Rhapsody of the Seas July 4-15 Greece/Aegean cruise review

[HereWeGeaux]

I have gotten so much good information over the years from this site that I wanted to share our latest cruise experience in the hopes of helping someone else in their trip planning. My family of 5 (DH, 3 kids: adult college grad, college student and rising HS junior) recently returned from a wonderful trip. We flew to Rome for 2 days pre-cruise. We purchased tickets for the express train into Rome at an airport newsstand for 14 euro/ea. It was very easy to find our way to the correct platform and disembarked at the Roma Termini station. Our hotel was a few blocks walk from the station. We stayed at Hotel Sonya in their new satellite building (Rick Steves recommended) in 1 double, 1 triple room. The rooms were small, but clean and comfortable with a breakfast buffet included. We had visited Rome for one day on a previous cruise spending most of that day in Vatican City. This trip we hit most of the other Rome highlights. We purchased a 24 hour metro pass and used it from noon the first day until the following noon to travel around the city in addition to lots of walking. Our eldest son has a BA in history so he was our tour guide in addition to the Rick Steves books and a handheld GPS. We had a pleasant surprise learning that the first Sunday of the month is free admission to the ruins and museums in Rome, so the Colosseum and Roman Forum were packed with tourists, but no charge. Our weather was warm and sunny throughout the trip and we took full advantage of refilling our water bottles at the numerous public fountains throughout the city. We had pre-purchased our train tickets from Rome to Venice online before we left home. We chose to go with Italotreno in hopes that there would be less chance of a strike or delay since we were leaving Monday morning for our afternoon ship departure. The tickets were discounted because they were pre-purchased (38.90 Euro/ea) for a business class seat. The train left Rome at 10:15 and we arrived in Venice at 2:00 pm at the Santa Lucia station. We had a short walk to the people mover (1.5 euro/ea) and were at the port by 2:30. The embarkation was fast and easy, no lines and we headed straight for our room. We booked the Family suite for the first time so that the kids could enjoy the CL and were very happy with our decision. We were in stateroom 8520 with enough space and privacy for all. Our boys were in a separate room with a door, our daughter was on the sleeper sofa and my DH and I had a sliding glass door and curtain between us and the kids. We also had 2 full baths. The first time we sailed on the Rhapsody was in 2011 in Alaska and we had one inside 3 person cabin and one junior suite. I think that the kids enjoyed this arrangement more! The only negative was being right under the pool deck (Park Café) we could hear the chairs scraping and running on the deck and the music was very loud late into the night during the 2 pool deck social events. The ship is in good shape but the main plus was the crew. Capt. Malmberg always ended his announcements with “the super friendly ROS” and we totally agreed. The officers were all very personable and accessible and spent a lot of time mingling with the guests throughout the cruise. They were even lined up at disembarkation to say goodbye, the Capt. Included! The staff appeared happy and worked hard to make sure that everyone was enjoying themselves.

This was a very port intensive trip, only 3/11 sea days. Day 2 was a sea day, the first of 2 formal nights.

Day 3 Katakolon (Olympia)-we reserved an Avis rental car online the night before arriving. The office is a short walk from the dock. My DH had gotten an international drivers license but the agency didn’t even ask to see it. The car was manual, tight but fit all 5 of us. (62 euro+15 euro VAT). They gave us 5 water bottles and a map and we were off. The 30 min. drive was very straightforward. We bought our entrance tickets at the ruins (12 euro/ea) which included the museum.

Day 4 Chania- we walked around the port and ruins and enjoyed drinks in a waterside café

Day 5 Mykonos-My DH and teen son rented an ATV (35 euro) and visited Kapari beach and the lighthouse. My other kids and I walked up to the windmills and spent a lot of time looking in the shops and following the winding pathways

Day 6 Santorini-We took the fast boat from the tender stop to Oia (15 euro/ea) which included the shuttle into Oia from the dock and the bus ride to Fira. While in Oia we hiked up to Stavros church on black mountain for amazing views. In Fira we strolled around the town. The kids took the cable car down to the tender (5 euro/ea) and no line, while my DH and I walked down the path shared with donkeys. It was good exercise and beautiful views but very smelly and lots of poop to walk around and donkeys to dodge.

