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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).

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.

Hi. Thank you for the information. I figured HEIC format would be a problem. However if you look at both of my screenshots, you can see that I am having problems loading the JPEG file from my iPhone. However I can load the same JPEG file from my laptop successfully. It may be that the desktop version of Cruise Critic can handle larger files than the mobile version. Or maybe it is a limitation with the iPhone itself.

Thank you. Have a good night and a pleasant day tomorrow boarding Flora.

I was expecting to be bored and dreaded going there after lunch. But I was wrong. It was done quite well. Where was lunch?

Jules, Here are some posts I made on this subject. We have been on a Christmas + NYE cruise twice (including Infinity) and will be doing one again in a couple of weeks. The posts have links to Celebrity holiday brochures, photos of the ship decoration, MDR menus, and some copies of the Celebrity Today so you can see all the different activities that were planned. I hope you have an awesome holiday cruise! David

no picture of the shrunken heads?

12%. Thank you, Ken. I look forward to seeing your equatorial photos.

This is what I get when I click on the 3rd link in your post. Try a different web browser. You can see the URL:

No (for American citizens)

I would also advise that you join the roll call for your sailing. Here it is: These people will be on your cruise and will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Check out this roll call where the Vietnam e-visa was discussed.

We (American citizens) are going on the Singapore to Hong Kong 12 night cruise in less than 2 weeks. We successfully applied for our e-Visa using the 3rd link in the list at the bottom of your post. It took about 4 business days to get our e-Visa (download from the website). What failure did you experience?

Now THAT would be a problem, I would agree. I guess you will be rebooking your cancelled shorex? Hopefully it wasn't on sale back then for a price you can't get now.

For us, this increase with the cancellation window does not make Celebrity shore excursions less attractive. We usually book independently anyway but will get one through Celebrity on occasion.

Very nice. Enjoy your tour. If you think of it, ask your Quito guide how many Flora passengers are taking today’s tour. Assuming that your sailing is full (99 passengers), I’m curious as to how many passengers booked “cruise only”. During our Xpedition sailing, I estimate that 15 passengers out of 47 booked just the cruise (32%). I was surprised that the figure was that high.

I have only gone the one time and that was last month. My impression of the way the land tour was conducted (transfers, tour, meals, etc) was that Celebrity had this down to a science. It was as if they made an effort to tweak and continually improve the experience over the years to the point where it is now a well oiled machine with every detail addressed. The Celebrity logo was proudly displayed throughout the land tour--on the buses, the guide's lapel pins, the dinner menu at La Gloria, even the cups on the airplane. And the service was there to match. At no point during the land tour did I feel like I was handed over to a 3rd party contractor. Because we came in a day early and were the only ones to be picked up at UIO, I was surprised we got the full ground transportation treatment--driver, guide, van, water, and introductory education to Ecuador as we rode into town. Like you, I was very impressed. What I experienced could not happen by accident.

Welcome back to Ecuador.

The Beagle Grill served two purposes for my wife and me--getting a snack after each shorex and having a couple dinners at night. Each time we got back on board Xpedition after doing a shorex, the Beagle Grill was set up with refreshments for the passengers. So it was a very nice place to crash with a cold drink and sharing what you just experienced with the other passengers. Oddly enough, my wife and I chose not to eat any of our meals out there except for the two dinners that the ship scheduled to be done al fresco at the Beagle Grill. The first outdoor dinner, was billed "Dinner Under The Stars" and was conducted on the 3rd evening of the cruise. It was a very nice night and we had an enjoyable dinner. The second outdoor dinner was held on the final night of the cruise and it featured large lobster tails. Unfortunately it began raining as soon as we were seated with our food. Half the passengers who had tables under the overhanging cover near the grill were fine. The rest of us took our plates down to Darwin's Restaurant to finish the meal.

Your memory may be quite correct. I am only showing two examples that suggest at a minimum that the disclosure is hit or miss.

For our upcoming cruise, there is no cancellation language for our Halong Bay overnight trip. None in the tour description for uber expensive Bangkok Overnight trip either.

I agree that they it may not be rigorously enforced--perhaps they are reserving the right to do this in certain situations. We have an overnight shorex to Halong Bay set for Dec 31 and I still have the cancellation button active for the booking. Of course this is subject to the current policy and I don't know what the specific cancellation wording is for this shorex that is not covered by the current 24 hr rule.

Although this isn't your point, there is a good chance that Celebrity would cancel anyway because of bad weather and political unrest. I realize that you would prefer to make that decision for yourself.

It is somewhat understandable since Celebrity may be financially committed for something that can be pretty expensive--again for things like special trips set up through Private Journeys, etc.