Amazing Greek Isle Med Cruise
Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 58
7 Night Greek Isles (Venice Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 02, 2017
Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 8600
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Overall we had a wonderful cruise despite the room issues. We thought that the cruise line should have let the customers know in advance of the issues with these cabins before they were booked. When you book a junior suite you are expecting more of a luxury experience.Embarkation
Compared to crowds and lines we've experienced for Caribbean cruises in the USA, the embarkation was a breeze. We were on the ship within 10-15 minutes. Arrived by water taxi around 11:40 am.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate in the main dining room and Windjammer. Both had excellent service and food very good. I thought the main dining room menu was not as appealing as other ships I have been on from Royal Caribbean.
Onboard Activities
Main pool was very crowded during day. Not very hard to find a chair on deck 10 during day. We did the hot tubs in the solarium almost every night. We had hot tub to ourselves each time. Ran on fitness track on deck 10 several days. Very annoying to run with people on deck chairs and people walking two by two. Much prefer the RC ships that have walking/run tracks on lower decks without pool chairs. Smaller ship/less activities, but we knew this and booked cruise for the ports.
Entertainment
Loved Craig Halladay, the violinist from UK. Saw him twice. Crowd loved him. Enjoyed pianist in the bars. Enjoyed every show we saw on this ship.
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Smaller ship, older design.Missed the promenade we were used to in the larger ships. Noticed bathrooms thru out the ship were not as clean as other ships in RC were kept.
Cabin / Stateroom
BEWARE AFT CABINS VIBRATE. We Loved our room upon arrival, room 6800, an aft junior suite, including bathroom with full size tub/shower. Amazing large balcony with table and 2 chairs and 2 lounge chairs. However once we were underway to our first port going 21 knots, the entire cabin started to vibrate. We spoke with our cabin attendant who suggested we call guest services. Guest services sent up an engineer who proceeded to tell us this always happens when the ship goes fast to get to port. Our neighbors in cabin next to us who were top tier with RC also complained and told us they always book an aft cabin on ships and have NEVER had this problem. Our thought was that something on the ship was out of balance and needed fixing. This happened for 3 nights. We were offered a 2nd cabin to sleep in on night 2 which we accepted, because they could not move us to a comparable cabin. On night 3 finally the vibrating stopped but we encountered another problem. The crew below was playing very loud music from 11 pm-3 am. We had to call security 2 nights in a row. In the end, Guest services gave us a letter saying we would be receiving compensation for the inconvenience we experienced. A voucher would be coming in the mail to be used towards a future cruise. Hoping they follow thru and this is true.
Ship tip
Don't book an aft cabin Junior suite as they vibrate and you will not sleep.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We stayed at Hotel Canal Grande night before cruise. Recommend. Location is convenient to cruise port/train station. Night after stayed at Antiche Figure. Also on Grand canal and location convenient. 2 nights were plenty in Venice. Very crowded with tourists.
We booked a beach excursion to Budva Rivieria which was cancelled due to wind. We were happy it was, because I had read about hiking up the city walled area to top of fortress for amazing views below. This was a highlight of our trip. It was about 2.5 hours RT. Bring water and dress appropriately. Sneakers are a must. The town was cute with little shops and alleyways. A wedding was at church day we were there. Interesting to see procession thru town.
Theotoky's winery and old town corfu. We were disappointed in this excursion. We expected more of a tasting experience. Instead we were told about the winery and then we given snack of bread, olives, olive oil, tomatos and choice of two wines. For the price, we really only received a snack and a tiny bit of wine. They they took you to there store to purchase olive oil, wine, etc.. Would have been a better experience if they had you taste several wines and explain the wines as you were tasting them. Skip this tour and spend your money elsewhere.
Did beach excursion thru RC. Others took taxi to this beach which I heard was approx $10 each way. Save money and take taxi. Beach very nice. $10-$15 euros to rent chairs. Food, showers, and bathrooms. Great clear water.
Disembarkation
Very quick compared to other cruises. We had luggage and were off in 10-15 mins.
Traveler Photos
4 Comments
JohnsonL 7 years ago
Thank you for the great detail on the ship and especially on the various excursions. The pictures were fabulous. Are the photos of Kotor Montenegro where the wedding was and also the steps leading down into what appears to be a bay? Those pictures were just absolutely fabulous and makes Kotor (?) look like a place to add to our must-see list :-)
Regarding aft vibration; on a different Cruise Line totally different ship design, we had an aft cabin that was on a lower deck because we were traveling with family that needed an accessible cabin in that part of the ship. There was a little vibration when the the ship was perhaps going at a higher speed or maneuvering to dock. More noticeable was the sound from the anchor whenever it was deployed or brought back in. In spite of what we could hear or feel, we were very happy with the cabins as they were large and accommodated the accessibility requirements very well.