Celebrity Xpedition runs aground in Galapagos

[sippican]

48 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

I just saw a picture of the Xpedition on the rocks.  This really doesn't look good. (you may not like the source, but it's a good picture)

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com

 

 

It's really hard to tell from the picture.  All reports are that it was stuck on a sandbar, even though it may appear it struck rocks.  No damage to the hull. Now i guess they need to figure out why power was lost.

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder how this happened or if this is the entire story.  We went to the Galapagos a few years ago and when the passengers were off the ship on excursions, the ship was anchored.  If the ship was anchored, even a complete loss of power should not have been a problem.

You do make a very good point.  Perhaps the anchor did not hold in very windy conditions and swift currents?  We will probably never know.  Even if the anchor required power to lower it one would think there would be a fully manual mode too.

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, sippican said:

 

 

It's really hard to tell from the picture.  All reports are that it was stuck on a sandbar, even though it may appear it struck rocks.  

 

Maybe it's on a sandbar but don't see any sand along the shoreline, only rocks.  Hopefully the reports are correct that there is minimal hull damage.

[sippican]

28 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

You do make a very good point.  Perhaps the anchor did not hold in very windy conditions and swift currents?  We will probably never know.  Even if the anchor required power to lower it one would think there would be a fully manual mode too.

 

I tend to agree that we will probably never know.

On the Facebook Celebrity Captain's Club page regarding the incident, the moderator has turned  off commenting, and most comments have been removed. Another wonderful example of good communication and transparency!

[Phxazzcruisers]

4 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder how this happened or if this is the entire story.  We went to the Galapagos a few years ago and when the passengers were off the ship on excursions, the ship was anchored.  If the ship was anchored, even a complete loss of power should not have been a problem.

It is very dependent on the tides.  We were on Millenium a few years ago when it was anchored off of Monte Carlo.  The tide came in earlier than expected and we sailed into the shore damaging the propellers when the Captain tried to move the ship.  The anchor itself does not hold the ship in place, it is the weight of the chain and how much chain is let out.  It a high tide came in unexpected, it could happen.

[StartrainDD]

We are anxiously waiting on news as we are set to sail in two weeks.  We certainly feel like we've been through the wringer on this "Trip of a lifetime."  First the license issue, then the unrest, now this.  Vacation anticipation is supposed to relieve stress, not build it.

 

Next week (11-9 sailing) is canceled.  Are they expecting to be all good by the 16th?  We sail on the 23rd and have a full agenda pre (one day pre) and post cruise planned.  If we need to make changes every day makes it harder to adapt.

[paulekrause]

This all makes me sad for both passengers and crew. We were on board last week and it was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. Booked the 10day package and used Celebrity air. RT from Newark was $1,400 but Celebrity then took off $2,000 from the cruise for booking air with them. It did make everything so simple and Celebrity service start to finish, on land and sea is unmatched. The ship itself, now with only 48 passengers is excellent. We feel sad for the wonderful crew of the Xpedition who became like family during our short time with them.. Can’t imagine Celebrity keeping all the servers and stewards on board while they work this all out. The naturalists were incredible as was the rest of the crew. We couldn’t leave our room without coming back to everything folded..... including the lens cleaning cloth in our glasses case! Captain Jorge was wonderful and I can’t say enough about cruise director Dora.  Hoping they all get through this without too much difficulty.

[jamacka]

21 hours ago, SoCalTraveler said:

 

I was first alerted by a post on Cruise Critic last night at about 7:55 p.m. PST.  Our TA called Celebrity immediately.  Things were still up in the air.  We packed and loaded the car.  While driving in, I was called by Celebrity at about 9:30 a.m. PST.  At that time, it was uncertain if Celebrity had another ship available for some of us.  At 2:30 p.m., I called Celebrity and was advised that the cruise was cancelled and the other ship would not sail.

 You were to be on the Saturday sailing, right?   We were also booked on that sailing but we gt a call from Celebrity a couple of months ago for a free upgrade to Flora which sails on Sunday.. which we took.  I hope you get duly compensated.  Maybe we'll see you on Flora on Sunday?

