Rhapsody Of The Seas dry dock

[havebagswilltravel]

Here's the new deck 8:

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/decks/RH/2012_2013/rh_deck08_v2012-13.pdf

 

This is from Royal's website. Plan a Cruise, Ships, Vision Class, Rhapsody, Deck Plans. Choose the deck and click on the "Printable version" link.

 

Thanks much Clarea - this makes it much easier to find quickly - Nan

[novicecruiser1]

Thanks. I see the aft JS is indeed 8096. I just boarded Voyager 20 minutes ago. I think I'll try to see the Loyalty Ambassador and see if he or she knows whether our cabin number will change!

 

If you do see the Loyalty Ambassador can you please post the result back here? I also need to find out if my cabin changed - I want to keep my corner aft! Thanks!

[jjb415]

Definitely taking away public spaces. They need to put in more options on the ship and generate more revenue!

 

Personally, I look forward to these changes on the Vision class ships.

 

I've sailed on the Legend. Many of the public spaces were woefully under-utilised.

 

This was the explanation on the Splendour for taking away space from the Top Hat Lounge and putting in Diamond and Concierge Lounges. We were told that the Top Hat was only used for the repeater's party and a couple of other events that really never used the full lounge. Keeping the dance floor the same size was a priority for dance lessons, etc.

[novicecruiser1]

Just off the phone with Customer Service - they told me the 'new' deck plan for deck 8 is not correct on the website. Not sure I'm 100% convinced at this point, but that's what I was told so thought I would share. I don't want to lose my corner aft!

[Petunia1950]

Just off the phone with Customer Service - they told me the 'new' deck plan for deck 8 is not correct on the website. Not sure I'm 100% convinced at this point, but that's what I was told so thought I would share. I don't want to lose my corner aft!

 

I was booked in corner starboard aft 8588 for May 25 -- that cabin is now showing 4 cabins up from aft on the starboard side. I called Crown & Anchor and she advised that the new deck plan on the website *is* correct -- so I switched to 8596 the currently numbered corner starboard aft cabin. I will check daily, of course ...

[seaofwonder]

I'm in 8534....not sure where this was before, but it's just forward of midship, so I'm OK.

 

Going to email our friends because they had aft cabins booked.

[critterchick]

So.....now, my corner aft 8088 is no longer a corner aft. Aaarrrggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

 

Just off the phone with Customer Service - they told me the 'new' deck plan for deck 8 is not correct on the website. Not sure I'm 100% convinced at this point, but that's what I was told so thought I would share. I don't want to lose my corner aft!

 

When I spoke to the D+ desk a few minutes ago, she looked at the deck plan while in our reservation. That plan still shows 8088 as the corner aft. I told her to look at the retail site, which is now showing 8096. She wasn't able to change our cabin number to the new one but said that the location won't change. She's checking with somebody else and will call me back, as the wait time to talk to that person is 10 minutes. I guess we're all calling at once, LOL.

[ggroup]

I had 8588 as well and just switched to the "new" corner aft number 8596....RC said I needed to do this to keep the same location. What a mess!

[critterchick]

I have a feeling that RCI would eventually have gotten it all sorted out, but we compulsive CCers can't wait for it.:D I did get a call back that we still have our corner aft cabin, too.

 

In looking at the new deck plans, it appears that the Schooner Bar is going to be drastically reduced in size to make room for Giovanni's Table. We've only been on Rhapsody twice, but both times it was full during the cocktail hour. I wonder where the overflow will end up....

[novicecruiser1]

Thanks Critterchick for the additional information - I sure hope they get this right soon. I'm excited to have another corner aft and certainly don't want to lose it. I'll keep checking the RC site to see how it progresses!

[papakaiser]

I was booked in corner starboard aft 8588 for May 25 -- that cabin is now showing 4 cabins up from aft on the starboard side. I called Crown & Anchor and she advised that the new deck plan on the website *is* correct -- so I switched to 8596 the currently numbered corner starboard aft cabin. I will check daily, of course ...

I was also in cabin 8588 for the May 18 cruise. After contacting my TA,, they are "trying" to get the current holder of cabin 8596 to move, so that we can have the corner aft cabin that we booked a year ago.

 

I don't believe RCI didn't know last year, when they opened up bookings for this year's cruises, that they had no idea that they were going to make this move. Construction plans needed to be made, and contracts signed for this MONTHS AGO.

 

So now, with less than 90 days till we board the ship, the corner aft cabin that caused me to camp out on RCI's web site for days last April, waiting for them to open bookings, is just another junior suite on the starboard side of the ship. :mad:

 

Way to go Royal Caribbean. Keep ticking off your repeat customers.

[Clarea]

Another thing I noticed in comparing the old deck 8 layout with the new layout was a significant change in the number of sofa beds in the JS's. In the old layout, every JS had a sofa bed, thus allowing 3 people to be booked in every JS. Now it appears that only about half of the JS's have sofa beds.

