Flora…vacation begins!

[Suzanne123]

This site helped us determine when where of the Galapagos

https://www.adventuresmithexplorations.com/trips/galapagos/when-to-travel-best-month/

[Margarita Jane]

On 9/18/2021 at 8:51 PM, sanger727 said:

We are flying down to Ecuador on Monday for our Galapagos cruise (not celebrity).

@sanger727 Do you mind sharing who you are using to cruise since it’s not Celebrity?

[Kimboriffic]

Thank you

[Keithb]

We just returned from the Galapagos. We did both the inner and outer loops. The outer loop by far has more animals. The outer sees the Albatrosses and iguanas, sea lions galore, the inner sees red footed boobies and more penguins. I my opinion the outer was better but seeing both loops was outstanding. 

[High Seas Drifters]

We are booked on the Flora for Oct 31 on this same itinerary. Can you tell me, the PCR tests that were done, were they the ridiculous long swabs that nearly go to your brain, or the shorter swabs? Also you mentioned a long walk to the Darwin Research station. My husband has difficulty with long walks. Is there any assistance available to still visit this station for those who can’t endure the walk?

[Keithb]

It’s an antigen test and no it isn’t deep but it still makes my eyes water. The walk to the Darwin center is about 12 mins on a paved side walk. I think they offered a cart ride back from the center at the end of the tour. I have to say that this is an easy walk compared to most of the hikes on the islands.

[Keithb]

Let me start by saying that the Flora trip in the Galapagos is an exceptional experience.

The entire crew and I mean everyone is friendly, helpful, and will make every effort to make this a wonderful cruise. 
The ceviche dishes are outstanding. All the fish dishes are perfect. Let me set the record straight that despite the bad reviews on the beef….we found all the steaks to be delicious. Yes, they are leaner cuts than maybe you were used to but they still taste great.

Bring good hiking shoes the long walks are over lava rocks and can be rough but still doable by all.

The shoreline snorkeling wasn’t the easiest cause you had to fight the waves which than churns up the sand reducing visibility. 
However, do not and I mean do not miss the advanced dives. I felt advanced meant you can kick with fins on. 
Shoreline snorkeling means wear your swimsuit under your hiking clothes and than changing into your wetsuits on the beach.

Enjoy

[sippican]

20 hours ago, Keithb said:

We just returned from the Galapagos. We did both the inner and outer loops. The outer loop by far has more animals. The outer sees the Albatrosses and iguanas, sea lions galore, the inner sees red footed boobies and more penguins. I my opinion the outer was better but seeing both loops was outstanding. 

 

I'd like to add, we cruised on Xpedition prior to Flora. At the time, the itineraries were Inner and Outer. We did the inner loop. We saw a TON of animals: marine and land turtles, red and blue footed boobies, frigates, sea lions, seals, golden rays, penguins, albatross marine and land iguanas, and even mountain goats! During the post-tour we met up with a couple who had completed the outer loop on Xperience and they seemed to not have seen as many as we had. I really believe that it's pure chance and luck, not that there are "more animals" on any particular itinerary.  Even on the same exact excursions, people in one group would report seeing totally different animals than those in a different group.

Way too many people stress about which month or itinerary is the "best". They may be different, but they are all exceptional!

Next month we're taking the "southern" itinerary on Xpedition. We chose the itinerary that stopped at North Seymour Island because it was our favorite three years ago. 

 

[sanger727]

Not sure if anyone is interested in hearing about a non-celebrity Galapagos cruise as a point of reference. But we finished ours a week ago. We booked through ‘Royal Galapagos’ and the package was a 7 night cruise with 1 night pre-cruise hotel stay in Quito and round trip flights from Quito. Our ship had 10 staterooms but only half were filled. So a total of 10 people onboard. The nice thing about that is that we could all fit on one zodiac. Our itinerary was similar to celebrity’s outer loop.

 

positives: the ship was beautiful. The crew were able to give a lot of personalized attention since there weren’t many guests. Our naturalist and excursions were wonderful.
 

Negatives: this was a very small ship and when we sailed it was difficult to sleep or relax because of the engine noise and movement. Even when we were anchored in calm water the ship rocked quite a bit. Alcohol was not included and prices were quite high. Meals were pre-set. No menus or choices. Breakfast and lunch were buffets but dinners were plated. Also The amount of tips requested at the end were quite excessive compared to celebrity.

 

[rawtravel]

7 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Not sure if anyone is interested in hearing about a non-celebrity Galapagos cruise as a point of reference. But we finished ours a week ago. We booked through ‘Royal Galapagos’ and the package was a 7 night cruise with 1 night pre-cruise hotel stay in Quito and round trip flights from Quito. Our ship had 10 staterooms but only half were filled. So a total of 10 people onboard. The nice thing about that is that we could all fit on one zodiac. Our itinerary was similar to celebrity’s outer loop.

 

positives: the ship was beautiful. The crew were able to give a lot of personalized attention since there weren’t many guests. Our naturalist and excursions were wonderful.
 

Negatives: this was a very small ship and when we sailed it was difficult to sleep or relax because of the engine noise and movement. Even when we were anchored in calm water the ship rocked quite a bit. Alcohol was not included and prices were quite high. Meals were pre-set. No menus or choices. Breakfast and lunch were buffets but dinners were plated. Also The amount of tips requested at the end were quite excessive compared to celebrity.

 

Thanks for your comments. I always like to get comparisons of different cruise lines/ships and experiences.  Have you been on Flora?  If so, if you had to go to Galapagos again would you prefer Flora or Royal Galapagos?

 

Flora is not inexpensive. Tips are included. What was the amount of tips that RG requested?

 

DW and I will be on Flora 11/7/2021. My brother and SIL will travel with us. I will try to post my experience on our trip and answer any questions on CC.

[Lastdance]

Our Flora cruise is the end of May, 2022.  The one for this year was canceled, so I am hopeful that neext year will be great.  I am a definite Blue Footed Boobi person, so if I get a few picks of those my bucket list will be overflowing with happiness.  it is always the luck of the draw when it comes to a "perfect" trip, but life is way too short to not make it one.  Just go and enjoy the experience!

Edited October 7, 2021 by Lastdance

[sanger727]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:18 PM, rawtravel said:

Thanks for your comments. I always like to get comparisons of different cruise lines/ships and experiences.  Have you been on Flora?  If so, if you had to go to Galapagos again would you prefer Flora or Royal Galapagos?

 

Flora is not inexpensive. Tips are included. What was the amount of tips that RG requested?

 

DW and I will be on Flora 11/7/2021. My brother and SIL will travel with us. I will try to post my experience on our trip and answer any questions on CC.

I have not been on flora; this has been our only Galapagos cruise. I don’t think I would cruise RG again. We paid around $6,000 pp for a week with the domestic flight package. RG requested $20-25 pp pd for the crew and $20-$25 pp pd for the naturalist. 
 

On this cruise we prioritized the service and excursions. If I took another Galapagos cruise I think I would still care about those but would add ship motion and  food to the list. We had two overnight sails and they were really uncomfortable on that size a ship. And I would prefer to have more than one option available for dinner.