We are setting sail on a Mediterranean cruise across Greece and Turkey with Celestyal Cruises! Come along on our 7 night adventure that takes us to Thessaloniki, Kavala, Istanbul, Dikili, Kusadasi and Patmos. I'll show you what this cruise line is like and what you need to know before booking a stateroom on the Celestyal Journey cruise ship. I also include tips on how to make the most of cruising with Celestyal Cruises!
Celestyal Cruise line is an independent cruise line that operates out of Athens, Greece and specialises in Greek or Mediterrean and Middle Eastern cruises. They focus on the destination with long times docked in port and are considered one of the more well priced cruise lines. We are taking Celestyal Cruises' "Steps of Paul" cruise which is a cruise that follows St Paul, one of Jesus's disciples. It is popular with Christian pilgrims although for us because we are not religious, it was really a cruise that suited us with timings and stops in Thessaloniki, Kavala, Istanbul, Dikili, Kusadasi and Patmos and disembarking in Athens.
The ship for our Mediterranean cruise is the Celestyal Journey, a relatively new ship that launched in September 2023. It carries 1,260 Guests, 630 Cabins and 500 Crew with a Passenger to Crew ratio of 2.1:1. On board the Celestyal Journey there are 7 Restaurants, 8 bars, a gym and 2 Swimming Pools. The 7 day cruise has 222 shore excursions to choose from.
Brand New Pricing Structure
Cruising with Celestyal with 7 nights starts at around $1289AUDpp twin share and is one of the more affordable ways to see Europe. Celestyal Cruises calls themselves an "almost all inclusive cruise line" which means that some things are charged for. If you want extras like alcoholic drinks, room service in your state room, access to steam room (sauna is free) and spa treatments you pay for these.
We cruised with Celestyal Cruises in October 2024 but yesterday on November 13th, 2024 they announced some major changes to their cruise offering addressing some of the feedback from guests which will no doubt be very welcome. Instead of a tiered system they will have just one grade called "Celestyal One" which includes the cruise fare, complimentary essential WiFi for all guests, filter coffee, tea, water and juice throughout the day (6am-10pm), unlimited free soft drinks in the main restaurants with meals, as well as port fees and taxes and crew gratuities.
Celestyal are also introducing a simple "Celestyal Pay" wallet for drinks instead of the previous 8 drinks packages so passengers can just pay for their drinks as they go. This new pricing structure The changes will take effect on all bookings from December 11, 2024, for cruises departing from March 21, 2025.
The Ship
Celestyal Journey has undergone a US$21 million refurbishment (formerly it was Holland America Line Ryndam). The actual ship is over 30 years old but they did a great job with the refurb and it actually looks very nice with lots of polished brass and new carpet in common areas.
The ship has 14 levels, the top is the observation level and Ray's beach club. Level 12 has the basketball court, tennis court, disco, Horizon's Bar and Lounge and the kid's room.
Level 11 holds 3 restaurants and a bar as the gym, Sozo health spa, beauty centre, sauna and massage rooms, steam bath, jacuzzi and relaxation room.
Deck 10 has the Galazio pool and terrace, bar, the Compass Bar and the suites while decks 4-6 and 9 have staterooms.
Deck 8 is the main deck with 4 restaurants, 4 bars, a casino, shop and ampitheatre show lounge.
What we both really loved is that there are so many nooks and areas that you can have to yourself as a couple on the ship and it never felt really crowded. Sometimes we'd have a huge bar section to ourselves which was lovely especially for introverted Mr NQN who just likes quiet time.
Service
The staff here are generally very friendly and lovely. We didn't encounter anyone that wasn't helpful or nice during our stay. The crew came from a mix of countries eg. the Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt and Bali.
Our Stateroom
As we had booked relatively last minute, no suites were available so we were given an XD "Exterior Cosmos" 19 square metre cabin. I'll be honest, I was expecting things to be squishy and claustrophobic without a balcony but we were really happy with our room. I think the rooms look much better in person than they do on the website.
