Don’t worry. I still have more fauna and flora photos for you but right now I need to address the biggest question people have asked me “How is the food on board.” So here goes. I promise to get to the other questions later. Many may have to wait until I get back to Quito, Florida or home.
Before we left we had read comments on the Cruise Critic boards about Flora that the food “wasn’t up to the standards of the rest of Celebrity’s ships.” And since we have been on board we have had discussions about the food with numerous people. Some expressed the same view.
So if you know me personally, you know I love to eat, I love to cook, I just plain love food. But I am an adventurous eater. My favorite food in the world is octopus. I will try just about anything once. I have eaten grasshoppers at Mariner games. Don’t get me wrong…I am not Tony Bourdain. He truly would have eaten anything. I do have some limits but mostly I like new things. And when I am a foreign country, I like to eat cuisine from that country or other nearby countries and cultures.
This is our 21st Celebrity cruise and I can honestly say that overall, this is the best food I have had on any of them. Have I had better meals on Celebrity? Yes. In the old United States Dining Room on Infinity, in Quisine or at The Porch or Lawn Club Grille on Reflection I have had some great meals. But day in and day out I have enjoyed the food here on Flora more than any other. Let me explain.
Breakfast, which is a buffet but in the dining room has been good. First I need to say that since the second day of the cruise, we have been greeted by every single person in the dining room (and pretty much every part of the ship), by name. I feel like I truly am a Celebrity. I guess that’s one of the good things about a small ship but these people try hard and are great at their jobs even on a smaller ship.
Back to the buffet. I should add here that post-COVID you walk around the buffet with a server and he/she puts food on your plate. (all crew are wearing masks). But what I love about that is if I want an omelet that is made to order, I get my other items, leave my plate with the server who helped me and a few minutes later, it appears at my table.
Plus, let me tell you some other amazing things that have happened while I was picking out my food. Geovanny and his wonderful bride Natalia have poured our water, grabbed us a cappuccino from the adjacent Discovery Lounge, put two croissants on my bread plate, brought me my marmalade and are waving to me as I walk back from the buffet area. And then they are back in no time to make sure everything is OK. It’s like a miracle and easily the best service I have had anywhere in the fleet or maybe in the world. And yes, it is a small ship but the dining staff (pictured below) is also small and you would never know it. I can’t say enough good things about them.
Not only is this the kitchen staff but the awesome guy on the right hand side is the head chef. And can he cook.
Back to the food. Lunch has been a buffet every day in the dining room. I should add that you can also go up to the Grille on deck seven for a burger, fries, quesadillas or guacamole and chips and a few other specials but we only did that one day. It was fine but not what I was looking for. We did LOVE the fries up there. The burger needed sauce of some kind. We didn’t go back. Not because we didn’t like it but because we can get that food at home. We wanted something different.
So each day in the dining room the lunch was a buffet (served the same as breakfast) each day with a different theme. We had Aztec (authentic Mexican), Spanish, Amazon (combining cuisines from countries on the Amazon River) and of course Ecuadorian. All had a huge selection of interesting food. There was also sandwich makings, a bunch of salads that fit the theme (I got an octopus salad on the Spanish buffet) and a carving station but I can’t tell you about it because the other dishes were so good I skipped it. I can get ham, turkey or prime rib in the USA or on any other cruise ship.
Dinner for us was always in the dining room. We usually ate with friends we had made on shore hikes, tender cruises or walks as well as people we had talked to at the hotel in Quito. This is a very friendly ship. You can get a table for two but there is never a shortage of parties to join in on. On two nights we were “supplied” with people to eat with. One night we were invited to join Captain Patricio and Chief Engineer Paul at dinner. We have eaten at the Captain’s Table on previous cruises but this was different. Usually it is you, the captain and about 12 other people. This time it was the aforementioned two and just us. That’s it. Keeping the conversation going was fun but the two of them were a joy to have dinner and great conversation with.
The next night was “Dinner with A Naturalist” and you get to join your favorite of the naturalists who lead our tours each day and have dinner with them. We we joined by one of our favorites (they all are really), Juan Carlos. A few minutes after Juan Carlos sat down, a gentlemen asked if he could join the three of us…Fausto. Fausto is the head of all operations for Celebrity in the Galapagos and that was a SUPERB dinner. We learned so much about both of them but also about all the things Celebrity is doing in the islands.
