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4 hours ago, SeaBP said:

RCC's updated American website is showing the Rhapsody sailing from Cyprus through summer 2023 but on changed itineraries - no more calls in Egypt or Turkey. I don't know why the company backed out of these routes. We booked July back-to-back cruises recently on the ship. RCC should have never sold us the booking if they were contemplating this change.

Looks like it's interporting between Haifa and Limassol for at least part of the season. 

No Egypt though - which was the big draw for us 😒

27 minutes ago, troutfisherman said:

Just had an email to tell us that they have cancelled our cruise departing from Limassol on 30th July 23 and that the ship is now cruising from Haifa. Not going to bother re booking anything as I’m fed up and pissed off.

I feel for you - this was the cruise we wanted to book, at least we have confirmation now. Disappointed ☹️ 

On 10/7/2022 at 7:30 AM, IgKh said:

Heard some rumors about Rhapsody perhaps going to sail out of Haifa for the entire 2023 summer season (currently it is planned to homeport there just September to November)

I could see that happening, perhaps RC are reviewing how this years sailings out of Haifa performed. 

11 hours ago, Moonbeam1961 said:

We’re booked on the 30 July sailing, but have been holding off booking flights because of the sudden lack of availability across all the sailings out of Limassol (no suites, no cabins for 3/4 and only guarantees). The July sailings have now disappeared completely, so it’s helpful to know that there are rumours about Rhapsody sailing out of Haifa. We’ll just have to wait and see!

It’s frustrating isn’t  it - I wish RC would announce something one way or another so we can book flights and plan for next year.

11 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Any recommendations for airlines for flights to UK? We need a one-way.

Where are you flying from ? We usually fly BA from Heathrow to Larnaca - where we can we use Avios points to bring the price down. 
 

Easyjet, TUI, Wizz Air, Jet2 and a few others fly direct from various airports, if you’re going to Limassol then flights into Paphos might be an option as well.

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Likely some more inventory management, though a redeployment is possible as well (given what is available). Maybe @Ourusualbeach can see some trend to foreshadow the latter.

53 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I would agree, possible redeployment or inventory management although it is across a lot of sailings

Oh - and thank you both for your responses 👍

I'm hoping for some confirmation, one way or another, soon then - we have an apartment in Cyprus and usually head out there once or twice a year, ideally we'd have already booked flights for next summer but were waiting to confirm the cruise booking (it'll add another week to our stay). 

The Egypt and Israel itinerary looks amazing 🙂

We've been looking at a cruise on the Rhapsody for next year, sailing from Limassol. I was watching the price for a while and there was plenty of availability across all categories until a few weeks ago, literally overnight every sailing now has "Sorry, there are no staterooms available for 4 guest(s).". I figured it was some inventory management while they made some changes and availability would return. 

It's been several weeks and the crusies have disappeared, reappeared, disappeared and reappeared again - but no change in the availability for 4 in a cabin. Does anyone have any inside knowledge of what's going on ? I find it hard to believe they sold out an entire season overnight ! Particulary interested in the July 30th sailing.
 

9 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

I believe she does have one.  We sail on her for Thanksgiving and it shows it on Deck 14 by AO

We sailed on her in August, although we didn't specifically check, the space next to AO had the signage covered over and didn't seem open - I wondered what it was at the time.

4 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Incinerator fires are some of the most common on cruise ships.

Indeed - Laundry lint being another. Each incident brings more knowledge and understanding, and frequently another round of rules & regulations. Which is no bad thing !

5 minutes ago, ngrund said:

11 minutes ago, Lady_E said:

In terms of gambling, what's a monkey paw? 

a monkey paw is a device that can be inserted through the machine's payout chute to trick the machine into releasing a jackpot, this was back when slots were mostly mechanical

In this case it was using a light source to fool the optical payout sensor on fully electronic slots (IGT S-Plus if I remember). So technically a Light wand I guess.

https://www.gamblingsites.org/biographies/tommy-glenn-carmichael/

Many (many!) years ago while working for Carnival we caught someone using a Monkey paw on the slots - they knew they’d been rumbled and ran up to the open decks and threw the device overboard. Not a lot we could do without the evidence but after calling the shoreside office, I understand their disembarkment was ‘uncomfortable’ and they spent some time with customs.

These were the days of Griffin investigations and they were banned from all the major cruise lines who shared information.

2 hours ago, farringtonb said:

How odd. I'm in the UK and tried on numerous different devices and definitely not available to book in March 2023

If you change your location to the US and search again do you see it ?

