Help me find a cruise for my elderly, less active parents
Hello! My mother has talked about the Galapagos being the only trip she wanted to do for as long as I’ve been alive and has taken a backseat while my father traveled the world (150+ countries but never this one for her!) to care for her parents. She’s turning 75 and I plan to gift her this trip for them + myself and my sibling. However, I think we’ve waited a bit long as my father is now 85 with mild Parkinson’s and so I don’t want to delay any further as things are not going to improve for them in terms of activity level. She’s in fine health but stairs are an issue for her. (They are both otherwise in fine health and my sibling and I will be there as well, which is also why I feel it is important to go now and not wait any longer.)
She wants to see turtles, sea lions, penguins, and birds, in that order of importance. They both like nature a lot and have done safaris as their favorite trips. They are members of their local bird club and travel to go see various special birds doing things but she most cares about the turtles. They will not go snorkeling. I have 1000s of dives but do not plan to dive on this trip though I will bring a wet suit for snorkeling.
She’s always talked about the Nat Geo cruise but looking at the itinerary I don’t think an expedition one is right for them at this age and with some mobility limits.
We did a northern lights cruise in Norway last year. It was the first real “cruise” for all of us (with the exception that I’ve done a great number of liveaboards / sailboat charters if one considers those a cruise - I’m adding that as I have a mental frame of reference for what seem to be the standard small cruise size ships and layouts in the Galapagos.) It went ok, but I learned from that we do not want them on a cruise ship for 10 days as my father was extremely bored (granted it being pitch black at midday probably greatly added to that.)
I’ve looked into staying at one of the hotels (Finch Bay) and doing the day trips instead but am not sure if that is any better as the the transit time out is long.
I’m leaning toward Celebrity only because it seems more comfortable for them, has elevators, stability for my father who can be a bit unbalanced, easiest rib transits from what I read (the balance issue) etc. But would really love to hear any other suggestions on this.
If we could get away with a 4/5 N/D cruise I also think that would be better and think we can do the turtles from the land if that knocks out some cruise days. Also looked at maybe doing a land split on the islands which would be great but we’d still need to do a shorter cruise I think to see some of her animal wants.
Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated!
Our fuller itinerary is below (we’re not bound with days so I’ve left the tail end open)
Days 1-2: arrival (stay near airport for parents to acclimate better and recover from traveling, ensure luggage arrives, etc.)
Days 3-7: Quito + Mashpi package (looking to see if we can switch the itinerary and do Mashpi then Quito instead of a split for less travel hassle on them.)
Days 8-10: Finch Bay + turtles
Days xx-xx: cruise
Day xx: back to airport
Day xx: fly out