[jamacka]

12 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I wonder how this happened or if this is the entire story.  We went to the Galapagos a few years ago and when the passengers were off the ship on excursions, the ship was anchored.  If the ship was anchored, even a complete loss of power should not have been a problem.

 

 

My understanding is that the ships use GPS to stay put and not anchors as anchors damage the seabed.  Most of Celebrity's ship do this when at tender.  They set the coordinates and the engines maintain it automatically.  Or maybe in the case of the Xpedition, the bridge crew had to hold position manually.  But I do believe that the use of anchors in the Galapagos is not strongly recommended practice.  Certainly the Flora does it that way.  So a complete loss of power would easily account for it drifting toward the rocks.

[paulekrause]

1 hour ago, jamacka said:

 

 

My understanding is that the ships use GPS to stay put and not anchors as anchors damage the seabed.  Most of Celebrity's ship do this when at tender.  They set the coordinates and the engines maintain it automatically.  Or maybe in the case of the Xpedition, the bridge crew had to hold position manually.  But I do believe that the use of anchors in the Galapagos is not strongly recommended practice.  Certainly the Flora does it that way.  So a complete loss of power would easily account for it drifting toward the rocks.

Believe me they do use the anchors on the Xpedition. We woke up to the sound of them dropping every morning

[flora_123]

13 hours ago, sippican said:

 Having experienced Xpedition, we feel no need to pay the high cost to try Flora. 

 

I respectfully disagree 🙂  Having experienced the Flora... it was amazing and gorgeous. so many details worked so well.  Just for the nice easy-mode zodiacs... (6 of them) not to mention the huge expansive marina... the high naturalist/passenger ratio (~1:10)... the smooth ride... the elevator

 

Spent a lot more time than expected on the ship... always a few hours here and there.  Having a nice room and super nice bathroom was pleasant.

Edited November 8, 2019 by flora_123

[SoCalTraveler]

1 hour ago, jamacka said:

 You were to be on the Saturday sailing, right?   We were also booked on that sailing but we gt a call from Celebrity a couple of months ago for a free upgrade to Flora which sails on Sunday.. which we took.  I hope you get duly compensated.  Maybe we'll see you on Flora on Sunday?

We were not switched to the flora.  We are currently at MIA picking up our bags for a cruise tomorrow out of ft lauderdale.  I’ll post later about what celebrity offered, how the offer changed, and how no o e has called back.  

[critterchick]

52 minutes ago, flora_123 said:

 

I respectfully disagree 🙂  Having experienced the Flora... it was amazing and gorgeous. so many details worked so well.  Just for the nice easy-mode zodiacs... (6 of them) not to mention the huge expansive marina... the high naturalist/passenger ratio (~1:10)... the smooth ride... the elevator

 

Spent a lot more time than expected on the ship... always a few hours here and there.  Having a nice room and super nice bathroom was pleasant.

 

I‘m sure Flora is a big upgrade over Xpedition, and if we had booked a suite on Xpedition we would have upgraded to Flora during the summer BOGOHO promo. But we are content with our OV and $5k in our pockets.  And the stairs are good for me!

 

[jamacka]

49 minutes ago, SoCalTraveler said:

We were not switched to the flora.  We are currently at MIA picking up our bags for a cruise tomorrow out of ft lauderdale.  I’ll post later about what celebrity offered, how the offer changed, and how no o e has called back.  

OMG.. i hope they offered you an amazing deal for your loss of the Galapagos cruise because one day on a Caribbean cruise is definitely NOT equivalent to one day in Galapagos.  The two are not interchangeable.   

 

My motto in life is "You gotta fight for your right to party"  (aka. make sure get what you're happy with what they give you)

[PhoenixCruiser]

1 hour ago, SoCalTraveler said:

We were not switched to the flora.  We are currently at MIA picking up our bags for a cruise tomorrow out of ft lauderdale.  I’ll post later about what celebrity offered, how the offer changed, and how no o e has called back.  

 

Really hope that Celebrity is being more than fair to you.

 

Enjoy your substitute cruise.