 

Of course, I'm making a huge assumption that the sofa bed annotation is correct on the new deck plan. If the annotation is correct, there may be some movement of cabins to accommodate those who booked 3 in a cabin whose sofa bed was removed.

[critterchick]

I was also in cabin 8588 for the May 18 cruise. After contacting my TA,, they are "trying" to get the current holder of cabin 8596 to move, so that we can have the corner aft cabin that we booked a year ago.

 

I don't believe RCI didn't know last year, when they opened up bookings for this year's cruises, that they had no idea that they were going to make this move. Construction plans needed to be made, and contracts signed for this MONTHS AGO.

 

So now, with less than 90 days till we board the ship, the corner aft cabin that caused me to camp out on RCI's web site for days last April, waiting for them to open bookings, is just another junior suite on the starboard side of the ship. :mad:

 

Way to go Royal Caribbean. Keep ticking off your repeat customers.

 

Unreal! I read a post a few weeks ago where somebody had their cabin number changed on Splendour, so RCI obviously knows how to make sure everybody is in the same location. What a storm they will endure if they forgot to do it this time. I hope you get your cabin back - now I don't feel so foolish for having called!

[papakaiser]

Unreal! I read a post a few weeks ago where somebody had their cabin number changed on Splendour, so RCI obviously knows how to make sure everybody is in the same location. What a storm they will endure if they forgot to do it this time. I hope you get your cabin back - now I don't feel so foolish for having called!

Here's the best part, for us. I called last Monday, and asked the direct question: "Are the deck plans on Rhapsody going to change with the upgrade, and can you note in our reservation that we want to keep the corner aft, regardless of the cabin number ?"

 

Answer: I'm sorry. I'm not sure what you are asking me to do. We have no information on the deck plans changing, so there really isn't much I can do for you."

 

This was the Diamond Plus desk for Crown and Anchor. Now, I can believe that they had no information about the deck plans, since that would be standard operating procedure for RCI. But RCI knew this situation was going to happen with Splendour, and with that experience, they knew it was going to happen again with Rhapsody. But they took NO STEPS to prevent it, either time.

 

Why not notify the affected parties, and give them 48 hours to respond with their preferences, before opening up the new cabin numbers to open booking ? Similar to what they did when bookings for the Oasis first opened to Crown and Anchor members first.

 

We have been told that the two parties that booked the new corner aft cabin numbers would not release them, and that's OK. This is all RCI's fault, not theirs. Our TA was able to at least get us an aft cabin, and $200 onboard credit. Not ideal, but I'm afraid that's the best RCI will offer.

[CassCruise]

I have just gotten home to a phone message regarding our cruise on 29th March (from Sydney office of RCCL) advising not to be alarmed if we note on the cruise personaliser that the number has changed (which it now has!) that it is the exact same cabin etc etc, just with the refurb this has resulted in the change of some cabin numbers, but they did say "I repeat you have the cabin you booked etc etc...." regardless I have placed a call asking they call me back tomorrow! We had no end of trouble "keeping hold" of our aft corner last time - not taking any chances this!

 

Jane

[seaofwonder]

I"m sorry everyone :-( I need to log in and see if they've changed mine....does anyone have a pic of the old deck plans to compare?

[havebagswilltravel]

I believe you can still find the old deck plan on another site - one where the frei cabins are shown with red and green markers -

[papakaiser]

I have just gotten home to a phone message regarding our cruise on 29th March (from Sydney office of RCCL) advising not to be alarmed if we note on the cruise personaliser that the number has changed (which it now has!) that it is the exact same cabin etc etc, just with the refurb this has resulted in the change of some cabin numbers, but they did say "I repeat you have the cabin you booked etc etc...." regardless I have placed a call asking they call me back tomorrow! We had no end of trouble "keeping hold" of our aft corner last time - not taking any chances this!

 

Jane

Glad to hear you were able to retain your cabin. I wish the Miami office of RCCL would have been as forthcoming as the Sydney office was.

[Puffinater]

Quick question....Seeing some posts about the aft balconies for Alaska. While we rather the aft we have not had one for an Alaskan trip I was wondering is it a good location for Alaska? Thanks.

[critterchick]

Here's the best part, for us. I called last Monday, and asked the direct question: "Are the deck plans on Rhapsody going to change with the upgrade, and can you note in our reservation that we want to keep the corner aft, regardless of the cabin number ?"

 

Answer: I'm sorry. I'm not sure what you are asking me to do. We have no information on the deck plans changing, so there really isn't much I can do for you."

 

This was the Diamond Plus desk for Crown and Anchor. Now, I can believe that they had no information about the deck plans, since that would be standard operating procedure for RCI. But RCI knew this situation was going to happen with Splendour, and with that experience, they knew it was going to happen again with Rhapsody. But they took NO STEPS to prevent it, either time.

 

Why not notify the affected parties, and give them 48 hours to respond with their preferences, before opening up the new cabin numbers to open booking ? Similar to what they did when bookings for the Oasis first opened to Crown and Anchor members first.

