RHAPSODY Review - 10/24-10/31 - Long, Pt 2

[bh2359]



ENTERTAINMENT: We went to very few of the various shows offered but there was a good variety

of things available. We attended the magic show by “Laraf” which was very good. The two

illusionists participated with the audience and we all enjoyed what they did. I’ve studied magic and

illusions and could explain all but one of their acts but was thoroughly entertained. The Cruise

Director, “Goose”, and his staff was pretty good. One event we always try to attend are the trivia

contests which are fun and entertaining. At the first one on this ship, we had a terrible language

barrier problem with the person in charge and could not really understand all that was being said or

asked. We did manage to come in second once though. I’m a product of the 1950s and my work is

with 1950's music and artists. Of all the cruises we’ve been on (12 now), only one 1950's night has

been that. This cruise was no exception. They had a 1950s/1960s night and we attended. The music

began with “We Will Rock You”, followed with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Next was announced as

“Hand Jive” but bore no resemblance to the Johnny Otis hit. A twist contest followed, then

“Peppermint Twist” and another contest. The next song was from the disco era (Didn’t know the

title) but it was at that point we walked out, followed by a long line of people departing. I looked in

about 30 minutes later and the big lounge was only a third full. Everyone else had left. We also

participated in several other games and with Bingo. Problem here was they kept changing the rules,

such as: We were told we HAD to purchase bingo tickets (packs) ahead of time at the excursion

desk. When we arrived for bingo, we started 45 minutes late because of the selling of bingo cards

there. Also, we were told to vacate the very front row (We arrived early) as it was needed for the

bingo crew. A few minutes later, others were seated there and we complained. “Oh, anyone can sit

in the front row”, we were told. And so on.

 

GUEST TALENT SHOW: This is an event on each cruise, just about, and is always lots of fun. We

had talked another couple, John and Vicky Pickering, to go with us on this cruise (They loved it and

want to go on another!). John was one of the backing singers on many Buddy Holly and the Crickets

records from 1957 and he entered the talent show. There were seven acts. Jerry & Jerry played

acoustic guitars and sang, Michelle sang “Summertime”, Michael sang “Circle Of Life”, Sabina sang

“Wind Beneath My Wings”, John Pickering dedicated the song to my wife and myself and sang

“Statue Of A Fool”, my wife’s favorite song, Priceway Unity was a kazoo group, and the Minton

Family Singers sang “Glory Land”. All participants received a small trophy. In my opinion, if places

were called, either John or the Minton Family Singers would have been the winners. By the way,

John also dedicated his song to “The infamous table 24", our dining room table which had a lot of

fun people.

 

KIDS: I’ve read on other boards here about unruly children and really had not encountered anything

previous that would have disturbed me. There was on isolated incident. One day, we got in an

elevator and a boy about ten was sitting on the floor. As we got in, we noticed that he had hit every

deck button. When the elevator stopped at the next deck, I told him to press the “close door” button.

At the next deck, I told him again. He got the message. There weren’t that many young kids on this

cruise and most I saw were very nicely behaved. We saw grown passengers who were much worse.

Very rude people pushing past the line to the dining room to get in first (Why? Each table is served

at the same time!), and so on.

 

CRUISE CRITIC MEETING: We had registered for this ahead of time and 37 had signed up from

these boards. By the way, I’m “BH2359". Only eleven people showed up for this and it turned out

to be a sales meeting type of thing. “Book your next cruise now” etc. No one attending was

introduced although we were given name tags. Most of those I did talk to said they read the boards

but seldom posted anything so I guess I was the most active. Unless more participate and it is done

differently, it was, to me, a waste of time. I did ask some pertinent questions you all might be

interested in. I asked if any “big wigs” at Royal Caribbean regularly read the Cruise Critic boards

and was told that they do that daily! I think that is good to know. I was also told that as these posts

come from those actually cruising, the posts do carry a lot of weight with those higher up in the

organization.

