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You need less experience than you think. Can you swim? Have you ever kayaked or canoed before? We had people of all abilities. If your naturalist asks if you want to paddle with or against the current, I suggest choosing with the current which is still enough of a workout but will give you moments to pause and admire the scenery.

Dinner tonight at the Botanica Restaurant was excellent. Here is the menu and a few of our favorite dishes. Tuna Tataki Tortellini Paiche

We are back in Quito relaxing in the hotel room so thought I would take a few moments to talk about the travel day. Before disembarking the ship, they played a power point of photos and videos the naturalists had taken all week both of us and the wildlife we saw. It was really nicely done. We were then given a thumb drive with a copy of the power point along with our boarding passes and a bus ticket. I managed to watch the suitcases being lowered by net from deck five to a flat bottom boat ahead of us. All the carry-ons were loaded first so you could board the zodiac hands free. And then we waved goodbye to the ship. We arrived at the dock where a bus was waiting for us. Two zodiacs of passengers fit in one bus which took us directly to the airport. We collected our checked luggage and went to the Avianca counter to check them and then go through the various ID/transit card/security checks. The bustling airport of Baltra has a whole four gates but plenty of last minute shopping opportunities. We had access to the VIP lounge which was really just the waiting area for gate 4 (our gate) but a bit more upscale (nicer furniture, some small bites of food and non-alcoholic drinks, and access to a bar). It was crowded when we first arrived so clearly a lot of passengers from the various planes were VIP. Here is a photo after a few planes had taken off and it had quieted down a bit. Our plane was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Galapagos time (so 1:30 p.m. ship time - the ship stayed on Quito time). We boarded early right on the tarmac. Again, they assigned no middle seats so we had plenty of room. Being in the penthouse, we were assigned premium seats with the captain behind us (he was going on vacation - so those of you boarding today have a different captain). The plane ride is about 2 hours. They again served a light meal. The options were shrimp and quinoa, Cobb salad, or vegetarian. They had special meals for anyone with dietary restrictions. In Quito, we collected our baggage from baggage claim and met the Celebrity guides. Our group was headed in three different directions - some to the JW Marriott like us, others to the EB Hotel for early morning flights tomorrow, and a few to Peru for the Machu Picchu extension. The bus ride to the JW Marriott was a little under an hour. Celebrity welcomed us with warm towels and had our room keys all ready. Because of our tour and late flight tomorrow, we made a stop at the front desk to get a late checkout. Celebrity has made a deal with the hotel that for $45 plus tax, you can keep your room until 7:00 p.m. We could have also had them store our luggage but thought late checkout was worth it for access to the Executive Lounge (penthouse, royal suites, and those with platinum elite or higherMarriott loyalty get access to the Executive Lounge) after our excursion tomorrow. Last time we had a nice but fairly standard room on the Executive floor which was really nice and super convenient to the Executive Lounge. When we saw our room was on the seventh floor my husband wanted to ask about one on the ninth floor. I encouraged him to wait and let us see our room and am really glad we did. We got quite the suite! Our bags arrived fairly quickly and shortly after the amenity we had chosen for our Marriott loyalty status. The pretzels and fruit were really good last time but this time, we decided to try the mixed nuts and I'm glad we did. Dinner is at the Botanica Restaurant and is on Celebrity along with one glass of wine per person. We can go down for dinner anytime between 6:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Disembarkation Day has arrived. It always comes too fast. Here is the disembarkation information we received a couple days ago along with luggage tags. There were a few changes to the schedule which I will mention below. They decided we did not have to leave the ship quite so early so the new schedule is as follows: 6:30 a.m. - leave suitcases outside your stateroom door - it is really nice to be able to do this in the morning. 7:00 - 8:30 a.m. - breakfast in Darwin's Restaurant 7:30 a.m. - latest time to vacate your suite 8:30 a.m. - Documentary Charles Darwin: Evolution's Voice 9:15 a.m. - Galapagos Memories 9:45 a.m. - Distribution of boarding passes 10:00 a.m. - Disembark The Discovery Lounge will be our living room for the morning and this is where they encouraged us to leave all our carry-on luggage. Once we got the suitcases out, I walked down to the Beagle Grill where each morning coffee, tea, pastries, and juice was set out and got myself a cup of coffee to take back to the cabin while we finished packing up our carry-ons. We had one last breakfast which was excellent. They had my favorite, Huevos Rancheros plus I convinced one of the server's Juan to ask the chef to make me some avocado toast without the cream cheese. They really have been so incredibly accommodating and have always made sure I had plenty that I could eat with my dietary restrictions. We've now found our corner of the Discovery Lounge and I'll spend the morning organizing photos and maybe start my blog. By the time we get to Quito, there won't be time to do much so we will likely take it easy the rest of the day. Then tomorrow morning is our private birding excursion that starts very early.

