cruisellama

I wouldn't see a merger happen, especially with Silver.  Its business model and target client base is different.  If R and X were to merge, it could be a sign of a closer integration between the two to combine leadership positions and reduce G&A across those 2 lines.    Personally wouldn't want to see it as they each have focused guest experiences and I believe both would suffer with the compromises that would ensue. 

Simply stop by one of the bars prior to going to dinner and pick up a glass of wine.  No issue bringing it from the bar.
 

Simply stop by one of the bars prior to going to dinner and pick up a glass of wine.  No issue bringing it from the bar.
 

Simply stop by one of the bars prior to going to dinner and pick up a glass of wine.  No issue bringing it from the bar.
 

Yep. I get the raised prices, even the sticker shock ones like the $92 dollars per day for a drink package and the $3800 floating cabana I'm seeing in my cruise planner for Icon's Inaugural sailing. $2 dollars plus 20% gratuity to warm up a cookie is insulting. Typically I cruise about once per year (although guilty of cruising a bit more during the restart days) so for me, whatever.
But I feel bad for those that only take cruise vacations, multiple times per year. It's going to ruin the experience for them if they have to open up their wallet for stupid *cough, cough* stuff like a cookie.
Just my opinion of course and as long as the core experience is still the same people may be okay with the nickel-and-dime tactics, even if they are just suggestions or test pilots.  

A charge for "warm" fresh from the oven.  What happens when they cool down?   Shouldn't depreciation kick in?  Seems much of these "tests" are poking guests in the eye.   

Same kind of thing happened in Key West where they limited the size and number of ships that could visit.

It's currently the last night of the cruise and I'm two days behind.  It's been a busy two days so I haven't had a lot of time to post.  
Early time off the ship and flight back to Guayaquil tomorrow so it may be a day or two before I continue. 

Another fascinating lecture in the evening followed by our destination talk for tomorrow.  Four excursions tomorrow.  A nature walk, morning snorkel, afternoon snorkel and a zodiac tour.  
Afterwards I somehow found myself in the company of four lovely ladies for dinner at The Grill on deck 7.
Hot Rocks - Ecuadorian Pork with a number of wonderful Ecuadorian appetizers we all shared.

The lights of Puerto Ayora as I ventured to the aft of the ship before heading to my suite.

Afterwards we were free to continue exploring the area of the research station, we could ride the bus back to the ship or we could walk the 1km back to the ship down the main street of town past restaurants and shops.

I chose the walking on my own option.







It wasn't long until I found my way back to the pier where our zodiacs were waiting.

I saw some baby black tipped sharks but wasn't fast enough to capture them.  Instead it's our old friend the Sea Lion.

Back on the ship I set out my shopping for the day including some Montemar coffee, a small Blue Footed Booby carving and a print I purchased in the town on the walk back.

The artist, Sarah Darling, who painted it was in her shop and she talked about her art and various pieces around her shop.

Our Silver Origin guide Jeffo explains how the breeding center works taking freshly laid eggs and bringing them back to the breeding station where they are carefully incubated with a higher success rate then they would achieve if left alone in nature. 
They can control the sex of the hatchlings by controlling the temperature, 28°C produces males and 29.5°C produces females.  When they are trying to rebuild a population they tend to produce more females than males by a three to one ratio. 

 

We continue to explore the area.


The horses a bit closer.


Montemar also is a coffee plantation.  They host a coffee tasting for our benefit.



A Montemar representative walks us through the coffee tasting process.



Afterwards we are free to wander on our own, do some shopping with the local artisans they brought in or use the bathroom.
The view to the sea from our perch in the highlands of Santa Cruz.  The Tortoises make the fifty mile trek to lay their eggs. 

We board our bus back to the harbor.

The bus was comfortable with air conditioning.


A Sea Turtle makes a meal cleaning the growth off the dock.

After our zodiac ride back to the ship Ecuadorian chocolate is waiting for us as we step on board.

Along with some sparkling wine.

Almost time for breakfast.  Time to head downstairs.

While at lunch we started underway to our second stop of the day... Sullivan Bay.
I knew a Galapagos cruise was all about visiting the islands of the Galapagos but the scenery today was unreal.  You can't do it justice in pictures.  The slow cruise through the passages to reach Sullivan's Bay was breathtaking.