[sippican]

8 hours ago, flora_123 said:

 

I respectfully disagree 🙂  Having experienced the Flora... it was amazing and gorgeous. so many details worked so well.  Just for the nice easy-mode zodiacs... (6 of them) not to mention the huge expansive marina... the high naturalist/passenger ratio (~1:10)... the smooth ride... the elevator

 

Spent a lot more time than expected on the ship... always a few hours here and there.  Having a nice room and super nice bathroom was pleasant.

 

Welcime to Cruise Critic!

Have you been on Xpedition? 

I am sure Flora is absolutely luxurious. My two friends just returned a few days ago after hearing me rave endlessly about our trip last fall. 

I will stick by my opinion, that there is no way I am willing to spend double for Flora, ($24,000 vs $12,000 for a ten day trip)  Heck, I can return to the Galapagos again for those savings!  We were perfectly happy on Xpedition. A trip to the Galapagos is all about the experiences interacting with the destination. I am glad you were pleased with the ship.  It’s not that we don’t like to splurge on comfort either; we book suites occasionally when cruising, and love to fly business class when possible. 

FWIW, at this time, the staff to cruiser ratio is actually higher on Xpedition, and there is more square fototage per passenger due to the passenger limit of 48. 

[dani negreanu]

29 minutes ago, sippican said:

A trip to the Galapagos is all about the experiences interacting with the destination.

 

I couldn't agree more. Still dreaming of doing another trip there....

[George C]

12 hours ago, flora_123 said:

 

I respectfully disagree 🙂  Having experienced the Flora... it was amazing and gorgeous. so many details worked so well.  Just for the nice easy-mode zodiacs... (6 of them) not to mention the huge expansive marina... the high naturalist/passenger ratio (~1:10)... the smooth ride... the elevator

 

Spent a lot more time than expected on the ship... always a few hours here and there.  Having a nice room and super nice bathroom was pleasant.

The number of naturalist/passengers is set by the island from what celebrity told us  and while the ship and suites looked amazing it seemed you had very little time on ship because of the very long daily excursions. I sure it was a amazing vacation.

[flora_123]

4 hours ago, George C said:

The number of naturalist/passengers is set by the island from what celebrity told us  and while the ship and suites looked amazing it seemed you had very little time on ship because of the very long daily excursions. I sure it was a amazing vacation.

 

The regulation is that you have to have one naturalist per 16 tourists.  That's why a lot of the cruise boats/ships in the area have passenger counts in multiples of 16.  But that means all 16 have to go on the same excursion at the same activity level.

 

I don't ask how many naturalists they currently are using for the xpedition, but the benefit with the flora with having 90-100 passengers and 9-10 naturalists is that they can do 3 different excursions at differing activity levels, and keep all the groups around 10-13 people, and not really have number restrictions on the 3 differing excursions (only restriction is they only have 8 2-people kayaks).  So you get a more intimate experience on the islands with a smaller group, and you get something tailored to your activity level.

 

I thought I would have less time on the ship reading reports than what I ended up with.  I felt like I spent a significant amount of time in my stateroom and so enjoyed the nice size and nice bathroom.  There's quite a bit of down time, like a couple hours here, couple hours there, and I think I was in the room quite a bit.  I mean, definitely less than on a caribbean cruise or something, but way more than say a land tour.  I felt like I got a lot of utility out of my stateroom.  Also the internet worked a lot better than I thought it would.  Could stream youtube.

 

ps. the zodiac with a ramp and stairs is amazing. The embarking and disembarking process on everything was a breeze.  Getting into the zodiac after snorkeling as well.  Especially for limited mobility.

[StartrainDD]

If there are any updates on the status of the Xpedition, please post!  We've heard the 11-9 cruise was canceled.  We are on 11-23 and would love an update!  Saw an article about the ship needing repairs to "Ballast tanks," not at all sure what that means.

Thank you!

[sippican]

1 hour ago, flora_123 said:

 

The regulation is that you have to have one naturalist per 16 tourists.  That's why a lot of the cruise boats/ships in the area have passenger counts in multiples of 16.  But that means all 16 have to go on the same excursion at the same activity level.

 

I don't ask how many naturalists they currently are using for the xpedition, but the benefit with the flora with having 90-100 passengers and 9-10 naturalists is that they can do 3 different excursions at differing activity levels, and keep all the groups around 10-13 people, and not really have number restrictions on the 3 differing excursions (only restriction is they only have 8 2-people kayaks).  So you get a more intimate experience on the islands with a smaller group, and you get something tailored to your activity level.

