National Geographic Islander II

National Geographic Islander II carried four names before this one, and several of them left something on the ship. She was laid down at Flender Werft in Lübeck in 1988, floated out as Lady Diana in 1989 and finished in 1991 as Aurora I; she became MegaStar Taurus for Star Cruises in 1994, and then Crystal Esprit when Crystal Cruises bought her in 2015 and refitted her as a small luxury yacht. Lindblad acquired her in September 2021, put her into the Galápagos in 2022 and christened her that October.

That lineage is the point. Endeavour II is a working expedition ship softened; Islander II is a luxury yacht toughened. She has teak decks all the way round, a plunge pool, indoor and outdoor dining, and 280 feet of hull with stabilizers, a genuinely ocean-going vessel rather than an island-hopper, which shows in how she rides the passages between islands overnight.

What the 2022 refit changed

The headline was subtraction. Cabins went from 31 to 26 and berths from 62 to 48, so what is sold now is 26 suites and nothing else, no inside cabins, and no balconies either, which is the one place her yacht origins do not help.

What was added was expedition infrastructure: a marina for Zodiac boarding and kit handling, and a Science Hub with a video microscope. The rooms she kept from the Crystal years (the Cove lounge, a chart room, a library) do more work here than they did as a yacht, because there is nowhere else to be. She now flies the Ecuadorian flag, as any vessel carrying tourists in the park must; she was Bahamas-flagged as Crystal Esprit.

Life at 48 guests

Lindblad staffs her at fifty-seven crew and staff for forty-eight guests, which is a ratio of about one to one, and everyone eats in one seating. The naturalists guiding in the islands are Galápagueños or mainland Ecuadorians, which is both a park requirement and the reason the natural history is any good. She carries kayaks, paddleboards, a glass-bottom boat, Zodiacs and snorkeling kit sized for children as well as adults.

The park sets the itinerary, not the ship, fixed routes approved in advance, licensed guides, a cap on visitors per landing site. What 48 guests buys is speed on and off the Zodiacs and a landing party that is not a crowd.

What she sails

More variety than her sister. The nine-night Exploring Galápagos out of Quito and the fifteen-night Machu Picchu combination through Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley are the bulk of it, with the sixteen-night Ultimate Galápagos above them. She is also the one that runs the short voyages, the six- and seven-night Galápagos Escape sailings, which is the only way onto a Lindblad ship here for under a week.

Who she suits

Travelers who want the Galápagos and are not prepared to give up a suite, proper cooking and a quiet ship to get it. On the same nine-night itinerary she costs a good deal more than Endeavour II, and what the money buys is half the passengers in the same national park.

Not the ship for anyone counting the cost, and not the ship for anyone who wants a balcony, at this price the absence stings. She is also a hull laid down in 1988, comprehensively rebuilt but not new, which matters to some people and to nobody else. Families and first-time expedition travelers are generally better served on National Geographic Endeavour II.