Family Galapagos cruise questions

[Ken the cruiser]

We’ve been planning a family Galapagos cruise for the summer of 2021 for awhile now and are trying to decide whether to go on the Celebrity Xpedition or the Silver Galapagos. 

 

In fact the Xpedition Jul 2021 Galapagos cruises were just posted and we booked 5 OV cabins because they wouldn’t allow us to book 3 people (2 adults and 1 child) in 2 of the 4 balcony cabins we originally wanted to book. Which brings us to our Silver Galapagos questions. 

 

From what we’re hearing, booking 3 people in a Silver Galapagos cabin is not an issue as with the Xpedition and the cost of a 3rd person in 2 of the cabins would be a fraction of the cost of the full price fare. 

 

We also understand the Silversea fares include round trip airfare from your home location to Quito as well as from Quito to/from Baltra/San Crystobal, depending on the starting and ending ports. 

 

Finally, we understand there are no formal nights on the SG so we don’t need to bring any fancy clothes. 

 

Are these good assumptions? I’m sure it goes without saying the lectures, food and accommodations onboard the Silver Galapagos are all wonderful as one would expect on a Silversea cruise. 

 

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have been on both, which cruise did you like better?

Edited February 8, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[57 varieties]

Silversea also signed a contract with Dutch shipbuilder Shipyard De Hoop to construct a new expedition vessel, named Silver Origin, that will serve the Galapagos Islands itinerary currently sailed by Silver Galapagos. The new ship is expected for delivery in March 2020.

Silversea have announced the replacement of their Silver Galapagos as shown above.  I have not seen any details yet, but it will be a new ship.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, 57 varieties said:

Silversea also signed a contract with Dutch shipbuilder Shipyard De Hoop to construct a new expedition vessel, named Silver Origin, that will serve the Galapagos Islands itinerary currently sailed by Silver Galapagos. The new ship is expected for delivery in March 2020.

Silversea have announced the replacement of their Silver Galapagos as shown above.  I have not seen any details yet, but it will be a new ship.

Thanks for the update. That might explain why our Silversea POC last August said the 2021 itineries would be posted in a couple of months and then nothing. We will definitely keep our eyes open for any new Origin updates and itineraries once they start posting them. It will also be interesting to see if the fares are going to skyrocket like they did with the introduction of X’s Flora this coming May. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Does anyone know why the Silver Galapagos is listed as the ship on the Mar-Sep 2020 Galapagos cruises if it's supposed to be replaced by the Silver Origin in Mar 2020? Also, if in fact the Origin does replace the Galapagos in March 2020, will the cruise fares drastically go up or will they stay about the same. We're hoping the latter is true and the prices don't go up too much once they make the swap.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[Lirio]

On 2/8/2019 at 3:48 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We’ve been planning a family Galapagos cruise for the summer of 2021 for awhile now and are trying to decide whether to go on the Celebrity Xpedition or the Silver Galapagos. 

 

In fact the Xpedition Jul 2021 Galapagos cruises were just posted and we booked 5 OV cabins because they wouldn’t allow us to book 3 people (2 adults and 1 child) in 2 of the 4 balcony cabins we originally wanted to book. Which brings us to our Silver Galapagos questions. 

 

From what we’re hearing, booking 3 people in a Silver Galapagos cabin is not an issue as with the Xpedition and the cost of a 3rd person in 2 of the cabins would be a fraction of the cost of the full price fare. 

 

We also understand the Silversea fares include round trip airfare from your home location to Quito as well as from Quito to/from Baltra/San Crystobal, depending on the starting and ending ports. 

 

Finally, we understand there are no formal nights on the SG so we don’t need to bring any fancy clothes. 

 

Are these good assumptions? I’m sure it goes without saying the lectures, food and accommodations onboard the Silver Galapagos are all wonderful as one would expect on a Silversea cruise. 

 

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have been on both, which cruise did you like better?

