Embarkation

Boarding the Celestyal Olympia in Pireaus (the port for Athens) was really easy. We queued up for about 5/10 minutes to drop off our bags and maybe 5 minutes more to check-in.

We were on board the ship by 9.30 am which is incredibly early for a cruise. On most cruises, you’ll embark, at the earliest, around midday.

To learn more about when you can embark on most cruises check out this post: How Early Can You Board a Cruise Ship?

I was continually impressed with the organization of Celestyal during the cruise. They managed to organize cruisers who speak multiple languages with ease. A few of the bigger cruise lines could learn a lot from Celestyal.

The Ship: Celestyal Olympia

I LOVE exploring a new ship for the first time. The Celestyal Olympia was originally built for Royal Caribbean and you definitely can tell.

She was launched in 1982 but you really wouldn’t know that just by being onboard. I’ve been on ships that are from the ’00s that feel much older…

The ship is a little bit higgledy-piggledy with odd steps around and a bit of an odd layout. That said, everything has clearly been very well taken care of, nothing is broken or looking worn.

The ship also belonged to Sun Cruises and was Thomson Destiny for Thomson (now Marella). She is well-loved by the crew onboard and by past passengers.

Muster Drill

The muster drill took place on the promenade deck and was easy enough. We all had to wear our life jackets and stand in lines as you often do.

It was again pretty well organized and didn’t take too long. The muster drill was done in a couple of languages with English being one of the main languages.

I was a little bit worried prior to the cruise about taking a cruise with a Greek cruise line due to me not being able to speak any Greek at all. This worry was completely unfounded.

All staff on board spoke perfect English and announcements were usually done in English before other languages.

Welcome Onboard Talks

Separate ‘welcome onboard’ talks were held for guests of different nationalities. We went to the English one (no surprises there…) and found it very useful. The cruise director explained what would be happening each day and how each area of the ship worked.

We visited 7 ports during the 4-day cruise and as a result, the cruise had to be extra organized. All of the crew seem lovely and helpful.

Celestyal Cruises Buffet Lunch

We decided to grab food from the buffet today as we were really hungry at this point. There was a good mix of Greek dishes and other dishes which I like. I had one of those weird buffet combinations that you usually end up with on a cruise… a burger and a salad.

The buffet is open for a few hours for breakfast, a few for lunch, and a few for dinner. It is closed completely between the designated meal times.

The main dining room is also open for lunch. It serves the same food as the buffet. Only dinner is waiter service (I’d be happy if everything was self-service to be honest).

There is also a third option which was open quite often.

It was a grill called the Aura grill by the pool. This would serve things like Gyros or Omelettes and it was very popular with guests. It wasn’t open all of the time and its availability seemed to depend on whether or not we were cruising during lunchtime or were docked.

Celestyal Cruises Include All Inclusive Drinks

We had a couple of drinks around the ship and I actually took some time to sit down and read a book. Wow!

Celestyal are ‘all-inclusive’ which means that things like gratuities and drinks are included. There is a menu of included drinks and another of ‘premium’ drinks that have a supplement. There is plenty on the included list, so I didn’t feel the need to pay extra.

If you do like specific drinks or like to have a lot of variety it may be worth ordering drinks from the premium menu. The drinks prices are pretty reasonable and similar to that that you’d find in a pub or at a bar on land.

I was very impressed that you could order a number of coffees, hot chocolate, and tea on the inclusive menu.

On a lot of other cruise lines, this would be considered premium drinks.

Tendering to Mykonos

We picked up our tender tickets for the evening’s stop in Mykonos. Tender tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis from a lounge onboard the ship.

If you are traveling as part of a group only one member needs to collect the tender ticket. Up to 6 can be collected by one person.

We arrived in Mykonos at 6 pm and left after 11 pm. Excursions have priority disembarkation (as normal) and then the tenders are filled by tender ticket number.

I do get seasick but I am usually okay on tenders. I think it’s the fresh air and the dramatic movements of the boat.

The tender to Mykonos only took about 5-10 minutes so it wasn’t too much of an issue. That said, I wouldn’t want to be on the tender for much longer.

To learn more about what to expect when tendering check out this post: Cruise Ship Tendering Tips 2019

An Evening in Mykonos

We arrived in Mykonos a little after 6 pm, just in time for the sunset.

The sunset was gorgeous and we walked around the town. I do wish that we had a little bit more time in daylight to explore but I suppose that’s the price you pay for seven ports in four days.

