water and filtered water stations were available for drinking water to put in our provided water bottles. The food was gourmet and plentiful. The breakfast was buffet style with omelet station and a variety of breakfast foods including local varieties. Lunch was buffet style and often on the sun deck and always with a soup and several main options including salads, carving station and wonderful desserts-they have pastry chefs on board! Dinner was a choice of 3 appetizers, 3 mains and 3 desserts that our wonderful waiter Roberto would show us at lunch and take our order for dinner. I always ordered off of this menu but found out from my table mates that there was a dinner comfort menu always available to order from if the daily selections were not to their liking with hamburgers, pizzas, patas, etc on it. Before dinner every evening, we had a talk and a review of what excursions were planned for the next day along with letting us know which choices had to be signed up for so they could plan the 4 national park guides/and panga drivers needs. We felt very pampered while experiencing a very active cruise vacation in one of the most unique, amazing and beautiful parts of our planet. If you love an active vacation, want to see unique fauna, but have someone else plan for you and pamper you, this is the cruise for you. I highly recommend going through Metropolitan Touring directly!

This was a totally amazing trip. La pinta holds 44 guests which is just the perfect size allowing a variety of people to share experiences with but not too big to cause delays or waiting lines. From the beginning Maria Emilia De los Reyes was our travel advisor and she was very responsive to questions posted on Whatsapp as well as taking calls. Every excursion exceeded or expectations. The planning, execution and communication was amazing. The crew organization was so good, there was never and waits or delays. This was the best way to visit Galapagos.

We just got back from almost two weeks in Ecuador and are still in a state of wonder! Our trip included 6 nights on La Pinta in the Galápagos Islands, two days exploring old Quito and its culture, and two nights in the Mashpi cloud forest. We’re so thankful we found Carolina Escobar from Metropolitan Touring who organized the PERFECT trip for us. She was kind, responsive and knowledgeable—just what we needed. Our guides were all excellent too. One bucket list trip down—more to go! Thanks Carolina and team!

We just returned from an amazing week on La Pinta with Metropolitan Touring. The entire experience was phenomenal-- -from booking wtih a very patient and informative agent Diego to the day tour in Quito and day tour in Otavalo through to the week's cruise on La Pinta across the western and central Galapagos Islands. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. The naturalists were so informative, and the itinerary enabled us to see a LOT of animals, birds, fish, whales, and flora. We were BUSY on the ship, with 3-4 excursions a day for hiking, boat tours, and snorkeling. The number of guests on the ship is capped at 48, which makes for a really nice sized group, and we enjoyed meeting the other travelers from US, UK, Australia, and beyond. Truly good value for money given everything that is included. An amazing experience!

The trip to the Galapagos on the LaPinta with Metropolitan was fabulous, a first-class operation with a wonderful crew and perfect-sized boat (49 but we had 43). Good food, knowledgable guides, lots of good snorkeling and their equipment is good. Carolina Escobar put together an agenda that included time in Quito and the Mashpi Lodge in the cloud forest, which Metropolitan owns. We really enjoyed this place and doing a lot of bird watching. We hit the highlights (sky bikes, cable ride, birding) for 2 nights, suggest a 3rd night if you want to get in a good hike. Magical place though car ride in on dirt rode for an hour had its challenges.

From start to finish it was an amazing experience. All we saw did was breathtaking. Everyone involved made it as perfect as possible. Carolina Escobar helped us book the holiday, the yacht staff were great especially Jefferson and Gabby. The guides, Cathy, Indira, David, and Desi were so knowledgeable. The rest of the crew we helpful and friendly. Roberto the waiter was so funny. It made a perfect trip.

Incredible experience start to finish. We were blessed to work with Destination Expert Melissa Altamirano. And Melissa's title describes her very well, Destination Expert! Thank you Melissa. Outside of my wife and I booking our flight to Ecuador, Melissa handled EVERYTHING, yes EVERYTHING. From the moment we picked up our bags to our return back to the airport a week later, all of Melissa's planning was flawless. The LaPinta Luxury Yacht is truly a Luxury Yacht. Fine dining, incredible cabin with a view, and most important the most professional and kind staff and crew. All the crew were exceptional at their jobs, and they all get to know you and your preferences so well throughout the trip. My wife and I were so glad we selected the LaPinta as our ship for luxury and adventure because of the guest size of approximately 50 passengers. We felt the smaller ships did not offer many of the amenities of this yacht, and the larger ships had too many people to get the personalize service that we fell in love with on the LaPinta . . . and once again, I would like to stress the professionalism and attention to detail of all the staff. All daily activities were planned out to perfection, in which we generally enjoyed three different adventures daily, with the opportunities to snorkel being our favorite. We not only viewed numerous wildlife, the guides educated us throughout each excursion. I would rate the guides we had throughout our numerous excursions/adventures as the best in the industry. We can away with countless wildlife sightings and the knowledge/education/history of each specie encountered and island visited. As a trip to the Galapagos Islands generally being a once-in-a-lifetime trip and adventure, I would not have changed one thing about our trip. As I began this review, I will end in saying, we were so blessed Melissa planned our entire trip flawlessly, and the LaPinta and the LaPinta staff/crew and guides were AMAZING. Thanks to all for a PERFECT TRIP AND A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES.

This cruise with Metropolitan Touring is a dream. From the beginning, Agent Carolina Escobar’s attention to all our doubts and concerns was kind, fast and attentive, out of 10, which already anticipated the excellent cruise experience. The organization is perfect, yet absolutely controlled, like clockwork, it is impressive the level of professionalism of your entire team. The food is second to none, we have already heard about the prestige of its chef and the excellent food service but it still amazes you. Definitely at the level of the best restaurant I tried in Ecuador. The naturalist team is amazing, not only for its training, knowledge and preparation but for its kindness and organization. The service on the waiters' boat is impeccable and the spacious and tremendously comfortable cabins are a success. How well he slept! All services, visits, routes, are organized in English and Spanish, which is greatly appreciated when the Spanish-speaking group is a minority. You can only say good things about this cruise and all its wonderful equipment.