mahdnc

Some relatively recent threads which you might find useful:

We completed a Galapagos cruise on Xpedition in late November (Southern Loop). Gratuities are included in the cruise fare and/or tour package although some passengers will give extra at the end of a cruise. We booked it through our travel agent whom we have been using for all of our cruises. Their commission can run 18-20% so it was a nice reward for all the service that we have received in the past. On the other hand, some agents are known to return some of their commission back to the customer. Most of the time it comes back in the form of shipboard credit which is not as useful for the Galapagos since almost everything is already covered when you are on board. However one well known big box retailer that has a travel agency business is known to give back something like 8% (or so) back to the customer in the form of a gift card which can be big bucks. Those are some considerations. My general advice here is if you use an agent normally, then book with your agent and if you book directly with Celebrity go ahead and do that. Your big decisions will be: 1. cruise tour package or cruise only? 2. which ship? 3. which itinerary? You can save quite a lot of money if you go with "cruise only" but you to put together the air and land arrangements yourself. We had quite a few passengers on our Xpedition sailing who chose the "cruise only" option. We were willing to pay for the convenience of a cruise tour package. It is expensive but Celebrity does an excellent job with the "off-the-ship" part of the trip--you will not feel short changed. Celebrity charters a full size Airbus passenger jet through Avianca for the UIO-GPS flight and back. The flight is only for Celebrity passengers--no one gets a middle seat and a nice lunch is served with real plates and metal cutlery. Here are the current advertised Galapagos promotions which are combinable with each other: 1. Galapagos Flights on Us 2. Galapagos Loyalty Savings 3. Galapagos 20% Savings Offer Here is some more information about the Galapagos that Celebrity has published that may help you make a decision: 1. hefty 68 page Galapagos brochure 2. 13 page brochure that gives more detail about the shore excursions. Written for Flora, the excursions will be very similar for Xpedition and Xploration. 3. Galapagos FAQs 4. Xpedition Itineraries

That is what we have done--ask your stateroom attendant for door stops. We have always received wedge door stops made from wood. They were used for the interior doors of the cabin.

To me it would seem that Celebrity has an advantage in having a diverse 3 ship Galapagos fleet. However, Celebrity would love to transfer Xploration's 16 passenger Galapagos operating permit over to Xpedition to boost her permitted passenger capacity to 64. It would save a lot of operating cost. However the Ecuadorian government does not allow for that. BTW, Xpediton's current captain (Nathaly Alban) was previously a captain on Xploration (press release).

Any further insight while you were on board about the lack of a 2026 season on Celebrity's website for Xploration and Xpedition?

Thank you for posting your trip review. Good to read that you made it back home safe and sound with wonderful memories!

Lois, If you have to think about it, well then we know what the answer will inevitably be....

Can't be because the Millennium UV cabins (formerly known as FV) have not been converted into suites.

Thank you for sharing the letter. I am sorry you were impacted.

Cheryl, Hi. That Med cruise was the best! Yes, our two adult kids no longer find free cruises with their parents to be attractive because of their limited vacation time and other interests. Oh, well. Our Galapagos cruise this past Nov became 50% less expensive! David and Marcia Santorini, Jun 22 2007

Hi. I am the person who originally posted about the problem. Since then I have been on two more cruises where I have been posting live threads with embedded photos. And I continue to have this problem. The problem appears when I use my phone (iPhone 15 Pro in this case) to upload large jpeg files into Cruise Critic. I haven't played around with it to know what the size limit is. My options to handle this problem is: 1. Post those large jpeg files from my laptop which I bring with me. 2. Reduce the size of the photos either through photo processing software. You can also do a screenshot as you suggested. 3. Use my iPhone 13 (my work iPhone) to take photos. All 3 options have drawbacks. I still continue to do #1 (laptop) because I don't want different sizes of my photos (drawback with #2) and I don't want photos from the same trip to be spread out among 2 phones (plus my personal iPhone has a better camera than my work iPhone). It's quite frustrating.