Our room #9006 is on the 9th floor. It was located right above the auditorium so you could hear the music from the shows late at night. I had earplugs though and once I put these in I couldn't hear much and I slept like a baby every single night. There's definitely something about the rocking on a ship that helps me sleep well. And apart from that, the bed was very comfortable and even though there isn't a balcony, there's a large window to see outside (a little scrub would have been great so it was clearer though!). There is also plenty of storage space for clothes and shoes and we store our bags under the bed. I would suggest bringing your own pillow though as the pillows are firm and high.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a bath shower combination in the bathroom as baths use up so much water. The shower water pressure wasn't particularly strong, it was more medium level but sufficient for washing hair. The bathroom is well designed and the only thing I thought was missing was body lotion and a vanity kit. The toiletries provided are body wash, hand wash and a shampoo conditioner.
There is a welcome fruit plate and some bottles of water but the bottles of water are at extra cost. They do give you a handy tote bag with an extra towel, refillable water bottle and bear soft toy so use the water bottle to refill water at water stations. There is a television in each stateroom and at first I was excited to see that there was a Netflix button on the remote. Unfortunately there is no Netflix so be sure to download everything before you cruise so that you can watch it on your phone or tablet. There are also no kettle or coffee making facilities in your room as well as no fridge. This is to discourage people from taking food back into their cabins, something they specifically ask you not to do. There is also no USB charging point near the bed which is a bit inconvenient.
On other cruises I've been able to call my cabin steward if I need anything but on this ship you can only call reception or ship to shore. That means that if you need anything you can't contact your steward directly, you just have to ask them if you happen to see them attending to other rooms in the morning or after dinner. Our stewards Jason and Putu were really lovely and kept our cabin super clean servicing it twice a day. They also made fun towels likes swans and dogs. We did give them an extra tip at the end too.
Tip: suites sell out quickly on Celestyal Cruises because they are so well priced so it pays to book early to get a premium room.
Internet
One of my big things is lack of internet on ships. Each guest gets internet suitable for browsing and messaging but not streaming. However what was nice was that the European eSim that we purchased still had access throughout most of the cruise. Our ship did not sail too far from the coast so while there were patches without internet, we didn't have to dip into the ship's internet that often so we didn't use anywhere close to all of the wifi provided.
The Drinks
There are 8 bars on board the Celestyal Journey. When we cruised there were 8 drinks packages which are now a thing of the past as they proved vexing for guests. These drinks packages have all been removed and now guests have a Celestyal Pay prepaid pre-loaded wallet.
When we cruised in Octobe, getting drinks out of the breakfast, lunch and dinner times cost extra but now wuests will also receive filter coffee, tea, water and juice throughout the day (6am-10pm) and unlimited free soft drinks in the main restaurants with meals. The Celestyal Pay wallet can be used onboard for any non-complimentary food and drink purchases. Guests receive a top-up bonus credit percentage discount from 15-25% when they pre-load their CelestyalPay wallet. Any surplus not used on board is not refunded and the money can only be used for food and beverages.
I'd recommend bringing a "keep cup" or similar with you because there are no takeaway cups on board so if you want to order a coffee to take on a shore excursion you can't really because they come in glasses and they'd probably stop you disembarking with a glass.
The Food
There are 7 restaurants on board the Celestyal Journey although one called the Chef's Table is only for groups of 10 and has to be booked as one whole group. 5 out of the 7 restaurants on board are "specialty restaurants" which means they cost extra, only The Taverna buffet and Thalassa is free and as part of the new roll out of changes, the Greek Deli is now complimentary. We both found Thalassa a bit hard to find and only saw it halfway through the cruise.
The food menu works on a 7 day cycle so that no two nights are the same in the buffet restaurant although the specialty restaurants keep their menus the same night on night. The food supplies for the Celestyal Journey cruise are loaded in Piraeus port in Athens. They go through a lot of food, the Executive Chef Allan Bonchol from Malaysia tells me that just in one breakfast seating one day they go through 5,000 fresh eggs for the guests and crew! They also go through 120kgs/264lbs of lobster a month. Every week they take on a fresh delivery and every 2 weeks they take on a frozen delivery.
