Hola Isabel,
We have returned from an amazing 4 weeks in Ecuador, Peru and the Pantannal.
Many thanks, we absolutely loved the GPS and the Athala.
We had published a Photo in our national newspaper on Saturday 16 July: a booby bird tackling a tuna. It took the booby 25 minutes to eat the fish, then it managed to swim, exhausted, to safety.
Have a good day.

Hi Andrea and Jim,
The boat was "gorgeous". The cabins were very comfortable, good guides and crew. We had a great trip, saw some amazing wildlife and the boat was worth the money.
Kind regards

Dear Andrea
I have only just spoken with Mr Rishani (as he has been away with business over the last few weeks)
Overall he had fantastic time. He thought the boat was lovely, the staff were kind and very helpful and the guiding was excellent. The whole family absolutely loved the Galapagos Islands.
Thank you os much for your help with this booking – it worked very well.
Kind regards

Hola Washington!
We are BACK from the Galapagos and it was as wonderful of an experience as I could have imagined.

Dear All
Just got back from a cruise on the Athala - great boat, great people, great food...wish I was back there now! Seriously though, it's more expensive than a lot of options, but it's a superb boat with top class service. Be prepared for an active holiday (lots of snorkeling) if you want to make best use of the cruise. If you are up for it, the experience is magical. The naturalist guide on the boat (George) is awesome, and Javier, who is effectively the 'hotel' manager (cruise director) is excellent. I would really recommend this boat - and if it is anything to go on, the Nina is probably good too.

Hi Isabel,
My friend and I just returned from eight magical days on the Athala II. The captain and crew were all friendly and fun. The ship was kept spotless and every effort was made to ensure the most enjoyment of the passengers. Our park guide was Harry Jimenez. His deep love and respect for the islands was contagious. He imparted his knowledge with passion and a wonderful sense of humor. I had hoped to be able to see the giant tortoises in their natural environment. This was not on our itinerary but Harry and the captain went out of their way to make this happen. Harry even threw in and extra treat by finding a Vermillion Flycatcher for me. This trip will remain in our hearts forever.

Dear Isabel
We had a wonderful trip to the Galapagos! Thanks so much.

The Hilton Colon is fine hotel, and they serve a very good breakfast on the executive floor. The catamaran Athala is first class all the way: The vessel, accommodations, crew, food and overall service. Our naturalist-guide, Jorge Garcia, was outstanding in all ways: personality, knowledge, interest in everyone's well being & excellent communication skills; we could not have had a better one.  The trip was everything we hoped it would be. 

Dear Isabel and Lorena,

I arrived back from my educational trip to Galapgos and Peru last week. It was a wonderful experience and especially my time on Galapagos was a very memorable one!

There was a very nice group on board (US, Australia, Canada and Denmark) and also the staff made me feel very much at home. The cabins are great and the best I have seen (after checking some other boats during my 1 free day at Puerto Ayora). They are so spacious! The staff paid so much attention to every details (my compliments to the person who folds the towels every day in a different shape ;-) The bathrooms are nice and modern too.

Food was excellent and the chef and his assistants made every meal special and very tasty. Especially I liked the day we had a barbecue (wat great seafood!) on the bar-deck outside.

Our tour-leader was Ruli and he was a very knowledgable about a lot of things. He really blended very well with the group and could talk about a lot of things (‘outside’ the Galapagos as well). The tours were very nice and I really wished that I could have seen more islands. So a good reason to come back some other time.

Thanks again!
Best regards,

Dear Haugan Cruises

We were on the eight day Athala trip in April. It was fantastic. My wife is putting together a "book" with pictures and text, to show other people.

Would it be possible to get a full page Itinerary of the trip.
Many thanks,

Isabel:

We want to thank you for a once in a lifetime trip. The Nina and her crew were absolutely the best and I would highly recommend them to anyone going to the Galapagos. Our naturalist III guide, Juan Carlos, was the best guide we have ever had. He knew his wildlife, the history of the islands and it was great getting to know him.
Thanks again for a wonderful trip,

Dear Mrs. Cordova:

I am writing as a follow up to a recent cruise my wife and I arranged through Columbus Travel. We went to Galapagos Island on an 8 day, 7 night cruise on the Athala. The cruise started on February 27 and ran until March. 6.

