This is the third World Spree tour I've been on. The first two, China and Vietnam/Cambodia, were great. I would rate them 5 stars. The itineraries were excellent as well as the tour guides. This third tour, Peru and Galapagos, was different. The part handled by World Spree was pretty good except for the altitude problems. The Galapagos part was subcontracted to a Galapagos tour company and their version of the tour was much different from that on the World Spree site and the description--too much snorkeling, too difficult hiking, and no concern about how we were feeling or making some of the rigorous part optional. Further, we were mixed together with many other people not in our tour (approximately 30 others) and were not paid much attention. Finally, while in Peru, probably 75% of our group suffered from some amount of altitude sickness and two of us were hospitalized for part of the trip. One person suffered salmonella poisoning and was hospitalized for a day and a half and then rejoined the tour, but had only partly recovered. I was hospitalized for 3 days for "severe altitude sickness" and sent to Lima (at sea level) for an extra 2 days before I rejoined the group going to the Galapagos.
I did get to see some wonderful sights in Peru before my hospitalization and the guide was excellent. It is for those reasons that I would give that tour only 2 1/2 stars. Thus the average for the three tours would be 4 stars. However, be aware the adaptation to altitude--quick flight from Lima at sea level to Cusco at over 11,000 ft--can be a major adjustment. No one is immune. We had lunch at 11,000 ft then proceeded to our overnight stay at 9,500 ft, still quite high (which was supposed to be our adjustment to altitude time) and all this done in a single afternoon. The next day we were taken back to 11,000 ft for two very interesting visits and ended with a third at 9,500 ft. These were all very interesting, but involved some fairly rigorous hiking/walking. We stayed the night again at 9,500 ft. The next day we did Machu Picchu, which was quite strenuous, although the altitude is "only" 8,000+ ft. It was on the third day at high altitudes that I became sick and was hospitalized. The couple who went on the first part of the tour with us had to use their trip interruption insurance and fly home early. All of this, culminating in the hiking and snorkeling in the Galapagos put me back in the hospital for 4 days for a-fib when back home. So, bottom line, be very cautious about the rigors of altitude adjustment. read more
