Review Rhapsody of the Seas (Eastern Mediterranean) 06/30/2018

Hi there,

Saturday I came back from my cruise with the Rhapsody of the seas and I would like to give you some impressions and thoughts of my cruise. First of all: it was an amazing cruise. I am still very happy to do this cruise. And before I start with the first day, I would like to apologize for my bad english. Anyway I hope you like this review.

Saturday 06/30:

Our arrival started terrible. We booked a flight with Eurowings and had a delay of more than two hours. Thankfully we got the flight directly from RCCL, so they had do help us. But apart from that we didn't want to miss the ship. Recently you hear only bad things about Eurowings. The company has a lot of issues with their flights and accuracy. So I had have a bad vibe about this the week before our cruise. So the flight from Dusseldorf to Venice was delayed 30 minutes as we arrived at the gate. Then we got on the bus at the time when the flight should actually start. Cleaning was not completed, so they let us wait in from of the aircraft in the sun. As we were allowed to board and then boarding was completed, we were waiting in the aircraft. Nobody didn't say nothing and after 40 minutes of additional waiting we started. The worst thing was that they didn't tell us the reason or any kind of information. We tried to call our travel agency but after that we had only the chance to hope that there would be no other delay. We landed at 3:50 p.m. in Venice and after that everything was finde. Our suitcases were the first ones at the baggage claim and then we met very friendly members of RCCL. They first said "Calm down, everything is fine. Welcome! Now your vacation will start". It was true. They brought us with a private taxi to the pier. We were probably the last passengers who boarded the ship. We entered the ship with our suitcases during the muster drill was already taking place. But we got our suitcases with us, so we had our luggage and were able to unpack immediately :p I liked this.

Out stateroom (Junior Suite 8100) was beautiful. I was so impressed and happy. I loved the large balcony with the two loungers, a table and chairs. We relaxed some minutes and then we went to the Park Café. There the crew had arranged a small buffet. It was nice because we hadn't had the chance to go to the Windjammer. So we could eat and drink something. After this we directly headed for the pool deck to see the sail away. It was amazing. Quickly got some drinks to enjoy and celebrate the beginning of our cruise. I know that Venice has a lot of problems with the number of the cruise ships and that these traffic is bad for the conversation of the city. But nevertheless it is a amazing departure when you are able to see this fantastic city passing by.

We had the late seating at MDR, so we headed for the Diamond lounge. There we met the Diamond Concierge Hajeong (JJ) from Korea. Does anybody know her? What an amazing person! The was so friendly and nice and took so much care about us and our way to feel comfortable. Great! Breathtaking! We loved her and I am really sad that I missed to take a photo with her. We drank some white wine and enjoyed the view.

Then it was time to go to dinner. This time we had a table for two and two nice servers. The dinner was nice and after that eventful day and the problems with the flight we early went to sleep.

Thank you for doing this, the next cruise I book I think will be an Eastern Meditteranean so this will be very useful.

07/01/2018 Kotor:

On the next day we had the chance to sleep long. Arrival in Kotor was late so we started our vacation with relaxing. Then breakfast, discovering the ship and a nice lunch at the Windjammer. There was a Canadian celebration day and so a big, amazing cake was presented. It tasted wonderful.

In Kotor we had to queue up for tender tickets. We got #6 and were early at the port. By the way the whole port entrance or the passing through the most southern fjord in Europe was stunning. One of my most wonderful memories of the cruise. In Kotor we walked through the streets and enjoyed the interesting atmosphere of the small city. We hadn't booked a tour. The city itself is worth to get explored. After that we payed the entrance to the fortress (8 €) and climbed up to a small church and then along the steep path to the fortress. It took aproximateley 20 minutes to the church and another 45 minutes to the fortress. The view is awesome, I really can recommend it. But the way is steep and the walk is very exhausting, especially in the head. We had 30° Celsius. If you like to do it, bring along enough water (along the way there are some people who sell it) and don't wear flip-flops.

We were really excited, what a wonderful port of call.

In the evening we enjoyed some drinks in the bar, got to know nice people from the United States and England and went to our next excellent dinner.

