XCXCruiser

Yep there were kayaks on the Xploration... I think it was limited to 8 people (4 groups of 2). I didn't use them as my partner and I preferred to go on the panga ride around the islands as an alternative. The day we wanted to go kayaking it actually rained for 2 hours, so we just kind of sat around the boat and then continued our other excursion that happened after.

Unsure, we used our carry on to help keep the curtains shut and then wedged shoes to make sure it didn't roll around.

We brought coral safe face and body sunscreen and bug lotion... we didn't really need the bug lotion often but did go through about 400mL of the body sunscreen

Yep you could have cocktails too... they have a full bar on the second floor and sometimes had margaritas, pina coladas, etc, etc... there just wasn't really enough time to drink as we were pretty exhausted being out in the sun all day. They also provided some drinks with espiritu du ecuador https://espiritudelecuador.com.ec/web/spirit-of-ecuador/ which was fun.

Food was buffet style... dinner service was typically about an hour at which point the crew staff would take away the main meals, by the end of the trip I had to really control myself because I'd often overeat 🙂 The cabins consisted of a long dresser with a wardrobe at the end that had room for the safe. The bathrooms had a standup shower, and toilet paper does not go into the toilet but instead the bin beside the toilet. We found that our toilet had _some_ issues where we had to call the hotel manager to have the crew unclog it (not due to toilet paper!) but they were very quick in resolving those issues. The curtains would often open due to the swaying of the ship so I'd recommend bringing a binder clip to ensure they remain shut. Re: ship / cross wave / etc... I'm not sure, I'm not much of a sailor. I do know the captain after the first night took manual control to try to minimize the choppiness for successive evenings and tried to travel between dinner/bedtime. I would highly recommend the Xploration, being able to easily get on and off the ship with minimal time allows for so many more activities it felt like. The crew knew each person and it just felt so much more luxurious / exclusive. Having small excursions to beaches where you were the only ones on there just felt special.

1. Our carry on fit underneath the bed, but our checked luggage we just sat it close to the washroom. 2. Food was consistently solid. There were several "special" meals, like a whole turkey one day! Lunch and Dinner both had special separate dessert served. We never asked for food otherwise, but there was a couple of baskets of crackers/cookies and a fruit bowl that was out that we could take whenever. Jonathan the hotel manager was often found in the dining room, or Christopher who was the bartender and whenever you needed a drink (wine, beer, soda) they would provide it. The bar on the second floor was sparsely used as we all were often too beat. Often when coming back from an excursion Jonathan and Christopher would greet us back on the boat with a welcome drink. 3. There was a meeting point in the Baltra airport where those who were JAC (just a cruise 🤣) and like you said, they met those who arranged their own travel. 10/12 of the people on Xploration did the pre cruise tours, and 2 were there previously in Santa Cruz and once they met at the airport were taken with the rest of the group who had done the Quito tour. 4. I am a poor sleeper so the constant hum of the engines was kind of annoying. Even with earplugs it only helped a little. The bedroom itself (we were in the internal cabin) was great, all the drawers were pushed lock. Due to some of the choppiness during the night there was a lot of banging if you didn't have things properly locked down. A couple of nights we didn't lock the safe and you'd hear "bang bang bang" until it was locked. There was turn down service with a chocolate treat during dinner which was fun. I am a notorious overpacker (on any trip!) and found that since we spent so much time in the water that I didn't end up using as much socks and underwear as I thought. Often I had a set of "evening attire" that I wore several consecutive nights because I'd only wear it for 2 hours. The wet suits that they had on board were shorties so your arms/legs are uncovered so be sure to wear a rashguard and/or have enough sunscreen.

Thanks 🙂 Yes! We still had two naturalists so each panga typically had 1 crew member and 1 naturalist on board (and an extra crew member for wet landings.

My partner and I just finished the 7 day Xploration southern loop from March 16th to March 23rd. We got to Ecuador early and did the tours through Quito with Celebrity. This was only our second cruise ever (honeymoon and now 10th anniversary). I have to say I was really impressed with the Xploration. We only had 12/16 people on the boat (1 group cancelled early? and one group moved to the Xpedition). It is a much smaller boat but the other 10 passengers were great. The days were very busy with similar itineraries as to what was posted for Xpedition, however we got to get in 2-3 morning and then 1-2 afternoon activities. Since it was a smaller group, it only took 2 pangas to get to shore. The wet landings were a bit difficult if you don't have proper footware. I had waterproof hiking sandles but watershoes would probably have been better as the water was quite sandy. We were lucky that since it was the end of rainy season everything was green and lush (also thanks to El Nino). Our group of 12 really enjoyed snorkeling so it seems like they adapted the itinerary to allow for us to do additional snorkeling activities. Also, there have been some reports of avian flu on some of the islands, so some of the "hikes" were cut short or converted to just panga rides along the cost as we couldn't venture onto some of the islands. The crew was amazing, and even made a special gluten free cake for my partner. Since it was a smaller ship, we definitely felt the ocean a little bit more and honestly I didn't get a lot of sleep. They also kept the engines going 24/7 so you always had a hum. The captain did a great job of managing the sway of the ship after the first night when we let him know that we felt uncomfortable and adapted our routes to make sure to reduce the choppiness. All the excursions were great except for the city ones... after visiting the half dozen shops we kind of just sat around for an hour or two until our time was up. As for the Quito tours with Celebrity, they were OK, but having Celebrity deal with the airports and Galapagos paper work made the trip easy and worthwhile. The JW Marriott in Quito is really nice.