Celebrity Xperience (new): Galapagos

Celebrity recently added 2 new small ships in the Galapagos Islands. We are booked on the Celebrity "Xperience" for September 2017. Ship has 24 cabins; 48 persons occupancy. Has anyone seen any reviews or traveled on this refurbished ship? Inaugural cruises started last month and it sails weekly. We also do not see the Xperience listed in the Roll Call section, and we would like to start roll call once the ship is listed. If anyone has any info to share about this ship, it would be much appreciated.

Since this ship is smaller than a River Ship, you will probably find that a Roll Call doesn't work very well. Only a small percentage of passengers are aware of Cruise Critic = only you on this sailing. Also, since all excursions are included in the cruise people are less interested in a Roll Call.

Host,

While I agree the amount of posts for the Xperience and its sister ship will be small for reasons you outlined I do think however a Board is needed. Often people are looking on CC for pre and post experiences. That is a tour of Machu Picchu or a pre-hotel etc. Please reconsider.

The Celebrity Galapagos is destination oriented, not individual ship oriented.

There are literally thousands of posts about the experience on the general =X= board as well as the destination board. There is a real long thread on the Xpedition page here that details virtually every nuance of the trip.

I think our roll call for Xpedition, (which is considerably bigger) and which spanned over 2 years, did not even have a total of 20 posts in all that time.

We just returned from our Northern Loop cruise on the Xperience in October, and had a fantastic & enjoyable voyage on our Celebrity cruise. The size of the ship was perfect, and I think we lucked out by choosing this itinerary and medium size ship. The wildlife was outstanding! I was wondering why there weren't any reviews yet, so I wrote one myself:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=595894&et_cid=2974649&et_rid=247003666&et_referrer=Boards_WAR_CC

If anyone has any questions about the ship, the itinerary, the wildlife or excursions, please ask! It was truly one of the best cruises I've ever taken.

Thanks for a great review! We're doing the Southern loop next September. Booked in 207, hope that's not the one you left due to engine noise! Will follow up with a trip to Machu Picchu. Since I'm doing most of the booking independently I would love to hear from you regarding how to get there, where to stay, how long and what to do. Will be flying out of Denver or LA. Live between the two in Utah.

Ken

Hi Ken,

Glad to help. We ended up in 204, which is near the front. Our first room that we booked in advance was 209. If you can book 204 or 203 I recommend it.

I have no hesitation about recommending this cruise ~ It's definitely one for the ages. I cannot comment on the Southern Loop however. I believe you might see some different wildlife, though.

We flew American Airlines through Miami, then Quito. It was pretty efficient. Had a 2-3 hr. layover in Miami, and we met another couple who was going on the Xperience. They served dinner on the flight to Quito. When we arrived, we got our bags and headed out to the lobby. We were met by the Celebrity representative, who was so friendly and helpful. On the way to the hotel, he explained how everything would work with the tours and checkin/checkout.

When we got to the hotel, we checked in very quickly via Celebrity, and we were greeted with a cup of delicious Ecuadorian style hot chocolate. Much better than Swiss Miss.

The Quito City tour was great the next day (I wrote about this on another thread). On the way back, we flew American through Dallas. It was a red-eye, and we arrived home around noon. All in all, it was a very long journey back, with resultant jet lag. However, I liked how American handled the flights, and I would choose them again.

One last thing ~ we paid about $95 pp for an optional tour through Celebrity on the last day. The hotel held our luggage for the day, and the Cloud Forest tour was wonderful. When we returned, we ate dinner at the hotel and were transferred to Sucre airport about 2-3 hours before our flight home. There are lots of shops & restaurants in the airport, fyi.

Feel free to ask additional questions if you think of them! ~Jennifer

We're booked on the Xperience in November (southern loop). I've been trying to find a roll call for a few months, and finally just searched by ship name.

If anyone has any questions about the ship, the itinerary, the wildlife or excursions, please ask! It was truly one of the best cruises I've ever taken.

Thank you for your most informative and encouraging review. The Xperience is currently at the top of our list for a Galapagos cruise in 2019. A review was posted in December 2017 that is very different from yours. So much so as to leave me a bit confused. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=603614 I wonder if you'd care to respond to what skova53 has to say?

Thank you for your most informative and encouraging review. The Xperience is currently at the top of our list for a Galapagos cruise in 2019. A review was posted in December 2017 that is very different from yours. So much so as to leave me a bit confused. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=603614 I wonder if you'd care to respond to what skova53 has to say?

