Somewhat live from the Celestyal Journey, March 23-April 6, 2024

[StartrainDD]

It's been hard to find much information on sailing with Celestyal pre-cruise.  I thought it might be helpful to future cruisers to report from our experience.  I keep a log of our travels and hope to post the log daily or as time and internet connection allows.  Here is the pre-cruise background:

 

On the first day of our fourth week in Greece, we embark on the Celestyal Journey for 14 days.  This is actually three short cruises booked back-to-back.  When we booked (a year ago!) there was no option to book as one 14-day cruise.  They did open that option later, but then the only cabins in our categories were far forward or aft.  There was no financial advantage for us to change the booking(s), so we left them as originally set.  The only time I found a fare lower than what we booked at was during the one day “Leap Day” sale on February 29.  That was, of course, long after final payment.  We booked the “Enhance” fare which includes all sorts of things; hopefully that inclusion list includes some decent Greek wines.

 

Why did we choose Celestyal?  We had booked an earlier cruise on Celebrity Infinity for “Israel & Egypt.”  We didn’t want to fly all the way to and from Athens for just an 11-day cruise, so we ended up building a 38-day adventure around the Infinity, including the 14 days on Celestyal.  Things happen and the Infinity cruise became the “Best of Greece.”  There is only one port that is repeated (Rhodes) and Rhodes has enough to offer for two visits.  All six of us traveling together agreed to stick with the Infinity and the rest of what we planned, so here we are!

 

We are “Familiar” with the Journey as we sailed this ship in her previous life as the Holland America Ryndam.  We are looking forward to seeing the changes made in her new life.  One thing we know did not change is the wonderful promenade deck, where our inside cabin, #6104, is located.  We found it frustrating trying to gather information before the cruise, as we have not sailed Celestyal before.  Very loosely our documents say check in is from noon to 16:00 (4:00 PM).  We intend to leave our hotel by taxi at about 11:00 and we will see what happens.

[westerdam]

I will be following your post with interest on your thoughts. I also sailed on her as the Ryndam years ago and was just on her 2 weeks ago for the first run of the season up to the Adriatic. There is not a lot left from that era of her operating as Ryndam.  The majority of what I saw off the top of my head was on statue outside of the Blue Room, a few mirrors in the upper level of the atrium, the door handles to the crows nest, and the ships cabin hallways.  My cabin that was an inside on 5th deck was 100 percent vintage HAL from when they did the big signature of excellence about 15 years ago if I recall correctly.  The promenade deck is outstanding but there is no place to sit anymore. Other than all the way forward they did put in a couple of benches. I really missed the old fashioned steamer chairs!  

 

Overall, I had a lovely time on her and would not hesitate to use them again. On a side note if you received a credit for shore excursions make sure you use it BEFORE you embark the ship! I almost found out the hard way and saw several people in line at the shore excursion desk trying to use it but it is only available before you embark for whatever reason.  That being said do enjoy your cruise and if you have any questions feel free to send me a message. 

[StartrainDD]

Saturday, March 23, 2024; Embarkation in Piraeus (Athens) Greece

 

On the first day of our fourth week in Greece, we embark on the Celestyal Journey for 14 days.  This is actually three short cruises booked back-to-back.  When we booked (a year ago!) There was no option to book as one 14-day cruise.  They did open that option later, but then the only cabins in our categories were far forward or aft.  There was no financial advantage for us to change the booking(s), so we left them as originally set.  The only time I found a fare lower than what we booked at was during the one day “Leap Day” sale on February 29.  That was, of course, long after final payment.  We booked the “Enhance” fare which includes all sorts of things; hopefully that inclusion list includes some decent Greek wines.

 

Why did we choose Celestyal?  We had booked an earlier cruise on Celebrity Infinity for “Israel & Egypt.”  We didn’t want to fly all the way to Athens for just an 11-day cruise, so we ended up building a 38 day around the Infinity, including the 14 days on Celestyal.  Things happen and the Infinity cruise became the “Best of Greece.”  There is only one port that is repeated (Rhodes) and Rhodes has enough to offer for two visits.  All six of us traveling together agreed to stick with the Infinity and the rest of what we planned, so here we are!

 

We are “Familiar” with the Journey as we sailed this ship in her previous life as the Holland America Ryndam.  We are looking forward to seeing the changes made in her new life.  One thing we know did not change is the wonderful promenade deck, where our inside cabin, #6104, is located.  We found it frustrating trying to gather information before the cruise, as we have not sailed Celestyal before.  Very loosely our documents say check in is from noon to 16:00 (4:00 PM).  We intend to leave our hotel by taxi at about 11:00 and we will see what happens.

 

We actually had the taxi pick us up at about 10:50 and were at the port by 11:05.  We entered the terminal, and a helpful rep told us that check in was not yet open and to have a seat.  So, we sat for about 20 minutes.  Then another rep came over and told us that the “Process” began outside, and a line was forming outside.  Thus began a frustrating hour.  What took the most time was actually folks filling out their “Health declaration” (which only asks about Covid).  Why people didn’t have this filled out ahead of time as we did I can only imagine.  That was about the ONLY thing Celestyal clearly communicated before the cruise.

 

Long story short, by about 12:25 we were onboard.  We took care of some needed details at the front desk and made our way upstairs to see about lunch and beverages.  From the first bar person we saw, without fail, everyone tries to upsell the beverage package.  Writing this at the end of the first day, I can clearly say that Celestyal’s website is at the least misleading and perhaps worse than misleading as the impression given is that if you buy the “Enhance” fare you will have a wide variety of wines and beverages to choose from.  If TWO red wines and TWO white wines are a “Wide variety,: then they are truthful.  With the “Enhance” package soft drinks are only served by glass, no cans or bottles, and ‘spring water’ also only by the glass.  Frustrations with the beverage package seem designed to prod people to upgrade to the “Premium plus” package.

 

Lunch itself was pretty decent.  I had a slice of roast beef from a carving station.  The fish available was Marlin, and turkey fillets were grilled (quite a different take on turkey, but this made it taste more like chicken).

 

We returned to the cabin at about 2:40 and our luggage was there.  We unloaded everything and went to visit the wine bar, but no one was there (despite the program saying it was open).  We went to the Ocean Bar, and I was able to have a Mai tai included in our package.  DW had wine.  We went to our cabin waiting for announcements for the muster drill.  Before the announcements were even made someone knocked on our door and said we should go to the muster drill.

 

Talk about a flashback to 10 years ago!  Not only is the muster drill on deck by the lifeboats, but you also have to wear your life jacket.  Larger cruise lines stopped having folks wear life jackets years ago after having guests trip and literally fall and break bones over dragging life jacket straps (Happened on our Alaska cruise in 2009).  To make matters worse, all the muster instructions were given in seven languages resulting in everyone standing there for over 35 minutes.

 

We attended the “Welcome meeting” in the show lounge at 5:30.  Cruise Director Teresa did an okay job on “Cruising 101”, but we really didn’t learn anything significant.  Four of us went up to “Halara Cove” (the pool area on deck 11) to listen to the end of the Greek music set by the trio “El Greco.”  The hot tubs were packed with young people (as in, less than 18 young).  On the other hand, we haven’t yet seen a single scooter.

 

We went to dinner just after 6:30 to the Thalassa Restaurant.  Dinner was the highlight of the day on board.  Service was personal, fast, and efficient.  Our servers Geny & Jerome were terrific.  We asked them if we could have them every night.  We talked with the maître de and he said as long as we come about 6:30 that should be possible.  The wine steward brought DW and our friend a South African wine they really liked, so he made two friends.  But despite the price range being within our package he said he couldn’t get me a Moscato.

 

We returned to our cabin and our bed had been remade into one, but the covers were still separate.  I got too much sun waiting in line for check in and there is no lotion in the cabin.  Ugh.

 

We attended the 8:30 show (first show) “Abba’s Dreams.”  The show was different than typical cruise line shows.  Negatives are the soundtrack is canned, and honestly the soundtrack includes some harmonies.  It’s hard to tell if the performers are actually singing or synching as if they are really signing there is no sign of any exertion and they sure do move around a lot!  There is a pair of aerialists who do a very good job considering the constraints of the theater.  Floor seating has lots of legroom, a real plus! After the show we called it a night.

[StartrainDD]

Sunday, March 24, 2024; Santorini, Greece

 

We visited Santorini once before, in 2012.  During that visit we really didn’t know “How good we had it.”  There was only one 2000 passenger ship in port, and with a car rental we pretty much saw the island.  Yet our friends had not been here before, and the ships tour “The Essence of Santorini” sounded like a very through overview of the island so we all booked that.