You get a little taste of everything. I’d love to return to Mykonos one day.

There are SO many cats in Mykonos. My travel insurance says I can’t stroke any stray animals so I managed to resist.

Main Dining Room Dinner

We headed back on board for dinner and went to the main dining room.

The food was really well cooked, there was a lot of variety on the menu and the portions were pretty big. I couldn’t fault anything with it at all.

It was the first proper meal I’ve had in a few days so went down very well. Our waiters were lovely.

To watch the embarkation day video make sure you check out the below and subscribe here: Emma Cruises.

Day 2, Celestyal Cruises – Kusadasi & Patmos

Morning Tour of Kusadasi

In the morning I was in Asia, in the afternoon in Europe!

The morning excursion departed at 7.15 am. I don’t think I’ve ever been up so early on a cruise.

We met in a lounge on board and were given our coaches for the day based on the groups that we were in, I was in the ‘English speaking individual guests’ group.

(‘Individual guests’ just makes me think of the film Life of Brian, *together* YES. WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS. )

Our group included people from America, Australia, Finland, the Philippines, and more. We were the only guests from the UK on our particular bus. The majority of guests here seem to have booked their cruise through a group with a representative onboard.

A Tour of Ephesus with Celestyal Cruises

Ephesus is an ancient Greek city and the building behind me in the photo above is a library that is 2000 years old. 2000!

I don’t know about you, but I find it so tricky to imagine 2000 years ago. Maybe this photo will be in a museum in 2000 years time with the caption ‘English girl visits Turkey, year: 2019’

Ephesus is an ancient Greek city, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was built around 100BC and they started the restoration in the 1970s.

It was incredible to see if a little tricky to comprehend something over 2000 years old.

Living on the site are SO many cats. I love cats and trying to resist stroking them was a bit of a struggle.

(You do have to pay to go to the toilet in a lot of Greece including here, so if you are visiting make sure you bring coins. This is the same in a lot of Europe).

Rug Making Tour

Next, we went to a factory/shop that was making rugs. It was very cool to see how they do the weaving but I didn’t buy a rug for a few reasons:

• 1) I could buy a cruise for the price or a decent rug
• 2) My cat Hudson would definitely scratch the rug
• 3) The big rugs are probably as big as the entire ground floor of my house

On most cruise line excursions you’ll probably end up visiting somewhere similar. It’s a great way for the cruise line to provide free entertainment and education to the guests while the factory gets the chance to sell some rugs.

One lady in our tour did buy a rug and I’m sure that more than paid for the free drinks that the factory gave us.

I really enjoyed the morning’s tour and it was great that it was included in the cruise price. It would easily cost £50+ each on one of the bigger cruise lines.

Main Dining Room Lunch

We headed to the main dining room for lunch and I had a very yummy fish and chips.

I know fish and chips aren’t very Turkish…. but I did have some Turkish delight (I still don’t like it but I do keep trying).

Around the Celestyal Olympia

We were all back on board by 12.30 pm and set sail at 1 pm.

I sat by the pool in the sunshine, had a few drinks, and listened to the live band.

The waiters and waitresses are so attentive, they offer a new drink as soon as I put down the last. A number of waiters already remembered my order by this point, pretty impressive for day two of the cruise.

Visiting Patmos (or not)

I decided to skip our Patmos stop and stay on board to film my ship tour. This cruise was so busy I knew I wouldn’t have another opportunity like this to film the tour. 

It was by far the easier ship tour to film EVER.

I would say about 98% of the other guests had gone on tenders to Patmos. I was one of the few people on board.

Being able to film a ship tour with only a few people in the video is AMAZING!! The ship is also pretty small so that helps… (12 decks).

Greek Barbecue on The Deck

There was a greek style barbecue happening on the top deck for dinner so we decided to head there.

As soon as we got close to the top deck I could smell the barbecue smell.

There were a number of big barbecues all barbecuing different types of meat. As well as this there were lots of salad options and loads of bread.

The bread onboard is freshly made and you definitely can tell. It’s probably some of the best bread I’ve had on a cruise and trust me, I’ve tried a lot of cruise ship bread.

Celestyal Cruises Are Great Value For Money

I was really impressed with the amount included in the price of the cruise.

I took a 4-night cruise which cost around £500.

That price includes unlimited alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, gratuities, and two excursions. Pretty decent!

Day 3, Celestyal Cruises – Rhodes