Just returned from Rhapsody 7/18-25

[blyle]

Well as promised more review. I must say that this was the easiest, coolest, friendliest embarkation I have experienced. They are billing this ship as the friendliest cruise out of Galveston and it was. Virtually no lines to speak of , cold drinks available, chairs if desired. Found our cabin, adequate size but our suitcases did not fit under bed. Lots of closet, storage, nice sofa, soft muted colors, beds together and made with queen sheets. Finally a cabin with a warm blanket in the closet that we used every night even after turning up the temp. Our steward caught on and started making our bed with it every night. Only one outlet( 2 sockets) by the vanity. One thing, the vanity light covers are plastic and give off yellow light when on at night. Better to open the curtains and use natural light. Bathroom light is much better. Plenty of storage in the bathroom and great water pressure and easy to adjust water temp in our cabin. Wish the shower was a little larger. Our friend is prone to seasickness and this was by far the smoothest sailing we have ever had. The water was so calm. No discernible movement on the ship. Everyone was talking about the smooth ride since the weather forecast before we left called for rain in every port. Walls must be well insulated because we heard nothing. Mattress a little too hard but I slept well everynight. 4 pillows on the bed so we each found the one we liked. We brought an alarm clock but we could program a wake up call on the phone and it worked every morning. I like the little do not disturb card system.
Muster hint. It is very hot outside so we waited a little before going to our station. We were the last ones there so we were on the outside row. Those behind us who arrived early were extremely warm trapped between others with no breezes. We were so cool! Don't be early to muster or you will be very warm. Put on your life jacket when you get to the deck and you will be cooler.

Drink hint: if you don't want a souvenir glass tell them and you won't have to pay for it. They don't really tell you that upfront.

Do go to your Meet and Mingle. It is a friendly, short , non threatening situation. They have snacks, and you get to keep your ID holder as a gift. It seems to be on Wed around 5 so everyone can attend. They reserve the VIking Lounge and no one else is allowed! One of the social hosts will be there and they are full of info about everything. Ours was Jennifer and she was so much fun. She was just sitting there so we included her and she was very forthcoming about things to do and places to go. We learned so much from her.

We also learned that they spend the week looking for people to participate in various activities and give those names to the CD. So if you want to be one of the chosen you need to show your stuff and be seen by the social hosts. Talk to them , kid them and be noticed. As I suspected nothing is random. Someone is watching so get noticed if you want to participate.

[blyle]

Well since the waiter is responsible for your dining experience we did not want him to suffer. We rated him highly but the food quality low. I do not think the food will change because I keep reading here that RCCL does not change its menu very often. I also believe that if that's what you always have and the only cruise line you sail you just don't know any different. RCCL gives many perks to its loyal cruisers and that is worth more than food quality. Many past cruisers told us that the reason they come back is the C&A loyalty program. The more cruises the more perks. One funny thing. They have a cooking demonstration in the centrum. It happened to be Shrimp curry and the smell was pretty overwhelming. Not a good choice!

[*CruiseFan*]

Originally Posted by blyle

Well since the waiter is responsible for your dining experience we did not want him to suffer. We rated him highly but the food quality low. I do not think the food will change because I keep reading here that RCCL does not change its menu very often. I also believe that if that's what you always have and the only cruise line you sail you just don't know any different. RCCL gives many perks to its loyal cruisers and that is worth more than food quality. Many past cruisers told us that the reason they come back is the C&A loyalty program. The more cruises the more perks. One funny thing. They have a cooking demonstration in the centrum. It happened to be Shrimp curry and the smell was pretty overwhelming. Not a good choice!

Fabulous, thanks for that blyle I have sailed RCCL before and am a member of the C&A program so hopefully that will help

[cruisedude4]

Great review! What were the entertainment shows for each night? Did you bring home any Cruise Compasses?

