Live: Nov 18 2023 Xpedition Galapagos Southern Loop

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

Here is a tour of our cabin, Xpedition Suite 502.

 

 

The cabin is on the starboard side of Deck 5.  It is an Xpedition Suite (details from Celebrity website).

 

 

We were pleased with our cabin although we have been spoiled as my wife and I have always booked the spacious family cabins since we previously always travelled with our two kids.  The Xpedition Suite was the first cabin where we would occasionally be in each other's way when trying to move around.  It was a strange experience for us (we were spoiled).

 

 

Don't get me wrong, the Xpedition Suite was quite roomy for two people.  We were very pleased with it.

 

 

It appeared that the couch could fold out into a bed.   Housekeeping was performed twice a day in our cabin.

 

 

There was sparkling wine in an ice bucket to greet us when we first entered our room.  We never got around to drinking it.

 

 

The bathroom was fairly standard for Celebrity.  Compact yet very functional.

 

 

The shower had a glass door (no curtain) and there was a retractable clothes line which is visible in the photo below.  The shower had independent knobs for temperature and flow like you find in the other Celebrity ships.  To the extreme left in the photo below were wall mounted dispensers for body gel, conditioner, and shampoo.  The shower water temperature and flow/pressure were excellent.

 

 

We were told that the water in the bathroom sink was suitable for brushing your teeth but we were advised to use the water filling stations sprinkled throughout the ship for drinking and filling our Xpedition water bottles.

 

 

Room service was available for free.  We never made use of it because it was so convenient to eat at the restaurant.  Here is the room service menu (the menu is blue and on the left side of the photo below).

 

 

The binoculars supplied were Tasco branded.  Apparently you can buy them at Guest Relations for $45. They were ok.  We actually brought my favorite pair from home.

 

 

Sliced fruit was always waiting for us in our cabin:

 

 

My wife uses a CPAP so our travel agent made the customary request for DI water and an extension cord.  Both were waiting in our cabin when we arrived.

 

 

There were power outlets by the desk which were intended for passenger use.  There was an additional Euro style plug near the floor just outside the bathroom which I presume was used for plugging in the vacuum.  A power strip was provided to give you more outlets although apparently they are not of the right design for ship use because it has surge protection.  This style was likely provided in all the cabins.

 

 

There were a couple of wall mounted brass hooks on the wall by the main door.  We brought additional magnetic hooks with us which stick firmly to the walls.

 

 

The climate control in our cabin was excellent at all times.

 

 

A re-usable cloth laundry bag was supplied in the cabin.

 

 

Because we had a suite, we were allowed 2 free bags of laundry which we did use.  Both time we got our laundry back on the next day.

 

 

The refrigerator was stocked with complimentary beverages.  We were so busy during the cruise that we didn't drink a drop!

 

 

Although it is hard to find the documentation, Xpedition Suites are worth 12 Club Points per night in the Captains Club loyalty program which is higher than a Sky Suite on a normal Celebrity ship (8 points/night).  Since we were on a Celebrity cruise tour (2 nights pre-cruise + 7 night cruise + 2 nights post-cruise), we were awarded 12 Club Points for 11 nights.

[mahdnc]

 

Although we did not use it a lot, we booked the Xpedition Suite so we could have a balcony. 

 

 

I mainly got it as an anti-sea sickness measure.  However it is always nice to step out onto the balcony from time to time to take in the view and the fresh air.

 

 

I measured the balcony to be 14 feet long x 3 foot 10 inches deep which works out to be 53 square feet.  The balcony and cabin were fairly quiet.  No noises.

 

 

Above is an exterior view of the balconies including ours (XS 502).  One thing to note is that the balcony for XS 500 is much smaller than the other Xpedition Suites.  XS 500 did not originally exist when Celebrity put Xpedition into service in 2004.  It was retrofitted in during a drydock several years later along with other changes that were made to the ship (e.g. the conversion of some Deck 6 public space into cabins which included a Penthouse Suite and Royal Suite).

Edited December 10, 2023 by mahdnc

[cruisingsfun]

Thank you so much for this great review. Makes me ant to go! However, I’d like to know a little bit more about the ages of passengers and their fitness levels. My husband and I are in our late 70’s and do well for our age, but not sure I’d be able to do all the snorkeling and hiking. Any advice? Thanks again for your inspiration.

