Day 1:  Saturday, June 3 2023

After enjoying a leisurely morning in our Athens apartment, our taxis arrived at 11:30. It took only 30 minutes to travel to the very large Port of Piraeus. 

What a simple and quick embarkation process we had compared to a large cruise ship!  I do stand corrected about our ship, the Crystal.  It holds 1400 passengers and has 450 cabins.   It’s still very small compared to other ships I’ve been on.  Because of the small size, our luggage arrived to our rooms very quickly.

Of course, our first stop on the ship was The Thalassa Bar on the aft.  We got a crash course on what liquids are  included in our drink package, along with a hard sell to upgrade.  Be proud of us; we did not bite.  The basic offerings will be sufficient.

We spent the afternoon simply exploring the ship, a buffet lunch, and a nap for me.  A real bed in my outside cabin on the 4th deck was just too enticing.  After the long journey and 2 late nights sleeping on the apartment couch, it’s not a surprise I fell asleep.

I did wake up for our 5pm sailing with the family.  I went back to my cabin with the intention to unpack but fell asleep again!  I wonder if the multiple glasses of Prosecco added to my exhaustion?  It WAS National Bubbles Day at home, after all!

We all met up for our sit down dinner and were overwhelmed by the amount of food.   Delicious, too!  We have 2 Egyptian waiters who are very kind and funny.  We waddled out  of that dinner!

We lost Lynda and Pete to the show (I think!) but I did hook up with H&K in the casino.   It’s very small with only 1 black jack table and a few machines.  I was excited to play with Euros, even though I quickly learned I can lose with those, too.

It’s a very lively ship with music and dancing but we decided to check out the full moon instead …

I retired to my cabin around midnight and decided to get myself organized and clean.  I hadn’t slept in a bed since Tuesday night in Phoenix, so needless to say, I crashed hard and fast.   7 hours of sleep felt SO GOOD!