Raschueler

I've never had a drink package on an RCI cruise, so I can't say anything about that, but there is a bar on Labadee and attendants walking around selling Labadoozies (yum!).

As for the roller coaster, I thought it was frightening and not in a fun, wild roller coaster kind of way. It is has a hand brake and they tell you not to hit each other while going down the hills. I wouldn't doubt that it's structurally sound, but by looking at it, you wouldn't think so! Also, if you decide to go, make sure your riding partner is someone you are close with because the person in the front basically sits in the other person's crotch. On the bright side, the views are beautiful!

That was back in January 2012, so things might have changed. I've been there since, but refuse to get on that thing!!!

So sorry this happened to you, but thanks for sharing your story!

I felt unsafe in Nassau during the day, so I can't imagine being there at night especially after being already shaken up after missing the ship. Glad you are alright and you ended up making it back to the Allure and your family safely.

Thanks for this great review! I was so excited to see that your trip took you to the ABC islands. I am going there in January on the Explorer and am having trouble finding photo reviews with those islands included. Maybe once the Explorer starts going there, people will do photo reviews (:

Your son is adorable! You have a beautiful family.

Yes, you can. Here's the redemption website: https://www.managerewardsonline.com/RMSapp/Ctl/entry?pid=grprwd&mc=RCCL

The login is the same as your Bank of America online login.

We have a couple friends that we allow to use our card and they give us the cash to immediately send in a payment. They have helped us earn over 50,000 points in just the past 6 months. Should be at 125,000 in about 9 months and will cash in for a free 7 night cruise for two.

We have yet to pay a cent in interest.

That's awesome. I wish I had friends like that!

Yes, mine went through. I actually had forgotten that I signed up for it and was very curious why I had received $25 OBC. I never got any confirmation of it going through before the cruise.

I had the classic beverage packed on my recent Reflection cruise. I really enjoyed it and am glad I didn't spend the extra money on upgrading it. At the Martini Bar, I had no troubles getting drinks I wanted. I ordered beers, margaritas, wines, and water bottles throughout my cruise there without any problems. I didn't try to order any of the small versions of the martinis, so I can't comment on that. Hope you enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the great review!

We are going to St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St. Martin, and St. Thomas on the Summit that leaves November 1! Enjoy yours! We can't wait!!

Sounds like a great cruise! We actually considered this route for our January cruise, but we have some people joining us that don't fly. We'll just have to save it for another year (:

Love your posts! Hubby & I visited many of the same places ya'll did on our honeymoon and we stayed 3 days afterwards in Rome. Seeing the stray kitty and the Santorini cable cars brought back so many wonderful memories. We are currently planning a Caribbean cruise for January and hoping to go on the same ship as our honeymoon. Good luck in nursing school! It's tough, but it is absolutely worth it. Just remember for any of the rotations or subjects you don't care for - you don't ever have to work in that area, you just have to get through the class/clinical :)

Thank you! They are incredible destinations. Are you thinking of going Eastern or Western for your January Reflection cruise?

Thanks! There are a lot of subjects I have zero interest in, and can't wait to be done the classes and clinicals for them!

Loved reading your review and seeing the photos! My husband and I did a 12 night Mediterranean cruise on the Silhouette last fall for our honeymoon and it was so great to reminisce! We are looking forward to the Southern Caribbean on the Summit in just about 3 weeks!

 

I have to say that I most certainly agree with your comment about not walking up or down the path in Santorini! We took one of the boats around to Oia and then decided to walk down once we made our way back to Fira "to get the true experience" - bad, bad choice! Those stairs are SO SLIPPERY!! I slipped a few times and my hand landed right in a pile of you know what - UGH! Oh well, now I have a story to tell and we can laugh about it! We still had a great day!!

Thank you! Seems like we have a bit in common. My husband and I are also doing a Southern Caribbean cruise coming up (: What islands are you going to?

Yikes! Nothing could ruin Santorini (:

Beautiful review!! We sailed Reflection in 2012 and loved her!! Headed back in 2016 for this itinerary with a week in Rome before for our 30th Anniversary!!

 

Good luck with your nursing studies!! (My daughter is in her last semester of Nursing School - I know how busy she is!! I'm amazed you have time to post at all!!) Looking forward to your next installment.:D

Thank you! Reflection is a beautiful ship. I see that you did the TA, was that your first one? I'd love to do one.

