Galapagos: Flora, Xpedition or Xploration - which one

[Wayfairers]

Starting to seriously research the Galapagos.  Been wanting to go for years and thinking it is finally going to happen within the next year.  I rarely care which ship I am on, but, I see there are three ships with Celebrity - 100 passenger Flora, 48 passenger Xpedition and 16 passenger Xploration.  I am curious which ship you chose and why?  Did you like the ship?  Also, was there a gym onboard and did you have time during the day to use it?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Wayfairers said:

Starting to seriously research the Galapagos.  Been wanting to go for years and thinking it is finally going to happen within the next year.  I rarely care which ship I am on, but, I see there are three ships with Celebrity - 100 passenger Flora, 48 passenger Xpedition and 16 passenger Xploration.  I am curious which ship you chose and why?  Did you like the ship?  Also, was there a gym onboard and did you have time during the day to use it?

We were on the Xpedition back in 2015 on the Southern Loop itinerary and had a great time, as everything was new to us, plus we were able to upgrade from an OV cabin to the RS for an additional $650 total, which was a once in a lifetime deal! 😁
 

We just went back to the Galapagos in Dec 2023, but on the Flora this time and were totally wowed by the ship as well as the Inner Loop itinerary (see Live From thread in my expanded signature).

 

However, I will say when we booked the Flora cruise back in Dec 2021, the price was about the same for either an Xpedition Suite or a Sky Suite with Veranda on the Flora on similar Dec 2023 itineraries. 

[cruizingOmi]

We were on Expedition in Jan,2022, I had booked this in Feb. 2020, we chose Expedition for Price at the time. Due to Covid still being a factor, there were only 34 ppl onboard. We quickly bonded with 3 other couples, less people onboard means quicker loading and unloading of Zodiacs,therefor getting to the landing spots quicker.

There was at that time not really any entertainment onboard.Don't know about that now.  

[catspaw1]

We are booked next June on the Xploration. We were live aboard blue water sailors for 7 years on a 44 foot sailboat so are used to a smaller ship  & wanted less passengers. It makes it faster with less people to go on/off the ship. The Xploration was 8G cheaper than the Flora so we can book a few more cruises with the fare difference. We also booked cruise only as we have tons of sapphire reserve points for the plane tickets & are marriott lifetime Titanium so lots of points to stay at the Marriott. We are very experienced independent travelers so we don't need the airport Hand holding that comes with the 10 day package. We do speak Spanish but aren't fluent, so that will help. We chose the southern itinerary as my husband wanted to see the winged albatross on Espanola. Hope this helps!

[mahasamatman]

We were on the Xpedition (back-to-back Northern and Southern loops) and would book it again. The ship was built for 100 passengers, but they can legally only take 48 now so there's a lot of space and the Zodiac handling is much smoother than on Flora. The guides also said they preferred Xpedition over Flora because they are actively discouraged from socializing with the passengers on Flora. Xploration just seems too small to me.

 

8 hours ago, cruizingOmi said:

There was at that time not really any entertainment onboard.Don't know about that now.  

 

Xpedition had one musician in December 2023 and there was actually enough space for dancing.

[catspaw1]

The Xpedition was I think around 3-4G more than the Xploration we booked. For us this cruise is more about the ports & activities than the ship. From what I have read, many people are exhausted at night from all the daytime activity so we don't need the glitz & glamor.  Sure the Xploration is not as glamorous as the Flora or Xpedition but we will use the money saved to fly to Baltra early before the cruise starts & see more of Ecuador by going up to Mindo & Quito for a few nights each. That's just IMHO.

[prmssk]

We chose the Xpedition because having been built for 100 but only holding 48, we figured it would give us space.  Additionally, this trip is more about the ports, so spending more money for Flora just didn't seem to make sense to us.  We were a bit intimidated by a ship so small it had only 16 total passengers.  I would book the Xpedition again.  See my signature if you want to read my live thread from last November.

 

That said, you really can't go wrong.  All three ships have amazing excursion programs that are roughly the same, with great naturalists.  With any of the three ships, you will have the trip of a lifetime.

[mahdnc]

My wife and I were on Xpedition over Thanksgiving and we had an awesome time. 

 

We originally had booked the sailing on Xploration because it was the cheapest.  

 

However we opted for Xpedition because I am prone to seasickness and figure the larger ship would be a bit better and our cabin had balcony.  The fact that Xpedition is only licensed to carry half the passengers she is actually built to carry is an enormous plus. That meant lots more space for everyone in the public areas.

 

We simply did not want to pay extra for Flora although she is a beautiful ship.  The one functional advantage that Flora has is that her zodiacs are designed to be much easier to get into and out of.

 

 

[Wayfairers]

Thanks everyone - great information.   I feel more informed now and will continue reviewing all the options.