PPPJJ-GCVAB

Coffee cards are on sale right now!  All my cruises show it is $27.99 when typically it is $31.00.  Grab them now!
BUT…typically Black Friday runs a pretty decent price drop on certain things.  I purchased my coffee cards for my upcoming Symphony and Odyssey cruises during BF last year and paid $23.99 per card!   So since your cruise is next year and if you are going to purchase for your kids…pay the $27.99 now but keep checking because you might just get a better price later in this year.

Trip planning
I am the planner in the family.  I thought there would be much to do to plan this.  Boy was I wrong.  Once we figured out the sailing (no brainer based on cost) and airfare options from ATL then we were pretty much set.  Everything is done for you!  One thing to note is Time Zone.  Quito is Central Time always, no DST.  Also Balta is an hour different, but they stay on Quito time.
Flights
There is one flight from ATL to Quito non stop on Delta  (yeah I'm in Atlanta are there other airlines?) which gets us into Quito at 8 pm.  Then off to the hotel a 45 minute ride.
Coming back there is a 1120pm non stop red eye that seems to be popular.  That means you spend the whole day in Quito on an optional paid tour to the Rainforest and then head out to the airport.  You do not have facilities to freshen up before the flight.   We decided on a 9 am flight with a stop over in Miami getting in about 6 pm.  It was a little more expensive but worth it!  The first flight is operated by LATAM a Delta partner so you have to go to their website to select seats after booking.  We book economy for anything under 6 hours since we can snag exit row seating due to status.  During the seat selection we upgraded for 62.00 pp to Premium Economy which gets us off the plan fast and on to customs to catch our next flight.  This also allows for lounge access in Miami during the layover.  For early morning flights they put you at a hotel closer to the airport to avoid the long drive.
Excursions
 
BALTRA (GALAPAGOS) 
GARDNER BAY (ESPAÑOLA) 
SUAREZ POINT, (ESPAÑOLA) 
CORMORANT POINT (FLOREANA) 
BAHIA POST OFFICE (FLOREANA) 
 ESPINOZA POINT, (FERNANDINA) 
VICENTE ROCA POINT (ISABELA) 
SOUTH PLAZA (SANTA CRUZ) 
DAPHNE ISLAND 
DRAGON HILL (SANTA CRUZ) 
 MORENO POINT (ISABELA) 
URVINA BAY (ISABELA)
 PUERTO AYORA (SANTA CRUZ)
These are the islands we are visiting.  Basically, we go to 2 places each day with a morning and afternoon excursion.  They are not on the website but are given each night on the ship and then you pick which ones you want.  I gather there are hiking, kayaking, snorkeling and zodiac tours and a few others available.  This is nice as you dont have to plan anything ahead of time.
Vaccines
They recommend certain vaccines but they are not required.  I ended up getting a MMR because I never had the Mumps vaccine or the Mumps and a Hepatitis A/B shot.  Some people if going to Machu Pichu get yellow fever and typhoid.  
 
That is all the planning I have done at this point.  It was very simple, no scouring for flights,  hotels, Ubers, taxis, restaurants, excursions, drink packages, show planning, embarkation times.  
 

Here is the initial PDF's they send you to prepare.

 
 
 
 




 
 
 

Trip Options
Looking at a Galapagos trip seems to be a different pricing structure than other ships and can be confusing.  The ship is all suites with the Sky suites with balcony cheaper than the suites with infinite verandas.  Many mixed reviews on these.  They do have 2 Royal Suites and 1 Penthouse but the only real difference is you get liquor bottles in your room, get to pick your excursions without waiting in line, a really nice room and I am sure a few other subtle difference.  The max capacity is 100 people.
They offer the  7 day,10, 11 or 16 Day trips.
The 7 day includes only the sailing and no transportation, wifi, tips, drinks.
The 10,11 day includes 2 nights pre cruise hotel and 1-2 nights post cruise, all meals except the first night, transportation to Baltra, an excursion in Quito, transportation to and from airport.  Normally it is the JW Marriott in Quito and a charter flight to Baltra.
The 16 includes all of the above plus Machu Pichu.
With the 10-16 day options depending on the sale you can get a 750.00pp air fare credit if you use Celebrity Air or 500.00pp credit if you book on your own and a Loyalty discount.  Since we are now Zenith we got 750.00pp. Make sure you put in your loyalty number or create one and get the matching status.
One thing to note is you cannot look at airfare on the website.  You have to call to get pricing and book the flights.
Also note that you are required to show proof (if asked) of medical evacuation/medical insurance.  We have an annual policy as well as our primary work insurance.
 