Congratulations! If you have any questions, let me know.

It really is a tough program, but it'll pay off!

I love your review! Your writing and pictures are fantastic. I have even been reading / showing it to my husband this morning!

We have a similar itinerary next summer, so it is really wonderful information, thank you!

Congratulations to you both too. :)

Thank you! I do the same with my husband!! Let me know if you have any questions (:

Loving these Santorini pictures. We had such a great time there. Oia was the best. Didn't do the donkeys however. We're a little older than you newly weds. Your pictures are wonderful.

Thanks so much! It is such a gorgeous island. Glad you enjoyed it too (:

On our way out, our friends' buses were also leaving. This car had to pull his mirror in not to get hit!!

Here's some scenery which was pretty typical of Mykonos. I didn't think it was nearly as beautiful as Santorini, but the water was pretty at least.

More Mykonos

Here is the place that we rented our scooter from. The first place we tried to get a scooter at wanted a motorcycle license which Matt does not have. We walked to the next place, and they signed us right up with just a regular license. Woop woop!

Today we docked in Mykonos, Greece. Our plans were to find the local bus stop and make our way to Paradise Beach. Again, I left our directions on how to get to the bus stop safe in the safe. We walked around for a good hour trying to find a bus stop. What we got was a great workout and a tour of some neighborhoods!

We decided to rent a scooter instead after giving up on the bus. We did find the bus eventually, but after waiting for awhile, and not knowing when it would come, we just left. The scooter turned out to be a blast!!!

We went to Paradise Beach as planned because I wanted to experience a "party beach." Well, in the afternoon, it was "Hungover Beach." We only stayed for a bit, and then decided to explore the island. We had a scooter, so why not!

We cruised around to some other beaches, checked out the island, and then made our way to Santo Mera for lunch.

The food was great, but the advertised WIFI didn't work. I liked just checking in whenever there were WIFI spots at restaurants and posting a few pictures for family to see.

Our friends took the ship's shore excursion to Elia Beach, so we thought we'd stop by and check it out. Walking directly onto the beach, we found our buddies! They spent over 100 euros for their day at the beach by the time they bought the excursion, rented loungers, got food, and got drinks. Crazy! We spent around 40 euros for our amazing day.

Black sand beach

Our little ATV

After our amazing day, it was time to make our way back to the Reflection. We took the cable cars down.

Yikes

The zig-zag path is the donkey trail.

We went back up to Oia and found a place to eat t there. We ate at Strogili. It was fabulous. We ended up only spending 36 euros on a great lunch at a beautiful restaurant.

Mousaka

Best Greek salad I’ve ever had!

View from lunch

Good morning, Santorini!

I had a little too much fun the night before, and we ended up sleeping in until 10 instead of the planned 7am. I woke up to Matt singing the Christmas song “Dominic the Donkey” doing jumping jacks and push-ups with the sleeves cut off of his t-shirt. Oh my. He then informed me that he had 3 cups of coffee and a 5-hour energy.

The timing worked out fine because we didn’t have to get a tender ticket, and there were no lines for anything once we got to Santorini.

We took the donkeys up as planned. It was 5 euro each. The men who ran the donkey rides were very unfriendly.

It was frightening, but it was definitely an experience! I thought that we would actually ride the donkeys up with a halter, but they were all tied to one another and led by a guide. Being a horseback rider, I am used to being in control! I didn’t like just being led along. The girl in front of my husband also was screaming when other donkeys were coming down and rubbed against her leg. She was quickly shushed by the guide, but possibly spooking the donkeys like that was not a good idea on her part while we were on the side of a cliff!!! My donkey also missed two steps on the way up which led to near falls. I wouldn’t do it again, but I’m glad we did it!

Also, I definitely don’t recommend walking up or down the donkey trail steps. People were being pushed into the walls by the donkeys, and even worse, pushed near the edge! There were also urine and feces from the donkeys, of course.

I had very detailed instructions on how to get to a 4-wheeler rental place with a map, but managed to leave that in our stateroom. We wondered around until we found a travel place, and they called for an ATV for us. It was 25 euros for the entire day which we thought was great! We only spent 8 euros on gas.

