Celestyal Cruises

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This is a day by day blog of our trip to Athens and the Celestyal Cruise we took to three continents and five countries in one week!

We visited the town of Athens for a great tour of the city by bike. I wholly recommend Bike Athens if you have the chance.  We spent the night walking the many shops and restaurants, eating locally away from the tourist traps, and had a great view of the Acropolis at night sipping local wines.

Day 1: Check In Day

Check in day at the port of Piraeus was easy.  Entering the port was easy by taxi and drop off at curb was quick. We were inside the building in 15 seconds!

Arrived at port around noon. Can’t check bags until 1:45 - 2 pm. Check in began at 2:15 and would have been quick except for issues with passport reader. After 15 minutes she finally keyed in info and we were on the way to boarding. Pretty quick for check in but ship only holds 400 people! Passports were stamped pre boarding by customs and then the ship takes them. We may get them at different ports depending on the local authorities and customs.

Lunch was served with a great selection from the buffet but be aware your drink package of unlimited drinks does not include all drinks! We found out when Candy was asked to sign a bill for a glass of wine. Into the room and Candy’s remark was, Hi Jack! She felt that we were in Steerage class as the floor we were on had heavy duty doors that would close on case we sank! We did have a porthole to look out! I guess she was Rose!    

Day Two - At Sea 

Work out today at 7:30am. Gym is very tight with too much equipment in the room. But you can get a work out in if needed. Was able to walk the deck in a complete circle on deck five. The entire ship is very clean , and love all of the deck spaces.  Full day of demos and lectures.

Towel folding class, cooking with Greek Olive oils was very well done, informative and you get samples and recipes. Lecture on ancient Egypt was excellent. Found a couple of lounge chairs on deck nine in the sun and fell asleep quickly with the engine noise and slight rocking of the ship.

Took a tour of the ship and saw a few room categories. Being higher up does not mean getting a bigger cabin. Did see a large aft suite with a wrap around deck, balcony, and large room. Then saw a room on the same floor with an obstructed view (life raft) and much smaller than our bottom floor ocean view. Ship has 476 cabins and when fully booked holds 1200 passengers plus over 400 crew. 

Just finished wine demo with four different wines from Greece. $9 to attend. Informative and entertaining. Early dining tonight and then the Captain is throwing a gala afterwards.  Always a show on board to end the evening too!

Day Three - Alexandria

Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, Port Said 

Early morning rise for breakfast. Restaurant opened early around 5:45 am  -We need to be in the lounge for a 7 am disembark for the tours. Ship did not dock till 8am and we ended up leaving at 8:30 setting into motion a day of rushing to get all of our itinerary completed. Disembarkation is a nightmare. Only one gangplank for passport checks, card scans, and metal detectors to enter port area and then board busses. 

We arrived at the Museum of the Pyramids three hours later and had about an hour tour. Very rushed and thousands of people shoving. Many interesting artifacts and one could easily book a three day tour of just the museum.

We ended up seeing the mummies of King Ramses, Tut, and two friends of the Pharaoh that we very important and found intact. So many things to see and learn about the history and beliefs of the Egyptians. Then off to lunch with 1000 people again and rushed to finish to make up time. Cairo is a dirty city with many abandoned buildings and terrible traffic. Trash everywhere and people living in unfinished or what appeared bombed out buildings. Check the meat you order in Egypt. There are white towers everywhere, large pigeon houses. They capture the pigeons and deliver them to the restaurants and stores for eating. These towers could be seen everywhere on our route. 

After lunch, we arrived at the Pyramids. It was amazing to finally see the Pyramids up close. We were actually able to touch the walls! The big drawback to this visit of a lifetime was the hoards of locals selling goods or camel rides and not leaving you alone for a second. Was not prepared for this onslaught and ended up being ripped off for $20. Candy got her camel ride and we were off 20 minutes later to a summit to see the Pyramids from a nice distance for better photos. Make sure you only bring a few one dollar bills with you to avoid getting taken. Then, on the move quickly to enter the Sphinx before closing time at 4:30pm. Just made the last group allowed in! Very amazing to finally see these treasures and experience one of the Eight Wonders of the World!

Our tours ended at 6pm and we boarded busses for Port Said. This is located on the other side of Egypt about 3 hours from the Pyramids and we were able to view many more pitiful buildings in Cairo that people call home. They are now the largest city in the world and have to somehow figure out if they want to clean up their city.

The return process for boarding was chaotic. Busses are emptied on the street outside the port gate and everyone once again pusses to enter thru a narrow one door gate. Then you think you are finally free to enter the ship, but NO, you find out there is another area where once again you must be herded into a narrow door and go through the scanner. I don’t think the scanner even worked, as people were grabbing bags and bypassing the body scanner to rush back on board. This is really taxing on some of the older passengers as they are not as aggressive as some of the other cultures on board.

