Rhapsody Post-dry dock?

[Mystang101]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, there were some great parts of this cruise... But I'll go in order...

 

The day before sailing, we stayed in Galveston. We all gave the same cell number in our profiles. Sat. night, we got one call, Sunday 2 calls hours apart. All 3 people had different excuses for the late sailing, then there was the awesome lady at the terminal that handed us the letter. Then there was the crew member that gave some passengers a completely different reason. When we finally were herded onto the ship, there was NOTHING to do! The pool was closed for the first 2 days, the casino never opened the first night (even after sailing), and half of the bars were closed. Not so much to do. :(

 

The hot (cold) tubs were being maintained off and on throughout the cruise. We asked for the temps to be turned up, but they said they were all correct (no way). Finally on the last night, the water was hot. I was told some in the solarium did not even have bubbles(?).

 

My cabin (JS #8072) was awesome... Larger than the one on Carnival. Only complaint there was no hot water on Sunday night... I had a very cold shower! :eek: Cabin steward (Nicholas) was very good and timely! Every time I left the room & came back, it seemed like he was back to clean it!

 

Food options were not many. The windjammer not being there was definitely a major player. Long lines for casual dining, and not so hot, or many, choices in the solarium. Dinner was definitely amazing. We had the best server in the world! Candice from Trinidad was awesome! I looked forward to dinner every night because she was so much fun! We were the rowdy table upstairs for main seating... Sorry we were so loud, but she was great! :) :) :)

 

I guess my situation was not the worst. I heard of some people that had no water at all, no power, some had sewer water in their carpets. Anyone notice the odors near the centrum for the first 2 or 3 days? Nobody would even think about things like this happening on a cruise, after a dry dock or not.

 

As for our decision to go right after dry dock... We booked in early January. The only way I knew of a dry dock was this board, after my booking. When I called RCCI for various reasons, I always asked about the dry dock plan, and 100% of the time, it was news to them, I actually gave them the info (at least that's what they said).

 

I have to say, everyone on the board was right, this is a beautiful ship, but we paid full price for our JS, and the $20 credit for the loss of day one was not acceptable. We basically had a 6 day cruise. I was told by a RCCI employee (on the phone) to go to the pursers desk immedietly after boarding, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Very nice how she didn't even look me in the eye when I was talking to her and asking questions. She sent me to the hotel director, and she said she could do nothing either. I'm sure I was not the only person who had talked to them that day, and I did apologize to them for that, but the concerns were never addressed appropriately. Pretty much set the tone for the rest of the trip.

 

In their defense, they did dismiss the crew working on the windjammer and replaced them mid-cruise, and Captain Anders did apologize during the Crown & Anchor welcome back party. Pretty bad when the Captain is the only one brave enough to tell us that RCCI did some poor planning!

 

All in all, I have to say, I like the cruise line, the ship, and the crew, but I hope they put their customer service skills to work and offer us all some credit towards another cruise.

 

Well, I gave you the good with the bad... Hopefully nobody will be upset with my opinions. I'm looking forward to seeing other peoples opinions as well...

[springtxbill]

If they dismissed the crew working on the Windjammer, obviously the subcontractor did not do what he was supposed to do. It was probably not very easy for RCCL to cordinate getting another contractor to mobilize and meet up with the ship mid cruise.

[firefly333]

wolfganghowell, you keep saying how you have the right to your opinion...so do I??!! You keep right on telling me how Im reading you wrong etc. Please respect my opinion even if its different than yours. I dont think the dry dock times for Rhapsody were well publicized, nor would I have known. It could have easily been us, is what I think when I read the problems and no one signs up with the idea of a calculated risk that this much will go wrong.

 

Mystang I know if there were that many problems I would have come home dissapointed. I like the hot tubs hot, not luke warm. I read on another post that there was only one singing and dancing show on your cruise. I hope they have full entertainment going in the next month. I eat in the buffet for breakfast and lunch so having it shut down for the entire week I would not have been as polite as you are being with the makeshift set up and fewer food choices.

 

I do hope RCI decides to give you all a future cruise credit. Have you written them yet? I would at least send them a letter in writing of my dissapointment. It sounds like different folks experienced different problems with their cabins, so a letter is in order to state to RCI what your problems were. I would expect RCI to respond with some future credit, at the very least, if not a future discount of some kind.

 

I do hope you take the time to write RCI. Give them a chance to respond.

[Snoozeman]

If they dismissed the crew working on the Windjammer, obviously the subcontractor did not do what he was supposed to do. It was probably not very easy for RCCL to cordinate getting another contractor to mobilize and meet up with the ship mid cruise.

 

So true Bill.

[cruiseknots]

Fly, I think you are reading your own interpretation into my comments. I NEVER said they didn't have the right to feel disappointed or unhappy. I too would be the same way. Rates are priced differently for many reasons - and it was stated by other posters that they got lower rates that sailing date BECAUSE the ship was coming out of dry dock. I've gotten great prices for what I felt were perfect cruise weeks and others have been overpriced for whatever reason. I'm not asking you to buy my theory - it's just one person's opinion. That's what great about this board - everyone has an opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs. But please don't interpret mine to be unsympathetic to the passengers on this sailing. I've stated repeatedly I am and I'm disappointed for them that they didn't have a great cruise. However, having done my research and having been on a cruise after a European repositioning, I know that those are the very weeks that more problems arise. That's also why this board exists - so that people may research and make decisions based on what is right for them. Because of this, more people may be leery of a post dry dock cruise. Because of this, RCCL may rethink its policy on sending a ship out that is not 100% ready to go. I think what is also going unsaid is that this was not a normal dry dock where it's spit and polish but a "refurbishment". Of course RCCL could have handled the problems better - that's nothing new for a cruise line. Now - let's keep to the topic which is actually hearing about the good and bad information on the ship itself.

