It was OK, but...

Twas OK but...

Am not a first-time cruiser though this was my first time on an RC ship. 7 nights from Venice to Dubrovnik, Kotor, Santorini & Katakolon.

Positive aspects -

1. Enjoyable theatre entertainment that should appeal to most - the ships own singers/dancers were well-drilled and perfectly acceptable in their 3 appearances, a couple of gymnastic/comedy shows were pretty good and a Beatles tribute act were very good. The only show that didn't appeal was by some dizzy blonde pianist/singer who spent more time telling us all how wonderful she was than actually proving it - was so unimpressed that I cannot recall her name and cannot be bothered to look it up - she kept calling herself  "A Donny Lass" - while I assume this means she hails from South Yorkshire you can bet none of the non-UK patrons had a clue what she was on about - she was full of it unfortunately...

2. Great destinations - but only if you make your own way around - the shore excursion prices were horrendous. I accept that RC has to make a profit but, as an example,  $80 each for a Santorini Volcano/Cable Car trip that you could arrange yourself for $30 was by no means untypical - rip off... 

3. Solarium Pool - fabulous covered pool and nicely laid-out surrounds.

OK aspects -

1. Food - Windjammer Café had plenty of choice, but everything tasted quite samey and in one or two cases (e.g. undercooked gristly beef) was of poor quality. Desserts were reasonable albeit somewhat repetitive - crumble and custard for Days 1-3 was quite odd, followed on later days by bread & butter pudding and custard and the next day just bread pudding and custard. 

Negatives -

1. Haranguing! - as soon as you set foot on the ship you have to run a gauntlet of hawkers. This set the tone for much of the cruise - pay extra and you can have this that and the other, or don't pay extra and you can have just the ordinary. Sort of a Marks & Spencer situation versus Asda Basics range. No cruise is cheap so the starting point ought to be a better one than RC seem to provide - but no problem whatsoever if you bow to their hassling holding out of their hands out for more of your money - rip-off again...

2. Outrageous Queues! - I was staggered by the amount of time it took to get onboard and the constant lugging around of your own luggage. At the Airport you are shepherded on to a coach for the Port but then abandoned without direction. Get in the scrum to haul your own cases out of the underside of the coach and find your way to the badly-signed queue that you think is check-in, but in reality is only the queue to hand over your case. Then more trekking to another area where you espy a humongous queue to the actual check in. Must have stood in line for nearly an hour for a 2-minute process and was then packed off to yet another line for hand baggage examination before finally being allowed on the gangway. Airport to ship was around 2 hours, scuppering any chance of seeing Venice itself. But, guess what, if you were a "Crown and Anchor" (i.e. you've paid extra), you could skip through to another line where you wait barely a couple of minutes - rip-off yet again...

Overall then I say let the buyer beware. If you are a cruise-virgin then you may not be too disappointed because you have no comparison to make, but for me and the wife there will be no more RC cruising. They are not the least-expensive cruises, so why do we feel that we were given poor value-for-money versus other cruises we have taken...

Bottom line - be prepared to be ripped-off...