diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 239925c3d6..576d246cd5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ instructions, because git commits are used to generate release notes:
 
 <!-- scriv-insert-here -->
 
+<a id='changelog-18.1.0'></a>
+## v18.1.0 (2024-06-25)
+
+- 💥[Feature] Upgrade default charset and collation of mysql to "utf8mb4" and "utf8mb4_unicode_ci" respectively. This upgrade should be automatic for most users. However, if you are running a third-party MySQL (i.e. `RUN_MYSQL=false`), you are expected to upgrade manually. Please refer to the third-party provider's documentation for detailed upgrade instructions. Ensuring that your MySQL version is up-to-date is crucial for maintaining compatibility and security. (by @Danyal-Faheem)
+- [Bugfix] Do not fail on start when there are not persistent volume claims to apply. (by @snglth)
+- [Bugfix] Fix legacy warnings during Docker build. (by @regisb)
+
 <a id='changelog-18.0.0'></a>
 ## v18.0.0 (2024-06-19)
 
diff --git a/changelog.d/20240614_180451_danyal.faheem_upgrade_mysql_utf8mb4.md b/changelog.d/20240614_180451_danyal.faheem_upgrade_mysql_utf8mb4.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 660cba495d..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/20240614_180451_danyal.faheem_upgrade_mysql_utf8mb4.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-- 💥[Feature] Upgrade default charset and collation of mysql to utf8mb4 and utf8mb4_unicode_ci respectively (by @Danyal-Faheem)
-    This upgrade should be automatic for most users. However, if you are running a third-party MySQL (i.e., RUN_MYSQL=false), you are expected to upgrade manually. Please refer to the third-party provider's documentation for detailed upgrade instructions. Ensuring that your MySQL version is up-to-date is crucial for maintaining compatibility and security.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/20240621_172314_regis.md b/changelog.d/20240621_172314_regis.md
deleted file mode 100644
index d7d2eb7258..0000000000
--- a/changelog.d/20240621_172314_regis.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-- [Bugfix] Fix legacy warnings during Docker build. (by @regisb)
diff --git a/tutor/__about__.py b/tutor/__about__.py
index db3c8ea853..6cd3d0650e 100644
--- a/tutor/__about__.py
+++ b/tutor/__about__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Increment this version number to trigger a new release. See
 # docs/tutor.html#versioning for information on the versioning scheme.
-__version__ = "18.0.0"
+__version__ = "18.1.0"
 
 # The version suffix will be appended to the actual version, separated by a
 # dash. Use this suffix to differentiate between the actual released version and
diff --git a/tutor/commands/k8s.py b/tutor/commands/k8s.py
index b761fd0b89..6d39ec7f64 100644
--- a/tutor/commands/k8s.py
+++ b/tutor/commands/k8s.py
@@ -296,18 +296,11 @@ def start(context: K8sContext, names: List[str]) -> None:
     names = names or ["all"]
     for name in names:
         if name == "all":
-            # Create volumes
+            # Create everything except jobs
             kubectl_apply(
                 context.root,
-                "--wait",
                 "--selector",
-                "app.kubernetes.io/component=volume",
-            )
-            # Create everything else except jobs
-            kubectl_apply(
-                context.root,
-                "--selector",
-                "app.kubernetes.io/component notin (job,volume,namespace)",
+                "app.kubernetes.io/component notin (job,namespace)",
             )
         else:
             kubectl_apply(