Rhapsody (out of Venice) Questions

[Lestoil]

Yeaa! Finally someone is on the same ship ! I was getting worried 🙂

Any room is a good room if you are cruising IMO!

[EllaDuChien]

The Rhapsody out of Venice to this day remains my family's favorite cruise! Suprisingly Katakolon was our favorite port, then Ephesus (Royal doesn't stop there anymore), then Dubrovnik.  The ones I thought would be my favorite were nice, but those three ports blew me away.  I reviewed it:

 

https://soccermomtravels.com/2016/08/22/cruising-venice-the-greek-isles-and-the-eastern-mediterranean/

 

It is in like 10 parts so feel free to skip the boring parts!! 

[zooma]

@EllaDuChien --  thanks so much for your link. I can't wait to sit down with a nice cup of tea and go through that this afternoon!

[zooma]

@Lestoil - we are going in May. And the best news is that one of the corner afts just opened up, so I snagged it, along with the JS next door! Would be cool if the balcony dividers opened up, but I don't think they do way aft.

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, zooma said:

@Lestoil - we are going in May. And the best news is that one of the corner afts just opened up, so I snagged it, along with the JS next door! Would be cool if the balcony dividers opened up, but I don't think they do way aft.

 

No balcony dividers open on Rhapsody.

[orla56]

Hi all,We are sailing on  Rhapsody Croatia and Greece 29/08/20.

I have booked cabin 3526 but thought I would like to change to the other end below the restaurant and near the atrium.

I looked at 3106 or 3108 just past the  aft elevator.Do you think these rooms will have a lot of noise above late at night.

[Clarea]

23 minutes ago, orla56 said:

Hi all,We are sailing on  Rhapsody Croatia and Greece 29/08/20.

I have booked cabin 3526 but thought I would like to change to the other end below the restaurant and near the atrium.

I looked at 3106 or 3108 just past the  aft elevator.Do you think these rooms will have a lot of noise above late at night.

 

See your identical question in this thread: 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2676627-cabins-below-restaurant-help/

 

[orla56]

Thanks for your replies  Clarea

 Sorry I posted on here and thought as I was in the middle of another conversation  my question might not get noticed so posted again.

[Bibblejw]

Piping in on this one, as we were on the Rhapsody for this route back in May. 

 

For the rooms, we never had any issues with noise, despite being right below the casino, and down the way from the Centrum. The noise dampening was really quite impressive for us. 

 

As far as the destinations are concerned:

- Dubrovnik was a relatively short stop, but we did the "Game of Thrones" tour, and were very impressed. Fitted a lot into a short time, and a bit to wander through the old town and do some shopping. Didn't see everything, but certainly got value for it.

- Kotor was quite surprising for us. We were on one of the ship-tours and found a lot out about a place that we otherwise probably wouldn't have heard much about.

- Santorini was the more disappointing one from our side, between a somewhat lackluster tour, and the fact that all of the destinations were absolutely heaving, it was the least enjoyable of the stops.

- Katakolon was our favourite by a country mile, and we would advise the ruins and winery tour if you can manage it.

 

Can't comment much about the balcony/suite discussions, as we were in ocean view, but were quite impressed by our first cruising experience.

 

For food, we were mainly in the MDR or specialty restaurants, and would massively recommend Izumi. 

 

 

[Jax129]

On 6/26/2019 at 12:56 AM, zooma said:

 

Right -- but then someone later in that same link says this: "We were on the rhapsody last week and the smoking areas are actually on the port side decks 5 and 9." 

 

And, lol, just got off phone with RC guy who told me smoking area was on port side aft Deck 11. Who knows!

On the Mariner in May they told us the smoking side was the opposite of what was listed online. I told the guy "but I googled it".....lol so it was portside instead of Starboard. Which is what the Oasis class usually is so maybe they change it so all the ships have smoking on the same side

[CatLadyFemme]

12 hours ago, Bibblejw said:

Piping in on this one, as we were on the Rhapsody for this route back in May. 

 

For the rooms, we never had any issues with noise, despite being right below the casino, and down the way from the Centrum. The noise dampening was really quite impressive for us. 

 

As far as the destinations are concerned:

- Dubrovnik was a relatively short stop, but we did the "Game of Thrones" tour, and were very impressed. Fitted a lot into a short time, and a bit to wander through the old town and do some shopping. Didn't see everything, but certainly got value for it.

- Kotor was quite surprising for us. We were on one of the ship-tours and found a lot out about a place that we otherwise probably wouldn't have heard much about.

- Santorini was the more disappointing one from our side, between a somewhat lackluster tour, and the fact that all of the destinations were absolutely heaving, it was the least enjoyable of the stops.

- Katakolon was our favourite by a country mile, and we would advise the ruins and winery tour if you can manage it.

 

Can't comment much about the balcony/suite discussions, as we were in ocean view, but were quite impressed by our first cruising experience.