As you look at the menus David posts over the next week, know that many dishes can be modified by the chef on the night of (no advanced notice needed). You'll want to get to know the Maitre'D who will be your voice to the chef and will guide you to what can be modified and what can't.

It's a bit of deja-vu reading your posts. Nice narrative! And I see you got a photo of the huge hummingbirds at the equator museum. They were impressive.

I went out to look at stars twice in the middle of the night and both times one or two swallow-tailed gulls were soaring along with the ship. I understand they hunt at night. Almost as soon as we started moving, the ship really started rocking. By morning, we were hearing something rolling around in the bathroom and anything set on a flat surface was sliding around. As I enjoyed my first cup of coffee, the closet door popped open and our suitcase rolled out into our living space, with the rocking back motion closing the closet door. It was quite crazy to watch the horizon. Walking was a challenge. Interestingly, I have not needed to wear my ReliefBand at all. Normally on large cruise ships, I get a bit seasick in rougher seas. But for some reason, the much greater motion of this ship is not bothering me at all. Today we were in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island. It was a dry landing. By the time our excursion was ready to start, the mist had picked up and the waves were still strong. The staff was so good at making sure everyone got on the zodiac safely. We had all been given ponchos at the start of the cruise which came in handy. Once on shore, we took a bus to the Charles Darwin Research Center. There is about a mile walk to get from the point where the bus drops you off to the exhibits. It is flat and relatively easy but a mini-van was available to anyone with mobility challenges. There we saw a variety of giant tortoises and learned about the breeding and conservation programs. The rain stopped as we were getting towards the end of our tour here. After touring the Charles Darwin Center, we had free time to tour the small museum and then start walking back to the pier and shopping. We walked past the fish market which is a bit entertaining with the local wildlife lined up for scraps. IMG_1818.MOV A lava gull was perched on a railing right near the fish market. He let me get close enough to take this photo with my 60mm macro lens. We had a meeting time to gather before taking the bus to El Manzanillo Ranch. We had a nice lunch buffet. Here is the options on the buffet. There was someone available to answer questions about dietary restrictions. Then we had a presentation by a local dance group of cultural dances. Last, but not least, we were all given rubber boots (bring socks this day) so that we could go find some tortoises in the field. This time of year, they are plentiful and so there were probably hundreds scattered across this ranch. We were back at the pier about 3:50 p.m. For those that were ready to return to the ship, zodiacs were soon available. For those that wanted to stay in town for more shopping or a bite to eat or drink, there were additional zodiacs going back to the ship at 4:30, 5, 5:30, and 6. A few sea lions waited with us for the zodiac. Although, the sun was peaking out and the rain was gone, there were still huge swells which made getting back on the ship a bit challenging. We had one last briefing at 7:15 p.m. about disembarkation the next morning, the Captain gave a toast and various crew members were recognized. Then the plan was to have a BBQ grill dinner under the stars but it was drizzling again at this point. So we filled our plates at the Beagle Grill where they had the grill stations set up and staff helped us carry them to the dinning room. There was a salad bar of various sides including a potato salad I really enjoyed. And then the chefs were at the grill with steak, chicken, lobster, shrimp, salmon, octopus, and probably other meats I'm missing. I really enjoyed this meal. A party is starting soon but we really are not night people, even more so on a cruise that is this active, nor are we social people. So we went back to the cabin after dinner to get a little more packing done and relax. Tomorrow morning will be an early morning as our suitcases need to be out by 6:30 a.m. and we need to be out of our room by 7:30.

