Can anyone give advice on Galapagos Islands?

[MudderBear]

Just starting to do research, and the biggest ships are Celebrity and Silvestea.  Would prefer Celebrity.  Has anyone done a tour to Galapagos?  If so, do you recommend inner or outer and which month?

 

Also, it looks as though gratuities aren't included.

 

Once I figure out if I want to do this, is it better to book online or through an agency?  

 

As I just started my research, I would appreciate any guidance.

 

One last thing.  How is the flight from Ecquador over to Baltra?  I don't like small planes and Celebrity doesn't mention which airline they use (if I do their land portion first).

 

Thank you all.

[cruizingOmi]

 We did 11 nts Quito and Southerrn Loop on the  Expedition, in January, 

 smaller ship 48people total. We booked the package and everything  was included.

The plane from Quito is a normal sz plane , not a tiny one.

We booked with Celebrity, they have a Special Galapagos Desk.

 

 

[kathynorth]

While on a cruise we booked our Galapagos trip via the future cruise desk and picked up a large OBC that we used while on that cruise. We were told to call Celebrity to have our price adjusted to receive the 5% elite discount which was applied no problem. Once we received that updated invoice we transferred the reservation to a big box store and we received a sizable store, specific cash card when we return from the trip. I know this seems like quite a few steps, but it saved us several thousand dollars. Also be alert to the frequent celebrity airfare promotion that can save additional money if you book your airfare through Celebrity. 

[prmssk]

You can't go wrong on the itinerary choice or the month.  There are amazing things to see on each loop in any month of the year. 

 

We did the northern loop which is very similar to the inner loop.  My live thread is in my signature if you want to see all the details.  This loop includes Bartolome Island which is a climb to one of the most iconic views in the Galapagos.  

 

 

It also usually includes a stop at North Seymour Island or Genovesa which are both great spots for people who love birds.  Genovesa Island was closed due to the bird flu on our trip but our stop at North Seymour Island gave us a chance to see up close mating and breeding Frigatebirds and Blue Footed Boobies which was amazing.  I think the fur seal is usually only found on this loop.

 

 

 

The outer and southern loops are the only chance to see the Waved Albatross.  I understand the beeches are softer sand on this loop.  This loop usually stops at the post office which I understand is a unique experience to leave a post card and pick some up to hand deliver.  Our naturalist said that this loop can get a bit more rain although that is pretty unpredictable.  

 

Both loops get you up close to the giant tortoises and to the tortoise breeding center.  And you will see more Blue Footed Boobies and sea lions than you can count on either loop.

 

We booked the 10 day land/cruise tour.  The plane between Quito and Baltra is a standard sized plane charted through Avianca.  Celebrity really has the details of this land/cruise tour so thought out that it was a completely seamless experience and well worth it, in my opinion.  

 

We booked direct through the Celebrity website and called the Galapagos desk with any questions.  It worked well for us but if you have a good travel agent you work with, you might want to book through them.

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Just starting to do research, and the biggest ships are Celebrity and Silvestea.  Would prefer Celebrity.  Has anyone done a tour to Galapagos?  If so, do you recommend inner or outer and which month?

 

Also, it looks as though gratuities aren't included.

 

Once I figure out if I want to do this, is it better to book online or through an agency?  

 

As I just started my research, I would appreciate any guidance.

 

One last thing.  How is the flight from Ecquador over to Baltra?  I don't like small planes and Celebrity doesn't mention which airline they use (if I do their land portion first).

 

Thank you all.

 

We completed a Galapagos cruise on Xpedition in late November (Southern Loop).  Gratuities are included in the cruise fare and/or tour package although some passengers will give extra at the end of a cruise.

 

We booked it through our travel agent whom we have been using for all of our cruises.  Their commission can run 18-20% so it was a nice reward for all the service that we have received in the past.   On the other hand, some agents are known to return some of their commission back to the customer.  Most of the time it comes back in the form of shipboard credit which is not as useful for the Galapagos since almost everything is already covered when you are on board.  However one well known big box retailer that has a travel agency business is known to give back something like 8% (or so) back to the customer in the form of a gift card which can be big bucks.  Those are some considerations.  My general advice here is if you use an agent normally, then book with your agent and if you book directly with Celebrity go ahead and do that.  

 

 

Your big decisions will be:

1. cruise tour package or cruise only?

2. which ship?

