One of the many advantages of cruising is that you get to visit some of the most beautiful places in the world – and only have to pack once! So, for today’s edition of Allie’s Apex Adventure, I’m going to focus on some of the wonderful excursions available to passengers on Celebrity Apex.
On this particular cruise we visited beautiful Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast and three of the Greek islands – Mykonos, Rhodes and Santorini.
We tendered in Mykonos and Santorini, docked only 10 minutes from Rhodes Old Town and relied on a shuttle ($12 return) to get into Dubrovnik.
We were pretty much free to do as we pleased everywhere except Mykonos, where you were obliged to stick to the shore excursion in order to stick to a Covid safety bubble.
Dubrovnik
Historic, beautiful and the setting for a big chunk of Game of Thrones.
My mam and I went for a short walk around the Old Town where – as a HUGE GoT fan – I had to visit the Stairs of Shame (shame! shame! shame!)
It was also a great shame we didn’t quite make it to King’s Landing, but it just means I’ll have to go back!
There are plenty of tours in the Old Town, including loads of Game of Thrones-related ones.
Mykonos
I went on a culinary excursion to a traditional Greek lady’s house.
She came up with the idea of doing Greek Cooking lessons about 9 years ago; her husband thought she was crazy, but she renovated her house to accommodate the classes and has been quite successful.
It was a very authentic, interactive experience. We all got involved and made spinach pie (with some great tips for Filo pastry), stuffed peppers with rice and tzatziki (my favourite).
Queen of the tzatziki? There was only one: Celebrity Cruise’s Jo Vaughton, who made the best-looking and tastiest one of us all!
Did you know there are male and female peppers?
We sat down to our meal with homemade that was delicious, very satisfied with our work.
We went on a small walking tour around Mykonos to take some photos of the scenery.
Rhodes
As we were only a short walk from the Old Town, I decided to join a walking tour of medieval Rhodes.
The two-hour tour took us all around the picturesque centre – and we even had the opportunity to stop for a traditional Greek lunch in one of the restaurants.
Rhodes is alot about medieval knights: we visited the Castle of the Knights, walked along the Street of the Knights and visited the Hospital of the Knights. I felt like a Lady of the Knight.
Santorini
This was my favourite island and excursion. We went on a walking tour of the village of Oia, had a wine tasting in a local winery (with wine exclusive to the area) and visited the old capital for the spectacular views from the old Venetian castle.
The views in Santorini are like nothing I have ever seen. The opportunities for scenic photos and selfies are endless.
Topped of with some Mezes it was truly unique to taste some local wine.
General Tips on Excursions
No matter what cruise you’re on, it’s a must to see the local towns and experience different shore excursions.
I would recommend booking with the ship, in the excursion area, as then you will definitely be back on time. But having the option in most cities, especially post-Covid, to wander around on our own was lovely.
It was been absolutely wonderful to see all these destinations as I’ve never been to the Greek Isles or Dubrovinik before.
I would recommend a selfie stick, plenty of sun cream and a hat to keep you protected.
You will also definitely need some good comfy walking shoes for the cobble stones in the Greek Islands.
