Just back from Galaxy Exotic Med and Black Sea with Pics, Journal and review

[DrKoob]

We have just returned from our 14 day Exotic Mediterranean and Black Sea Cruise on Celebrity's Galaxy. If you are interested in pictures or my complete cruise journal, follow the link in my signature to our travel website. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link to either our pictures or my journal. First you should know something about us. We are an early 50s couple from the Seattle area who love to cruise. This was our 7th cruise and our 5th in a row on X. All our other X cruises have been on Infinity so she is the only thing we have to compare to.

 

It is always good to start at the beginning so here goes. We believe in always flying in a day early for a cruise. And the further away the cruise leaves from, the more important that is. Since we live in Seattle, it was VERY important that we fly the day before.

 

A word about our flight. We flew British Airways, non-stop from Seattle to London (Heathrow) and then on to Rome. The flight was a full three hours late leaving Seattle which meant we missed our connection. British rebooked us on another flight to Rome but much later in the day. This meant that we had originally planned to arrive in Rome at 5:00 PM Rome time but wound up grabbing our luggage from the carousel at around 11:00 PM. For this and for other reasons that we may write about later at a different place (we have major problems with British Airways and what we consider a bait and switch operation) we would avoid flying through Heathrow if at all possible. It is a zoo. You arrive at one terminal, have to clear security again, have to change terminals to another (a total transit time for us of almost 2 hours) and even though smoking is banned in the entire terminal except a few designated area, we found the entire airport wreaked of smoke. We are both highly allergic to second hand smoke.

 

When we finally arrived we had reserved (prepaid) rooms for both one day pre and post cruise at the Rome Airport Hilton. This hotel is located right on the grounds of the airport and if you grab a baggage cart, you can just walk there in no time. We are pretty fast walkers in our early 50s and it took us 20 minutes to walk from baggage claim to the checkin desk at the Hilton. Our room was ready (not the king non-smoking we had reserved) but they quickly changed us and got us into the right room. If you decide to stay here, just know that the beds are hard. We had very hard beds both inbound and outbound.

 

The next morning we met some Cruise Critic friends for a prearranged shuttle from the hotel to Rome. The shuttle was right on time, the cost was right and we can highly recommend the company. They did a wonderful job of getting us there in no time. If you are interested in using their services you can contact Marco at ItalyCab Rome, Tel.0039 3477582323, romecab@hotmail.com, http://www.italycab.com. Marco sent us Ottavio who was a safe and wonderful driver, picked us up on time, took us right to the ship with no problems.

 

We left the Hilton at 11:00 AM almost exactly and arrived at the terminal at 12:30. We were standing at the counter by 12:45 and onboard drinking champagne by 1:00. X did a wonderful job (as they always have) with our embarkation. One thing I want to mention is that due to immigration requirements in Romania we had to turn in our passports to X at check in. Strangely enough, we had to pick them up in a very crowded Stratosphere lounge the night we left Romania because we had to present them as we entered Odessa. Then we had to turn them back in and then pick them back up before we disembarked in Rome. Crazy.

 

Our cabin was ready by 2:00. We were in Concierge Class cabin 1067 on the Penthouse deck. We found the cabin clean and ready. It was smaller than the CC cabins on Infinity by about 20 feet but we weren't sure where the extra 20 feet went as it looked about the same. In fact we thought there was even more room between the bed and the wall than there had been on Infinity. Closet and drawer space was tighter so maybe that's where the room went. The mattress and the bedding were new (we had heard they were being replaced) and were very comfortable.

 

We did a quick tour of the ship and then went to find lunch. Here are some things we liked immediately about Galaxy. Yes, she is looking a little old. Yes, she is in need of refurbishing. But she is still a great ship. We loved the buffet area. On Infinity it kind of reminds us of a cafeteria. On Galaxy, more of a dining room. We also love the people as much as the folks on Infinity. If anything the service was better than we have ever experienced before. In almost every aspect. And we have had some pretty great service on Infinity.

 

Here is a good example. When our luggage was delivered to our cabin, the handle on our largest bag had been pulled almost completely off. Three rivets broken. Something must have hooked it as it was brought on board. I worried about it for the first day because I did not know how I would get it off the ship. It is one heavy bag. So I went to Customer Relations and asked them what they thought I could do. Their answer was typical Celebrity. "Just leave it on your bed sir and we will have our upholstery shop take care of it," and sure enough it disappeared and came back two days later fixed. WOW!

