Rhapsody review-Oct 16th sailing--Hurricane Wilma

[okiediver]

 

We took our first cruise last week on the Rhapsody. I decided to book an aft balcony room since we were sharing a cabin with our two teens that are 15 and 17. Good choice! The kids were out until all hours of the night after meeting some kids from Texas and slept till noon so that gave us the evenings to get cleaned up and enjoy some quiet time. When the kids woke up, they took their showers then. Worked out GREAT.

 

I booked this cruise because of the trip to Grand Cayman so we could do the stingray excursion. Because of Wilma, we got stuck with Tampa. My husband and I were extremely disapointed. The kids did not care. There is just something about pulling into a port and seeing scrap metal plants, steel mills, and yucky water. I was really upset for a day or so, them decided to pull myself together and get over it. Many people were very upset--we saw several people getting off the ship with their luggage in Tampa. Well, we heard it cost $300 per person to get off and leave and I cant believe anyone would pay that! We did get to Cozumel where we did the Xcaret thing but you really need a full day there to see everything! Mexico is sooo beautiful! I am glad we opted to leave the dive gear at home because that would have been even worse!

 

The ship is stunning! I have never seen acommodations so gorgeous! I dont have anything to compare it to, but all I know is that I took 350 pictures during the week. The staff on this ship is superb and the customer service was unbelievable! Our stateroom attendant was ROY and he ROCKED! We absolutely loved talking to all the staff as everyone had a different accent. We would always try to guess where they were from. We found out that the crew on Rhapsody represents 58 different countries! Out waiter was Peter, from India, and he was so neat. He was so proud of his ice sculpture the night of the Gala Buffet.

 

We really enjoyed Dan Dan the Party Man, thought he was very funny. The entertainment was good too although we did not do much late night stuff (we wanted to sooo bad) but we were so tired by 10! We did notice the age of the passengers were older...did not know if this was standard or not. We are in our early 40's.

 

We chose early departure and left the ship at 7:00 am. The only hitch with that was all the people cramming into the area where we departed out of the ship and waiting for the shuttle which took FOREVER to return my husband to the Pier to get our bags.

 

All in all, we enjoyed it--gave us a new twist on vacationing. If we do it again, I would go outside of hurricane season. I dont care how much more it is! 5 days on a ship (with 2 days very rough) is too long. My kids loved it and the trip was really geared toward them...they are already wanting to go again..on Rhapsody. NONE OTHER!!!

 

Yes, we kept saying and laughing at "We didnt pay for Tampa Bay", but we just decided to get over it.

 

I got some fabulous pics of the ship, as soon as I get them uploaded to PBase I will post the link!

 

[Firefighterhoop]

Glad you had a great time (Except for the port changes). Following the hurricane from the computer, it looked as if it was going to intercept you at each port you were going to!

 

What did you do in tampa?

 

 

Looking forward to the Rhapsody Next week!

[PTarbay]

I'm glad you had a great time despite having to go to tampa.It's great you could have a positive attitude and not let it ruin your cruise.You're right.It is worth the extra $ to go outside of huerricane season.There are some other times the price isn't bad.We usually go in Jnuary or the week after Thanksgiving.No hurricanes and the prices are pretty good.Sounds like your sons had a great time.It always makes a vacation better when you know the kids are having a good time.My daughter has the same attitude as them.She doesn't care where the ship goes or even what cabin she stays in as long as she is on a ship.

[okiediver]

They gave us 2 choices for excursions in Tampa. One was an aquarium and the other was YBor. There was a tremendous amount of confusion upon leaving the ship as to which shuttle we should be on. They provided free ones to some, others not. I know one bus went to Busch gardens (which was not offered on the excursion sheet) but we heard later that it cost $50 to get in and we only had a few hours there. We chose YBor, which was really nothing for us, so we hopped the trolley and went back to the aquarium (which is small) and then we sat at a bar and drank margaritas with some other people from the ship.