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, cruisingsfun said:

Thank you so much for this great review. Makes me ant to go! However, I’d like to know a little bit more about the ages of passengers and their fitness levels. My husband and I are in our late 70’s and do well for our age, but not sure I’d be able to do all the snorkeling and hiking. Any advice? Thanks again for your inspiration.

 

My wife and I are in our early 60's and I was concerned about this trip since I did zero conditioning to get ready--so I have several observations and opinions for you--all of them positive.  Keep in mind that my observations about the difficulty of the activities is based on what I saw for our particular Southern Loop itinerary (the Northern Loop done by Xpedition could be different--same thing with Flora's itineraries).

 

Demographically, most of the passengers were retired.  There were quite a few people in their 70's but "didn't look it" which is how it appears you have described yourself.  There was also one passenger who had wheel chair assistance at the Galapagos airport although I did not see her in a wheel chair during the sailing.  On the other end of the fitness spectrum we had a woman who was a marathoner and looked every bit of it.  And on the other end of the age spectrum there were also 3 kids on board (one was a toddler).

 

All the hikes on our trip were relatively short and I thought pretty easy--1 mile max with minimal elevation gain.  Some of the trails were a little rocky but if you exercised care, you got through it ok. All the trails were described conservatively in the Xpedition Director's evening description of the following day's activities.  The pace of every hike was extremely slow because we were stopping frequently to listen to the naturalist give a talk:

 

 

Or we were stopping because a sea lion would rudely cross the trail in the middle of our group:

 

 

Even an iguana could also stop us dead in our tracks by just sitting on the trail:

 

 

There were several beach hikes.  All of them were easy.  You felt like you were in Florida (minus the sea lions):

 

 

Each hike always had either a shorter hike option such as our day at South Plaza Island:

 

 

Another example is the short hike option offered at Floreana Island for the afternoon activity:

 

 

OR in some cases Celebrity offered a zodiac ride as an alternative to hiking as they did during our time at Santa Fe Island.  By the way, there is a lot to see from a zodiac ride:

 

 

The trip to see the Charles Darwin Research Center (tortoises) involved a long walk from the formal entrance (see photo below).  Our Xpedition Director mentioned that Celebrity worked out a special arrangement with the Research Center which allowed them to drive in any passengers who had mobility problems.  This assistance was mentioned verbally and was not on the presentation slide.

 

 

As far as snorkeling was concerned, the ones done from the beach meant that you were self pacing.  They were not (or rarely) guided but there was always a crew member in a zodiac watching you and would pick you up if you wanted it:

 

 

On the other hand snorkeling from the zodiac (aka deep water snorkeling) was more strenuous and may be something that you will want to avoid. 

 

Keep in mind that wearing the wet suit and the optional flotation vest (both supplied by Celebrity) meant that you were very buoyant which meant you spent less energy keeping afloat.  

 

During the full day guided tour of Quito which involves some walking under the hot sun and riding a tour bus, an option was given to passengers who wanted to terminate their tour after lunch.  For those people transportation was standing by to take you back to the hotel.  We didn't do it, but I will admit to you that it was awful tempting!

 

In summary, it was obvious that Celebrity designed each day's activities with different options in mind to satisfy a wide range of physical conditions. Nobody got cheated (except maybe the people who were in awesome shape looking to hike or run multiple miles each day).  When I thought about it, it made a lot of sense to me:  Celebrity's primary customer demographic that could do an expensive trip like this were going to be older people who had the time and the money.  So Celebrity designed a product which takes good care of us older people while also taking our money.

 

If you have any more questions, let me know.

[prmssk]

3 hours ago, cruisingsfun said:

Thank you so much for this great review. Makes me ant to go! However, I’d like to know a little bit more about the ages of passengers and their fitness levels. My husband and I are in our late 70’s and do well for our age, but not sure I’d be able to do all the snorkeling and hiking. Any advice? Thanks again for your inspiration.

I second all that @mahdnc stated in post 230.  It is all applicable to the Northern Loop as well (and so should be pretty applicable to the Inner and Outer Loops the Flora does as they cover generally the same ports).  I was really impressed with how much information (including photos) was provided at the briefings so you knew exactly how difficult an activity would be before you decided what you wanted to do.  We had one walk that was labeled a fitness walk that was faster paced but a zodiac ride was offered at the same time which was probably our best zodiac ride since we saw so much wildlife.  The rest of the walks were pretty slow paced and not all that long.

