XPedition to Galapalos 7 Days + Machu Picchu

I'm a Canuck living in Quito..nice city, but you want to get out of the city to see the beauty of Ecuador

We are considering arriving to Quito a day or two early for our Aug trip. Do you have any suggestion for day trips out of Quito?

We never, ever book cruise line packages. Generally a horrendous waste of money for a tiny bit of convenience.

 

Except the Xpedition trip. Yes, there is a premium, but minor in the big picture to have everything handled from Quito through the cruise and back. Great hotel in Quito, chartered flight, etc. Everything handled.

 

And yes, definitely do Machu Picchu on your own. We did it for less than 1/3 that Celebrity wanted and spent lots more time at the ruins, wonderful accommodations in Aguas Calientes (instead of having to shuttle back to Cusco immediately) and the option of spending the morning of the next day at the ruins.

If you wouldn't mind e-mailing me some information about who we can contact (if it's allowed), that would be a great help. My e-mail address is botarasales@rogers.com We have a year and a half to do our planning so lots of time to research various options.

The tour we did was with Enjoy Peru. Their Machu Picchu section is here.

Looking at the site today, the prices have not changed all that much over the last few years. And still a smidgen of the Celebrity add-on prices, with more time in Machu Picchu.

Looked at the site above. The one thing I noticed about the Celebrity itinerary is that you spend less than a day where you are actually in MP. Is that really enough? Did you spend more than a day when you did it? I see that we take the Vistadome from the Tamba del Inca hotel train station, have lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge in MP and after some time exploring, head back to Cuzco on the Orient Express. We have 1 1/2 years to research and plan so I really want to do my homework. I don't think we'll be back to this part of the world so want to get it right! No do-overs. Really appreciate any advice you are able to give, seeing that you have done it. If you prefer to do it by e-mail, my address is botarasales@rogers.com

Looked at the site above. The one thing I noticed about the Celebrity itinerary is that you spend less than a day where you are actually in MP. Is that really enough? Did you spend more than a day when you did it? I see that we take the Vistadome from the Tamba del Inca hotel train station, have lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge in MP and after some time exploring, head back to Cuzco on the Orient Express. We have 1 1/2 years to research and plan so I really want to do my homework. I don't think we'll be back to this part of the world so want to get it right! No do-overs. Really appreciate any advice you are able to give, seeing that you have done it. If you prefer to do it by e-mail, my address is botarasales@rogers.com

We arrived in Aguas Calientes on the train around 9 as I recall (cause we left really early). We had our first tour of the ruins that morning, then took a break for lunch. While we were at lunch the Celebrity group arrived. We had a second trip to the ruins in the afternoon, which was leisurely, since we did not have to take the train back that day (the Celebrity group did). Spent the night in Aguas Calientes at a decent hotel, got up the next morning and returned to MP (our plan was to hike up Huayna Picchu but was too wet). Took the afternoon train back to Cuzco. I guess we had a total of about 8 hours or so at the ruins, which is enough. The nice thing was not having to rush due to limited timing.

I can't say that it is always that way, but for us the whole process was seamless, took a minimum of planning time and was very rewarding. We never even considered the Celebrity add-on (and it has increased a lot since we passed on it, now adding about $11,000 to an already expensive trip). We loved the experience but no way it is worth $25,000 for a 15 day trip.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes on the train around 9 as I recall (cause we left really early). We had our first tour of the ruins that morning, then took a break for lunch. While we were at lunch the Celebrity group arrived. We had a second trip to the ruins in the afternoon, which was leisurely, since we did not have to take the train back that day (the Celebrity group did). Spent the night in Aguas Calientes at a decent hotel, got up the next morning and returned to MP (our plan was to hike up Huayna Picchu but was too wet). Took the afternoon train back to Cuzco. I guess we had a total of about 8 hours or so at the ruins, which is enough. The nice thing was not having to rush due to limited timing.

 

I can't say that it is always that way, but for us the whole process was seamless, took a minimum of planning time and was very rewarding. We never even considered the Celebrity add-on (and it has increased a lot since we passed on it, now adding about $11,000 to an already expensive trip). We loved the experience but no way it is worth $25,000 for a 15 day trip.

Thanks for this information. Really appreciate it. Do you remember the name of the hotel in Aquas Calientes? Not sure if this site permits any of that kind of information - apologize in advance if I'm breaking any rules.