I'm sure you'll do fine. I believe one day is a complete repeat for both itineraries (Puerto Ayora and the Highlands, Santa Cruz, Island - the Charles Darwin Research Center and giant tortoises). Plus the transition day will give you some downtime.

We have done it from Progreso (which was still a long day but quite a bit less travel than from Cozumel) but not many cruise lines stop there. With the ferry and then the long bus ride from Cozumel, I’m not sure it is worth it.

I am not a photo editor and don't enjoy working with RAW images so as shocking as this might be, I don't shoot in RAW. I have an XQD + an SD card slot in my D500. Each currently have a 64 GB card in them and are backing each other up (so one copy of every photo on each card). I have a second 64 GB SD card (plus some miscellaneous smaller SD card) but the XQD cards are expensive so my second XQD card is only a 32 GB but I have not needed to change cards yet (I'm still on the original 64 GB). My XQD cards are 400 MB/S. My SD cards are only 150 MB/S. So you should have plenty of space. After every excursion, my camera and both our iPhone photos get backed up to my MacBook and at least daily all of that gets backed up on to my 2 TB portable hard drive. Plus the photos I select as worthy of editing get backed up to Amazon Photos. This may all sound like overkill but the last thing I want is to lose these amazing photos. On some trips, I've switched out cards more often, leaving the used ones in a safe location but I'm doing enough other backups this trip so I'm not worrying so much about the original cards.

Continuing on with the rest of today. The lunch buffet was Italian themed and included a made-to-order pasta station. Overall, I've been really happy with the options available to me with a dairy allergy. Dairy seems to be in everything so can be a challenge at times. My only issue I'll get to when I talk about dinner tonight. This afternoon, we had a bridge tour (sign up with Guest Relations after you board - have your schedule handy to compare with the times they offer so you don't miss any excursions). It's a pretty casual tour. They let you on to the bridge and whatever officer is on duty talks about the various equipment on the bridge. Our group had a lot of questions and I think really tested the officer's ability to explain complex concepts in English but he did great and it was interesting to see. One difference between Flora and Xpedition, as I understand it, is that Flora has some capabilities to stay in place when "anchored" instead of dropping a physical anchor. The Xpedition anchors at every stop (except the one I mentioned earlier that was way too deep). Supposedly, the hardware for Starlink. There was a talk at 3:00 p.m. today with the naturalists to ask them questions about living on the islands but we skipped. The bridge tour went long plus we needed time to relax and sort through photos. The afternoon excursions started at 4:00 p.m. The first option was a walk on a lava field and a short wildlife zodiac ride. The second option (which we took) was an extended wildlife zodiac ride. We really didn't see a lot except a few Lava Herons and a couple sea lions on the beach (which weren't nearly as cute as the ones we saw this morning). Back on board, there was trivia (which we skipped) and then the excursion briefing before dinner. Staff had arranged a dinner under the stars for us and the other guests staying on deck 6 with us. We had Isaac, an academy student as our server. At one point, I heard a splash in the water and when we rushed to the side of the ship, we saw a shark swimming next to the ship which was very cool. Dinner was very good but I will admit I am very disappointed in the ceviche. I love ceviche and look for it on every cruise. But on this cruise, all but one of the ceviches was made with milk (which I obviously can't have). So I didn't get near the ceviche I had hoped to enjoy on this trip. I had the tuna and my husband had the chicken on the every day menu (you will have to go back to my first night post for that menu). They served us a passion fruit sorbet between the appetizer and the main course which was amazing (I don't know if everyone in the MDR got this or if this was special for us). There's a documentary tonight as there has been most of the nights. We haven't watched any of them. This trip is already information overload and by 9:15 p.m., we are done for the day. I think I will need a vacation to recover from this vacation it has been so active. I've heard of people who do the trip as a B2B but I'm not sure I have the stamina for that. I suppose the Baltra day between cruises is a chance to recover some. Tomorrow we go to the Darwin Research Center and focus on the tortoises. I'm really looking forward to it.

