Updated information regarding Rhapsody- Just back from 2/25/17 sailing---

Some of the information that I found when trying to be prepared as much as possible for this ship was outdated, so I thought I would share our experience.

First of all, I will say that the crew was among the nicest that we have encountered through all of our prior cruises- Royal once before, Celebrity, Princess, NCL, the now defunct, American Hawaii cruises, and Disney Big Red Boat----

The food in the buffet was generally good to very good. One night it wasn't great but adequate. The three specialty restaurants were good to very good. Personally, I wouldn't say excellent, as I have found Celebrity to be superior to all the other lines- but my dh and I certainly didn't leave hungry!

The buffet had plenty of tables for two. We didn't use the regular dining room at all, so I can't comment on that.

We used room service a couple of times for a light breakfast- adequate-- but first time on a cruise, where you couldn't write in anything for breakfast- I wanted a hard boiled egg- they absolutely will not let you add anything to the fixed choices for breakfast. The one time I ordered toast- it arrived ice cold.

Regarding soda: This ship DOES HAVE SODA MACHINES on board. If I had known that, I would not have carried on board diet ginger ale. `Also, I had pre ordered the soda refreshment package and was supposed to have those plastic tumblers in our cabin. Ours was not in the cabin- we bothered the hardworking crew members each time to just get us our sodas from the bar, as no one explained to us that we needed those tumblers to use the soda machines. By the 3rd day of the cruise, guest services made sure we received those tumblers.

Also, there were plenty of sugar free pancake syrups at the buffet. The coffee bar DID HAVE SUGAR FREE VANILLA SYRUP.

Beach towels: On the first day of the cruise, we checked out 4 towels. Each day very easy to just exchange the towels On the last sea day of the cruise (day before cruise was over) we just returned the towels and sea pass that was noted on sea pass.

This is the one peculiar thing we found on this cruise.: There was one tender port- (Belize) We deliberately use a ship excursion on tender days because: on every other ship we have ever cruised on, the people booked on ship excursions, get to leave the ship first. We once on a prior cruise tried to book a private excursion on a tender port, and we came close to not making the excursion on time, due to having to wait for the ship excursion people first. So I booked a R.C. excursion - Sharks, Rays and caulker island stop. While it was very good, I would have preferred a similar one that would have given more time on the island, (private excursion) but didn't want to run the risk of missing the excursion due to not getting off the ship on time. Well as it turned out, on the Rhapsody- any one could go on the tenders at any time. THERE WAS NO PREFERENTIAL ORDER for getting on to them. Had we known that , we would have been able to book the excursion we wanted. We were just told to try to get on a tender that leaves before 8:00 am to meet the RC excursion on the shore!

Any way, the couple of shows that we did go to were quite good- One was an Elvis impersonator, the other a production show, Piano Man, featuring music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Stevie Wonder- singers quite good for a cruise ship, and the dancers were good as well. Well, hope this info will help any future cruisers on the Rhapsody. Anita

Glad to hear she is in good shape with one of the best crews in the fleet. I've been on her twice and she is one of our favorites.

Thanks for the feedback. We had the same very positive view of the Rhapsody crew on our cruise last month.:)

A bit unusual to add a Freestyle machine to a Vision class ship?

A bit unusual to add a Freestyle machine to a Vision class ship?

They have them on Enchantment and Grandeur. Don't think they will bother with Legend. That just leaves Vision.

I thought the addition of the machines was a rarity and even more so on Vision class - learn something every day.

We are going on the Rhapsody in October. We are not soda drinkers, generally, nor are we big drinkers of alcohol either, although wine with dinner is always nice. If you have to pay for soda and alcohol on this ship, what is there to drink that is included? Just water, tea, and regular coffee? Are there fruit juices available at all? Sparkling water?

We are going on the Rhapsody in October. We are not soda drinkers, generally, nor are we big drinkers of alcohol either, although wine with dinner is always nice. If you have to pay for soda and alcohol on this ship, what is there to drink that is included? Just water, tea, and regular coffee? Are there fruit juices available at all? Sparkling water?

Drinks included in the basic cruise fare: tap water, regular coffee, hot tea, iced tea, lemonade, milk, and juices at breakfast.

Thank you so much for your review. It was very nice to get some recent reviews. :D

Good to see a recent review and to hear that the crew are a good bunch. Looking forward to our ever closer cruise on her in April.

Thanks for info. It has been a few years since my last RCCL cruise. We have just booked a similar itinerary for next Feb. (Tampa, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize City, Costa Maya).

I am curious about the Belize City port. We are looking at both private excursions and cruise ship excursions. We want to snorkel and go to an island or something like that. I have never done a ship's excursion and always line up private tours from home. It says we get in to Belize City at 9:00am. You think it's ok to go private? Looks like we are tendering in Grand Cayman at 7:30am and we plan to scuba dive there. I am going to contact some dive operators there as I would rather book private. I am happy to hear you had an overall positive experience and we look forward to it. Thanks!

Thanks, we are sailing Rhapsody next month, the only "small" ship I had sailed on was Majesty of the Seas my first cruise ship

I should add, we did this cruise itinerary strictly for the snorkeling- with exception to Costa Maya- where we booked with Native Choice- to see a Mayan ruin then have lunch and a swim in a lagoon. Unfortunately- the water was very choppy- it also didn't look too clean, so we just relaxed a bit drinking the included pina coladas.

I will say though that the RC Sharks, Rays and island snorkel in Belize, was actually pretty good. But if you make sure you line up to be in one of the first tenders (which we did) we could have easily booked the private tour version of this which would have been very similar, but about 30 minutes more on the island, which would have been nice. But again, the company that R.C. used really did a very nice job.

I just wish someone would have been able to answer my questions completely before the cruise. The towel one was answered correctly by Bob and others (thank you, thank you, thank you!) I am just curious why the Rhapsody doesn't follow the same tender protocol as all the other cruise lines.

Yeah, I agree. Rhapsody had probably the nicest crew I've experienced yet.

Four times on Rhapsody now and never disappointed.

And the food in the WJ was very good. We ate there 3 nights because the food in the MDR is so....BTDT.

Michael............

I should add, we did this cruise itinerary strictly for the snorkeling- with exception to Costa Maya- where we booked with Native Choice- to see a Mayan ruin then have lunch and a swim in a lagoon. Unfortunately- the water was very choppy- it also didn't look too clean, so we just relaxed a bit drinking the included pina coladas.

I will say though that the RC Sharks, Rays and island snorkel in Belize, was actually pretty good. But if you make sure you line up to be in one of the first tenders (which we did) we could have easily booked the private tour version of this which would have been very similar, but about 30 minutes more on the island, which would have been nice. But again, the company that R.C. used really did a very nice job.

I just wish someone would have been able to answer my questions completely before the cruise. The towel one was answered correctly by Bob and others (thank you, thank you, thank you!) I am just curious why the Rhapsody doesn't follow the same tender protocol as all the other cruise lines.

Thank you for your review! I am curious also about the tender protocol. We will be on Rhapsody in May out of Venice and have a couple of tendered ports. I had been under the impression that we would have tender boarding priority as we are in a Grand Suite. I think we've allowed enough time for our private excursions regardless, but I am now imagining DH having us waiting on the dock for an hour after making us get up super early to line up for the very first tender just in case! ;p