Thessaloniki Welcomes ‘Celestyal Olympia’ Cruise Ship

Vassilis Karachalios, Head of Sales at Celestyal Cruises in Greece; Athanasios Liagos, Executive Chairman of Thessaloniki Port Authority; Giannis Fountoukas, Captain of Celestyal Olympia; Frosso Zaroulea, Head of Public Relations Celestyal Cruises; Maria Antoniou, Head of the PM’s Office in Thessaloniki; Voula Patoulidou, President of the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization; Theodora Riga, Director of Corporate Communication, Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility, Thessaloniki Port Authority; Konstantinos Zervas, Mayor of Thessaloniki; Alexandros Thanos, Deputy Governor responsible for Tourism, Central Macedonia; Captain Stavros Evangelidis, Hellenic Coast Guard (Thessaloniki); Captain Vassilis Gazikas, Director of Celestyal Cruises’ Shipping Department; Captain George Koubenas, Business Manager, Celestyal Cruises.

The northern port city of Thessaloniki recently welcomed Celestyal Cruises’ Olympia ship, which started sailings to the Greek islands and Cyprus in June.

Celestyal celebrated the cruise ship’s arrival to Thessaloniki with an event that was attended by the company’s senior executives, as well as state officials and representatives of local authorities.

Celestyal is the only cruise line calling on a regular basis to Thessaloniki, offering its guests the opportunity to explore the city’s unique cultural heritage sites and traditional gastronomy options.

From Thessaloniki, passengers can also fly to other countries in Western and Northern Europe or drive to other destinations in northern Greece and the Balkan region.

Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo source: @Celestyal Cruises

Thessaloniki is part of the company’s “Legendary Archipelago” itinerary which also calls upon Mykonos, Santorini, Ag. Nikolaos (Crete) and Rhodes, in Greece, and Limassol in Cyprus.

“We are very happy to return to Greek seas with our cruises after 16 months. Including Thessaloniki to our ports of embarkation and disembarkation has been a strategic goal and commitment even before the pandemic,” said Celestyal Cruises Business Manager George Koubenas during the event.

The “Legendary Archipelago” itinerary will be concluded with Celestyal Olympia’s last departure from Thessaloniki on August 24.

“Thessaloniki is a key destination for the tourism development of the country and the cruise sector in general. We will continue throughout the summer with a total of 14 calls to the port of Thessaloniki, while we plan to return with our new cruise ship Celestyal Experience and new calls in 2022-2023,” Koubenas added.

Celestyal Olympia. Photo source: Celestyal Cruises

Also present at the event were the head of the Prime Minister’s office in Thessaloniki Maria Antoniou; Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis and Thessaloniki Tourism Organization President Voula Patoulidou.