My purpose in writing is to express how much we thought of the Athala's crew the naturalist on our trip. In short, the crew headed by Captain Pedro Rocafuerte was terrific. They were very professional and very helpful. My wife and i could not be more pleased with their performance.

The naturalist Harry Jimenez was fabulous. He not only had exceptionally broad knowledge about the plants and wildlife, but he had a terrific sense of humor. He was delightful and we learned a great deal listening to him in the evening briefings and walking with him on the islands. We both felt that Harry must be one of the top naturalists in Galapagos.

Both Harry and the crew made our trip one that we will remember the rest of our lives. Also, your agent Diego Andrade was particularly helpful in making the reservation for our trip. If you want to use my comments in any advertising please feel free to do so.

Hola Isabel,

How are you doing? Hope all is well. Today I had a long conversation with clients Delehey/McDougald. All went well on Athala for them. They loved Jorge Garcia the guide, he was perfect of course-I know him from years ago on another boat. A real highlight for them was that the crew went snorkeling with them sometimes. They really liked this. The ice machine was broken onboard but it was not a big deal for them. This was a pretty easygoing group I think. They also really liked that the crew wanted to learn more English and that the crew was interacting with them alot. They went snorkeling 2x per day and this was also great for them.

Kind Regards,

Hi Isabel,

I just wanted to tell you that clients Miller x 2 were very happy with their time on Nina. The cruise director was great, the guide was great, the birthday celebration was PERFECT, cabin was great and they loved the boat.

Thanks for all of your help with these clients. You are great to work with.

Sincerely,

Hi Isabel,

Hope your day is a good one! How are you doing? Great news that there are no more power shortages in Quito at the moment!

I have been wanting to email you about a really nice comment that I received from clients Miller on Nina.    They were SO happy about the celebration for Jeff Miller's birthday onboard. The cabin had chocolates all over the bed and the towels were made in the shape of a birthday cake and the room was decorated and I can't remember if he mentioned there was a cake but I think that they also made him a cake at the dinner. That was SO nice of the crew. Jeff felt really special :). Please can you tell them how happy clients were? Thank you so much. He told me it was his best birthday in all of his life. WOW!!!

THANKS very much for your help Isabel. Many hugs and kind regards,

Olga,
we just returned from our 2+ weeks in Galapagos/Peru and wanted to send you a thank you for a trip well planned and organized. We really enjoyed both destinations, but I think the Galapagos was my favorite. Both of the guides (George in Galapagos and Mariella in Peru) were fabulous.

Thanks again, and I would certainly recommend Columbus Travel to anyone interested in a journey south of the border.

Elena,

Thank you so much for all the arrangements you made on our behalf.  The trip was great, and all the connections went smoothly.  The drivers were on time, helpful and courteous, and the staff on the boat was great.  Thanks again.

Hi Paola

Now that we - unfortunately - have left Ecuador behind us, I wanted to thank you again for the complete service provided by you and your company! I want to let you know personally. I have already forwarded your email address to a friend of mine who will visit Ecuador at the beginning of September.

And by the way: we very much enjoyed the hotel and diner invitation - the restaurant was absolutely beautiful and food and service excellent!

Thank you very much again
Best regards,

Hi Marie Elena,

I just wanted to share with you a post that we put on tripadvisor regarding our recent tour on the Nina. We had the best time on the tour and I wanted to thank you for making the trip possible. Below is a response to another traveler's inquiry about the Nina. You can find it on tripadvisor.com. Thank you again for a wonderful trip.

"My husband and I just got back from a an 8 day cruise on the Nina and it was amazing. We are in our early 30s and about half of the people on the tour were as well. The other half were couples in their mid 50s-60s. I can't say enough great things about the tour. The service was great, the cabin was luxury and the crew was beyond helpful. We did ALOT of snorkeling (like twice a day). Some of it was in deep water and some beach snorkeling but totally safe as zodiacs follow you along the whole way. The wildlife was accessible through the land walks we did everyday. It was a tour for active people but you also had plenty of time to rest and enjoy the beautiful boat. The food on board was delicious with the chef cooking up gourmet 3 course meals for every meal. Our guide Gabriel was knowledgable and also very entertaining. I highly recommend this tour. The days start early, so there wasn't much partying on the boat but I guess it depends on who is on the tour the week you are going. It was a once in a lifetime trip!".

