On Location: Greek Island Hopping on Celestyal Cruises

Travel Agent's cruise editor, Susan J. Young, sailed on Celestyal Cruises’ Celestyal Crystal earlier this month on a roundtrip cruise from Piraeus (Athens) Here's Part 1 of this series, focused on the brand's itinerary approach, fleet (both growing and revitalized), accommodations and itineraries. Stay tuned for Part 2 about dining and entertainment, and Part 3 about the Greece destination experience.

Greece is open for Americans this summer and this idyllic view of white-washed Kritsa, Crete, (shown in the photo above) was snapped last week by Travel Agent, while exploring the Greek Isles on a seven-night cruise aboard the 1,200-passenger Celestyal Crystal. 

Offering a hefty destination focus for Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, Celestyal Cruises is a cruise line that's headquartered in Athens, Greece. Parent company, The Louis Group, is headquartered in Cyprus.

"We're unique in that we're really a Greek company," notes Gordon Dirker, Celestyal's vice president, business development, North America,  who believes his line "can explore our own backyard better than anybody" for precisely that reason. 

The Destination is the Big Draw 

After chatting with many guests onboard, it's clear that this niche line's guests often desire to spend as much time exploring Greek destinations ashore as possible. Week-long cruises basically visit a port a day.

"We spend a lot of time in port, especially on our seven-night sailings," said Dirker, and he and other cruise line executives say "the destination" not so much the ship is the top draw. Celestyal Crystal's captain describes the ship as a comfortable floating "home" -- a way to get from one island to another. 

Celestyal's itineraries also include many isles not found on the typical, big-ship Greek Isles voyage. On our week-long cruise, for example, the ship still called at the popular Greek destinations of Santorini and Mykonos, but also took guests to Patmos, RhodesMilos and Crete (Agios Nikolaos). 

Originally launched in 1980, the mid-sized, classic-in-style Celestyal Crystal once sailed in a former life as Norwegian Cruise Line's Leeward. 

Six Million Euro Revitalization

The good news is that despite it's age and a history that seems as though the vessel is a "cat with nine lives," this ship today looks relatively fresh. That's because of a six-million Euro revitalization completed pre-pandemic.

Travel Agent likes the classical look and feel of this vessel too. Simply put, it's not too big, not too small, and getting around is quick and easy.

Celestyal Crystal docked in Greece // Photo by Susan J. Young

Celestyal Crystal offers 480 staterooms and suites, 53 of those with private balconies. In this COVID-19 era, maximum capacity, is being held to 80 percent or less, though.

In the revitalization, the reception area, shore excursion area, boutique/shop (quite large for the ship's size) and photo desk area were all updated. In addition, "we scraped her down to the metal on the outside and she got a nice new coat [of hull paint]," Dirker said, and "all the teak was replaced on the swimming pool decks."

Also such accommodations as deluxe balcony staterooms and suites were updated in the revitalization. Soft goods were replaced in all accommodations. 

Our deluxe balcony stateroom had a nice-sized living area with couch, upholstered chair and small round table, plus a good sized balcony with two chairs and a table.

The bed was adjacent to a writing desk and opposite a large, wall-mounted flat-screen TV. The hanging storage space and drawers within the desk area were plenty from our perspective.

The small, compact bathroom featured black-and-white floor and shower tiles, nice amenities, a singular sink, toilet and adequate shower with good water pressure.

While this definitely ship isn't the best choice for cruisers who desire such razzle-dazzle cruise activity options as rock climbing walls, skating rinks or multi-story slides, it's clean, classy, has maritime touches (such as lots of metal) and well-maintained. We liked it a lot, frankly.  

Plus, we felt it had "just enough" public spaces that travelers do expect on cruise ships. Those include a sports bar, several lounges, a small casino, a pool, hot tubs, a spa and exercise facility, several dining options and more.

In the COVID-19 era, special machines were placed in public corridors and guests were asked—as part of the line's heath/safety protocols -- to flash their cabin key card at the machine and then stand still while the machine sensed their temperature.

Guests were asked to do this once a day. See photo of the "temperature taker" machine at right.

Other Ships in the Fleet

Many advisors—upon learning we were sailing on this ship—have told us they don't really know this brand well, so, with that in mind, here are a few updates about the other ships in this line's fleet. 

The line's second ship is similarly sized but a bit larger in its guest complement. The 1,600-passenger Celestyal Olympia also sails the Greek Isles and eastern Mediterranean. 

Dirker said that it too received the revitalization updates pre-pandemic. One difference, though, is that this ship has 724 total staterooms but only nine with private balconies. 

In March 2022, a new chapter will begin fleet-wise. Celestyal will debut its third and largest ship, the 1,800-passenger Celestyal Experience. Purchased from Costa Cruises in 2020, that vessel formerly sailed as Costa neoRomantica. 

This third ship will offer 789 staterooms and suites, 166 of which will feature balconies, sea terraces or bridge-view verandas. Six Grand Suites will have large sea terraces.

While Celestyal is often described as a product for travelers focused on the destination, not so much for cruisers for whom the ship is very important, it's increasingly attracting both kinds of guests. 

In fact, Dirker believes the appeal for cruisers will grow even more as the line introduces Celestyal Experience, as that ship will offer a humongous spa, a bigger casino and more onboard entertainment. In addition, Celestyal Experience will have many more dining options.

Diverse Itineraries 

One unique feature of Celestyal's itineraries are its many options for short cruises—three-, four- and five-day voyages. So, clients can easily combine an Athens city stay or Greek resort stay with a "taste of Greece" cruise to multiple islands.

Our cruise, for example, was a seven-night cruise, but we noticed—based on onboard announcements—that some guests boarded or disembarked half-way through, given that it was also sold as both a three-night and a four-night cruise.

The line is also currently offering 14-day "Steps of St. Paul and Three Continents" itineraries and an 18-day Christmas & New Year's Cruise 2022.  

As Kusadasi (for Ephesus) in Turkey was not yet open this summer for cruise line calls, Celestyal switched to Patmos, which also has a strong link to early Christianity. That switch still satisfied religiously focused clients. history.

While "we're not a religious cruise operator, it's a market that really finds us a lot," given the itineraries, Dirker said. Also good for advisors to know? The line offers advisor base commission starting at 12 percent. 

Multinational Guests and Crew

More Americans are traveling to Greece, Dirker said, noting that about 40 percent of all his line's guests typically are Americans. Other guests aboard Celestyal Crystal were a mix of friendly Spaniards, Italians, Greeks and other Europeans.

Many European guests spoke some English and greeted us warmly. Everyone aboard was quite congenial. Normally, Celestyal also draws many guests from Australia, New Zealand and Japan, but that's not the case right now.

Nearly all the crew we interacted with -- and certainly all those in guest-facing positions -- spoke English quite well. Crew were a mix of friendly, eager-to-please folks from across the globe – hailing from Brazil to the Philippines, from Italy to Greece. 

Check out our slide show above for photos that showcase the ship and its onboard spaces. We'll talk more about dining and entertainment in Part 2 of this series, and the destination experience in Part 3.

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