Celestyal Nefeli 12th May 2017, Part 1

Friday 12th May 2017
I flew out of London Gatwick Airport on an easyJet Airbus 319/320 at 05.45 in the morning. It was daylight but with heavy cloud and I could see nothing of the English countryside as we headed east. We flew towards Amsterdam and the Low Countries and then headed south towards Greece and my destination of Athens Airport, with a flight time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. I will have to advance my watch 2 hours when I arrive.

We arrived 10 minutes earlier than expected and I had my first glimpse of the mountains and sea as we made our final approach into Athens. I was soon off the aircraft and into the terminal building, before walking outside to enjoy feeling the warmth of the Greek sunshine. It's been a long and grey winter in the south of England. My travelling companion soon arrived and we arranged to get one of the airport buses to our embarkation port of Lavrion, to sail on CELESTYAL NEFELI.

The bus dropped us off in the main square and we decided to walk to the port, which we could see through the trees. A large and dirty stray dog decided to adopt us, at a distance, and acted as an escort as we walked. We noticed he had a used cardboard coffee beaker in his mouth, which we thought might be his own version of a food begging bowl...

We passed the white bench that two other ferry friends thought had been in use on AGIOS GEORGIOS (ex-HENGIST); the ship had been in lay-up here at Lavrion some years ago. The dog kept looking back at us to check on our progress and once we all reached the port gates he left us to our own devices and collapsed slowly in the shade of a snack bar. We thought he was probably known there.

Disreputable escort dog

Taxiarchis laid up


We passed the laid-up TAXIARCHIS, and then went into the Cruise Terminal building to check in for CELESTYAL NEFELI which we could see her at a nearby quayside. We were offered a ride in the shuttle bus to the ship, but it took us only 5 minutes to walk the distance, along the side of the inevitable metal fencing. Before we got there however we could see something interesting, tied up at another quay. It was NEARCHOS, of Creta Cargo Lines, looking empty and rather forlorn. As we walked towards the stern ramp we could see an overalled man walking towards us from the deck and he said he was the Chief Engineer and invited us on board. We stood at the top of the ramp and I noticed that this little ship had once been a train ferry, as I could see 3 sets of train lines that were now covered up. The Engineer said she was built in 1968, is 4,163 gross tons, and he was obviously really proud of his little vessel and engines (IMO: 6727193). Another man soon appeared and made us feel unwelcome so we all walked back down the ramp; the Engineer explained that it was the owner. We thanked him for letting us see the car deck and telling us about his ship and the removal of much of the stern hull/superstructure, and then walked a few yards to board CELESTYAL NEFELI.

Creta Cargo Lines Nearchos

Invited to see the railway lines

Olive trees to welcome us on board

Celestyal logo on the funnel

My cabin 2007


It was a great relief to walk on board and locate my inside cabin on Deck 2. The last forty-eight hours have been rather unexpected and it was good to have a few minutes to get things in perspective again. The plan to sail on CELESTYAL NEFELI for 3 nights on 12th May from Lavrion was made recently, and plans were also made to add some ferry trips after the short cruise. Arrangements were made and all was well until 48 hours ago when one of the ferry companies notified my travelling companion of 3 days of strikes by Greek seamen on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Naturally this meant we could not sail on anything later in the week after disembarking from CELESTYAL NEFELI. Things were cancelled or abandoned but it was decided to continue with the short cruise and then enjoy a full day in Piraeus port before flying home to the UK on Monday evening. I changed the date of my flight home, removed unneeded items from my rucksack, let my family know of my changed plans, and set off for Gatwick airport on Thursday evening. My son was due to fly into Gatwick from a business trip that evening so we met there for a short while, before he headed home. Nine hours later I flew out to Athens.

Now here I was on this little cruise ship, looking forward to a good time on board but without the planned ferry trips after that. CELESTYAL NEFELI was built in 1992 for the Effjohn Group at 19,090 gross tons as CROWN JEWEL, then became CUNARD CROWN JEWEL, went to Star Cruises as SUPERSTAR GEMINI, VISION STAR, MV GEMINI, before being chartered by Celestyal Cruises (the new name for Louis Cruises). I have enjoyed several trips with Louis Cruises over the years.

Lunch was being served up on Venus Deck 6 in the Leda Casual Dining room and outside deck so we enjoyed that and had a giggle at the thought of this being named 'A Euphoric Cruise'. We sail this evening about 9 p.m., arriving tomorrow morning in Santorini for the day, then sailing on to Izmir in Turkey for Sunday. After a day there we sail back to Greece and the port of Nafplion and that could be the end of my Euphoria.

Nearchos from Nefeli

Boat Deck

Reception

Theatre

Always the glorious blue

Selene Lounge

Marmari Express

Macedon

Inside buffet lounge

Good enough to eat


Boat drill was held at 6 p.m. and we discovered there were one or two different styles of life jackets on board. The top of the life jackets fitted as expected but men wearing shorts or trousers fitted the extra, unfamiliar, strap fairly easily between their legs, with some adjustment back and front; those of us wearing a skirt or dress became aware that wearing this unfamiliar extra strap would cause what I shall call unexpected limb exposure. Hmm, I made a mental note to exchange my life jacket when I could.

