Apex moving to Athens for 7 night cruises for summer 2021

[TMaine]

It seems like this deserves its own thread.  Documents showing port traffic in Pireas shows Apex there every Saturday. 

Cruise_PDF_2021_23-03-2021_1.pdf

Edited March 24, 2021 by TMaine

[Texed]

It looks as though Celebrity has closed the bookings on the cruises on Apex in Europe.  They were going from BCN and Rome.

[downsmead]

This has been raised on another thread - Will X Cancel All Europe Cruises For 2021?

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, TMaine said:

It seems like this deserves its own thread.  Documents showing port traffic in Pireas shows Apex there every Saturday. 

Cruise_PDF_2021_23-03-2021_1.pdf 125.72 kB · 11 downloads

I think your headline is suggesting future cruises on Apex out of Greece.  No evidence of that.  Apex is simply coming into port once a week for supplies and then floating about in the Caribbean.  

[TMaine]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

I think your headline is suggesting future cruises on Apex out of Greece.  No evidence of that.  Apex is simply coming into port once a week for supplies and then floating about in the Caribbean.  

Athens is a long way to go from the Caribbean. 

[wrk2cruise]

OP was referencing the fact that Apex is now showing on the port schedule for Pireas starting in June.  They sailed from Spain to Caribbean empty and can certainly sail back empty if it means a partial season.   Millie is sailing from San Diego to the Caribbean to do the partial summer season.

 

I think at this point just have to wait for future Celebrity announcements.

 

[Crazy planning mom]

Greece is reopening to travelers

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/greece-will-reopen-to-vaccinated-tourists-in-may.html

[Arizona Wildcat]

4 hours ago, TMaine said:

Athens is a long way to go from the Caribbean. 

Thank you for your correction.  They are sailing about the Mediterranean.  Am sure you understood my point that porting in Athens weekly doesn't suggest a resumption of cruising any more than the many ships that make calls in Florida now.

[Miaminice]

7 hours ago, Texed said:

It looks as though Celebrity has closed the bookings on the cruises on Apex in Europe.  They were going from BCN and Rome.

Those cruises wouldn’t be possible due to European restrictions. 
 

Cruises limited to certain regions are possible. They have been sailing for months already.

 

However, I highly doubt Celebrity will join in.

[downsmead]

I did wonder about calling into port for provisions. The ships around the U.K. do so about every 3 weeks. However Apex is currently out in the Caribbean, I thought, so even more ‘strange’ to see her on the Athens port schedule. 
 

[hawkesbaynz]

Greece maybe keen to open for tourism. There economy is heavily dependent on tourism. However they have strict restrictions at present and they are vaccinating the smaller island opposed to Athens as a priority. 

 

Last Summer more people came back to the UK with Covid-19 from Greece than Spain and France.

 

Not sure the UK government will allow its citizens to travel to Greece etc and spoil the blood, sweat and tears that have gone on here to reduce the levels of the disease.

 

I have booked a Reflection cruise in September ex-Rome but imagine the only cruise I could do would be from the port 5 miles from home to cruise to Liverpool (P&O) or an anchor point off the coast of France. Not something I fancy.

 

Who knows with our politicians though!

[GlobalMethod]

15 minutes ago, hawkesbaynz said:

Who knows with our politicians though!

You are so right! I live in Greece and read on the different restrictions daily in various EU countries ... who knows from week to week, as the country you may think you want to visit may change its criteria tomorrow! ... 🙂 ...

Edited March 25, 2021 by GlobalMethod
typo

[TMaine]

5 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Thank you for your correction.  They are sailing about the Mediterranean.  Am sure you understood my point that porting in Athens weekly doesn't suggest a resumption of cruising any more than the many ships that make calls in Florida now.

I know to what you are referring.   It would seem unlikely that X would sail Apex all the way to Greece from the Caribbean just to float around empty when they could easily stay put and do the same.   To me it indicates a plan to restart cruising in the med and Greece is a welcoming host. 

[Stu UK]

Here is the detail. New season planned. Apex current European cruises seem to have been removed from sail. 
 

https://shipmonk.co.uk/2021/03/25/celebrity-apex-to-make-world-debut-in-greece-in-june-as-royal-caribbean-says-it-will-start-sailing-from-cyprus-in-july/?fbclid=IwAR0thK9vwP_rW1cgr_JrFP-QPfAGaeLLJ3vDQ1fgtLE0v7wwkhUyV3E1BmE

[TMaine]

14 minutes ago, Stu UK said:

Here is the detail. New season planned. Apex current European cruises seem to have been removed from sail. 
 

https://shipmonk.co.uk/2021/03/25/celebrity-apex-to-make-world-debut-in-greece-in-june-as-royal-caribbean-says-it-will-start-sailing-from-cyprus-in-july/?fbclid=IwAR0thK9vwP_rW1cgr_JrFP-QPfAGaeLLJ3vDQ1fgtLE0v7wwkhUyV3E1BmE

Well there we have it!   Thanks for posting! 