So the dinners were pretty much three courses; appetizer, entrée and dessert. For long-time Celebrity cruisers Flora even has the “left hand side of the menu” with all the standard fare (shrimp cocktail, steak, salmon, chicken, onion soup, etc.) but we never ordered from that side. We did overhear (at an adjacent table) people saying, “I am sure glad they have this side of the menu and we don’t have to eat the weird food.” Boy did they miss out. I love the “weird food.” So we have decided that what people were complaining about on Cruise Critic were the non-adventurous eaters.
Today as I was writing this I also realized I have done something on this cruise I have never done before…eaten fish every day. Sometimes twice a day. There are so many amazing ceviches, fish entrées, fish salads that I could not pass them up. And all (except the salmon on the right hand side of the menu) were done in an Ecuadorian style. That was it for me.
This style is also a lot lighter and healthier than our usual cruise fare. We leave the table feeling full but not stuffed. The food is healthier and more fish and vegetable based. This is how I try and cook at home and the tastes were fabulous. Ecuadorian sauces rock.
And the desserts (especially with Ecuadorian chocolate) are not to be missed. WOW!
One other very special thing happened last night (Day 6). On the afternoon before Kathleen and I were outside the dining room looking at the menu for that night. I was kind of sad because nothing looked totally Ecuadorian and/or interesting (I ended up having an amazing scorpion fish) when the Maitre d’ walked up and heard me complaining that there was no Ecuadorian options. He said if I really wanted to try some Ecuadorian food, he could make it happen. We thought nothing of it and I enjoyed dinner that night. The next night we were with our friends Jamie and Katherine and the waiter said he had a special surprise for me.
The chef had put an Ecuadorian appetizer on the menu for that night. But when we ordered I told our waiter how much I loved octopus (as did our dining companions) so all of a sudden we had a big octopus salad full of avocado and the amazing tomatoes we have been having all week. It was awesome.
But then when we ordered our entrées, he brought them (octopus and spaghetti with a beer-achiote sauce)…but then also brought…Sango! This is a dish we were told that is cooked in every Ecuadorian home. It is a fish stew with a base of plantains and rice. I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it was. It had shrimp, scallops, squid, cod and octopus (I have had octopus six times on this ship so I am VERY happy). Kathleen was not thrilled because it has shellfish so she couldn’t eat it but Jamie (our dining companion from Devon, UK—who loves beer, F-1 and futbol) and I loved it and between us we devoured two big serving plates. We were so much in a hurry to eat it I forgot to take a pic. But I did get the octopus salad.
Do I have any criticisms of the food? Just one. In the morning some of the items on the buffet that are meant to be hot, aren’t. At least by the time they got to the table. That’s why I have an omelet every morning because I can be sure it will get there hot. The potatoes, mushrooms, etc. that should be hot are often not. Other than that it was my kind of food. Lighter, healthier but delicious.
And I almost forgot one of our favorite food things on board. When you come back (twice a day) from your off ship hike, walk, Zodiac ride, when you get off the Zodiac and take off your life jacket, check in, get your cold towel to cool off and go up some stairs there are nibbles. Lots of nibbles. Usually little sandwiches but sometimes desserts too. One day there was even a bread snack with three kinds of bread (an incredible vegetable-topped focaccia) with almost perfect Spanish olive oil and Italian balsamic. I ate all of mine and Kathleen’s too. I included some pics of what you get when you walk back on. So much more than the lemonade or hot chocolate on most Celebrity ships.
Below are some pics from our meals. Check out the paella. Those prawns were bigger than my forearm! And delicious. Yum!
This is the Ecuadorian cod I had with chimichurri
The paella—this was for LUNCH!
My octopus salad
A typical lunch. That’s octopus salad again at the top.
The buffet. Carving station at the back and desserts on the right
Nibbles waiting for us. Have as many as you like. Even donuts today.
Drinks waiting for us upon return from being off the ship.
So I have some questions but first day four. (In fact I am going to answer the questions in the next post so I can get this one online. Sorry to give you so much to read but there is so much happening.) We are still having an amazing time. How amazing a time? Well the route we are traveling on this week on Flora is called the Outside Route. It hits certain islands. Celebrity (by direction of the Galapagos National Park) must have two different routes with alternating schedules. So to tell you how much we are now enjoying this trip we were actually discussing at lunch coming back in the future to do the Inner Route. When we had dinner with the Captain and the Chief Engineer they both told us that their favorite island was Bartolome and it was on the Inside Route. So maybe we have to see that. ?
