Back from Feb 5 Rhapsody Cruise

[Baxter]

We are Princess repeaters, and have just completed our first Royal Caribbean cruise. Overall, we were quite happy with the cruise. The food was awesome, the ship was quite nice (though a tad worn in places), and the staff was very friendly.

 

Our dissatisfaction came from two main areas: (1) Communication during tendering and disembarkation. We were fully prepared for the whole delayed tendering issue in Cozumel after past reports. We had booked an early excursion, and were told to report to the theatre at 8:30 am. We did not get off the ship until at least 11:00. That was after they told us to leave the lounge, and head for the tender. Only to find that we had to line up in the stairwell because the tender was not there. We would have been perfectly fine had they kept us up to date, but very limited information was released, leaving us very frustrated.

 

Similar things happened as disembarkation. We were scheduled to depart at 7:45am. We waited in our assigned lounge, and we're called shortly after 8. Only to find out that the luggage had not been off-loaded, and no one could go anywhere until it had been complete, and cleared by customs. Unfortunately we were in the holding area hallway. As able-bodied folks, it was tolerable (again, frustrating, but tolerable nonetheless) but there were MANY less than able-bodied folks around who were more than uncomfortable. Again, a little communication would have made a world of difference.

 

(2) Please don't flame me. This is simply an observation. I have never seen so many casually dressed people at dinner in all of our cruises. Jeans on formal night. Ballcaps on all nights (including with a suit). Shorts in the dining room. And nothing was said. The only person we observed being spoken to was a woman who arrived half-naked. She might as well have worn two bandaids for a top...she would have had more coverage. We still had a great dinner, and great service, but it really did detract from the whole experience.

 

Again, all in all it was a good experience. The two lines are more comparable than we expected. Though I think our next RCCL trip will be on a larger ship to see how they really match up.

 

If you have questions, fire away.

[lilmsonry]

No flame from me. Glad you made the best of it and it didn't "really" upset you. I do have a couple of questions:

1 Was it cold at nite on the deck or in the theatres, etc.?

2 Did you miss your excursion and which port was that, cozumel?

3 Did your excursion wait on you?

4 Did you go to a meet and mingle, captain's party, etc.?

 

I am sure I will have more later, all for now.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

20 days till sail!!:D

[lindalu62]

Bet you're glad you went with your instincts and tried Rhapsody instead of the Grand!!!! Have you heard what happened?? The 2/4 Grand sailing had a 26.5 degree tilt?? (can't remember the technical term, but you know what I mean) due to a sharp turn at high speeds. People were horrified, the ship was a mess, and numerous crew/passenger injuries due to falling objects. Good idea to give RCI a try this time!!! The cruise Gods were with you!

 

Glad you had a nice cruise!!

[lilmsonry]

:) Lindalu-I haven't heard about that, I am also a newbie, what does that mean? Did it almost turn over? Where did this happen? Any info is appreciated!!

[lilmsonry]

forgot to ask original poster-What moves were shown in the theatre and in the rooms? Trying to see if they have current movies or what. Thanks to both of you!

[TexasMom2]

Baxter, this is the RCI board, not the Princess board. You are much less likely to get flamed here for stating your opinion :) .

 

Seriously, do try the other classes of RCI ships. I've tried the Rhapsody and the Adventure, sailing on the Navigator later this year, but really want to try the Radiance class, too.

 

What did you like about the cruise? Did you find the crew to be super friendly?

[lindalu62]

Grand left Galveston 2/4. Apparently, 2 hours into the cruise, a passenger had a heart attack, and the ship made a sharp turn at a high speed to meet up with the coast guard to transport this passenger off for medical care. But, the turn was very poorly executed, and the ship went pretty severly onto it's side. Check out the Princess board for more details, lots of threads going right now about the incident, and interesting first hand accounts of cruisers as to what happened, even some photos of the aftermath. Lots of flying furniture, TV's, etc. Numerous crew and passenger injuries. Scary!!!!!!!

[LLSullie]

The 2/4 Grand sailing had a 26.5 degree tilt?? (can't remember the technical term, but you know what I mean) due to a sharp turn at high speeds. People were horrified, the ship was a mess, and numerous crew/passenger injuries due to falling objects.

 

Does anyone know why there was such a sharp list on the Grand? Must have been something ! ! ! If nothing else ... scary!

[lindalu62]

Princess is admitting that it was human error, poorly executed sharp turn at a high speed. Check out the Princess threads, some of the most interesting reading I have encountered here!!

[Baxter]

No flame from me. Glad you made the best of it and it didn't "really" upset you. I do have a couple of questions:

1 Was it cold at nite on the deck or in the theatres, etc.?

2 Did you miss your excursion and which port was that, cozumel?

3 Did your excursion wait on you?

4 Did you go to a meet and mingle, captain's party, etc.?

 

I am sure I will have more later, all for now.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

20 days till sail!!:D

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was cold on deck and in the dining room, but all my dresses are sleeveless. I would recommend having something to cover up with. We didn't miss any excursions, but we're late for both of them. They did wait, and there wasn't any impact on excursion time. It became a bit of a problem for us, as we are diabetic and are very regimented about when we eat. So we were late coming back. If this is an issue for you, I would take granola bars or crackers with you just in case.

 

We didn't go to any of the parties...just bad timing for us.

 

Hope this helps.

[Baxters_DH]

Since my DW missed the comment on the movies, I'll jump in..

 

The channel line-up was different than Princess offered. To my knowledge, there were no movies in the lounges or main theatre.

 

There are 2 channels for movies (2 movies rotate over the 24hr period) showing with one being child friendly movie per day.

Here are a few of the movies I remember:

Duke of Hazzard

Charlie and the Choco Factory

The greatest game ever played

Sky High

Must love Dogs

 

Sorry my list isn't more complete....but it gives you an idea of the timeframe of the movies being shown relative to their release to DVD. No first runs that I can remember.

 

The crew was very friendly, and the service was great...Which makes us want to try a larger ship and from a different port perhaps next time.

[lilmsonry]

Thanks everybody for your answers. I am going to assume when you say "cold on deck", you mean if you wore pants and light jacket you would have been ok, right? Surely, it was "freezin cold". Hopefully not!!! Glad to know you didn't miss your excursions!! No diabetes with us but hope those that do did read this so they are prepared, just in case.

 

Shoot, I was hoping for some late release movies, but even so, don't know if I will spend my time watching any movies that I can get when I get back.

 

I am so looking forward to this trip, I am gonna have a blast, just hopefully without any sharp turns!

 

Happy sailing everybody!:)

[mikefast]

They did show one movie in the theater, "I'll Walk The Line" It was shown at 7:30 P.M. on Tuesday, Jan. 29. If they showed anymore, I am not aware of it. I don't know if they keep on showing it or if that was a one time deal. We have been on the Rhapsody before and they showed a movie in the theater.

[lilmsonry]

Mike-Thanks for the info! Was it "Walk the Line"? That is the one I was hoping they would be playing, guess not cuz we are 3 weeks away. Thanks for your effort.:)

[mikefast]

It was the Johnny Cash Story. My wife is a real country music fan, so we had to see it. I even enjoyed it.