Galapagos Review

[lovestx]

Thanks for the thorough and balanced review, Gonzo. We are among the few that actually booked this cruise last minute (booked it October 2nd and are leaving on November 2nd!). So I am feverishly researching and making sure we are all set for this and for our Peru post-cruise trip (not Celebrity).

 

I am not expecting great food and your description tells me that that is a wise decision. Dinner sounds very disappointing. And I have also read that the dinner dining room is often really loud which isn't pleasant.

 

Do you mind asking if you think that we should plan to wear water resistant clothes on the day of embarkation? I know that the panga rides can be wet on the other days and will be wearing lightweight/water resistant clothes over our bathing suits but wondered if we could get away with light cotton clothes or shorts for embarkation day.

 

And just curious...what would you say the average age of the passengers in October was? We are early and mid fifties and are guessing we'll be among the youngsters given the time of year.

[EagleRocker]

Gonzo70:

 

We did this trip in November 2012, and your review is spot on - almost exactly our experience with the exception that we (luckily) did not have any issue with smokers. Poor you in that respect. Also, we are vegetarian so did not experience some of the food issues you relate (we had no trouble eating vegetarian on this trip and most of the time the food was pretty good). I agree about the full day Quito trip - in fact, we skipped the morning portion due to the late arrival of our flight the night before, and we were glad we slept in that morning. I also agree that this was a one-time trip. As fantastic as it was, I don't know that I would do it again given the wealth of other places I have yet to go. But wow, it was amazing - the wildlife is so incredible.

 

For the poster who asked about snorkeling, this was my first time snorkeling (no instructions or anything beforehand) and I found it very easy on this trip and a total blast. The water was cool but the wet suit kept me warm enough, and it was plenty buoyant as Gonzo70 has pointed out. I thought November was a great time to go - much of the hikes would have been unbearable in hotter weather (at least to me). It was plenty warm in November.

 

I also agree that this is a trip that requires decent physical abilities - lots of hoisting yourself up and over things and walking on very slippery rocks and unsteady surfaces. I was pretty surprised/terrified at how dangerous I thought some of the disembarkations/embarkations were from the pangas and saw a few injuries occur. I made it through the trip fine but would have enjoyed it more had I been in better physical shape - there were a few walks when I just wanted it to be over due to tired feet and muscles, as much as I was enjoying the scenery and wildlife. You really do not get any kind of a break on this trip - it is go, go, go from start to finish and a real whirlwind.

 

I am glad you had such a great time!

[EagleRocker]

Do you mind asking if you think that we should plan to wear water resistant clothes on the day of embarkation? I know that the panga rides can be wet on the other days and will be wearing lightweight/water resistant clothes over our bathing suits but wondered if we could get away with light cotton clothes or shorts for embarkation day.

 

And just curious...what would you say the average age of the passengers in October was? We are early and mid fifties and are guessing we'll be among the youngsters given the time of year.

 

Hi Lovestx: I don't think you need to worry about water-resistant clothes on the first panga ride to the Xpedition. It is a short ride in a pretty calm bay - it was warm and sunny when we did it (actually, kinda hot). The only time we got wet on panga rides was the one day it rained on us. As for passenger ages, when we went in November, we (ages 50 and 56) felt like we were in the middle - some younger people (but nobody seemed to be younger than 30), a lot in their 50s and 60s, and some older than that. If I had to guess what was the average age of the passengers on our trip, I would guess 58-60.

[lovestx]

Hi Lovestx: I don't think you need to worry about water-resistant clothes on the first panga ride to the Xpedition. It is a short ride in a pretty calm bay - it was warm and sunny when we did it (actually, kinda hot). The only time we got wet on panga rides was the one day it rained on us. As for passenger ages, when we went in November, we (ages 50 and 56) felt like we were in the middle - some younger people (but nobody seemed to be younger than 30), a lot in their 50s and 60s, and some older than that. If I had to guess what was the average age of the passengers on our trip, I would guess 58-60.

 

Thanks, Eaglerocker! I've seen you on the looong Galapagos thread so appreciate your insights. I think we will be like you and Gonzo, thrilled that we've done this trip but on to other adventures. Frankly, my hubby will probably love the wildlife piece of this cruise more than I but I expect to enjoy it and have been dying to go to Peru!

[tgg]

Thanks for the thorough and balanced review, Gonzo. We are among the few that actually booked this cruise last minute (booked it October 2nd and are leaving on November 2nd!). So I am feverishly researching and making sure we are all set for this and for our Peru post-cruise trip (not Celebrity).

 

I am not expecting great food and your description tells me that that is a wise decision. Dinner sounds very disappointing. And I have also read that the dinner dining room is often really loud which isn't pleasant.