 

For food, we were mainly in the MDR or specialty restaurants, and would massively recommend Izumi. 

 

 

Would you say any of those tours were somewhat accessible? I can't do a ton of walking or many stairs, so am guessing I'll be sending MrCatLady to adventure on his own, but thought I'd ask.

[zooma]

3 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Would you say any of those tours were somewhat accessible? I can't do a ton of walking or many stairs, so am guessing I'll be sending MrCatLady to adventure on his own, but thought I'd ask.

 

No personal experience, but I do see an "Accessible Ancient Olympia and Greek Olive Farm Tour" for Katakolon on the Cruise Planner.

[Bibblejw]

On 7/6/2019 at 12:22 AM, CatLadyFemme said:

Would you say any of those tours were somewhat accessible? I can't do a ton of walking or many stairs, so am guessing I'll be sending MrCatLady to adventure on his own, but thought I'd ask.

I'd say:

- Dubrovnik - No. Lots of old steps and much walking.

- Santorini - Could be, a few steps and stairs in Oia village, but the ruins wasn't too bad.

- Montenegro - Could have easily been accessible.

- Katakolon - Walking over uneven ground at Olympia, but otherwise should have been good.

 

I do recall that there were accessible tours for most of the days, my comments are only based on the ones that we did.

[SConnolly]

On 6/25/2019 at 10:30 PM, zooma said:

Thanks so much, @hellsop. So suites get no special lounge/happy hour access? (We're not Diamond.)

 

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, SConnolly said:

So suites get no special lounge/happy hour access?

Suites (GS and up) get access to the CL - similar set up as the DL.

[SConnolly]

There is a dedicated lounge for suite guests,  not JS unfortunately. We are D+ so had access to both lunges.   We just this this trip In May 2017 and again May 2019 because we loved the Itinerary so much.   Would do it again in a heart beat.  JS is what we had both times, plenty of room and much bigger than the newer ships today,

 

Yes opt for late seating or just do My time.  It’s nice to chill after a long day sightseeing.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zooma]

36 minutes ago, SConnolly said:

There is a dedicated lounge for suite guests,  not JS unfortunately. We are D+ so had access to both lunges.   We just this this trip In May 2017 and again May 2019 because we loved the Itinerary so much.   Would do it again in a heart beat.  JS is what we had both times, plenty of room and much bigger than the newer ships today,

 

Yes opt for late seating or just do My time.  It’s nice to chill after a long day sightseeing.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow -- great to hear you've done this trip twice and would do again! If you think of any other tips, esp re excursions (whether through ship or on your own), I'd really love to hear them. We will be going in May as well. I have gone ahead and booked late seating for dining.

 

And suite/CL is no longer an option for us, as we switched from a GS-2BR to 2 JSs. Will have to save the real suite life for another day 🙂

Edited July 10, 2019 by zooma

[mar915]

We were just in an aft balcony not suite but next to the corner balcony on 7. My brother was in the junior suite aft corner on 8. Jr. Suites dont have access to the concierge lounge. The aft did have some vibration but only two nights.We went to Dubrovnik did a GOT tour, awesome and plenty of time. Kotor we did a speed boat to the blue cave, Santirni did a private tour. My mom doesnt do alot of stairs so when we went to Oia she stayed with our driver at a coffe shop, olympia did the ruins.  Small ship but cozy. It was nice for a smaller ship this time.  Great itinerary, we do my time dining and had it later on dubrovnik day.

[zooma]

10 hours ago, mar915 said:

We went to Dubrovnik did a GOT tour, awesome and plenty of time. Kotor we did a speed boat to the blue cave, Santirni did a private tour. My mom doesnt do alot of stairs so when we went to Oia she stayed with our driver at a coffe shop, olympia did the ruins.

 

Thank you for the info. Did you do the ship's excursions for these, or book your own private ones? We usually plan our own outings, but I'm thinking some of these might be worth doing through ship because of tenders/timing/ease.

[dancernl]

On 6/25/2019 at 9:38 PM, zooma said:

We've sailed only the larger/newer ships and now are hoping to venture out on Rhapsody for an itinerary out of Venice. I have read just about all I could find about this type of sailing but still have a few questions. Would appreciate any guidance! 

 

Separately (but kinda related), with such a port-intensive sailing, does later dining seem the way to go? (If so, those snacks would come in handy.) We've typically ended up with My Time Dining in the end -- and likely will be eating at a few specialty restaurants -- but since we have options right now, just want to know what to go ahead and reserve.

