Rhapsody of the Seas - Greek Isles cruise - August 23-30, 2015 with lots of pics!

[Baby_Bear]

Elena then took us to an amazing look out point, perfect for photographs; and we finally spent a couple of hours walking around Chania Old Town which was enchanting. We did some great shopping (chili olive oil and kataifi), stopped for coffee and a local dessert and toured the old lighthouse. Such a great way to see the island and truthfully, we saw so much with Elena, much more than we could have seen on our own. Again, our complaint was that we had to be back on board by about 2:30 pm and we would have really liked to have had more time as there was much more to see. Some pics of Chania Old Town and the waterfront:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Baby_Bear]

Day 7 – sea day. We spent the time packing and just enjoying our last day on the beautiful Rhapsody. I did get the internet package on Day 6 and got a good deal as it was only $20 for two days. We hadn't bothered before as we have international voice and unlimited data coverage in the ports. The internet on the ship was pretty miserable and kept going off and on. I really think RC shouldn't offer it if its going to be so subs-standard. I know I could have gotten a refund but it was only $20 and I couldn't be bothered to go stand in line at Guest Services so I let it go. I did mention it in my post-cruise survey though.

 

Day 8 – debarkation! We had an early flight back to the US, so had to make an early start. We were really sorry to leave the Rhapsody as we had become really fond of her. Anyways, debarkation was a snap. The ship was supposed to dock at Civi at 5 am. She docked early, around 4:30. I had expected RC to make an announcement once she was cleared by customs but they surprisingly didn't make any announcements. We were out on our balcony and by around 6:10 am, we saw the first pax getting off the ship. We left our cabin at 6:15 am. We were of course carrying off our own bags, in view of the early start. It took us about 10 minutes to get down and get through the terminal. There were no additional checks at the terminal. Roma Shuttle were pulling up as we got to the exit. We reached FCO airport by 7:15 am. All flights on North American airlines are checked in at T5 but depart from T3, which is bizarre. Check in was fast but with additional security checks and being bussed from T5 to T3 took up quite a bit of time. United doesn't have their own lounge so we used the Alitalia Giotto lounge at T3 once the bus dropped us off. It was OK, somewhere to sit. Our flight was scheduled for 9:55 am departure and we made it to the lounge which was literally next to our gate with almost an hour to spare. As long as you have good arrangements in place, its easy to make an early flight here! And so, home after a great vacay.

[Baby_Bear]

I'll now address a few questions I think people may have:

 

Ship: As I mentioned, we loved the Rhapsody. While she's not the newest kid on the block, she is looking pretty good after her refurbishment. I had been worried pre-cruise as some previous posters had complained that the ship was looking tired and someone else posted about sewer smells, but we never encountered any of these problems on the ship. The ship is spotlessly clean and based on the pics, you can see she's in great condition. We did encounter one blocked toilet on Deck 6 on the last day, but they were already fixing it. For anyone planning a cruise on her, I'd say book with an easy mind and go enjoy yourself!

 

Cabin: I had previously noted that we had sailed in equivalent suites on HAL and Carnival but we found RCL's GS to be the best cabin we have had so far. Really loved the high quality of the furniture and fixtures and layout, plus that bathroom! Our cabin was located forward, near the three forward elevators. It was pretty convenient for accessing the Windjammer Café and to access the MDR, we got into the habit of walking to mid-ship and taking the elevators down to Deck 5. We had been slightly concerned as our suite was below the Windjammer but except for late at night when we head some light noise from chairs being dragged overhead (which only lasted a few minutes), we never heard any noise and the cabin was super quiet during the day. Also, we mostly have sailed in port side cabins, and while this was on the starboard side, we ended up docking on the side facing the port pretty much everywhere so we had nice sailaway views everywhere.

 

Crew: Awesome! Every single crew member we encountered was helpful and friendly. The crew was working so hard as it was a pretty full ship and were constantly cleaning. Please don't ever take off the auto tips for these people, they deserve them! Our stateroom attendant was great. The captain Rob Hempstead was also nice although his daily attempts at humor pretty much always fell flat. We had very good weather (not a drop of rain), clear skies and calm seas throughout the trip. Only on the morning we were sailing into Santorini, we did experience some rougher seas but thanks to Bonine, we were just fine.