I have to see how I can post photos in a better quality...

Here are some more photos...

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Great review and pictures! Looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!

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We are doing the Mediterranean on the vision later on this year. Love your thoughts on your cruise & the ports. Rhapsody has a loverly friendly cruise atmosphere about her. Great ship.

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07/02/2018 Korfu:

We arrived at Korfu very early and departure was early at 3 p.m. Because of the short time we decided to book a shore excursion. We chose a tour with three interesting parts. First we went to a place called Paleokastritsa. It was a nice village with amazing bays and beaches. Actually we should visit a monastery but the street was washed away by rain and so the bus couldn't take the road. After that we continued our excursion to the Achilleion. It is a palace build by the Empress of Austria (Elisabeth of Austria - she was called Sissi). The palace is situated in the south of the city of Corfu. You can enjoy a panoramic view of Corfu city to the north and across the whole southern part of the island. Finally we ended our tour in Corfu city where we see some churches, a fortress and nice streets with a lot of shops and restaurants. Our guide was a very kind guy from the island and told us a lot of interesting things. Amazing tour.

The sail away was amazing and we enjoyed our evening again with a visit in the Diamond lounge, the friendly people there and an excellent dinner in the MDR. You will find some photos in the next post.

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Beautiful photos...thank you for sharing!

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Thank you for doing this review. This,is the cruise I hope to do next year

Glad to hear JJ is doing well in the Diamond Lounge. We had her on Navigator in December last year and saw on her again on her handover cruise in March. She has been BY FAR the BEST Diamond Concierge we've ever seen!

Thank you Camino, we are travelling on Rhapsody to Croatia, Montenegro and Greece in October, you're really making us look forward to it!

Glad to hear JJ is doing well in the Diamond Lounge. We had her on Navigator in December last year and saw on her again on her handover cruise in March. She has been BY FAR the BEST Diamond Concierge we've ever seen!

Yes she was amazing. I would really like to see her again. We will be again on the crossing and I hope she will come back.

Thank you Camino, we are travelling on Rhapsody to Croatia, Montenegro and Greece in October, you're really making us look forward to it!

You will love the cruise. I often think back to the wonderful cruise and ports...

07/03/2018 Athens:

What an amazing city. We were so impressed. Athens was one of my favorite ports but I hadn't think about how beautiful it was to see and experience this city. We booked a tour to see the Acropolis and the interesting parts of the city. Our guide was Jenny, a very pleasant woman from Greece. She told us so many interesting things and background information about the history, the building, the architecture, the greek legends, the city, the ports, the economy. It was diverting and exciting although it was a very hot day in the city. We enjoyed it and were really impressed by the ancient building and the atmosphere in this part of Greece. After the tour we had three hours free time before we took our shuttle back to the ship. I bought a t-shirt in the Hard-Rock-Café, we walked through the streets and tried greek salad, beer and yogurt with honey and nuts. Delicious. I can really recommend to see this city.

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was the Acropolis very crowded when you went?

Not really. Of course there were a lot of people but you had enough time to go around and take photos, read the explanations on the boards...

We were on Rhapsody for a B2B end of May and went to the Diamond Lounge every night and I must agree JJ is by far the best Concierge we have ever encountered she is an asset to Royal and should teach others how to interact with the guests.

Thank you Camino, we are travelling on Rhapsody to Croatia, Montenegro and Greece in October, you're really making us look forward to it!

So am I. Perhaps we'll meet :) (13-20th October)

I'm doing Croatia, Montenegro and Greece in August....just about thirty days!!!! Thank you so much for this review!!!!! I am very excited for this trip and there is not a lot of talk about the Rhapsody on these boards because it is not a newer ship. This comes at a great time, and your English is great!!!!!:D

We're on Rhapsody this November...can't wait. :-) Thanks for the review!

I am leaving July 28th on Rhapsody and have the same itinerary as you. How many formal nights were there?

I am leaving July 28th on Rhapsody and have the same itinerary as you. How many formal nights were there?

Two formal nights.