Supplement to Travel Trade
June 2004

Celebrity Xpedition:

Adventure With Amenities

By Marilyn Green

With the advent of its 10th ship, Celebrity Cruises launches a distinctive new product in the Galapagos on June 11: luxury cruising crossed with expedition, a focus made to order for the upcoming cruise market.

Celebrity bills the Celebrity Xpedition as a ship offering premium service amenities coupled with once-in-a-lifetime excursions, but the amenities are closer to the luxury category in many respects. The vessel, built as the Sun Bay in 2001, was bought by Celebrity in 2003.

It feels like a luxury ship, with open seating in the very pleasing Darwin Restaurant and the capability to handle virtually all guests at once in the outdoor Beagles Buffet and Grill, plus outside suites and staterooms, pricing inclusive of wine, beer and liquor (some specialty liquors are additional) and extraordinary food and service.

The combination of this elegance and service and the “trip of a lifetime” destination is expected to have a very strong appeal to baby boomers, who respond to polls with a desire to explore, but with full amenities.

The license Celebrity inherited from Sun Bay’s German operation allows it to sail the Galapagos and ensures that it has no direct competition, as visitation is strictly monitored by the Galapagos Park Service. It is the Galapagos, of course, that will drive the business, and the islands will not disappoint. No amount of film or television coverage adequately conveys the almost heartbreaking beauty of the life there, and the open approach of the animals to humans without fear.

The Galapagos are an incredibly young version of Hawaii, bleak looking at first and encrusted with striations and pockets placed against a turquoise sea. Traveling back in time from the lush Polynesian islands, you see the formation of plant life and, looking more carefully at the rugged cliffs, it becomes clear that they are teeming with life on foot, fin and wing, as well as root. Every fold, crevice and hole, every peak and wave is fluttering with boobies and pelicans, and with seals draped over rocks, peeking from crevices, flopped on beaches and body surfing both in and on the waves.

Above the rocky cliffs it looks as though a mobile of frigate birds has been set in motion as they fly in hypnotic circles, looking like pterodactyls with short necks and split tails. Occasionally, there’s a flash of red as a frigate flies by with his gular pouch inflated, a brilliant scarlet designed to prove his genetic worth to prospective mates.

In the Galapagos’ unique ecosystem, penguins and seals share the spotlight with tortoises and cacti. Blue- and red-footed boobies with absurdly brilliant turquoise and scarlet feet dance a mating ritual that looks like the old black and white pre-war cartoons, and nocturnal swallowtail gulls find their offspring’s waiting beaks marked by each one’s brilliant white spot.

As the ship’s Zodiac crosses the open sea, the green turtles surface briefly, shark fins emerge and the almost metallic flash of a ray’s horn precedes a spectacular double leap into the air.

Brown Noddies ride the heads of pelicans as they dive for food and dolphins and whales enjoy the marine preserve as Sally Lightfoot crabs, resplendent in outrageous red, decorate the pitted cliffs.

Close to the water line are snails, sea anemones and iguanas (two species live on land; one has adapted to stay under the water as long as an hour). And on land there are the models for E.T.: the giant tortoises, including the famous Lonesome George, the last of his kind.

Although there formerly was terrible slaughter in the Galapagos, the trusting animals are carefully protected now. This is as close to the Garden of Eden as we are likely to see in today’s world, and Xpedition guests explore on foot, in Zodiacs and under the sea with the excellent snorkeling equipment provided during the trip by Celebrity.

Coming back to the ship from the heat of the Ecuadorian sun, passengers sigh with pleasure as they are met with icy lemonade and fruit and handed cold moistened towels. The Xpedition’s staterooms, extremely welcoming to returning guests, are rich in wood and very well designed with soft colors.

They have large bathrooms with generous sized showers, and all of them have exterior windows looking out at the amazing islands. There are satellite phones in all staterooms with rates of $7.95 per minute, which proved irresistible to guests on our cruise who couldn’t wait to tell others what they had seen. There are also three internal television channels and a safe in each cabin. Although the water is safe to drink, free bottled water is provided daily.

Passengers are enjoined to take back only memories and leave only footprints. The ship is already environmentally correct, and Royal Caribbean/Celebrity is spending $1 million to make zero impact. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said they hope to turn this into a positive impact through donations to the conservation agencies in the islands.

The Xpedition provides postcards, stamps and souvenirs and medical attention if needed. There are salon services and a massage therapist on board, and a small but very cleverly equipped fitness room plus sauna and jacuzzi. The ship offers laundry service.

The dress code is casual, resort casual at night, and there are two Xpedition trips a day, each offered at various levels of exertion.

On our cruise, passengers moved freely among the levels, although nearly all opted for one of the hikes at the Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. A Galapagos National Park naturalist-guide accompanied groups of 15 people maximum on every excursion.

There is a small library onboard where Darwin’s works and gorgeous coffee table books on the Galapagos share the shelves with games and a substantial array of recent best sellers.

There is an open bridge 24 hours a day and a briefing each night on the next day’s activities and on life in the Galapagos, in addition to wonderful local folk music and dancing brought on board. The main lounge is fitted out with a pair of video screens for films and presentations, and discussions often continued on Deck 5 at Ernesto’s to the accompaniment of relaxing drinks.

The ship is not for the mobility limited, as there are no elevators or wheelchair facilities. Pricing starts at $3,400 per person, double occupancy, for the 11-night packages, which are highly recommended, as the segments of the expedition before and after the Galapagos, in Quito, Ecuador, are not to be missed.

Every public building in Quito, from the airport on, is practically drowned in thousands of the roses that are a major export, and Quito sits in a stunning Andean setting right at the center of the earth. Sculpture, some of it moving and beautiful, some very comical (like the faucet suspended on its water jet), turns up on every corner. The historical center of the city features beautiful theaters, magnificent churches and monasteries and tempting restaurants. Guests shop the markets for the famous woolens and silver jewelry and for sculpture, pre-Columbian artifacts, musical instruments and clothing.

Celebrity makes the whole process quite seamless and smooth, with accommodations at the five-star Marriott in Quito, where the bathrooms could easily contain Manhattan apartments and guests can swim laps in the tubs. The flight from Quito to Baltra by way of Guayaqukil will be a shock to Americans accustomed to minimal services from the airlines. Tame, the Ecuadorian airline, has brand new, beautiful planes and actually serves food on board twice during the 600-mile trip from the mainland to the Galapagos.

It is very difficult to convey the full power of this package. Celebrity takes passengers completely away from their normal world and immerses them in a series of experiences that will make even the most jaded traveler wish there were a little more time.