LIVE(ish) Xpedition - Quito and Galapagos November 11, 2023

[prmssk]

I’ve enjoyed many live threads and thought this cruise would be of interest to a number of people and so a good chance to start my own thread. I’ll be honest up front and say this is a jam-packed itinerary, with two ports scheduled for most days so I don’t know how well I’ll be able to keep up.  But feel free to follow along on what I expect will be a once in a lifetime trip for us.

 

My husband will be joining me on this trip.  We have really gotten into birding in the last few years and the pandemic gave me a lot of time to really improve my photography hobby.

 

We chose the Xpedition because it is a ship built for about 100 passengers but since the introduction of the Flora in order to stay under Galapagos limits, it is now limited to 48 passengers. We really liked the idea of more space per passenger. As of this morning, there were still five cabins available so I don't expect this to be a full ship.  It is also cheaper than the Flora for what we understand is essentially the same Galapagos experience.

 

We booked the 10 day land/cruise tour which includes two nights in Quito, transportation between Quito and the Galapagos, the 7 night cruise on the Xpedition, and one more night in Quito afterwards. When we booked there was a Flights on Us promotion and so for the first time, we also booked our flights through the cruise line.

 

As I type this, we have left Atlanta where we had a 3.5 hour layover after our short flight from our home airport and are headed to Quito with an arrival time shortly after 8:00 p.m. (which currently matches up with Eastern Time in the US - Ecuador does not observe daylight savings time.)

 

I understand that tomorrow is a full day tour of Quito including a stop at the equator plus dinner at a nice restaurant in Quito.  Saturday we fly to Baltra and board the Xpedition.  At the end of the cruise, we fly back to Quito where we have booked a full day private birding excursion before we board our flight to go home very late on November 19.

 

Here is the route, the cruise will take (the Northern Loop) although I anticipate the stops on Genovesa Island and Vicente Rock Point on Isabela Island may be substituted.  There have been cases of the avian influenza discovered in those locations and last I heard, the Galapagos National Park Authority had temporarily closed those sites.  I’m a bit disappointed we may miss Genovesa Island as everything I have read says it is a top spot for birders but the health of the birds is far more important.

 

 

I’ll end this first post here.  See you in Quito.

[Beachlover1989]

We are on the Xpedition in September, so I'm really looking forward to following your report!

[Ken the cruiser]

I can't wait to follow your adventures around the Galapagos! We'll be on the Flora on a similar Northern Loop track in early December. I know from prior experience, you're going to have a great time on the Xpedition!!

[Barwick Cruiser]

I’m very excited to follow along! DH and I are hoping to do this trip as well as a side trip to Machu Picchu. I’m looking more for marine life however I’m sure you’ll see plenty of those along with all the birds! We’d prob do Expedition as well primarily to save a few $$$$ 

Hope you have a smooth flight and embarkation…can’t wait to read more! 🛳️ 🐦 🐬 🐠 🐢 

Cathy

[Jim_Iain]

Looking forward to you Live.    Definitely on my bucket list.  

[mahasamatman]

We're exactly four weeks behind you (09 December), so we're looking forward to hearing all the details.

[Ciaranaman]

Following 😊.  Safe travels!

~Bernadette

[abbydancer2003]

We're on the Northern Loop next October.  Moved from last month to 2025 then back to 2024.  So I'm excited to read this.  We're doing the Peru extension.

[mahdnc]

Hi, Rebecca.  As you already know, we will be taking the sailing after yours (Southern Loop).  Have a great time and put that D500 to good use!

 

David

[cgolf1]

Thanks for doing this and have a great trip! We go on the expedition next year so following along:)

[Poconolady]

I’ll be following, we are on the Flora next Aug., it was the only ship that I could get three cabins together, on our our preferred  date.

[prmssk]

We made it to Quito!  Customs at the airport was pretty straight forward.  You just follow the crowd off the plane and entered the line for international passengers.  The line moves a bit slow - we probably spent about 20 minutes waiting.  Note, I couldn't not find any restrooms until after we got through this line so plan accordingly.