We had spent time in the afternoon enjoying the sun in the aft Thalassa Bar with its delightful tiered curved decks around us, but after Lifeboat Drill it was time to change and enjoy pre-dinner drinks and music in the Deck 4 Eros Lounge Bar. Dinner is served from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Aegean Restaurant, which covers the full deck width of the ship, with excellent views of the sea from every table. The observant Head Waiter ensured that all passengers were made welcome; the menu offered a good selection of dishes which were professionally served by his staff. The cruise package price includes almost all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, plus excursions, and we found that the bar staff were also most attentive to passengers' needs, whether in the Aegean Restaurant or in the many Bars.

The evening's entertainment at 9.45 p.m. was a Mythology Show - a trip around the Greek Olympus and the Greek Gods. I enjoyed most of this, but extreme tiredness suddenly overtook me and I had to return to my cabin. It had been a long and busy day, but I was at sea again and happy to be there, as we sail 108 nautical miles overnight.

Ships seen at Lavrion, Greece
Taxiarchis
Nearchos
Marmari Express
Macedon
Celestyal Nefeli


To be continued...

LOUIS AURA 3rd August 2014

LOUIS AURA

Several months ago a few friends planned to sail on this little liner and I was happy to join them, for a second trip on the ship. The four night cruise was to sail out of Limassol in Cyprus, so it was a long flight of over four hours from the United Kingdom to reach our embarkation port.

Saturday 2nd August 2014
I caught an afternoon flight from the UK to Paphos in Cyprus, and immediately had to set my watch forward two hours to local time. By then it was dark and I was glad to be met by a pre-arranged local taxi driver to go straight to my hotel in Limassol. The air-conditioned taxi was a great relief after the tremendous heat outside. When I arrived at the hotel, it was very disappointing to discover that my friends’ rooms at the hotel had been over-booked and they had been moved to another establishment, some distance away. This was not the welcome and meeting that we were hoping to enjoy!

Sunday 3rd August 2014
Solitary breakfast was pleasant in the air-conditioned breakfast room beside a huge swimming pool. The shade cast by trees and shrubs outside was delightful, and all the smokers seemed to enjoy sitting at the tables there. I could see a Bar beside the pool and a tennis court beyond that. My friends were due to meet me here and I was soon re-packed and ready to head for the sea side with them.

We simply had to walk down the road to reach the glittering sunlit sea and wait for the sight of the LOUIS AURA as she sailed around the distant headland, heading for the port of Limassol. We found a comfortable café right on the water’s edge and happily spent some time there drinking coffee and later having a light lunch before we could head for the new cruise terminal. That was more like the cheerful start to this little trip we wanted!

Cafe on the beach

Check in was easy and we were hardly aware that we were three of the 800 or so anticipated passengers coming on board in mid-afternoon. The first thing I noticed about the ship’s hull was the LOUIS CRUISES logo, along with a red and blue stripe next to it.

The new Louis stripes

On board, my cabin this time is 5111 on Poseidon Deck, a twin berth inside for single use, and with a welcoming plate of fruit on the dressing table.

One side of my twin-berth cabin 5111, Poseidon Deck

Looking towards the door, with bathroom on the left and mirror-fronted wardrobes on the right

I first visited the ship as ORIENT QUEEN in Piraeus in July 2007 after she had been acquired by Abou Merhi Cruises and chartered to Louis Cruises, still as ORIENT QUEEN, and I can still recall my surprise at seeing her distinctive styling with the Venus Bar levels 1 and 2 up on Panoramic Deck.

I remember from my last trip on 14th September 2013 on LOUIS AURA that she had been built as STARWARD in 1968 in Bremerhaven for cruising for Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line; in 1995 she was sold to Festival Cruises and became BOLERO. With the collapse of Festival in 2004 she was laid up before being bought by Abou Merhi Cruises in 2005 and renamed ORIENT QUEEN to sail to ports including Beirut, but that was abandoned and AMC chartered her to Louis Cruises; in fact she sailed again to Beirut under charter to rescue stranded Americans.

My diary back then in September 2013 noted that Louis Cruises had just renamed the ship as LOUIS AURA in keeping with Greek mythology and as their company had become the foremost Ambassador of Hellenic Cruising. I also noted that the ship had a charter to South America over the winter and imagined that this new name of LOUIS AURA would continue to promote the company’s image.

Since then the ship had been chartered by French company Rivages du Monde in Spring 2014, which ran several cruises for passengers from Marseilles, and visited many Baltic ports including Oslo, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. A maritime journalist friend in Denmark was so delighted to see and visit the ship in Denmark that he wrote a piece about her, and used one of my photographs taken in Patmos, Greece, as an illustration to accompany the article.

Now she is back in Aegean waters and has been sailing out of Limassol from 22nd July on short cruises. Her tonnage is 15,781, with 364 passenger cabins with an 895 maximum passenger capacity, with eight passenger decks, so I was pleased to be on board her again.

