Live: Nov 18 2023 Xpedition Galapagos Southern Loop

[mahdnc]

25 minutes ago, TimidTrav said:

I’m still struggling with what footwear to bring for our trip this coming week.  I’ve set out closed toe hybrid shoes (Keen Newports), Tevas, Altra waterproof sneakers, Keen hiking shoes, and loafers for traveling.  I won’t have room for clothing if I bring all these shoes!!  I also have some inexpensive water shoes.  Any thoughts on whether I can safely remove one or two pairs from the pile?  Thanks.

 

I had the same questions as you.  I packed Keen hybrid shoes, a light hiking shoe, water shoes, and boat shoes to wear onboard.  They all worked fairly well for their intended purpose.  I found the water shoes to be more useful than I expected and the Keens not quite as useful although I am glad I brought them.  To me, when I look at your list, the Tevas and waterproof sneakers are something that I would not bring.  In the end, it's a personal decision made without a lot of experience for those of us that have not been there before!

 

I noticed that the naturalists tended to go barefoot a lot unless the ground was rocky.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by mahdnc

[TimidTrav]

3 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I had the same questions as you.  I packed Keen hybrid shoes, a light hiking shoe, water shoes, and boat shoes to wear onboard.  They all worked fairly well for their intended purpose.  I found the water shoes to be more useful than I expected and the Keens not quite as useful although I am glad I brought them.  To me, when I look at your list, the Tevas and waterproof sneakers are something that I would not bring.  In the end, it's a personal decision made without a lot of experience for those of us that have not been there before!

 

I noticed that the naturalists tended to go barefoot a lot unless the ground was rocky.

 

 

This is extremely helpful.  Thanks!!

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, TimidTrav said:

This is extremely helpful.  Thanks!!

 

I just added some photos so you could see what people were wearing.  If you go back and look at my earlier posts, I have photos of the slides that were shown to us onboard Xpedition.  Some of them have the recommended footwear called out.

 

Here are all the slides put together in one folder.  The slides for each date are put in a separate folder although within the folder, the slides are out of order.

Edited December 3, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahasamatman]

I'm bringing three pairs - my daily sneakers, water shoes, and dancing shoes (just in case).

[mahdnc]

13 hours ago, sandiego1 said:

What time did you get to the Baltra airport? Our independent flight to Quito is at 10:13. I’m concerned we may not make it.

 

The short answer to your question is 9:40 am Galapagos local time.

 

One nice thing about taking a lot of photos is that I have the time stamps to refer back to which helps giving you an accurate answer.  I am going to give you the times for each event in local Galapagos time and not ship time which runs one hour later.

 

 9:12 am: We get off Xpedition for the last time and board the zodiac with all our luggage.

 

 

 9:19 am: We get off the zodiac at the Baltra dock.  We then board the shuttle bus waiting for us.  There are pelicans, lazy sea lions, and sea turtles there to say goodbye.

 

 

 9:40 am: We get off the shuttle bus at the front of the airport (GPS) with all of our luggage.  The terminal is small with zero car traffic.  The front of the terminal is open air.  When you get off the shuttle bus it is 20 steps to the ticket counter (photo below).  You can see that the line to the ticket counter is very small.

 

 

 9:55 am: We check in at the ticket counter and hand over our checked baggage.

 

 

Our flight left out of Gate 4.  There are a couple of short security checkpoints to navigate through to get to the gate.  We wait in a lounge which we have access to through Celebrity (photo below).  Gate 4 is in the background.

 

[mahdnc]

On 11/21/2023 at 10:31 PM, CPT Trips said:

We are making the trip in February and really enjoy your posts, especially those of the evening briefing. 
If you have an opportunity, could you get a photo of the boarding ladder for snorkeling from the zodiacs?

TIA

 

You probably thought I forgot about you.  Here are a couple of photos of the ladder.  One above water and a blurry one below water.

 

 

There is a wooden step above the water.  Below the water there are two wooden steps and a metal bar beneath them.

 

 

Note that the ladder is hinged (red circle in the photo below) so that it can be folded upwards to be stowed when not in use. When you step on the wooden step above the water to get into the boat, your weight can cause the bottom of the ladder to swing out away from the boat.  This causes the step that you are on to tilt which can be unsettling if you are not ready for it.

 

[sandiego1]

Thank you so much!! I can’t express my gratitude enough. Your photos and documentation of the cruise have been extremely helpful and informative. 
 