We traveled the entire island. We went down to the Bay of Ammoundi. Beautiful! We were going to eat lunch here, but it was very expensive. Lunch would have been between 140-200 euros based off their menus on display!

The show for this evening was Momentum. We really enjoyed it!

Dinner was great again as usual. I had prosciutto and melon. We served this as an appetizer at our wedding, so I was excited to see it on the menu (:

Rhodes, Greece

Our plan was today was to walk around on our own, explore the island, and do some shopping. We slept in, enjoyed breakfast, and then made our way out. We just started walking with no set destination. If you are looking to make a beach day out of Rhodes, there are little beaches to the left and right of the ship within walking distance. From my notes, I wrote that the beaches to the left seemed nicer, but that’s all I remember.

The water here was the most beautiful water that I have ever seen. There were so many different shades of blue and my camera definitely did not capture them all.

I went a little linen crazy here and bought so many items for our home. We had a great relaxing day shopping and were heading back to the ship before I could spend any more money.

Rhodes was full of gypsies. There were children playing the accordion, people sitting under bridges, ect. This made me really nervous. I was on guard and even more aware of keeping my purse in my grasp in front of my body.

On our way back to the ship, we were walking through one of the archways that led us out of town. We were surrounded by many other tourists when a large African woman came up to us saying, “Hey, sexy couple.” I just ignored her, grabbed Matt’s hand tighter, and secured my purse even tighter as well. Then she grabbed my arm! I don’t remember what I said, but I think it was something along the lines of “Don’t touch me” or “Get off of me.” She then proceeded to ask me, “What? You don’t like black people?”

This irritated me even more. I should have told her that I don’t like ANY people grabbing me while I am in a foreign country, or anywhere for that matter!!! She let go, and then we were on our way back to the ship QUICKLY.

Beautiful review of your honeymoon... Glad that such a young couple enjoys X and cruising...

 

Just remember 10 yrs from now why u got together and got married..not the wedding or honeymoon but the reason for your love...

 

CC

Thank you! This was our first X cruise and after reading many reviews here on CC, we decided it would be a good fit. Plus, we couldn't turn the itinerary down!

Thank you for the great advice (:

I did lots of shopping, and we almost spent 300 euros on a jacket for Matt. They do use high pressure sale tactics, and the jacket was beautiful, but we just couldn’t spend that much on a jacket. I bought some pashminas as gifts, and a few evil eye key chains. They’re everywhere here. I also got my magnet. I collect magnets while on vacation. Cheap, and I get to see them every day on my fridge and be reminded of all the incredible places I’ve been too.

We definitely did not step into any jewelry stores here, but I did snap this quick picture!

Between our tour and shopping, we were exhausted. For 2 euros, we rode this magic carpet ride bike contraption! Best 2 euro ever spent. I laughed the entire way. Our peddler/bicyclist even took our picture for us.

Matt claims he wasn’t sleeping in this picture. Mhm…sure!!!

After our post-port nap, we went to see the show. The show for this evening was a comedian juggler. His juggling wasn’t very impressive, but we thought he was funny.

Our next stop was the House of the Virgin Mary. It was the last place she was believed to have lived. There were no pictures allowed inside.

They did have prayer candles available sitting right next to a donation box, so we did that.

And we did the wall of wishes. Definitely amazing to see!

They also had water that ran off the mountain available from fountains. We filled our empty water bottles. Drank some, and saved one for a “grandma gift” because the water is considered to be holy.

We went to the Temple of Artemis which is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. To me, it's a pretty ruined ruin and consists of just a few pillars.

We denied the carpet demonstration, and returned to port to do some shopping on our own after running back to the ship to grab some lunch. A fellow CC member on our tour said that she and her friend got ill after eating in Kusadasi last time, so we didn’t want to risk it. Also, having free/included lunch available steps away from the port on the ship is something we couldn’t turn down!

These were their ancient bathrooms. I showed my dad this picture, and he asked if these were the bathrooms we had to use!! While the bathrooms were experienced in Europe were no where up to our American standards, they weren’t this bad!!

Here’s a photo to show all the crowds coming in. We even actually came in a totally different way then all these people based on the direction they are heading.

Here is Athena which is what the Nike symbol is based off.

This is Caduceus. It is nursing symbol. I may or may not have cried when I saw this.