Xpedition - 7 day trip - Flights to Galapagos

[Susan-M]

I am wondering if anyone has booked just the cruise (7 day trip) and had Celebrity make the Quito-Baltra flight arrangements? The flights are included in the 10 and 11 day trips, but we are planning a 2 week trip to Ecuador and would like to do the other touring on our own.

I can make my own arrangements with TAME airline, but that can be a little "iffy" so have decided that if we can't do Galapagos flight arrangements with Celebrity for the 7 day trip, then we'll opt for the 10 day.

 

thanks,

[Susan-M]

Further to my orig. post.... Celebrity has been very definite about not having the option to book any flights - either between home & Quito, or Quito & Baltra, if we just book the 7 day cruise.

 

So, my next question is, has anyone booked directly with TAME for the Quito-Baltra flights?

thanks,

[Fontaid]

Susan, I did NOT book TAME flights from Quito to Baltra when we went. We took the 10 day and had Celebrity take care of the TAME flights. However, I did check into booking TAME flights and found that I could NOT book them from the U.S. I could only book them from Central or South American countries. Our flights to/from Quito/Baltra were full. You don't want to miss the flight to Baltra!!! There just aren't many flights. There are 2 each morning on TAME. There's another airline called Aerogal that flies to/from Ecuador/Baltra, but I don't really know anything about them. The bottom line is that if you miss the flight to Baltra, you won't catch the ship until they get to Puerto Arroyo on Tuesday morning. That was enough for me to decide to take the 10 day.

 

Dave

:) :) :)

[Susan-M]

Thanks Dave .... I find it interesting that Celebrity offers the 7 day, but I don't think anyone ever books it because of the Quito/Baltra flights.

 

There was a post on the "Expedition - just returned from the...." thread in which someone said that Celebrity told them they would arrange air on the 7 day trip (both between home/Quito and Quito/Baltra), but I have spoken to two reps there who say that if you book the 7 day, you are on your own with all air arrangements. So, it looks like I'll be booking the 10 day one.

[DS]

We did this cruise in Sept 04 after a couple of weeks touring Peru and a day or 2 in Quito. We had the tour arrange our flight to Baltra and bought the 7-day Xpedition. Our South American arrangements were made through LanChile and we ended up on the same flight as all the other Celebrity cruisers. We did not try to book the flights ourselves, it was part of our other tour arrangements.

[greeneg]

When I inquired last year about doing this same thing, I was told that I could join the Expedition trip at Quito airport ( we were going to be in Ecuador at the same time and at the airport at a time that would have made it very simple to join the trip at that point and fly to Baltra), I was told that the cost would be the same for the 10 day trip. This supposedly was because Celebrity had contracted with tour operators in Ecuador for the whole package and could not offer a partial tour.....

 

This may well have changed, but we decided not to pay for 3 nights hotel and a city tour that we are already very familiar with, so we cancelled the booking.

 

If they are offering to just give you the 7 day tour from Baltra, then that's interesting, but the truth is, Quito Airport is not difficult to navigate and it really shouldn't be too hard to get to and from Baltra. Most probably, you should plan, if you book it on your own, to spend the night in Quito as most of the flights to the USA tend to leave early in the morning.

 

Good luck with it. That was one trip that we really wanted to do.