Itinerary
The Galapagos sailings have an Inner Loop and Outer Loop sailing.  Just different destinations, but one isnt any better than the other.
There are also 2 seasons wet and dry.  Once again one isn't any better than the other.  It seems to be a little hotter in the dry season.  Wildlife cycles will change based on the season, so do your research if something interests you.
What we are doing
Since I watch prices daily, if not a few times a day, I noticed over the last year the Celebrity Flora has price reductions after final payment which is 160 days before sailing.  I saw a price reduction about a month ago on the August 10th sailing, I was a decent price so i talked to my husband about going.  He couldn't commit as they lost a big contract and was unsure of his job situation and if he would be allowed part time or not.  I put it on the back burner.  Then lo and behold last week saw another price drop!  This was a sign we had to go!
We opted for the 10 night Outer Loop package. It does add about 2k per person, but you get the air allowance and hotels and meals and transportation.  You could do it a little cheaper if you have airline miles and hotel status (they will honor your status at the hotel to get your benefits), but for once I did not want to plan anything.  All in for 2 people was just a little over 13K.  Had I booked when bookings became available it would have been 12K for 1 person.  I did book a GTY room, but all are suites and there is not a bad room on the ship.  When I looked at my reservation i saw this:

The picture didn't show but it is a photo of the Royal Suites.  There are 2  still available.  One can hope but I do not think it will come true.
The Flora is not on the App, so I can't keep checking.  They do not offer much on extra spending other than Glamping under the stars and spa services so no hounding to pre purchase anything.  
 
 

I love all of the reviews from everyone and I am not that great about live reviews, but there are not too many out there on Galapagos to guide people when doing the Galapagos especially pre cruise and booking.   
As with most people Galapagos is a bucket list trip.  It has been on my radar for a while, but couldn't fit it in. 
We are in our 60's and I do  not work and my husband is getting ready to retire by going part time (which gives us insurance).  He normally is hovering around 0 vacation days so going part time will allow us a little more freedom to travel when something good pops up.
We are not a couple who books years out, that seems to bite us in the butt.  I booked my Pinnacle cruise and then my daughter gets engaged and the wedding is the week of the cruise.  I booked a great deal on Ascent when bookings came out  which now coincides with my niece's wedding.  I booked a Norway cruise with a friend when they came out and her DIL is due with their child.  See a pattern?  I am perfectly content with a 6-9 month booking window.  I scan prices daily almost neurotically and always seem to find reasonable prices on trips which are below what the initial release dates are.
 
 
@twangster did a great review of his sailing on Silver Seas, my photos will not compare, so If you want wildlife photos check his out!
 

Almost single digit time!  😃

Starting to organize what we're taking on this trip. Using a guest room as a staging area! I think we're on target, LOL! 🤣

Us too!  Symphony in June!  Already have JR free breakfast on the itinerary.  Would also like to try their onion rings to compare with Playmakers.  Playmakers onion rings are battered whereas the Johnny Rockets ones looks breaded.  

IMO the onion rings at JR canNOT compete with the onion rings at Playmakers.  PM are much, much batter (see what I did there ??) 🤣

I second that emotion!!
The ORs at Playmakers are among the best I've EVER had. Definitely the best I've ever had at sea. 
 

On fairly short notice couple weeks ago took a casino offer and YOLO booked freedom for next weekend.  just noticed this quirk in her schedule....I realize this is a third party site (cruisemapper) technically but it's usually accurate with tracking - tomorrow May 2 is freedom going to do FLL and MIA in the same day? 
It's techinically possible I guess, but I just found it interesting.

