Apex moving to Athens for 7 night cruises for summer 2021

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

you do realize there are already cruises sailing in Europe!?

 

 

I'm talking specifically about the Celebrity cruises as this is the Celebrity board. But it would equally apply to other cruise lines that are marketing cruises this summer to US passengers.

 

I am well aware of the lines that are already operating, but that's a different matter.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by cruisemom42

[ipeeinthepool]

On 4/16/2021 at 1:07 PM, cantstopingcruising said:

This is a very tricky virus. I don't think anyone understands it. That is why the rules and advice are constantly changing. Just be careful, wear a mask ,social distance and wash your hands. Stay safe.

Washing your hands is always a good idea, but it won't help with Covid.

[harkinmr]

21 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

 This is the sort of info I keep hearing from those "on the ground' so to speak and it doesn't make me feel sanguine about the summer's planned cruise schedules in Europe. Maybe later, in the fall, things will begin to normalize.

 

I agree.  Anyone planning one of the Celebrity sailings in Greece or the UK has to be comfortable with the risk that there could be cancellations or changes based on Covid circumstances.  These new cruises are being carefully coordinated with local health authorities and are subject to ongoing adjustments by those authorities.  The situation in Europe for cruising is nothing short of challenging and some lines like Seaborn are being more up front with their guests than others.  Last week they cancelled all of their scheduled European sailings through September citing difficulties with securing approvals from local port authorities on multi-country sailings.  Celebrity and others still continue to hold out, which is a shame.  

[cruisemom42]

59 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

The situation in Europe for cruising is nothing short of challenging and some lines like Seaborn are being more up front with their guests than others.  Last week they cancelled all of their scheduled European sailings through September citing difficulties with securing approvals from local port authorities on multi-country sailings.  

 

To be fair, the sailings that Seabourn has cancelled are the original ones that were released several years ago, NOT the special sailings from Athens that they have set up for this year (similar to what Celebrity is offering on Apex).  What they cancelled would be the equivalent of Celebrity cleaning up the few remaining bookings on Infinity and one other ship (?) for the Med this summer that weren't cancelled earlier in the year.

[harkinmr]

11 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

To be fair, the sailings that Seabourn has cancelled are the original ones that were released several years ago, NOT the special sailings from Athens that they have set up for this year (similar to what Celebrity is offering on Apex).  What they cancelled would be the equivalent of Celebrity cleaning up the few remaining bookings on Infinity and one other ship (?) for the Med this summer that weren't cancelled earlier in the year.

I understand.  Not equating the two.  But there are still plenty of other scheduled multi-country cruises for Europe (Med, British Isles, Baltic, Spain & France) on Celebrity that are not the limited new cruises.  If Seaborn's decision and reasoning is any indication, those are likely not going to go and Celebrity knows it.  

[rmalbers]

It seems like cruising is in about the same situation as it was one year ago.  All the FCC's were talking about mid-summer, late summer, then there was the people pushing trips into the fall.  I can't believe how long the pandemic has lasted, and there still is not truly a 'real' end in sight.  It's just crazy.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

It seems like cruising is in about the same situation as it was one year ago.  All the FCC's were talking about mid-summer, late summer, then there was the people pushing trips into the fall.  I can't believe how long the pandemic has lasted, and there still is not truly a 'real' end in sight.  It's just crazy.

Sadly, the cruise lines did not help themselves, or their paying customers.

[dani negreanu]

4 hours ago, rmalbers said:

I can't believe how long the pandemic has lasted, and there still is not truly a 'real' end in sight.  It's just crazy.

 

Sadly, I have to agree with you 😢

[Covepointcruiser]

Since my DH and I are fully vaccinated and are preparing for a cruise from Athens, the pandemic has ended for us.   We still comply with the all COVID protocols but are no longer worried about potentially catching COVID.   Since we will be sailing on a fully vaccinated and tested cruise we will be comfortable and will enjoy ourselves, even with masks.   