 

We have been told that the two parties that booked the new corner aft cabin numbers would not release them, and that's OK. This is all RCI's fault, not theirs. Our TA was able to at least get us an aft cabin, and $200 onboard credit. Not ideal, but I'm afraid that's the best RCI will offer.

 

That's unacceptable, IMO. The new parties should be the ones moved with $200 OBC, not you. As for the C&A rep's response, once again RCI has taken the mushroom approach to training (keep them in the dark covered with you-know-what) their agents. The agent I spoke with assured me that they would keep the cabin location, but fortunately went the extra step to make it happen.

 

I recommend that you email Adam Goldstein, agoldstein@rccl.com, tell him what has happened and ask that he (or whomever he assigns to the task) look into it. There will be up to what, 15-20 cabins' (counting deck 7 as well) worth of extremely annoyed people on EVERY SAILING post-drydock if this is the approach they're taking.

[critterchick]

Quick question....Seeing some posts about the aft balconies for Alaska. While we rather the aft we have not had one for an Alaskan trip I was wondering is it a good location for Alaska? Thanks.

 

It's fabulous. If you have a corner, you have truly panoramic views, as the corner cabins have a full wrap around the corner of the ship (unlike on Radiance class, where it tapers to an unusable point). If you're more toward the center, you have better coverage in case of inclement weather, and still have terrific views.:)

[Puffinater]

It's fabulous. If you have a corner, you have truly panoramic views, as the corner cabins have a full wrap around the corner of the ship (unlike on Radiance class, where it tapers to an unusable point). If you're more toward the center, you have better coverage in case of inclement weather, and still have terrific views.:)

 

Thanks good to know. As of now both corners are booked but we did manage to grab one next to the corner.

[papakaiser]

That's unacceptable, IMO. The new parties should be the ones moved with $200 OBC, not you. As for the C&A rep's response, once again RCI has taken the mushroom approach to training (keep them in the dark covered with you-know-what) their agents. The agent I spoke with assured me that they would keep the cabin location, but fortunately went the extra step to make it happen.

 

I recommend that you email Adam Goldstein, agoldstein@rccl.com, tell him what has happened and ask that he (or whomever he assigns to the task) look into it. There will be up to what, 15-20 cabins' (counting deck 7 as well) worth of extremely annoyed people on EVERY SAILING post-drydock if this is the approach they're taking.

I agree. It was unacceptable. The new passengers should have been forced to move to another cabin, since they could not have booked it more than a couple of days ago, at the most.

 

Both myself and my TA emailed Adam Goldstein, but I haven't heard back yet. Too soon, I suppose. If, and when, I receive a response, I will be happy to post it.

[MysteryMe]

There will be up to what, 15-20 cabins' (counting deck 7 as well) worth of extremely annoyed people on EVERY SAILING post-drydock if this is the approach they're taking.

 

I am another who lost a corner aft JS on the Rhapsody. Disappointed and frustrated don’t begin to describe how we feel about this… even though we were able to get another aft cabin.

 

I fear that there may be more than 15-20 cabins impacted by this. Since all the deck 8 junior suite cabin numbers have been bumped, there may be those who selected adjoining cabins who now are assigned cabins that are not adjoining. Additionally, since not all the junior suites have sofa beds, there may be passengers that selected a particular cabin to accommodate more than 2 people, who are now in a cabin that will only sleep 2.

 

Seems to me that they could have somehow numbered only the new cabins, and left the existing cabins with their original numbers… but that probably makes too much sense.

 

I sent an email to Adam Goldstein last night. I’m hoping for a favorable response – meaning I want my original cabin back.

[Clarea]

I am another who lost a corner aft JS on the Rhapsody. Disappointed and frustrated don’t begin to describe how we feel about this… even though we were able to get another aft cabin.

 

I fear that there may be more than 15-20 cabins impacted by this. Since all the deck 8 junior suite cabin numbers have been bumped, there may be those who selected adjoining cabins who now are assigned cabins that are not adjoining. Additionally, since not all the junior suites have sofa beds, there may be passengers that selected a particular cabin to accommodate more than 2 people, who are now in a cabin that will only sleep 2.

 

Seems to me that they could have somehow numbered only the new cabins, and left the existing cabins with their original numbers… but that probably makes too much sense.

 

I sent an email to Adam Goldstein last night. I’m hoping for a favorable response – meaning I want my original cabin back.

Not to minimize the incredible hassle this situation is creating for people having their cabins changed, but not all JS cabins have their numbers changed. Only the JS cabins aft of the centrum have new numbers.

 

It's difficult for me to believe that someone who has had a cabin booked for over a year is being moved because of incompetence. All they had to do was simply change the stateroom number on existing bookings to the newly assigned stateroom number, BEFORE letting any new stateroom numbers go on sale. There has to be a point when new inventory is loaded into their booking computer, so what's so hard about making a quick clerical change before the new inventory is loaded? Boggles the mind.