I was lucky to be invited to visit Malta for the CLIA 360 Conference, giving us the opportunity to visit two ships, Holland America Line’s Koningsdam and Celebrity Cruises Edge, and experience what Malta has to offer as a cruise port and destination. Understanding what a destination has to offer its customers is helps with choosing an itinerary for your cruise.
Upon arrival into Malta, I found the airport really easy to navigate and as it was quite small it did not take long for you to make your way through to arrivals, where our hotel transfer was waiting. The driver gave us good information about island whilst driving the short 30-minute transfer to the hotel.
The 4* Argento Hotel in St Julien’s is located close to Spinola Bay. The rooms were tastefully furnished and comfortable and offered a lovely breakfast which you could eat inside the restaurant or outside in their terrace. We dropped our bags off in our room and decided to find some lunch.
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We found this lovely Maltese restaurant located right in Spinola Bay that served traditional Maltese food. We both opted for a Ftria, a Maltese Pizza, made from Sourdough, topped with traditional toppings – mine had roast potatoes on it!
The resort of St Julian’s is very much built for tourism. With a spattering of traditional buildings mixed with 70’s style apartments, a few restaurants, shops and bars. There is a flat promenade that links St Julian’s to Sliema, dotted with park benches that look out to sea. We decided to walk off our lunch past the Balluta Buildings and Carmelite Church and sat in a park in Sliema to watch the sunset.
Monday morning, bright and early, we were up to visit our first ship, Holland America Line’s Koningsdam. After a wonderful welcome on board at the Crow’s Nest bar on deck 12, we were given a guided tour of the ship. This is the first Pinnacle-class ship, with two more ships due to join her in the next few years. The ship is in keeping with their nautical traditional style but with a touch of modern elegance.
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The ship was quite busy whilst we were visiting so we only managed to see a Verandah cabin, which was spacious and stylishly decorated. The Lido Pool has a retractable roof, so you can swim in all weather, while there is an adult only open-air pool at the Sea View Bar at the aft of the ship. We were serenaded in the Billboard Onboard Bar before being treated to lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. The food and service was amazing. This is just one of their dining options, so you really are spoilt for choice.
After our visit to the Koningsdam we were booked in to do a walking tour of Valletta, but due to a storm and torrential rain this was called off. The Maltese people state they have 300 days of sunshine a year, this was obviously not one of those days!
Tuesday we visited our second ship of the trip, the Celebrity Edge. We were swiftly escorted through to the Oceanview Café for lunch, which is one of their spacious casual dining restaurants. There was so much choice, from Grill to Latin, Indian to Pizza, it even has it’s own section for ice cream. We then had a whistle stop tour of the ship, showing us the things that sets Celebrity Edge apart from its competitors.
The Sunset Bar at the back of the ship has un-obstructed views out to sea, so you can watch the sunset while sailing out of port.
The Resort Deck features 2 two storey martini glass hot tubs, a raised area in the pool with sunken sunbeds and private cabanas and if you are looking for something more peaceful, they even have an adults only indoor solarium.
Suite Class guests receive even more pampering in The Retreat. An exclusive area at the front of the ship that features a terrace and pool, lounge and restaurant. The main area that attracts a lot of people is the Martini Bar in the atrium. This stylish area glitters in the lights that make up the ceiling of the bar and the soft furnishings make it somewhere you can people watch and while away your evenings on board or socialise round the bar with the other guests.
My favourite area on board was the unique Eden. Its atmosphere changes throughout the day as they change the fragrance you smell, the bar menu and the lighting meaning your experience there changes too. It has comfortable seating area, themed around the garden of eden, facing floor to ceiling windows out to sea at the aft of the ship.
Tuesday evening, we were treated to a Gala evening at the Magazzino Hall, hosted by Clia. This gave us the opportunity to dress up and socialise with our hosts from Holland America.
As we were not flying home till late afternoon on Wednesday, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to do our own tour of Valletta. The bus service from St Julian’s to Valletta was really easy to navigate and you arrive right next to the city gates.
Due to the different rulings that Malta has had there are a few different styles of architecture around the city, with Baroque being the most prominent. Being a lover of architecture, I was in my element, walking around the city in awe. The bright stone used for most of the city is similar to the stone used in Bath.
The city is just beautiful! So, trying to fit as much culture in to 2 hours as we could and a brief sit down for a coffee, it was time to get back on the bus to our hotel and make our way to the airport.
After a lovely time away in Malta, thanks to our hosts Holland America Line, I can now see what attracts 2.6 million people to Malta every year and with cruises lines to suit everyone’s requirements why not make this a stop on your itinerary.
