Amazing trip of a lifetime

This really was the trip of a lifetime. It is a full-on trip, with 2 excursions each day, with additional snorkeling on some days. The snorkeling is a must as you see and experience so much wildlife this way, from sealions, sea turtles, marine iguanas, to reef sharks, and a huge range of fish. The ship's crew were all fantastic, friendly, efficient, polite and made you feel so welcome. The food is not very high end, but is plentiful, and tasty. There is a wide selection of wines, so easy to find something to your liking. The crew put on entertainment, which was fun, if not professional :-). With only 48 passengers you get to know everyone onboard. For me, it was a perfect number. It didn't take long to get people disembarked on the zodiacs for the excursions, and the group sizes were small. I would highly recommend this trip. Average age onboard was likely around 60-65.

A Trip of a Lifetime!

I cannot say enough good things about the crew and naturalists aboard the Celebrity Xpedition. My husband and I were traveling together, and every experience was absolutely first rate. Traveling in the Galapagos is strenuous, and the crew on the Xpedition made every effort to be informative and to see to our comfort. 10/10 would do this trip again. There were forty passengers aboard our ship, and we felt like we had plenty of space. Deep water snorkel trips are not to be missed. That is where we saw the most interesting critters. The JW Marriott in Quito was outstanding and a great stop before and after our cruise. We walked to restaurants in the local area and never felt uncomfortable. One note about our cabin: We booked the Junior Suite. It had a good sized bathroom, mini fridge, storage, and a lovely balcony. This cabin should probably be used for one person, not two. The bed is against the wall next to the stateroom door. One side of the bed is open, the other is up against the wall. There is no room for a side table on either side, so there is no room to set up a CPAP. Even without that, the person who sleeps on the side of the bed by the wall will have to either crawl over their cabin mate, or over the end of the loveseat.

Absolutely first class

We have always dreamed of embarking on a Galapagos cruise holiday and an offer came up on ROL Cruises. Flights were included from London via Amsterdam to Quito and outbound went smoothly. The Celebrity representative met us at the airport and transported us to the very plush JW Marriott quito hotel, keeping us all entertained and informed throughout the journey. After breakfast the next day we were whisked off in a group of 7 people for a full day tour of Quito, complete with our own minder. Very safe Next day we were off to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands to join our cruise. Fully accompanied by the Celebrity reps, even on the aircraft and shuttle bus service. Finally, a short Zodiac (Large RIB boat) saw us checking in on board the Celebrity Xpedition. There were 39 passengers on our cruise, so, well outnumbered by the 51 crew. Our cabin was as expected, clean and well presented, just settling in, as the ship repositioned, and lunch. But, no time to waste, there was a briefing and we were soon boarding our designated Zodiac in groups of 8 or so to explore the first Galapagos Island with our very own very knowledgeable Naturalist. Back to the ship, refreshments and clean up for a quality relaxing evening meal. The food was very good quality. Then an evening briefing of what lay ahead for the following day, with choices of adventure, all included with accompanying Naturalist, be that a walk on another Island, explore a beach or take to the water for some snorkeling. One adventure (not excursion) in the morning (around 8:30am) back for lunch, whilst the ship repositioned, and another adventure in the afternoon. Each day followed a similar pattern, so no time was wasted and what a fulfilling holiday. The crew were amazing the guides/naturalists knowledgeable and entertaining the other guests good company the food was always quality drinks free flowing, everything with a smile. Sad to end the week, happy to have had the experience of Celebrity Xpedition. Then the journey home back to the UK, just short of a nightmare, took us 24 hours and KLM not a very comfortable aircraft. Perhaps consider alternative routes or make sure you upgrade to business class or first class early on in the booking

