On Board Le Lyrial — Treasures of the Aegean Sea — July 30 / August 6, 2021

[AussieBoyTX]

Some Pictures for you:

 

G&T from the minibar...

 

 

 

Lyrial docked at Syros.

 

 

Syros

 

 

Public swimming club adjacent to the dock at Syros

 

 

Lyrial dwarfed by Celebrity Apex at Mykonos.

 

 

Minibar contents.

 

 

Lyrial at Hydra.

 

 

Chocolate-themed afternoon tea.

 

 

Another chocolate dessert.

 

[schnapperin]

That is a great summary of Ponant - so nice to travel on a smaller ship where on day 3 I didn‘t need to ask for still water for lunch & the wine glass to be removed, that was done the moment I sat down, and so on and on.
 

but the french way of doing things might be hard to accept for some - specially Americans. 
 

Did they stopped the refill of water bottles ? On the NatGeo cruise they had to get ride of all bottled water in the rooms (apart of suites & fitness center) - but that was also before Covid, but I had the feeling that was only temporary for NatGeo cruises aswell

 

[AussieBoyTX]

1 hour ago, schnapperin said:

Did they stopped the refill of water bottles ? On the NatGeo cruise they had to get ride of all bottled water in the rooms (apart of suites & fitness center) - but that was also before Covid, but I had the feeling that was only temporary for NatGeo cruises aswell

 

They gave us two stainless steel Ponant-logo water bottles and had water containers located in the bars that we could use to refill them ourselves. They made a point of suggesting we fill and take the bottles with us on all excursions since it was so hot.

 

At the same time, they offered Evian, Perrier and Badoit in the minibar, as well as copious room temperature Evian.

[schnapperin]

Great so they are still trying - but it’s sort of useless with the plastic bottles 🙄

[cruising cockroach]

Do you recall the names of the captain, cruise director and restaurant manager of the two,, as well as the individual ones?  

[jonikal]

Thanks for the great photos!  Two questions:  How did the PCR testing onboard work out?  How solid was the wifi, realizing that it obviously depends on the ship's location.  But if there is a problem with the ship giving the PCR test, we will have to do a tele witnessed self test which requires a strong connection.

[AussieBoyTX]

2 hours ago, jonikal said:

Thanks for the great photos!  Two questions:  How did the PCR testing onboard work out?  How solid was the wifi, realizing that it obviously depends on the ship's location.  But if there is a problem with the ship giving the PCR test, we will have to do a tele witnessed self test which requires a strong connection.

 

We had the antigen test, not PCR, but the testing worked out fine -- Walk-in to ship’s hospital during their normal opening hours and requested an antigen test. Test done and certificate issued 10 minutes later. EUR 25 each. It was accepted by VeriFly and by everyone who wanted to see the certificate enroute.

 

I don't think you'll have a problem getting the test done on board. Everyone on Lyrial was surprised we had difficulty getting an answer (now admittedly that may be because they're required to test all of the passengers and crew periodically to comply with Greek law).

 

Ponant WiFi is slow. Maybe if you did the call late at night, you'd have enough bandwidth. Maybe. On this cruise, we were almost always within cellular range, and chose to use our phones for internet.

[Rummblestrip]

Thank you very much for details and the photos. 

[jonikal]

6 hours ago, AussieBoyTX said:

We had the antigen test, not PCR, but the testing worked out fine

Thanks Tex - did the antigen test suffice for entry into the US?

[AussieBoyTX]

3 minutes ago, jonikal said:

Thanks Tex - did the antigen test suffice for entry into the US?

 

Yes. An antigen test three days or fewer before (not 72 hours, but three days, which is more lenient) is sufficient for entry to the US. That's the kind of test you'd be using if you had to do one of those supervised call-in tests.

Edited August 8, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[jonikal]

That is good news indeed.  Thanks for lowering my stress level 😉

[jonikal]

Last minute question...do they provide disposable masks onboard?  

[AussieBoyTX]

21 minutes ago, jonikal said:

Last minute question...do they provide disposable masks onboard?  

 

Yes, they gave us "COVID Protection Kits" which contained masks and alcohol sanitizer.

[jonikal]

Awesome.  Thanks!

[kirtihk]

On 7/31/2021 at 11:30 AM, AussieBoyTX said:

Some additional COVID notes:

 

The Hammam is closed. 

The Bridge is closed, but the Captain said he would organize tours.

 

Dinner at the gastronomic restaurant on Deck 2 was as normal aside from waitstaff wearing masks. 

 

Breakfast & Lunch at the grill restaurant on Deck 6 were modified buffets. You could plate your own main plate, but cheeses and cold meats / salmon and desserts were pre-plated and bread was sliced / toasted to order. 

 

There are few non-French speakers on board. I overheard eighteen, which includes some children. Only four people turned up for tonight’s excursion overview. This highlights how widely English is spoken on board — the restaurant, bar and housekeeping staff all speak English and few speak French, so English is widely heard on board, as even the French speak English with the service staff. 

Was the Hammam closed for entire duration of your cruise?  The sauna/steam room is one of our best activities on any ship (I typically go there 2-3 times a day if an itinerary allows, especially on sea days).  On our March 8-24, 2020 Easter Island - Tahiti Le Soleal cruise the Hammam was perfect as the rest of the ship and crew (even though we were not able to land anywhere after March 10)!  We have our next cruise with Ponant on June 27, 2022 - Nice to Istanbul on Le Bougainville (our first cruise since March 2020); we had to cancel 8 cruises (different cruise lines) and rebook the Ponant 5 times (hopefully, our June 2022 cruise will stay).

Edited August 11, 2021 by kirtihk

[AussieBoyTX]

52 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Was the Hammam closed for entire duration of your cruise?  

 

Yes, the Hammam was closed for the duration. June 2022 feels like a thousand years away and I expect there will be several covid changes between now and then -- hopefully to allow the Hammam to be open.

[AussieBoyTX]

I did post a review. If you read all of my entries in this thread, there's little new for you:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=682138&et_cid=3449005&et_rid=182986717&et_referrer=boards_a