 

We found the dining room incredibly noisy. It has a very low ceiling. On some nights, we took our plates of food outside and enjoyed a peaceful dinner. And we weren't the only ones.

 

The biggest minus for this trip is that people with some serious mobility problems book this trip and then have to be helped to walk on all the excursions. This slows everyone else down, sometimes to a snail's pace. We had one very lovely gentleman in his late 80's who had to be supported by two naturalists in order to walk anywhere.

[TIMBERCAT]

Great review. Thanks as it's on my bucket list and your review has added fuel to a growing fire .

 

 

ATGATT. Lee

" I never worry about getting lost.

I just change where I plan on going."

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[2552phxcrzr]

Do you have any pictures posted ? I would love to see it.:)

I'm not Gonzo70 ... but you're welcome to check out my photos from Jul 2012 ... they're in blog format, so just scroll through the words if not interested in reading the stories.

 

The link is from where we left for Baltra ... pre-cruise Quito stories/photos also in the blog ... the entire trip is in the July 2012 archive.

 

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-to-isla-baltra.html

[Gonzo70]

Thanks for the thorough and balanced review, Gonzo. We are among the few that actually booked this cruise last minute (booked it October 2nd and are leaving on November 2nd!). So I am feverishly researching and making sure we are all set for this and for our Peru post-cruise trip (not Celebrity).

 

I am not expecting great food and your description tells me that that is a wise decision. Dinner sounds very disappointing. And I have also read that the dinner dining room is often really loud which isn't pleasant.

 

Do you mind asking if you think that we should plan to wear water resistant clothes on the day of embarkation? I know that the panga rides can be wet on the other days and will be wearing lightweight/water resistant clothes over our bathing suits but wondered if we could get away with light cotton clothes or shorts for embarkation day.

 

And just curious...what would you say the average age of the passengers in October was? We are early and mid fifties and are guessing we'll be among the youngsters given the time of year.

 

Don't be too discouraged about dinner; it certainly was not all bad or even mostly bad - just too many dishes were not properly executed than should have been the case. A majority of the food was good and half way into the cruise you get a hang of what likely is a better choice. The staff does their best to please you and personally I did not notice the dining room being uncomfortably loud (it is a bit noisy, but less so than typical large cruise ship main dining rooms).

 

For embarkation you are unlikely to get too wet during the panga ride. If you are in the very front or very back you may get splashed a bit if the seas are a little choppy, but nobody ever got too wet on dry landing trips. Light cotton clothes should be just fine.

 

Age wise 50's and 60's were the most prevalent decades with some older (one couple I believe was around 90). There were no young children. only one teenager and one person in their 20's. Then several people in their 30's & 40's.

[Gonzo70]

I am going to try to post a few of my pictures; been a while since I did so - not sure if I will get it right on this try:

 

Iguanas:

 

Albatross Chick:

 

Nazca Boobies Roughhousing:

 

Female Sea Lion with her Pup:

 

Giant Turtle:

 

Planting a Tree in the Highlands:

[MonDreamr1]

Gonzo,

 

 

 

Thanks for the great review.

 

 

 

I am an avid sea kayaker and have researched kayaking and diving in the Galapagos. It is my understanding that there is only one company permitted to allow kayaking in the archipelago. As a side note, it is also my understanding that the companies permitted to do snorkeling can't to diving. I was told you don't really need to dive, as the snorkeling is so great, but it is actually easier in my opinion to have a regulator and be able to be under water, if only a few feet vs a snorkel full or partially full, of salt water.

 

 

 

Glad you had a great trip.

 

 

 

Happy sailing,

 

Jenna

 

 

We went in 2010 pre a/b itinerary. Diving was~ $220-$250 pp (I don't remember the exact price and it is probably out of date) for the dive and you missed the tortoises in the wild. The better diving is on the northern islands. Iirc it was Red Mangrove was the contract operator. We skipped it.

 

 

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[buffetking]

We went in December 2006. Very good cruise. We enjoyed the city tours and had a great time aboard the Xpedition. Never had a problem with the food, but we are not picky about it.

Didn't notice the sound level of the dining room, but again, we didn't expect it to be like luxury cruises we have been on. The wildlife was fantastic during December...lots of baby seals, birds, etc. We just booked this cruise again for December 2016.

[BrusselsGirl07]

Thanks for the great review, it brought back lots of memories of our Galapagos adventure a few years back before it was split into the two itineraries. We loved it so much that we will be going back in 2016 to see the albatross, as we missed them the first time.