On day four both our tours were on Isabella Island, the largest of the archipelago. Here’s today’s schedule:
In the morning I chose the long walk and Kathleen chose the short walk. I should also tell you that as you can see they also combined both of those with an “extended tender ride” which meant that after our long walk we took the long way back to the ship stopping to take pics at very slow speed. We saw so much. BTW: The “very rocky trail” was hardened lava. And since this was dry landing we had to get off on lava and we stayed on it for almost the entire way. Most of our “long walks” are about two miles but over very rocky trails. The lava varied between types but no matter which type it was (and I know what the types are but I can’t spell them. I will see if I can find Ellen our resident (for our cruise) scientist and get the rights ones.).
One other thing I want to say before I drop in the pics is that so far, this was my best day photographically. I took a photo which I consider my second best shot ever. See if you can figure out which one it is. Those of you who follow me on FB and Insta already should have a good clue. Remember, if you look at these photos on a computer or a tablet, you can click a photo and use your arrow keys to go through a slide show at full screen.
Looking at Isabella from the ship
One of our outstanding Galapagos naturalists
Dr. Ellen Prager, the chief scientific consultant to Celebrity Cruises. She became a good friend and hiking companion. Google her. You will be impressed.
A lone cactus pokes itself out of the hardened lava
This lava cactus also grows directly out of the lava. No access to water at all. The yellow is new growth.
Cactus Closeup
In the middle of the lava fields are these green oasis
A single mangrove has taken root in the lava
A sea turtle. One of my favorite shots.
A yellow warbler
Found another Galapagos snake
A different lone cactus on a landscape that resembles the moon
With an oasis in the middle of it
And it was here we found
Something really special
Saw some frigate birds fighting over fish
Flamingos in the wild
Because as you will see
Here they can fly.
Because unlike in a zoo..
where they have to trim their…
feathers to keep them…
from flying away…
this is nature
Psst. This is it. My new 2nd favorite photo.
More flamingos
More flamingos
Last one. They are such great color
OK, from far away.
The lava was awesome even if it was tough to walk on
Back on our Zodiac slow ride we saw this marine iguana
These Sally Lightfoot Crabs
More marine iguanas
And PENGUINS!
Galapagos penguins are the second smallest species of penguins
More blue footed boobys
I wanted to show you how close people can get to the animals in the islands. It is amazing.
More boobys.
And more
A very nice pelican
And more boobies
See you soon with answers to your questions and about food! And then I will tell you about day four’s afternoon excursions.
This one will be short just to bring you up to date on the afternoon of Day 3. This was a short, wet landing stop to see the Post Office Barrel.
In the olden days (17 and 1800s) whalers would be away from families for months on end, sometimes years. And they would stop on this part of Floreana Island. On the island someone had installed a giant barrel (in the pics below) and the sailors and whalers would leave a letter for their families and if they were headed home, they would pick up letters for others families, promising to deliver them, in person, when they returned to their European country of origin.
That tradition exists today. So after a wet landing we took a short walk off the beach to the barrel. Inside were hundreds (maybe thousands) of postcards that we could take and hand deliver if we lived or were going to that area of the world. We spent about 20 minutes going through the ones that were in there at this time and a few people took ones to deliver. There was on headed to Seattle but it had just been put there three days before and we didn’t want to be delivering it before they got back home ?.
After we finished with the post office barrel we jumped back on the Zodiac and went for a slow ride. We saw more blue footed boobys, sea lions and a few other birds. It was awesome.
Here’s the pics. Don’t forget you can click the first one and it will open full screen and then use your left or right arrow to scroll through them.
Every day gets better and better after the day one hiccups. This has gone from a cruise that was not making me happy to one of the best traveling experiences of my life. But I do have a warning if you are planning on sailing on Flora—it is exhausting. I have never been so tired on a trip in my entire life. You have seen our daily schedules (Day 3 is below) and I can honestly say that if you do everything (and you HAVE to do EVERYTHING) you will be so worn out at the end of the day you will literally pass out when your head hits the pillow. You know the old joke about needing a vacation from a vacation? Well, this is that vacation.
Here was our schedule for Day 3 on Flora
Every morning we are up between 6:00 and 6:30. I am normally a person who likes to shower in the morning but on this cruise I have already taken two showers by the end of the day—one after the morning excursion and one after the afternoon excursion. Mostly to get all the sand and sunscreen off but also because on some of the “walks” (hikes in real life) can you leave you very hot and sweaty.
