Celebrity Xcel Malta: Stunning Arrival, Excursion Letdown

Why are we in Malta?

Back in April, 2025 we traveled to Europe for the first time. Hesitant as we were to travel by land, figuring out transportation and hotels, we instead booked a cruise aboard the Celebrity Apex taking us from Barcelona, Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar stopping in Lisbon and then Porto, Portugal, with one more stop in La Coruña, Spain before ending in Southampton England. In addition to those ports, we spent two amazing days touring Barcelona before boarding, and two more whirlwind days in London after disembarking.  Everything we experienced is in our collection of Celebrity Apex Barcelona to Southampton (2025) trip reports.

Not long after we came home, a familiar itch to cruise Europe returned, and we began researching Celebrity’s 2026 itineraries. One particular sailing stood out: it departed Barcelona once again, this time sailing east with ports in Valletta (Malta), Kusadasi (Turkey), and the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini before ending in Piraeus (Athens). While we are all about the destinations, it was also incredibly cool that this cruise would be aboard Celebrity’s shiny new Edge-class ship, the Xcel, which had not yet launched when we booked. Who knew back then that the Xcel would be ready early and we’d have the opportunity to sail on her preview cruise –  certainly not us.

Well we’ve just come back from that 2026 sailing from Barcelona to Athens, and this post is all about our Celebrity Xcel Malta port day. If you haven’t already done so, check out our Embarkation day post to read about the Celebrity embarkation experience in Barcelona, and our first impressions of the Xcel in the Mediterranean.

Malta day

With an early excursion and room service breakfast scheduled to arrive between 6:30 and 7:00 AM, we woke super early Sunday and were rewarded with a dramatic sail-in to Valletta’s Grand Harbour. While we stood on our veranda at 6:15 AM, the ship rounded the point past Fort Ricasoli on our right, and the full amphitheater of fortifications opened up all at once. The honey-colored limestone bastions glowed gold in the early morning light as we pulled into the Valletta Waterfront, where the Xcel would dock. It was truly stunning.

About half an hour later, with the ship now docked, our butler Vengai arrived with breakfast, which he set up on the table in front of the couch. We had filled out the room service order and left it outside the cabin the night before. Coffee with scrambled eggs, some turkey sausage and toast were mostly meant to tidy me over as Rona’s not a big “breakfast then go on an excursion” gal.

Off we went to the Bazaar, the special on board excursion meet-up location for Retreat guests. After checking in we took a seat and waited a short time before our group was called and we were escorted to the gangway. This was supposedly ahead of non-Retreat guests taking the same excursion. They met at a different location on board, so I can’t say whether we actually were ahead of them, but we did get right off the ship.

The cruise terminal sits beneath the historic, fortified walls of Valletta, Malta’s capital city, and is part of a larger waterfront complex that offers shopping and dining in separate buildings with a wide pedestrian promenade along the water. The terminal itself resides in Magazino Hall, which was originally built in the early 18th century during the rule of the Knights of St. John, a Catholic military order founded during the Crusades. It is modernized, of course, but retains some of the original architecture, including the soaring arched ceiling made from Maltese yellow limestone.

It was quick work to get outside the terminal and find our bus among all the tour buses, and by 8 AM we were sitting comfortably. We had reserved one of Celebrity’s Destination Highlight excursions called Three Cities and Harbor Cruise. While we do typically prefer shore excursions from third parties for both price and quality, on this sailing we had booked three with the cruise line, each for a different reason. We’ll cover the “why” of this one now.

Valletta is rich with history and is extremely walkable, including from the port. Our Youtube research had led us to prioritizing time there, wandering the streets, eating and drinking, relaxing in the Upper Barrakka Gardens, visiting the 16th century St John’s Co-Cathedral, and watching the cannons fire at the historic Saluting Battery. The battery dates back more than 500 years also to the Knights of St. John, and is supposedly the world’s oldest continually operating saluting battery. 

History!

One problem. The Xcel was in Malta on a Sunday. St. John’s Co-Cathedral isn’t open for tourists on Sundays and the Saluting Battery doesn’t operate on Sundays, though we didn’t find out about the latter until we got there. We could still do some of the things on our list in Valletta, but didn’t need nearly as much time. Plan B was in order.