 

FYI - The Xpedition does not have an elevator so you do need to be able to climb stairs.  (Flora does have an elevator and it looks like has made getting in and out of the zodiacs even easier.  See @Ken the cruiser Live thread for more information from him.)

[cruisingsfun]

Thanks so much for the information in posts 230 and231. Very helpful. I’ll be looking into Galapagos cruises.

[mahdnc]

18 hours ago, cruisingsfun said:

Thanks so much for the information in posts 230 and231. Very helpful. I’ll be looking into Galapagos cruises.

 

You are welcome.  When you click on the Cruise Planner for your Galapagos sailing, you get this response:

 

 

 

Celebrity is basically saying: "Relax!  We got this!!"  And that is so true, they really do.  

 

There was a nice couple on board where the husband came down with a virus in the middle of the cruise. The medical department confined him to his cabin  for a day or two.  Fortunately for them, they were staying in an Xpedition Suite which has a balcony..... 

 

BTW, Xpedition has two medical doctors on board which is impressive--they are staffed to give you a second opinion!  Anyway I digress. 

 

.....the couple told us that without asking for it, Celebrity issued them a credit for one day of the cruise (or maybe it was two days, I can't remember) and it was for both of them even though only one was sick.  Given the cost of this cruise, I was impressed.   So, see, Celebrity really does a good job of watching out for you.

Edited December 12, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Some other notes:

 

Xpedition is not in the Celebrity app, so it is of no use when you are onboard. 
 

There is no formal embarkation check in that I can remember. If we did it, it was likely at the JW Marriott. Wherever we did it, it was effortless and easy. 
 

Our cabin key card had a blue footed booby on it. 

 

Your passport gets stamped by Ecuador when you enter and when you leave the country at the airport.  There is also an additional immigration-like process that you have to go through when you land in Baltra. Your passport receives a Galapagos National Park stamp for your trouble. 

 

My wife and I each brought one checked bag, one carryon bag (that went into the overhead compartment), and a backpack that stowed under the airplane seat in front of us.  My backpack contained all my precious camera gear and it was pretty heavy.

 

When going to the Galapagos, Celebrity limits you to one checked bag at 44 lb (20 kg) and one carryon bag at 22 lb (10 kg).  Our bags were not weighed when we flew to the Galapagos (that I could see).  However when we checked in at the Galapagos airport to fly back to UIO, our checked bags were weighed by the agent at the ticket counter.
 

My wife, I mean “we” accidentally locked us out of our cabin safe. 15 minutes later, Guest Relations opened it with their master key. 

 

Flamingos, Flying, Floreana

Edited December 12, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Forgive my perfectionist ways, here is a better comparison to the statues:

 

 

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

Your cruise fare includes WiFi. Xpedition is outfitted with Starlink which is famous for bringing broadband to the globe via a network of low earth orbit satellites.  This is the first cruise that we have experienced Starlink. 
 

Because all passengers received free WiFi, access was easy as it wasn’t overly controlled. You didn’t have to create an account like you do on other Celebrity ships.  Between my wife and I, we had five devices connected (laptops, iPads, and iPhones).
 

WiFi speeds were quick enough to get all things I needed to do on the Internet complete without issues. 
Here are speed test result’s performed at 3 different times:

 

Nov 20 late evening:

 

Nov 24 late morning:

Nov 24 early evening

 

[mahdnc]

I never posted presentations made for our first shorex, North Seymour Island.  I found them in my other iPhone, so here they are.

 

This trip was done within hours of embarking on the ship for the first time. As such, I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot. I was wrong. Looking back on it, I think this was my favorite island of all the ones visited.  There was so much wildlife, it was astounding.  And the sun was setting which made for magnificent lighting for the visitor and camera to see. As we rode back to Xpedition in our zodiacs, the sun was dropping below the horizon giving the evening sky awesome orange colors with two little islands silhouetted against it. Your thoughts were “this is the first day (and a half day at that)? What will the rest of the trip be like?”  I was stoked and could not wait for the next day!