Reception and Guest Services, with the central fountain

Lifeboat drill was held and then we prepared to sail. We headed out of Limassol port aided by tug PRINIAS, passing AIDALUNA,

Aidaluna and our tug

and then we saw an unexpected sight rushing towards us: it was a dark-hulled vessel now called DP GEZINA, but which we had last seen in Rotterdam in January (see NORWEGIAN GETAWAY January 2014). I remembered I had first seen and sailed on her in 2008 between Helsingor and Helsinborg in Denmark, when she was called SIMARA ACE.

DP Gezina, ex Simara Ace

Mermaid Restaurant, with a view of two sides of the Swimming Pool in the middle

Looking aft in the Mermaid Restaurant

The Bar in the Restaurant

Dinner was to be served in the Mermaid Restaurant between 7 and 9 p.m. so after a refreshing drink we were about to go to the Restaurant when an announcement was made. It seems that so many people had decided to go in for a meal at 7 p.m. that there was no more room and everyone else was requested to wait until 8.30 p.m. That was a bit of a surprise, as that meant waiting about an hour, but we did so and discovered that rather unappealing buffet food was all that was now available and laid out for us to collect. That was such a disappointment, as I had really enjoyed the food on my last trip on this ship, and had praised it to such an extent that my companions were really looking forward to their first meal.

We had all bought the drinks package so that rather came into use for the rest of the evening, and we were entertained by a band playing under the Venus Deck bar. It was very pleasant sitting in deck chairs under a dark sky, feeling comfortably warm as we sailed along.

Sitting under the stars listening to the Band on Venus Deck

Tomorrow we are due in Rhodes so we are all looking forward to that.

Ships seen: Aidaluna, Louis Aura, catamaran Sea Grace, tug Prinias, DP Gezina (ex Simara Ace)


To be continued....

LOUIS AURA (ex-ORIENT QUEEN) Part 5

Wednesday 18th September 2013
We were on the Bridge early this morning ready for arrival in Rhodes.

Here we are in Rhodes

Just ahead of us

It was another hot day and there was time for deck breakfast before we set off for the Port Gate for 8.30 a.m. We are booked on a Land Rover Safari Tour for the day, which sounded good fun. Their website promised an exciting itinerary and that is what it proved to be. Our driver collected 4 more people locally and we headed south to Cape Prasonisi first, where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean. It was amazing to see the landscape and the windsurfers enjoying their sport – a lovely place for a coffee break and walk.

The Aegean meets the Mediterranean

Save Prasonisi

Drying Octopus

Next it was back in the Land Rover to head up the south western coastline, which included many miles of off-road driving – an uncomfortable ride at such a speed, but the end result was Margaritaville. This was a unique castaway style of bar set amongst 26 miles of deserted beach. We could relax, beach-comb, write the date in the sand and enjoy a wonderful beach picnic under the shade of the beach hut.

Margaritaville

The sea

Bottle tree

Shoe Tree

Then it was on to the village of Siana, to sample the locally made honey. We could also try the local ‘firewater’ called Suma, which proved memorable!

Village church

The interior was unexpected

After another dirt-track and road journey we were glad to arrive in the Embona wine region, to visit a distillery, which again proved fascinating. The samples were generous and ensured many sales in the family-owned winery.

The route up to Embona

Grapes for Suma

Fermentation

Some of the workings

Then it was down to sea level and around the Rhodes island coastline back to our port, after the exciting day that had been promised.

Blue Horizon was just leaving

On the walk back to the ship from the port gate I could see a familiar sight: ORIENT QUEEN II. She was previously the VISTAMAR, which I sailed on in 2011 from Bergen south to Cuxhaven, and really enjoyed, so I walked across the quayside for another look. I was able to go to Reception and have a chat with someone there, who had previously worked on LOUIS AURA ex-ORIENT QUEEN, but I was not allowed to go and visit the Music Salon again for security reasons of course. I was given a couple of brochures for Abou Merhi Cruises, as Mr Merhi now owns this second ORIENT QUEEN; he had chartered and then sold our ORIENT QUEEN to Louis Cruises, but apparently liked the name and used it again on the VISTAMAR after he acquired that.

Orient Queen II

Marmaris Express about to leave, with the Pilot disembarking after just 2 minutes!

Back on board we could watch LOUIS OLYMPIA sail, and then go and prepare for Gala Night on board our LOUIS AURA.

Louis Olympia leaving Rhodes port

Orient Queen II

Panagia Skiadeni

Gala Night preparations up on Venus Decks 1 and 2

Wearing our Gala Night attire on the Bridge seemed a bit unusual but the Captain was doing the same, ready for his Captain’s Cocktail party. We left Rhodes and enjoyed the departure, then went below to prepare for the evening ahead.

We queued with many other passengers for the ‘Meet the Captain for a photo’ and then continued into the Stars Show Lounge for the Captain’s official Introduction to his senior Officers and Department Heads.

Louis Aura Gala Night

This was followed by another wonderful dinner in the Mermaid Restaurant with numerous courses of delicious Greek food.

Ships seen: Blue Horizon, Orient Queen II, Marmaris Express (with the 2-minute Pilot), Panagia Skiadeni of Dodekanisos Seaways


To be continued....