 

A few things about Galaxy we didn't like. Locations of the Martini Bar and the T-Pool. The Martini Bar (where we love to meet pre-dinner with friends) is a hole. It looks like an afterthought. On the maps of the ship it is not even where it says it is. If you look on the deck plans on the X website you will find it on deck seven at the rear of the Savoy Club. But actually it is on deck 5 where the deck plan shows the Orion foyer and the Champagne Bar. It is really just a basement. Sad but we had great service from a young staff. The T-Pool is also poorly situated. It is hot, humid and dark. On Infinity it is bright, airy and light. On Infinity we spent hours there reading, laying out and getting in and out of the T-Pool and the hot tubs. On Galaxy we got in the T-Pool for about 10 minutes each time and then back to our room. Very sad.

 

Items of note: On our second sea day a storm hit us hard. Crew members who had sailed the Med many times said they had never seen such wind and waves. During our Cruise Critic Connections party in the Stratosphere lounge Shawn (our Cruise Director) told us that the howling wind we could hear outside was gusting at 58 knots. WOW! It was rocking and rolling so much that we ourselves saw an ice sculpture topple as well as an entire stack of dishes go over sideways. My bride has never gotten seasick prior to this storm but this one nailed her so much that she missed the first formal night. I need to add that we were pleasantly surprised that Shawn (the CD) joined us for the entire Cruise Critic Connections get together as did the Hotel Manager. Very impressive. Very nice folks. Shawn did a great job during the week but one small criticism is that he tends to yell his announcements. His disembarkation talk was one long scream. We heard a lot of people remarking on this and how they would turn off his TV appearances whenever they came on.

 

We were constantly aware of people being quarantined on the ship. At one point there were people saying that more than 40 people were quarantined. One of our tablemates friends was quarantined for 10 out of 14 days. After we got home someone on the CC thread for the cruise said that when we disembarked we were at Code Red, norovirus-wise. We also heard about a lot of folks who had bronchial infections as well. But we need to say that X did their best to combat this with hand-washing and disinfecting everywhere on the ship as well as constant cleaning of anything that people might touch. If there was any kind of viral outbreak, it was not from Galaxy not being clean. She was spotless.

 

Itinerary: This cruise included a number of fairly normal Mediterranean ports including Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Athens and Naples. It also included two stops not usually on cruise ship ports, Constanta, Romania and Odessa, Ukraine.

 

Now I could go on for a couple of pages about the normal Med ports but you have probably already been there, can read about them elsewhere or feel free to e-mail me with specific questions but I do want to make a couple of points about Celebrity's choice or ports for this particular cruise. I mention a few things about them later in this review.

 

We paid a very high price to take this cruise. Because of the "exotic" in the title and the stops in Constanta and Odessa, but our advice to you (and we know that many who were on this cruise would agree with us) is to skip this cruise for those ports. Most especially Constanta. What a total and complete waste of our time and money. Romania is not ready for prime time. Let me give you an example:

 

Our guide told us what Constanta meant in Romanian. It means "stay on the ship,” and boy was that true. (Just kidding!) We had signed up for a 5 hour tour of Constanta and the resort area north of it called Mamaya. We thought we would see lots of great stuff. What we actually saw was a very sad country whose infrastructure is crumbling and who had absolutely no idea how to handle tourism of any kind. And what little they think they know, they don’t.

Our first stop was about three blocks outside the cruise terminal at an old, Russian Orthodox cathedral.

It was so close we could almost see the church from the ship. And for this, we had to board busses and ride to the church. Once inside the church we took a few pictures and then we were told that there would be a concert of religious music. Ten or 15 divinity students (all male) from the seminary came out and told us they would now do a 45 minute program of choral music. Now, don’t get me wrong. As many of you now we are big supporters of the largest all-male choral group in the US, Seattle Men’s Chorus. These guys were not SMC. Far from it. So we watched for two pieces and then off we went to take pictures of the outside of the church, find a few more dogs to photograph and wait. That is the problem with taking the ship’s shore excursions, as our new friend Jack told us, “Ship-sponsored shore excursions are see a church, see a museum, see another church, see another museum, maybe lunch.” And was he ever right. After the concert was over, we were walked down from the church to the casino. The casino (they made it sound like it needed a capital C) was a place that had once been a casino and was now a wedding hall. A fairly impressive building but not something I would take the time to see. And besides when we got there and turned around, we could see Galaxy. Plus later when we returned to the ship, I took a photo of the casino from the ship. That’s how close it was.

