Never again! The worst cruise ever!!
Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 25, 2018
Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 7525
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Don't book this ship, class, or company. It was the senior cruise from hell. A total waste of money.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Main Dining Room
The menu was very limited and filet mignon/lobster is only available for a $35-40 upcharge. On a seven day cruise there was lobster tail on the last formal night. DO NOT PURCHASE PREMIUM SELECTIONS!!! We Purchased the surf and turf. My medium/well was WELL DONE and basically not edible and the tail was split down the middle. His medium was RARE. THE Next night we purchased the whole Maine lobster. It was also awful. Very little meat and obviously cooked hours, if not the night before. We spent a lot of money trying the premium menu selections and was disappointed every single time! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! The selections we're always delicious off the main menu. Wait staff was always friendly unless you asked for more than one entree, which is a common thing on other cruise lines. Lava cake was cooked days before and reheated before plating.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Park Cafe
Random selection and hours of operation and never consistent. The serving staff was always friendly and bering smiles. Their supervisor however was quite bitter and seemed frustrated by everyone (co-workers and guests, equally). The only time she smiled was when she was making fun of the guy serving the guests. We felt horrible for him because it seemed like he didn't know he was the butt of her joke. We were embarrassed for him. He was often the only person attending the station. All day long. He was ALWAYS there and always smiling! The selection was always "off". He simply couldn't keep up with the demand. They ran out of crucial items like hot dogs with no buns, half-baked pizza, and random items. They even listed food in the Windjammer from midnight-2am (midnight buffet?) NOPE! They closed the entire aft section of the ship to guests(for a private event) around 10pm. Chairs were even barricading the outside section on deck 10. Zero access to all venues past the lido pool, on all decks. The midnight buffet was really the poor guy that works the park cafe, serving pizza and hotdogs with no buns. Seriously, the no buns thing was common. I even hyped up our entire table about a midnight buffet. We laughed about it later but I felt like a lier.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Viking Crown Lounge
Staff was friendly but I was harassed by a staff member when my glass was broke on the dance floor. He shouted at me that I ruined the party and they were shutting down now because of it. All 30 people in there left after hearing him say this and they turned on the house lights. As soon as he cleaned up the glass they cranked up the music and the party continued. Except, EVERYONE LEFT after he shouted at me so it was just us 4 guests being shunned by pissed off bartenders. They lost out on all that money because the cleaning staff shouted at me that the party was over. It looked like my fault for them loosing money but the cleaner actually ended it. Other than that, it was always dead in there. Except for the few creepy old men staring at the people in the pool area.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Main Lounge
Poolside bar on lido was great. The staff was always AWESOME! The only downfall was that it closed every night at 10:30.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Windjammer Cafe
Breakfast was consistently boring. It was the same thing every morning. Waffles only on 2 days of the cruise (no toppings whatsoever). The French toast was either raw (still soggy wet) or stale (hard crust so dense it could break teeth) and all juice was cocktail meaning only 3% actual juice. Lunch and dinner: The 15 items were the same every single day, alternating between adding friend chicken and fish. Creating the illusion of variety. Zero variety and half the selection of most ships. Bread is always hard to eat unless eating sliced bread. The meats were more miss than hit. The coke machine makes everything taste like diet(cans available upon request). All complimentary drinks are watered down and burn your throat. All tea is unsweetened. Coffee machines are almost always empty and if not they're full of grounds.
Schooner Bar
Best drinks on the boat! Staff was always lively and in good spirits! Music was always live and geared toward the older crowd.
Onboard Activities
Casino Royale
Tightest slots I've ever seen! DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY! The best time for a payout was when they hosted an event in the casino. Other than those few times mentioned, it was always take, take, take. The staff was always friendly and the bar was great too! The master key machine is a scam! Not a single winner on our cruise. They had a few places missing but they said the winners we're on the previous cruise. I bet they say that on every cruise. I love to play on-board but this boat is TIGHT! TIGHT! TIGHT!
Rock Climbing Wall
Looked safe but there was never a guest on it. We didn't see a single soul on it for the entire 7 days.
Swimming Pools
Pools netted off for entire days and closed early daily. Once they closed the lido pool at 4:30 and never reopened it. We had just sailed away from grand Cayman islands and everyone was sunning around the pool but it was closed. They also NEVER DRAINED THE POOLS for the ENTIRE 7 DAYS. I bet we were swimming in water from the previous cruise. THAT'S SO FREAKING NASTY!!
Day Spa and Fitness Center
Deserted wasteland of black mold. Only saw 3 other people using the steam and sauna on a 7 day cruise. The shower heads were falling apart and even shooting water into the light fixture above the shower stall. Mold everywhere and a musky stench that permeated into the hallway. The staff was friendly but heard the services were overpriced b.s.
Jogging Track
Nothing like jogging on huge pieces of bowing metal. Warped sections make for seriously sore joints. Chairs were always in the way so don't expect an easy run. Those under the track get the nice soothing sound of thunder as joggers circle the track above.
Whirlpools
Basically lukewarm bath water. Closed at random times.
Solarium
Kids were always in there. No matter the weather outside. We had zero rain on our cruise but kids ran all over in there at all times. The pool was closed at random times and the glass cover was only open for a few hours while in 1 single port on the entire 7 days. Dirty dishes on tables at all times and left for hours. It was seriously gross. Chair covers were moldy and saturated with sweat from other guests. It's a breeding ground for Mrsa. Black mold in every shower stall.
Entertainment
Broadway Theater
The best thing was the late night comedy acts. Other than that, don't waste your time.
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Book on a different ship, class, or company. I'll never sail on Royal ever again. I have sailed on other companies and this was my first time on Royal. I heard the Royal exeriance was in a class above the rest. I've spent years convincing my husband to take a cruise. He had never been in one and didn't like the idea if it. I hyped him up about the wonderful food and experience of cruising. After hearing that royal was the best, we strayed from my loyal cruise company and decided to book with Royal. I was 100% dissatisfied and look like a phony after taking this cruise. Every single thing I raved about was an utter disappointment with Royal. I'll never step foot on another Royal Caribbean Ship for as long as I live. When you pay more right out of the gate for a cruise, you expect higher standards. This didn't even cover the basics. It was like paying to stay at the Ritz Carlton but ending up at a roadside motel. NEVER AGAIN! Go with Carnival!
Ports of call
Disembarkation
5 Comments
NatiCruiser 6 years ago