It is a lot of work! And some days are harder than others. But it forces me to keep up with reviewing, sorting, and editing photos and putting my thoughts down somewhere which I hope will make writing my blog at the end a lot easier. I have taken I think about 2,200 photos on my Nikon and I don't know how many photos and videos on my iPhone (plus I often incorporate some of my husband's iPhone photos and videos in my final blog). That's a lot of content to go through!

Yes, someone I snorkeled with a number of times appeared to have her own wetsuit.n. We personally brought long-sleeved swim shirts and swim leggings for extra warmth and sun protection and was glad to have them. I don't know which loop you are doing but the water in the northern loop can be quite cool in a number of the spots.

Glad you are enjoying your stay! We didn't get to explore the Executive Lounge much outside of breakfast (or to grab a water or soda) because of the Quito day schedule but hope to make more use of it on return there this weekend. Yes, the roses are a huge industry and so beautiful. At one point during our stay, a hotel staff member knocked on our door and gave me one for our room. My husband who was relaxing further in the room when it happened was quite puzzled by the whole exchange which happened in Spanish (I once was a Spanish teacher and then did some interpretation although it has been quite a few years so I'm rusty). By the way, I don't think all Flora guests get access to the Executive Lounge. I think it is still only the Royal and Penthouse Suites (and anyone with loyalty like you). We took advantage of the pretzels and fruit amenity option with a few sodas which was good. (My husband made Platinum Elite this year.)