 

Being an “All day” tour the meeting time was 8:15.  Our alarm was set for 6:00 and we went to the Taverna (lido) for breakfast at 7:15.  We ran into one of our friends who said they had a difficult time finding a table.  We ended up squeezing into their two-person table with the help of a few unused nearby chairs.  The omelet chef made me a very nice ham omelet.  The coffee machines are a little confusing but now I think we have them figured out.  One thing is they fill the cup just over half-way.  Try to put a ‘second squirt’ in the cups and they overflow…

 

We met our other friends and sat in the very back of the theater.  Celestyal doesn’t use excursion tickets like most lines, they just collect your ticket while boarding the tender.  Perhaps they will do the same thing with a bus tour if no tender.  BUT the announcements in the theater were made in several languages taking lots of time.  It was nearly 9:00 before we were told to head to the tender.  Being in the back, we were the first on the tender and grabbed seating for six rights near the entrance/exit, but out of the way of folks coming in.  This was very good as we were also the first on the bus once we reached the ferry dock.

 

Our tour was fine.  Tour guide was a local who has lived on Santorini for 20 years.  Bus driver knows exactly how to navigate the crazy roads.  During our time in Oya, it became so busy walking the narrow lanes became challenging.  Having ~6000+ cruisers in town is sure different than 2000!  Our visit to the black sand (really rocks) beach and the mountain top was not so busy, but the stop at the winery was crazy, with no place to sit and tour buses constantly pulling in.  We were brought back to Fira and walked to the cathedral.  From there we were on our own, but our guide gave us passes for the cable car to ride down to the tender port.

 

We visited the cathedral and didn’t get far as a group until our friends saw a jewelry sign they could not resist.  We split up and that point and began walking towards the cable car.  We looked at a few things along the way but made no purchases.  We found already a significant line for the cable car, so we joined the line.  It took us about 45 minutes to reach the front and enjoy the quick ride down the caldera.

 

We just missed a tender back to the Journey.  Little did we know we’d be standing about another 30 minutes before another tender would arrive.  This was not as nice a tender as in the morning and they didn’t close the sides, so I ended up getting wet from the sea spray.  Part way back a man who had a comfortable seat moved next to DW crowding her out.  I couldn’t move as there was a lady next to me.  Then when it was time to leave, this man tries to push DW aside to pass her.  She was pretty furious.

 

We finally reach the Journey and there is no security check.  I certainly won’t complain.  We returned to our cabin at 3:20 and found the Taverna buffet was closing at 3:30.  So we immediately went up to deck 11 and gathered some nice baked chicken, what tasted like swordfish, and some fries.  It took a long time to find a bar waiter, and that was only after we asked one of the staff twice.

 

Leaving the buffet at about 4:00, we walked past the pool.  A spa lady was offering complimentary massages.  DW sure took advantage of that.  She was so tense and stressed out from the standing and the tender experience.  They offered her a “Three-for” spa deal and I told her to get it done.  While waiting for DW’s ‘free’ massage sampler, a server came around with light cakes and cookies.  They call this a Pass around.”

 

After DW was set up at the spa, I went to guest services to talk about my dissatisfaction with the beverage package and how the dining room wouldn’t serve me a €6.75 glass when the package is supposed to cover up to €7.00  Supposedly the ‘fine print’ is that the package is for the bars and lounges and not for the dining room.  I don’t know what good a beverage package is that is not in the dining room.  I also mentioned about getting wet on the tender ride.  That, she could do something about, and they offered to wash those clothes complimentary.  I returned to the cabin to get changed and handed the damp clothes with a laundry slip and bag to one of the housekeeping staff.

 

I went down to the martini bar for a Mai-tai and to update my log.  I returned to the cabin at 5:35 just as DW returned from her spa time.  She greatly enjoyed her massage.  Our friend knocked on our door within minutes of my return.  He said they just returned, and they walked down the donkey path as the cable car line exceeded an hour.  They enjoyed Santorini but like us, they are now “Done” with Santorini.

 

We went to dinner at 6:30 and again enjoyed the terrific service from Geny & Jerome.  We all agree that the food has been most enjoyable.  Leaving the dining room at 7:55, we stopped by our cabins and then went to the showroom.

 

There is a ‘pre-show’ this evening with Greek music by the trio “El Greco.”  The show itself is the only “Live music” performance as El Greco provides the music for “Hellenic Voyage.”  I thought the show was well done.  DW and our friend just couldn’t stay awake so at 9:10 we left the theater to call it a night.

 

A few additional general notes:  The crew is generally top notch.  The serving staff seems to be mostly from the Philippines.  There is no “Free” ice cream anywhere on the ship, and so far no ice cream has been offered as a dessert at dinner.  If you come back from shore after the Taverna is closed for lunch, it will cost at least €10/pp for something from the Greek Deli at the pool.

[Sujormik]

Following, this is already so helpful.  We’ll be on Journey in May, and I’m surprised at how crowded Santorini was for you in March! We aren’t expecting much from Celestyal so thanks again for your detailed posts.

[westerdam]

Loving your detailed review so far! I am surprised they don't have free ice cream at all.  3 weeks ago there usually was an ice cream dessert on the menu in the main dining room in the evening and they had it every afternoon in the buffet in the dessert section.  As for the coffee machines in the Lido.  I found out if you do one of the espresso then switch to one of the cappuccino it fills the cup perfectly with no overflow. 

 

Can't wait for further installments of your review! 😀

[StartrainDD]

Monday, March 25, 2024; Rhodes, Greece; Greek Independence Day

 

With no set tour time today we agreed to meet our friend for breakfast in the Thalassa dining room at 7:30.  It was nice not having to deal with the lido buffet.  Geny & Jerome were both there and Geny got us very nice omelets.  My friend and I went up to use the hot tub just after 8:00.  No towels were available, so we went back to our cabins to retrieve our “Beach towels.”  He has noted that the hot tubs are drained every night.  They seem to have little chlorine.  Guess that is okay so long as we use it early in the morning.

 

After the hot tub we got ready to go out to explore Rhodes.  There was no mention on board of it being a holiday.  We had hoped to explore the Castle of the Knights of the Templar however the castle, like every museum and even the tourist information office, were all closed for the holiday.  We did have a nice walk and took a lot of photos.  We made a number of shopping stops and various items were purchased including belts, an embroidered table runner, a T-shirt, and ???  We also stopped at a café near the castle for coffees and ciders.  That was most enjoyable.

 

We found out while having our coffees that we missed the local Independence Day parade.  One would think the ship would have alerted their guests to a special event like this happening less than a kilometer from the dock.

 

We headed back to the Journey and arrived back on board at 1:45.  We dropped our things in our cabins and headed for the dining room for lunch.  Lunch was terrific.  There was an ice cream option for dessert.  Things are starting to look up.  My friend and I agreed to meet at 5:00 to play Splendor in the Blue Bar on deck 8.  Then back to the cabins to begin to get ready for “Formal night.”  I heard from our other friends who agreed to meet at 6:00 in the Blue Bar.

 

We enjoyed our Splendor games.  I won the first and he won the second.  During the second game a group of 9 folks came in and they were very loud.  People sometimes say that I am loud, and at times I certainly am, but this group made me look like an amateur for certain.  When our wives appeared at the end of our second game we moved to another room, as the Blue Bar is spread over three rooms.  The third couple joined us, and we shared stories of our day.  He tried the “Squid rings” at McDonalds in town and said they were quite good.

 

Dinner was the best so far of the cruise.  We really enjoy our wait staff.  We made a quick stop in our cabins and then went as agreed to have a group photo taken with the captain.  As the captain was scheduled on stage at 8:30 we met at 8:10. Folks were there, the photographer was there, but no captain.  The captain arrived at 8:25. We had our photo taken and then went into the showroom to get seats for the captain’s welcome.

 

Getting seats became a debacle as it was hard to move around the balcony area and I was in the front row.  Four folks from a country who have a bit of a reputation of being brash simply pushed me out of the way as the rest of our group was trying to join me and sat in the seats.  We sat a row back, but in the balcony the only place with a clear view is the front row.  The captain was very late and just as we and a few others decided to leave (8:55) the cruise director came on stage to introduce the captain.  Our decision having been made, as the program was now 25 minutes behind schedule, we left anyway.

 

A quick stop at the Ocean Bar for a diet coke and we returned to the cabin and called it a night.  It’s another early tour tomorrow with an 8:15 meeting time.

 

General notes:  There is no 110-volt outlet in the cabins.  Of course, there use to be.  In its place is a high wattage 220 with slanted prongs which the hair dryer (that DW hates as she says it is "Too hot" uses..  The original 220-volt outlet (one only) is still there.  No announcements are made when the ship is leaving a port.  We never hear anything from the captain.  Everything takes longer as the cruise director and her assistant make all introductions, announcements, shore excursion instructions, etc. in seven languages.

