Galapagos – WOW! What a trip!!! (Cabin 506)

[goldendaze]

Eliot,

 

I too really appreciate your review as we will be on the 12/5 trip. It's nice to hear about various people's experiences as everyone has a little something extra to contribute.

 

Anyone who is going please report back!

 

Thanks again, glad you had such a good time.

[gdayhoff]

Eliot-----Thanks for your review.Really great.It was because of reviews like your and the others that we have booked the 10 day package for Aug 14,2005.Thanks again.

I have one question that I don't believe was addressed before and that is, what kind of shoes are appropriate for the wet/dry landings.Again, appreciate you views/comments

George

Austin,Tx

[thrpy]

Really happy, ok excited to see another review. I was starting to wonder if everyone else chickened out, didn't make it back or something.

Really glad ya'll had a good time. And to know there are more going THAT ARE GOING TO WRITE ABOUT IT also going before we go in Feb 05.

One question, what kind of transformer (power converter) did you take.

[silver03]

Eliot-

 

Glad to see you had a wonderful time too! I still can't get over this amazing experience (and I talk about it more than my friends and family want to hear! :p ) I hope to go back someday.

[Eliot]

I have one question that I don't believe was addressed before and that is, what kind of shoes are appropriate for the wet/dry landings.

George, For the dry landings most people just worn tennis shoes. For the wet landings most wore Teva's or other kinds of water shoes. Most of the time wet landings are just on sand so it would be possible to just go barefoot and then put on tennis shoes.

 

Hope this helps!

[Eliot]

One question, what kind of transformer (power converter) did you take.

We did have a fabulous time - that's for sure:)

Our room had a transformer, guest relations also has transformers. We attached our transformer to the room transformer anyway. Our transformer is a 220/110. You will need a different plug - a double round.

 

Hope this makes sense!

[Eliot]

Eliot-

 

Glad to see you had a wonderful time too! I still can't get over this amazing experience (and I talk about it more than my friends and family want to hear! :p ) I hope to go back someday.

It was truely wonderful - we'll be talking about it for a long, long time! :D

[Tornach]

I was on this same trip with Eliot and Jodie and had an amazing time as well. I couldn't find anything to add that they haven't covered, this thread combined with Silver's would thoroughly prepare someone for the trip without revealing any of the nice surprises Eliot mentioned.

 

I agree that the absence of a clock in the room is annoying, it is my biggest complaint with the cruise. Waking up in the middle of the night and navigating a pitch-black room that also happens to be rocking to shine a flashlight on a phone so I don't wake up my brother is not my favorite way of finding out how much more sleep time I have. I recommend at least a watch with indiglo on your bedstand.

 

Regarding the water temperature for snorkeling, the wetsuit is very nice as the temperatres always felt colder than we were told they were, but as was mentioned previously it was not cold enough to deter most people from getting in the water. Even though I missed the first extreme snorkeling excursion, the coolest stuff I saw on the trip was underwater, and I wasn't about to miss more just because it was a little chilly.

 

Don't let the high intensity excursions scare you off as most of the time they allow you to see much more than the lower intensities, and the guides do stop a lot to explain about flora, fauna, geology or local history and it was not uncommon to see a few canes being used in the groups, which are available on the ship. My 70+ year old grandfather joined us on all the high intensity excursions even though he has a bad back, and had so much fun on all the hikes that even if he was experiencing difficulties I never once heard a complaint from him, even when taking those 300+ steps up that hill.

 

I plan on returning to the islands someday after I get my scuba certification, it truly is an amazing place.

 

Great review, and glad you made it home safe Jodie and Eliot!

 

Scott

[Eliot]

Hey Scott - Good to hear from you!! We so enjoyed spending time with your whole family - you're a fun group!!! Glad you made it home safe and survived your lay-over in Seattle :). Say hi to your Dad, brother, and grandfather for us!

 

Cheers,

Jodie and Eliot

[goldendaze]

Tornach & Eliot,

 

Anyone have any scuba info? Were there many chances to dive? Any reports from fellow travelers if the diving was worth freezing for? Any input would be great. Thanks.

[Tornach]

What I heard on the ship was that there were only 3 people who wanted to scuba and they were looking for a fourth to do the trip. I know that the opportunity was available, but I'm not certified so I don't have too much info on that. I talked with some naturalists and I know that there are a lot of smaller boats that concentrate more on scuba, I heard they do 3 dives a day with an optional night dive. With over 50 dive sites, there is plenty of places to go. This cruise probably isn't the best choice if you want to scuba, but it could be that they would make more scuba trips if there were more people interested.