Allan's personal favourite restaurant is Pink Moon. Unfortunately this restaurant has been booked out by larger groups for the entire cruise so we don't get to try it. So in effect during our cruise there were 5 restaurants available during to us the cruise.
When we cruised in October we found that if we got peckish out of the meal hours we had to pay for any extra food but now having food at The Greek Deli available in the afternoon for complimentary food is a step in the right direction.
Having said that, the quality of the food on Celestyal Cruises is excellent and probably one of my favourite ships for food - this cruise really made me a cruise lover because food was always the missing piece of the puzzle for me.
On the first night, we were famished after we boarded around 5pm and luckily had some snacks in our luggage. We waited until 6:30pm when The Taverna buffet restaurant opened and when we got there we saw that it was very busy as I think everyone else had the same idea. There are big queues for the hot food which admittedly looked good from huge lamb shanks, glazed potatoes, vegetables and breads.
There wasn't much of a queue at all for the dips and salads so we helped ourselves to a range of dips from hummus, baba ghanoush, taramasalata, fava bean dip as well as Greek salad, antep (crushed Turkish tomatoes), feta, tomato salad and sesame bread. This was absolutely delicious and I cannot fault the food. It was seasoned well and very fresh. And we were so full that all we could fit in was some fruit at the end.
The Ship Shops
I really liked the shops on board and actually bought a few things. The prices were not exorbitant and they had a really good range of things from necessitites and toiletries (even contact lenses!) to really lovely jewellery by Cypriot designer Anna Maria Mazaraki. I bought an evil eye necklace which I fell in love with. They wrapped it up nicely in pink packaging and ribbon with some delicious jube lollies too!
The main store is like a duty free store with perfumes, accessories and alcohol while another boutique Sugar Free sells resort wear style clothing and swimsuit with contemporary designs.
Tip: they have specials every day for certain brands and items. Check the daily program for details.
Dress Code
The dress code on the ship was casual and comfortable during the day but at night, men were not permitted to wear shorts in any restaurant except for the Taverna buffet. They were required to wear a shirt with long pants or jeans.
Laundry
Some cruises have self serve washing machines while others have a laundry service. On Celestyal Cruises it is the latter and the laundry on board is taken care of by your cabin stewards. You can either pay by the piece or you can fill a bag full of clothes and pay €30 for the whole bag to be washed and folded. The turnaround time is by the evening the next day but our bag of laundry was done quickly and came back to us on the evening of the same day.
Entertainment
Every night there is something in the auditorium after dinner around 8:30pm. There are ABBA tribute shows, dancers and singers and even on board magicians (the magic show had to be nixed because some of the religious guests on board didn't like it). We did see a couple of shows but as we had so many shore excursions that started early we would go to bed straight after dinner and be fast asleep by 10pm.
Shore Excursions
Celestyal Cruises are said to be known for the shore excursions where they partner up with reputable, local guides. There are four pillars of authentic shore excurions: Foodie Heaven, Culture Vulture, Seeking Adventure and Wonders of Archaeology. I'll be going through each shore excursion that we did in future blog posts.
Other services on board
There is also a 24 hour fully equipped gym on board, a tennis court, basketball court, a steam room/jacuzzi and relaxation room (extra charge €9 per day) and sauna. There is also a casino open from 7:30pm til late and Sozo health spa open from 8am-9pm. There is also a photo shop where you can dress up and they can take photos of you (at an extra charge).
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever heard of Celestyal Cruises? Have you ever cruised with them and what did you think?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of Celestayl Cruises but all opinions remain her own. We flew to Europe with Vietnam Airlines.
Celestyal Cruises
A similar cruise is priced from $1289AUDpp twin share for a 2025 voyage: https://celestyal.com/au/our-cruises/7-nights-au/idyllic-aegean/
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam Airlines offers 23 flights per week connecting Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Vietnam Airlines is continuing to add new routes having recently announced new flights to Milan, Munich and Delhi.
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