[StartrainDD]

Tuesday, March 26, 2024; Samos, Greece

 

We have never been to Samos before, and a new port is always exciting.  We met our friends for a dining room breakfast at 7:15.

 

The dining room breakfast is fast and efficient.  Again, our terrific waiter Geny provided omelets to order.  Jerome does the “Toast” and one of our friends asked if he had English Muffins.  He said he would be right back.  He did come back with three English Muffins, toasted on the outside but not opened and toasted.  He sure means well!  We made a quick stop at guest services as we found out this morning that our phone didn’t work at all.  We were told they would have it looked into.  Then we headed to the theater for the shore excursion departure.

 

We had booked the “Traditional Samian Feast” shore excursion.  Upon arrival at the pier, we had a big surprise.  As we exited the tender local folks were there handing every lady an orchid and every man a bag containing three things:  A booklet on the three local Greek islands, a small bottle of local Ouzo and a small bottle of the local white wine.  Wow, they really want cruisers here in Samos!

 

The tour was very nice, and the bus was not full.  We drove about 30 minutes over the mountain to the seaside village of Pythagorion. This village, named in honor of the local mathematician by the same name  who in about 500 BC developed the theorem named after him A2 * B2 = C2.  He is also widely credited with developing the calculation of PI (Diameter * 3.14….. = Circumference of a circle).

 

At the village, we saw a monument to Pythagorion with many equations and drawings on it.  We also walked to the “Blue Street,” a small alley containing many items made or painted blue.  From there we drove on to the mountain village of Pagondas.  This village is named after a military hero from about 400 BC.  Here we were entertained by a group of six very talented Greek dancers and a three-piece band providing the music.  We were served local white wine, and a number of food items many of which were most enjoyed.  We stayed until nearly 1:00 before reboarding the bus to head back to the port.

 

Arriving at the port there was no wait for the tender, so we hopped right in.  Upon scanning our cards, we were advised to visit guest services.  DW needed to stop there anyway to obtain her refrigerated medication, so we made the stop.  Yippie!  We were provided new key cards that will last us until we disembark on April 6.  While ashore I received an e-mail from White Travel Tours confirming our pickup details for our tour in Istanbul.

 

We stopped at the pool bar for a few beverages, then returned to our cabin to read and update this log.  We got changed for dinner and at 4:00 went up to the martini bar for beverages, to read, and for the “Pass around” cookies.  Within a minute after we arrived our second set of friends popped in, so we visited and talked about our day.  No reading was done but we had a great chat.  Within moments after they went to get ready for the evening, we saw our other friend looking at the shop.

 

I returned our books to our cabin and met them up on the pool deck for fruit and vegetable carving.  Despite having a good vantage point with everyone standing we couldn’t actually watch the chefs work however we did get to see and photograph the final product.  We went down to the Blue Bar and played one four-person round of Splendor.  I won the match at 6:27 and we headed down to the dining room for dinner.

 

Everyone enjoyed dinner and the wait team was terrific as always.  The shrimp dinner was nice, and the steak kabob was enjoyable.  Frog Legs was a popular appetizer and the apple tart pie and blue curacao ice cream made for quite the dessert.

 

The show this evening was “Little Italy” by the production cast, and it was enjoyable, although on the slower numbers I had a hard time keeping my eyes open.  The terrible news is that we LOSE an hour tonight as the clocks move to Turkish time for our two-day visit to Istanbul.

 

General notes:  Every day we learn more about the crazy application of the beverage package.  Things we think are covered, are not, and things we don’t think are covered, sometimes are.  There is no concise list that we have found.  We just think it’s crazy that the package appears designed to ENCOURAGE alcohol consumption versus non-alcoholic beverages.  Certainly, that has to cost the cruise line more…

 

We are trying to avoid the lido buffet.  Despite multiple signs telling people not to fill water bottles, and crew members ‘chasing folks away’ from filling water bottles, many passengers seem intent on doing so anyway.  Of course, when the “Premium” beverage package we have doesn’t even include bottled water, there is an incentive for passengers to refill water bottles…Additionally the young folks and children are especially non-sanitary at the buffet.  Fortunately, service in the dining room is so fast and efficient that dining room breakfasts don’t take any more time that a lido one.

[StartrainDD]

Wednesday, March 27, 2024; Istanbul, Turkey Day one

 

Today the Journey arrives in Istanbul, but not until 1:30 PM.  Without setting an alarm I ended up meeting my friend at the hot tub a little after 8:00.  We were the only ones there.  Wish the hot tub was a few degrees warmer.  I checked out the pool, but it is cold.

 

Just enough time for a quick clean up and we met at 9:15 for a dining room breakfast.  After breakfast we gathered everything we would need for the day and went up to look at the shops.  There are not a lot of shops on Journey, but we did find some “Greece” socks and bought two pair.  We also checked the photo of our group with the captain and purchased that for €15.  It came with a small photo in a clear frame with a magnet.

 

We sat in the martini bar for a while and enjoyed a coffee and tea.  All too soon it was time for all six of us to meet for lunch at 12:00 in the dining room.  Lunch was a buffet today and this may have been the least satisfying meal on Journey thus far.  After lunch we were approaching Istanbul, and we went out on the promenade deck to take photos and watch the docking.

 

Just after 1:30 the cruise director made a “Welcome to Istanbul” announcement in multiple languages and said she would be back to announce once the ship was cleared.  We were seated in the deck 6 atrium and soon we saw ship’s tour groups descending down the stairs.  We joined them and were soon out in the new Istanbul cruise terminal, which is hidden underground.  Above it are lots of modern stores and restaurants.  We never did hear the cruise director tell folks waiting that the ship was cleared...

 

It took us about 15 minutes to get through the maze and find our way past document checks to meet our guide  Tolga Oner from White Travel Tours did a terrific job with his driver taking us around to the major sights.  We had a very comfortable Mercedes van with plenty of extra space.  We began at the Blue Mosque, moved on to the former Roman hippodrome area where there are now several ancient columns, including an Egyptian monolith from 1500 BC, making it over 3500 years old!

 

Next we visited the underground cistern where we waited perhaps 15 minutes in a queue.  The cistern was one of the filming locations for a James Bond movie.  Then we visited the Hagia Sophia which was a very different experience than our 2013 visit.  The Hagia Sophia was recently converted, once again, into a mosque.  Visitors can access the second floor which contains many of the Christian mosaics from the 10^th century.  We could no longer access the main floor nor the basement, where the Ephesus marble slabs are located.

 

Back to the van, we rode over to a harbor area with lots of boats and ferries.  Our tour included a “Private Bosporus Cruise” for the six of us.  Who would have thought that cruise would be on a 200-person boat?  No, there were not 200 people, but the boat could have held 200 passengers.  We sailed all the way to the second bridge crossing the Bosporus and Tolga gave us a narration most of the voyage.  Surely a terrific once in a lifetime experience.

 

We returned to the dock about 7:05 and returned to the van.  At about 7:20 we were dropped off at the cruise port and Tolga told us exactly where we would meet the following morning.  We made our way through the terminal back onto the Journey.  We all met for dinner at 7:45 in the dining room.

 

The menu included Whiting and a “Grilled Turkey.”  The turkey ended up not being grilled but rather was roasted turkey and it was terrific.  We enjoyed dinner and followed that with taking nighttime photos from the promenade deck before calling it a night.  We have a very full day planned for Istanbul Day 2!

[StartrainDD]

Greetings everyone from somewhere along the Bosphorus.  We had another terrific day in Istanbul today, although it was also an “Expensive” day for us.  We left a bit of our funds behind at the Grand Bazaar.  The details are in the report!  Good thing the market is doing well! 😊

 

Hope everyone is well, healthy and enjoying spring.  Here is the report:

 

Thursday, March 28, 2024; Istanbul Day 2

 

With an alarm set for 6:00 it was an early morning.  We went to the dining room for breakfast at 7:30.  We met our friends at 8:15 to disembark and meet Tolga at the cruise terminal exit.

 

Tolga was waiting for us, and we were quickly in the same van headed for the Topkapi Palace.  We were there at opening at 9:00.  Tolga did a great job keeping us ahead of the crowds.  We were able to see the treasury, the most visited section of the palace, with no one else there.  We could linger and take photos of many of the jeweled items, many of which were gifts to the sultan from other leaders.  We saw the gardens and a bonus was that the early tulips were in bloom.  We went to various other parts of the palace.  The last place we visited in the palace was the harem.

