Flying to Baltra Island

Our day began with an Ecuadorian nurse drilling holes in our brains in the guise of a Covid test. All of us were surprise at the force and depth the nurse used to swab our nostrils, as well as how many times she swirled the swab to collect samples. While we waited for our results, we joined Caren and Jean for breakfast at Botanica, this time sitting outside where the space heaters kept us very warm -- in fact, we had to ask for them to be turned off. The restaurant charged Janie for her Diet Coke this morning despite it being free the previous day. We guessed you only got one free per stay.

We had been told we would be called if there was a positive test so we went back to our room to get ready. There was no message on the phone by 8:45, so we went downstairs to check out. Our entire group got the all clear on our Covid tests and were given our boarding passes and entry cards before getting back on our bus to go to Quito airport.

Security screening was fast and efficient and we only had a short wait before boarding our Avianca charter flight to Baltra. For some reason, they boarded us while the plane was refueling, so we had to sit on the plane for 20 minutes without being able to use our electronics. But soon we were airborne, where we were served a meal, which was a choice of chicken wrap or fish. Having seen Airplane!, we both chose the chicken.

We landed at Baltra airport. During World War II, Baltra served as a U.S. military base protecting the Panama Canal from enemy attack and the current airport resides on the location of the original American military airstrip. After a bit of a walk from the plane, we reached the terminal, where our hand luggage was checked by the agricultural authorities as well. We then sat in the "VIP" lounge (which was a small room with no working Wi-Fi) at the airport before being called by stateroom numbers, which appeared to be random. We ended up in tender 6 and were taken by a bus from the airport terminal to the loading dock where we were handed life vests. We waited for a few minutes before being called to line up. Tender 6 was called to line up before tender 5, probably to get us out of the way, which led to another guest shouting loudly "What about 5? You didn't call 5". We were all going to the same place and the ship wasn't leaving without us, so we weren't sure what the hurry was about.

Celebrity Flora

The tender took us across the small inlet to the far coast where we saw our first wildlife, the blue-footed booby, resting on some rocks. Then we turned along the coast and headed towards the Flora. We had our first tender landing at the ship and were greeted by Lauren, the hotel director, given a glass of champagne, and escorted to our stateroom. Shortly after, our stateroom attendant, Alejandra, visited us and showed us the basics of our room, including how the window and curtains worked, which was similar to the Apex. The room was much larger than any other stateroom we had ever had, including the Apex, especially since the verandah portion was not separated by doors the way it is on the Edge class ships. Our one disappointment was the bathroom design. There was a large glass window over the bed looking into the bathroom and although part of it was frosted, you could still see into the bathroom when someone was in it. Even worse, though, was if you turned on the bathroom light in the middle of the night, it lit up the entire room, so we had to learn to use the bathroom and shower in the dark. Not sure who designed that and they obviously didn't understand how people use a bathroom.

Our backpacks were waiting on the bed along with a bottle of sparkling wine, which we later learned retailed for about $12 at Total Wine back home. The minibar was stocked with beer and sodas, which was all included. Janie had Alejandra take out the Fanta and Coca-Cola and replace it with more Coke Zero since neither of us drink sugary soft drinks.

Lunch

Our "muster drill" was on deck 7 which was the shortest ever with a staff member showing us how to put on a life vest and telling us to come right to that location in the event of an emergency. We found a table near the outdoor buffet on deck 7 and had some food. The burgers were hockey pucks but the nachos and chicken were good.

After lunch, we went down to the room to unpack. There was more hanging space then we had ever seen on a ship as well as good drawer space, which was nice. Janie was called downstairs to try on her wetsuit for snorkeling and get all of her gear and then we went down to the Discovery Lounge after that for a champagne toast and excursion briefing. The cruise director explained our options for the next day at Puerto Egas and Rabida Island and we signed up for our excursions.

Dinner

We went to Seaside Restaurant for dinner. J. R. had the shrimp ceviche and local fish while Janie had a salad and the seafood rice. Neither of us had room for dessert so we called it an early night and went to our room to relax.

Dinner Menu