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Unfortunately, the timing of my move doesn’t allow for a TA- but it is on my bucket list. We just got back from our Greek cruise, which was awesome. And the in-laws are definitely coming to watch the girls, so I booked our next cruise already. But, much to my chagrin and how much I enjoyed RCCL in Greece, none of the intineraries matched up with what the in-laws could do. So I had to book a western Mediterranean on MSC Seaview out of Rome. Buuuuut.....I just floated the idea of a couples’ retreat cruise with my wife’s sisters and husbands. 2020 is the target date.

Day 0: Travel and Venice I was up bright and early (actually dark and early in these parts) today, and finished the last minute packing and loading of the van for the drive up to the airport. It took a little over an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the airport, which is about the minimum time it takes to drive to Frankfurt from our place. We parked and then made the long hike from the parking garage to the check-in counter, hauling all of bags and corralling the 4 kids along the way. We were informed that the gate was the furthest away in the airport, and sure enough, it was at the extreme end of the terminal. We stopped for lunch and to let the younger girls play on a little playground in the terminal along the way. Boarding started about 10 minutes late, and it turned out that we were at a bus gate, so we had to go down the stairs and board a bus that then drove us the length of Terminal 1 and most of Terminal 2 (if you have ever been to Frankfurt, you know that this took almost 10 minutes) out to the plane. The flight was uneventful, and a perk of flying Lufthansa is beer and wine are included in the complimentary beverage selection, which both my wife and I took advantage of. We collected our bags and made contact with the hotel to arrange a shuttle to get us there. We stayed at the Best Western Titian, which was about 5 minutes away from the airport. It was a very nice hotel, friendly staff, and pretty convenient for a place to stay the night before a cruise. After we checked in, we inquired at the front desk about the best way to get downtown Venice, and if it was still flooded. From there, we caught a bus just down the street from the hotel and rode it to the end of the line where we caught a water bus and headed down to Rialto Bridge. By this time, it was dark out, but cruising the Grand Canal is always special. We wandered around the bridge, and then went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner. It was excellent as always, and we went out in search of our favorite gelato. Bellies full, we continued our journey to St Mark's Square to take in the after dark ambiance and listen to the music from the various cafes around the square. Unfortunately, being there off-season, the bell tower and basilica were already closed by the time we got into the square, but St Mark's is one of the most magical places I have been in Europe, regardless of the time of day or year. After taking the obligatory pictures of the Bridge of Sighs, we got back on the water bus (or vaporetto, if you prefer) and made our way back up the Grand Canal to the bus station and reversed our journey back to the hotel. We were in bed by 10, and at least I had a hard time sleeping with excitement for tomorrow's embarkation...

Sadly, sitting in the Venice airport now, full on in post-cruise depression. A few random thoughts as they are fresh in my head: -Rhapsody is an older ship, but we loved her. The crew made all the difference. -The Kids’ Club was amazing! Two of the days, our girls opted to stay on the ship rather than go into port. The staff genuinely cared for the girls and made it a great time for them. -Ports ranked: 1) Athens 2) Argostoli 3) Kotor 4) Corfu 5) Mykonos -Elvis, the cruise director was hilarious and so high energy. I think my favorite moment was the 70s Party when he dressed like the sailor from the Village People. -Chops was definitely worth the extra (booked on board and scored a 25% discount) -I won a raffle at the Roam the Rhapsody presentation and walked away with a soda package- boom! I’ll give a break down of the trip when I get home and download my pics.

Pulling out of Corfu now. Stealing last few bits of cell service before we leave port. Kotor was ah.maz.ing. Corfu was a really nice town to wander. Will share pics when I get home and sort them.

Quick update: Uneventful flight to Venice and transfer to hotel. Made a game-time decision, on the advice of the front desk clerk to head into Venice, which was fully open for business. Had pizza and gelato and wandered around St Mark’s Square. Off to bed with embarkation day tomorrow!

I am happy to report that Venice is not flooded and we were able to get to pizza and gelato. Tomorrow is Embarkation Day!!

I've been end to end and back again. Once was there for George St. Festival- in my estimation, heaven has a 15 CAD cover charge

Man I wish I could make that happen...one can dream

I've spent a good number of nights in St John's, and might actually remember a few of them

Best I can tell, it won't affect us staying on the mainland tomorrow night, or our transfer to the port Saturday. It is just a bummer because we had planned to go into the city proper tomorrow afternoon to track down some of the best pizza and gelato we've ever had, which we found on our spring break trip to Venice this year. I joked with my wife that instead of sailing past St Mark's Square, we could probably sail right through it.