 

The word “Harem” in Arabic means “A holy place where not everyone is allowed to enter.”  The harem was, indeed, the residence for the sultan’s four wives and children.  Tolga explained the Koran specifies a man may have up to four wives.  After many sultans, one of them decided to add concubines to the four wives.  I suppose a big enough donation to the mosque would mask any condemnation, like buying indulgences in the church of that day.

 

From the palace we reboarded the van and headed to the spice market.  Tolga took us to a shop that was expecting us.  They gave us seats and provided large trays with samples of Turkish delight (the premium kind), nuts, and passed around samples of hot teas.  I really liked the apple tea but found out it’s made with a lot of sugar.  We ended up buying about a pound of black tea (vacuum sealed for transport) and some coconut Turkish delight.  Somehow the amount didn’t add up correctly and we and our friends all feel like we were somewhat ‘taken’ by the shop.  So that is the only negative on Tolga.

 

From there we walked to the nearby Hamdi restaurant, where DW and I enjoyed a meal in 2013.  The view is terrific, and folks seemed to enjoy the meal.  It didn’t seem quite as special as it once did, and our dietary needs have changed.  One of our friend’s meals needed to be redone as despite making everything as requested with “No peppers” the plate arrived with a large pepper on the plate.

 

We left the Hamdi and headed to the Grand Bazaar in the van.  Traffic headed that way was plugged in multiple spots, but we made it in about 25 minutes.  We wandered the bazaar and Tolga brought us to a leather shop that he said had a very good reputation for quality goods.  They claim to be the largest leather processor in Turkey, and we ended up buying his and hers Antelope leather jackets.  Back on the ship, a little online research indicates the leather is most likely from Springbok, the national animal of South Africa.  DW calls the jackets ‘coats’ because they are long, but they are not at all heavy.  Both are also reversable.

 

Our friends bought a few items, and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.  It was quite crowded, but Tolga said these crowds were minimal and in a few weeks it would be hard to move inside the bazaar.

 

By 3:45 we were back in the van and returning to the ship.  On the way, we got our funds together and paid Tolga for the tour.  Tolga received a phone call from the White Travel Tours office, and they asked to speak to me.  They wanted to make sure we were happy with the tour.  I told them we certainly were, and with them on the phone asked the group and everyone responded “Yes!”  I wholly recommend White Travel Tours to anyone looking for a guide in Turkey.

 

Tolga was able to drop us off inside the cruise terminal right at our ‘Gate.’  We thanked Tolga and our terrific driver for the tour and headed back to the Journey, onboard by about 4:10.  This day marked the transition between cruise segments and even though we were given new cards two days prior, the check-in computer made a nasty sound when our cards were scanned.  The security officer double checked our cards to see the dates and worked some magic with the computer to get us cleared to board.

 

A few notes on Istanbul:  We had a terrific tour and truly enjoyed our time there.  That said, after the crystal-clear air and water around Athens and the Greek Isles, with 20,000,000 inhabitants and questionable sanitation, the air and water around Istanbul is noticeably less healthy.

 

I felt scruffy after two days of touring Istanbul and got cleaned up.  DW spiffed up for the evening.  We went up to the Blue Bar on deck 8 and found a comfy couch near the windows.  Journey started moving at exactly 6:00 per the schedule.  We visited with friends and left to meet our other friends for dinner.  Dinner tonight was the most challenging menu of the cruise so far.  We found out later that the buffet had more choices including beef wellington, chicken wings, and banana splits!  Oh well…  We did enjoy the service from our terrific wait team.

 

We left to attend the show, “Cirque Fantastic.”  With four acrobats (three male and one female, and I swear the female one must be from another planet the way she can fold her body…) this was a special performance.  After the show we returned to our cabin at 9:45 and found our excursion tickets for this segment of the cruise.  We gain the hour back tonight as we return to Greek time.  We have no early morning plans tomorrow!!!

 

General notes:  The cabin climate control is one of the more advanced we have seen on a cruise ship.  Celestyal must have spent some of the refurb Euros on the HVAC system.  The control actually shows the real temperature (in C of course) and you can set the temperature you want the cabin to be.  It works to some degree and after reducing the temperature when we originally came on board our cabin has been comfortable thus far.

 

Smoking is more prevalent in Europe than in North America.  Smoking is allowed indoors on the port side of the “Crow’s nest” (Horizons disco bar).  That makes this area unusable for us as smoke of course does not stay on one side of an open area.  If fact, the smoke can be smelled at the deck 11 and deck 10 forward stairs / elevator area.  Our friends in the deck 10 forward suite say they occasionally smell smoke.

 

Windows!  We’ve seen lots of cruise ship windows that are salt-sprayed, and sometimes it takes a while before they are cleaned.  The windows on poor Journey, however, look like it’s been months since they’ve been cleaned.  It is a real shame as this cruise includes some very scenic areas.  What is the problem with cleaning the windows?

[zdcatc12]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:58 AM, StartrainDD said:

Sunday, March 24, 2024; Santorini, Greece

 

We visited Santorini once before, in 2012.  During that visit we really didn’t know “How good we had it.”  There was only one 2000 passenger ship in port, and with a car rental we pretty much saw the island.  Yet our friends had not been here before, and the ships tour “The Essence of Santorini” sounded like a very through overview of the island so we all booked that.

 

Being an “All day” tour the meeting time was 8:15.  Our alarm was set for 6:00 and we went to the Taverna (lido) for breakfast at 7:15.  We ran into one of our friends who said they had a difficult time finding a table.  We ended up squeezing into their two-person table with the help of a few unused nearby chairs.  The omelet chef made me a very nice ham omelet.  The coffee machines are a little confusing but now I think we have them figured out.  One thing is they fill the cup just over half-way.  Try to put a ‘second squirt’ in the cups and they overflow…

 

We met our other friends and sat in the very back of the theater.  Celestyal doesn’t use excursion tickets like most lines, they just collect your ticket while boarding the tender.  Perhaps they will do the same thing with a bus tour if no tender.  BUT the announcements in the theater were made in several languages taking lots of time.  It was nearly 9:00 before we were told to head to the tender.  Being in the back, we were the first on the tender and grabbed seating for six rights near the entrance/exit, but out of the way of folks coming in.  This was very good as we were also the first on the bus once we reached the ferry dock.

 

Our tour was fine.  Tour guide was a local who has lived on Santorini for 20 years.  Bus driver knows exactly how to navigate the crazy roads.  During our time in Oya, it became so busy walking the narrow lanes became challenging.  Having ~6000+ cruisers in town is sure different than 2000!  Our visit to the black sand (really rocks) beach and the mountain top was not so busy, but the stop at the winery was crazy, with no place to sit and tour buses constantly pulling in.  We were brought back to Fira and walked to the cathedral.  From there we were on our own, but our guide gave us passes for the cable car to ride down to the tender port.

 

We visited the cathedral and didn’t get far as a group until our friends saw a jewelry sign they could not resist.  We split up and that point and began walking towards the cable car.  We looked at a few things along the way but made no purchases.  We found already a significant line for the cable car, so we joined the line.  It took us about 45 minutes to reach the front and enjoy the quick ride down the caldera.

 

Thank you for this. We are traveling in two weeks and I booked this a few days ago because of your review. I also know now to sit at the back of the theater before the tender is loaded!!!

[StartrainDD]

Friday, March 29, 2024, “Good Friday” (not in Greece); Chios, Greece

 

It was very nice getting the hour back the overnight.  DW woke before me and was quiet as a mouse, getting into and out of the shower without waking me.  The result is I slept until 8:00, which would have been 9:00 without the time change!

 

We went to breakfast at 8:30 by ourselves.  Within minutes one of our friends arrived who woke before 7:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Already having had breakfast and copious amounts of coffee, we talked for a while, and he went to take care of a few items.  Returning to the cabin our cards would not work.  Apparently, they had timed out overnight and the front desk needed to reset them.

 

I stopped at the lido for a cup of tea.  The buffet area, especially near the coffee stations was a zoo.  I may need to procure a large mug to bring to breakfast with me as I am not getting enough tea in the mornings with the tiny cups used.  Unlike Holland, Celebrity, or Princess, they don’t leave a pot of hot water with the tea.  Our friends tried to call our room.  The phone rings, but they can’t hear us.  Call them back, same problem.  Our phone was never repaired.

 

Getting back to the cabin from breakfast our key cards would not work.  Going to the front desk they had ‘aged out’ as the system thought we left in Istanbul.  This, despite our being given new cards a few days before clearly showing disembarkation on April 6.  They had to restore the access and promised they are now good until April 6.