 

I really don't think that the lower rates had anything to do with the dry dock. Ships are usually scheduled to go into dry dock during a typically slow period which means the rates are already low. I have continously monitored rates from Galveston for several years and find the rates for that specific sailing to be on par with what is normal for that time of year. Just because someone gets a discounted rate does not mean that one can assume that the ship will be in less than perfect condition. If that is the case, then everyone who booked that particular cruise should have been notified when they were booking it. You can make all the excuses you want for RCI, but in the end, they are the ones responsible to make sure each voyage is up the standard that they themselves have set and advertise.

[bjp]

Do you experienced cruisers think RCI will have its act together on this ship by 01 April? I had no idea this ship was being overhauled or might have reconsidered purchasing this cruise....thanks for your input -bjp

[springtxbill]

From the report I have read, it looks like they had things pretty well lined out by about the 5th day. I would expect glowing reports to come back from this week's pax.:)

[wolfganghowell]

I don't think I was making excuses for them. I was basing my statements on what actual people on the cruise said - which is that they were notified the cruise was post dry dock. Obviously from what we are hearing they did not notify everyone. If the rates were on par with the norm, then I think they have a legitimate gripe to get some nice compensation. Actually, I never said they did not have a right to complain. I also think travel agents should let their clients know what "risks" there are any given week. And I think we as passengers have to do our research too. I don't have kids but I know when spring break is so I don't cruise that week. RCCL messed up by sending the ship out like this. Would the passengers be more angry if it had been cancelled entirely? That seems to be an individual decision, not one any of us can make in hindsight. Mystang's story is an all too familiar one since all the cruise lines are known for their inconsistency in customer service. It will be interesting to hear how this week's cruise goes - for anyone cruising on Rhapsody in the next few weeks, I'll bet the problems are gone although it sounds like there will a few more snafus this week too. Now I have to go find a fire extinguisher and work on my writing skills since I obviously can't explain myself properly. :)

[kristnn]

Why do people think we got a lower rate on the post dry-dock cruise? We paid more than what many of the cruises were being offered the week before or after and never did the price drop from the time we booked in December until the cruise. We were never notified of the dry-dock, I read about it on here. And for things being ironed out by the 5th day, that was not the case either. Breakfast and lunch buffets were held in either the dining room or at the Solarium. I looked into the Windjammer the night before we got off and it looked like they still had a lot of work to do.

 

Don't get me wrong, my family loved our cruise and yes, there were some things wrong, but as I said in another post - we had awesome weather, calm seas and none of us ended up sick. It would be nice to get more compensation, but if it doesn't happen then whatever. It was cold and snowy at home so it was nice to enjoy the sunny weather and the crew was awesome. Could have been better, but could have been A LOT worse!!:rolleyes:

[Warm Breezes]

Let me just start by saying that I have not, as yet, sailed on RCI. I have sailed 2x on Disney, 2x on Carnival and our next cruise is scheduled on NCL Jewel. This weekend I talked to close friends of ours that were on the 2/18 post dry-dock cruise on the Rhapsody. I have to say that RCI did not make a good impression with them on this cruise. My friends are not cruise critic members and rely on their travel agent to investigate and make suggestions for their vacations. I, on the other hand, research everything myself before doing my bookings. Needless to say they did not know the this was the Rhapsodies first trip out of drydock until they reached the cruise terminal and the ship was not there. Their complaints about the ship were many: Not leaving port until extremely late (they have to DS's 10 and 12 who have very little patience so this was very trying for them to keep the boys occupied; waiting in the cold, long lines at the terminal to board; Windjammer closed and long lines and waits to eat; Pool closed; Elevators not working; power outages; and they were not impressed with the shows at all. The best parts of their cruise was the excursions and winning $75 at BINGO.

 

Having never sailed RCI, I would be a bit hesitate about booking on them after hearing about an experience like this. I don't consider myself loyal to anyone cruise line and mostly book based on itenerary, cost, and individual ship reviews. I think RCI made a huge mistake in letting this ship go out like this because the word of mouth advertising of their product had to have taken a hit with the complaints from the people who were on this cruise.

 

After my friends told me about their cruise I was curious as to what cruise critic members had to say about and decided to do a little searching here. It looks like most of the people who were on the cruise with them had the same issues. As I said before, not very good advertisment for RCI - IMHO.

[plmd]

BS - sorry it was a disappointment. It will be interesting to hear from more cruisers. This is why the rates were dropped so low after dry dock. It's a shame the ship was not more........ship shape. However, I shake my head when people start screeching (or muttering) class action lawsuit. Read the contract, my friends. You accepted the ship in advance. I'm sorry it sounded bad but as we always seem to do on this board - was there anything positive? You say the crew really tried hard. How was the actual new bedding, new refurbishing? What are the rumored changes in Schooner Bar and Casino and other areas? Have they changed the decor? Believe me, I understand the disappointment and I am reminded again to NEVER book after a dry dock. The cruisers took a calculated risk - some perhaps not knowing any better - and apparently they

 

 

What rubbish

It’s the passengers fault????? They should read the contract….. The time and money they spent is as good as yours… perhaps everyone should contact you…the expert…before they book. Consumers have rights and should be able to protect themselves from poor performance