We had to put the suitcases outside the cabin door Saturday evening, and then we didn't see them, until we arrived at the JW Marriott hotel in Quito Sunday after noon. The suit cases were delivered to our room at the hotel just after arrival.
We had to be out of our cabin at 8AM. Went down to Darwins restaurant for breakfast, and at 9am we got our boarding pass for the Celebrity Charter flight to Quito. Then the pangas were ready to transport us at our last Galapagos panga ride into the Baltra pier. From the pier we continued by by bus the short distance to the airport. Went through security and waited an hour, before for the charter plane departed for Quito. We did have a nice lunch on the 'Celebrity Xpedition' plane on our Balta to Quito flight.
At about 3PM we landed in Quito where we went straight to the buses, that brought us to hotel JW Marriott, a trip of approximately 1 hour. In the evening there was a dinner for all Celebrity guests at the Marriott hotel.
After the Galapagos cruise we stayed 5 days in Quito, from where we have planned some excursions in Ecuador. At the end we did have a 24 hour flight from Quito via Houston, Texas, continued via New York to Copenhagen.
Read the review on the pre- and post-cruise stay in Quito at quito-2013.blogspot.com
We did stay two nights at JW Marriott in Quito prior to the Galapagos cruise.
Read the Quito pre- and post-cruise review here.
Sunday morning we were ready at 7:30 to go to Quito airport, but there was an 'unexpected' marathon in Quito that morning. Much of the city was blocked off, so the buses could not get in to the hotel - we were over an hour late. Luckily it was a AeroGal plane chartered specifically for this Xelebrity cruise, so the plane had to wait. At 11 pm we arrived at the airport and went straight for the charter flights from Quito to Baltra in the Galapagos, - a 2 hours flight.
See the short video: Celebrity Xpedition Flight from Quito to Baltra
Arrived at Baltra Airport and went through immigration. After a short bus ride from the airport to the pier and a short panga ride in a Zodiac rugbber-raft (picture), we were aboard the Celebrity Xpedition (picture below).
Short video: Transfer Baltra Airport to Pier.
The luggage was delivered directly to your cabin, which gave us the opportunity to get lunch and explore the Celebrity Xpedition, a 296-foot megayacht, which will be our home on the tour around the Galapagos Islands.
We have cabin 419 on deck 4 - there are 4 decks with a total of 46 cabins. The cabins at deck 3 and 4 are about 15 m2 and we have to do without a balcony on this cruise, however limited in how much time will want to spend in your cabin during the day time.
Baltra Island or Isla Baltra is a small island of the
Galapagos Islands. Visitors to the Galapagos Archipelago often visit
here first, as this is where the main airport, Seymour Airport, is
situated. Until 1986, Baltra was the only airport serving the Galapagos.
Now one of two airports, most flights operating in and out of Galapagos
still fly into Baltra
After the Galapagos cruise we stayed 5 days in Quito, from where we have planned some excursions in Ecuador. At the end we did have a 24 hour flight from Quito via Houston, Texas, continued via New York to Copenhagen.
