Celebrity Flora - 16 day Galapagos Cruise Tour Air Travel

[shirazcruiser]

We're looking into booking this cruise and wondered if anyone with experience could answer a few questions?  Is the initial flight from Quito to Baltra and back a non-stop contracted flight by Celebrity or is it a commerical flight and how long is it?   The tour indicates the cruise portion concludes with "heading to the Baltra airport for your flight to Quito and on to Lima".   How long long is the layover in Quito before flying to Lima and is the flight to Lima a non-stop?   I just wondered how long the day will be?  Thanks for any info.

[mahdnc]

17 minutes ago, shirazcruiser said:

We're looking into booking this cruise and wondered if anyone with experience could answer a few questions?  Is the initial flight from Quito to Baltra and back a non-stop contracted flight by Celebrity or is it a commerical flight and how long is it?   The tour indicates the cruise portion concludes with "heading to the Baltra airport for your flight to Quito and on to Lima".   How long long is the layover in Quito before flying to Lima and is the flight to Lima a non-stop?   I just wondered how long the day will be?  Thanks for any info.

 

The flights to Baltra and back are special chartered flights. 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

This may help with other questions you may have:

 

 

 

 

[shirazcruiser]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

This may help with other questions you may have:

 

 

Thank you so much for the information!  It is very helpful!  This is a costly trip and I'm trying to do my research so I know what to expect.  

 

 

[mahdnc]

You're welcome. It is a trip of a lifetime emotionally and financially. 

[mahdnc]

One more thing that you might find useful, here is the 2023 Galapagos e-brochure issued by Celebrity:

 

https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/a54ff138#/a54ff138/1 (from Celebrity's trade website)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZGEJrje9nrf1W_kt0u0wjqQG38Kb7izU/view?usp=sharing (downloaded as a PDF)

[wrk2cruise]

The flight to Lima was commercial.   When we went over 10 years ago the charter flight stopped in Guayaquil each way (for fuel/supplies) and for our particular trip to MP we connected there to Lima which was direct on a commercial flight.

[NoeCruz]

We were on Flora in March 2023.  My review on the Flora page may be of help to you.  You will leave the Marriott in Quito at around 8:00 and take a bus to the airport in Quito.  The Celebrity chartered flight to Baltra is on Avianca and is direct and quick, roughly 2.5 hours or so (sorry I don’t remember exactly) and you will receive a meal on the outbound and return.  I seem to remember boarding the ship at around 2:00 or 3:00.  We did not book a tour of Peru so did not go on to Lima post cruise.    Hope this helps

[mahdnc]

8 minutes ago, NoeCruz said:

We were on Flora in March 2023.  My review on the Flora page may be of help to you.  You will leave the Marriott in Quito at around 8:00 and take a bus to the airport in Quito.  The Celebrity chartered flight to Baltra is on Avianca and is direct and quick, roughly 2.5 hours or so (sorry I don’t remember exactly) and you will receive a meal on the outbound and return.  I seem to remember boarding the ship at around 2:00 or 3:00.  We did not book a tour of Peru so did not go on to Lima post cruise.    Hope this helps

 

I have a luggage limit question.  I understand that passengers for the charted plane ride to Baltra are limited to one checked bag (44 lb max) and one carry-on bag not to exceed 17 lb.  In addition to that is there an allowance for a "personal item"--such as a purse or backpack?

 

I think from what I have read is that the carry-on bag weight limit is not rigorously enforced.  Is that correct?  I am asking because my carry-on bag will be containing my camera equipment so it will be heavy although I will have to weigh it to see what it actually is.

[NoeCruz]

This is the document that was provided to us at the Marriott in March 2023 with the luggage restrictions.  Although a personal item is not listed, everyone had one and no one was questioned about it or forced to consolidate it with another bag.  Our hand luggage (carry on/personal item) was not weighed.  I hope this helps!

Edited June 26, 2023 by NoeCruz
Added sail date

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, NoeCruz said:

This is the document that was provided to us at the Marriott with the luggage restrictions.  Although a personal item is not listed, everyone had one and no one was questioned about it or forced to consolidate it with another bag.  Our hand luggage (carry on/personal item) was not weighed.  I hope this helps!

 

This is excellent.  Thank you very much.