This Is every cruise for us. It is just US! No kids, family, friends...just us.
Every cruise we have had has been immensely relaxing and enjoyable. Sure there are things and times that were not the best, however the overall cruise experience has been great.
OH and 1 more thing that we make a point of is to turn off the phone and lock it in the safe for the entire trip.

Scheduled for Labadee and CocoCay, ended up in Puerta Plata.
I'd seen and read negative things about the ship. Hogwash. Furnishings and colors are aged but she is in great shape considering mileage. Interior Promenade view.  I feel I am in the vast minority on this, but I like these cabins. MDR Dinner was best food we have ever had in MDR. Service there was great as well. After several cruises with subpar food (in MDR), this was huge improvement. Good timing because I decided no dining, excursions, etc on this trip. Booked inside final payment date and wanted to see how it worked 'rawdogging' as the youngs say. MDR Lunch on 2 sea days were the worst meals I have ever been served on a RC ship MDR Breakfast was great. Every day except PDCC (room service). This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. Bar and drink service was ok to really good on ship Viking Crown lounge remains one of my favorite spots on any RC ship Miserable Day at CocoCay. I have never seen it as crowded as it was. Not enjoyable, at all. And we are huge PDCC fans, it is a highlight of our trip typically. Bar service not worth trouble. Voyager and Quantum in port. There were people lying on mats because all the chairs taken in our area on S Beach were taken. I have been there 8 or 10 times and this felt really strange. Never made it to Chill Island but Oasis Lagoon wasn't much better. Group of people with bluetooth speaker the size of two truck batteries didn't help. I will never again assume we can have a good/peaceful day there without spending money. Hopefully it was just a confluence of some odd events I am not aware of. Puerta Plata was fun! Met a nice couple we chatted with for an hour or so, hung out at the pool and did lazy river. I also destroyed my phone but thats another story. Embarkation / disembarkation were cake. Honestly I am not sure what RC can do to make this any better. I would prefer actual policing of arrival/check in times, but I am not sure how much that matters. I am not sure what the number on board was, but there was never any crowding that we saw. It felt strange at times.  Then again, we never set foot in the main theater, windjammer, nor pool Which brings me to something that dawned on me the 4th night on this cruise (which we enjoyed IMMENSELY). We just hung out.  Me and my wife of 32 years whom I adore and love spending time with just hanging out.  No fear of missing a show or event. No fretting about reservations to specialty restaurants.  Looking back, when it is just the two of us I think we enjoy Voyager class cruises better than Oasis.
At any rate, this was stream of consciousness that hardly functions as a review.  Mariner is one of my if not favorite ship in the fleet. The differences between Voyager and her arent as stark as I expected them to be frankly.  Very enjoyable trip.

I've just seen a better deal on the Coffee Cards come up in the current sale.
Our cruise planner currently has them on sale for $25.99.
I bought a pair in early April for $27.99 each. I'm not gonna go through the cancel/rebook for $4+T/F, but those interested should check their cruise planner for current pricing.

That's good to hear.  Maybe they changed the rules then and it can now be used for Frappuccino's.  I often got a caramel iced coffee in it's place for another cold sweet drink (2 punches).

The other good thing about the cards is they can be saved and used on your next cruise.  Oh and you can get coffee drinks for others too!
 

Hi Everyone!
Now I am really starting to catch up! Clearly a sign the sea days have started. Going to talk about Day 2, Tuesday, in Kona now.
We started off the morning with, you guessed it, Coastal Kitchen breakfast.



We then met in the theater for our shore excursion called the Kona Joe Coffee Roasting Experience and Coffee Farm Tour. From there, we were escorted to the tender to go ashore in Kona and joined our bus for the tour. They used the ship's tenders in Kona and not shoreside tenders. They were definitely a bit interesting to get in and out of.