3. which itinerary?

 

You can save quite a lot of money if you go with "cruise only" but you to put together the air and land arrangements yourself.  We had quite a few passengers on our Xpedition sailing who chose the "cruise only" option.  We were willing to pay for the convenience of a cruise tour package.  It is expensive but Celebrity does an excellent job with the "off-the-ship" part of the trip--you will not feel short changed.

 

 

Celebrity charters a full size Airbus passenger jet through Avianca for the UIO-GPS flight and back. The flight is only for Celebrity passengers--no one gets a middle seat and a nice lunch is served with real plates and metal cutlery.

 

 

Here are the current advertised Galapagos promotions which are combinable with each other:

1. Galapagos Flights on Us

2. Galapagos Loyalty Savings

3. Galapagos 20% Savings Offer

 

 

Here is some more information about the Galapagos that Celebrity has published that may help you make a decision:

1. hefty 68 page Galapagos brochure

2. 13 page brochure that gives more detail about the shore excursions.  Written for Flora, the excursions will be very similar for Xpedition and Xploration.

3. Galapagos FAQs

4. Xpedition Itineraries

 

Edited June 2 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Some relatively recent threads which you might find useful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2 by mahdnc

[Ken the cruiser]

We’ve been twice to the Galapagos, once on the Xpedition back in 2015 on its Southern Loop itinerary, and then again this past December on the Flora on the Inner Loop. We were wowed by both itineraries. Now, as far as ships go, the Flora is simply awesome whereas the Xpedition is a much older ship, but with of course much more reasonable fares. For more details on our experience on the Flora, check out my Live From thread in my signature area.
 

When checking out the various cabin categories on the Flora, I highly recommend checking out their cheapest category, a Sky Suite with an external balcony. You won’t be disappointed. However, if you chose one of their Infinite Balcony cabin categories, remember there are flying insects in the Galapagos at certain stops and can be quite annoying if you leave the IV window open while anchored and they decide to take up residence in your cabin. Just something to consider. 😁

[Rewind]

4 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Just starting to do research, and the biggest ships are Celebrity and Silvestea.  Would prefer Celebrity.  Has anyone done a tour to Galapagos?  If so, do you recommend inner or outer and which month?

 

Also, it looks as though gratuities aren't included.

 

Once I figure out if I want to do this, is it better to book online or through an agency?  

 

As I just started my research, I would appreciate any guidance.

 

One last thing.  How is the flight from Ecquador over to Baltra?  I don't like small planes and Celebrity doesn't mention which airline they use (if I do their land portion first).

 

Thank you all.

 

We are 90 days from leaving on Celebrity Flora for an Inner Loop itinerary, still a few more things to plan.

 

I was going to say the same thing about Avianca - if you do try to book independent, there will be a layover that you don't get on the charter.  Also I saw a YouTube video that stayed the Avianca online prices are for locals and not tourists (but this is not mentioned on the site) and the tourists had to pay an extra $100 each.  I will find that video and post it later.

 

If you decide to book, skip the 7 night cruise and book the 10 night package.  Between flights, transfers, hotel, tour, etc - the 10 night all included ends up being cheaper (at least it did for us) once you factor everything you would need to pay for separately. 

 

We had a balcony but a guarantee rate became available just before final payment so we switched (over $2k in savings).  We ended up in an IV - we will miss our own balcony, but we will just keep our window shut and go up one deck if we want to be outside.

[mahdnc]

14 minutes ago, Rewind said:

 

We are 90 days from leaving on Celebrity Flora for an Inner Loop itinerary, still a few more things to plan.

 

I was going to say the same thing about Avianca - if you do try to book independent, there will be a layover that you don't get on the charter.  Also I saw a YouTube video that stayed the Avianca online prices are for locals and not tourists (but this is not mentioned on the site) and the tourists had to pay an extra $100 each.  I will find that video and post it later.

 

If you decide to book, skip the 7 night cruise and book the 10 night package.  Between flights, transfers, hotel, tour, etc - the 10 night all included ends up being cheaper (at least it did for us) once you factor everything you would need to pay for separately. 

 

We had a balcony but a guarantee rate became available just before final payment so we switched (over $2k in savings).  We ended up in an IV - we will miss our own balcony, but we will just keep our window shut and go up one deck if we want to be outside.

 

I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy your Flora trip!