[shirazcruiser]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

One more thing that you might find useful, here is the 2023 Galapagos e-brochure issued by Celebrity:

 

https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/a54ff138#/a54ff138/1 (from Celebrity's trade website)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZGEJrje9nrf1W_kt0u0wjqQG38Kb7izU/view?usp=sharing (downloaded as a PDF)

WoW! That was so kind of you to post the brochure.  Thank you! I saved it to my PC. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by shirazcruiser

[shirazcruiser]

Thanks for all the responses!

[RBKL]

23 hours ago, shirazcruiser said:

We're looking into booking this cruise and wondered if anyone with experience could answer a few questions?  Is the initial flight from Quito to Baltra and back a non-stop contracted flight by Celebrity or is it a commerical flight and how long is it?   The tour indicates the cruise portion concludes with "heading to the Baltra airport for your flight to Quito and on to Lima".   How long long is the layover in Quito before flying to Lima and is the flight to Lima a non-stop?   I just wondered how long the day will be?  Thanks for any info.

 

23 hours ago, shirazcruiser said:

We're looking into booking this cruise and wondered if anyone with experience could answer a few questions?  Is the initial flight from Quito to Baltra and back a non-stop contracted flight by Celebrity or is it a commerical flight and how long is it?   The tour indicates the cruise portion concludes with "heading to the Baltra airport for your flight to Quito and on to Lima".   How long long is the layover in Quito before flying to Lima and is the flight to Lima a non-stop?   I just wondered how long the day will be?  Thanks for any info.

We were just on the Flora for the 16 night 2-3 weeks ago. Most of your questions were answered by others. 
 

The day from the Flora to Lima is long. You are it or your room by 8 and leave the ship between 9:30-10 and have a long wait in Baltra - about 2+ hours. The flight to Lima is at about 8 and you get to the Westin at about midnight. You get lounge access in both Baltra and Quito but recommend getting dinner in the Baltra airport. The lounge was okay but not a dinner. You can have dinner  the Westin either in the restaurant or room service provided. Monday doesn’t start until 12 so you can sleep in.

[shirazcruiser]

1 hour ago, RBKL said:

 

We were just on the Flora for the 16 night 2-3 weeks ago. Most of your questions were answered by others. 
 

The day from the Flora to Lima is long. You are it or your room by 8 and leave the ship between 9:30-10 and have a long wait in Baltra - about 2+ hours. The flight to Lima is at about 8 and you get to the Westin at about midnight. You get lounge access in both Baltra and Quito but recommend getting dinner in the Baltra airport. The lounge was okay but not a dinner. You can have dinner  the Westin either in the restaurant or room service provided. Monday doesn’t start until 12 so you can sleep in.

Thanks for the info.  It definitely sounds like a long exhausting day so good to know about grabbing dinner at Baltra airport...but well worth it!

[lakeside42]

Thanks for the great information posted. We are doing the 16 night trip in November 2024. Still a long way off but excited to read the great reviews on the Flora. Definitely a bucket list trip for us, can't wait!

[Shiba_Lover]

Doing the 16 day in October on the Flora. ( was originally doing 10, but last month switched to 16).  Will report back after with any updates.

[texswamper]

8 hours ago, Shiba_Lover said:

Doing the 16 day in October on the Flora. ( was originally doing 10, but last month switched to 16).  Will report back after with any updates.

We will be on the 16 day in October as well.  🙂

[Traveling Fools]

Just a tip for the Machu Picchu portion of your trip.  Consider having your MD prescribe some altitude medication to start taking in advance of your arrival at Cusco.  The altitude there and at Machu Picchu can be an a$$ kicker. While she suffered from altitude sickness in Cusco and had to rely on O2 provided by the hotel, it completely disabled our Peruvian friend and host at Machu Picchu.  They had to carry her out of the site on a stretcher.  It was also very problematic for a friend of mine I worked with in Tokyo who ironically just happened to be in our travel group.

[shirazcruiser]

19 minutes ago, Traveling Fools said:

Just a tip for the Machu Picchu portion of your trip.  Consider having your MD prescribe some altitude medication to start taking in advance of your arrival at Cusco.  

Thanks for the info ....that sounded horrendous for your friend. I plan to ask our GP for Acetazolamid prior to departure.  

[Longing2travel2023]

Traveling Fools...how long did you get to tour Machu Picchu?  Did you have time to explore on your own?  We are considering this tour but want to make sure we have enough time to see it, not just rushed by a guided tour.  And we saw your cruise list.  We are going on the Infinity to Greece next month.