We opted for this particular excursion for three reasons. First, we’d quite enjoyed the Destination Highlight excursion in Porto, Portugal last year — Guimarães: Birthplace of a Nation. You can read about that in our Porto and Guimarães trip report. Second, the timing fit our schedule – it was a 4-hour morning tour, which would leave us the afternoon to explore Valletta. Lastly, the tour itinerary looked interesting. We’d be going through the three fortified towns of Cospicua, Vittoriosa, and Senglea, a.k.a. the Three Cities, then a harbor cruise, followed up with some time in Marsaxlokk, a fishing village with an open-air market on Sundays! 

From the way the excursion was described at the time (note the italics), it seemed we’d be on a tour bus through possibly Cospicua and Senglea, with a walking tour in Vittoriosa and time to ourselves in Marsaxlokk, a particularly interesting stop for us. We love a market. So, keep this in mind as you read on. 

Soon after the bus departed the port, our tour guide informed us we’d be doing the harbour boat ride first, and so off we drove through some traffic and city road construction across the harbour to Sliema, where the bus pulled up at the waterfront promenade.

Our bus was apparently one of two buses on the tour, and so passengers from both vehicles boarded the same boat, with the other bus’ tour guide set to narrate the boat ride. We boarded the Stella Maris VIII, a preserved traditional cruiser built in the style of a traditional Maltese luzzu (fishing boat) and latini (cargo boat) more than 90 years ago.

Rona and I grabbed outside seats at the front of the boat, and by 8:45 AM we were motoring out through Marsamxett Harbour. Much like when the Xcel approached Valletta, the views here were stunning, including Floriana’s seaward bastions, the dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the spire of St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral across the harbour in the Valletta skyline, and Fort Manoel, which was built by the Knights of St. John in the 1720’s to defend the harbour.

A bit of trivia, now. Dry docked right outside the Ta’ Xbiex Yacht Marina is a large black ship called the Black Pearl. This 1909 wooden schooner was featured in the Robin Williams 1980 film, Popeye, which was filmed in Malta. It is now a restaurant. We haven’t seen that movie in years.

The boat took us into the Grand Harbour, where we snapped some photos of the Xcel. More importantly, we had great views of the Siege Bell War Memorial, which sits atop the fortifications at Valletta’s Lower Barrakka Gardens area overlooking the harbour.

There was a lot of historic scenery explained over the boat’s loudspeakers, but after a while we were ready to be done with this portion of the tour. There’s only so much you can take of, “Hey look kids, there’s Big Ben and there’s Parliament.” The harbour tour ended after about an hour when we arrived back at the dock in Sliema, and we climbed back on the bus. 

The next leg of the ride took us to Vittoriosa — a.k.a. Birgu, its name before the Knights — about 15 minutes later, where we had a panoramic view of the VIttoriosa Marina and skyline.

Our tour guide led us under the arched Couvre Porte Gate, the first of three Baroque gates built in the early 1700’s, which lead into the fortified town of Vittoriosa. In order to reach the town, invaders would have needed to get through this gate first, then through two more gates – the Advanced Gate (Porta d’Aragon) and then the Gate of Provence. Between each gate lay kill zones in the form of courtyards and pathways designed to trap and do away with the invaders. 

We walked along many historic cobblestone (and some paved) streets, past where the Knights had lived, as well as the Sicolo Norman House, widely considered to be the oldest standing residential house in Vittoriosa.

We emerged onto Victory Square, which sits right in the heart of the Three Cities, and celebrates the Knights and Maltese successfully repelling the Ottoman Empire during the Great Siege. The Statue of Victory, a.k.a. Great Siege Victory Monument, which was erected by the Knights in 1705 sits on the Southwest corner of the square. The Statue of St. Lawrence, the patron saint of Vittoriosa, was erected in 1880 and sits on the Southeast corner.

The tour moved on to the outside the Inquisitor’s Palace, with the adjacent Collegiate Parish Church of St. Lawrence bell tower visible behind it. The Church of St. Lawrence was the Conventual Church of the Knights of St. John before they moved their headquarters to Valletta after the Great Siege. 

We continued on to a shop that sold a variety of Maltese gifts and foods. We were also given a sample of the sweet-tasting Bajtra, which is a Prickly Pear Liqueur. Most importantly, this shop also had public restrooms, which a large portion of the tour lined up to take advantage of, while the tour guide led some others to another nearby location with restrooms.