 

I'm not trying to steal your thread Eliot! :)

[Eliot]

I'm not trying to steal your thread Eliot! :)

Not my thread at all - the more the merrier!! Hmmm.... maybe we'll need a cruise reunion. (I miss hearing you guys knocking on your dad's door :) )

[Tornach]

Haha, when my brother and I knocked on our dad's door we came to expect seeing you two popping out of your cabin before we ever got let in to our dad's. :) And FYI to anyone cruising with Eliot and Jodie, at dinner just listen for the extremely loud bursts of laughter every few minutes and that will guide you to them.:D I remember the dinner I spent with them, but not the food. :)

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention to prospective cruisers that for lunch I found the beagle grill to be far more my speed. They server burgers, hotdogs and pizza there, and the burgers were great, the pizza was good, and I didnt try the hotdogs, but it's hard to screw those up.

 

Since I'm writing I should illuminate the beer situation on ship because I forgot earlier and I wanted to know before I left, but there was no info. There is only one draft beer and that is Pilsner. No, not the type of beer, thats the brand name, and it is pretty good, althought the tap was broken the entire cruise, so I drank US beers mostly (boring!). They have heineken, budweiser, amstel, and I forget what else. It's a fairly large selection, and you can always get a mixed drink made, and there are many more options for those.

 

Well, here is another of my lengthy posts that contain little information, enjoy!

[Eliot]

I remember the dinner I spent with them, but not the food. :)

Likewise - Eliot and I are were just talking about the fact that we really regretted not having had more dinners with you guys - that was a very fun dinner!!

 

By the way, Tornach and family are a great example of who this cruise is just wonderful for (pardon the sentence structure) - grandfather, dad, and two grown sons. They all seemed to really being enjoying spending time together. We all thought that seemed just wonderful for all of them (despite the disparity in cabins:) )

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention to prospective cruisers that for lunch I found the beagle grill to be far more my speed. They server burgers, hotdogs and pizza there, and the burgers were great, the pizza was good, and I didnt try the hotdogs, but it's hard to screw those up.

I second that - loved the pizza! Eliot loved the hamburgers. Salads were pretty good too. And I just loved being outside for lunch.

[Tornach]

We all thought that seemed just wonderful for all of them (despite the disparity in cabins:) )

Haha! As much as my brother and I complained about our cabin (315) to our dad, I really have no complaints. It isn't much smaller than the cabins on deck 5, It just lacks the balcony, and we just used our dad's to dry our wetsuits and talk with Eliot and Jodie the neighbors mostly. The only thing to be wary of in those cabins in the depths of the ship is the fact that the anchor mechanism was apparently designed to deliver all of it's vibration and noise to our cabin, so as not to disturb the passengers who paid their own way through the cruise :). I have to applaude the captain and the schedule however, the anchor never rose or fell while we were sleeping, I mostly heard it while taking showers in the morning or in the evening before bed, and it is virtually silent outside of our cabin. :)

 

You won't have much time in your cabin anyway as the ship activities will keep you more than occupied. I only used the cabin to sleep, nap, and occasionaly snooze, and enjoy a few documentaries and Andy Griffith episodes. I recommend the crocodile hunter galapagos episode on channel 1, it was the best I saw. There are some board games in the lounge including monopoly, pictionary, scrabble and chess. I don't think it's possible to be bored.

 

I would have liked to have more dinners with you also Jodie and Eliot, but you had a long line of people who wanted to see what all the laughter was about, including the captain for some reason... :) I'm up for a reuinion cruise, just convince my dad to pay for it!

[SheilaNC]

We took the plunge and booked for the 10 day trip in March starting on the 25th (cruising 27-April 2). Which activitie are included in Quito. We will be there for 2 extra days prior to the Celebrity pkg and don't want to do any ones that are included. Also, how safe were the streets at night? Some Web sites indicate that there is a fair amount of crime at night. We will have 3 extra days (to use freq flyer tcts). Also, do most people speak only Spanish. We only know a few words and were wondering if we should learn some more.

Thanks again

Sheila

[Eliot]

[quote name='spengle']Which activitie are included in Quito. We will be there for 2 extra days prior to the Celebrity pkg and don't want to do any ones that are included. Also, how safe were the streets at night? Some Web sites indicate that there is a fair amount of crime at night. We will have 3 extra days (to use freq flyer tcts). Also, do most people speak only Spanish. We only know a few words and were wondering if we should learn some more.[/QUOTE]Great! We had an all day bus/walking tour of the city. We went to the Winged Virgin statue (you can see it on Quito Cam [url="http://www.earthcam.com/southamerica/ecuador/quito/"]http://www.earthcam.com/southamerica/ecuador/quito/[/url]). In the Old City, we went through several chuches and Squares in the Old City. We went to the equator - fun! We had lunch outside of town at the side of an old volcano. A nice thing to do if you had time would be to hire a driver and go to Otavalo. It's supposed to be a wonderful, huge, open air market a couple hours out of town.

We didn't go out at night so I don't know. We did walk around a little going to the market in the park and it seemed fine around the hotel. It seemed like most people spoke only Spanish - a phrase book might be a good idea. Scott may have some thoughts on this as well.

You'll love the trip!

[Missabby]

Can one of you expand on the cabins in terms of closet and dresser space? We are booked on the April-May 2004 cruise. The eBrochure that Celebrity puts out shows little detail in this area concerning the lower staterooms -- it shows beds, nightstand, chairs, desk and maybe a small table -- that's about it. Where is the storage space for our stuff?

BTW - we learned long ago to bring a travel alarm clock and small neon night light to plug in the bathroom at night.

We can't wait for this cruise!! And thanks all for the great review and the additional info.

Jeff & Suzanne

[patlanta]

Thanks so much for posting your review. You did a fine job. It renewed our enthusiasm in looking forward to our July '05 Xpedition. I hope there aren't too many children.

I'll have to hunt up my tinest Timex (about the size of a 50 cent piece) and get it restarted. I am trying so hard to achieve the 30 # limit.

[FastFreddie]

Patlanta,

When in July are you going we're on the 24 July sailing I believe.

FF

[Tornach]

Missabby, If you saw the beds and nightstand you pretty much saw the whole cabin haha. But there is some closet space next to the bathroom, at least in my cabin, #315, I know the layouts differ. There were two closets where you could hang stuff, between my brother and I there was space left over although we didnt bring a lot of clothes that needed to be hung up, about 4 shirts a couple pairs of pants and a jacket each. The closets were split in half, one side for hanging, the other side had 3 or 4 shelves, and one closet had the safe in it, taking up a shelf. The nightstand had two drawers in it if I remember correctly, but we didnt use them. There is a plastic mat in the cabin that they provide that says "put your luggage on me" or words to that effect, we ignored it since we had no idea what purpose it served, but the next time we returned to our cabin our luggage was on that mat on the floor, so we just left it there. The space in our desk was taken up by the mini-fridge and some glasses that we never used. I dont think there was any other space in the room that could be used. Hope this helps.

[Tornach]

Patlanta, I forgot to mention in the last post that I heard from one of the staff on the cruise, I forget who, that the 30lb limit on the flight to Baltra is a legacy rule from when they used a smaller plane to get there. I know my dad's suitcase was far heavier as I had to carry it a few times and nobody ever said anything. I'm not an authority though, you might want to double check this with celebrity.

[ppard]

[quote name='curisergal']Eliot, Thanks so much for your detailed review. We are booked for the Dec. 5th cruise which has us leaving on the 3rd for Quinto. Will be in cabin 501. Did anyone in your group have trouble with the altitude at Quinto? Did you do any touring around Quinto? Do you think the beach snorkels would be ok for beginners? I do not handle the deep water with lots of wave action very well. Went once in Hawaii but hung onto our guides body board and it was still very rough. Really looking forward to seeing so many different animals.
Mary Ann[/QUOTE]
We, too, are scheduled on the December 5 cruise and will be in cabin 502! Looks like we willb e neighbors. Looking forward to meeting you.

[Cruisergal1208]

ppard,
Yep, it looks like we will be across the hall from each other. We are Mary Ann and Tom, in our 60's, retired and traveling every chance we get. There was a thread on our cruise date but I think it got buried way back for lack of postings. Maybe more fellow cruisers will start posting soon. Each review just builds our anticipation!!
Look forward to meeting you.
Mary Ann

[goldendaze]

curisergal & ppard,

Count us in for the Dec 5 sailing. We'll be in cabin 4something. Can't remember now but I hope it's not a senior moment cause we are 40 somethings who have also been bit by the travel bug! I am really looking forward to this trip and have been stockpiling compact flash cards for the digital camera as everyone says that the photo ops are fabulous. Lets hope the reviews keep coming.

Dara & Andy