[blyle]

I have all the daily sheets but have promised them to someone who is going in August. I will have them here until Friday if you have a question.
Entertainment: I felt it was geared to the 40 - 50+ age group. We actually enjoyed all of the musical entertainment.
The first night there was a preview of the weeks entertainment and then a great comedian
Formal Night there was a production number with broadway show tunes.
We skipped Olaf the illusionist since we have seen many in Las Vegas and wanted to do other things.
The female singer/comedian was also hiliarious.
2nd formal night was Mardi Gras du monde another production show. Well staged
The treat for us was Mark Preston the ex-lettermen. His has a wonderful voice sang everything from classics to Country western music. We actually bought his CD. He is a polished, classy performer. He worked the audience well and his charm and wit were high class. Very sparse attendance at his performance since it was Cozumel and many were sleeping off their visit to Carlos and Charlies. He still thanked us for coming and gave us a wonderful show. He was the best entertained I have seen in a long while. Don't miss him. Apparently he is known by most RCCL cruisers but it was our first time to see him.
We passed on the Juggler again due to our visits to Vegas.
The passenger talent show had excellent entertainers mostly musical.

I will say that the 2 solo headliners were better than most we have seen on cruise ships and the production shows were average with lots of lip syncs. We enjoyed what we went to see. After seeing so many production shows over the years they really have to be unique to really stand out. I think they do a great job with what they have to work with.

As far as the other entertainment. We thought the musical bands were all wonderful. We attended all the late night shows in Shall we dance and on deck parties and loved the music. They could play anything! We passed on the Viking crown due to the smoke but did they did have a YMCA take off by the dancers and singers. I thought that the Schooner bar soloist was okay. Beware do not walk by or leave while he is performing or believe me you will be sorry.

Pool activities were the same as all other cruises. Horse racing, various contests etc. We have seen them all before.

Slot tournaments, black jack tournaments in the casino.

We attended the quest and had lots of fun but I think it was a bit dangerous.
Lots of people running to the stage at once and trampling anyone and anything in their way.

Newlywed show same as other cruises, trivia contest was fun.

Top ten cruise questions asked by passengers have not changed since we started 8 cruises ago. Good thing there were so many first time cruisers on board.

Bingo for $35 and $50 were too high for me and our friends.

We had champagne at the art auctions but did not buy. There were some great deals though. Just get online and go to Park West and look at the artwork and know your prices . Johnie Cochran will take care of you. and remember "If you can't trust Johnie Cochran , who can you trust?"

As I stated before drinks inside were much better than those from the outside bar.


We passed on napkin and towel folding.

Casino: I felt the slots were loose the first 2 nights , tighter 3,4,5, and loose again the last night. Just an observation and amount of machines I saw pay off. Not many gambling and tables and machines were readily available.

Not a bit of problem with chair saving. The kids were in Adventure Ocean and we hardly knew there were 700 onboard. I did see towels on chairs that were there all day but there were plenty of chairs for us.

[Travelitis]

Hey! You beat me to it posting about this sailing! lol!

ExaltHim - I was on the sailing with Blyle, btw. You must not miss Derek Lewis in the Schooner Bar. He does kamakazi karaoke, sings, tells jokes, etc. It's a blast! He makes CD's of most of the people who sing, so if you have the guts, you can buy your perfomance for a mere $10 donation to the "gee we're having a good time fund". It's a party in there with him complete with shakers and bongo drums, and many people hang around watching at the ends, but not all have the guts to try to walk through. You'll have to see for yourself why that is. A real highlight was when he cornered Tatiana, the female lead singer for the shows, and had her sing "Respect". We requested her performance on our CD. ... Aretha who?

We've never hung out in a bar or lounge throughout a cruise, but we made it to 4 of his 5 nights and would head right back if we were sailing on that ship. Tell Derek the sailor and his wife say, "Hi!" (he had a devil of a time remembering our names! lol!).

We stopped by karaoke in the Shall We Dance Lounge, and it was stale in comparison. We listened to a couple of people and ducked out. Family karoake was offered in there another night, but we were having too many laughs in the Schooner to care.

I'll review the cruise later, but I have to get ready to pick up my dd in Houston.

[dtm09]

Originally Posted by blyle

I thought that the Schooner bar soloist was okay. Beware do not walk by or leave while he is performing or believe me you will be sorry.

My wife can vouch for that statement, as she came in there one evening after waking up from a nap, and didn't immediately start singing along. Needless to say, Derek gave her a lot of grief. He even remembered her name the next night, and again made her a part of the show.