Dinner buffets we’re open upon our arrival to accommodate guests returning from the long excursions. We enjoyed a drink at the aft bar of the ship before crashing to sleep at 12:30 am. Up again tomorrow at 5:30 am and prep for Jerusalem.

 

Day Four - Jerusalem and Bethlehem

We are late again this morning and looks like another hour delay. We’ll see how this affects the excursions and timing.

Excursions were much better organized today and we were able to go through customs much more efficiently and at a much faster pace. Made it onto a motor coach easily and met Simon, our guide for the next eight hours. He was full of energy and had the bus singing... Bohemian rhapsody! 

We visited all of the biblical sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem today.  Once again, too quickly and makes you want to return for a much longer visit. We walked the Via Dolorosa and followed the footsteps of Jesus. Touching the wall he touched when he fell down!  We visited the areas where his body was taken and prepared for burial. The Garden of Gethsemane, The site he was betrayed, and the site of the Crucifiction. Also a visit to the Wailing Wall and placed our prayer is the wall.

After lunch we visited a local shop and could not believe the prices!  What a shock to see small nativity scene for over $1200. We walked out we an ornament for our tree. Our final stop included a trip to see Shepherds Field and the Church of the Holy Scepter.

Once again, it’s helpful to have smaller bills for tips and if you want to buy trinkets from street vendors. You don’t want to pull out your wallet.

 

Day Five - Limassol, Cyprus

Today we visit the ancient city of Pafos. Protected site by UNESCO so we are expecting to see many sites of historic significance. It was a later start to the day and gave us time to catch our breath. Meeting at theatre at 11:30 am today to receive instructions and head out to visit Pathos.

Paul visited Barnabas here as noted in Acts Chapter 13. We met our guide who was very knowledgeable about Greek Mythology and shared some interesting beliefs of the times. As Roman influence hit the island, Christianity converted many of these myths and worship to the gods was soon replaced. We saw the rock where the goddess Aphrodite was born.

Day Six - Rhodes

Walked the deck today to get in some steps and it is another beautiful day. Coffee on the back deck was nice and then breakfast later.

Meeting this morning in the lounge to discuss disembarkation procedures. EU passengers can just walk off in Athens without customs control. We can pick up passports in the lounge the day we disembark and then go thru customs.

We traveled to the Acropolis of Rhodes and saw the temples built in a high fortress. The small town at the base of the Acropolis was nice and all painted white. At the cliffs edge is a small sheltered port and it is said that the apostle John was coming to Rhodes and had bad weather and prayed for a safe port to enter and this appeared to him and they now have a church at this site dedicated to him. From here we visited the fort of Rhodes and it is full of history and wars of people trying to control Rhodes. From the Romans to the Turkish Ottoman Empire to the British and the Italian’s!People still live here in the actual fortress and there are many restaurants and shops still open. Our guide actually has an apartment in the fort since she worked for the Culture Ministry.

We returned to our ship after buying some 200 layer Baklava from a local pastry shop.

Day Seven - Kudasai, Turkey 

Throw out all concepts of Turkey or the Turkish people. We meet the most polite guide today for our excursion to Ephesus this morning. He again explained the whole Greek mythology and introduced the Roman names for the gods and then worked into the mix the beginnings of Christianity. After centuries of Greek rule and the many gods they worshipped, a Roman emperor around 349 ad declared that Christianity was now an approved religion in the world.

Prior to that, Paul came to Ephesus three times and lived here for two years. He presented the word to many in the stadium that held over 25,000 people. Ephesus also was home to the third largest library in the world. It held many scrolls.

We then headed over to see how rugs are made. A small cocoon containing the dead worm still inside is placed in water for a period of time then the silk is separated. One cocoon will proved a line of silk one mile long! We of course were offered some wine and asked to walk on the carpets to feel the quality. We were then shown the art of rug weaving by two local artists. A good rug could take up to two years to produce. Needless to say, we supported the locals! Walking back around the port we found many delightful shops and restaurants again! Very nice shop owners and great bargains to be found!

Many misconceptions were erased after our visit. They are westernized and do not wear Burkas and hate Americans. They are a NATO state and love to show their country to visitors. We found it so much more pleasurable than Egypt and would love to go back and see more of the country some day.

Again, bring small bills to leave for tips and purchases. 

Day Eight - Check out 

We leave today and say goodbye to good friends. You can always find a way to meet great people on cruises and we found some friends for life. Hopefully we will be traveling together again soon. We gathered once again for breakfast and then a short meeting to pick up our passports. About 45 minutes later we were off the ship and gathering up our bags.

Customs stamps our passports onboard to save time and we were on the way out to meet our driver to take us to the airport. We used Excite Holidays to book our transfers and had three great trips with them.

This was a trip of a lifetime and I have so many memories and photos to share.  Contact me anytime for more info!