celestyal cruises 5 day cruise from Athens

Has anyone traveled on Celestyal? My daughter and I are going to Italy and Greece for 10 days with her class. We are thinking of ditching them at the end of the trip and taking a 5 day cruise thru Greece and Turkey. At first I thought it would be a nice relaxing cruise - but it makes TWO stops a day. I have never been on a cruise like that before. Has anyone else? It is amazing? Or is just too much?

TIA

Kathy

Has anyone traveled on Celestyal? My daughter and I are going to Italy and Greece for 10 days with her class. We are thinking of ditching them at the end of the trip and taking a 5 day cruise thru Greece and Turkey. At first I thought it would be a nice relaxing cruise - but it makes TWO stops a day. I have never been on a cruise like that before. Has anyone else? It is amazing? Or is just too much?

 

TIA

 

Kathy

My DH and I did this a few years ago on Louis (now Celestyal) it was not relaxing but we enjoyed all the ports, they were amazing.

I did a group cruise with land tour on Louis. Six ports in four days. The ship (since scrapped) was very basic and small, but the service and food were amazing. EM

As part of our trip last year, we took a 6 day cruise on the Celestyal Crystal. This is not your typical cruise ship, it is very port intensive, but that is why we took it as we wanted to see several Greek islands without worrying about ferries. We treated it more like a hotel on the water than a cruise - it was a place to sleep and to grab breakfast before we went out to explore the ports.

I think if you are looking for a relaxing cruise, this is probably not for you. They have only one small pool, only a few dining rooms, and limited entertainment. The food is your basic cruise ship fare with the dining room and the a la carte next to the pool better than the buffets.

However, we loved it and had a great time. We got to see several ports that are not available to the larger cruise ships - Symi, Chios and Agios Nikolas (Crete). I would recommend this cruise for anyone who wishes to keep busy and wants to experience the ports, not the actual cruise.