Amazing wildlife in a week on the Xpedition

Our cruise package included a three day land tour of Quito, Ecuador as well as a week long Galapagos cruise. The tour package included lodging at the excellent JW Marriott hotel in Quito (2 days prior and 1 day after the cruise). Meals were included in the land tour as well as transportation and a tour of the old town. The JW Marriott was top of the line and likely rated five stars. The hotel room was spacious and had all the amenities. The restaurants were excellent and hotel staff was friendly and always helpful. Ecuador required that when in public places, even outside, we had to wear a mask. N95 masks were provided by Celebrity. The tour of the old town included the masteries of San Francisco and Santo Domingo. Also, we visited several historical buildings in the area. Quito was an old city with a lot of history. We enjoyed our tour and an excellent lunch was included during the tour. Quito is about 9000 feet above sea level and my wife and I took altitude sickness pills prior to and during our stay in Quito. We had little problem with the altitude. Our tour group's guide was excellent and the hotel provided a security man that went with us, keeping us from straying from the group and protecting us from potential pickpockets and thieves. We were warned about keeping our valuables secure. Two days after our arrival in the country, we checked out of our hotel and were taken to the Quito airport for our flight to Baltra Island in the Galapagos. This island was the sight of a U.S. military base that focused on protecting the Panama Canal during WWII. Upon arrival in Baltra, we were taken by buses to a site on the ocean were we picked up our zodiacs that took us to the Xpedition. Zodiacs are inflatable boats with solid flooring and a large engine. Celebrity's zodiacs would transport between 12-14 persons. They were used to tender us to and from the ship on all occasions. We wore life vests every time we rode on the zodiacs. We had two types of landings on the cruise, wet and dry. About half of our landings were wet and half dry. A wet landing would require stepping into the surf of shallow water, usually ankle deep, sometimes more. A dry landing involved stepping from the zodiac to a hard surface without stepping in the water. The wet landings required that we were what were called water shoes, which we removed after our arrival on the beach, dried our feet (hand towel provided by Celebrity) and then put on our socks and shoes. I took a pair of waterproof low cut walking boots as well as standard athletic walking shoes. For most of the hikes on the islands, I wore the boots. Upon arrival at the ship (capacity of only 48 passengers-we had 45), we checked into our cabin on deck 4. Most of the passengers were in cabins with a medium sized picture window, but no balcony. That is want we booked. There were suites on decks 5 and 6 with balconies. Cost was a huge factor, since our cabin still cost us over $13,000 for the tour and cruise. Suites were a lot more expensive. In fact, we have done 21 cruises, 12 with Celebrity and this cruise was by far our most expensive cruise. In fact, it cost more than double any other cruise that we have taken. Still, the cruise included all alcoholic drinks and excursions. It was all inclusive. The dining was exceptional and featured a lot of seafood. Someone warned us about selecting the beef, if it was an option. Most of what I chose was seafood, fish or shrimp. I did have an excellent steak with lobster one evening. However, we had a Tex-Mex lunch that included a beef in a tortilla. It was not the high point of our dining. I had few complaints about the dining, but one was the beef in the tortilla. Also, for one dinner my wife and I choose the Moussaka, which was mediocre. However, overall the dining was exceptional. We had wonderful sea bass, salmon and shrimp that we very much enjoyed. One thing, we found that after a day on the ship, we were eating too much and tried to cut back. I alternated between getting an omelette for breakfast to oatmeal and fruit. Dr. Ellen Prager, a distinguished marine scientists and author was a great addition to the ship. She provided interesting and informative presentations of sea life and insight into her book, "Sex, Drugs and Sea Slime." I read about half of her book that was in the ship's library. It was a colorful way to explain the importance of sea life from algae to higher life forms in the ecosystem of our oceans. She went on some of our excursions and added significantly to our understanding of the Galapagos. Every excursion was broken up into four groups of 10-12 persons. Our guides were Ecuadorians, some native to the islands. They were all trained naturalists and were excellent guides. They would explain the wildlife and environment so we all understood what we were seeing on the excursions. Also, we had about 7 opportunities to snorkel during the cruise. I snorkeling twice and enjoyed it a lot. However, I always chose the excursions with the long hikes (usually about 1.5 to 2 miles) and when I did two hikes a day as well as snorkel, it was a bit exhausting. Well, I am 74 years old. Our first excursion was the afternoon of our arrival on the ship. We took a zodiac ride to Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz Island (just south of Baltra Island). We saw birds, a few sea turtles and some mangroves. The next day, day 4, we tendered into Rabida Island. It was know for its volcanic landscape and distinctive red sand. We saw pelicans, sea lions and birds. I did the hike and after snorkeled. I saw several different schools of fish of different sizes as well as sea lions. Some saw a couple of small sharks, but I did not. On another snorkel, I swam with over a dozen sea turtles. After the morning excursions, we returned to the ship and cleaned my snorkel gear, then showered and had lunch. Later, we had an afternoon excursion (a typical day on this cruise) visiting Egas Port on Santiago Island. It was a black sand beach with coastal tide pools. We say flamingos (not sure it was on this excursion or the morning one), also fur seals, sea turtles, penguins and flightless cormorants. I won't list all the places that we visited, but mention the most memorable. We did a hike on Tagus Cove, Isabela Island and saw Darwin Lake. Every island was volcanic and the amazing landscape showed different types of lava flows that our expert guides explained how they formed. We did a great climb of Bartolomé Island to the top of the extinct volcano that was special. The island was very barren (someone said it looked like Mars) with spatter cones and an amazing pinnacle rock. We climbed up the steps of a wooden starway (with hand rails) to the top. This was a special part of our cruise. Other excursions like the Genovesa Island was amazing, since it was known as Bird Island. We saw all the bird species that we had been told about and seen to some degree on other islands, however on this island we saw hundred and hundred of birds. It was amazing and I remember taking over one hundred photos on that single excursion. We even saw an owl, which our naturalist said was rare. On two occasions we saw the huge giant tortoises native to the islands. The best was on the last full day of the cruise, when on Santa Cruz Island, were we took a bus to the center of the island to a farm, were we had a nice lunch and there was a show of native Galapagos folk dancing. The dancers were excellent and very colorful. After the dances, we visited the nearby area were several tortoises were seen, some quite large as well as some smaller and younger. Our Galapagos cruise was great and we saw much wildlife that you just don't see anywhere else in the World. Yes, we have seen many places were sea lions are seen, but not the animals and birds that you can almost walk up to and photograph at will. After our cruise ended, we flew back to Quito for one overnight and the next day back home.