Thankfully, it was a smaller group on the tour, only 17 of us that I counted, which was a welcome surprise considering the price of the tour, it was not cheap. We loaded up on a small bus to head to the Coffee Farm.




Once at the farm, we were given a tour of the facilities and got some of the history of coffee in Kona as well as some of the information about the coffee production process. Kona Joe grows their coffee on trellises similar to grapes to make it easier to pick since all of Kona coffee is hand picked. We then found out about the drying and sorting process.


From there, we learned about the roasting process, and got to roast a bag of our own coffee. We also were given a souvenir mug and sample of professionally roasted coffee to take home. 





My only complaint was while we were at the coffee farm, we got rushed a bit during the process of roasting the coffee, me and my partner (they paired us up) were trying to roast our beans to a medium roast and they had us pull them at closer to the light roast range. I think my parent's got a little luckier as theirs roasted a bit quicker. I guess there were a couple tours heading through Kona Joe at about the same time and we arrived in the opposite order they anticipated (my tour arrived very early and was actually supposed to be the after the tour that arrived after us) which I guess threw them off and caused them to rush us but it was a bit awkward and also the instructions were a bit unclear. 
We ended up getting back to the ship a full hour early (more proof of them rushing us) and as a result decided to grab lunch in... Coastal Kitchen, I know this will get old fast.





After lunch, we took a siesta.
Chef's choice amenity showed up in our room:

And some towel animals, we got 2 of the same on the 2 beds:


After the siesta, we had dinner in, Surprise! Jamie's Italian! I know you were all expecting me to say Coastal Kitchen again at this point.










After dinner we went to the Love and Marriage gameshow. I am not sure how I feel about this cruise director, honestly the cruise director is really not that important to me, but the show itself was very good mostly thanks to the couples. In particular, the older couple had been married 63 years and was completely mentally there and absolutely hilarious. Of course the older couple won.

Anyways, I am nearly caught up! Only 1 day behind now.
Thanks!
- Ashley

Hey Everyone! 
Backing track to boarding day now. We started our day off with breakfast at Eggs n Things down the street from our hotel.




(My parents split the breakfast burrito)

(My crab cake benedict that my dad ended up helping me with)
Then after killing some time walking around town, we checked out of our hotel and called an Uber to the port. Boarding was a bit delayed due to the coast guard inspection but when we got there right around noon, we pretty much walked right on the ship from the suite check in area. The terminal in Honolulu is actually pretty nice, it is the same one NCL uses and has a Haven area that Royal used for Suites/Pinnacles.
Once on the ship, we completed our muster drill and then headed to drum roll please... Coastal Kitchen for lunch (you will be seeing a lot of Coastal Kitchen so brace yourselves). It was the typical limited first day lunch menu. Our waitress, Luzy, is fantastic and we found out that similar to Odyssey, they will be seating us with her for every meal in Coastal Kitchen.




Then at 2pm, cabins were ready. We found out that the pinnacle cut off for the lounge was less than 1000 points so surprisingly I would have had access regardless although we really don't want to play those games. Anyways, cabin review coming later in the cruise, probably finally after I do the hotel review 🙃.


That night, we quickly stopped in the suite lounge to see if we knew anyone, so far we have ran into 0 crew members that we know which is very rare for us and also really don't know any of the pinnacles on board either.



Then we had dinner in... Coastal Kitchen! I know, this is going to get boring, I promise we do have 4 nights in specialty dining. Anyways, it was the typical first night filet menu.








After dinner, we quickly stopped by the pub and saw the pub entertainer Alex, but we were all very tired out and ended up taking an early night to bed.

I am finally starting to catch up here! Anyways, talk soon!
- Ashley

Hey Everyone! 
Back again posting about that evening, figured I should split these up because of the amount of photos.
When we got back to the hotel, we relaxed a bit and then ended up going to happy hour at the hotel's restaurant since our dinner reservations weren't until after 7pm that night. We were trying to adjust to eating later like we do on the ship but it was nearly unsuccessful and if we didn't get some happy hour snacks, we would have faded too fast. We also only had Starbucks in the morning and had skipped lunch aside from the dole whip so we needed something. We joke that my mom has an aversion to food so she could probably go days without eating, that is definitely not the case for my dad and I. The food and drinks at the hotel were very good, we were almost tempted to ditch our reservation and just eat there but the dinner menu was a bit limited for my mom (the irony of that 😂).