We're looking at the July 30th sailing to Eqypt and Israel from Limassol, it shows on the US site but not for the UK. I've seen this before for other cruises and it'll be back at some point. 😉

Some (but not all) of the Limassol sailings have gone as well, but are still showing on the US website. Suspect they’ll be back soon as I’ve seen this happen before.

3 hours ago, LXA350 said:

Depending how things will evolve in the comming months, those maks might be back quicker than we think

I believe that’s the point of the trial - to see how it affects infection rates etc.

I like they’ve empowered the staff by giving them the option. It looks like staff in busy areas are wearing them, less so outdoors and in quieter venues. Non of the Coastal Kitchen/Suite lounge are wearing them, with the exception of the concierge s.

On board WOTS, masks became optional for crew from today on a trial basis. Looking around a lot of crew still wearing them, particularly in busy areas.

Not sure if it’s just limited to WOTS or fleet wide.

11 minutes ago, Gemina said:

We knew we could trust them to tattle on each other if someone was out of line so I felt very comfortable with the arrangement.  

Oh that is so true 🤣

As always with things like this - it's not about age but how responsible you feel they are. I have twin girls, same biological age - miles apart in responsibility/maturity. 

I'd be happy for one to go off by herself for a short while, but not the other. Fortunatley they hunt in a pack 😉. We're about to go on the Wonder, this will be their 3rd cruise (my 370th something) but first time for all of us on a ship the size of the Wonder. Last cruise was on the Grandeur and we were happy for them to wander off on their own. We'll give it a day or so and see how we feel on the Wonder. They're about to turn 12.

I'm always of the opinion that parents know their kids best , and are in the best position to judge.

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

The Wonder is currently in the Med...has not started her runs out of PC yet.  Those will start mid November.   I will happily be on the ship for the TA from Barcelona as she arrives to her new home port of PC.  Just a shuttle ride home from there for me.  😉 

I know - I join her in 2 weeks time in Barcelona (COVID tests and British Airways permitting) 🙂

But she WAS out of PC earlier in the year (or was it Lauderdale?). Wondering if the US sailings had the Top tier event in the Aqua theatre and then moved to an indoor  location for the Med sailings.

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We attended the party on the Wonder in the aqua theater.

Thanks for the post - was that out of PC or the Med ?

1 hour ago, alfaeric said:

Normally, on Oasis class ships, they have the top tier party at the Aqua Theater, and for us has always had a short diving show as part of it.

Sadly for this sailing it’s in the Music Hall at 5.30pm - at least according to the app it is.

Open to Platinum and above.

52 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

I go to listen to the captain talk and answer questions. He usually has information on the latest news with what's going on within the company i.e. new ships and itineraries

Not particularly interested in free drinks (as we’ll be in the suite lounge 😜) but might swing by just for this.

Appreciate the response’s 🙂 

We’re on WOTS in a couple of weeks, having a quick look through the App I see there’s a C&A Top tier party - are they worth attending ? There wasn’t one on our last cruise and we’ve since made it to Emerald.

“Final dose” refers to the second jab of your original vaccinations, the booster details go in the next bit. I downloaded the NHS travel pass and then used an online PDF to JPG converter to allow upload into the RC app. There’s a button to allow you to upload additional images for each.

Mine for our upcoming Wonder cruise next month took about a week to validate. Not sure what their process is, but as long as you have the docs on hand when checking in you’ll be fine.

21 minutes ago, jackandmarian said:

Where are you parking in Bayonne? Is there a more reasonable facility other than the cruise port?

Pretty sure the OP will be sailing from Southampton 😉, in which case it’s ABP right next to the ship.

On 7/26/2022 at 4:30 PM, c-leg5 said:

I expected more flights to Cyprus since many Brits have holiday homes there but a quick search has only shown limited TUI and Jet2, along with their package holidays. I wondered who else flew regularly from the regional airports.Sounds like BA? - will have to check their schedule out.

Currently in Cyprus 🙂 - BA flies several times a day to Larnaca from Heathrow, MIL has an apartment out here so we fly out once or twice a year.

Thinking about adding on a cruise on the Rhapsody next year as we’ll be here anyway. Which airport does RC use for Limassol ? I’m guessing it’s about an hour from Larnaca ?

According to Google, 

easyJet, British Airways, TUI, Jet2, American Airlines, Wizz Air UK and Wizz Air all fly direct to Larnaca.