 

I agreed with my friend to meet at 10:30 to play Splendor, and DW is meeting his wife at the same time to attend a Greek cooking demonstration, the first time we are seeing an event held in the old movie theater / cooking class area on deck 7 midship.  We played three rounds, and he won two of them.  The ladies very much enjoyed the cooking demonstration and were able to taste samples of the seafood saganaki.  They also learned there would be a “Seafood buffet” in the lido in the evening.

 

We met for lunch at 12:30.  The lunch menu outside the dining room indicated that ice cream would be available for dessert, but nothing inside the dining room indicated ice cream.  On these late port days, the lunch service is strained and even in the dining room only a buffet is offered.  Lunch was just okay.  I asked about the ice cream and the waiter didn’t seem to know.  He came back five minutes later with a small amount of vanilla…

 

Our tour meeting time was 2:00.  We were there a little early and Teresa finally begins talking about tours.  Our tour is first, and we are on bus #1.  Theresa caused me some concern as she said our tour would return near the 7:30 last tender call.  I wasn’t dressed for being out after dark.  “The Ghost Town of Anavatos and Nea Moni Monastery Mosaics”  was not what we expected based on the tour description.  The “Ghost town” was only a distant photo stop despite the description talking about the interior of the dwellings and having “Free time in the village.”  The Monastery was nice, but we never did get to see the Cistern from the 11^th century.  Our tour guide was very personable and made the tour tolerable.

 

We ended up back at the dock before 6:00.  The tour guide invited everyone to visit the “Mastic” shop as Mastic is a major item produced on the island.  Attempts have been made to grow Mastic trees elsewhere, but they have been unsuccessful.  We did take the two-block walk to the shop and purchased a few items.  That delay however allowed two additional bus tours to return, so now there was quite a line for the tenders.  We were back onboard at about 6:50.

 

We all agreed to look over the seafood buffet.  Calamari, large cold boiled shrimp, seafood saganaki, salmon, and another fish were all available.  We agreed to have an ‘appetizer’ at the buffet and then go to the dining room.  The calamari was like rubber.  The shrimp were good.  The Saganaki bore little resemblance to that made at the cooking demonstration earlier in the day.  We made a good decision as the dining room menu was very nice.

 

The shrimp cocktail on the dining room menu was disappointing as the three shrimp were tiny and rather tasteless.  Other appetizers were better.  The roast beef offered was very nice.  The brownie and ice cream sundae dessert was excellent.  Talking with Clinton the wine steward, we found out the name of the South African winery that the red comes from.  Looking them up on the internet we found they produce a Pinotage.  Mentioning that to Clinton he said “Yes, we have that!”  He asked if we wanted that now.  We had our fill for the day but said we would try it the following day.

 

With the late start to dinner, we missed the show “What a wonderful world.”  Perhaps we will catch it next week.  But getting back to our cabin at about 8:50 we still have no daily for the next day and need to know when our tour meeting time is.  Putu apologized and said he didn’t have the dailies yet.  I went up to the front desk to ask them and they insisted they don’t have any information and to wait for the daily paper.  We are ready to go to bed and still don’t know what the next day’s schedule is.  I also told the front desk that our phone still doesn’t work.

 

While at the front desk I saw the shore excursion desk was open.  I went to retrieve my printed tour description and went back there.  Passing the front desk the rep stopped me to tell me she asked a technician to stop by about the phone.  Now, at 9:00?  I think DW is getting ready for bed…  While talking they closed the shore excursion shutter.  The front desk calls someone and said they would be by to talk with me.

 

Juan Carlos from shore excursions came by a few minutes later.  I went over the printed tour description from the Celestyal website which we used to decide on our excursion, and pointed out the things we didn’t do or see.  He looked it over and asked if he could scan my daily planner and I said of course.  Juan returned a few minutes later with the current brochure, which has an identical description.  He agreed that there are inaccuracies and wanted to make things better.  He saw we do not have a tour booked in Mykonos and offered a tour there.  I thanked him and told him I would get back to him.

 

Returning to the cabin I arrive at 9:15 just as a technician was at the door.  DW is ready for bed, but she took her book into the bathroom, and he played with the phone about ten minutes.  Finally, he said he needed to go get some tools.  At that point I asked if he could return the next day as we were leaving on an 8:00 AM tour.  He said he would.  DW also had me tell him about the broken make up mirror and he said he would look at that.  So finally, at 9:30, we had the cabin back to ourselves.

 

General notes:  COMMUNICATION.  If you are a planner (like me) the frustrations build as the folks in charge on Journey do not communicate well and in many cases at all.  Not being able to plan out a day until late at night is just not acceptable.  Obviously, the shore excursion team knows far in advance the starting times for tours, why are they not printed on the tour tickets?  Every time I start to feel a little better about the cruise experience on the Journey, something happens like today, and I remember how things started so poorly.

 

I.T. issues.  How can the ship issue us cruise cards good until April 6 and then lock us out of our cabin?  These kinds of things don’t just ‘happen,’ they are caused by poor planning and poor administrative and back-office issues.

[Sujormik]

Your reports are so helpful, thank you.  I’ve already decided to go with private tours on each of the islands except Ephesus, just don’t want to deal with waiting around for other people to tell me how to spend my limited time!  Think we will try to eat meals on the islands as much as possible too!

[StartrainDD]

2 hours ago, Sujormik said:

Your reports are so helpful, thank you.  I’ve already decided to go with private tours on each of the islands except Ephesus, just don’t want to deal with waiting around for other people to tell me how to spend my limited time!  Think we will try to eat meals on the islands as much as possible too!

The problem is that so many of the ports are tender ports (Note, this is not indicated on Celestyal's website!) and of course none of the independent travelers get on the tenders until all the ship's tours are dispatched.  We had a nice island meal today!  Look into White Travel Tours for Ephesus, we have a great tour and stayed ahead of the cruise line buses!

[StartrainDD]

Saturday, March 30, 2024; Kos, Greece

 

With an 8:00 tour meeting time we set the alarm for 6:00.  We headed to breakfast at 7:20 and sat two at a four-top.  Unplanned, within a minute our friends arrived and joined us.  Breakfast was nice but no matter what I do I can’t get more than about 5 ounces of tea at a time.  I make 14 oz. cups at home.

 

We headed up to the showroom and arrived just before 8:00.  Several tours sound the same so our tour, instead of the first off, as we thought, was the last one called.  So, we were there at 8:00 but not on the tender until 8:45 and on the bus on shore at 9:07.  A prime example of why we normally avoid ship’s tours.  There were folks on the tender with us and another tender right behind ours that were touring independently, and they were ashore at the same time as we.

 

The tour was “Asklepton- Zia – Winery – Plarane of Hippocrates”  Asklepton was not far from town.  This archaeological site includes a health & healing center begun by Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine.  There is a temple to Asklepios, the son of Apollo and “God of healing.’  We were there for an hour which may have been a little long, but with only two WC for men and two for women, and five busloads (it seemed all the tours went here first) that sure took time!

 

Back on the bus it felt hot.  The longest part of the bus ride was to the mountain village of Zia.  It never cooled down but rather the heat seemed to increase.  Upon arrival in Zia, my friend was already speaking to the guide about the heat by the time I arrived.  We are not dressed for 40 C (>100 F) as we are dressed for the outdoors at 20C (69F).  The guide said he would talk to the driver.

 

We took photos from the overlook which is very nice.  Easy to see Turkey (the area around Bodrum) across the narrow channel.  I bought a couple of bottles of water at a convenience store.  The ladies shopped and one small purchase was made by one.  Back on the bus it was even hotter.  The guide said the A/C was not working.  He promised it was only five minutes to the winery.  It was actually 15.  We were told we had 90 minutes at the winery.

 

I asked the guide if he would call the bus company and have them send another bus.  He looked at me like I was crazy and muttered something about being just 15 minutes from town.  All the more reason to get a working bus.  My friend and I both had the same thought, and we ditched the tour after tasting the wine, taking a taxi back to town.  For less than we would typically tip, we had a comfortable Mercedes sedan ride back to town.

 

Our taxi dropped us off near the Odean, the Roman theater discovered in 1929.  The original seating from the second and third centuries is still in place.  We took a few photos and walked towards the old town center.  We passed by a few other sights, and everyone was ready to relax and have a light lunch.  It was supposed to be “Light.”  “Senses Café” had a large menu.  Three of us had pizza and I had a chocolate and Oreo waffle.  They also had the Greek Cider I like.  We enjoyed our time there and they also had free internet.

 

Walking to the town square the ladies saw a store, “Peppermint” that had large 50% off signs.  They ended up buying matching t-shirts for €10 each.  We reached the town square and there is a large shop with local goods.  Nice to see but no purchases were made.  We ran into our other friends, whose bus had working A/C.  They enjoyed their tour and especially their time in town.  They told us where to find the Tree of Hippocrates, said to be the same tree that Hippocrates taught his students under 2500 years ago.