 

We combined our first trip with 2 weeks of driving around Ecuador, which was fantastic. In 2016 we will be visiting Macchu Picchu afterwards, but not with Celebrity.

 

Too bad about the smokers on your trip, I don't remember anyone smoking on our trip. We also did not have a problem with the food at all, so maybe it depends who is working the kitchens at the time. I also don't remember the dining room being especially noisy but we ended up making friends with 3 other couples - we sat together every night and had great conversations at dinner, so maybe we contributed to the noise!

 

Your photos are just like mine, can't wait to see the iguanas again!

[deelastcre]

Great Review! Helped to build the excitement for my Nov., 2015 adventure. We booked three years out, so it's been a long wait.

[2552phxcrzr]

I am going to try to post a few of my pictures; been a while since I did so - not sure if I will get it right on this try:

 

Iguanas:

 

Albatross Chick:

 

Nazca Boobies Roughhousing:

 

Female Sea Lion with her Pup:

 

Giant Turtle:

 

Planting a Tree in the Highlands:

 

Great photos. Thanks for sharing them.

[silkismom]

We're booked for Nov 2016, hope my body doesn't deteriorate too much before then!

[GOLDENBONNY]

That's why GOLDENBONNY wanted pictures!

 

 

 

lol :p

[GOLDENBONNY]

I'm not Gonzo70 ... but you're welcome to check out my photos from Jul 2012 ... they're in blog format, so just scroll through the words if not interested in reading the stories.

 

The link is from where we left for Baltra ... pre-cruise Quito stories/photos also in the blog ... the entire trip is in the July 2012 archive.

 

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-to-isla-baltra.html

 

 

thank you :)

[MonDreamr1]

I missed this on the other post. Nice review. The pictures look like you enjoyed your trip overall. Sorry about the smokers. That is one of the cons for the small cruise. If people irritate you it is much harder to avoid them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[skittl1321]

We did take a few hundred;

We came home with 3,236 photos!

My husband is still editing them, but the ones that have made the final cut thus far are up on Flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevi9903/

 

I thought it was a fabulous cruise, but in hindsight, I wish we didn't have to book so far ahead of time or plan for so long (this was 5 years in the making, since this cruise was a major splurge for us). I don't think there was anyway it could have lived up to ALL our expectations.

 

I also think anyone who cruises Celebrity regularly probably (though since I haven't- I don't know) needs to put some luxury expectations aside. I didn't think the service exceeded, or in many cases even matched what we've experienced on our 3 Carnival cruises. The only thing that really kicked Carnival's butt was the baked Alaska. Man that was good.

 

But the destination could not be beat. I posted a mini review in the giant "Anybody back" thread in the roll call forums if anyone feels the need to track it down.

 

RE: Smoking. I agree with your suggestion that they use deck 5 for smoking, but I honestly wonder why they don't just call it a non-smoking ship. We only had one on our cruise, but I don't recall seeing her without a cigarette (and the smell definitely spread all across the small outdoor area of deck 4)... on the long zodiac rides, if you ended up sitting next to her, since she always had a per-excursion cigarette, it pretty much ruined the excursion. Even sitting next to her to get to a landing was a bit uncomfortable. With 1/100, it doesn't seem like the ship really attracts smokers anyway, so just make it smoke free entirely and then no one has to deal with it.

Edited October 16, 2014 by skittl1321

[cruise kitty]

Thanks for the review! This cruise is definitely on my bucket list! Loved your photos :)

[BILL-WI]

Great review. Yep, it is on my bucket list and as a result of your review, is now moving up the list...

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip.:):)

 

BILL

[Gonzo70]

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

 

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the trip:

 

Blue Footed Booby & Chick:

 

Post Office - One of the islands has a post office where you can leave post cards; visitors to the island look through them to see if any are for people who live nearby to them and if so take them and deliver them by hand, such a fun concept:

 

Scenic Shot from Zodiac of Volcano:

 

Another Scenic Shot:

 

Example of Difficult Terrain During One of the Hikes (a couple of people fell during this excursion - fortunately one of the guests was a wilderness certified EMT - the young gentleman sitting down - he did a wonderful job providing first aid to a woman in our group):

 

Flamingos:

[Gonzo70]

One more round of pictures before bedtime.

 

Sally Lightfoot Crab:

 

Boobies Feeding - They Would Dive into the Water like Missiles:

 

Iguana:

 

Area where Famous Turtle Lonely George Stayed:

 

Fun Fish Market:

[Gracie115]

Your pictures are wonderful....glad you enjoyed the cruise....the smoking issue would have upset me too.....but what a great trip to knock off the "bucket list" .... hope to be able to do it ourselves one day....

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the review..