After a short poke around the store, we stepped outside and waited. And waited.

We stood out there for about 30 minutes while everyone finished using the bathroom and for the tour guide to return from the other location and repeatedly and unsuccessfully try to verify we hadn’t lost anyone. The “counting of the people” was finally successful when someone from the tour admitted that one of her party had opted to remain on the bus all this time, which explained why the poor guy’s counting was always off by one.

After all was said and done, we were back on the bus at 11:30 AM on a 15 minute ride back to the cruise port. There was no Marsaxlokk, no quaint fishing village with an open air market. To be honest, we couldn’t tell you if we drove through Cospicua or Senglea, though we did drive through Sliema, since that’s where our boat ride was.

In the end, we were disappointed in the excursion. The boat ride portion was fine, though it got old. The walking tour of Vittoriosa was interesting, and would be great for anyone fascinated with military history of the age. The tour guide was exceedingly knowledgeable about the history of Malta and its military history through World War II. Unfortunately, we wound up essentially wasting 30 minutes waiting, and it’s hard to know if that is why we didn’t get to Marsaxlokk or did anything more. 

When we spoke with the shore excursions team back on the ship later that day, they indicated Marsaxlokk was not listed as a stop on the tour at that time, but was surprised that we did not drive through the village at least, which we definitely did not. I double checked the excursion description while we stood there and, while the description still referenced Marsaxlokk, it no longer indicated we’d stop there.  

Now, we know what we booked, and it explicitly noted what is currently (July, 2026) listed on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Three Cities and Boat Ride excursion: “Head to Marsaxlokk, for a photo stop and enjoy some free time in the open-air market of this colorful fishing village.”

If you followed the link to the excursion details in this post, you may have observed that Marsaxlokk is no longer listed at all. One possible reason for our experience and the change to the description is that the drive to and from Marsaxlokk would have consumed most of the remaining time on the tour, with the fishing village often gridlocked with traffic and tour buses on Sundays. 

Afternoon in Valletta

The bus dropped us right near the cruise terminal, and we decided to stick with the plan and head right into Valletta. It was a 5 – 10 minute walk to the Barrakka lift, a high speed elevator that brings you from Lascaris Wharf at the Grand Harbour up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens in the city center. It costs only €1 round trip and saves climbing 200 – 300 uneven stone steps. 

There was no line when we arrived, and so within minutes we were in the Upper Barrakka Gardens, standing upon its arched terrace, soaking in the panoramic view of the Grand Harbour. Upper Barrakka also provides a great vantage point to watch the firing of the cannons in the Saluting Battery below at noon and 4pm every day. We were there right at noon, but this was when the sign right outside the Barrakka lift informed us that the kabooms don’t happen on Sundays. Sadness. Though, it likely explained why there wasn’t a line for the lift.

The garden itself features tree-lined stone pathways, bright seasonal flowerbeds, central fountains, and numerous historical statues and monuments dedicated to prominent figures.

But now we had a list of places we wanted to try out, one of which was De Bono Coffee Shop right near the Grand Master’s Palace, as recommended by Ritzy Travel Guide in their excellent Malta 2026 video. The cafe is known for their freshly made Maltese ftira (bread), pistachio coffees, and many snack and dessert options.

We came out of the garden onto Castille Street, where several street vendors were selling their wares, though we weren’t buying. Our destination was a ten minute walk, mostly down Merchant Street, a normally busy pedestrian avenue lined with loads of open-air cafes and boutique shops.

At mid-day, one side of the street is nice and shady, with the other side bathed in what can be a pretty hot sun. Intersecting Merchant Street are narrow stone roads which on one side seem to tumble down toward the harbour, and are framed by golden limestone buildings, many with brightly colored Maltese balconies.

Because it was a Sunday when many retail shops are closed, and because it was on the early side of lunchtime, the open-air cafes were pretty empty, despite fairly busy sidewalks, and had promoters and hosts looking for customers.  It’s a bit of a shame, too, because the promoters beckoning passersby reminded us of the tourist-trap restaurants in La Rambla in Barcelona. Whereas those restaurants are overpriced and typically lower quality, cafes here on Merchant Street have a positive reputation of offering an authentic, relaxed dining experience with fresh food.