(We also got poke nachos but that picture is refusing to upload and I don't want to figure out the problem right now)
Then, a couple hours later, we had our dinner reservation at Roy's Waikiki. It was literally down the street from our hotel so super convenient. We didn't know this when we planned this trip but this weekend was Spam Jam which caused a lot of Waikiki to be a little busier than normal. We originally had wanted to get reservations at Duke's Waikiki but they were booked solid more than a month out when we made our reservations and honestly it kinda worked out since we avoided the crowds not going down there.




At Roy's, we celebrated my mom's birthday which was less than 2 weeks earlier. The food was great and our assistant waiter was good but the waiter seemed immediately turned off when my mom asked about ordering an appetizer for her main course and then my dad and I asked about sharing something. He seemed very concerned about his tip or something and it was very bizarre, we have never really experienced that before with a waiter and it definitely put a sour note on the experience. We definitely ate more than enough, it was not a small check, especially with desserts and it just didn't make sense to order more for the sake of it.







Anyways, the next day was yesterday, the day we boarded the ship. In real time, today was Kona and tomorrow is our first of 6 sea days, I will post about our hotel on one of these days after I write about boarding day and Kona.

Thanks!
- Ashley

Hi Everyone!
Back from our only port day at Kona. Now backing track to our time Sunday at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
I booked a private tour on Viator through Karma tours to the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri. The tour was not cheap but they picked us up directly at our hotel at 8am and handled getting us all the tickets we needed for the whole day so we didn't have any issues. I know the boat tickets for the USS Arizona memorial have become a hot commodity. So after a morning Starbucks run across the street from our hotel, our tour guide Rick promptly picked us up at the hotel. Karma tours ended up contracting our tour out to Spiritual Tours Hawaii.
Anyways, on the 30ish minute drive from the hotel to the Memorial, our guide talked through some of the history and walked through what our day would be like. We got to the memorial and did the museum portion and then took the 9:30am boat ride over to the memorial. The US military operates the memorial exactly how you would expect the military to run it, each boat gets about 15 minutes at the memorial itself and they are very strict about being quiet and respectful which I appreciated considering it is a mass grave site. After seeing the memorial, we watched the 20ish minute film about the history of the attack at Pearl Harbor and the memorial. This portion of the tour we did on our own without the guide as guides are not allowed in one side of the memorial park. He told us where to meet him in the park when we were done with the museum, boat, and film.





Then, we went over to the USS Missouri on the shuttles with our guide. Our guide was able to stay with us for this whole part of the tour. We joined one of the tours operated by the group running the site of the deck of the USS Missouri and where the surrender documents were signed and our guide added additional commentary for us. 








After that, my dad and I went down into the boat and explored the deck and exhibits. My mom and the tour guide stayed up top. The stairs we had to climb reminded me of the stairs in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, they were quite steep and you had to go down backwards like a ladder. My mom is doing better than she was last summer but not great so that was why she opted out and the guide stayed with her while my dad and I walked through all the exhibits in the boat. They had the offices all set up, the mess areas, and the bunk rooms along with all sorts of different exhibits, I particularly liked the American Girl doll section.


After my dad and I completed the walk through of the deck, we met back up with my mom and guide, stopped to get some dole whip (which I forgot to photograph because it promptly started to rain when we got it) and buy the overpriced ($42!) souvenir photos before driving back to our hotel. All in all, the tour was about 6ish hours. Could we have done it on our own for much less, yes, but was this the easiest way to do it, also yes. My dad wasn't in the mood to rent a car like we did in the past in Hawaii and this just made a lot of sense in our situation. 