He probably bought offsets to clear his conscience!

Hi, Cheryl! Long time since I have seen a post from you--15 years? Are you still doing river cruises? David

Thank you. Your a6400 and 12 mm lens will work great. So you want to make sure to set your manual lens to infinity, f/4, and at 12 mm. Just make sure you use a tripod as well as a remote shutter release (or the shutter self timer) to eliminate vibrations from touching the shutter button. Make sure camera is set to manual with any in-body stabilization turned off. If your lens has vibration reduction, turn that off, too. I used a 16-35 mm wide angle zoom lens for all of the aurora photos I posed. The lens was set to 16 mm (on a full frame camera) and an f/ ratio of 4 (f/4) which was the widest possible opening. My ISO was set between 400-2000 but most of my shots were done at 1600 ISO. Shutter speed was usually 1.6 seconds. I tried to keep the shutter speed relatively short because the aurora was "moving" or changing shape fairly quickly. 16 mm, 1600 ISO, f/4, 1.6 sec With your f/2 lens this means for the above photo you could have dropped the ISO to 800 or halved the shutter speed to 0.8 sec. Of course the settings I gave you were based on my situation. Yours could be different. Either way you will want to vary your settings after you have found your sweet spot (sort of like bracketing). Your bracketing should include changes in ISO setting. Photo editing software will help improve your photos (e.g. brighten, noise reduction, etc). Stay out as long as you can tolerate when you take your photos because--as you can see from my photos--the aurora shape, brightness, and color keeps changing. You just won't know which are your photos will look the best until you get home and look at them on a large screen. The large sunspot system responsible for creating the fantastic aurora display earlier this month is now rotating back into view of the earth. There is hope that there will be enough activity to generate a repeat show. We will see.

Here is are the official Celebrity flyer and the separate FAQ document.

Good news!

Here is an article regarding an exclusive 600 person charter for Ascent: link Sounds like the entertainment will be better.....

Aqua Spa Cafe menu has been stripped down since the last time you cruised with Celebrity.

Thanks for the write up. If you went back, would you rent a cabana again assuming the discounted price did not change?

Thank you for posting your review. Sorry to hear about the issues you had with the kids club. When they were younger our kids really liked it and never wanted to leave. However Celebrity does need to improve their ability to get a hold of parents in the unlikely event of a problem or emergency.

I have pretty much resorted to bringing a nice pullover sweatshirt or sweater for each cruise exactly for that reason.

I know I posted them on each day, but I don't think I posted all of them in the same spot: here are the links to all the Celebrity Todays for this sailing: Day 1 Fri Dec 22, Singapore Day 2 Sat Dec 23, At Sea #1 of 3 Day 3 Sun Dec 24, Ko Samui (port was cancelled: revised activity list) Day 4 Mon Dec 25, Bangkok, Day 1 of 2 Day 5 Tue Dec 26, Bangkok, Day 2 of 2 Day 6 Wed Dec 27, At Sea #2 of 3 Day 7 Thu Dec 28, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My) Day 8 Fri Dec 29, Nha Trang Day 9 Sat Dec 30, Hue/Danang (Chan May) Day 10 Sun Dec 31, Hanoi (Halong Bay) Day 1 of 2 Day 11 Mon Jan 1, Hanoi (Halong Bay) Day 2 of 2 Day 12 Tue Jan 2, At Sea #3 of 3 Day 13 Wed Jan 3, Hong Kong Immigration and General Information

@yogamom: Captain's Club Welcome Event (Casual) occurred on Sat Dec 23 (Day 2, Sea Day) at 12:30 pm in the Sky Lounge on Deck 14

There is one and we usually end up missing (not on purpose). Let me see if I can find the date/time.

The Captain's Welcome occurred on Day 2 (Sea Day #1 of 3) at 7pm and 9pm. Here is the Celebrity Today issue: link