 

Food: Very subjective I know, but we were pleasantly surprised by the food. On our previous 4-dayer on the Vision, the food was hit-or-miss so we didn't have high expectations going in. I had told my mom pre-cruise that if we didn't like the food, we would book the specialty restaurants but to our surprise, we found the MDR food to be pretty good! I would say the food ranged from good to very good, and everything was well prepared and served at the appropriate temperatures. We definitely found a big improvement in the quality of the food on the Rhapsody as compared to the Vision last year. Also to our surprise, the food in the Windjammer was also pretty good. Good range of food and pretty tasty for the most part.

 

In general, the food service on the Rhapsody was slow. Dinner generally took around 1 ½ hours to get through in the MDR, which is quite long. Also, breakfast and lunch service were slow. They kept the MDR open on several of the port days which was a nice touch, but the service was slow. After a particularly slow service on the day of the Bodrum stop which made us slightly late for our tour, we started eating breakfast every day in the Windjammer, which was much quicker and the food was equally good. We had lunch in the MDR twice – I enjoyed the tutti salad but the other days, we were perfectly happy to eat at the Windjammer. Dinner was always at the MDR though.

 

We had My Time Dining and did experience a couple of hiccups. I had previously made MTD reservations online for 7:30 pm each night, table for 2 requested. The first night, we arrived promptly at 7:30 pm and experienced a 45 minute delay! I can understand if did not have a reservation, but I think its unacceptable to be kept waiting so long when you do have a reservation. We told Analia our Concierge about the experience and I don't know if she said anything, but the waits were minimal on all subsequent days. We also got into the habit of showing up about 10 minutes early, and found that way, we were usually seated by 7:30 pm. We witnessed a lot of people complaining about the delays and the lines out the door at the MDR were crazy each night – both in the reservations and non-reservations lines! I really think this is an area that needs to be worked on.

[Baby_Bear]

Entertainment: While not outstanding, it was surprisingly better than we expected. There were two production shows – Piano Man and Ballroom Fever – your typical cruise ship song and dance routines, but we found the quality of the singing and dancing a step above our Carnival cruise last year. They also had a string ensemble called String Fever from London one night which we enjoyed listening to, and one night they had a guest entertainer Marco Romano who has been in musicals on the West End in London. He sang a number of English and Italian songs. He has a very good voice and we probably enjoyed his performance the most. They had a rock-n-roll band DJ Grooveline who performed nightly and they were terrible. Having listened to some pretty good bands on Carnival, they were most disappointing. They also had a Caribbean band who mostly played poolside (incongruous in the Med) and a strings duo who were decent. We don't participate in any of the trivia contests so no idea how they were.

 

Other: We don't really ever use the casino so no idea how they paid out but it usually seemed pretty empty when we walked through it, even on sea days. The fitness center was nice and well equipped with great sea views but again, not very busy. Didn't visit the spa as I prefer the ones at home but I saw a lot of people with various offers in their hands so they seemed to be doing OK. The pool areas were always super crowded and we did see that chairs being left empty for over 30 minutes were turned over to other users which was good. Overall, we were able to use our sea days to just relax, hang out on our balcony and read, which was great.

 

The ship overall was pretty full – not 100% capacity but close (about 2,200 pax). The concierge told us there were 800 Italians, 800 Brits, only 160 Americans and the rest were other nationalities. People were overall quite nice, and no pushing, although Italians are LOUD when they are in groups (more of an issue in the Windjammer when tables are closer together) and there was a lot of seat hogging going on for the shows. The ship is well designed overall to minimize bottlenecks and we never experienced any waits for the elevators. We also could always find a nice window table for 2 at the Windjammer, no problems there. Long lines always to get off and on the ship though, at all the ports, except for Kusadasi where we got off late as we didn't have a formal tour organized. I really don't know why RCL couldn't open up another line mid-ship to help minimize lines. Its no fun standing in long lines in the searing heat!

