Celebrity Xpedition
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Celebrity Xpedition
The Celebrity Xpedition is a Celebrity Cruises ship focused on luxury expedition cruising and nature-focused exploration aboard a small vessel designed for eco-conscious navigation and wildlife observation. It includes suites and ocean-view cabins, along with in-room service. Onboard facilities include a fitness area, spa and massage services, and a swimming pool with a jacuzzi and diving board. The onboard experience features the Discovery Lounge, restaurants such as Darwin Restaurant and Beagle Grill, a cinema, cocktail and wine bars, as well as safari-style boat excursions and evening naturalist lectures. Additional amenities include a beach club, library, WiFi, and onboard shopping options. This ship is well suited for travelers seeking immersive expedition-style cruises centered on nature, wildlife, and educational exploration in a more intimate ship environment.
Itineraries of the Celebrity Xpedition
Price and Availability Notice
Prices displayed are provided for informational purposes only. They reflect the rates in effect at the time of their most recent update and are shown in Canadian dollars, per person, based on double occupancy, unless otherwise specified.
Supplier rates, exchange rates, taxes and fees, room or cabin categories, and promotions are subject to change at any time. The applicable price is the one confirmed by a travel advisor at the time of booking, subject to availability. Only the confirmed price shall be considered valid.
It is the traveler's responsibility to confirm the price, inclusions, and applicable terms and conditions before making a reservation. While every effort is made to keep our content up to date, transmission, display, or pricing errors may occur. In such cases, the correct price will be communicated to the traveler before any booking is confirmed. Certain terms, restrictions, and exclusions may apply.
decks plans
Deck - 6
Sunrise
Deck - 5
Panorama
Deck - 4
Vista
Deck - 3
Marina
Deck - 2
Deck - 1
Ship's attributes
Services And Amenities
- Elevators
- Self-service laundry room
- Casino
- Pool
- Beauty salon
- Spa & body care
Specific needs
- Wheelchair accessible staterooms
Technical specifications
- Classe: Galapagos Class
- Tonnage: 2842
- Speed: 15.0 knots
- Passengers: 48
- Decks: 6
- Length: 88 m
- Width: 15 m
History
- 2004: Année de construction
- 2015: Année de rénovation
- 2018: Année de rénovation
Frequently Asked Questions
She measured about 2,842 gross tons, ran 88 metres by 14 metres and carried 6 decks, 4 of them with cabins. By the end of her Celebrity career she took 48 guests in 24 cabins, with 68 crew. Sources disagree on tonnage and beam, Wikipedia giving 2,937 tons and 90 by 13 metres: we use the CruiseMapper figures, which are closer to what Celebrity published at the end. Cassens-Werft launched her on 17 February 2001 in Emden, Germany.
48, at the end. She sailed with roughly 98 to 100 guests from 2001 to 2019, until Ecuador reduced the seat allocation carried by each national park operating permit. Celebrity pulled the deck 3 cabins and some of deck 4 from inventory in June 2019, which left 68 berths, and a further cut in September 2019 brought her to 48. The figure of 64 still floating on several ship pages appears in none of the sources we checked and looks like a transcription error.
She was the largest of the three, at 2,842 tons against 1,610 for Xperience and about 319 for the catamaran Xploration. She was also the only one built in Europe, in Emden, the other two coming from Vigo and Guayaquil. She arrived first, in 2004, four years before the Ocean Adventures acquisition brought in the other two. Her cabins ran up to a Royal Suite on deck 6, a level neither of the others reached.
Twenty-four years in all. She first sailed as Sun Bay, from 2001 to 2004, for Sun Bay Cruises. Celebrity put her into Galápagos service in 2004 as Xpedition, then Celebrity Xpedition, and she stayed there until her final cruise in the first week of January 2025. She has sailed as National Geographic Gemini since March 2025.
