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Rhapsody Of the Seas 24-31 August 2019 Greek Island take 2


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1 minute ago, FManke said:

Great pictures so far! @Traveler just curious about your opinion about Rhapsody? We will be on here next Oct. What kind of shape is she in?

This is the second time we are on Rhapsody so we knew what to expect.

The ship is well maintained, you might see a spot here or there that show it's not the youngest ship but only if you really looking for. Although it's not the biggest ship in the fleet it's not crowded at all . There are many quite location as the Vikings lounge , let it dance and some of the bars. The solarium is nicer than many other ships and you have lots of sea view from many places. Service I think is excellent. On the other side you have less activity comparing to Oasis class and I do miss the promenade. Let me now if you have any specific question or you want me to take a picture of any part of the ship.

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Just now, Traveler said:

This is the second time we are on Rhapsody so we knew what to expect.

The ship is well maintained, you might see a spot here or there that show it's not the youngest ship but only if you really looking for. Although it's not the biggest ship in the fleet it's not crowded at all . There are many quite location as the Vikings lounge , let it dance and some of the bars. The solarium is nicer than many other ships and you have lots of sea view from many places. Service I think is excellent. On the other side you have less activity comparing to Oasis class and I do miss the promenade. Let me now if you have any specific question or you want me to take a picture of any part of the ship.

Sound great. I selected the itinerary, which just so happened to give us Rhapsody. We know what to expect since we sailed on Serenade a couple of years ago and they are so similar. We loved her so much.

I will continue to follow. Thanks, @Traveler!

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Leaving Dubrovnik , amazing view , we did not went under this bridge:

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And some sunset over the islands

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We went later to the WJ as we did not want to wait two hours for dinner. Next we went to sea the country show , we both did not grow up on this music but still enjoyed it as many of the songs were very familiar. 

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Day 3 Kotor.

We docked around 7 which mean I did not woke up to see how we enter to the bay, I also have my limits and I can always share pictures from last year ? . As we already visit Kotor last year we decided to just go to visit the old city . We took our time as we did not want to gave the lines to the tendering boats. Quick five minutes tendering and we we arrived , you can see our lovely boat (yes a boat , I decided to myself  that in  RCL only Voyeger and above will be called  ships ? )

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In the port we had Seabourne ship

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docking it was replaced very soon with MSC Opera , yes the same one that now all big ships will be not allow to the current Venice port and will be shifted few miles to another port. 

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5 minutes walk and we were in the city not before driver started to call us and wave , I thought he wanted to offer us a tour or something of that kind but he just wanted to tell us we dropped one of our cards, what a nice person. Inside the city we have done what we really like to which is just get lost between all the small charming streets

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.after a while we seat down in one of the coffee shops to drink something and for me to continue with the call I got, just to explain again that F5 dose not know how to balance T3 , sorry IT half joke. 

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Here you can see one of the Kotor  cats  enjoying power nap , there are  many cats like that , it looks that they are not being abused and feel very comfortable to sleep near so many people. 

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We decided it's to hot to go up to the fort so we done our way back to the ship , before the tender boat they had a station of iced towels it was a bless.

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We went to eat something at Park Cafe and decided to follow the cat idea and took a nap. It was official night so we changed to some better looking outfits and wend the diamond club were we had a drink or two with some sushi, there were some people with shorts , so I guess no issues .  The bartender really trying hard to prepare us nice drinks.

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We went to the captain reception which was nice , most of the people on board are from UK, second biggest population are from the US and third from Spain.

 

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Dinner was in the  MDR , we said we will give them another try , it was worse it as dinner took only 50 minutes

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. Tommorow sea day , love sea days 

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Day 4 - sea day .

The boat time was changed to fit Greek time so we lost one hour , but good they have done it before a sea day so we can adjust. What can I say , regular sea day were you have time to rest and explore the ship. Breakfast  in the MDR, for some reason was only until 9:30 am , remember we just changed the watch so we all forced to WJ , it was super crowded but we found some space outside. We went to some lecture about the next ports , it was mainly the port/shop consultant telling us which shops she and RCL are getting the best commission also some tecnic to make sure the shops knew we came from the ship so no lost revinew. I don't miss some guest lectures which actually do not try to sell you anything. Had a visit to the casino , empty as always. Played some 3 card Poker , got straight  3 time in a row ,also with the 5 cards bonus, 30 seconds after the host replaced the dealer and I left 5 hands later (or too late ? but still ip ) not before collecting some water on the way out as was recommended by @Matt in one of the posts , here is my current stockpile 

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We went for lunch in WJ , they had Shuarma which was very  good and baklava we I took second portion (telling myself I will walk 6000 more steps to pay for it , or at least dream about it

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We went to rest and watch some movie, that followed by our daily visit to the Diamond club which continues with excellent service , I guess it easy when you have only 14 people at the club and most are the same one every day , a combination of Europe route and a small boat. We went to see the battle of the sexes  , the women won ... Quick dinner at WJ , few rounds around deck 5 and we went to sleep as are next port is Santorini and we have a shore excursion that starts at outrageous  7 am time ? 

Side note , our cabin attendant is very good in many aspects and we are very happy with him , but let say towel animals is not his strong side , at least he is trying ?

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Day 5 Santorini.

As you may remember we switch the clock forward a day ago , combine it with our 7 am shore excursion and you can imagine when we had to woke up . It's appear that RC wanted to avoid the crowds as we had around 5 ships docking near the island at some of yhe hours. After a quick shower (can not start the day without it) I went to the WJ to bring back something to eat , it was not a day to seat and eat for sure. Here is the pre morning sunrise 

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We went to the meeting point to found it quite crowded , apperently many more thought it will be a good idea to book an excursion. We booked the AIO and Santorini tour which includes also a visit to a winery . We have been told that four or five groups booked the same tour. Once our number we call we started doing our way to the gangway we stuck into traffic jam of deck 2 corridors , during that time some poor person from one of the cabins tried to get out for breakfast , so what he need to face and run back inside.

