Rhapsody of the Seas - July 29 - Aug 5 Mediterranean Cruise Trip Report

[PCWalton1]

Thank you so much for the review and pictures. In 2012 we cruised out of Venice on Splendour and really loved it.

[gateford]

You will love it ... it's been my favorite trip I've taken so far. Any questions you have or think of, feel free to ask away.

 

 

 

Thank you and will do [emoji4]

Did you book the water taxi with the holiday company or independently?

 

 

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[Mgugs46]

Thank you and will do [emoji4]

Did you book the water taxi with the holiday company or independently?

 

 

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I booked it independently through https://www.motoscafivenezia.it/eng/informazioni.php

 

Make sure you book round trip so you save the 5%

[Hoopster95]

Day 3 - Kotor, Montenegro

If you ever have the chance to sail in to Kotor, please, do yourself a favor and wake up early enough to watch the scenery as you sail in to port. Just amazing.

 

Yep... Kotor one of most surprising and memorable ports ever. Venice + Kotor + Santorini = MAGIC!! Great itinerary... I'm reliving memories. Awesome photos (can't wait for your Kotor and Santorini photos) and report so far!!! Thank you so much

[Trixie21]

We have rhapsody booked for next June out of Venice in a junior suite - Kotor is not on our itinerary but the rest of your ports are. We are also spending a few days in Venice pre cruise so I am glued to your trip report.

Your photos are amazing by the way.

 

 

 

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[Mgugs46]

Day 3 - Kotor, Montenegro

As I had mentioned earlier, this was a port that RC changed to after they canceled Ephesus, Turkey. Not knowing too much about Montenegro, other than some basic history, we had decided to book a tour through Tours By Milo, based on reviews both here and TripAdvisor. We scheduled our tour, a 6 hour tour, to begin at 7:00am or as soon as we could get off the boat. This port was a tender, and the first boats were scheduled to leave at 7:30am they announced the night before. As I had mentioned above - you need to be up and watching the sail in - the scenery is just amazing.

 

 

The morning of, I was downstairs at about 6:50am. Why you might ask, since they said the first boats would leave at 7:30am? Well, as it turns out, their time schedules are complete BS, and I think they basically tell you times so as to not cause a large line up of people. We were literally the first and ONLY people on the first tender boat to Kotor.

 

 

 

 

[Mgugs46]

Kotor, Montenegro cont

Milo was waiting for us on the other side of this sign, in the parking lot with my name on a placard. As soon as we exchanged hello's, I knew today was gonna be a great day. Milo was just an awesome guide - full of history of his country, and really a very personable guy, and a pleasure to be around for the day.

 

We hopped right in to his SUV, and away we went to start our day. Here is one of the first photo stops. The day was filled with "wow, look how amazing this view is" only to be completely stunned that the next stop/view was even more incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reached the picture max, so on to the next post ....

[Mgugs46]

We then drove down to Budva, before the crowds arrived ... although again, on our ship, at 7am, there was no one even waiting to get off the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mgugs46]

One thing you will find a lot of in Montenegro, is cats ... loads of stray cats.

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to see Sveti Stefan private island/resort where folks like Madonna and the Rolling Stones stay. Apparently it is between 1,000-5,000 Euro a night to stay there.

 

 

 

Let's head higher up for some better views ....

 

[2tall]

Thank you for this review! We leave for Venice in October for a B2B on Rhapsody. The first cruise includes Dubrovnik and the second one includes Kotor--and we are booked there with Milo! I'm reading with interest...and taking notes!

[Mgugs46]

 

 

 

And then higher still, as we climbed up the mountains

 

 

 

Later on that afternoon we stopped for a lunch at the oldest continuous running restaurant in the Balkans. This place has been run by the same family since 1881. We were greeted with a nice (and very strong) shot of homemade brandy, and then treated to a smoked ham and cheese sandwich and some beers.

 

 

 

 

[Mgugs46]

Did I mention the view were incredible here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cell phone pics do not really do it justice, but the views were amazing. The road up was amazing. Very windy, and tons of switchbacks. I cannot imagine driving the road myself haha. How tour buses navigate that road is beyond me. They must have some skills.

[Mgugs46]

 

We also took a boat out to see the church in the island. An actual man made island that the locals had built long ago. The church is tiny, but its worth the couple of Euros to see it and especially to see the embroidery a woman had done using her own hair and gold/silver ... it took her 25 years to make it!

 

 

 

Crappy cell phone pic of said 25 year embroidery:

 

[Mgugs46]

Here is a good picture of the wall, which is longer than the one in Dubrovnik. This was right near the North Gate of the Old Town of Kotor.