Yes, I can respond. With all due respect to the other reviewer, I think we basically had different priorities and expectations. My main priority was being comfortable on the ship, and having an amazing time on the excursions. I wasn't disappointed, because the wildlife and scenery literally blew me away. However, I can understand that it was very expensive, and if you need wifi and Internet on a daily basis, you will be disappointed. (It was spotty, but did exist sometimes, especially near ports.)

I didn't really miss the wifi, because I decided to let the Internet part of my life go for the week we were on the ship.

Also, I understand the point about it feeling kind of like a summer camp, in terms of camaraderie and close quarters. But the food was much better than summer camp, in my opinion. It's not 5 star gourmet, though. The entrees aren't plated and garnished. But the service and warm hospitality made up for that, in my eyes.

So, respectfully, each to his or her own. The cost of the vacation appears to be justified by the remoteness of the location, the expense of visiting a national park, and the ratio of staff per guest. However, with all due respect to folks with different tastes; if you truly seek opulence, you might be disappointed.

Yes, I can respond. With all due respect to the other reviewer, I think we basically had different priorities and expectations. My main priority was being comfortable on the ship, and having an amazing time on the excursions. I wasn't disappointed, because the wildlife and scenery literally blew me away. However, I can understand that it was very expensive, and if you need wifi and Internet on a daily basis, you will be disappointed. (It was spotty, but did exist sometimes, especially near ports.)

 

 

 

I didn't really miss the wifi, because I decided to let the Internet part of my life go for the week we were on the ship.

 

 

 

Also, I understand the point about it feeling kind of like a summer camp, in terms of camaraderie and close quarters. But the food was much better than summer camp, in my opinion. It's not 5 star gourmet, though. The entrees aren't plated and garnished. But the service and warm hospitality made up for that, in my eyes.

 

 

 

So, respectfully, each to his or her own. The cost of the vacation appears to be justified by the remoteness of the location, the expense of visiting a national park, and the ratio of staff per guest. However, with all due respect to folks with different tastes; if you truly seek opulence, you might be disappointed.

We are considering the Galapagos in 2020. Thank you for your detailed "rebuttal" as it gives a very different and appreciated perspective!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you, b1rdwatcher for your most helpful post!

We booked the northern and southern loops in April 2019. :D

You will see that in the section for Celebrity Roll Calls, Xpedition Roll Calls, a number of cruisers have attempted to start roll calls for various cruises and have received few if any responses. Keep in mind that the Xpedition is a bigger ship than Xperience, so I would expect the response to be even lower for specific sailings of Xperience (if that's even possible).Other than specific ship information, i would think you would find a wealth of information on the Xpedition thread.

As far as future sailings on Xpedition or Xperience, their days are numbered:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565906&highlight=Flora

I suggest that anyone cosidereing a trip to the Galapagos might want to determine if they want to wait to pay the premium prices for Flora, or book now on one of the smaller ships.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2564982&highlight=Flora

As far as future sailings on Xpedition or Xperience, their days are numbered:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565906&highlight=Flora

 

I suggest that anyone cosidereing a trip to the Galapagos might want to determine if they want to wait to pay the premium prices for Flora, or book now on one of the smaller ships.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2564982&highlight=Flora

You mean Xperience and Xploration. Xpedition will continue in the Celebrity fleet and will continue to offer non-suite accommodations (at non-suite, but still Galapagos-high prices).

You mean Xperience and Xploration. Xpedition will continue in the Celebrity fleet and will continue to offer non-suite accommodations (at non-suite, but still Galapagos-high prices).

Yes, sorry for the error. Too late to edit my post.

We just returned from our Northern Loop cruise on the Xperience in October, and had a fantastic & enjoyable voyage on our Celebrity cruise. The size of the ship was perfect, and I think we lucked out by choosing this itinerary and medium size ship. The wildlife was outstanding! I was wondering why there weren't any reviews yet, so I wrote one myself:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=595894&et_cid=2974649&et_rid=247003666&et_referrer=Boards_WAR_CC

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship, the itinerary, the wildlife or excursions, please ask! It was truly one of the best cruises I've ever taken.

Thank you for your review, it is wonderful. We actually just booked the Flora for May 2020 and I’m quite excited. It is bigger than Xperience but it’s nice to know Celebrity is doing a great job in this region. I will be on the lookout over the next couple years for any and all information related to Galapagos. Thanks again.

Thank you for your review, it is wonderful. We actually just booked the Flora for May 2020 and I’m quite excited. It is bigger than Xperience but it’s nice to know Celebrity is doing a great job in this region. I will be on the lookout over the next couple years for any and all information related to Galapagos. Thanks again.

You're quite welcome. I do think Celebrity does a classy job in Galapagos, and in Quito as well. I hope you have an amazing trip!