Thumbs Down For RCI Rhapsody Cruise
Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean
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Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 43
7 Night Greek Isles (Venice Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 05, 2017
Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 4015
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Many current reviews report that Rhapsody of the Seas is now a “very tired’ ship. In truth one would expect an element of this given the age of this ship. However, this 20 year old ship is generally well maintained and it is not the ‘tiredness” of the ship that disappointed us on this cruise but rather more the lack of service and drop in standards throughout. My wife & I have cruised with RCI previously - we have witnessed first hand a drop in service and overall standards - this due to obvious cost cutting and not enough staff. Also we experienecd 4 itinerary changes - Santorini, Jusadasi and Mykonos (x2) were dropped from our 14 nightc ruise. We do not think we will consider RCI again for a future cruise after this experience. P&O and NCL both of whom we have cruised with previosuly are a class ahead. We may try Celebrity (same company as RCI) as we have heard they are a step above the RCI fleet. Sorry RCI but you let us down this time.Embarkation
Embarkation was swift due to previous cruiser Crown & Anchor fast embarkation priviledge. However, we had to trundle our cases a fair distance from the airport to the coach and some people struggled with the distance.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
No problem with the quality of food or drinks and plenty of choices available
Onboard Activities
Little to offer on Sea Days.
Entertainment
The lead singers in the centrum, pool-bar and theatre were excellent and most of the theatre shows were quite good although not of the standard we have witnessed previously on RCI’s Brilliance of the Seas or other ships in the P&O and NCL fleet. The Rhapsody Orchestra were great too. Most of the guest artists were excellent particularly the highly talented ‘Fly Boys’ who received a standing ovation. Below par was the crooner in Schooner - a particularly bland and tuneless pianist-singer with no rise and fall in his delivery and a monotone vocal - dreadful. The violinist and guitarist who played their repertoire of classics in Schooner and Centrum did so with synchronized repetition that you could set your watch by and they did so with bland and bored faces. Also absent was the aerial shows that we so enjoyed on Brilliance; the equipment is still there but it seems that RCI have dropped the aerial shows from their mid-sized ships. The beautiful ‘Shall We Dance’ cabaret lounge was such a waste - often empty throughout the cruise and used mainly in the evenings for karaoke. Much as we like and participate in karaoke as we did on this cruise, it is nevertheless a cheap way to put on entertainment. Bring back the cabaret artists. The Entertainment Director Patricio was fantastic, fun and most approachable. We had dressed up in wigs and costumes for the 70’s Theme Night on both weeks and we were invited on the stage to dance with the singers and artists. A really enjoyable evening.
Children's Programs
We dod not have children
Service and Staff
Sadly we have noticed an overall reduction of staff availability in bars, restaurants and public areas - we often waited a long time to be served drinks, at bars and in the centrum. Service during breakfast in the Edelweiss restaurant was also tediously slow; the introduction of a self-service buffet during breakfast in the Edelweiss restaurant seemingly a move to reduce the number of waiters and scale down silver service breakfast altogether. An alternative quiet breakfast was available in the Park Cafe although choice here was very limited. The masses tended to head for the Windjammer for breakfast - a real cattle-market where negotiating a table was tricky never mind getting your breakfast!
There was total chaos with 'My Time Dining' particularly on the first night of the cruise - we waited in a queue for 50 minutes before getting a table for four. Three members of staff said “It’s always like this on the first night”. For the remainder of the first week we had to accept an early sitting of 6:45 p.m. as our preferred later dining time was not available. So ‘My Time’ dining is not managed effectively and cannot be described as ‘My Time’ since we were dictated to as to what time we could eat- this we view as a form of mis-selling. We would not opt for ‘My Time’ again.
People were allowed into the main dinning room wearing shorts for dinner, so that rule was not being implemented and children were running about unattended on the stairs and in the nightclub.
Our waiters in the main restaurant, Christovao & Kevin were fantastic and worked well together. Our wine glasses were never empty.
Speciality Dining: Chops Grill was excellent with exceptional service from Honesto so much so that we booked a 2nd time. The food in Giovanni's was also excellent but the waiter there was a bit overbearing and tended thrust his choices on us - a bit rushed.
Ship Quality
Many current reviews report that Rhapsody of the Seas is now a “very tired’ ship. In truth one would expect an element of this given the age of this ship. However, this 20 year old ship is generally well maintained and it is not the ‘tiredness” of the ship that disappointed us on this cruise but rather more the lack of service and drop in standards throughout.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our stateroom was comfortable - plenty of room in the shower and toilet area and the bed was really comfortable. There was no kettle so we missed our morning cuppa in our room and there was no fridge/mini bar. Also missing now are the individual toiletries - instead there is a single soap dispenser in the shower only - this filled with some typical mildly scented hair/body gel soap. The stateroom attendants were efficient.
Ship tip
If you want a family orientated budget cruise with lots of children on board and if you can get this at a good price then Rhapsody still has potential. But for the discerning traveller or Adults wishing to experience a bit of classic cruising with a touch of elegance and class then thisis one to avoid.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Very busy and touristy but worth the visit. Do not do the RCI excursions - they are terribly expensive - you can get around equally wwll on your own and if you plan well there are some good trips on Viator and other private agencies.
Not enough time in port ot venture further afield - we have stayed in Corfu twice previosly and car hire is easy - we would have loved to have our fellow travellers the real Corfu but we only had enough time to see Corfu Town
Only really worth going ashore if you want to taxi, bus or coach trip to Athens. Nothing much of interest in Piraeus itself. The old twon of Athens is worth a visit - look for the wine tasting bar!
We encountered not one, but four changes to Port Itinerary since booking this cruise in Jan 2017. In the first instance Santorini and Kusadasi were removed from the itinerary without notice or explanation. Once aboard we discovered that staff were informed in 2016 that they would not be sailing to Turkey in 2017 yet Kusadasi remained on the itinerary list throughout the early months of 2017 - this we also view as a form of mis-selling. If the staff knew and decisions had been made in 2016 not to visit Turkey in 2017 why was this port not removed from the itinerary?
We also did not get to visit Mykonos on either of our two weeks aboard this back-to-back 14 night cruise - this apparently because of high winds. On the first week we arrived at Mykonos and the sea was a little choppy so the captain decided not to tender, although other ships did apparently tender on that day. So we just had another sea-day instead. On the second week the captain announced - two days prior - that we would not be going to Mykonos - again due to high winds and instead we went back to Piraeus (for Athens) which we had visited the week before.
We all have to accept the decision of the Captain in the interest of public safety. However, as four adults with 15 years of cruising experience we can say that we have tendered quite safely in choppier seas with other companies, namely P&O, Princess and NCL and we couldn’t help but wonder what other reasons might have contributed to this decision. If Mykonos is prone to high winds In August and the company have to cancel this port option twice in a fortnight, then perhaps it should not be included in the itinerary at point of sale for this time of
Again avoid paying the highly priced RCI tours - you can do all the same places by getting a coach from a private company at the port or by rivate taxi.
Disembarkation
As expected. Organsied and orderly.
Traveler Photos
1 Comment
olldbob 7 years ago
i think you would enjoy p&o. we have done a greek isle cruise with them twice and never missed a port
in fact when they found out there were 4 ships in sanorini they changed the berthing date so only we were there.
most cruise lines are avoiding turkey atm but they told us 4 weeks in advance and we went to crete insteac