Hello Veronica,

We were going to send you an email. The cruise on Nina was FANTASTIC!! Everything was excellent. Harry, the guide, and Gabi the hostess were terrific.

The food was sensational, in fact there was nothing bad about it.

Thank you so much, everything was so professional and we would definitely recommend you to any of our friends.

Hi Christian,

Thank you for your follow up email.

We too are sorry we didn't get to see you after our cruise. And like you, we were both ill with a cold on our return from the cruise. It didn't stop us from visiting any of the islands and seeing the wildlife, but it did stop us from snorkling a few times.

We had a great time with Santiago during the tour to Otavalo and the Quito cultural center tour.

Please keep Melanie's and my email to contact us if you are visiting the US. Melanie was serious about you visiting her in Palm Springs during the Grand Champions tennis tournament. You and your wife would have a wonderful visit with her.

Thank you again my friend for all you did for us to make our visit to Ecuador and the Galapagos so memorable. We all had a wonderful time.

Our best,

Sr. Washington del Pino

Con un fuerte abrazo y agradecimiento a todo el personal que han hecho posible mi viaje a Galápagos en compañía de mi padre así haciendo su sueño realidad.

Le comento que ya lo hicimos en la fecha del 19 al 26 de Mayo en el yate "catamarán" NINA.

Lo pasamos de maravilla, todo el personal era muy amable, la atención personalizada. Mi padre se sintió mimado en todo el grupo, les felicito de manera personal

Con el barco ni que decir estábamos tan cómodos, felices y defino en esta palabra que ese viaje fue ¡inolvidable!

Mil gracias, y estaremos en contacto.

Hello Ivonne!

First of all, I want to tell you what a fabulous trip we had to Ecuador.  Your country and people are wonderful and Pat and I enjoyed ourselves greatly.

Evan's guiding was also great.  He really helped us to understand the country and culture and was a great help.

Thank you again for all your help!

Hello Ivonne!

First of all, I want to tell you what a fabulous trip we had to Ecuador.  Your country and people are wonderful and Pat and I enjoyed ourselves greatly.

Evan's guiding was also great.  He really helped us to understand the country and culture and was a great help.

Thank you again for all your help!

Hi Cristina,

About the nina:

It was a great ship. Nice staff. Large clean cabins. Good beds We had a knowlegdable guide and every day we went hiking or snorkling. So well arranged. For dinner we had soup, maincourse in buffet and dessert. So we got big!

We enjoyed every minute on the island ...in paradise.

Warm greetings

Ivonne,
We had a wonderful time. Everyone was friendly. Food and Boat were great. Islands beautiful.

Dear Olga,

I want to thank you for the most wonderful week - as the fabulous Guide Harry would say - "You are in Paradise---- The Galapagos Islands." The "Nina" was a beautiful boat, the crew were delightful pleasant and efficient. I might just have to steal your chef from you - the food was delicious fresh and far too tempting.

I had read a lot about the Islands but I was amazed delighted and surprised by the diversity, and also the difference from Island to Island. Harry was so knowledgeable about the marine and land animals, the birds and the volcanoes we were very lucky to have him. My son had the best time also and thank you for giving him five young girls to entertain!!! It was a very happy week and the rest of the passengers delightful I had a great time.

The hotel in Quito was delightful and tres chic, and the wonderful meal at Theatrum was an unexpected surprise Thank you for everything I will tell everybody

With kind regards

Hola Antonieta,

I wanted to send you a note earlier, but hustle and bustle of travelling and getting back into work was taking the time. I do apologise for that.

Main thing is we had a wonderful time going round Quito and of cause Galapagos. We want to turn round and go back. The boat 'Nina' was vary comfortable and all crew and guide were excellent. Also the group of travellers was nice and friendly and that made for good time. We were taken around some beautiful place with magic scenery and loveable animals. There were four snorkelling sessions, which gave us chance to admire underwater life - full of colourful fish, playful sea lions, even sharks and feeding iguanas. All will be lasting memory.