 

After you speak with a customs agent, you continue to baggage claim and collect your luggage.  As you exit baggage claim, all of your bags need to put through a scanner.  Just beyond those scanners, you will see a sea of people with signs.   The Celebrity signs were really obvious.  A porter will take your luggage from there.  There were 4 other people cruising on the Xpedition from our Delta flight from Atlanta and 2 cruising on the Flora on Sunday.  Once they had gathered all of this, we took a comfortable coach bus to the hotel which is about 45 minutes to an hour away.  The roads are windy as you climb and descend.  There were some neat views that I expect are pretty spectacular in the daylight.

 

At the JW Marriott, we were welcomed with a warm cloth and a delicious hot fruit drink with cinnamon.  The Flora guests who had come in a day before their tour package started were escorted to the front desk to check in.  Those of us on the Xpedition were brought to Celebrity's desk where our keys and water bottles were ready for us.  There is a water bottle refilling station in the lobby of the hotel.

 

A bellhop loads all the luggage from the bus on a cart and stops by each room so you can claim yours.

 

The hotel rooms are really nice and the hotel looks beautiful although we haven't spent much time exploring yet.  It has been a long day.  I'll end it here with the paperwork we received and a photo of the water bottle.

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just a suggestion from my experience in Quito back in 2015 when we went on our Galapagos Xpedition cruise. When in Quito to include your stay at the hotel, do not drink the tap water, to include brushing your teeth with it or taking a shower with your mouth open. Montezuma’s revenge is very much alive and well in the tap water down there. I actually experienced Mr Montezuma’s revenge for the first day or two on the cruise when I ate some grapes that had probably been rinsed with tap water at the breakfast buffet at the Marriott hotel. Just a suggestion. 😁

[parrothead33]

Following along.  Have a great adventure.

[prmssk]

A quick view from our hotel room before we head off to breakfast. Our room is on the Executive level with access to breakfast in the Executive Lounge which is what we will check out today.  I believe those booked in penthouse and royal suites get rooms on this level.  We also could go down the Botanica restaurant in the lobby for breakfast.

 

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, prmssk said:

A quick view from our hotel room before we head off to breakfast. Our room is on the Executive level with access to breakfast in the Executive Lounge which is what we will check out today.  I believe those booked in penthouse and royal suites get rooms on this level.  We also could go down the Botanica restaurant in the lobby for breakfast.

 

Good morning. Nice view.  My wife is a Marriott Platinum Elite member. I’m believe/hope that will get us access to the Executive Lounge when we arrive next Wed.  

Edited November 10, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahasamatman]

6 hours ago, mahdnc said:

My wife is a Marriott Platinum Elite member. I’m believe/hope that will get us access to the Executive Lounge when we arrive next Wed.  

 

I have heard that is the case. I won't hit (lifetime) Platinum until next year, and I'm not sure if I'll get anything special with my Gold. Time will tell...

[LabMom57]

Thank you for doing this! We are booked on this cruise in 2025.

[sunpsyche]

Following along to share in the adventure. We sailed the Northern Loop on the Expedition in 2017, followed by the Machu Picchu extension. It was the best vacation we’ve ever had. Would love to go back someday. For now I’ll eagerly await to read your experiences. Enjoy!

[prmssk]

13 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Good morning. Nice view.  My wife is a Marriott Platinum Elite member. I’m believe/hope that will get us access to the Executive Lounge when we arrive next Wed.  

I believe she should get access and be able to bring you.  It is a nice perk.

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I believe she should get access and be able to bring you.  It is a nice perk.

 

I hope she brings me.

[mahdnc]

I don't know if you have time to answer this:

 

what did  you think of today's Celebrity guided tour of Quito et al?  Bad, good, decent, great?

 

The reason I am asking is that we have a full day in Quito on our own on the day before the Quito tour. I am hiring a private guide for that day.  I am mulling over some choices on what to do that day.  If you thought today's tour was pretty good, I will probably have our guide take us somewhere else outside of Quito..

Edited November 11, 2023 by mahdnc

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

I don't know if you have time to answer this:

 

what did  you think of today's Celebrity guided tour of Quito et al?  Bad, good, decent, great?

 

The reason I am asking is that we have a full day in Quito on our own on the day before the Quito tour. I am hiring a private guide for that day.  I am mulling over some choices on what to do that day.  If you thought today's tour was pretty good, I will probably have our guide take us somewhere else outside of Quito..