Also, I think I mentioned this earlier but it was my second time at the memorial, the previous time I went with my grandfather and brother. My dad was supposed to come but he got the flu. That time, we did these same 2 sites as well as the aviation museum and the USS bowfin. We could have done all that this time but the tour would have been 10-12 hours which would have been too much for my mom. We didn't have a guide last time and I don't remember getting much out of the USS Missouri portion of it last time as a result, we did see basically the same film at the USS Arizona Memorial and the see the same museum, not like they need to but none of that has really changed in the close to 20 years since I was last there. I did enjoy doing it with my grandfather who was a war veteran (Korea) and also I am pretty sure we got lost and in trouble on the Missouri last time (sounds like something my late grandfather would do, he was loud and followed his own rules haha).
I think my dad enjoyed himself and these 2 sites are probably the main highlight anyways since they literally bookend the US involvement in WW2, where we were first attacked and where we signed the surrender documents with Japan.
I will do a follow up post about what we did that evening because this is getting to be a lot of photos.
Thanks!
- Ashley

Another chocolate ravioli fan! I never hear anyone mention it but it’s our favorite (and I’ve now tried the entire dessert menu, lol). We get some vanilla ice cream on the side just to cut the chocolate a little.
Did you sit outside at GK on Utopia? We’d like to for a lunch but I couldn’t do if it’s hot out. Our June lunch is on turnaround day so we’ll just be sitting at PC but in July it’s on the one sea day so maybe there will be a breeze.
CK would be good. I’ve never had two specialty meals in the same day. We spread out our handful of lunches & dinners over 7 nights & if we have a big lunch dinner is usually on the smaller side. We’re kinda winging it for dinner on Utopia. Other than GK & Playmakers two nights, it will be some combo of WJ, CL snacks, Sorrento's, etc.
Enjoy! While I wouldn’t pay for it, we’ve enjoyed the food there twice and am looking forward to it next March. Filet was great & I liked the coconut crusted lobster sandwich.
+100000000000

These sales have had me in a full blown planning frenzy the past couple of days.  I booked Coco Beach Club at $119 hoping it might drop so I could cancel and rebook but missed going last time because the price was much higher. Price dropped, I rebooked. Then the lunch prices dropped. We couldn’t decide between GK and Chops so we booked both. We may or may not keep Chops but definitely keeping GK. Meatball Gigante, huge plate of Chicken Parm, & chocolate ravioli resulted in a food coma for both of us! Great view out over the Boardwalk, too! 
 
Now the UDP is on sale. I haven’t caved and bought that yet mainly because I’m definitely keeping the Beach Club with the price drop I got.
Mike, we can’t keep up with your eating pace. If we do all 3 big lunches, we would just grab a couple of pizza slices or a sandwich or salad somewhere for dinner. It’s just a four day cruise, so ijust one regular dinner for us on this cruise. Maybe Coastal Kitchen if the JS I’m expecting to get with our suite guarantee will get us in. Definitely first world problems. Wish the rest of life’s problems were like choosing our meal options on the cruise! 

I started playing around with the family cruise with the UDP & realized with GK on Nassau days and beach club on PDCC days, we’ll be able to book a specialty lunch for all 7 days.
I thought it was a ridiculous amount of food when I was figuring in 3-4 lunches… but 7 plus the Playmakers & other credits is absurd.
(I realize I’m likely talking to myself but that’s OK. Just one of those days.)

I’ve never tried it but just might have to on my upcoming Symphony cruise!

At this point I just want him to be able to make it and I don’t care what he wears 😂.  I’ve mentioned on a few of my posts the we have been dealing with some newly diagnosed heart issues for Peter (my husband).  He has been scheduled for a cardiac catheterization on May 6 due to some new concerns his Cardiologist has.  We went yesterday for the pre procedure visit and the NP didn’t seem so happy that we have this cruise just 3 days after…she is actually trying to get him in this Friday if at all possible. 
We will just have to see what happens next…but honestly we both NEED this cruise…so praying no unforeseen issues pop up!
So…I’ll post a picture IF the shorts 🩳 get him turned away 😆 

Some night snacks:-)