catspaw1

Why can't you use your own soap? I think I have woolite pkgs also. With expensive traveling clothes we have, you can't use cheap soap. I enjoy doing laundry but hate folding clothes! Our MBR is on the first floor steps away from the laundry room- so convenient!

But they have a DIY laundry room right? Is there a charge & do we need soap? I usually bring packaged soap - packaged like eye cleaner removal. Think it's tide & it works well. I don't use commercial machines to dry clothes so do the walls hold magnetic hooks like Celebrity?

Columbia & REI has convertible pants. I've had them for years & love them

We are considering a NZ cruise for next year. Is there anywhere to see the prices of excursions before we book?

I just checked the Elizabeth RI- $25 plus tax probably- for parking. Hotel was more expensive also- around $50 plus taxes. Woodbridge only 15 minutes further away. Since I'm coming from the south, Woodbridge is first. I'll keep staying at the RI in Woodbridge as its just one night pre cruise so we don't have to drive up from DC the day of the cruise. That's what we normally do.

The RI Woodbridge is only a few miles off the Tpke so I really haven't hit much traffic. We stop at wegmans in Mt. Laurel on the way up to get dinner so we don't leave the hotel once we are there. No traffic leaving early am. I come home to NY via NJ every other month. Lived over half century in metro NY area. I'm happy with Woodbridge & don't have to pay the higher hotel prices that were in Elizabeth.

My husband is lifetime marriott Titanium also & we stay at a lot of Marriotts. We stay so many nights we routinely get suite award upgrades. The RI in Woodbridge is fine - have stayed there before with many cruises. Our first cruise was in the 1980s. Elizabeth Marriotts charge for parking but Woodbridge doesn't. Woodbridge 30 minutes from cruise port. I am coming to NY again tomorrow. I still have family there so come up frequently.

The Xploration only holds 16 passengers, the Xpedition & Flora hold close to 50. Flora is all suites & much larger rooms. Flora has an elevator, not sure about the Xpedition. We cruised on our 44 foot sailboat for 7 years so are used to small spaces. Flora was around 8G more expensive. We know we won't be spending much time in the cabin as we will do every excursion possible so wanted a smaller & cheaper cruise. The other 8G we didn't spend we used to return to AK next year!

Me too about getting older. I too have hiked in RMNP & lots of other NP. We are big hikers. Just came back from 10 days hiking in GSMNP. After memorial day, we are heading to SD, CO & WY for 17 nights & hitting more NP. But it can't hurt to get a scrip for Diamex. As we get older, the body doesn't react as well as when we were younger! Thanks so much for all your wonderful hints. Sounds like you had a great time. We are looking forward to it.

Thanks for posting. We are on the Xploration next year so we are following your posts. Any tips would be helpful. We are doing cruise only. Enjoy!

thanks Waterbury for your helpful comments. I'm so glad you included the other 6 people in. Not everyone would do that! I hope if there's a group on our trip, they would do the same as there is just the 2 of us. We are very familiar with altitude sickness but have never taken meds. I had to get extra 02 by the medic at the Cuzco Marriott. I have learned if I just take it slow, lots of water & no booze I am ok. But I don't take any meds & within a few days am ok. We have done extensive hiking at elevation also.

Airbase, celebrity already told me to be at the airport by noon. But confirm with the celebrity galapagos desk - they have a separate number so hold time usually just a few minutes

Yup I know. They kept saying they would call the cops & I said go ahead. What galled me is they wanted me to sign the invoice which would say I was liable. I refused. Don't worry I have been traveling enough to know my rights.

I like to print documents also. A few years ago near Rocky MT Park a hotel gave us a bill that was double than what I booked for. I refused to sign the invoice & had the printed documents to prove my reserved price. Wrote it up on TA also. They finally gave in & told us we had to wait for the mangers. I told them if he wasn't there after breakfast, we were leaving & they could call the cops if they wanted. They got it done. So I always print any travel documents- call me old but I don't care.

Yeah I can input the info manually but as we all know, manual inputs lead to errors. I would rather just select my arrival time when checkin opens to get our desired arrival time & input the rest of the info later. Is the checkin time midnight in the zone the ship departs from?

As a long term diver, I agree with Ken 100%.;

Thanks. I was thinking about taking a photo of our passports to bring with me while I'm away from home to check in.

Shiba, thanks for the excellent TR. Really enjoyed it! We are booked on the Xploration 2025.

We went to MP on our own a few years ago & stayed 2 days which we really needed. The altitude affected us a lot so had to take it slow. However, now they only allow all visitors into the site with a guide & only allow a half day visit. Don't drink any alcohol & drink plenty of bottled water only because of the altitude. Make sure the top of the water bottle has not been tampered with.

We are PADI advanced divers. I would strongly urge you to get a prescription mask & bring it along with your own personal snorkel. There is no way I would use anyone else's snorkel! Go to a dive shop about the mask. Sure you will pay more but having a well fitted mask that fits you is very important.

Then I definitely misunderstood. I'm familiar with the hotels on International Blvd & would not trust my car there. That's why we stay in Woodbridge the night before the cruise. You are right that all hotels near the port charge as I had previously looked into that on a prior cruise.

waterbug, thanks for the very helpful info. We used to live aboard our sailboat as blue water sailors, we always call "our Car' a dingy- I am just not used to calling it a panga. Thanks for the helpful suggestions about wet clothes & hanging them up. I have metal hooks for our Celebrity cruise in May but will just use our normal clothesline we use in hotels. Just used it in Great Smokey Mts these past 10 days as we have a lot of expensive quick dry clothes & socks (darn tough) I don't put in a dryer. We are experienced advanced PADI divers so are used to neoprene wetsuits & have our own but didn't want to lug them due to weight. We will bring our own snorkeling gear as we have dive booties that are easy to get on/off with our fins. We are avid birders also so want to stay in Mindo for a few days before the cruise. We are retired so have more time to take a leisurely visit. The telefrico is at a higher altitude than Quito so any mountain sickness by anyone? I know to acclimatize for a few days before going higher. Glad to hear the JW Marriott is good. My fear of a small ship is having a big group on board & us not being part of it, feeling left out. That was my hesitancy of booking a smaller ship. Thanks for the suggestion on PA- maybe we will just stay 2 nights but we thought another day would give us some R&R before the big cruise starts. what time would you suggest for booking the flight back to Quito? Glad to know there wasn't security issues in Quito. Thanks for taking the time to post & answer all the questions! So glad to hear you had a great time. We are looking forward to our cruise next June. But in the meantime, we're off to SD, CO & WY shortly for 17 nights & then headed on a Celebrity cruise in July before our Galapagos trip next year. Still trying to book travel for the fall! Thanks for your help!!!

Megr, there is free parking at the Marriotts in Woodbridge. We are staying there in July for our cruise & we have stayed there before. We have never been charged for parking. We than drive up from the hotel & park in the cruise terminal. FYI I am a native NYer - born & bred & very familiar with the NY metro area. I drive home frequently. IMHO there are neighborhoods in Newark I would not stay in. Woodbridge is half hour from the port without traffic - especially early on a weekend. Newark also has problems with car break-ins. Most hotels in Newark charge for parking that I have seen. Frankly I would not trust my car close to hotels near the airport.

Some things to consider is how long you can expect to wait for the shuttle & how many people does it hold? We are staying at a Marriott in Woodbridge NJ- 30 minutes south of the cruise port. We then pay to park in the garage at the port. The hotels in Woodbridge are substantially cheaper than the Newark area & have free parking.