kw1816

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 😒

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.