We arrived at De Bono, which could best be described as a hole-in-the-wall, with most of its seating in a cluster of small tables along the sloped limestone street. Unfortunately for us, all the tables were occupied, and nobody looked ready to move. We were a little cranky, a little hangry, and kind of striking out in Malta.

Had we done more research, we might have realized we were right around the corner from Is-Suq Tal-Belt food market, with its gourmet basement grocery store and a lively street-level food hall with, at last check, had 15 food stalls serving a diverse selection of international and Maltese cuisines. But hangry is as hangry does, and we were off our game.

Instead, we headed back up Merchant Street and first stopped in the compact Mdina Glass boutique that we had briefly checked out on the way to De Bono. After some browsing through all the colorful shelves, we bought some gifts for the family and a candle holder for us. 

With a bag of heavy glass in hand and our stomachs rumbling, we found Jeff’s Pastizzeria also on Merchant Street. This is a low-key bakery chain that’s basically a grab-and-go counter, with pastizzi the signature menu item. Pastizzi are a Maltese street food, diamond-shaped and savory pastry pockets made of hyper-flaky dough, and stuffed most typically with ricotta or a spiced, mushy curried pea puree. 

Also, pastizzi are inexpensive. Like really cheap. Our one soda was the most expensive part of the order, which was as follows: 1 Ricotta Pastizzi (€0.75), 1 Ham & Cheese Pie (€2.20) and a Coke Zero (€2.50). After tax (VAT), this was something like €7, which hit our credit card for $8.11.

We took our piping hot bag of street food past the 15th century Auberge de Castille to the Upper Barrakka garden and sat on a shady bench to consume middling quantities of food.

The ham and cheese pie was tasty, if a little greasy. The pastizzi was dense, creamy, and also greasy. That sucker probably weighed more than the bottle of soda, and we opted not to finish it. No actual complaints here, though. We are glad to have tried pastizzi, but there would be “free” (already-paid-for) and less heavy food back on board the ship if we needed it.

After people watching for a bit, we took the lift back down to the wharf, intending to make one more stop before getting back on board. The Hard Rock Cafe sits in a converted 18th-century warehouse in the Valletta Waterfront complex with its main entrance along the pedestrian promenade. It has a small retail area out front, where we scored a Hard Rock Malta t-shirt for me and a pin for our daughter, Rachel.

Back on the Celebrity Xcel

Getting back on board was straightforward. We found a shortcut between some of the buildings along the waterfront that took us right into the terminal. After showing and scanning our sea passes and going through security with the x-ray machines and metal detectors, we were back on board by around 1:30 PM.

Unsurprisingly, we were still hungry so headed up to the Oceanview Cafe for some buffet randomness. Rona had a mix of chicken satay, beef in oyster sauce and a slice of pepperoni pizza while I assembled a plate of chicken tikka masala with rice, chicken satay, a slice of plain pizza, Greek salad, and Victoria cake. 

All the food was tasty, hot, and familiar, but the Victoria Cake was new to me. It sounded like a British dessert by name, which it was. Fortunately for me, the sponge cake layers were sandwiched with whipped cream and strawberry jam as opposed to raspberry jam, or as I like to call it, the devil’s berry jam. (Not a raspberry fan). 

There are servers wandering the Oceanview Cafe to take drink orders, so while Rona was fetching us our respective slices of pizza to augment our plates, I ordered us some Coke Zero’s. Moments later, Rona returned with both pizza and additional Coke Zero’s she’d grabbed from one of the bar/counters, so we did get properly hydrated.

Along with much intermittent relaxation, the rest of the afternoon went by in a haze of caffeine, cocktails, live music and poor showings in both general and diva music trivia. Cafe Al Bacio supplied the coffees and iced teas (and maybe a peanut butter cookie along with a salmon salad sandwich). 

The Martini Bar supplied us with a Martinez plus a Contessa gin and tonic.

A bit later, Craft Social furnished us with some custom Old Fashioned’s while we listened to the Cavoti Brothers pop/rock band in the Grand Plaza. This Argentine five-piece group is a Celebrity house band. They’re fronted by brothers Eze and Martin, and bring serious energy!

Around 6 PM, having changed out of our walk-around-Malta-in-shorts-and-sneakers outfits, we rode the forward elevator up to deck 16, and sea-pass’d our way back into Luminae for dinner, where the hostess warmly greeted us. A moment later another crew member led us to a table in the same area as last time, right along the floor to ceiling windows at the front of the ship. What’s kind of nice is that nearly every single crew member we walked past on the way to our table also greeted us. 

