Rhapsody 11/12/06 Review

[J Mack]

Back to reality (BOOOOO!). But our cruise was fantastic! We flew to Houston from Detroit, painless, transfer to Galveston, painless, organized, nice. Embarkation, painless, quick, straight to find our room (nothing fancy, deck 2, clean, not smelly (like I was afraid of after some negative posts), our stateroom attendant was fine, nothing extra special, but he brought us clean towels and made cool animals each day for us!). We're pretty low-maintenance, so he was just fine for us!

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SHIP AND THE CREW AND THE OTHER PASSENGERS. I don't think we'll ever take a cruise out of Florida, no offense intended, because the passengers on this ship were BY FAR the nicest group of folks we've ever met. We didn't know a stranger on this ship, no matter where we were, we were chatting with someone! Most folks were from TX, OK, LA, AK, a few from TN and AL, and us, from the cold north!

 

We've only taken 3-4 day cruises before, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about two entire days at sea..... I'll tell you now - AWESOME! Plenty of activities, or you can just sit at the pool. I really wanted to try Bingo, everyone RAVED about the Bingo guy, but it always conflicted with something else we were doing....so many options, so little time!!! I think they offered a fantastic range of activities, something for everyone!

 

In Jamaica, we booked a tour with Phil Lafayette. I did a review on the Ports of Call Board if you're interested. The tour, and Phil, were fantastic.

 

In Grand Cayman, we tendered, which scared me after reading horror stories. DON'T BELIEVE THEM! It was fine. Not much different than docking, to be honest.... I'm not sure what the big deal is. The lines seemed to be the same to me, and the time it took was the same as well. We also booked an independent tour in CI, my review of that is also on the Ports of Call Board. FANTASTIC time, we took wave runners to Stingray City! GREAT TIME!

 

Unfortunately, our snorkeling excursion in Cozumel was canceled due to high winds. (we had booked through the ship). That was a bummer. Can't control the weather! But, I wish they would have told us while we were on the ship so we didn't wake up early and rush out just to be told it wasn't happening :( They offered us other excursions (land-based, of course), but we declined. (Incidentially, the money was refunded the same day on our account, I was very impressed by that!). So, what to do in Cozumel if not snorkel? CARLOS & CHARLIE'S!. Fun fun fun. Be careful, the drinks catch up with you! The waiters and shot girls are great fun, and there were lots of folks from the cruise there as well. As far as I could tell, a great time was had by all!

 

Let's see... what else? The food in the dining room was really good. I hear a lot of complaining about the food, and maybe I'm just a simple girl, but I thought it was fantastic. Where else can you try so many new things and just get something else if you don't like it?? Our waiter (Agnello) and assistant waiter (Earlene) were both fantastic. No complaints at all!!

We opted for room service or the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch, it was more convenient for us. Room service was fast (even when we called for pizza at 1:30am!).

 

The shows were ok, we're not really "show' kind of people, and I liked them more than my husband. The band at the pool was great, and we had a treat, a country band on the last day for a while, and they were great! I wish I knew their name, I was impressed.

 

Ok, the negative topics: my husband reported several mensrooms were more like outhouses (I did not notice any dirty or sewer smells in any of the public ladies' rooms). There was a bit of vibration in the dining room, but nothing that would be bothersome (at least not where we were, table 16, near the entrance, so maybe that makes a difference?). I didn't notice it the few times we were in Shall We Dance, so I can't really speak to that.

 

More good stuff!!! We did the cocktail seminar, $9.95 to learn how to make, and sample, 5 drinks. It was a lot of fun, the waiters put on a great show (they danced around, lots of audience participation, not a boring seminar at all!!). Some of the ladies around us are pretty sure that some of the waiters MUST moonlight as exotic dancers! FUN FUN FUN stuff. And the drinks were good, too.

 

I had a massage at the spa, which was wonderful. It cost almost double what I pay at home for a massage, but I'm not complaining!