 

I thought I would have less time on the ship reading reports than what I ended up with.  I felt like I spent a significant amount of time in my stateroom and so enjoyed the nice size and nice bathroom.  There's quite a bit of down time, like a couple hours here, couple hours there, and I think I was in the room quite a bit.  I mean, definitely less than on a caribbean cruise or something, but way more than say a land tour.  I felt like I got a lot of utility out of my stateroom.  Also the internet worked a lot better than I thought it would.  Could stream youtube.

 

ps. the zodiac with a ramp and stairs is amazing. The embarking and disembarking process on everything was a breeze.  Getting into the zodiac after snorkeling as well.  Especially for limited mobility.

 

Great information. Although the Park regulations are 16 guests to each naturalist, Celebrity committed to have no more than 12 per naturalist as a selling point on Flora.  During  our trip on Xpedition, we had multiple options each morning and evening. No  one was ever turned away from an activity as they allotted the guides based on the number of participants. They even custom tailored activities to meet the needs or wants of cruisers (one woman had her own personal guided zodiac ride one afternoon). The groups never exceeded 16, but usually were smaller in number. I'm not sure how they are managing with 48 passengers.

 

The internet was upgraded during Xpedition's last drydock and worked very well.

 

The new zodiacs sound amazing!

 

I am not taking  exception to your opinion of Flora, there is no argument that she's the crown jewel of the Galapagos! I am simply pointing these things out for those who may be trying to decide between Flora and Xpedition.

 

You may wish to continue your general discussion of Flora here: 

 

 

[hillslife]

1 hour ago, StartrainDD said:

If there are any updates on the status of the Xpedition, please post!  We've heard the 11-9 cruise was canceled.  We are on 11-23 and would love an update!  Saw an article about the ship needing repairs to "Ballast tanks," not at all sure what that means.

Thank you!

Ditto.. we are on 11/28 .. so any news would be appreciated!   Thank you

[jakkojakko]

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/celebrity-xpedition-refloated-in-the-galapagos/

 

Nov. 8 update: A tugboat is scheduled to arrive Nov. 12, and experts and divers are on site assessing how to safely tow the vessel to a yard. The company has made no decision on the next cruise.

After running aground Tuesday night in the Galápagos, Celebrity Xpedition is afloat and ‘safely at anchor,’ Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 hours ago, jakkojakko said:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/celebrity-xpedition-refloated-in-the-galapagos/

 

Nov. 8 update: A tugboat is scheduled to arrive Nov. 12, and experts and divers are on site assessing how to safely tow the vessel to a yard. The company has made no decision on the next cruise.

After running aground Tuesday night in the Galápagos, Celebrity Xpedition is afloat and ‘safely at anchor,’ Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said.

 

Thanks for the update, this sounds like a trip back to the mainland for repairs.  It doesn't sound good for sailing anytime soon.🙁

[StartrainDD]

4 hours ago, jakkojakko said:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/celebrity-xpedition-refloated-in-the-galapagos/

 

Nov. 8 update: A tugboat is scheduled to arrive Nov. 12, and experts and divers are on site assessing how to safely tow the vessel to a yard. The company has made no decision on the next cruise.

After running aground Tuesday night in the Galápagos, Celebrity Xpedition is afloat and ‘safely at anchor,’ Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said.

What I find most unsettling (but this is par for the course as they did the same thing with the license issue) is that Celebrity / RCCL is simply not honest.  From the article:  "Royal Caribbean said. ‘As we assess the condition of Xpedition and implement contingency plans, we will keep our guests informed regarding any cancellations or revised itineraries.’

 

We have not heard a word.  T/A can't help, they just say "It's still on."  Galapagos desk hasn't been able to tell us anything.  If we are NOT going to the Galapagos we need to know sooner rather than later!  Our time off is locked in and we need time for a "Plan B."  (not to mention canceling arrangements made outside of the Celebrity package!)

 

We are supposed to leave in eleven days (and of course, there is one cruise yet before ours that has not yet been canceled).  UGH!