I want to thank you very much for arranging it for us, having patience with payments and all the questioning from me. You made it very friendly and comfortable for us. It also made us to yearn to return to Ecuador and explore more of its countryside.

Look after yourself and many regards.

Hello,

This letter is in response to the trip scheduled with your company on April 19, 2009. Please accept my sincere thanks for making the trip all that I expected and more! Our trip started with our departing flight being canceled which threw the whole schedule off immediately. Your company took charge of the situation and even though we arrived 12 hours later, we didn't miss a thing. You scheduled our tour of Quito at a convenient time regardless of our late arrival, we enjoyed a lovely late lunch and a wonderful dinner when we returned to Quito.

Your group made sure that we got what we paid for. The tour guide in Quito was excellent and tried very hard to get all the sightseeing in even though we got a late start. The person meeting us at the airport was punctual and efficient, and the Nina and all her staff were top of the line. Please pass this email along to everyone involved with my heartfelt thanks for making this such a wonderful trip.

Regards,

Elena,

Don't know if Helen was in touch with you, but I wanted you to know that we all loved out trip to Galapagos. Everything was great. The Nina and its crew, the guide and the food was superb. (I've tried cooking Ecudorian food since returning home, but not having much success.)

Also, I wanted you to know that we we were very happy with the service that your agency gave us. The arrangements you made for us at the the Finch Bay hotel, transport from the Nina and then later to the plane, were excellent. We wouldn't have changed anything. Also, of course, thanks for all the prompt communication prior to our trip and also when I was alone in Quito, during Helen's hectic time in Houston.

Fernanda,
"The boat tour itself was excellent. The Nina is an excellent ship and the accommodations were fully satisfactory. The naturalist Javier was excellent for the group we had--a rather active group. So we had a lovely 7 days on the boat."

Dear Maria,

I just got back to London yesterday. It was the most memorable experience in my life during the cruise on Nina. Everything was superb!! Also it was lovely to see you at your office the other day.

Just wanted to thank you again to arrange my fantastic time in Ecuador. Probably I should start thinking about next holiday to Amazon forest next then!

Hope you are well,

Regards,

Dear Christian,

We would like to say a big Thank you for a superbly organized trip to the Gallapagos. From the moment that we touched down in Quito until the end of our Galapagos trip, everything was excellent, The hotels were extremely comfortable and the guides excellent.

We would like to make a special commendation to the Athala which we found wonderful. Nothing was too much trouble for the crew and our guide (Yvonne) was fantastic with a wide knowledge of the islands and an amazing enthusiasm for the environment there. We cannot recommend Athala enough and feel we were extremely fortunate to have experienced a week on such a beautiful boat. We would be very happy to be a reference for any future holiday makers and thank you again for your excellent professional organization.

Hi, Maria Elena.

I´m sorry we never got a chance to meet. I just wanted to say thank you for an absolutely wonderful trip! The Nina was amazing and the crew absolutely superb. And thank you so much for arranging the trip to the museum yesterday. That was wonderful too. The kids had a great time and it was really very interesting!

Kind regards,

Dear Ivonne,

Thank you very much for arranging our Ecuadorian trip. We had a wonderful time. Swissotel was good and we adored Patio Andaluz. Everyone at Columbus Travel had been very helpful. Ivan was a great guide and Javier was a solid professional.

Warmest regards,

Hi Elena,

Hope all is well. My wife, Emily and I wanted to share our appreciation and thank you and the team at Columbus Travel. We had such an amazing and unforgettable time. We truly were unexpected at the level of service and value we received.

The Athala II is a wonderful yacht. Clean, spacious and very friendly staff. Not to mention, the food was delicious and plentiful. Our Naturalist, Enrique was fun, energetic and very knowledgable. He was very passionate about his job and the well being of the islands. We saw so many animals and marine life. We will always remember.

Thank you for a wonderful vacation and I will definately recommend Columbus Travel to any of my friends and family. Please share this email with Xavier Proano and the rest of the team that served us.

Sincere Regards,