 

On Board Spending: Minimal. Thanks to our TA, our gratuities were pre-paid, also we had a $200 OBC. We are light drinkers and were quite happy with one or two drinks each night in the Concierge Lounge. Once or twice if we wanted another drink, we just ordered a la carte. Bar service was particularly slow in the MDR so we avoided ordering drinks there (heard tons of complaints). I didn't find the drinks particularly expensive, but I'm from New York, so its all relative. We sent out the laundry twice (expensive at $30 per bag of wash and fold, double that of Carnival) and ordered some photos and did some on-board shopping on the last day as well as got the Internet package and still ended up spending only $40 after our OBC was used up!

[Baby_Bear]

Overall Verdict: Loved the cruise and the ship! We had mixed feelings about RCL previously, as our Vision cruise was a bit hit-or-miss, but this one stepped it up a few notches and it wound up being one of the best cruises we have ever done. For us, it ranks right up there with our 12-day Med cruise on the then-brand new Carnival Breeze in 2012 and that’s high praise as that cruise set a high bar. We still won't be loyal to any one cruise line as we primarily cruise for the itinerary and not the ship but we'd definitely be favorably inclined to any RCL cruise where we liked the itinerary in the future. Thanks to all the posters on the boards here for all the tips and advice! And let me know if you any questions.

 

P.S. I do have the Cruise Compasses and MDR menus saved so let me know if anyone wants them.

[Baby_Bear]

And finally to finish - some random pics taken around this ship that we both came to really like!

 

The Rhapsody docked in Crete:

 

Aerial entertainment - pretty gimicky I thought

 

Shot of the lower level of the Edelweiss Dining Room:

 

The Centrum all lit up at night

 

Waiting for a show to start in Broadway Melodies:

[Baby_Bear]

Great review and pics....looking forward to seeing the rest...

 

Thanks! Read thru to the end and tell me what you think!:D

[reallyhooked]

Awesome review & pictures

[Frank1959]

Great review! We are taking the ROTS this Sunday. 9 Nighter. Cant wait.

[Ren1216]

Lovely! Enjoyed that very much, thank you.

[Camlott]

Thanks for the review and pics. We are staying in the same suite in just a few weeks. It's been hard to find many good recent pictures of Rhapsody.

[vrogers]

Thanks Baby Bear for your TR, sailing on Voyager in February my first cruise on RCI. The photos were great never seen any photos of a GS before and that bathroom did look spacious....V

[Baby_Bear]

Thanks all! Yes, the suite and bathroom were great. The whole cruise was a wonderful experience, much better than we expected.

[Blackfish123]

Many thanks for the fabulous pictures and comprehensive review of Rhapsody and the ports. We'll be sailing on her in October and this was very helpful and, indeed, reassuring to new RCI cruisers like us. Especially so in relation to the food - some reviews I've seen made me want to pack snacks from home to have on standby :p

My anticipation levels have escalated :)

 

Edit: If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see the Compasses.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Blackfish123
Question

[Baby_Bear]

Sure, will post them this weekend.

 

You can go and enjoy your cruise with no worries - like you, I was a little concerned before the cruise, but can honestly say that everything was much, much better than expected, particularly the food. The ship is beautiful and you will have a good time.

[Hexl2000]

Thanks for the nice Report and the pics.

Please Could You also Post the cruise Company and the MDR menu?

We are on the TA-Cruise to São Paulo and I can't wait

[maggieq]

This is a beautiful review. Capri is one of my favorite places. A Greek island cruise is on my bucket list. We are looking at the jewel for next year as the prices are pretty good.

 

Thank you for doing this.

[cinnamon]

We sailed on a Rhapsody in June and I wrote a Live blog. In that I had reported the sewerage smell on deck 4 near the mid-ship lifts. I'm pleased that this was not still around when you cruised.

 

Thanks for the review, we will be back on Rhapsody next May. :)

[cruisexlife]

Hello! I really enjoyed your review of your trip on Rhapsody. I am considering a cruise on her from Tampa at the end of this year, and she looks like a beautiful ship. Your review also brought back some memories of my trip to Greece and Italy this summer, so thank you for that! You had some great shots, and this review has also sparked an interest of mine to head to Turkey one day.

 

I know that these can be very time consuming, so thank you so much for writing it! :D