[Stu UK]

Shame Celebrity hasn’t mailed people booked concurrently with the announcement.  

[little britain]

Celebrity APEX sets sail from Cyprus in June

#Repost @jrzymowska (Celebrity UK) 
・・・
Hot off the press! Our latest ship, Celebrity Apex, will make her debut in Greece in June, sailing dreamy Aegean itineraries. We are so excited to finally welcome guests onboard our newest ship, in the homeland of Celebrity Cruises. Whilst our British holidaymakers will have to wait a while longer to experience our flagship, until International travel opens back up, we look forward to welcoming them onboard later in the season. I for one will be first in the queue as soon as that day arrives! Two announcements in one week...could it get anymore exciting? 🇬🇷 🚢 🥳

Apex goes on sale 30 March 21.

#celebrityapex #celebritycruises #cruisecelebrity

[wrk2cruise]

I wonder if they will be able to hit $500 pp/pd for a balcony on these sailings.   Millie seemed pretty expensive to me for a 7 night Caribbean sailing. 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

You should have listened me when I spoken about this on the other thread (some people didn't believe it). Here is the details with the itinerary too. I was hoping it had more varied destinations though...

 

Question: How much crowding can Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete and Limassol handle in the covid-19 period? Because it seems almost every cruise line that restarts in Eastern Med to include them.

[little britain]

Confused! Is Apex in Athens or Cyprus?   Jo R says Cyprus ^^ but this press release says Athens.  

 

Celebrity Apex will homeport from Athens, Greece and sail to Mykonos, Rhodes & Santorini in Greece; Limassol in Cyprus and Haifa & Jerusalem in Israel.

[Texed]

1 hour ago, Stu UK said:

Shame Celebrity hasn’t mailed people booked concurrently with the announcement.  

 

We received an email a few minutes ago.  😊

[SummmerInKefalonia]

9 minutes ago, little britain said:

Confused! Is Apex in Athens or Cyprus?   Jo R says Cyprus ^^ but this press release says Athens.  

 

Celebrity Apex will homeport from Athens, Greece and sail to Mykonos, Rhodes & Santorini in Greece; Limassol in Cyprus and Haifa & Jerusalem in Israel.

Probably both are gonna be featured as homeports.Or maybe even Haifa will be available as a homeport too.

Edited March 25, 2021 by SummmerInKefalonia

[Kitekat]

1 hour ago, Stu UK said:

Shame Celebrity hasn’t mailed people booked concurrently with the announcement.  

If you have booked through a travel agent or transferred your booking to one, then they 'own' the booking and you have to discuss things with them in the UK.

OTOH our agent had not been notified this morning - I rang to find out the situation about our Apex cruise from Barcelona.

 

1 hour ago, little britain said:

Celebrity APEX sets sail from Cyprus in June

#Repost @jrzymowska (Celebrity UK) 
・・・
Hot off the press! Our latest ship, Celebrity Apex, will make her debut in Greece in June, sailing dreamy Aegean itineraries. We are so excited to finally welcome guests onboard our newest ship, in the homeland of Celebrity Cruises. Whilst our British holidaymakers will have to wait a while longer to experience our flagship, until International travel opens back up, we look forward to welcoming them onboard later in the season....

Hmm, officially our road map states that we can start travelling from 17 May, with the caveat that it is the earliest date, so what does Celebrity know that we don't. Sounds like 30 June announcement may be set more firmly in place than we have been told. But we guessed that, hadn't we?

 

[Crazy planning mom]

8 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Those cruises wouldn’t be possible due to European restrictions. 
 

Cruises limited to certain regions are possible. They have been sailing for months already.

 

However, I highly doubt Celebrity will join in.

Well, they just did.  See the new comments.

[little britain]

3 minutes ago, Kitekat said:

 

Hmm, officially our road map states that we can start travelling from 17 May, with the caveat that it is the earliest date, so what does Celebrity know that we don't. Sounds like 30 June announcement may be set more firmly in place than we have been told. But we guessed that, hadn't we?

 

I thought it was Jun 21st... anyway I also agree it was strange wording. 

The Global Travel Taskforce announce their recommendations on April 12th, but as Apex goes on sale 30 March do you take a risk in booking then or wait ....?