 

We were on Silver Galapagos on July 2018. We had a wonderful trip. Our cruise fare included the flight from Guayaquil  to Galapagos to Guayaquil. as we live in Rio de Janeiro we arranged  our flight to Guayaquil easily.

[hubofhockey]

I saw this thread after I posted my thread about Silversea honoring my bargain booking on the Silver Galapagos for a change to the Silver Origin.  

 

Prices for the Celebrity Xpedition and Silver Galapagos were competitive.  Both offered flight packages from your home city to Quito, accommodations at the Marriott in Quito and transfers to and from the Galapagos.  There are subtle differences between the two packages and Celebrity has its own private charter to and from the Galapagos and pays for a night at the Marriott on the return.  Celebrity also includes a Quito excursion and a group dinner the night before leaving for the Galapagos.  My problem with Celebrity (which is our "go to" cruise line) is that they control your flights through Celebrity Air, meaning they will take the cheapest, but maybe not the best, airlines.  Silversea allowed us a $675 credit if we wanted to book our own flights.  We like JetBlue and have points already and this beats Celebrity's cheaper American Airlines flights for comfort and entertainment.  We also would rather dine as a family at a restaurant of our choosing and arrange our own tour from or in Quito.  In any case, we found overall pricing to be similar between the two and we got a better deal for late May and really liked the flexibility that Silversea gave us.  

 

We have a really good TA who was able to provide better incentives on Silversea and our net price was so much better on Silversea vs Celebrity Xpedition.  The Flora was a non-starter for us since the prices were 50% more.  The only catch for us to get the great deal was that we had to prepay 100% of cost and it was about 19 months in advance.  We do enjoy the casual and less formal atmosphere on Celebrity and the upscale for that for us would be Azamara (and we have a cruise booked with them).  When we heard that Silversea was more casual for Galapagos, that was a non-issue, although I believe Silversea, even in Galapagos, is not as casual as Celebrity/Azamara.

 

The Silver Origin was actually supposed to be built for Celebrity and was supposed to be a twin ship to the Flora.  I would assume it will not end up being a twin of the Flora, but close to it.  In other words, restaurants and public spaces will probably be different, but the shell of the ship will be very close.  The Flora has the Celebrity "revolution" attributes such as some Infinite Verandahs, which are fake balconies.  They are windows which open electronically with space on the end of rooms for seating by the window in a partioned off area.  It's possible that Silversea will go for suites with windows that do not open and charge less to be lower priced cabins and bookings that transfer over from Silver Galapagos as Explorer Suites will be assigned these cabins.  We booked two Explorer suites for May of 2020 and our worst case scenario is that we will be moved into these cabins.

 

I don't think Silversea and Royal Caribbean would build a new ship without the idea that they will charge more.  Other than these boutique lines, Royal Caribbean controls the Galapagos with Celebrity and Silversea.  I would think the Origin would be priced similarly to the Flora.  In the future, if you want a cheaper Galapagos expedition cruise, the Celebrity Xpedition will be the only choice.  It was renovated a few short months ago and will go through more changes when it goes from a 100 passenger ship to a 64-passenger ship when Flora begins service this spring.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how our Explorer Suite booking on 5/23/2000 on the Silver Galapagos  translates to the Silver Origin.  I wonder when they will come out with a reveal of the ship.  So far, nothing other than quotes that I posted on the other thread, which they are saying that both the Origin and Flora are "best in class".  

 

If you find price you like on 4/20 to 9/20 Silver Galapagos itineraries, then it makes sense to book them.  The prices I am seeing now are much more than we paid a few months ago.  It looks as if they are in the process of pricing closer to Flora's rates.  With Celebrity taking two of its older Galpagos ships out of service and now Silversea taking the Silver Galapagos out of service, prices for Galapagos, even on the lower end will go up.  

[Ken the cruiser]

Thanks Hubofhockey for posting that great news for you. Since we don't plan on going until Jul 2021, we'll just have to wait and see when and at what cost increase the cabins on the new Origin will be posted. If they stay at their current rate, we may still make the jump to Silversea if they will allow 3 people (2 adults and 1 child) in a cabin unlike the new Flora bookings. At the same time as we already have our Xpedition cabins booked, it will be interesting to see if/how they change the Xpedition cabin layouts once the Flora makes her presence.