The sommelier took our drink orders – we skipped cocktails in favor of all the ones we had before dinner and the ones we’d have after. Our assistant waiter, Kendra, immediately followed with the yummy bread selection. Mario, our very serious waiter came by with his own recommendations and took our order.

Tonight’s amuse bouche was a sizable shrimp sitting in cocktail sauce. For appetizers, Rona had the escargot off the classic menu while I ordered the smoked potato soup from the daily menu. The daily menu entrees yielded the grilled chicken breast for Rona and the sea scallops “surf and turf” for me. 

The potato soup was tasty and not too salty, even with little bits of chorizo in it. Celebrity does a nice escargot, so Rona was happy with it. The grilled chicken was served with mushrooms and asparagus, and even though it wasn’t listed, they sat it on a parsnip puree. Rona, who is picky about her grilled chicken, liked this dish a lot. 

As for the scallops “surf and turf”, these were somewhat small sea scallops with the turf being pork belly. Mario had warned me that the portion was pretty small, but I didn’t listen to him. I suppose I should have. There were two scallops and two good-sized lumps of pork belly, artfully arranged on the plate with dollops of pea-mint puree and pickled shallots. Everything was cooked perfectly and full of flavor, but…. yeah. Pretty, but small.

For dessert, and with some extra room in at least my belly, I opted for the Daniel Boulud signature dessert, the Black Forest Tiffany with vanilla ice cream. Rona chose the dark chocolate soufflé with coffee ice cream. She gave that one a go while I systematically demolished mine.

Overall, dinner was thoroughly enjoyable. Even with the smaller entree portion, Luminae continued to give us an elevated and unique dining experience aboard the Xcel. And on our way back out of the restaurant, virtually every crew member in the restaurant wished us a smiling good night. They really do make you feel welcome.

Dinner was over just in time for us to catch the elevators back down to deck 5, and the right hand entrance of the theater’s upper level where there is reserved seating for Retreat guests. Tonight was a headliner show called the Gold Strings Duo. They are an acclaimed electric violin duo who deliver high-energy rock and modern classical performances. They were talented and the music was excellent, but the banter between them seemed a little forced.

After the show we headed back to The Club to try and get into the speakeasy (IYKYK) through the photo booth. For more on the speakeasy, read up on it in our Embarkation Day post. The drinks were rock solid, from the Split Decision to the Boulevardier. The music and “show” was different from our prior visit, which is nice. We chit-chatted with Sarah, the assistant bar manager, when she came by our table to say hello again. It’s really enriching when you get to know the crew.

Later that night, the Cavoti Brothers were back in the Grand Plaza doing a Queen tribute show in the Grand Plaza, and we were there for it. With the entire Martini Bar area packed, we grabbed a table outside Craft Social on deck 4 affording us a decent view of the show below on deck 3. 

Another round of custom Old Fashioned’s arrived as the show began, and it was awesome. Eze, the lead singer, really knows how to work a crowd. He ran around the Grand Plaza with his microphone, navigating up to deck 4 and even deck 5, singing and generally rockin’ out. This is an absolute must-see if you are on Celebrity ship where they’re doing the Queen tribute show.

It was getting close to midnight, which seemed to indicate one more little snack, so we headed up to the pool deck, which was lit up in nighttime blue, green, and purple, and then sought out some pizza in the back of the Oceanview Cafe. We grabbed a couple of pieces. Real talk, here, Celebrity – your pizza isn’t great. It’s not bad, but when it’s the only thing on your plate, you do notice it’s kind of…. Meh. 

This was one long, very full, and somewhat mixed day. We had a pretty epic sail-in to Malta, learned a bunch about its rich history, tried some local street food, but were disappointed by our shore excursion, which left a damper on things for a while. It being a Sunday did not help matters. Still, Malta is a truly striking place, and we got to visit a country we’d never been to before. And we had a great time the rest of the day back on board the Xcel.  Overall, it was also a fulfilling day, even without the open-air market in an old Maltese fishing village.

Keep an eye on the Xcel Mediterranean 2026 page or subscribe down below to be notified when the next trip report goes live. Next up is our Kusadasi, Turkey port day, including what turned out to be a private tour of ancient Ephesus!