Today might have been the highlight of the trip. It's funny how when you think it can't get any better, it does. After breakfast in our suite, we headed out on the long walk on North Seymour Island. It was a dry landing that looked a bit tricky but the naturalists and zodiac staff are amazing at making sure each passenger gets off safely. The other options included a short walk and then a short zodiac ride or just a wildlife zodiac ride. Jorge, the naturalist we had on yesterday afternoon's excursion strongly encouraged us to take the long walk and he was definitely right. The best part was the portion of the walk those on the short walk did not do, nor could it be seen from a zodiac. North Seymour Island is an island where Frigatebirds (both Great and Magnificent Frigatebirds) and Blue-footed Boobies made, lay eggs, and raise their young. We saw the Blue-footed Booby dance, a mating dance. And we saw the male frigatebirds with their red pouch blown up like a balloon. We also so so many babies. First, here was the landing. Female Great Frigatebird (see the "white tie" on her chest) Female Magnificent Frigatebird (see the "black tie" on her chest) Juvenile Great Frigatebird (yellow/tan head) Baby/juvenile Magnificent Frigatebirds (pure white heads) with mom (white on chest) or dad (all black) Male Frigatebirds in mating (have a huge red pouch) - it is hard to tell the Great Frigatebirds from the Magnificent Frigatebirds in the males. Blue-footed Boobies (chicks, eggs, and parents) - the second photo has a set of twins. It is very rare for both babies to survive (they lay two eggs). There were also Galapagos Sea Lions on the beach including two pairs of mom and baby. The first photo with the very dark baby is only about 2 weeks old. This first excursion ran a little long so I didn't have much time to change for the last deep water snorkeling excursion. I had almost thought about skipping this one but Cristina, our excursion director encouraged me not to. I'm glad I didn't. There were so many colorful fish. Here are a couple of videos I took plus a great selfie of me snorkeling! SportDiver_20231116_105847.mov SportDiver_20231116_105422.mov This might be a good spot to share a few photos of the back part of the ship where all the snorkeling gear is located and where you embark and disembark. There is a small platform at water level where passengers get on and off the zodiacs. On that level are hoses to rinse sand off your shoes and feet. Anytime you have been on land, it is required that you rinse at least the bottoms of your shoes (for a dry landing) or your entire shoes and feet (for a wet landing). This rinse step is skipped after deep water snorkeling. Then you climb a set of stairs where there is a mat of disinfectant for the bottoms of your shoes that you step in as one more way to make sure you aren't carrying anything from island to island. On this deck is where all the life jackets, snorkel equipment and wet suits are stored. Hangers with your cabin number are on one side for the wetsuits. And hooks with your cabin number for your bag of snorkel equipment are in one of two places. Life jacket racks - a naturalist is always ready to hand you one and collect yours at the end. This photo also shows a couple tan colored bins where clean beach towels are kept for you to grab on your way out. They also usually have a stack of smaller foot towels for wet landings and those who plan to change their shoes. Snorkel bags for the 500 and 600 cabins. Each person is issued a bag, mask and snorkel, pair of fins, and if you choose, a snorkel vest. The 400 snorkel bags with all the wet suits behind. A closer look at those snorkel bags and then the wetsuits behind them. After each snorkel, you remove everything personal from your snorkel bag (cameras, towels, etc.) and with just the snorkel equipment inside, you dip your entire bag into the tub labeled "bags" to rinse them. Your wetsuit gets dipped into the tub labeled "wetsuits" to rinse it before hanging it back up. This photo also shows the walking sticks that are available for your use on excursions. After each excursion, Cristina, our excursion director, was always there with her iPad checking everyone in so they make sure no one gets left behind. From there, we would climb to deck 4 and at the Beagle Grill would be snacks and drinks. There was always a dairy free option for me (there was also always a gluten free option) so they take care of those with special needs. On days where I still had more excursions and didn't want to shower too many times, I would often stop at the rain shower outside the hot tub on deck 6 to rinse myself before heading back to my cabin. It is almost time for the excursion briefing and then dinner. I'll continue with the day's events later this evening.

This afternoon we circumnavigated Daphne Major Island. It is a small island where they are doing a lot of research (especially related to Darwin's finches) and so have significantly limited the number of people who can visit. Besides the topography, with a pair of binoculars, you could see some interesting birds. Daphne Major Island Nazca Booby Galapagos Cactus with a few Nazca Boobies Red-billed Tropicbird Magnificent Frigatebirds (this is a male) We then stopped at Bachas Beach, on Santa Cruz Island which was a wet landing. The options were a beach walk or time on the white sandy beaches to swim or snorkel. We took the beach walk hoping to find Flamingos but unfortunately, were not successful. The beach (away from where people could swim) was full of turtle tracks as this is a popular nesting site. Our naturalist shared that for about six months of the year during prime egg laying season, naturalists camp on the beach so they can monitor the nests. Great Blue Herons (a bird I have many photos of from home but figured I should take one from the Galapagos) More Magnificent Frigatebirds (another male) Blue-footed Booby fishing Black-winged Stilts And more Brown Pelicans (a bird we saw at just about every stop) There was a future cruise talk before our evening briefing which we did not attend. We did show up for the briefing so we could hear about tomorrow's excursions and sign up for them. Our Excursion Director convinced me to sign up for one final deep water snorkeling which will be the fifth deep water snorkeling excursion I have done this week. That's a lot of snorkeling for me but I probably will only be here once. Tonight, we were in and out of dinner in half an hour which was really nice. Here is the menu. The Sea Bass Ceviche was very good. My husband really enjoyed the Garlic Prawn Penne Pasta. I understand there is a dance party starting soon but we are going to bed early instead. Tomorrow there is the hope to see nesting Frigatebirds and mating Blue-footed Boobies.