No problems mentioning hotels. If I could remember the name of the one where we stayed...:confused:

Hi all,

 

Doing the 15 night Galapagos & Machu Picchu add on in March and in light of recent comments on this thread did check out a 'like for like' costing. There really isn't much in it. So for seamless transfers and peace of mind we're looking forward to all that Celebrity has to offer.....:cool:

How was your trip? We are doing this in July and am now counting down the weeks. We decided on the Celebrity add on because they were offering $1000 per person rebate if we booked through ChoiceAir, and when I looked at booking the same Peru days with like lodging and sightseeing, it was very close in cost. I am expecting Celebrity to be seamless.

The Peru add on was fab.

14 of us continued from the celebrity xpedition. We stayed in great hotels and the guides that travelled with us were also great. Was better by increasing the add on to the six nights. Any specific questions you have fire away....

Make sure u have travel insurance that covers Earthquakes and volcano eruptions! Currently have 2 volcanoes that are active....the closest 1 to Quito..Cotopaxi is only 50 km away and their are many scenarios on what can take place if it does erupt, Right now only gas and ash coming out,. There is another Volcano further to the south that has been active since 1999 and had an eruption earlier in the year and possibly more in the future! Cotopaxi they say has a 60% chance of erupting within the next 6 months,and they say 80% within the next year, but only guesses, could happen today or years down the road! Could be a slow and peaceful eruption, or total chaos! Good times!

This is excellent information; thanks so much for sharing about the extra insurance...:)

Do most people that do Machu Picchu on their own generally do it after the cruise?

Is it easy to get a hotel to stay in Village of Aguas Calientes? Are hotels there reasonably priced for a half decent hotel?

How long is the tour that most people do? 2 days?

We are doing the 10 day package in July which includes a 2 night stay at JW Marriott before cruise starts, which includes transfers to the hotel. One problem is that we are arriving there now on Thursday afternoon rather then Friday when we get the transfers does anybody know if JW Marriott has transfers from Airport to hotel? Or what is the best way for us to get to Hotel from Airport on that Thursday afternoon. We have booked the additional night stay (Thursday) on our own.

We are doing the 10 day package in July which includes a 2 night stay at JW Marriott before cruise starts, which includes transfers to the hotel. One problem is that we are arriving there now on Thursday afternoon rather then Friday when we get the transfers does anybody know if JW Marriott has transfers from Airport to hotel? Or what is the best way for us to get to Hotel from Airport on that Thursday afternoon. We have booked the additional night stay (Thursday) on our own.

We arrived early and took a taxi from airport to hotel for $25 USD.

A certain online agency is offering a special on the 10 day Galapagos package if you book with them. It turns out that the price they are asking is exactly the same as the 10 day package if booked directly with Celebrity. As per our past experiences, the "deal" is in the form of extra OBC, in this case $1000 per cabin, However, from what I have heard about Xpedition, there is little to spend the money on as there are no specialty restaurants and drinks are included, as are excursions.

For those who have done the Celebrity Galapagos cruise, did you spend much extra money on board?

I think I know which company you're talking about. We ended up booking the 15 day trip through a big box online TA and they gave us $1850 in the form of a gift card immediately after our trip. We spent less than $100 onboard, so the gift card worked out well for us.

We will be doing the extension in August....so that I may plan accordingly what type of weather will I be experiencing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Our trip was this past Aug, which is winter in Ecuador. During the day temps in Quito were in the low-mid 70's, night time dipped to the high 50's. We mainly wore pants, tshirt, and long sleeved Columbia shirts for layering. The Galapagos were warmer. We mostly wore shorts, tshirt, and long sleeved shirts mainly for UV protection. If we were headed to a snorkel excursion we wore our suits under our clothes. If you continue on to Peru, the temps were similar to Quito. The weather itself was quite nice our entire trip. The only day we had rain was the day we visited Machu Picchyu, and that was a warm day with warm rain.

We did it on our own and wouldn't even consider doing it with the cruise line. Paid 1/3 of what they wanted, nearly 2 full days there instead of an afternoon. Lodging in Aguas Calientes is plentiful and wide range of accommodations (mid range maybe $100 night. Lots of restaurants. Easy to do. Many tour companies will make all the arrangements for you. No need to pay cruise line "bucket list" prices IMHO.

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