[RachelG]

No formal nights on either Silversea or Xpedition.  We have sailed on both.  Much prefer Silversea—better food, crew seemed happier and less grouchy, nicer room with more light.

 

having done both, Silversea is way better as far as food.  My husband would not do celebrity again.

[hubofhockey]

The Flora is a game changer in the Galapagos.  It is state of the art and they have a Michelin starred chef running the dining operation.  I wish I could afford it.  The ship is beautiful and all suites have verandahs.  While the Silver Origin, is a twin ship, it may not have all of the technology present in the Flora which has Celebrity Edge infinite verandahs.  I may not be a fan of those as they relate to a regular balcony, but I would prefer the to a window that doesn't open.  We'll see what happens when Silversea does its reveal of the Origin.  They are selling cabins on it and still haven't done the reveal.  It's an interesting strategy.

 

In disclosure, we really like Celebrity, especially Aqua Class.  If you get dining in Blu with a classic drink package, you are getting great value because of the prices and a really nice casual experience.  We might do another Silversea after Galapagos, but we'll see how it goes.

 

[Stumblefoot]

22 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

We'll see what happens when Silversea does its reveal of the Origin.  They are selling cabins on it and still haven't done the reveal.  It's an interesting strategy.

What websites have you seen the Silver Origin available for booking?  It's not available for booking on Silversea's website and it wasn't available to book on board the Silver Shadow last week.  So, very curious to read that you can make a booking now.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Stumblefoot

[Emtbsam]

We hope to use our free two weeks to book on the Silver Origin as I fear that will be the only way we could afford it!  We are anxiously looking forward to more information on the Silver Origin.  

[hubofhockey]

On 3/1/2019 at 1:03 PM, Stumblefoot said:

What websites have you seen the Silver Origin available for booking?  It's not available for booking on Silversea's website and it wasn't available to book on board the Silver Shadow last week.  So, very curious to read that you can make a booking now.

 

If you book any April or May cruise for next year, the booking is effectively for the Silver Origin because the Silver Galapagos will be retired.  Bookings will be moved.  That is what I was told by the person when I was concerned about my May 2020 booking.

 

I keep searching the web for more information.  The only things I know were posted above.  If it's as nice as the Celebrity Flora, I'll be very happy.  

Edited March 2, 2019 by hubofhockey

[Stumblefoot]

Ah, got it hubofhockey.  Thanks for the clarification.

I'm surprised SS still shows the Silver Galapagos on their website as sailing through Sep 2020.  Considering how far in advance they touted the Silver Muse, I'm a little bit surprised nothing has been revealed about the Silver Origin with just 1-year remaining before it's maiden voyage.

[hubofhockey]

I don't think they knew far in advance that they would be building the Origin, since it was supposed to be the Celebrity Origin, a duplicate of the Flora.  I would think the shell would be similar to the Flora and maybe they are in process of finalizing what the interior and top deck will look like.

 

What I don't understand is how Celebrity could have two 100-passenger ships in the Galapagos.  I was under the impression that each line is limited to 160 passengers and that's why the Celebrity Expedition will be renovated to eliminate 20 cabins/40 passengers.  With a name like Celebrity Origin, it only makes sense that it would have been the second Celebrity ship in the Galapagos.

 

For now, this is the only photo out there for the Silver Origin.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s a follow up curiosity question. Since RCI now owns X as well as 60+% of Silversea, then RCI now controls 260 passenger spaces in the Galapagos with their 3 ships (Xpedition, Flora and Silver Galapagos/Origin). 

 

Do they now exceed the number of passengers a cruise company can provide accommodations for in the Galapagos? Probably not if X and SS are still considered as separate operating companies. But since you brought the maximum passenger number up, I just thought I throw this one out there.