 

 

More cats in Kotor ...

 

 

Unfortunately I did not take many (or any) cell phone pictures of the old Montenegro capital, or Perast, or Centije, but we visited them all ... I really cannot recommend Milo enough.

 

[Mgugs46]

Night 3

After a long day of touring, it was back to the ship. Very sad to sail away from Montenegro, as it was just far more amazing than I could have imagined.

 

 

On a side note, the water in the Adriatic/Ionian Seas was the bluest water I have ever seen

 

 

Chops Grille was our dinner for the night. Again, I thought the food was very good. We both had the filet mignon - and they were both flavorful and cooked to the perfect (for us) medium rare temperature. Once again I failed to take a pic of dinner but managed a dessert pic. Sides are served family style here and while most were just ok, I would say that the gruyere and potato croquets were delicious. I forget what appetizer my wife had, but I had a pork belly appetizer that was pretty good. The steaks were the best part of the meal though IMO.

 

 

 

After dinner it was back to the room to hang on the balcony, where we were greeted with another towel animal.

 

 

[Mgugs46]

 

 

Off to Santorini, Greece we go!

 

Oh, forgot to mention this. That lunch was only 3.50 Euro per person including the alcohol. Amazing. A special deal Milo has set up with the owners.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Mgugs46

[California Traveler]

We did a B2B Med and Greece cruise in 2015 with NCL, loved the cruise, specially Venice. Your pictures bring back wonderful memories Too bad you couldn't go to Ephesus Turkey to see the ancient historical sights. It was amazing.

 

CT

[Shone216]

Great reading your review... we were on the same cruise and did a tour with Milo, although not Milo himself but it was a great experience. Can't wait to read your review of Santorini.... we loved the whole cruise and booked again for next year visiting Montenegro again along with Athens, Corfu and Acropolis

[Mgugs46]

Great reading your review... we were on the same cruise and did a tour with Milo, although not Milo himself but it was a great experience. Can't wait to read your review of Santorini.... we loved the whole cruise and booked again for next year visiting Montenegro again along with Athens, Corfu and Acropolis

 

Awesome. We loved the cruise too and booked another for next year as well, although it's a Baltic Cruise that visits Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg Russia, Estonia and Latvia as well.

[crystalspin]

Thanks for travelogue and esp. for pics of the Rhapsody as they are hard to find! Not too many threads on RhOTS. We're doing a TA/Canary Islands in <480 days. I loved Dubrovnik too (we did take our taxi driver up on the mini-tour).

[reallyhooked]

Awesome pictures. I would like to do an itinerary that includes Venice.

We' ve been to Santorini & Ephesus , but would gladly go again. Looking forward to more of your review

[cinnamon]

Enjoying very much. We sailed on Rhapsody last summer and will be on Brilliance in 3 weeks. Whetting my appetite. [emoji3]

 

 

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[CruiserTK]

An excellent review! I cannot wait for the next instalments.

[Mgugs46]

Santorini, Greece

The day we were scheduled to tender in Santorini, I was wide awake before 5:00am. I wanted no part of all of these horror stories I had heard of it taking multiple hours just to get up the cable cars - plus, as usual I wanted to see the port as we sailed in.

 

 

 

 

We were down in the tender area by about 6:50am. This day there were actually a fairly large group of people waiting to get on to the tender boat. Luckily we were still on the first tender boat out to Santorini. The cable car is just off to your left once you get off the tender boat, and the line to get your tickets for the car was short as it was just our tender boat - no other cruise ship had made it to the tendering area as of yet at this point; although sadly there was more than a few scheduled to visit Santorini that day.

 

We were on the second cable car up, and the ride up was pretty quick - maybe 5 minutes. We did not have a tour scheduled for today, but rather decided that we were going to go in to Fira, grab a taxi, and take it to Oia. Then the plan was to explore Oia, and make the walk back to Fira on the trail, which was about 9km.

 

Two things I soon realized I did not plan well for ... One, I quickly realized I had zero clue where the taxi/bus station was once we got off the cable car. I figured once we got off, it would be fairly clear. It is not, at all. Eventually thanks to some nice locals, we made our way away from the cable cars, and made a right down a main street where it was probably a ten minute walk or so to where the bus station and taxi stand was.

 

The other thing I had not realized, took me a little bit before it set in. First, here are a few photos of Oia when we first arrived. Our taxi had us there nice and early, and there was literally no one around except for us and one other couple who had just got engaged and were touring with a private tour.

 

 

 

[Mgugs46]

Some more early morning Oia pictures