 

Finally ... silly question, but is there something like Sorrento's on board? Those late-night piping-hot pizza slices were nice to have on our recent Anthem trip! TIA

 

 

 

 

I sailed Rhapsody in 2017 out of Venice in late October. I can't address your suite questions, but I can tell you more about the ship. It was our first ever cruise. We went with later dining and we found that it was a good time for a port-intensive Europe itinerary. Keep in mind the ports are not too close to a lot of the destinations, especially in Italy. We had to travel up to an hour or 90 minutes to get from the port to the cities, so if we were out and about in Rome until 4 and All Aboard was 6:30 p.m., then we would have missed the early dinner. But, we were also so busy in port we got super tired so an 8:30 p.m. dinner time was also too late. So, it depends on how much of a night owl you are. We got used to it after the first couple nights and I liked the time in the room to relax, shower, change, and go have a pre-dinner drink.

 

There wasn't anything like Sorrento's on board. Late night snacks were available in the Solarium. Since we ate dinner so late we didn't look for late night food, so I may have missed something. 

 

Over all we really liked the Rhapsody for a Mediterranean cruise. You spend so much time in port that you don't need a ship with a lot of bells and whistles like the larger ships. Some of the entertainment was bad, but only in the sense that the performers are very talented but the material they had to work with was something out of a 80's or 90's lounge in Reno. The ship was always clean, the crew was outstanding and we still talk about how wonderful our room steward was. We're actually booked on a Bahamas cruise on the Anthem in 2021 and are looking forward to "leveling up" from the Rhapsody. But we'd sail her again in a heartbeat!

[mar915]

1 hour ago, zooma said:

 

Thank you for the info. Did you do the ship's excursions for these, or book your own private ones? We usually plan our own outings, but I'm thinking some of these might be worth doing through ship because of tenders/timing/ease.

We did them all on our own. They were less expensive with our group of 8 and we had no issue with tenders. One thing I never saw before is the ship changed time when we were in Greece since they are an hour earlier than Italy.

[SConnolly]

On 7/9/2019 at 8:28 PM, zooma said:

 

Wow -- great to hear you've done this trip twice and would do again! If you think of any other tips, esp re excursions (whether through ship or on your own), I'd really love to hear them. We will be going in May as well. I have gone ahead and booked late seating for dining.

 

And suite/CL is no longer an option for us, as we switched from a GS-2BR to 2 JSs. Will have to save the real suite life for another day 🙂

 

 

Hi, apologies have not been on the boards for a while.

 

Santorini:  You will be Tendering.   We have done this the last 3 years ie did it on our own, each time.   For approx. € 25 Euros per person you can take a fast ferry/boat from Fira to OIA.. .   A bus will meet you once you dock to take to you the top of OIA. about 5 mins.  Then  you have several hours to explore.   It's stunning,  Then your take a bus about 30 mins back to FIRA and cable car back down.     Only thing not included is Cable car one way .  15/20 mins.    I recommend leaving OIA 1pm, then you will have a little time in FIRA  OIA is prettier.  Allow sufficient time for cable car, lines can get long, driven by number of ships in port

 

Note : Once you leave the ship and get off tender(get up early)  you will see signs for cable car  its right their.  walk past then you will see sign for Ferry departing to OIA,  highlight recommend this for a cost effective awesome day on our own 

 

A great spot in OIA is Pelekanos for early lunch / or drink or snacks  -   breathtaking views.   you walk up a spiral staircase to access.   Highly recommend it. 

 

http://www.pelekanosrestaurant.gr''

 

 

Dubrovnik, so easy to do on your own, just take the cruise shuttle bus into town.    Highly recommend the cable car if it's working, great views, restaurant is very reasonable, then walk the walls, it's a lovely city.

 

Kotor:  Just a magical spot. Get up early for sail in,  5:30 or so.    Its magical,  again you can do this on your own or book a 3/4 hour tour.   We did 2 ship tours the past 2 years early morning, you kind of have to decide what you like , then walked through the old city.  had lunch at a lovely spot.    There are also lots of tour operators once you get to land.   You will tendered here also.

 

Olympia:

 

We have stayed in port and take it as a rest day and also gone to the Archaeological Sites, enjoyed both very much,  in the town of Olympia there is also  lovely hotel,  incredible prices great wines nice to chill and soak it all up.   In the port itself there is not much to do., touristy shops , etc.   Would recommend Olympia on your own tour, you get to see more however if yo have a-guide you get in faster.   

 

Shout with questions, will try to help.     

 

[Norwich Cruiser]

Cruised on ROTS the past three years.

Returned home yesterday from a fantastic B2B on Rhapsody if you need any up to date information.

[zooma]

On 9/29/2019 at 12:32 PM, SConnolly said:

 

Shout with questions, will try to help.     

 

 

All excellent info -- thank you so much! Can't wait for this trip!

[zooma]

On 9/29/2019 at 4:45 PM, Norwich Cruiser said:

Cruised on ROTS the past three years.

Returned home yesterday from a fantastic B2B on Rhapsody if you need any up to date information.

 

Lucky... B2B! Glad to hear you enjoyed and I may well hit you up as our trip gets closer!