Then it was back on the bus and off to Mamaya, an out-of-season resort town just outside of Constanta. On the way we saw a country who is on the verge of collapse as the infrastructure falls apart. Roads are horrid, buildings are cracking and decaying. Our guide told us (with pride) that the hotels that looked so good were all owned by the 36 year old mayor of the city. Sounds like graft to me as everything else seemed to be falling apart.

When we arrived at the Palm Beach (go figure) Resort in Mamaya we were told there would now be an hour for Romanian wine tasting. We took one look at the pink wine and decided to choose a nice bottle of water instead. From what others told us, we made a great choice. After the wine tasting, it was off to downtown Constanta for 2.5 hours of shopping.

About this time we realized that they had nothing to sell us. They have no souvenirs, no crafts, no art. We were taken to a craft store and told that this was a place to buy fine Romanian handicrafts. The place was the size of a small McDonald’s or free-standing Starbucks and was stocked with glassware (like sets of drinking glasses) that said “made in China” on them but someone had hand painted Romania on the sides, dishes (same way) and a few dolls and small statues. It literally took less than 10 minutes to walk all the way around the entire store and back outside. We then asked our guide where we were expected to shop for the two hours and fifteen minutes we had left. She replied that we should be thrilled to shop in the “mall” next door. It was a large (four story) single building. Here is where the “no clue about tourism” comes in. The “mall” was full of American chain stores. Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, Lush, Dolce & Gabana, Body Shop, etc. So, let me see, I come half way around the world to shop at stores that I have back home at prices that are the same or more than we pay at home? What’s wrong with this picture.

So we ended up doing what we often do on cruises, we made new friends. We met Jim & Anita first, a very nice couple from Manhattan. They introduced us to the big crowd they had come with who were led by Mickey and Dick the veterinarian. What a great bunch of people. We had a superb time laughing about how bad the tour was until it was finally 3:30 and time to head back to the ship. To add insult to injury, the bus was nowhere to be found for another half hour and by this time it had gotten very cold. But once the bus finally arrived we were able to head back to the ship which only made us madder. Two blocks after the “shopping” the tour guide tells us that on the left is the art museum (which we could have been touring) and on the right is the natural history museum (which we could have seen). And earlier in the day we had asked her how far away the ship was as we could take a cab back while other (who wanted to--we didn’t see anyone who wanted to) shopped. She said the ship was very far away and since they had driven us all over Romania to get there we believed her. Imagine how ticked off we were when it only took us five minutes to drive to the ship. A walk that Kathleen and I could have done in less than 30-40 minutes! Needless to say we were not pleased with this shore excursion or with Constanta.

But we weren’t the worst off, shore excursion-wise. We later talked to folks who had been on the Danube Delta river cruise which had ended up being a 2.5 hour bus ride, a 2.5 hour boat ride over area that were hard to navigate due to low water, through a bird sanctuary that had no birds because they had migrated weeks earlier and then a 3.5 hour bus ride back that did not get back until almost 7:30. Our sailing time was 7:00 so the ship was held for them. As I said, Constanta means, “stay on the ship!”

Odessa was a little better but not a lot. Better historical significance but still a crumbling infrastructure. The art museum is just sad. Bright fluorescent lighting and open windows with sun streaming in on the paintings. A few of them were showing fading so they had covered them with a velvet curtain that you pulled aside to view them. And not only that but the rooms alternated from hot to cold to hot again. We did the Ultimate Odessa tour which included a cathedral (not "the" cathedral in Odessa), the art museum, a driving tour, a lousy lunch (worst food of the entire trip) and the archeological museum. The tour was supposed to be 7.5 hours but when we got to the last stop at the archeological museum, our guide realized that she had to kill two hours. So she basically escorted the entire tour around the two room of the museum and read us every plaque on every exhibit. We left and sat outside until we could go back to the museum.

 

Other ports:

Mykonos: Rainy and windy. Many shops and most restaurants closed. Walked the village and took pictures. Would probably have loved it in the sunshine but we looked at it this way. Millions of people have seen it in the sunshine. We got to see it in a storm. Thank God we were able to dock (most of the time X tenders but today there was only one other ship in) because I am not sure they could have put tenders in the water in the storm. We got caught in a pretty drenching downpour on our way back to the ship.

Rhodes: Perfect weather. Cancelled our shore excursion based on recommendation on Cruise Critic and just walked the port and the old city. Had a MARVELOUS time and a great lunch (Octopus for me!!!).

