Some issues with tour

Not a bike tour, but this is as good a place as any to share my feedback. Overall, while the Galapagos is amazing and the accommodations were great, this tour fell a bit short due to logistical planning and customer service. We took a 6 day tour booked with Southern Explorations to the Galapagos Islands. As soon as we arrived, we found out we'd been outsourced to Red Mangrove. We had to wait quite awhile for our bus, and when it arrived, it was stuffed. The accommodations themselves were excellent for the Galapagos. Way better than staying on a boat. Our naturalist guide, Fabian was mostly fantastic. Really knowledgeable and spoke good English, but he was new to Red Mangrove and didn't have a good sense for the logistics of the tour. The support staff was not as professional and combined with the guide being new, this caused an issue. They were young locals, not well-trained, and not that helpful. They were do the minimum types. There was one disastrous day where the group basically took a muddy death march in the driving rain to see nothing. This really should have been called off by experienced staff and/or the guide. The food was mostly buffet style and not great. I understand we weren't signing up for Michelin stars here, and that this is an island, but it really was quite generic and bland for the most part. I found the tour logistically to be poorly planned. The first and last days were basically washes (beach trips with very little to see). With one day wasted due to poor weather management, this shortened our exposure to things we had really come to see. The Galapagos is amazing, but not sure I would go with this company for the tour.

REVIEW

Outsourced

Our Argentina/Patagonia tour was a big disappointment. We booked it through Southern Explorations, who basically is a travel agency. We were passed across multiple vendors with very little continuity. The local agencies were OK but it lacked many of the things that make a tour nice, the same guides, a consistent group of people you get to know. A lot of little coordination issues as well. We felt like we were paying a premium to get something that was disjointed and not curated. They seemed surprised when we contacted them after the tour.

REVIEW

Outstanding Tours

We took a tour to Peru with Southern Explorations and the service, quality of guides, rides, gear were all outstanding. One of the best trips we have ever taken. Highly Recommened.

REVIEW