 

One last stop at an ATM to obtain more Euros and we walked back to the tender dock.  We just missed the tender but fortunately another arrived a few minutes later.  Back on board we stopped at the martini bar to bring a couple of drinks back to our cabin.  After being stuck in the hot bus, we needed to completely refresh before the evening.  Our friends with a working phone texted me to get together before 6:00 at the Blue Bar.  I left our other friends a note.

 

We met together and agreed on the walking tour of Chania for our complimentary tour.  We were going to do our own walking tour anyway, and this way we will get off the ship quickly with the tenders.  The men went down to talk to Juan Carlos, and we had a nice discussion.  He said he would take care of getting us the tickets.  We also let Juan Carlos know about the 40+ degree bus today and how the guide refused to call to get another bus.  Juan said the guide should have called him.  We made it clear we weren’t asking for anything, we just wanted to let him know.  He said he rides a bus nearly every day but can’t be on every bus, which of course is understood.

 

Back together again my friend and I went out to take photos of the sunset.  Then we headed to dinner.  The dining room menu is on a seven-night rotation, so this evening is a repeat of our embarkation day menu.  The lamb was most enjoyable.  Clinton brought us a sample of the Pinotage and explained this would be an extra cost, about €80 for four bottles if we wanted it.  It is not significantly better than the red wine that has been enjoyed but we really appreciate the sample.

 

Talking with Geri, he has been with the company for 20 years.  He has sure seen a lot of changes over that time.  Geri and Jerome gave each of the ladies a gift of a Philippines keychain.  We made sure to let them know we are not leaving the ship on Monday but staying on until Saturday April 6.

 

After dinner we headed to the Ocean Bar to listen to the duet and visit with all six of our group.  It was a very nice time and the soda, water, and ginger beers kept flowing.  A little after 9:00 we called it night.  We lose an hour tonight as Europe moves to daylight time.  At least we do not have an early tour and can sleep in!

 

General notes:  We enjoyed the Ocean Bar in the evening.  The Ocean Bar is the same Ocean Bar arrangement from when Holland America sailed this vessel as the Ryndam.  Some of the furniture of course is refreshed.  The ship in general is in very good shape for a 30-year-old vessel.

 

Funny thing is we noticed the crew cleaning the windows on the tenders today.  Why are the tender windows cleaned but not the windows on the Journey itself?

 

The weather has been absolutely incredible and perfect for touring.

[Sujormik]

20 hours ago, StartrainDD said:

The problem is that so many of the ports are tender ports (Note, this is not indicated on Celestyal's website!) and of course none of the independent travelers get on the tenders until all the ship's tours are dispatched.  We had a nice island meal today!  Look into White Travel Tours for Ephesus, we have a great tour and stayed ahead of the cruise line buses!

Thanks for the tip, wish we could get off first, but I may arrange our tours to begin a little later and not rush to the tenders.

 

we are in St Petersburg, not sure if that’s near you in FL!

[StartrainDD]

Sunday, March 31, 2024; Mykonos, Greece (Easter Sunday except for Greece)

 

With no tour today we slept until 7:45. We went to breakfast at 8:45 and were pleased to see Hot Cross Buns as a bread selection.  There were also colored ‘Easter Eggs’ decorating the dining room.

 

We finished getting ready for our 10:00 meet up to tender over to Mykonos.  The tender today went well, and we were pleasantly surprised that we tendered directly to the dock in the heart of town, rather than the cruise dock outside of town.  We had no tour, but “Rick Steves” was with us, and we used his excellent printed walking tour as our guide to the maze of Mykonos streets.  At one point, we met one of Rick Steve’s highlighted characters, Katerina, who was the first female ship’s captain from Mykonos.  She now has a shop in town.  At the shop, she has photos and a ship’s etching from her days as a captain.

 

We also passed the Catholic “Cathedral” which was in the midst of an Easter service and the church was packed.  As 95% of the residents are Greek Orthodox, I suppose at least some number of the attendees were from one of the three ships in port.

 

We had hoped to do our own private Easter service at a cove near the windmills.  With no shade there and too many steps that was not to be.  We finished our walking tour at about 1:00 and had a gelato and coffee-based lunch on the waterfront.  We then broke up to shop, and DW picked up a long hand-crafted scarf in one of the shops we had passed on the walking tour.  We walked around a little more and then headed back to the tenders, getting back on board at 2:30.

 

From overhearing one of the ship’s tour guides, we learned that the brown/yellow haze we see in the air is sand carried from Africa by the winds from the South.  Who would have thought?  We stopped by the martini bar for some beverages.  The cocktail of the day “Continental Sour” sounded interesting as it included Sandeman’s Port from Portugal.  For a €2 Euro charge Arie tried one.  It was interesting indeed.  We also had large glasses of water and brought them back to the cabin.

 

As it is Easter, Arie made a call back to his dad to wish him a Happy Easter.  It was good to hear he is doing well.  After the four+ hours in the bright sun, we decided to do a total clean up before the evening as after all, it is a special day.  We stopped in the Blue Bar for a diet coke and lemonade.  Our friends offered their suite for our Easter Service, so we met them there at 6:00.  My friend did a great job on our Easter service, “We need a savior and God wants sons and daughters.”

 

We had been led to believe based on a front desk comment that there would be a special menu for Easter dinner.  That was not the case, this was a repeat of last week Sunday’s menu.  Still, it was enjoyable, and the Aegean fish selection was nice.  At the end of dinner, a server came around with special treats.  It was not clear if this was because of Easter or because for 90% of the guests this was the last night of the cruise.

 

Our friends attended the show, “Mythologia.”  We returned to the cabin and put together a very full bag of laundry to be done by the ship for €29.95.  I handed the bag to Putu.  That will certainly provide enough clothes to last the rest of the trip as we have six days remaining.  We then went up to the Ocean Bar to listen to the “Music Zone” Duo from the Philippines.  They are most enjoyable.  At 9:45 we called it a night.

[StartrainDD]

Monday, April 1, 2024; Athens (Piraeus) Greece

 

No rush this morning yet we woke at 7:00.  The dining room breakfast was from 6 – 8 AM only as 90%+ of the passengers were disembarking.  We went to the dining room at 7:50 and had a good breakfast.  We literally closed the room down as we were the last folks to linger.  I went to the hot tubs with my friend, and we were the only folks there.  “Last call” for disembarkation came at about 8:50.  My friend made arrangements with George’s Taxi to pick us up on Saturday at 8:30.

 

After drying off, we set up a Catan game.  First we played a three person “Treasures” match and my friend won.  Then we played a four-person match, and I was successful.  We went for a dining room lunch as new cruisers were coming onboard.  There is a large group with orange lanyards.  We had instructions to stop in the cruise terminal between noon and four PM to have our passports scanned.  We went down at about 2:45 to take care of that.  We stopped in the duty-free shop to find a few needed items that were running low.  They didn’t have what we wanted but sent us to a nearby supermarket.

 

We found the supermarket without trouble but crossing the terribly busy road along the port was nerve-racking.  There are no marked crosswalks.  Returning there was quite a line for security mostly because people were simply unprepared.  We were back on board by 3:30 and had a relaxing afternoon, except for the muster drill announcements which came through in our cabin even though we did not need to attend this time.  By the way, this time the announcements were ONLY in English, and the muster drill took just twenty minutes.

 

We went up to the Blue Bar a little before 6:00 and our friends found us there a little while later.  It seemed very cool on the ship, so I stopped back in the cabin for my jacket before dinner.  We moved to a round table with Gery as our other friends will join us beginning the next day so we will have six.  We lost Jerome as our assistant waiter and picked up “Harley” instead.  Harley is very personable, but we enjoyed Jerome.  Dinner was very good with a nice Cod as a great entrée.

 

We learned from several crew members that more than one thousand guests left today and about seven hundred boarded.  Most of those boarding are from Bulgaria (the group with orange lanyards) or Greece.  For the remaining five days we are onboard the ship only has about 800 guests, or ~66% capacity.

 

After dinner we headed to the Ocean Bar where our other friends were.  We enjoyed the music, a terrific set while visiting with everyone and hung out until about 9:30.  We found an elephant in our cabin along with tour tickets and returned laundry.  After taking care of the laundry, it was a little after 10:00 when we called it a night.

[zdcatc12]

Thanks for these. This is wonderful. I had a question about laundry. I couldn't find anything on the website. Are there self-serve washers and dryers onboard and/or the bags in the staterooms that you send off for the crew to wash and dry?