This morning (actually two days ago) we started with a wet landing at Point Cormorant on Floreana Island. I am not sure if I explained what the difference between wet and dry landings is, so here goes—besides the obvious you need to know that the Zodiacs that Celebrity uses are amazing pieces of machinery and they are custom built for the Galapagos. On the front there is a set of steps that you use to get off and on the ship. I had seen that in photos prior to coming but I will be honest that I had no clue that when you got off the ship on a beach, that the area just to the right of the steps goes down so that you can step right off the Zodiac. When we do a wet landing it is just that. Your feet get wet as you step off. On a dry landing you are normally going to step off onto rocks that are about level with the top of the steps of the Zodiac. This means when we have done a wet landing I wear Tevas so they can get wet and when we do a dry we are usually doing a longer hike so I wear my hiking boots. BTW: Those are the only shoes I have with me on this trip and that seems to be all I need. I usually go to the dining room and everywhere else on the ship in the Tevas and save the hiking boots for hiking.
On Floreana we had a “long easy walk” from one side of the island to the other to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Unfortunately there is not a lot of swimming off this beach as we could see a bunch of rays swimming in the shallows and there are sometimes Galapagos sharks just offshore. The naturalists told us that neither of those species is aggressive but if you step on ray by mistake you will get stung and it may put you out of capacity for a day or two.
On the way across we stopped to see and hear about a number of both geological and fauna related facts. I can’t begin to tell you how much I have learned on this trip. And I have not been disappointed yet on any of our excursions. There was a large lagoon that we hoped to see flamingos in but it was not to be. I have to constantly remind myself that this is NOT a zoo. Animals and birds move where they want to but there are plenty of them and the naturalists know where to go to find them if they aren’t where they are expected.
One thing that I haven’t shown you yet is how close you can get to the animals. Some people have commented on FB or Insta asking how far away I was and what kind of lens was I shooting with—it must have been a long zoom lens. In most cases the animals or birds were within a few feet of me. For instance, yesterday I posted the first photo below of two albatrosses doing their courtship dance. I was pretty close when I took it. About as close as the people in the second photo. And the animals and birds just don’t care. Only the smallest birds scurry away. Albatross, blue-footed boobys, Nasca boobys, marine iguanas, land iguanas, sea lions…all just stay right where they are and you have to walk around them. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The courting albatrosses
And how close you can get to them.
Some other amazing sites I was able to see during our morning excursion to Floreana included these shots.
One of Darwin’s famous finches
Looking down at the stunning beach we walked to. The views are amazing in every way.
A crab skittering down the beach.
This is a triple shot I put together so you could see how the blue-footed boobys catch fish. The right side shows them flying, then they dive (middle) and lastly, they disappear in a short splash. Amazing.
This is a huge Galapagos bumble bee. They don’t sting but they do bite if you grab one.
A blue-footed booby sitting on two eggs
Amazingly enough, this was just our morning. Seriously. Wait until you see the afternoon. Coming soon to a travel blog near you.
Again, please forgive the typos as Kathleen just doesn’t have time to proof them before I put them up. And ask questions if you have them.
Jim's Note: I am going to put this disclaimer at the top of every post throughout this trip. If you are reading this in an e-mail, STOP! Click the headline above and go to the post in a web browser on the largest screen you have. I promise when you see the photos, you will appreciate them so much more.
After our first day Kathleen told me it would all work out. And it has. First with my non-sleep incident and then yesterday Kathleen got herself a migraine headache after lunch and stayed in bed until this morning. But everything has worked out and today (Tuesday-Day 3) was marvelous. Day 2 for me (without the migraine) was also amazing. Especially the afternoon walk. More about that later.
Question and Answer Time
But first I have had some questions. Here's the answers: 1) There are 57 passengers on the ship (max is 100) so we have it pretty nice. 2) Things have calmed down as far as this being the first cruise back. Everything is now back to normal (from what we have been told by the crew). 3) The food (especially lunch and dinner have been superb. Lots of fresh fish and great Ecuadorian dishes for me to try. Their food is amazing with things really being fresh. It kill me to overhear those at the other tables ordering "steak or chicken and not that weird food." I am always all in on the local food. And unlike most cruises, this one gives you the ability to eat like a native. And their food is so much healthier. 4) We have two choices of places to eat. There is an open deck grille on deck 7 and the regular dining room on deck 4. You can pretty much wear anything you want to either. I have been going to both in shorts, Martini Mates izod shirt and sandals. I might dress a little better tonight because we are eating with the captain. But since all I have with me are Tevas and hiking boots, I won't be too fancy. 5) The captain and about 95% of the crew are Ecuadorian. The hotel director is from Canada (near Toronto) and we have seen a few other badges with different countries but not many. 6) The naturalist guides are incredible. They seem to know everything. Most of them have been doing this for 10+ years or more. I hang on their every word. And I can't believe how much I have gotten into science on this trip...already. We have a world renown scientist/geologist/oceanographer (Ellen J. Prager) on this cruise and she is so interesting. Went to hear her talk about the geology of the islands today and it was really good. 7) We figured out why most of the ship was always late to everything. The ship operates on Quito time. Ships of over 40 people sailing the Galapagos are asked by the national park to do that. It regulates the number of people on each island. But the guides (who are supposed to be the ones who tell us about that) forgot. Kathleen and I had known that from our research, thus we were always on time. Others were running about an hour late. Quito is on CST and the Galapagos run at MST. Once they got that through everyone's thick head, things are going much more smoothly.