Santorini: Took the gondola up (no mules for us--you end up smelling like a donkey) and then took the bus to Oia. Best place on the whole trip. Wonderful, picturesque village with all the pictures you see of Greek islands. You do not need to book the shore excursion to Oia. You can save a bunch of money by taking the local bus for 1.70 Euro. What a great deal. Leaves about 6 times each day. Less than hours in Oia is plenty.

Istanbul: Did a private tour with a WONDERFUL guide. His name is Cem (pronounced Gem). Joined by four Cruise Critic friends. Arrange for Cem by surfing to http://www.allaboutturkey.com/. We had heard great things about Barak who you will see on the website but he was booked that day and sent Cem. That was fine with us. He arrived with himself and a driver in a 16 passenger van for 6 of us. What luxury. We were there for two half days so we toured from 2-6 on day one and 9-1 on day two. Did all the usual stuff and felt totally at home with Cem guiding us. He was super.

In the evening we joined two other Cruise Critic buddies (eight of us all together) for a wonderful restaurant experience on the banks of the Bosporus at a Feriye. Check it out at http://www.feriye.com/english/index.asp Be smart. Make reservations for an outstanding dinner. And not too expensive. Less than $100 per couple for an incredible meal.

Kusadasi: Took the shorter shore excursion to Ephesus and the Ephesus museum. Worth the trip and the price. Incredible ruins and an interactive play. See our pics and my journal. Spent the rest of the day walking around the bazaar. Felt that this was the worst port for salesman trying to hook us into their stores. More aggressive than any other port on this trip but nothing compared to Acapulco on our Panama Canal crossing.

Pireaus/Athens: Took the X shore excursion called Athens Sightseeing and Acropolis tour. Excellent guide with lots to say. Saw a few sights and then hiked up the Acropolis. Then we left the tour and just walked around Athens, had lunch and then took the metro back to Pireaus and made a rather long walk to the ship. Beautiful day.

Naples/Amalfi/Pompeii: We did a private tour hear with the incredible Marcello that we had learned about from two of our favorite and most knowledgeable cruisers on Cruise Critic. You can find Marcello by e-mailing him at marcellomaresca@tiscali.it I cannot do his tour justice here without a very long discussion. Please refer to my cruise journal. Suffice it to say if you have seen the Amalfi Coast before, you will see it in an entirely new way with Marcello. We did this tour with four other CC friends and had the BEST MEAL I have had since my Italian grandmother passed away when I was a freshman in high school. If we had to do it again, we would have skipped Pompeii and done it on another day. It was just too much to do in one day. By the end of the day, we were exhausted.

All in all we thought our ports of call in the Mediterranean were wonderful. We could have skipped those in the Black Sea and would again in the future. Our advice to anyone considering this cruise for those ports is to take a different cruise and skip them altogether.

Disembarkation: Was handled too well. We were off the ship by 7:30 but our shuttle did not arrive until 9:00. I can never believe how well X handles disembarkation. All luggage out and ready.

To sum it up, we had a great time. On a scale of 1-10 this cruise was a 9. Only the bad seas on day two and three and the days in Romania and Ukraine were letdowns. Everything else was wonderful. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about this cruise or the ports. You can e-mail me direct from my website or just post on this thread.

[Linda]

Mykonos: Rainy and windy. Many shops and most restaurants closed. Walked the village and took pictures. Would probably have loved it in the sunshine but we looked at it this way. Millions of people have seen it in the sunshine. We got to see it in a storm. Thank God we were able to dock (most of the time X tenders but today there was only one other ship in) because I am not sure they could have put tenders in the water in the storm. We got caught in a pretty drenching downpour on our way back to the ship

 

Pireaus/Athens: Than took the metro back to Pireaus and made a rather long walk to the ship.

 

 

Thank you for sharing. we did the Black Sea about 7 years ago with Renaissance which went under after 9/11. Seems nothing much have improved since.

 

Couple of questions need your help:

 

1.How did you get to Mykonos town? Walked, local bus, taxi or X bus?

 

2. "Long walk" from Metro station in Pireaus back to ship. How much time will it take to get back to the ship, not leisurely enjoying the walk. In case we are runing late.

 

Thank you again for sharing.

[Eliger]

DrKoob, I also enjoyed your photos and review. It brought back a lot of pleasant memories of our Galaxy 11-day cruise a month ago.

 

Linda, even though the question was for DrKoob, our experience in Mykolos was the ship shuttle back and forth. We saw some people walking along the way, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are no sidewalks and the road is very narrow in some places. I'm not sure of the distance, but it would have to be between one and two miles.