 

 Also, if you go on the website and view the "Know Before You Go" brochure, at the end of the brochure they list the itineraries and these do state which ports a tender is required. E.g. on your cruise so far, it shows that a tender was used in Santorini, Samos, Chios, Kos and Mykonas. And you will be using one in Kotor.

[StartrainDD]

Tuesday, April 2, 2024; At Sea (Ionian & Adriatic Seas)

 

The only sea day of our 14 days on the Celestyal Journey began with no alarm and a chance to sleep in.  Still, I woke by 8:00 and went to get coffee & tea up on deck 11.  My friend was there and said he was going to breakfast in the dining room, so I joined him after returning the coffee to DW.  Breakfast was fine.  On returning to our cabin my card didn’t work.  Putu opened the door for me.  DW’s card didn’t work either, so I needed to go to the front desk once again to have the cards re-activated.  Note that four days earlier I had been assured that this would NOT happen today.

 

My friend and I went to the hot tub and stayed about 40 minutes.  As we were drying off we were talking with another guest when announcements began.  Three minutes in English.  Then three minutes more in multiple languages.  How long all together?  Who knows?

 

We returned to our cabins to get dressed for the day.  We met outside the movie theater (not used for movies by Celestyal) on the long tables to play Catan.  We played two rounds, and I won the first and our new player, along with his traveling companion “Floppy bunny” ended up winning the second.  This was followed by lunch in the dining room, but only a buffet was again offered.  Clinton came around with a new German wine for the red wine drinkers to try and they really liked it.  The chicken skewers on the buffet were not very good.  Believe they were made from chicken thigh meat.  The fish and chips were quite tasty.

 

We left lunch to go to the pool deck for an ice carving demonstration.  The chef carved a dolphin, and it looks terrific.   We stopped at the Blue Bar and DW enjoyed an iced cappuccino while I had hot tea.  Then we returned to our cabin to rest a bit and figure out dress for the evening’s dressy night.

 

We made our way to the Blue Bar at about 5:45 and our friends joined us a little later.  We now have six for dinner the rest of the cruise, but it’s just ‘not the same’ as it seems that Geny has been relegated to assistant status and Harvey appears to be primary.  He is a nice enough guy, but he doesn’t know our dietary needs like Geny and Jerome do.  My order and a friend’s order for “Shrimp ONLY” both came with red peppers (which she is allergic to) and DW’s request for vegetables rather than rice came with all nightshade vegetables (which she has sensitivity to).

 

After dinner we went to get seats for the show which was preceded by the captain’s welcome.  This was the “Welcome to Cabaret” show that we left before it started a week prior.  Again, it was very late, and the actual show didn’t start until after 9:10.  We did have a pleasant surprise that there is a time change tonight and we gain an hour.  Of course, that will mean that tomorrow night we will lose it again, but for our attempt to be up for the sail in at the Montenegro fjord that will certainly help.

 

At about 10:30 (!!!) we called it a night.

 

General notes:  On many days, the dining room lunch is a buffet only.  I would much rather see a served lunch as that is much less prone to spreading germs.  It seems every day the ship thinks they could have quite a few guests in the dining room they go to buffet only.

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17 hours ago, zdcatc12 said:

Thanks for these. This is wonderful. I had a question about laundry. I couldn't find anything on the website. Are there self-serve washers and dryers onboard and/or the bags in the staterooms that you send off for the crew to wash and dry?

 

 Also, if you go on the website and view the "Know Before You Go" brochure, at the end of the brochure they list the itineraries and these do state which ports a tender is required. E.g. on your cruise so far, it shows that a tender was used in Santorini, Samos, Chios, Kos and Mykonas. And you will be using one in Kotor.

No self serve washers.  Laundry prices by the piece are about half (or less) than what Celebrity charges.  We sent out one "Bag" which was stuffed with 30 items (mostly smaller things, but two pair of slacks, a pair of shorts, and a few long sleeve shirts) and the "Bag special" is 29.95 Euros.

 

Way back when we booked this Celestyal was using a smaller ship and some of those ports were to be docked. We could have docked in Mykonos except there was a 4000 passenger P&O ship at the dock. When they bought the former Ryndam now they have to tender as the ship is nearly double the size.  We will also be tendering in Chania (Souda port).

[StartrainDD]

Wednesday, April 3, 2024; Kotor, Montenegro

 

Another port call on the Journey and another tender port.  The Viking Mars is docked.  The Journey is ‘anchored’ a 25-minute tender ride from the dock.  It’s not like Celestyal is paying less for tendering a long distance as the port fees on this cruise are rather high.  We had a ships tour “Historic Kotor & Budva.”  The meeting time was 8:30.

 

We were up early, and I took photos of the sail in and the little church sitting alone on the island in the fjord.  I ran into our friends who were doing the same thing.  It was nice watching the sun begin to touch the mountain tops and slowly working its way down the mountainside.  We went to breakfast in the dining room and then got our things ready for the day ashore.

 

At 8:30 we were in the showroom.  At about 8:50 we were told to head down to the tender platform.  There was a long line and obviously not everyone would fit into a tender.  Sure enough, one just left, and we were the last two on the next one, sitting on opposite sides of the tender.  It was after 9:30 by the time we were ashore.  Since we were here in 2013, the port built a pier that ships the size of Viking can use.  They also put in a nice underground passage to the old city which avoids crossing the very busy road.

 

Our bus took us literally through the mountain to the seaside village of Sveti Stefan, an exclusive enclave of celebrities and the top of the one percenters, with rooms at the hotel starting at €2000/night.  Our guide worked at the hotel there for over 20 years.  We then went to the old city of Budva.  The old city is very nice and compact.  We had quite a walk to get there as construction just outside the old city has narrowed the roads and buses cannot traverse them.  Our guide was thrown for a bit as the public toilets were closed.  That resulted in a loss of 20 minutes as folks waited to use one WC at a café by the city gates.  We enjoyed eventually seeing the old city.

 

During our free time we went to a spot our guide recommended for coffee and to use the WC’s.  “The Old Fisherman Pub” had squid on the menu (calamari) and we asked how long it would take to get one order.  Our waiter checked with the kitchen and said, “Six minutes”, so we ordered one to share.  This was the best calamari of the trip!  Our friends returned to the old town  to procure a few items they glimpsed during our tour, and everyone was happy.

 

We returned to the bus and while we were away our bus changed!  The tote bag we left behind was moved to the new bus.  The bus brought us back to Kotor where we left the bus and enjoyed a tour of the old town.  We could see the stairs along the wall going up the mountainside and had fond memories of 2013 where we climbed about halfway up and one of our traveling friends at the time reached the top, after 1,450 steps!

 

Our guide led us to some of the highlights of the old town and finished at St. Paul’s church.  This church is 897 years old, having been completed in 1127.  We went inside and took a few photos.  Just after this my camera reported that my memory card was full!  Good thing I have another back on the ship.  We walked around the old town a while and then visited the marketplace outside the walls.  There, a kind vendor had us sample some local cheese and prosciutto.  Little did we know that Montenegro is known for its prosciutto.  We ended up buying two vacuum sealed packages for ten euros to use for snacks.

 

Back to the tender port we got in line but there were no tenders in sight.  It was more than 30 minutes before a tender showed up.  While we were touring an AIDA ship anchored quite close to the pier.  Those passengers had only a five-minute tender ride.  On the tender ride back, DW was splashed when a local boat created quite a wake by cutting in front of our tender.  We were finally back on board at 3:25.

 

We went directly to deck 11 to find the buffet was still open.  We got ourselves a few things and opened one of the prosciutto packages.  This is indeed extremely tasty prosciutto.  We agreed to save the second package for our last evening in Athens at the Attalos hotel.

 

DW and I stopped by the martini bar to bring a few beverages back to our cabin where we got changed for dinner.  After relaxing a bit, we went to the Blue Bar where we met our friends for a few diet cokes.  Dinner was better tonight although one of our friends’ orders still had an allergen on it and needed to be sent back.

 

After dinner we all went to the Ocean Bar to enjoy one set with a few beverages.  Losing an hour on the clock we called it a night at 9:05 and we have an 8:00 tour meeting time the next day.

 

General note:  The Journey truly does a poor job with tendering.  The ship has six tenders.  There is no way that it should be more than 30 minutes between tenders even if the tender transit is 25 minutes.  Keep them going on a cycle and guests should never have to wait more than 10-15 minutes.  When the tender finally arrived at least half the folks in line behind us did not fit.  To rub salt in the wound paying guests were left on the dock in favor of returning some of the show cast to the Journey.

[StartrainDD]

Corfu certainly remains one of our favorite Greek islands.  Wish we had more time there in the old city!