On our Galapagos cruise in early December, we had a full day after returning back to Quito to plan something, as our flight doesn’t leave until right before midnight. So we just booked this private tour today, as it sounded pretty cool. If this tour guide isn’t available on that day you’re looking to do a tour, another TBL guide named Santiago also offers a similar one to this. I have to say, the potential for seeing the speckled bear they described definitely caught our attention. 😁

 
https://www.toursbylocals.com/antisanaprivatetour

 

[prmssk]

We had an amazing day touring Quito.  They put us in small groups - ours was only 10 people.  Between Xploration and Xpedition, there were four buses.  One of the groups which was a bit larger was a French speaking group from Canada. I understand tomorrow Flora will have 7 different groups.

 

Our first stop was an amazing viewpoint of Quito.  Take the time to walk past the shops to see the south side in addition to the views of the old town and modern Quito which you can see from the statue of the Virgin Mary.

 

 

Our second stop was in the old town where we visited a couple of convents/monasteries, churches, and Independence Square which is has the Mayor's house and the home of the President (if the next one chooses to live there).

 

One of the many courtyards in the Convento de San Fransisco 

 

The outside of the Iglesia San Fransisco and Convent

 

The inside of Iglesia San Fransisco

 

The front of the Jesuit church, Iglesia de la Campañía de Jesús La Caninatas - They did not allow photography inside but it was absolutely breathtaking.

 

Lunch was a nice buffet in a private room at a monastery.  Food options included salad, ceviche, a traditional potato soup, rice, various meats (chicken, lamb, sea bass, etc.), along with quite a few dessert options.  Water, soda, and juice are included with your meal and there is a water bottle refilling station here.  Staying hydrated is really important this high up.

 

There is a balcony off the room where we had this lunch that is worth stepping out onto.  I'm not sure how many found this treasure but the view was worth it.

 

 

They gave people the option to go back to the hotel after lunch but I'm not sure who would want to miss the trip to the equator.  The "Middle of the World" is about 45 minutes outside of Quito.  Here you get a chance to stand in both the southern and northern hemispheres at the same time and they show you a number of interesting experiments to show you different effects of being south or north of the equator (or directly on it).

 

We had an interesting discussion with our guide about GPS and how he has found Garmin to be more accurate than some others but even Garmin isn't perfect.  This is my Apple Watch right on the equator.  I never got it to 0 degrees latitude.  You may not be able to read the photo but it reads Lat 0.00107 S.

 

If you like birds, keep your eye out for some quite large hummingbirds at the equator.  This is a Sparkling Violetear.

[prmssk]

Something funky was going on with the text so I'll continue about the evening in a separate post.  

 

We were back at the hotel sometime between 4:30 and 5 which gave us some downtime before we had to meet at 6 for dinner.  Dinner was at La Gloria.  Celebrity had rented out the entire restaurant for the Xpedition and Xploration guests.  They kept us in our same groups from the day trip for the bus ride over as well as table assignments.  Which I guess was good as you got to know that small group of people better but it hasn't given us really any chance to talk to anyone outside our small group of 10 who we will soon be crushing with.

 

I forgot to take a photo of the menu although it matched what I had seen others post elsewhere online.  I was not as impressed with this ceviche.  Breaded fish just doesn't equate with what I am used with ceviche.  But the Tonga traditional dish which was rice, plantains, and chicken wrapped in a banana leave with a peanut sauce was very good.

 

We were back at the hotel a little after 8.  All our checked luggage had to be packed and brought down to the Celebrity desk as the Galapagos National Park representatives would be opening and inspecting our luggage early the next morning before it was loaded on the busses.  They are looking for fresh seeds, fruits, etc. All sharp objects needed to go in checked luggage as well as aerosols but there is no restriction on liquids in your carry ons.  They actually encourage you to fill up your water bottles before leaving the hotel the next morning.  They do not use single use plastics (single use water bottles, plastic bags, etc.) in the Galapagos and so ask you not to bring them.  When you drop off your luggage at the Celebrity desk, they ask that you not lock it.  They put a zip tie on the zipper which the National Park reps can cut and then put their own plastic lock on it after it has passed inspection.  There was also a paper health questionnaire (much like what you do in the app for any cruise) that we completed and turned in tonight.

 

I think that is about all for today.  It's time to get some rest before tomorrow's flight and embarkation on the Xpedition!