Free Enterprise

Cruise

V!VA User‘s Description

The Free Enterprise is a 20-passenger sailing yacht with style, comfort, and charm. Ten double cabins, with twin upper and lower berths or double bed, are equipped with private bathroom, hot water, and air-conditioning. Social areas are limited but comfortable, with communal dining room, bar/lounge, and some deck space. Snorkeling and scuba-diving equipment is also available for a price.

Four-day, five-day, and eight-day depart on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Traveler Reviews of Free Enterprise

Beautiful trip

Rating: 75%

We had a beautiful trip on this charming boat, in spite of the (small) cockroaches and occasionally overflowing shower... One of the two guides (Patricio) was excellent, the crew was very friendly and there was a nice group of travellers. The bar is overpriced compared to the ecuadorian mainland, the food was good and included a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. I recommend the Free Enterprise as a mid-range Galápagos tour boat!

By V!VA User from Berlin, Germany, Nov 05, 2005

An Amazing Experience

Rating: 100%

In a nutshell: better than average food, comfortable accommodations but most importantly FUN and KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF! Their knowledge of geology and ecology of the area was top knotch... and they were all excellent dancers!

By V!VA User from Edmonton, Canada, Oct 19, 2005

The islands are great, shame about the boat

Rating: 25%

The good points: One of the three guides we observed was excellent, one was OK. The crew worked incredibly hard, and were friendly and fun. The islands are amazing and worth almost any amount of trouble to see. And we did eventually see everything on our itinerary (although some of it was rather rushed). The bad points: The boat broke down and had to return to Puerto Ayora after visiting only one island. The owner (Mora Tours in Puerto Ayora) is in my opinion dishonest - he told us the boat could almost certainly be fixed, then waited until after all the other agencies had shut before telling us it couldn't, so we had no chance to see if we could find another tour. He then offered us a choice between transferring to his other boat (the Gaby) with no air conditioning, or an immediate refund of our money. When those of us who transferred to the Gaby returned two days later we found one of those who had left the boat having the owner escorted by the police to the bank to pay the money he'd still refused to hand over. He also tried to get all the passengers to sign a form (in Spanish only, of course) agreeing not to make any complaints about the trip. In short, my advice is: Go to the Galapagos, it's great. Do not book on the Free Enterprise or the Gaby, or have anything to do with Mora Tours. I'd also be very cautious about Pam Tours in Quito, who we originally booked through: they gave us wrong information about itineraries, showed us pictures of a different boat to the one they were telling us about, and told us the Gaby had recently been bought by a new company and was now better, while the owner told us he'd owned it for eight years.

By V!VA User from New Zealand, Feb 28, 2006