 

@waterbug123 reported that they were able to independently book a commercial nonstop flight from UIO to GPS (see the bottom of this post).  This was the first time that I have read that.  She also reported that it is possible for "cruise only" passengers to book a seat on the charter as long as they purchase their international flights through Flights by Celebrity.

Edited June 2 by mahdnc

[cruisetonowhere10]

12 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Just starting to do research, and the biggest ships are Celebrity and Silvestea.  Would prefer Celebrity.  Has anyone done a tour to Galapagos?  If so, do you recommend inner or outer and which month?

 

Also, it looks as though gratuities aren't included.

 

Once I figure out if I want to do this, is it better to book online or through an agency?  

 

As I just started my research, I would appreciate any guidance.

 

One last thing.  How is the flight from Ecquador over to Baltra?  I don't like small planes and Celebrity doesn't mention which airline they use (if I do their land portion first).

 

Thank you all.

After doing a bunch of research, we decided on the Southern Loop on Xpedition. Flora looks amazing as a ship but we wanted a smaller passenger experience (that being said we felt Xploration might be better suited to having a group of 16 versus being 2/16 passengers.) 

[MudderBear]

Thank you all for such wonderful advice.  I will stop and look at all of the links later on.  I am truly grateful for all of the thoughts that you all shared.  Hopefully, I'll get this off the booked.  Thank you so much!!!!!

[waterbug123]

10 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy your Flora trip!

 

@waterbug123 reported that they were able to independently book a commercial nonstop flight from UIO to GPS (see the bottom of this post).  This was the first time that I have read that.  She also reported that it is possible for "cruise only" passengers to book a seat on the charter as long as they purchase their international flights through Flights by Celebrity.

Just to be clear, the commercial flight we booked was direct but not nonstop UIO-GPS.  It did stop in Guayaquil but GPS pax remained on the plane. (Same on the return)

[mahdnc]

11 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

Just to be clear, the commercial flight we booked was direct but not nonstop UIO-GPS.  It did stop in Guayaquil but GPS pax remained on the plane. (Same on the return)

Thank you for the correction. I obviously misunderstood your statement in your post. 

[waterbug123]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

Thank you for the correction. I obviously misunderstood your statement in your post. 

No worries; I don't remember exactly what I wrote in that post so my apologies if i wasn't clear  (or if I accidentally said nonstop without thinking)

[mahdnc]

16 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

No worries; I don't remember exactly what I wrote in that post so my apologies if i wasn't clear  (or if I accidentally said nonstop without thinking)

You never used the term “nonstop”. I think you said something like “without a layover” which I mistakenly took to mean the same thing. It’s the same mistake that people make when they think a direct flight is nonstop. All nonstop flights are indeed direct. But not all direct flights are nonstop. 
 

Again thank you for the earlier correction. And thank you again for posting your informative trip report. 
 

David

[Rewind]

21 hours ago, Rewind said:

 

We are 90 days from leaving on Celebrity Flora for an Inner Loop itinerary, still a few more things to plan.

 

I was going to say the same thing about Avianca - if you do try to book independent, there will be a layover that you don't get on the charter.  Also I saw a YouTube video that stayed the Avianca online prices are for locals and not tourists (but this is not mentioned on the site) and the tourists had to pay an extra $100 each.  I will find that video and post it later.

 

If you decide to book, skip the 7 night cruise and book the 10 night package.  Between flights, transfers, hotel, tour, etc - the 10 night all included ends up being cheaper (at least it did for us) once you factor everything you would need to pay for separately. 

 

We had a balcony but a guarantee rate became available just before final payment so we switched (over $2k in savings).  We ended up in an IV - we will miss our own balcony, but we will just keep our window shut and go up one deck if we want to be outside.

Here is the video where the young lady says they booked the wrong flight ticket through Avianca:

 

[sonnycruises]

We just returned from an 11 night Inner Loop on Flora and of our 30 cruises it was by far the best. We were told by an Ecuadorian that May was the best month to go. It was absolutely seamless with a happy competent and helpful crew including the captain. The pre and post cruise experiences in Quito were top notch. I would highly recommend this cruise.

 

[dani negreanu]

I went in May 2012 when Xpedition had 96 pax. The 10 days deal.

 

Top notch experience, even if, sometimes, it felt like "summer camp" for adults 😎

 

If you're travelling like me, to get closer to birds and animals, a North Seymour stop is a must.