Twenty-four in total, spread over three decks. Deck 4 held the eleven Premium Staterooms, deck 5 grouped nine Xpedition Suites with one Junior Suite, and deck 6 took the last Xpedition Suite plus the Penthouse and the Royal Suite. The upper categories all sat high in the ship, which improves the view and worsens the roll. A 2018 refurbishment refreshed the interiors and improved the Wi-Fi. Under Lindblad the same hull now offers 27 outside cabins for the same guest count, in solo, double and triple layouts.
On a ship under 3,000 tons in the equatorial Pacific, yes, for sensitive passengers. Island transfers happened overnight, and the sea builds during the dry season from July to December when the Humboldt Current runs up. The low, central deck 4 cabins moved less than the deck 6 suites. Celebrity Flora, at 5,922 tons with zero-speed stabilisers, is a noticeably steadier platform for the same archipelago today.
Length first: Celebrity sold seven-night cruises, Lindblad sells 10-day expeditions that stretch to 16 with Machu Picchu. Style too, with paddleboarding, Zodiac outings and a glass-bottom boat rather than conventional cruise service. The clientele is mostly American and the programme more active. Staying with Celebrity means accepting Flora, her all-suite format and her seven nights.
The hull dated to 2001 and the layout stayed that of an expedition yacht: no show, no casino, no choice of restaurants, very little indoor space to retreat to when it rains. Twenty-four cabins made for closeness some guests found heavy over seven nights. The 2019 capacity cut left decommissioned cabins onboard, obvious to anyone walking the corridors. Her service ratio was outstanding, though, at 68 crew for 48 guests.
No, not under that name and not with Celebrity. Her last cruise for the line ended in the first week of January 2025, and the ship was sold. No return is planned, and Celebrity now has a single ship in the Galápagos. Clients who want this hull book it through Lindblad Expeditions, under its current name.
Lindblad Expeditions bought her in June 2024, alongside Celebrity Xploration. After her final Celebrity cruise she went to a conversion dry dock in Balboa, Panama, from January to March 2025. She came out renamed, reconfigured to 27 outside cabins and back in service on 14 March 2025. She still works the Galápagos, still under the Ecuadorian flag.
National Geographic Gemini. The name belongs to the Lindblad-National Geographic naming scheme, alongside National Geographic Endeavour II, Islander II and Delfina. The hull is unchanged, the 48-guest capacity is the one Celebrity already used at the end, and the home port remains Baltra. Watch for an error circulating in the trade press: a March 2025 article credits her with 100 guests, contradicted by Lindblad's own release, which states 48.
Lindblad Expeditions, in brand partnership with National Geographic. It is an American expedition operator with a long Galápagos history, whose style rests on naturalists, photography and outdoor activity rather than cruise service. Royal Caribbean Group has had no connection to the ship since the June 2024 sale. Bookings go directly through Lindblad or an agency.
Still the Galápagos, year-round, out of Baltra. The programme sells as 10-day expeditions with mainland Ecuador nights, and as a 16-day version adding Machu Picchu and Lima. Calls cover the same national park islands as in the Celebrity years, notably Española, Floreana, Santa Cruz and Bartolomé. She shares the archipelago with three other Lindblad vessels.
Celebrity Flora, without hesitation, since she visits the same islands with the same park-certified guides and the same all-in fare. The difference is comfort: 100 guests in 50 suites rather than 48 in 24 cabins, and 5,922 tons rather than 2,842. For anyone who mainly liked the small format without needing the Galápagos, Celebrity Constellation and Celebrity Summit offer the mid-scale Millennium class. No other Celebrity ship drops below 1,000 guests.
Galápagos access is rationed in permit seats, and the allocation held by Royal Caribbean Group had no room left. Something had to give when Flora and her 100 seats arrived in June 2019, so Xperience was withdrawn, Xpedition dropped to 48 guests and Silversea parted with Silver Galapagos. Three ageing hulls also meant three crews, three permits and three maintenance budgets for a few hundred guests a season. Selling to Lindblad in June 2024 reduced all of that to one ship and one product.
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