 

@cruisingsfun, note again that there were two choices for North Seymour Island--a hike or a zodiac ride--which handles a wide variety of passenger physical capabilities.  Although we did the hike, there is no doubt in my mind that the zodiac ride would have been awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by mahdnc

[prmssk]

37 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

there were two choices for North Seymour Island--a hike or a zodiac ride--which handles a wide variety of passenger physical capabilities.  Although we did the hike, there is no doubt in my mind that the zodiac ride would have been awesome.

It looks like they didn't give you the option of the long walk.  So I assume you mostly stayed along the beach?  Did you get to see any nests of blue-footed boobies or frigatebirds?  Maybe I need to go back and look at your earlier post from that day.

 

This was our substitution port for one of the Genovesa Island stops.  We took the long walk which takes you away from the beach (and finishes up along the beach) and the best wildlife sightings were on that part of the path away from the beach.

[mahdnc]

10 minutes ago, prmssk said:

It looks like they didn't give you the option of the long walk.  So I assume you mostly stayed along the beach?  Did you get to see any nests of blue-footed boobies or frigatebirds?  Maybe I need to go back and look at your earlier post from that day.

 

This was our substitution port for one of the Genovesa Island stops.  We took the long walk which takes you away from the beach (and finishes up along the beach) and the best wildlife sightings were on that part of the path away from the beach.

 

We hiked along the beach and went inland a bit.  Can't compare it with what you did, but I would not be surprised if it was shorter than what you did because we started do late in the day.

 

Although we saw many blue-footed boobies and frigate birds (how could you not see them), we did not come upon any nests.  So we missed out on seeing eggs and chicks.  I am glad that you got to see them since I am sure you were disappointed with missing out on a Genovesa stop.

Edited December 13, 2023 by mahdnc

[Beachlover1989]

On 12/11/2023 at 8:08 PM, mahdnc said:

Forgive my perfectionist ways, here is a better comparison to the statues:

 

 

These are amazing and gorgeous and well worth the price tag!  Do you remember the shop where you got them?

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

We hiked along the beach and went inland a bit.  Can't compare it with what you did, but I would not be surprised if it was shorter than what you did because we started do late in the day.

 

Although we saw many blue-footed boobies and frigate birds (how could you not see them), we did not come upon any nests.  So we missed out on seeing eggs and chicks.  I am glad that you got to see them since I am sure you were disappointed with missing out on a Genovesa stop.

I did go back and look at your post from that day.  You had the benefit of golden hour and a beautiful sunset.  We were there in the morning (too late for morning golden hour obviously).

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Beachlover1989 said:

These are amazing and gorgeous and well worth the price tag!  Do you remember the shop where you got them?

 

Yes, their business card is visible in this photo.  Here is the gallery's web page devoted to the artist, Jorge Espana: link.  They are located at Puerto Ayora.

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

49 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I did go back and look at your post from that day.  You had the benefit of golden hour and a beautiful sunset.  We were there in the morning (too late for morning golden hour obviously).

 

I guess there was a tradeoff between our two visits.

[Beachlover1989]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, their business card is visible in this photo.  Here is the gallery's web page devoted to the artist, Jorge Espana: link.  They are located at Puerto Ayora.

 

Thank you so much!  I'm sorry I missed that in your original post!  Hoping when we're there in September there are similarly wonderful pieces of art!!

[mahdnc]

 

One big planning question that some will consider is whether to buy one of the Celebrity cruise tour packages or whether to book the 7 night cruise only.  When I went on line to do a mock booking for a Nov 29 2025 Xpedition cruise, here are the choices (not including Machu Picchu): 

 

 

So you can save $4,000 by foregoing the cheapest cruise tour package and buying just the cruise and then paying for your own arrangements.  Here are my observations:

 

1. Most people buy the cruise tour.  I have data from 2 cruises.  There were 15 passengers out of 47 on our Xpedition sailing that went the cruise only route.  That is 32%.  @Ken the cruiser reported that out of 98 guests booked on the Dec 10 2023 Flora sailing, 86 booked the cruise tour.  If we assume that no one booked a B2B, we can assume that 12 passengers went the cruise only route (12%).

 

2. I had a chance to talk to 6 passengers on our Xpedition sailing who booked cruise only.  They reported that it was very easy for them to make their own arrangements including flying to the Galapagos airport and back.  One group of 4 spent some pre-cruise time at Santa Cruz Island which allows you to extend your time at the Galapagos beyond the cruise.

