RHAPSODY Review - 10/24-10/31 - Long, Pt 1

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We had our eleventh cruise on Rhapsody Of The Seas from October 24-31, 2004, sailing out of

Galveston, Texas. My review comments are based on comparisons with our other cruises, especially

since we’ve been on the Vision Of The Seas and Splendour Of The Seas, sisters to the Rhapsody.

 

ITINERARY: Like the majority of those on this cruise, we had booked it primarily to go to Grand

Cayman Island. As the hurricane had devastated the island, our itinerary was changed. We left

Galveston at 4:00 p.m. Next day was a sea day, then Key West, Florida, sea day, Costa Maya,

Mexico, Cozumel, Mexico, sea day, arrive Galveston.

 

HOTEL: We arrived in Galveston the night before, driving from Lubbock, Texas. We had booked

a room with Holiday Inn On The Beach. The personnel there were extremely friendly and helpful

and we were surprised when we were upgraded to a better room on the second to top floor. This

Holiday Inn allows you to park in their parking lot, during the cruise, for free, saving you $60.00 per

week in parking charges at the pier. They also provide a free shuttle to and from the pier. Our shuttle

driver both times was “Rodney” who is quite a character and a very nice person. He really takes good

care of you and gives you his cell phone number so you can call him when you return and he’ll hurry

down to pick you up. (Eight minutes from our call to his arriving!) All shuttle drives are done by

reservation so make sure you are on their list. They also check to ensure you have been taken and

picked up. I fully recommend Holiday Inn for a Galveston sailing.

 

EMBARKATION: Embarkation was extremely quick. We arrived at the pier about 12:30, checked

our bags with the porters, and were on the ship about fifteen minutes later. The lines were fairly long

but were handled very efficiently. (Keep in mind that while you are trying to embark, other

passengers are late in disembarking and the crowds can be fairly heavy).

 

THE SHIP: The overall service on the Rhapsody was very good. The ship seemed to me to be very

clean and painting and cleaning was an on-going thing during the cruise. The ship, however, vibrated

as did the Splendour Of The Seas. It wasn’t that annoying but I’ve been on other ships with no

vibration unless an anchor was being lowered or the weather was bad etc. The elevators were quick

and easy with no problems.

 

CABIN STEWARD: His name was John Bernard and he was very friendly, tended to all of our

requests and, overall, was very good. We tipped him appropriately. We do not drink Coke, so we

brought 4 12-packs of Pepsi in cans with us with no problems. We had called ahead to make sure

this would be okay and was told yes. We asked John for a large ice bucket to hold six cans at a time

and he complied. We had booked a guarantee for an inside cabin on the bottom deck and were happy

to have been upgraded two decks higher and a bigger cabin. It was remarkably in good shape. Our

large suitcases would not fit under the bed, however. Only one set of two outlets in the cabin, none

in the toilet, so bring an outlet strip if you think it will be needed. The cabin had a personal safe, no

card swipe needed, just a four digit number. It can be changed anytime you want to. The desk had

seven drawers for storage, as well as the closet, more than ample for the two of us. Also, there are

shelves (small) hidden behind the mirror so look there also. Two end tables by the bed also had two

drawers each. I do recommend the show holder for the back of the toilet door that others have

mentioned. No matter how much shelf space you have in any ship toilet area, very few are tall

enough for shaving cream and deodorant cans etc. There was a hair dryer provided in the cabin. A

nice touch was a two person sofa and a chair. Lots of room for that cabin size. There was a problem

with satellite service on the television and all programs were aired over and over again. However,

CNN was aired and was up to date (?). Every once in a while, a movie was being aired, only to be

interrupted halfway through and another one started. This made no sense to us at all.

 

DINING ROOM: Our waiter was “Johann” from South Africa who was extremely good at what he

does but he had no personality at all and did not smile unless someone told him a joke. He was very

efficient, however, and very fast. Dinner usually lasted an hour or a bit more. We usually check the

menu on formal nights and if they are not serving lobster or prime rib, then we opt for the buffet

dining room. (We both really hate “dressing up”!) This time, we did both formal nights. On the

second one, I noticed one tank top, many short sleeve shirts with no tie, and very few tuxes, just in

our area. Yes, the entree the first formal night was lobster tails AND prime rib. I asked for two

lobster tails and Johann brought them. A short time later, as we were on late dining and no more had

to be served, he came to our table of ten with a platter of lobster tails and I had two more. My wife

had a total of five. I guess you can call that “pigging out” because I also had prime rib. (Hint: They

usually don’t like to hand out seconds or thirds to those on early dining as they need to save enough

for late diners. At late dining, you can have whatever you want as long as they have something left.)

The Maitre’D this time was one of the better ones who came to the table nightly and talked with us.

One item I noticed was that rolls/bread were no longer put on the table for you. The asst. Waiter

would come around periodically and ask what you wanted. We eat a lot of bread before a meal so,

Royal, put the bread plates back on the tables!

 

MIDNIGHT BUFFET: We attended, or I should say, wanted to attend. This was advertised and

played up a lot so we went to the dining room 30 minutes ahead of time and got in the long line

there. At midnight, someone from the dining room came out and said they were only going to use

the other entrance. No one said anything about that previously and the line there was extremely long

also. We went back to our cabin. Hey Royal, this is called lack of communication and can be easily

fixed.

 

WINDJAMMER: This was the buffet-style restaurant which is always informal. I had a huge

problem here with most of the entrees that were offered. Most were cooked in black pepper, curry

sauce, mustard, or other very hot spices. I have a stomach problem that does not allow eating such

foods. The second night, I got very sick after eating ONE small piece of curried chicken (I even took

off the skin and scrapped off what I could.) We did speak to management about this and they said

we had a point and would “see what could be done” about offering at least a couple “plain” entrees

from now on. The service provided in the Windjammer was very good although several times I found

dirty silverware wrapped in the cloth napkin on the tables. Check that before you use it.

 

THE CASINO: As with her sister ships, the casino was very crowded with little room to get around

past people playing the slots etc. Also, and I don’t know why they do this, but they played modern

music extremely loud all the time which was giving me a headache as we also had the sounds of all

the slot machines. When shipboard announcements were made, we could hardly hear what was being

said. (It is my belief that the slot machines make all that ringing etc. for a reason, so you can hear if

you have “hit” something, and to hear whether someone near you has hit some sort of jackpot. There

is no need, in my opinion, for that very loud music that is played over the ringing of the slot

machines.)

 

THE SCHOONER BAR: This is a piano bar which “was” one of our favorite places to sit quietly

to smoke, have a drink if we opted, and listen to the piano player. There are several such bars and

clubs on the ship and on the two sister ships, the Schooner Bar was a smoking venue. This has now

been cut to TWO tables designated for smoking and usually was occupied by non-smoking

passengers which deprived us of a smoking table. (Sorta like someone parking in a handicap zone

when they don’t need it.) There was much grumbling about this and I do think that Royal Caribbean

should rethink this decision. We try not to bother non-smokers, but the fact is, we do smoke, and that

space should be provided somewhere on the ship. The starboard (right) side of all open decks was

designated as smoking areas as well as some places inside. I saw that most people complied with

this. Yes, you can also smoke in your cabin. This was one of few ships I’ve been on that actually

have outside ashtrays on deck so we can use them.

 

THE POOLS: One thing I really like about Royal Caribbean is that they have a pool inside under a

removable cover (Solarium). This provides shade for it and the two hot tubs. Also young children

are in the outside pool and hot tubs so all went well.

 

(Continued)