Day 7 Kusadasi- We had spent a full day in Ephesus on a previous cruise so my DH went on a prearranged non-RCL scuba dive while the rest of us relaxed on the ship.

Day 8 was at sea and the second formal night

Day 9 Athens-We walked from the port to the metro station (a little over a mile and not well marked) We purchased 24 hour metro tickets (4.5 euro/ea) and rode the metro right into Athens. We had toured the Acropolis on a previous cruise so this time the 3 kids enjoyed the Acropolis museum while my DH and I got back on the metro and went into the city. We hiked up to Lykavittos Hill with a tiny shrine on top and enjoyed a 360 degree view of the city. It was absolutely gorgeous. We rode the metro back to meet up with the kids and enjoyed lunch at Smile Restaurant (family owned, highly recommended, amazing food and service and close to the Acropolis museum) We rode the metro back to Pireaus with time to spare.

Day 10 at sea

Day 11 Venice-It was very cool to watch the ship navigate the waterways on the way to docking. We stood on the bow and took in the sights. We chose not to get off that afternoon to explore since we were staying in Venice 2 nights post cruise. We used that time to pack up and enjoy our last evening on the ship.

Disembarkation the next morning went very smoothly and we walked from the port right to our hotel, Hotel Santa Chiara. It was too early to check in so we left our bags at the hotel and bought 24 hour vaporetti tickets (20 euro/ea) and went on a tour of the Grand Canal. We got off at San Marco and bought combo tickets at the Correr Museum (across the square from the basilica) to skip the long ticket line at the Doges palace. (19 euro/adult, 12 euro student) After seeing more sights we headed back to the hotel to check in. We again had 2 rooms, 1 dbl, 1 triple. The hotel was beautiful, larger rooms and more modern. It also included an expansive breakfast buffet. We used our vaporetti tickets the next morning to go back to San Marco and tour the basilica. Venice was very easy to walk around and we enjoyed exploring the sites. This weekend happened to be the Redentore Festival. The hotel informed us of a special event Saturday evening : a 12 course meal on the rooftop of the Vivaldi Locanda hotel . It was right on the lagoon overlooking the massive fireworks display, a truly amazing experience. The following morning we took a shuttle arranged through the hotel to the airport for our flight back to the states. We were worried about being able to get a taxi large enough for all of us and getting to the airport on time with all of the visitors in town for the festival. All went smoothly and we had no trouble making our flight. Thank you for reading what turned out to be a long review. I’d be happy to answer any questions.

[cc-riderslc]

Thanks for the review. I will also be on the Rhapsody of the Seas in September and I am happy to hear your positive comments. Any thoughts on the food and entertainment?

[tiger-91]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'll be doing this itinerary soon. Are you going to post the Cruise Compasses?

[Clarea]

Very enjoyable report. Thanks for all the details, including the various costs of transportation, very helpful info.

[HereWeGeaux]

The only headliner show we attended was Martin Brock, a comic magician. He was pretty good- took guests out of the audience to help with his tricks. We attended several of the Schooner bar trivia sessions, too. The cruise director (Michelle) and her staff (Tino, Alex) were very upbeat and really tried to get guests to participate. Michelle led a zumba class on the pool deck (we saw them while we walked on the track above) Tino performed a Michael Jackson tribute at the C&A top tier event. The other headliner shows included a Frank Sinatra-type singer; Britain's got talent violinist & a singer from the Queen musical (We will Rock you). The RCCL singers and dancers performed the other nights: Beatles tribute, country music, ballroom fever. They also had the Love & Marriage game show, Quest game show, karaoke, live music in the centrum, movies on the big screen by the pool. There was a white night dance party and a 70s disco dance party and they encouraged guests to wear red or pink on the Love& Marriage game night. Hope that helps!

[HereWeGeaux]

I'm sorry but I didn't save the compasses. I used a highlighter to mark our activities of interest each evening and we carried it around the ship. One hint is to take a picture of the port agent information (on the back of each compass) with your phone so you have the contact numbers in case you miss the all aboard time or run into any other issues while ashore.

[IsanTom]

Thanks for the info!

[gagirl96]

Thank you so much for the info! Which deck were you on to watch the sail away and sail into Venice?

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing