Tammy Trip Reports | Day 2 – I May Love Small Ships

14 Mar

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Day 2 – I May Love Small Ships

We woke up at 7 am and got ready. We had to take a Covid test after breakfast! Yikes!

It was not fun. Plus it was nerve-wracking since we were already in Ecuador!

They said they would call our room if we failed. I told Stephen not to answer the phone under any circumstances. Ha!

The view from our room:

They gave us these water bottles to use during the trip –

But we were good! Everyone was!

We met up with our group in the lobby and got on the bus. Diego told us it was the last time we would be in this particular group and we all said – awwww! Because we really did like our group!

We got to the airport and through security. It was pretty easy since they brought all our big luggage for us! Because we were on a charter flight, we weren’t regulated by liquid sizes in our carry-ons. We were, however, still not allowed to bring scissors in our carry on and I forgot mine was in a toiletries bag. So they took it!

Dang it! I liked those scissors!

I had forgotten eyeliner and a belt, so I shopped a little in the airport. Found them! And then we were delayed again. So they gave us all snacks!

Fact – snacks make everything better.

We finally boarded the charter flight. It was only Celebrity Flora guests onboard! That was pretty cool.

They put each couple on a row of three with a seat in between. There was no first class, but we realized that the nicest rooms were up front, and there was definitely a little more leg room up there.

Let me be clear, all the rooms onboard were beautiful! But there were a few suites, and the Infinite verandahs were a little more than standard verandahs.

We’re off!

We had a light lunch onboard.

After a short two-hour flight, we were in the Galapagos! They divided us into busses for the short trip to the ship. Here’s my key!

There she is!

As soon as we got off the bus we started seeing wildlife! This was a promising start!

We put on life jackets and boarded zodiacs.

The Flora doesn’t dock anywhere. All guests take zodiacs on and off! Here we go!

Our friends said it felt like we were rockstars arriving. It really did!

We were greeted with champagne and hot towels.

Then someone escorted us to our room.

There were lots of great features, like a water refill station right when you walked in!

There was lots of closet space behind the bed!

Our beautiful room had a tub!

Welcome snacks!

Bottled Coke Zero in the fridge? Heaven.

We also got nice backpacks!

There were very nice binoculars in the room (or field glasses as Stephen likes to call them because he is apparently 100 years old) for us to use during the trip too! As well as lip balm, sunscreen, etc. Celebrity definitely took care of us!

More champagne.

Here’s the Infinity Verandah –

We loved our room!! It was so pretty!

We were in a Premium Sky Suite with Infinite Verandah.

Here’s a video link

Next we went up top to check in for the muster.

Most everyone was eating a bigger lunch, but we weren’t really hungry so we walked around.

Wasn’t hungry? What?

I should mention that I had emergency gallbladder removal surgery 14 days before we arrived in the Galapagos! I asked the surgeon if I could go, and they said yes! PHEW.

I also asked if I could get in the ocean, because that was important too! Again, the answer was yes! I was relieved for sure! But my appetite hadn’t come back in full yet, and I was still avoiding most sugar and fried food. Which, if you’ve read my trip reports, you know those are my two main food groups! So that was hard! But I struggled through that difficult period. 🙂

The ship was so beautiful. I absolutely loved the size. It felt luxurious, like a mega-yacht. The crew learned our names quickly, and everyone was so friendly.

This was an observation lounge with games and books.

Bird!

On the aft, up top, there was a hot tub and the glamping tents!

Glamping!

I knew I wanted to do that.

Here’s a little walkabout video:

We went down to sign up for glamping because I knew they could sell out.

We passed the restaurant –

And lounge!

They warned us that glamping may be windy this time of year, so they wanted us to eat dinner under the stars the night before to make sure we enjoyed that. So we signed up for that as well!

There was a little store downstairs –

As well as a lab of activities.

Then we went to the lounge to hear a naturalist talk about our trip.

We were the first people there!

We learned what the process would be like over the next few days. Each evening before dinner, we would meet in the lounge and hear about the next day. They described each available activity for the next day, and then we signed up for what we wanted. None of them would fill up, they just wanted to make sure they allocated the right number of zodiacs and guides for each group.

The next day when we arrived for each activity, we would go sign up for the next zodiac. The zodiacs carried 10-12, so if you wanted to be in the same group with someone, you just arrived at the same time to sign up, or let them know you wanted to be with another group.

They did a really good job of describing each option. If anything, they oversold how hard some things would be. They definitely didn’t want someone going on an excursion they couldn’t do.

We went upstairs, unpacked, and then they called us by room for our snorkel equipment fitting. This was a well-oiled machine. We got our fins, masks, and wetsuits, made sure everything fit, and then stored it in a bag on hangers with our room number. Then every time we used it, we just grabbed the bag!

Super easy!

We went back and changed for dinner after that. This was a super casual cruise! We really didn’t need to change, some people did, and some didn’t.

We had a lovely dinner with some of our group from day 1.