[Germancruiser]

I really do hope those Apex- Inaugural cruises are a "go" . As much as I enjoyed my escape last year on both Mein Schiff1 and 2 - I probably will not go back to TUI- Cruises. So I am quite happy so see X return to service. I read somewhere that Dimitrios  Kafetzis is at the helm- very good- very nice personality. I am either on board the Maiden Voyage- starting 19.6.2021 or 31.7.2021.

 

[NMTraveller]

Do they allow back to back cruises on Apex?  My thinking is that if you are going to fly across the pond it should be a 2 week vacation.  Perhaps a 7 day cruise and 7 days in Athens?

[LGW59]

3 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Do they allow back to back cruises on Apex?  My thinking is that if you are going to fly across the pond it should be a 2 week vacation.  Perhaps a 7 day cruise and 7 days in Athens?

currently no b2b, but with Europe opening up to vaccinated Americans this summer, that may change

[rmalbers]

On 4/25/2021 at 10:42 PM, NMTraveller said:

Do they allow back to back cruises on Apex?  My thinking is that if you are going to fly across the pond it should be a 2 week vacation.  Perhaps a 7 day cruise and 7 days in Athens?

Ya, I don't think I can see myself doing a 7 day cruise, except maybe alaska (I did).   I know it's different for people but for me a 7 day cruise is like 5 days, 13 days is about right for me.  So, I might not be cruising for a while it looks like. 

[Bruin Steve]

38 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

Ya, I don't think I can see myself doing a 7 day cruise, except maybe alaska (I did).   I know it's different for people but for me a 7 day cruise is like 5 days, 13 days is about right for me.  So, I might not be cruising for a while it looks like. 

I'll even do three night cruises--If they are out of Los Angeles and I don't have to do much more than drive an hour to the port...and I'll gladly do 7-nighters out of LA to the Mexican Riviera.  I think of THOSE short cruises as a great substitute for a three-day weekend--where I drive to San Diego or Palm Springs and just hang out at a hotel and go out to dinner just to get out of the house...

If I have to fly up to Alaska, I'll fly in a day early so I'm not rushed...but it's not that far away )and I don't have to deal with a major time zone difference) that I won't enjoy a 7-nighter... or to the Caribbean--where I'd prefer  little longer cruise or a back-to-back, but I've done 7-nighters to fit them into a school vacation Spring Break (wife's job).

 

But, if I'm going all the way to Europe...and it's a minimum 12 hour flight and a 10 hour time zone change, 7 nights is TOO SHORT...HOWEVER, if I really want to cruise...like NOW...there are ways to deal with this.  Add a lengthy pre-cruise or post-cruise stay.  Or take two 7-nighters--and, if they won't let you do a back-to-back, do a 7 night cruise, then seven nights OFF the ship, then another seven night cruise.  If both are on and off in Athens, spend a few nights in between in Hydra or Egina, then back to Athens for a couple of nights before the second seven-nighter.  Basically, even if they won't let you do the back-to-back, you can still make a nice, longer trip out of it. 

[Germancruiser]

I agree Bruin Steve, just for 7 nights that is a very  long flight- I would not do that either- you can always attach a little land based holiday to the Athens Cruise. Even though Athens is just a 3 hour flight away I booked a pre cruise stay in Athens to make the flight worth it´s while. LOL.

[irvington]

Yes, it is short, but I'm looking forward to traveling with my adult son and he doesn't have much time to take off. I'm going to try to talk him into staying in Athens some in advance.

[CalTexCruiser]

Long time reader/first time poster.

 

Just booked a Sky suite on the Sep 25 8 day cruise.  The Greece/Israel itinerary is very interesting to us, particulary since I've not seen this itinerary with the large cruise lines before.  Used my FCC from our cancelledd Aug 2020 Apex cruise so no out of pocket expense.

 

I understand that things can go south quickly with the COVID situation (see India), but we are willing to roll the dice since we are fully vaccinated and the cruise is likely to be almost fully vaccinated.

 

What I am looking forward to is that the ship will be at half capacity and the ports (especially Santorini) are likely to be  much less crowded than normal, so we hope to have a more enjoyable time with sparse crowds, assuming the cruise is a go.

 

If not, we'll just apply the cruise cost to 2022.