I think that covers the questions. I will be happy to answer any others. Just post them as comments.
Now let's talk Monday. Here was the schedule:
In the morning we chose to do the Gardner Bay Beach walk and swim or snorkel. The walk was awesome. That's where I got all those crazy sea lion pictures. They are a hoot. But as much as I loved the walk, I did not enjoy the snorkel. Previously I had mentioned that I had tried snorkeling a few months ago in a hotel pool but people, it's not the same. For one thing, even though I had tried the snorkel, I had not worn flippers. That messed me up like nobody's business. I have never worn flippers before and I found myself just tossed about and not able to do much of anything. I could see the bottom directly below me. I could even feel it with my knee but darned if I could stand up. Also, I did give it a try for about five minutes but saw nothing but the bottom. When I asked someone coming out of the water who had been snorkeling for a while, they pointed to a rock formation about 2/3 of a mile out and said, "You have to go over there to see the best fish." For someone who does not swim on a regular basis and is not incredibly comfortable in the water, that was it for me.
Especially since most of the rest of the snorkeling is off a Zodiac in deep water with strong currents and they are really telling us you have to be a good swimmer (I am not) and an experienced snorkeler (I am not that either). So for this week I will stick to the beach and putting my feet in.
Speaking of putting my feet in you may notice on the schedule that it says "wet landing" or "dry landing." When we do the wet landing, the Zodiacs have this really cool front end that bends down so that you can just walk off into about a foot of water. When we do a dry landing, they are able to put us on rocks or a pier.
In the afternoon, I had a dry landing on another part of Espanola (Pt. Suarez). Kathleen had developed her migraine and was sleeping in our darkened stateroom...which gets very dark. Even though window/sliding door is the full width of the stateroom, it has great blackout curtains that open and close with a switch. How cool is that—motorized.
That afternoon hike was mind blowing. We walked through groups of sea lions, then on a very, VERY rocky trail through albatross nesting areas seeing the albatross, blue footed boobys, Nasca Boobys. (formerly known as masked boobys), Galapagos Hawks, Espanola snake, marine iguana, frigate birds and a few other specimen I can't remember. Just suffice it to say that you couldn't look one way or another without seeing something. And getting close to it. I specifically took some photos that show humans as well so you can see how close we could get to the animals.
I have so much to tell you but I wanted to get this posted so you would know that all is well here in Galapagos-land. So here's some pics with captions.
Upon landing we found this mother sea lion protecting her two-day old cub
And the crabs are a brilliant color
Some of the seals would roll in the sand to stay warmer
This big bull came to shore and the rest of the young males scattered.
The Galapagos snake. Endemic to Espanola Island
Marine Iguanas getting warm
An iguana stare off
Mother albatross with her baby
The scenery is spectacular
This blowhole was amazing. I have video when I get a chance to load it.
Again, amazing scenery.
Blue footed booby
Blue footed booby with chicks
Frigate birds fighting
More of the same
Nesting Galapagos Hawk
A Galapagos mocking bird. They are both friendly and aggressive.
On Floreana we had a “long easy walk” from one side of the island to the other to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Unfortunately there is not a lot of swimming off this beach as we could see a bunch of rays swimming in the shallows and there are sometimes Galapagos sharks just offshore. The naturalists told us that neither of those species is aggressive but if you step on ray by mistake you will get stung and it may put you out of capacity for a day or two.
On the way across we stopped to see and hear about a number of both geological and fauna related facts. I can’t begin to tell you how much I have learned on this trip. And I have not been disappointed yet on any of our excursions. There was a large lagoon that we hoped to see flamingos in but it was not to be. I have to constantly remind myself that this is NOT a zoo. Animals and birds move where they want to but there are plenty of them and the naturalists know where to go to find them if they aren’t where they are expected.