 

As far as the walking time from the Piraeus metro station to the ship, we walked it and it would be about a 30-minute walk on the way back. When we got off the ship, there was a gate opened which permitted us to cut a good 10 minute walk. That gate was closed on the way back, so we had to go around through another terminal. Personally, I would do it again. The walking is along a wide sidewalk.

 

Gerry

[rightboy]

Jim and Kathleen - thank you for submitting such an interesting and informative summary of your trip. We were to be on this cruise, but I had to have knee replacement surgery and I'm out of commission for a few weeks. Your descriptions of the ports and your delightful and complete photos have allowed us to enjoy the trip from afar. I'm sorry the first two days were so stormy, and that the Black Sea portion of the trip was such a disappointment, but everything else sounded and looked wonderful. We hope to make this trip this coming year, but at your suggestion, leaving the "exotic" Black Sea portion out. A really excellent review -- thanks!

[jplewis]

Thanks so much for a great review! We are on the 11/20 Galaxy which leaves out the ports you did not like so now I won't feel like I'm missing anything by not going there.

One question. When was the Cruise Connections party? I'm thinking the first day which is also the first sea day. Also, did they have name tags for everyone?

Thanks, Patsy

[DrKoob]

Thanks so much for a great review! We are on the 11/20 Galaxy which leaves out the ports you did not like so now I won't feel like I'm missing anything by not going there.

One question. When was the Cruise Connections party? I'm thinking the first day which is also the first sea day. Also, did they have name tags for everyone?

Thanks, Patsy

Patsy,

 

The CC party was on the 2nd day out before we got to Mykonos (not the first day when we were at sea, which kind of surprised everyone). But since we didn't get into Mykonos until 2:00 pm the party at 10:00 am worked fine. And the only name tags we had were made by a member of our CC group, not by X. They didn't even have Cruise Connection pins like we have gotten before.

[DrKoob]

1.How did you get to Mykonos town? Walked, local bus, taxi or X bus?

 

2. "Long walk" from Metro station in Pireaus back to ship. How much time will it take to get back to the ship, not leisurely enjoying the walk. In case we are runing late.

 

Thank you again for sharing.

 

Linda,

 

I too would suggest you take the shuttle in Mykonos. The road would be way to dangerous to walk. Very narrow. Plus the fact that it was pouring rain when we were there. It is about a 5 minute shuttle ride but would be a 30 minute walk in the best of conditions for good walkers. Be advised that you had to buy shuttle tickets prior to getting to Mykonos. X charged $4.00 each (but if you tender, you won't need them--only if you dock. X normally tenders at Mykonos.) They called people down to disembark based on their shuttle numbers which were purchased starting the first day of the cruise. We had shuttle 1 so we got off right away. We know folks who waited until that morning to buy theirs and waited until almost 4:00 pm to get off while we were off by 2:30.

 

As to Piraeus, it is correct that the walk to the terminal was a good 30 minutes. They would not let us walk past the terminal though. You had to go through security at the terminal and then board a free shuttle bus to the ship which was berthed at the FARTHEST away pier. And Piraeus is a HUGE port.

[jplewis]

Thanks so much for the prompt reply. That lets us know we should plan our own if we want to meet each other fairly soon after boarding.

Patsy

[Almagetty]

Absolutely awesome pictures and review!!:D I just spent the better part of 2 hours reading every word and viewing every slideshow. I can't wait 'til our trip aboard Galaxy next summer to the Eastern Med WITHOUT the 'exotic' ports. Thanks for sharing Jim!

[penorment]

Wonderful review. I love your writing style, I can only hope that we have as much fun on our cruise as you and your bride, Kathleen.

[Linda]

Thank you Gerry, Jim, & Kathleen for the helpful info.

 

I also pasted a few notes from Jim & Kathleens' journal to my Nov 20 Galaxy cruise file folder. I am ready for my cruise with all the help from our CC members. Thank to everyone.

 

See you on board, Patsy!

[4 cruisers]

What a wonderful review! Pictures are great too! Went to the Black Sea (Odessa, Yalta, Varna) 29 years ago and it sounds like things haven't changed! We are so lucky to live in America!

 

Did you create your website with iWeb? You did a great job! I'm just learning and your's puts me to shame!

 

Did you try to do Pompeii AFTER your Italian lunch?!!!! OMG! :p

[shoreless]

Thank you. Those are awesome pictures. And Constana wasn't a total waste -- love the priests with the cellphones.