waterbug123

Yes. You don't have to get off the ship to eat, you can always find the buffet open at mealtimes.

I'd probably book a Celebrity shuttle from port to airport then.

How are you getting TO the cruise port on the front end? Whatever you're doing, is that not an option on the back end?

More likely it has to do with staff cuts. Restaurants are understaffed now compared to the past, cabin stewards have more cabins assigned to them etc. and I'm sure the same holds for kitchen staff, so they probably don't have the manpower to devote to a bunch of special orders anymore.

Because she may not want to pay the extra fees to expedition processing and shipping of a new passport to ensure she gets it on time when it's not necessary for the cruise.

Refundable tickets are generally always going to be sky high. Even if your plans change, keep in mind that many airlines will issue a travel credit if you cancel a non-refundable flight. This gets you the cheaper non-refundable rate, and you still get your money back, just not as a credit on your credit card. Yes, you'd have to use that travel credit within a year usually but if you travel a lot that might not be difficult. Just something to consider.

In the hypothetical scenario I'm envisioning, it's one in which the airport is closed for an extended period of time. So even pax who plan to arrive a few days or even a week prior to the cruise wouldn't be able to get there etc. But I'm not going to argue with you so let's just pretend you're right and the ship would sail no matter what because cruise lines never cancel cruises last minute for any reason whatsoever.

If a big weather/eruption situation caused the airport to be closed and no inbound flights, you really think the ship is going to sail with no passengers?

If the airport closes and all flights to it are canceled, Celebrity cannot magically open the airport or reinstate a flight. Probably the best they can do is change the itinerary so that it departs from the UK, or issue a full refund.

Keep in mind that those around departure gates may well have been put there for passengers coming in on the next flight arriving at that gate who requested assistance; the pushers will show up when the plane arrives.

Nope, not unless the poster I was responding to tries again to compare cruise ship dining to a 5 star restaurant.

Cruise ship dining is NOT 5-star dining, not even the specialty restaurants. Far from it.

Note: At this time, Diamond/Elite is the highest level of reciprocity between the two. i.e. If you get to Diamond Plus on Royal, you will still only get reciprocal benefits of Elite on Celebrity, not Elite Plus. A recent survey indicated they may be thinking of extending reciprocity, but at this point it still caps out at Diamond/Elite.

And generally speaking, in most of Europe (including Italy specifically) customs is a non-issue. If you have nothing to declare you simply exit through the green door, no waiting. It's up to you to notify them/go through the red door if you have something to declare. Immigration however, is where your passport is checked and will almost always involve waiting in a line of some length.

Absolutely. We often book this type of ride with a company called welcomepickups.com but if that won’t work, we’ll absolutely talk to hotel upon Check-in.

We are not at the Marriott, we are staying at the Hilton but about the same distance from the airport. Planning on arranging a car at 4am. It is what it is

Thanks for the tip, we'll keep that in mind!

Thank you, I don't know why I was thinking it was more difficult than that!

We booked round trip flights on Avianca for $371 per person. That was for "L" class tickets, which allowed us to change the flight if necessary, as well as choose seats in advance and have a bit more luggage allowance. Heading to Baltra, the flight leaves Quito at 7:51am and arrives in Baltra at 10:48am. I believe it makes a stop in Guayaquil on the way. It's going to mean a VERY early wake up that morning since we have to transfer to the airport, then get the tourist cards, do the luggage inspection thing, and then actually check in and get through security. Returning to Quito, it leaves Baltra at 11:33am and arrives in Quito at 4:15pm, and again, I believe it makes a stop in Guayaquil on the way.

We have Diamox we plan to take for altitude sickness. We’ve been at altitude many times, snow skiing and gorilla trekking in Rwanda. It’s never bothered me but I’m taking the Diamox anyway, just in case. My husband has occasionally been affected so he’s taking it as well!

Definitely taking reef safe sunscreen. We have individual packets of deet bug wipes. We used them in Africa and liked them so much better than spray. Ordered on Amazon I think

Now I just need someone to explain how to add photos to a post. I think I figured it out once a long time ago but forget now

I'll be happy to write up a review when we get back. I will likely post it here on the Celebrity boards, rather than in the general cruise review section, so that it can be seen easily by anyone booking Celebrity Galapagos. We are not spending any pre-cruise time in Baltra, but your itinerary looks good to me. We are spending our pre-cruise time in Quito. Our schedule is: 4/30- 4 of us arrive late evening 5/1`- the 4 plan to take the Teleferico cable car, and have also booked a walking street art tour in the late afternoon. Just seemed like something different and interesting, and includes a drink or two and snack. The other 6 arrive late than evening (we're a group of 10 friends). I'm searching for places with good empanadas for dinner! 🙂 5/2- all 10 have a walking food tour at 11 5/3- 6 of us have booked an all day birding trip to the Mindo Cloud Forest with a private guide including hotel pickup/dropoff; not sure what the other 4 will do 5/4- booked our own flights on Avianca to Baltra, and board the ship same day

Thank you so much! I'm not going to worry about our luggage; it will just go wherever it goes. Appreciate all the other info as well. We got full body dive skins to wear under the wet suits so we don't have to worry as much about sunscreen while snorkeling. You mentioned beer, wine and soda, but there are cocktails available too, correct? A few in our group are wondering how well stocked the bar is; I'm guessing it may be somewhat minimal in selection due to the small sie of the boat. ???

Thank you so much, that is reassuring to hear! As I said, I called quite a while back with a few questions, and have vague recollections of the conversation, but for the life of me I can't find the notes I took during the call.