Captain Panagiotis Skylogiannis of Celebrity APEX
The Captain sets the tone for everything on the ship. Your safety is in his hands. While he/she has assistants for many things, there is nothing they aren’t responsible for in the long run. On the Celebrity APEX the Captain is Panagiotis Skylogiannis. I had the opportunity to sit down with him for an interview and it was a pleasure. He is a totally charming guy.
He shared some personal information with me. He is 56 years old and has been with Celebrity for 33 years, a captain for 21. He is clearly highly qualified having been young when he first made captain. While Celebrity Cruises is now headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group; Captain Skylogiannis began with them when it was still part of the Greece-based Chandris Group. Celebrity’s signature logo is an “Χ” displayed on the funnel of Celebrity ships, and is the Greek letter chi, for “Chandris”. He has worked on just about all their ships and was Captain on all the different classes including millennium and solstice.
From his name it was a safe guess he was Greek and he told me he was born in Athens. As a young man he was in the Greek navy for 26 months. He then moved to the United Kingdom and met his wife. They have been married for 27 years and he now makes his home in the UK. They have three children; the oldest girl is now 20 and attends university. His other two are 17 and 14. As with most people who work on a ship, he is away from home for long periods of time. He told me he would fly home on the Sunday we docked in Ft. Lauderdale and was then off until December. In normal years he works on a three month on, three months off schedule. Clearly a schedule he enjoys since he has done it for so many years.
He told me the APEX , which was the first ship to do a transatlantic cruise after the pandemic, was sailing with a crew of 1100 and a passenger load of 1250. A full crew would be 1250 and up to 3300 passengers if every stateroom was full, some with three or four people.
I asked if I could have a tour of the internal workings of the ship and he was apologetic but said because of Covid that couldn’t happen. I respected that and it was part of feeling totally safe on the ship. He was proud when we reached Ft. Lauderdale to announce 100% of the crew and passengers tested negative for Covid. He did however offer me and two friends I traveled with a quick tour of the bridge. The concierge, Icaro, arranged it. The 2nd Mate, Alex, showed us how the ship is steered and gave us a great tour of the bridge. We of course wore our masks when there.
I have interviewed Captains before and always showed them the column before I published it. When I asked him if he wanted me to do that he said “Why, I am doing everything right so that is what you will have to say”. While he was kidding, in fact he was doing everything right. He set the tone for his crew and they have all been amazing. APEX is an incredibly beautiful ship but this has not been an easy time for the crew dealing with the Covid pandemic.
We had to prove we were vaccinated before boarding and were tested on the dock. I you tested positive you couldn’t board. We were asked to wear masks around the ship except when eating or drinking, which turns out to be most of the time, lol. The crew was initially masked at all times. We were covid tested again before stopping in Tenerife. After that, when everyone tested negative, passengers were told we could stop wearing our masks and the crew was allowed to unmask when outside. It was great to see their smiles. Everyone from my cabin attendant Lenie, who is from the Philippines, to Icaro, to Alexander, a bartender at the Martini Bar, to all those who served us at the buffet (there was no self-service due to covid), were amazing and did everything to make our crossing safe and successful.
The entertainment was spectacular and the APEX theater a modern marvel with all the high-tech you could want. Giuseppe, the Cruise Director and his great assistant Darren Moore, did a fantastic job.
All-in-all Captain Skylogiannis runs a great ship and I would be honored to cruise on any ship of which he is Captain. If he is still on APEX next year he will see me on another transatlantic trip in October.
