The Evolution Of Luxury in the Galápagos

A cruise ship offers levels of poshness never before seen in Darwin's laboratory.

- Fran Golden

Somewhere between spotting blue-footed boobies off the island of Santiago and kayaking with sea turtles through the mangroves of Floreana, travelers on the 100-passenger Silver Origin were telling me the things they’d asked their butlers to do. Among the requests: rearranging a suite for a private cocktail party, delivering ingredients for do-it-yourself Negronis, whisking away bathing suits to be washed and dried, and standing by the hot tub to fill Champagne flutes. It wasn’t the standard shipboard conversation in the rugged Galápagos Islands.

First-time cruiser Jen Wong, 60, a semiretired Oklahoma physician with a passion for birdwatching, found the whole butler thing embarrassing. But his wife, Danielle, 56, liked the pampering. “We’re always willing to sacrifice luxury or comfort to see the birds we want to see,” she says. “In this case it just felt nice to not have to.”

For decades, visitors to the remote volcanic archipelago, protected as the Galápagos National Park, have shown a willingness to book whatever ships and small boats were available, figuring the reason to come here was not modern-day amenities but stuck-in-time wildlife. Now that’s changing. Silver Origin, an all-inclusive and all-suite Silversea Cruises ship, is a significantly more lavish option—for some, dramatically changing the experience of this fragile, bucket-list destination.