 

Thursday, April 4, 2024, Corfu, Greece

 

DW woke before our 6:15 alarm.  I went to get coffee & tea at about 6:30 and land could be seen on both sides of the ship as we passed through the channel between northern Corfu and Albania.

 

We went to breakfast at 7:15 as our tour meeting time was 8:00.  Finally, we are docked today!  Next to us the Viking Mars is docked.  Our tour was “Paleokastritsa – Natural Beauty and Byzantine Presence – the City of Corfu and Kanoni.”  That is sure a mouthful.  By the time we actually left the pier on the bus it was 8:30. Being the last bus to leave seemed like a bad omen and so it was.  We were actually the second bus to arrive at Paleokastritsa.  Parking in the beach-level parking lot our guide told us that the road to the Zoodochos Pigi Monastery was too dangerous for full size buses, so we needed to walk up.

 

Ugh, it was quite a climb.  When we were about half-way up the hill (sloped road not steps) a full-size Viking tour bus comes up the hill and nearly pushes us off the cliff.  This is not a safe situation.  Two more Viking buses came up the hill after we were at the top.  Somehow, despite being the second bus to arrive, we were the last group to actually tour the church.  This put our “We need to be back in the bus at 10:00” to 10:30. Was it worth the trip to Paleokastritsa to see the sights (admittedly quite spectacular)?  If we had more time, perhaps.  On a short port call, no.  To top it all off, on the walk back down the hill (where we were ahead of everyone as a WC break was being taken by many) the cute family of sheep we had seen walking up were walking across the road.  What a great opportunity for some video!  Daddy sheep didn’t like my shooting video and came over and rammed me on the thigh.  I suppose his message was ‘Don’t mess with my family.’

 

From Paleokastritsa  we drove 40 minutes to the Kanoni area of Corfu so we could see the “Postcard view” of Corfu with the Viacherna Monastery on Pontikonisi Island.  Except when we reached the viewpoint the parking lot was completely full of tour buses, and we couldn’t even get in.  The bus had to park far down the road, and it took 18 minutes for the ‘brief photo stop.’  By the time we were let off the bus near Corfu old town it was 11:40 and we needed to be back by 12:45. Therefore, we have just 65 minutes to take in the UNESCO world heritage site of Corfu Old Town.

 

We made the most of our time, discovering back-alley walkways and lots of interesting shops.  We tried some Kumquat liquor and bought a small bottle to bring home.  DW found two material belts she hopes will work with her new red dress.  We were back on the port just after 1:00.  No, the bus can’t bring us back to the ship as we have to be dropped off at the port gate to pass through port security.  There is a shuttle bus, but we all walked back from there, about another 1000 steps.

 

All in all, this was a very poor ship’s tour, and we certainly would have been better off just touring the old town and citadel by ourselves.  Once back on board the dining room was still open for lunch and all six of us had a nice lunch.  We then obtained some beverages at the martini bar and retreated to our cabins to relax and get ready for the evening.

 

At 5:20 I saw on my phone that Lufthansa sent an e-mail that they needed additional passenger data completed for our flights on Sunday.  So, I took the computer with me to see Juan Carlo at shore excursions.  I needed to see Juan to get our tickets for Chania.  It turns out our one set of friends had prebooked a longer excursion with Chania, and now it was past any possible cancelation, so they will stick with that tour.  Juan gave me the tickets for ourselves and our other set of friends.  I also let Juan know about the unsafe situation in Paleokastritsa.

 

Back to the cabin I took care of Lufthansa.  We then went to meet our friends at the Blue Bar.  We visited until dinner.  This dinner was the more challenging menu (for me), and the lamb was not as good as the prior week.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meal.  I wasn’t very hungry anyhow after our late lunch.  Following dinner, we all went to the Ocean Bar.  One of the ladies had bought a small bottle of Corfu Limoncello and shared that with anyone who wanted a taste.  This was a very good limoncello.  At 9:40 we called it a night just as the first show of the evening was letting out.

[StartrainDD]

Friday, April 5, 2024; Chania, Crete, Greece (Port of Souda)

 

It was a relaxing morning as the Journey doesn’t reach port until 1:30 PM.  We enjoyed breakfast and ran into our friends just as we left the dining room.  Once back in the cabin we began the packing process.  Honestly, we didn’t realize how much we had purchased during the trip.  Over five weeks it adds up, even though each individual purchase is not a significant amount of weight.  It’s so much nicer to SAIL back to Florida rather than fly.  We will do that twice later this year.

 

Packing was quite a chore.  At 10:03 I felt like I needed some tea.  The lido closed at 10:00, and we know that their closing time is strict.  This is the only ship we’ve ever been on that tea, coffee, and water are not available 24 hours a day.  We went to the martini bar with my laptop to finalize our shared expenses spreadsheet as our friend gave me his US$ costs from checking his bank statement.  At the end of the day, the expenses were remarkably close leaving one owing the other all of $20.  We had tea and a diet coke at the martini bar.

 

Back to the cabin we closed up the “Do not open until home” suitcase and my scale says it weighs 49.8 pounds.  Hopefully, that will pass the scales at Athens airport.  The second suitcase is overweight.  We will need to resort a few things in Athens.

 

We enjoyed lunch in the dining room, although it was a buffet.  Strange thing is there were very few folks there.  We did catch some of the very pretty sail-in to the port of Souda.  There is a building near the entrance that sure looks like the “Stone house.”

 

At 1:30 we met in the theater for our ‘complimentary’ shore excursion the “Walking tour of Chania.”  This may have been the most enjoyable shore excursion through Celestyal.  It was about a 15-minute bus ride to the drop off point.  It was a LONG walk from the drop off point to the old town fountain near the harbor.  I don’t know why but it seems everything with Celestyal tours involves a lot of walking.  Our guide, Katerina, told us about the UNESCO designation and gave everyone the option to stick with her a while or have free time on their own.  As we had Scott’s notes and a good map, we headed out on our own.

 

We enjoyed the harbor, took photos of the Venetian Lighthouse, walked past the Maritime Museum and the Etz Hayyim Synagogue, which we missed going into by 5 minutes.  We had a delightful beverage break at a spot right on the harbor waterfront.  We stayed there for 45 minutes.  We walked all over the old town including areas we never made it to in 2013.  The only purchases we made were a lady’s leather chain belt and a gelato.

 

Meeting time was 6:00 and everyone was there on time.  We walked back to the bus.  One thing I wonder is why our guide kept us along the road (on a narrow sidewalk) when we could have walked through a nice municipal park.  It might have increased our step count by ten, but it sure would be better than the dirty new city sidewalk.

 

We were back at the Journey at 6:35. We dropped our things in the cabin and headed for dinner.  We brought our “Thank you” envelopes with us for Geri, Jerome, Harvey, Clinton, Putu and Arif.  We ran into Putu and Arif and saw them before dinner.  Everyone seemed sad we were leaving and grateful for our envelopes.

 

We met our other friends, whose tour returned a little after 7:00, at the Ocean Bar.  We enjoyed the time together and may see them in October or certainly next year in June when we are both on an “Arctic Circle” cruise.  We returned to the cabin to struggle with the luggage, put the two large bags out in the hall, and call it a night by 10:15.

[StartrainDD]

Saturday, April 6, 2024, Disembarkation of the Journey

 

We had the alarm set for 6:40 but DW woke earlier.  I turned on the TV at 6:25 and the Journey was in the port but not yet tied up.  By the time I got the coffee and tea at 6:45, we were docked.

With our flight on Sunday at 7:05 I needed to check in for the flight home.  Working through the Lufthansa AP for the four of us it took over 15 minutes to complete the check-in.  We met our friends and went to breakfast in the dining room at 7:40. They “Close” at 8:00.  At 7:55 one of the waiters asked if we wanted anything else from the buffet.  We thanked them.  It was interesting to see that when most of the guests had left, the waiters were helping themselves to whatever breakfast items were still on the buffet.  We never noticed that before.  We were the third to last table to leave the dining room at about 8:15.

 

We sat in the deck six atrium and at 8:25 a first announcement was made for decks nine & ten to disembark.  I had looked outside just before and noticed folks were leaving despite no announcements having been made.  We called an “Up” elevator which took us all the way to deck twelve, and then non-stop down to deck three.  There was no line, and we had our cards scanned for the last time and left the Journey.

 

Upon entering the terminal, we quickly found our luggage.  Someone actually checked that our ship’s card matched the luggage tags, and we headed towards the street.  Our driver from George’s taxi was waiting for us.  He ran to retrieve his Mercedes van and was back in five minutes.  He brought us back to our Athens home, the Attalos hotel.