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We finally board our tender which brought us to the new port 

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From there a 20 minutes drive to Oia , our guide told us allot of stories about Santorini or at least I think that what she told as I and also 90% of the buss were sleeping. We got to Oia for some free time to take the same photos that everyone takes from the same exact points , don't get me wrong it's n amazing place with stunning view.

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So we took some photos and went to one of the places to drink a coffee.

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There we found also another known fact about Santorini,  it's really expensive , 25 $ for two coffee and one cake , but you pay for the view , it was nice to seat and relax looking at sea and enjoying the light wind.

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This is a traditional Santorini dessert . Very good

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Our next stop was a winery , for some reason RC thought it will be a good idea to bring all the groups on the same time to the winery , 200 people trying to sample the wine (three kind) and eat some Greek cheese, olives and crackers. We tried only two type of wines as it was only 10 am and it was so crowded. No one explained about the wine or how to drink it , comparing to other winery yours we done at the past it was not that good , but they have amazing view. 

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Next we went to Fira for some more photo ops and more coffee for us 

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Making sure our boat not running away 

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By 1 PM we were back on the ship just on time for lunch . Weather was very good and not too warm , we enjoyed Santorini with all the limitations that such short visit during the most busy time of the year.

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1 hour ago, IslandBoundMama said:

Loving your review!  That cathedral is breathtaking!!!  I'm always fascinated by old structures and architectural detail....I could take pictures all day!  I'm also a huge GOT fan!!!  Tracking those places down would have me side tracked all day. 

Following along.....

They actually have a shore excursion that takes you to all the places in Dubrovnik were they shoot it , maybe next time I will try it

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Day 5 leftovers

We came back from Santorini around 2 pm and went to catch some food and nap. I was do glad they have done the excursion early morning so it was not too hot. We continue our day st the diamond club before going out for the top tier party , must say it was quite empty. On the ship we have 70 platinum , 51 Diamonds , 25 D+ and 0 pinnacles . Too cruiser were with 444 nights ...

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The party included a performance of the too dancers and the band which were performing all week long.

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The Captain said few words and the cruise director Bill was trying to tell done jokes , he reminds me a 70s TV host show , he was Ok during the events but his morning shows were very short and without much interactions with the activities manager. 

Our captain 

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Bill

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We continue for dinner at WJ it was lasagna night whic is always good.

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We continued to the love and marriage show which seemed as it was rushed but still funny , for some reason they have not emphasis this is adult only so there were we quite allot of kids in the theater, three of the were the grandkids of the older cupple. You can imagine how the cupple struggled to answer were was the strangest place they have done coffee (well as maybe there are some kids here 2) . I am sure lots of parents had to explain new facts to their kids ?

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7 minutes ago, Traveler said:

We continue for dinner at WJ it was lasagna night whic is always good.

That lasagna looks amazing!  I'll have to look at some old cruise compasses to find out when lasagna night is on my upcoming sailing.  

Your pictures are all stunning as well!  I think you've convinced me to add the Greek Isles to my cruise bucket list!

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Day 6 Katakolon

We arrived around 9 am to this small port which we shared today with  one of the MSC ships (even this information was not correct in the port lection were they said we are going to be the only ship). This is a docking port. The Katkkolon village is very small around 600 people and nothing really to offer beside it's being a gate to Olympia and some nice beaches. As we already visited 3 other very active ports we decide not to plan anything. It was quite and hot day and visit the ruines of Olympia were it's very hard to find shade can be a challenge. Yes I know it's historic place and who know when we  will there again but we learn the hard way that sometime to push too many places to visit can has its price. So I decided to wait one year and see the Olympic games from our air conditioning living room :-). We visit the village center and bought some presents to take with us back (olive oil , olives , baklava) and a replacement to my belt which was broken , I refuse to admit it's because my too many visit to the WJ and more about the quality although it was bought in Italy in one  of our pervious cruise.

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On our way back we saw our ship naked , apperently they conduct a drill and lower all the live boats.

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We got some light lunch (preparing for our Chef table) after that we went to tour the ship and rest in the pool. We went to get ready for the official day . I went to  hit the shower again , the shower is very good it has a wonderful powerful  stream but one small problem, the clips which should keep the shower head is not up to the task.i had a Kramer incident (when he buy a extra powerful shower head from the black market) and I lost control of it , let's just say deck 9 was not the only pool deck.  After drying the floor  we made our way for the meeting point  of the chef table.Its our third time going to the chef table and each time it's different experience although the food is more and less the same , it's all about your table companion. This time we had a group from Norway , cupple from Texas and people from New Mexico. We had very nice conversations and  exchanged emails so it was a nice group.

Wine was as good and the waiter always suggested to refill the glass 

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Food was good although last time we had a better filet .

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They replaced the truffled spaghetti with a fish fillet so we got two main course. For dessert we got the sphere again which always nice , they also brought some assortment of small desserts. I also got my cream covered cheesecake.  

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We got chocolate martini with the dessert

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The dinner took 4 full hour, post dinner we went to the 80s show which packed .

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We ended up in the quest before catching some sleep.

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Just now, JLMoran said:

I'm assuming that's a penny slot machine? I should probably just play those instead of the dollar slots. It lasts longer and doesn't hurt as much when my bankroll runs out since it started off smaller. ?

Yes penny slots  I wish it was dollars  ,bit still nice and required hand payment

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