Great itinerary and great crew, ship needs updating

Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruiser879

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 72

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 03, 2016

Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7618

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We had a great family cruise with our adult kids. We loved the itinerary and had a great time in every port. The crew was fantastic as usual with our waiters and cabin steward providing excellent service with a very positive and friendly attitude.

We had a few issues with the ship which, although updated recently, needs more work. Our balcony was unusable due to a very bad odor that, as explained by guest services, was normal and can occur in certain winds. The restaurant ran out of many foods, including steak and the main chocolate dessert. One of the production shows had to be cancelled due to technical reasons and the entertainment was average except for one of the headliners. The cruise director was average as he seemed inexperienced.

RCCL still allows too much smoking on their ships and doesn't enforce no smoking areas. Finally, the embarkation and disembarkation processes need to be improved. We were diamond members, but did not receive any "fast track" service due to the very unorganized staff on the pier.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was fine with two exceptions: 1) the odor that made our balcony unusable and the location of the cabin was directly above the Schooner Bar (deck 6) and it was loud until about 1am. I would avoid this location on the ship (deck 7, port side, aft).