Great photo!

Interesting. Since the introduction of the Flora, all the deck 3 ocean view staterooms (and I think some of the deck 4 ones) were turned into crew cabins. I can see why they added three staterooms to deck 6 as that open deck area just doesn't get much use plus the ship is now half the capacity of what it used to be. And the forward balconies above the bridge for the penthouse and royal suites are huge perks over the pretty narrow side balconies.

This morning we were at Bartolome Island. Our first morning excursions were a "long, steep walk "to the top" with a dry landing or a zodiac ride. This is the site of one of the most iconic Galapagos landscape scenes and so we had to hike to the top. This entire hike was on a wooden boardwalk and wooden steps. I think they said it was about 360 steps to the top but I didn't count. Building standards aren't quite the same here as each step was a different height and depth and the boards were inconsistently spaced (and some a bit loose). Handrails varied in height. So it took a little more concentration to pay attention to where we were going but it was worth the hike. This island is one of the younger islands (at about 50,000 years old) and so has very limited vegetation and some unique lava formations. The Flora was in port with us today. This was our first (and probably only) chance to see her. According to one of the guides, she does a very similar itinerary to the Xpedition, just one day behind. This stop gave us some great chances to take photos of the ships. The second excursion of the morning was a deep water snorkel. Water was calmer today and the water clearer. We saw so many different kinds of colorful fish, a large male ray, and several white tipped reef sharks which was quite the experience! Here are a few videos from this snorkel. SportDiver_20231115_110709.MOV SportDiver_20231115_112849.MOV SportDiver_20231115_112927.MOV SportDiver_20231115_113242.mov Back on board, Darwin's Restaurant had a Tex-Mex lunch buffet and then we pulled up anchor and continued on to our next port with a plan to circumnavigate the island of Daphne Major before our afternoon excursions.

I realize. (Although I think it is our age that makes us stand out even more than the penthouse.) 🙂 It doesn't make it any less weird though.

Interesting. I don't recall seeing that extensive of a FAQ for the Galapagos prior to the cruise. Somewhere I had read that Elite laundry isn't available on the Galapagos cruises plus a number of people had reported being told the same. In practice, it does appear that they are pretty liberal with their complimentary laundry on these ships though. I've seen reports that vary from everyone gets it to all suites (but not ocean view cabins) get free laundry. Especially since it is listed on the FAQ you linked, I'm sure you won't have any issues if you talk to them. The staff really do work so hard to help you out and I don't yet know what the system is to charge you for the very limited extras that exist. I was in the shop yesterday wanting to buy a coffee mug. I was encouraged to just take the mug with me as it was the last one. The crew member didn't ask for my name or cabin number but mentioned something about invoicing us on Thursday. It was a strange experience just taking something from the shop without paying for it.

Bon Voyage, David! Thanks for the kind words about my thread, can't wait to read about your trip and how the Southern Loop is different!

I have SkyView Lite on my phone that seems to work fine. I just didn't think to take it out at 4:30 a.m. that one morning I was up. Last night was pretty cloudy.

Yes, even for the deep water snorkel, they have snorkel vests to give you a little more flotation.

To do everything, yes you need to be in pretty good shape but there is still a lot you can do if you are not. We have mixed abilities on this ship. The short walks have generally been less than a mile and generally flat. Zodiac rides are also a fairly easy option and you can really see a lot of wildlife from them. The wet suits they give you for snorkeling plus the salt water really help you stay afloat (and you can ask for a snorkel vest for a little extra help) and fins make it easier to get around so most of the deep water snorkels have not been that challenging (provided you can swim). The one yesterday had more of a current so took a bit more effort. For beach snorkeling, you can stay a lot shallower. Each evening they tell you what they expect to see on the various activities and how strenuous each is so you can pick and choose and pace yourself. That said, the ship is not accessible. There is no elevator. So you do need to be mobile and able to climb stairs. And you do need to be able to step in and out of zodiacs.