 

PORTS: (individually below)

 

KEY WEST: Why is Key West a port of call? I heard many passengers saying they didn’t want to

stop at a place they could drive to. I agree. However, as I stated above, we booked this cruise to go

to Grand Cayman and Key West came with it. In Key West, we found that we could negotiate fares

with the cab drivers, which we did. We also went to the Mel Fisher Museum, located a short walk

from the pier, and enjoyed seeing all that gold and silver. I had checked online previously about the

tour trolley that, for one fare of $22.00 would take you around Key West for a sightseeing tour and

you could get on and off at will, waiting for the next one to continue. The problem is that they stop

running at 4:30 p.m., according to their website, and we were to arrive at Key West at 3:00, ship’s

time, which was 4:00 Key West time. Thus, we didn’t prebook it. Once there, we talked to one of

the trolley drivers and he said that when the Rhapsody was in port, they extended the time. I

explained why we didn’t go with them, and that there were a lot of others who didn’t also, because

of the website. We were told that they would update it with a notice just for those on the Rhapsody

as the ship arrived late and stayed there fairly late (midnight). Warning, from Sundown onward, the

“parties” begin in some parts of Key West with drinking, nudity and more. You should have seen

some of the pictures our tablemates took while there. The nudity wasn’t simply topless females, it

also included some bottomless males. Doesn’t really bother me but thought that those with

youngsters might want to be aware.

 

ECLIPSE: The day at sea after Key West featured a total eclipse of the moon that evening. We were

able to watch it from our dining room window while it was partly cloudy, then later went on deck

during totality to watch it progress in a clear sky. Just a nice extra for our cruise.

 

COSTA MAYA was, at least to us, a joke. The post was built by the cruise lines and looked it.

Everything appeared artificial with the expected souvenir-type items, and prices seemed to be higher

than other Mexican ports we had been to previously. There was an area (tiny beach) for swimming

in the Caribbean that NO ONE was using, and a swimming pool with three people in it. There was

one outdoor restaurant there but we did not eat anything. Afterwards, many others expressed what

I’ve just reported and the only ones that said they enjoyed the port were those that took excursions

elsewhere.

 

COZUMEL: This was our fourth visit to Cozumel so we simply got off and walked around for a

while and got back on the ship. The Rhapsody docked south of town so if you wanted to go into

Cozumel proper, it was a three mile taxi ride (I think it was $5.00 for up to four people). Port days

are when the ship is fairly deserted and we can use the hot tubs and pools to our heart’s content. We

were docked next to Mariner Of The Seas, a huge ship. We weren’t jealous at all, I thought we had

a good thing going with the Rhapsody. (By the way, I’m a lover of the original ocean liners of that

bygone age and consider all these cruise ships as simply white hotels on a hull.)

 

DEBARKATION: This went fairly easy and we got off the ship easily. I might also mention that at

the various ports, there never was a long line on or off that we couldn’t handle. They had things well

in hand for embarkation and debarkation and all went smoothly. We always take our own bags off

the ship (quicker and not to get lost). This time, we almost had a fight in getting permission to do

so but were allowed to do it.

 

It might sound like some of the negatives here are nitpicking and they probably were. I am trying to

compare this ship and cruise against the others we’ve taken and give those going on a first cruise on

the Rhapsody what to expect. I’ve always said “Go with the flow” and make your own fun and we

do just that. We did a back-to-back cruise, the following week we were on the Carnival Elation out

of Galveston and if I had to compare only these two cruises, this was a dream! I do hope this review

has been of help to someone as I’ve depended a lot on these boards with posts from others.

 

You will find my review of the Elation under “Carnival” titled “ELATION review 10/31-11/7 - Very

Long” or search for it under my name of BH2359. (By the way, I’m asked a lot about my screen

name. I’m a music researcher of 1950's music and my favorite performer, Buddy Holly, died in a

plane crash on February 3, 1959, hence BH2359.)

Thanks.

[MomtoCCC]

Thanks for the great review. We are sailing on Rhapsody in Feb for our first cruise. We are definitely looking forward to it!

 

Kellye

 

P.S. I read your review of Elation - I'm glad I picked Rhapsody :)

[Blizzard54]

Thanks for the update on the ship.

 

We feel much the same way about the older ships that are gone.

We will be sailing on the Rhapsody in January.

We go mostly to be on the ships, the ports are secondary.

[Sophie]

Thanks for your reviews both of the Rhapsody and Elation. We considered sailing on the Elation but chose the Rhapsody because of all the great reviews we've read over the last several years. I'm sure we made the right choice now.

[karen_g]

Thank you for your wonderfully detailed review! I know it takes a lot of time and effort to post such a detailed review, but it is SO appreciated! I also will be going on the Rhapsody in January and really enjoy reading everything I can about it. It sounds like a ship that everyone enjoys!

[Artemis]

Thanks for doing the side-by-side. Like many, we are Texans who've done the Rhapsody (and NCL Sea) and are trying to decide whether to repeat the Rhapsody or give the Elation a whirl. Your well-written, comprehensive reviews are going to the top of the research heap--a great contribution to our decision-making process!

 

Next, you need to compare and constrast the Galaxy and Grand! :D