I will call the Galapagos desk again to ask about an earlier departure so we can make our flight. When I called last week to give them the flight info, they did seem concerned. I had called before I booked the flight and they told me anytime after 10am

[TimidTrav]

Agree that your posts, as well as posts from prmssk, have been extremely helpful.  

[CPT Trips]

41 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

You probably thought I forgot about you.

Yep, I was having my doubts 😉. Thanks for remembering . . . this is just what I wanted to know. And the ladders were what I was hoping for, I hate the ones with all round metal steps. 

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

I noticed that the naturalists tended to go barefoot a lot unless the ground was rocky.

Were most of your beaches pretty soft?  Most of our beach landings on the Northern Loop were on pretty rocky beaches.  Occasionally, I saw naturalists barefoot briefly but except for Bachas Beach (which was less rocky), it was usually only long enough to get off the zodiac and put their crocs back on (which is what most of them wore).

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, prmssk said:

Were most of your beaches pretty soft?  Most of our beach landings on the Northern Loop were on pretty rocky beaches.  Occasionally, I saw naturalists barefoot briefly but except for Bachas Beach (which was less rocky), it was usually only long enough to get off the zodiac and put their crocs back on (which is what most of them wore).

 

Very soft.  Actually too soft at Post Office Bay (Floreana).  It was so soft your feet sunk into the sand a good 3-6 inches making it very laborious to walk

 

 

On the other hand, the beach at Espanola Island was like being in Florida.

 

 

[mahdnc]

As avid divers, my wife and I were interested in all the snorkeling opportunities during this trip.  There were a total of five:

1. Day 2, Sunday afternoon, Santa Fe Island

2. Day 4, Tuesday morning, Floreana Island

3. Day 4, Tuesday afternoon, Champion Island (Floreana)

4. Day 5, Wednesday afternoon, Isabela Island

5. Day 7, Friday morning, Espanola Island.

 

All five snorkel trips were pretty good in terms of aquatic life.  There was always a lot to see.  Water clarity/visibility was hit and miss.  There were two snorkel trips that stood out to me.

 

1. The snorkeling around Champion Island (Day 4 afternoon) was the longest trip (time and distance).  We swam along the rocky coastline with several sea lions watching us from the rocks (a couple eventually jumped in).  I liked this snorkel trip because the sea bed was rocky and it resembled a coral reef.  There were several starfish visible including a blue one and the famous chocolate chip starfish.  The waters were teeming with fish with an occasional sea lion or sea turtle swimming by. Because of the length involved, I tended to fall behind and consequently missed out on much of what Jorge, our naturalist, was pointing out.  The trip starts by jumping out of the zodiac and finishes when you climb back in. The zodiac drifted along with us to keep an eye out.  It was the most exhausting of all the trips but quite worth it.

 

 

 

2. Our last snorkel trip which was on Espanola Island was also quite memorable.  We were instructed by our naturalist to swim out to the rocky outcropping (red circle).  Once we swam out there from the beach, we saw sea turtles (of course) and 2-3 sharks which was pretty cool.

 

 

[mahdnc]

6 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

Were the Celebrity-supplied masks good, or should we bring our own? We'd like to minimize packing if we can depend on theirs.

 

The Celebrity supplied mask and snorkel are being worn by a couple of models from our cruise, Tzipporah (left) and Stephanie (right).  They are also wearing the Celebrity supplied flotation vest (optional). They are very interesting people and represented the younger passenger demographic.  If any dancing occurred on our sailing, I would imagine that they would know about it......

 

[LisaLeone]

This is a bucket list trip for my husband I and I have never read a more helpful review! Thank you for posting the information about the excursions... It truly gave a feel of the pace of the trip.

[mahdnc]

 

At Guest Relations, there is a flyer for post-cruise shore excursions that you can purchase if you are staying an extra day in Quito.  They include Mindo Cloud Forest ($145 pp, need min 6), High Andes Spa ($173pp with guide, need min 4), and Otavalo Market & Roses ($197 pp, need min 4).   Here is a link to the flyer.  It is quite cheaper to do these trips independently.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Here is a photo of the wet suits that were handed out.  There were plenty of each size for everyone.  Getting in and out of them can be a bit of a trick, but there was plenty of crew ready to assist you at all times.

 

 

The distribution of snorkeling gear (mesh gear bag, mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuits, and optional flotation vest) is a very orderly process.  It is done once at the beginning of the cruise and the equipment is dedicated to you until the end of the sailing. 