[Travelitis]

Folks, if you aren't familiar with Derek's show, you can see what happens before you walk through. If you're there long enough, he'll issue a humorous but non-threatening invitation to join the group. There's an easy out that you can take if you don't like the looks of it. Fortunately, many laugh along with the Schooner Bar crowd and participate. Guess I will say more than I planned so no one is scared off by the former comments. The Schooner is set up with the traffic flow right between Derek and most of the audience, so he makes rules for "crossing the stage". You might find crossing by conga line only while Derek plays appropriate music and the crowd plays shakers and cheers. He'll invite people to sing, and we were surprised how many people stopped and sang kamakazi karaoke on their way through just because he asked them. There were some good singers out there, too! Some kept walking, which is what I would've probably done, although I would've been laughing. Can't imagine anyone wanting to hear me sing. Anyway, it's all done in fun and not terribly harrassing or intended to be harrassing. Not everyone gets asked to participate, and there are rules. The crowd is not allowed to yell for kids or anyone with special needs (cane, walker, etc.) to sing, dance, or conga. If the crowd is up dancing or being silly, he'd "part the seas" for those folks who got the free passage across his stage. There was a core group that hung out there for every show, and we joined the group the 2nd night he performed. We had a blast! He can size people up and tell, for the most part, who can handle some razzing and who can't. He could tell I was one not to call up on my own, and I noticed that he picked men more than women. He did, eventually, call me up, but it was in the safety of a group. Some folks he called up went back voluntarily for more, usually the ones who'd stopped walking through because he asked if they'd sing. This isn't for everyone, but we had a variety of people there having a great time!

[FlorenceItaly]

Well, it sounds like the Schooner Bar is the place to be .

I am glad to hear they have Family Kareoke, as I am NOT a fan of children in the adult lounges. That happened alot on Carnival, ALOT of kids singing the kareoke in the adult bars, and of course their parents thought it was cute..NOT....I am excited about the Schooner Bar.

Marie

[blyle]

Travelitis, glad to see you made it home. How about that weather? The water was so calm! So glad you could fill in about Derek . That is what makes this board so great.

[cruisedude4]

What did both of you do in the ports?

[cruisedude4]

is there a movie theater on board? If not, what were the movies playing in your room? 6 MORE DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE!!!

[blyle]

We have been to these ports many times and even vacationed there so we did our own thing. Key west, hit margaritaville, hog's breath, ate at the Half shell raw bar, sunset celebration. Grand Cayman took a taxi to the Marriott on 7 mile beach and used their beach, pool and snorkeled. Very Relaxing day!
Cozumel took a taxi to Chankanaab to snorkel and enjoy the beach under a palapa went back to ship ,ate, changed and headed for Carlos and Charlies! Yes there were movies on the TV!

[gbcruise]

So were the men on formal nights dressed in the tuxes & if so since it's more of a Texas cruise were they the western cut type tuxes? I *think* I've talked my hubby into renting one if they have the western style on the cruise, just wondering. Also were either of you barraged with photographers or could you quietly decline & they would leave you alone???

[blyle]

We saw everything in the dining room because most of the first time cruisers did not know about formal nights. Our table wore suits. My husband never wore his sport coat on Smart casual. I called the purser to ask what to wear and they said it was casual so he wore a collared shirt. I only saw a few pair of jeans in our area at the late seating. There are 2 formal nights but you could not tell there was a smart casual night! Lots of sport coats and suits and a few tuxedos. Ladies had on everything. I personally did not see many country western outfits.

Stations were set up on formal nights for pictures with various backgrounds. In the dining room we passed on some shots when we were eating. It was not a problem once we asked them to move on.

[cruisedude4]

I knew that there were movies in the room, but what WERE the movies? Do they tell you the movies on the cruise compass?

Thanks for all your info!!

[*CruiseFan*]

I'm curious as well cruisedude4 *crosses fingers it's something good even though I won't be in my room much*

And you're so lucky! I still have another 2 1/2 weeks of summer school to get through before my cruise!

[blyle]

Day 3 ALong Came Polly - Broadway melodies theatre
Day 5 Chasing Liberty "
Day 6 Mona Lisa Smile "

I believe they were also on the TV. but the daily planner says broadway melodies

[*CruiseFan*]

I've seen all of those before so I'll review quickly

Along Came Polly is hilarious in my opinion, Chasing Liberty is okay but gets kind of boring and is very slow in parts, and Mona Lisa Smile is a DEFINITE chick flick but I absolutely LOVED it.

[NiniB]

Hey CRUISEDUDE we are on the SAME cruise,, what ya gonna do???? did ya sign up for the M&M..... We just booked this cruise this weekend, last minute idea,,, We'll see you there ..... Thanks for the reveiws Blye......