So me and my family, 2 children in their 20's and 2 adults in their 50's are looking for some recommendations on hotels/tours on the galapagos islands. We will be going for about 2-3 weeks prior to new years eve. We're all pretty active and 2 also dive, and all love to snorkel. We all admire nature and would love to see lots of it.

I'm no expert but I did a tour in november 2008, so I can give you a few pointers:

I would definately recommend a cruise on a ship. There are about 90 ships with capacity 12-100 people. Each ship has a fixed itinerary, usually 1 week. After this spend at least another 3 days on one of the islands.

Most ships only offer snorkling not diving. The diving ships are a lot more expensive of course. However you can book diving trips later on the islands.

You will make an island excursion each morning, go snorkling early afternoon and a second excursion late afternoon.

The ship I took was the "Nemo I", a catermaran for 12 passengers. The guide was Luis Rodrigeuz, super conpetent and nice guy. The captain was very cool too and the food was awesome. If you can book this ship with this guide you will not be disappointed, this I can promise you.

Sounds like a great idea, however 2 of us get seasick really fast, so im looking more for a hotel/excursion combo.