When we arrived the unloading of the zodiacs began.

Thanks so much for posting all this. Your pictures are fantastic! What an amazing trip!! Hope it continues to be amazing 🙂 

After dinner I ventured outside to see how the night sky was looking.  The cloud cover from earlier remained so I returned to my cabin to go through some pictures. 
Around 10:00pm I went out on my balcony and saw what I thought might be the Milky Way off my balcony.  Sure enough an app confirmed it so I went out to the deck eight forward star gazing deck that I took the pictures of Kicker Rock from.
I haven't spent a lot of time tweaking this just yet, but here is what I captured with a long exposure. 

 

The ship offers a premium internet option which I knew I'd have to purchase if I wanted to post very much at all.  $183 unlocks higher speeds and up to four devices.


 

At 7pm we had our destination talk specific to our next day at Prince Philip's Steps.  This back in the Explorers Lounge.
The bar menu for the lounge.

I saw the dinner menu outside the main dining room while walking through this area.

 

At 4:30pm we had the mandatory safety briefing.  We had been instructed a number of times to watch the safety briefing on our cabin TV's and acknowledge the video on the cabin TV.   After the safety drill we all gathered in the Explorers Lounge on deck four for our first orientation talk.  

After the talk some groups were asked to meet in the marina on deck 3 to secure snorkeling equipment.  I headed up to deck 8 forward to see Kicker Rock up close as we had been sailing slowly in this direction since the start of the safety briefing.
Sunset was taking place and a National Geographic ship had completed their sail past Kicker Rock.





With the naked eye you could easily spot hundreds of birds flying around or nesting on the rocks.





With that it was my turn to visit the marina to get my snorkel gear.

Once through immigration we collected our luggage and rolled them outside to a waiting truck.  From there we would board busses for the short 10 minute trip to the harbor. 


There are a limited number of busses on this island and so we had to wait for a bus to drop off the first set of guests and come back for us.  
A benefit of waiting is that our naturalists were talking about various things and wait...  along comes a giant centipede measuring about six inches long.  These are pretty rare apparently and our guides were excited to see one.

Some of the sights around the village on the ride to the harbor.




 

TMobile cell phone user.   Ecuador is included.   Here is a speedtest from my hotel as I wait for the shuttle bus.   Tick tock, tick tock. 
 

 

Across the street from City Hall we walked over to the Malecón.  

Ecuadorian Presidents who are from Guayaquil are honored in statue. 


Jefferson talks more about Guayaquil and the commerce associated with the river.


Back on the bus for a short ride to another area along the river.  Cerro Santa Ana is only accessible by stairs.  A number of houses and shops are all only accessible by climbing the stairs.

We don't climb the stairs but instead we walk along a cobblestone road around the base.


Several older houses have been converted to businesses and we stop by an art studio in a former house along the shore of the river.

We continue along the shore...

Eventually we reach a newer area with modern buildings.

This brings us back to the building I saw on my first tour called The Screw.


Here we board the bus and head back to the hotel.

Four passenger stations plus one "technical station" (no passenger traffic, it just manages a turn in the system).  

Once back across the river we left the cable car and started exploring the Malecón 2000.  Our first area would be a botanical garden open to the public.







After leaving the Malecón and exploring some city streets on foot we visited the Cocoa Museum.

I didn't take any pictures inside the museum.  It's a nice museum that goes over the history of cocoa in Ecuador.  It is multiple stories with stairs between floors.  Each floor offered something related to the history of cocoa and the financial impact to the city such as the banking system that evolved from it. A chocolate store nearby smelled really great but I resisted the temptation, for now.
Around Guayaquil you will find a number of murals and wall art such as this one that captured my essence as a photographer.

This discoteque was closed by day but features several prominent people from the history of Guayaquil. 

This one is a tribute to the shipbuilding history of the region going back several centuries.

We continue walking around the city streets of Guayaquil with Corina explaining quite a bit of valuable history and information. 
The Church of San Francisco.


Shortly after a car picked us up and drove us back to the hotel.
I'm really glad I booked this tour and the one on one interaction offered by a private tour.