 

Getting off the ship was painless, we did not elect to carry our own bags off (hey, we're STILL on vacation here!!!). After enjoying our last meal in the WJ, we said goodbye to friends and waited for them to call our color. Waited as long as we could, and I had visions of hiding out somewhere and never leaving! ;) Alas, we finally left the ship, had a painless transfer back to Houston, and then back to Detroit.

 

Now, we're busy trying to figure out when we can do it again! I'm hoping we can enjoy one more vacation on the Rhapsody before she leaves for Asia. I have to admit, I couldn't understand the way people talked about this particular cruise, but now, I do. I loved every second!!

 

Happy cruising, y'all. I'm happy to answer any questions I didn't get to in my review.

 

Cheers!

Jennifer

[tkportersat]

Glad to hear you had such a good time :) A year ago today I was on the Rhapsody and I met the nicest people!! I go again in June and I hope it will be the same great experience, so sad the ship is leaving us but glad I get one more sailing on her!!

[mikefast]

I enjoyed your review and couldn't agree more. We have been on the Rhapsody three times and it has always been fantastic. We have been on four other ships, but the Rhapsody is our favorite. We sure hate to see her leave, but hopefully the Voyager can fill her spot.

[nomoreknothead]

I was also on this cruise and will be doing my review later. I'm trying to get my work caught up before we leave for a camping trip in three days! I will say this was a great cruise and I'm so sad it is over and that it was most likely my last trip aboard the Beautiful Rhapsody!!!

 

PS We did book the VOYAGER while on borad for 01-13-2008 :D

[sbgrace]

Thanks for the review! We sail on the Rhapsody (first time on her) in May. :D

 

Who did you use for your transfers to/from Galveston?

Chris

[sbgrace]

Sorry, double post.

Chris

[azjacque]

Great review! I'm so ready to board her this Sunday.....

[cruizinmimi]

JMACK - Jennifer

 

What a great review of my favorite Vision class ship "The Rhapsody". I'm so glad you guys had a fabulous time while on board. I think it has the best crew and staff around and of course, I'm a little bias "being a native Texan" about the passengers:D

 

We have sailed the Rhapsody 7 times and yes, I'm going to miss her. But I've also sailed the Voyager and hopefully, rcl will at least leave us with a voyager class ship for a while in Galveston.

[shmthaus]

We sail on her in May 07 and really hate to see her go to Asia. Hopefully her replacement will have the same atmosphere with the crew. I know the pax will be the same, but the new crew will have BIG shoes to fill.

[lampskies]

Thanks for the review....we just booked April 1st the same sailing. We sailed DCL each of the last 5 years and have some "concerns" about sailing on a different ship...we are a little spoiled.....can you tell me more about the jet ski ride to stingray city? Prices and time of excursion....no details are available yet for our sailing....thanks in advance! DDs want to parasail also.......

[Firepuppy1]

Hi Jennifer,

Glad you had a great cruise, thanks for the review. We just booked the 10 day Hawaii on her way to Asia. I can't wait:D You said you would like to sail her again, join us for Hawaii:) She sails 9/17/07 out of Ensenada, greeat price too! :D

Hope to see you on board!:)

Dick:cool:

[J Mack]

SBGRACE - we booked through RC, so transfers were included for us, very easy and worth the peace of mind, if you ask me! The rep met us right at baggage claim, took our names, and directed us to the bus. Organized and easy!! :)

 

Firepuppy1 - if we take another cruise without our kids, they'll disown us! and they'll already be in school on 9/17 - or else we just might have joined you!!!

[Wormtown]

We''re from Massachusetts and this will be our first sailing on Rhapsody. We usually like to cruise on Celebrity, but Galveston is a new port for us so we decided to give it a try. We sail on January 14th to the Western Caribbean.

 

Your review sounded great! We can't wait to get on the ship and enjoy our week out of New England's winter.

 

Thanks again, Linda

[Bookfinder]

Thanks for the wonderful review. We sail this Sunday (11/26) and can't wait.

It was great to hear so many nice things about the Rhapsody and the crew.

We live in Arkansas but are transplants from Texas and are looking forward to a great 7 days.