 

3. Although the package is expensive, the cruise tour is well done (my observation).  The quality of the tour is first class.  The chartered flight from UIO to GPS and back is lightly loaded and is probably the where the majority of Celebrity's expense comes from.  Everyone is assigned either a aisle or window seat.  Many rows of seats were unoccupied.  The food quality was better than standard airplane food and it was served on real plates. The flight is nonstop while most of the commercial flights have one stop at GYE in each direction.  The ground transportation to and from UIO is excellent.  My wife and I had what amounted to private car transportation from UIO to the JW Marriott when we arrived from Chicago.  The same was true in reverse.  The tour of Quito is done very well.  Everything is taken care of, every detail was addressed.  At no point did I feel that I was not get my money's worth.

 

So to me the bottom line is: if you want to save money and just buy the cruise from Celebrity, you should not be afraid to do it.   You need to be the type of person that is comfortable with making independent arrangements for air and hotel (which is how we do our cruises normally).

 

If you don't want the hassle of making your independent arrangements and the planning/coordinating that goes with it, by all means purchase one of the cruise tours.  You won't be sorry nor will you feel that you overpaid based on the service and accommodations that you will receive.  When you are off the ship but in Celebrity's hands you will never feel lost or confused as there is always a Celebrity rep with you--even on the Galapagos flights.

 

   

 

Just so you know where the numbers came from in the above table and the discounts used in the fare calculation, here is the breakdown for the 10 night cruise tour in an Xpedition Suite for the Nov 29 2025 Southern Loop sailing:

 

"Special Offer" = $500 discount per passenger for not getting their air through Celebrity.

"Post Cruise Offer" = $750 discount per passenger for Captains Club Elite members

"Special Offers"  = 20% discount per passenger (20% calculated after other discounts are subtracted)

 

 

[mahdnc]

 

I did not know it at the time, but I was looking straight at North Seymour Island from my window seat as our chartered flight was making its approach to the Galapagos airport (GPS) on Nov 18.

 

Judging from the presentation that Cristina would later give us, Xpedition would take us to a landing spot located to the right of the long crescent shaped sandy beach near the bottom of the photo.  The island looks inhospitable from the air.

Edited December 14, 2023 by mahdnc

[mchell810]

Thanks for the analysis of adding the pre/post stays.  It is very helpful.  Galapagos has always been way down on my list of places to visit (just bc the world is huge and wonderful); reading about your experiences has definitely moved Galapagos closer to the top of the "must visit" list.  You've put a lot of work into this -- it is much appreciated.

 

Looking forward to your next cruise 😀

Edited December 14, 2023 by mchell810

[mahdnc]

24 minutes ago, mchell810 said:

Thanks for the analysis of adding the pre/post stays.  It is very helpful.  Galapagos has always been way down on my list of places to visit (just bc the world is huge and wonderful); reading about your experiences has definitely moved Galapagos closer to the top of the "must visit" list.  You've put a lot of work into this -- it is much appreciated.

 

Looking forward to your next cruise 😀

 

Because of the expense involved + the fact that it is not a leisure cruise, I cannot recommend this trip for everybody

 

 

[prmssk]

Just to add my two cents about the package.  We did the 10 day package and it was absolutely the right decision for us.  It meant we could focus 100% of our energy in taking in all the trip had to offer without any worries.  And Celebrity was there every single step of the way from the moment we got through customs upon arrival in Quito until the moment we had to go through security to leave Quito.  

 

And in the months leading up to the trip, I could focus on what gear I needed which was a lot more fun than figuring out all the little details that go with planning a trip on your own.

 

For our trip (the week before @mahdnc's), the entire Xploration passengers were all traveling together and had booked the package.  They had their own tour group (with a French speaking guide as they were all French Canadian).  I never got an official count of those with a package for the Xpedition but there were three tour groups and none were smaller than 10.  

 

We had 40 passengers on the ship but I believe 4 of them had connections to the Galapagos National Park (2 rangers and a mother/son pair that I never got a chance to talk to).  I remember two people having their own flight plans to Baltra fall through and so they paid to join us on the charter flight.  They might have been the only ones (aside from those four I mentioned earlier) who didn't book the package.