 

 

The system for cleaning/rinsing and stowage is also systematic and well organized.  Celebrity has that down to a science.

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

You can request a bridge tour at Guest Relations.  It is not publicized.  There are several dates/times from which to choose.  The maximum group size is six.  My wife and I signed up for a 3 pm Friday tour (Espanola Island).  It turned out that we were the only ones that signed up for that time slot.

 

The entrance to the bridge is on Deck 5--the same deck our cabin was located.  The door is at the end of the hallway, all the way forward of course.

 

 

We were escorted to that door from Guest Relations.  The tour lasted about 20 minutes.  When we arrived, the Second Officer, Julian, was on the bridge.  

 

 

Julian patiently proceeded to show us pretty much every inch of the bridge.  

 

 

I was quite surprised to find out that Xpedition is outfitted with stabilizers.  Based on all the rocking and rolling during our sailing, it didn't see like the stabilizers did much (that was feedback I kept to myself).

 

 

The ship's steering control is performed through the small joystick in the lower left hand corner of the picture below.

 

 

The periscope mounted to the ceiling in the picture below is to allow a person to read the magnetic compass which installed above the bridge.

 

 

While on the bridge, Julian acknowledged by radio one of Xpedition's zodiacs coming back from Espanola Island (photo below).  This was several hours after all of us passengers were already back on board.  When I inquired about it, Julian told us that those crew (naturalists?) were responsible for performing a required inspection on Espanola at the conclusion of the land tour to make sure that everything was in order.  I presume he meant that nothing was accidentally left on the island, etc.

 

 

Xpedition's captain, Nathaly Alban, came to the bridge towards the end of our tour.  She explained to us that there is a designated "parking" spot for Xpedition for each island visited.  The spot is the same each time.

 

 

Captain Natalie has spent time on all the Galapagos ships in Celebrity's fleet except for Flora.  She served as first mate on Xperience and later as Xploration's captain (press release).  Captain Nathaly harbors career ambitions of serving on the ships in Celebrity's main fleet.  

 

[mahdnc]

Before our bridge tour that day, Xpedition got a surprise inspection visit from the Ecuadorian Navy and the Galapagos National Park Service.  

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

Here is a tour of the Xpedition Gift Shop. 

 

 

Because it is so small, it is devoid of the usual cheap logo'd items such as key chains and shot glasses.

 

 

Instead it carried a large variety of different clothing ideally suited for the Galapagos of course.

 

 

 

I did not bring a long sleeved shirt and realized half way through the trip, that I needed one--gift shop to the re$cue.

 

 

 

 

If you were not happy with the headwear you packed with you, the Xpedition Gift Shop was ready to take care of you.

 

 

Of course, jewelry was also for sale.

 

 

 

 

and chocolates......

 

 

...and socks

 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by mahdnc

[prmssk]

37 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

I was quite surprised to find out that Xpedition is outfitted with stabilizers.  Based on all the rocking and rolling during our sailing, it didn't see like the stabilizers did much (that was feedback I kept to myself).

During our bridge tour, some in our group asked more questions about the stabilizers. The Officer who gave our tour said that they don’t use them unless the ship is going at least a certain speed (I forgot how fast.). Considering the ship never goes far and anchors most of the time, I suspect we didn’t often go fast enough to make use of them.  

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, prmssk said:

During our bridge tour, some in our group asked more questions about the stabilizers. The Officer who gave our tour said that they don’t use them unless the ship is going at least a certain speed (I forgot how fast.). Considering the ship never goes far and anchors most of the time, I suspect we didn’t often go fast enough to make use of them.  

 

Second Officer Julian told me that the stabilizers were really too small to be useful.  Reminded me of this.......

 

[mahdnc]

Surprisingly (to me), there were several passengers on board who had time to pleasure read.  If you are interested in the ship's library, here is the photographic tour.

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

During our flight to Baltra, you could see San Cristóbal Island from our window as well as Kicker Rock (2nd photo). 

 

 

[NMTraveller]

Don't forget to pack for your next cruise coming up in about two weeks 🙂 

 

Nice pictures!

Edited December 5, 2023 by NMTraveller

[mahdnc]

9 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Don't forget to pack for your next cruise coming up in about two weeks 🙂 

 

Nice pictures!

 

Yeah.  Actually re-pack since everything is not put away.