Eh? Sorry, couldn't help myself. All kidding aside, I love Canada and have quite a situational accent when I get a few Black Horses in me.

Thanks- hope I can live up to the awesome blogs that I've been following We are really looking forward to it! Thanks for the tips, and I remember reading your recap of the cruise.

Prelude: I've enjoyed reading everyone's live blogs on here, so thought I'd add my $0.02 on our upcoming cruise on Rhapsody from Venice to the Greek Isles. As I am too cheap to spring for VOOM, this won't be live, unless I add something in port from my phone, but fully intend to give a recap when we get back. I am just getting really excited for the cruise (woke up at 4:45 this morning with cruise logistics rattling around in my head), so wanted to get the post started. Background: My family consists of myself and my wife, as well as our 4 daughters, aged 13, 7, 5, and 3. We live in Germany, but are scheduled to move back to the States this coming summer, so we are cramming the most into the next several months to see all of Europe. This cruise was semi-YOLO book it as we were looking into Thanksgiving week travel ideas and realized that the girls wouldn't miss any more school if we went in the beginning of the month vs over Thanksgiving week (we call it No School November around here). This will be our second cruise ever (and second this year), with our first being a Western Mediterranean cruise on the Disney Magic this past May. We loved it so much that I was eagerly searching for ways to get on another cruise, so here we are, trying out RCL. I will also be celebrating (a week later) my 40th birthday on this cruise. Itinerary: Friday, 2 November- Fly from Frankfurt to Venice, which hopefully hasn't washed away by tomorrow Saturday, 3 Nov: Sail away from Venice Sunday, 4 Nov: Kotor, Montenegro; scheduled activity: Private 4 hour driving tour of Kotor and surrounding area. I know nothing about Kotor, other than the pictures are amazing, and it is like doing a fjord cruise getting to the port. Monday, 5 Nov: Corfu; scheduled activity: either Hop-On/Hop-Off around town, or just hoof it around and check out the city Tuesday, 6 Nov: Athens; scheduled activity: private "Mythology Tour of Acropolis and Ancient Agora" including transfers to and from port- super excited about this stop Wednesday, 7 Nov: Mykonos; scheduled activity: none- will probably explore the port and maybe try to get out to a beach, weather dependent Thursday, 8 Nov: Argostoli; scheduled activity: RCL shore excursion to an underground lake and cave complex Friday, 9 Nov: Sea Day Saturday. 10 Nov: Disembark and fly back to Frankfurt I'm excited to check out a new cruise line and see how things compare, and to cross Greece off the bucket list.

Soooo...apparently Venice is 70% flooded right now. Getting kinda bummed about the prospect of not being able to go into the city Friday afternoon after we arrive for our Saturday sail away. Hopefully this doesn't affect the cruise port or our timing on Saturday!

Ah yes, one of the first German words I learned when I moved there...Stau. I remember it once taking 9+ hours to drive from Munich to Kaiserslautern (should have been 5ish hours). Also, I love me some Franzisakaner. Enjoy the cruise!

Second vote for option A...love all the ports, especially the Amalfi Coast. But I haven't been to Greece (yet, 7 days!). I definitely would go for the overnight in Venice, too, so hard to do in one day.

I've only done a Med cruise, but loved every minute (Barcelona-Naples-Rome-Livorno-Cannes-Barcelona)- so booked a Greek Isles cruise to hit the eastern Med, and then have another Western Med next spring....so yeah, I'd go with a Med cruise. Although a B2B T/A and Med cruise is on my bucket list.

I guess I am one of you, too. First cruise was in May, then YOLO booked a cruise in November (leaves in 10 days!), and then YOLO booked another one for next May (sans kids). I think I may have a problem....

Thanks, may have to check that out

Part of my upcoming cruise on the Rhapsody is celebrating my 40th (yikes!) birthday (actually the week before, but who's counting?). I told my wife the one thing I'd like to do is try one of the specialty restaraunts on board. If you had your druthers, Chops or Giovanni's (we're not sushi people)? (and yes, I am the king of parenthetical asides)

Thanks for the pics of Boston. I'll be there in a few weeks, and have some time to kill waiting for a co-worker to arrive on a much later flight, so may have to check out the harbor front based on how awesome those pics looked.

I'll be on the Rhapsody in a couple of weeks, and my have to hit the Pool Bar for "research." Looking forward to our Greek cruise!

Touche ?.....No, but I am moving closer to the Caribbean before too long

Rhapsody- Nov 3 out of Venice for Greek Isles

I'd go with the Baltic, myself, but that may have to do with my proximity (could drive to Amsterdam from my house). The Caribbean will always be there...