Good, but lacked that special something

Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 7
Helpful Votes: 118

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Rhapsody of the Seas

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 29, 2024

Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 2114

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 month ago

Review summary

Cruise was good, but it lacked soul. It was missing that something that would make me say “yes, I can’t wait to book another one”. The Windjammer was terrible. Very crowded, limited seating, food temperature issues for desserts, some food lacked seasoning and flavor. The MDR was much better though. There were still temperature issues there but not as severe. For instance the bread given before the Starters, were ALWAYS cold. Some were very soft and tasted good, but the butter wouldn’t even melt. Some steaks needed a bit of salt but were good. The creme brûlée and crema catalana tasted good, but was served cold. Surprisingly, the sugar free desserts that I tried tasted better than most “regular” desserts. Portions were good, never felt I was too stuffed or had to go and grab something else afterwards. I didn’t like the tight schedule for the places to eat. Considering how the Windjammer was almost a mess especially on sea days and during embarking and disembarking, I felt the operational hours should have been longer, not just for the Windjammer but for Park Cafe and the MDR. For instance, we had late seating at 7:45pm, we wanted to see the San Juan sail away. We only had until 8:15pm to get into the MDR, the sail away was scheduled at 8pm. The ship left port at 8:08pm, so we never made it, yet “my time” dinning served until 9pm. Why not let late seating eat until 9pm just like my time dinning? The pizza was ok, but definitely on the bottom of the tier list. The Solarium was almost always packed and way too hot. It felt like a Sauna outside of the pool. They did lots of presentations and routines on the Centrum, but space was very limited. Even Zumba classes were a squeeze. Theatre seats were uncomfortable despite looking comfortable. There way too many places for people to smoke and that made outdoor seating an issue through all of deck 9 and deck 5. I bought the internet package and even though it was great in public spaces, it wasn’t all that great inside the cabin. Had multiple connection issues daily inside the cabin. The electrical outlets on the cabin were worn out. No plugs would stick. Even the hairdryer would slip out while in use. We had to put something to hold the plugs stick to the outlets while in use. The ship also had a great live band that was never used during the theatre shows and it showed. The sound quality playing while there was singing sounded light on beats. I didn’t feel the “hook” for booking another one with RC anytime soon. The ship has its flaws, but the vibe and soul of the ship was missing. It’s hard to explain, it took me a while to figure it out, because there wasn’t something in particular that I hated or didn’t enjoy, it just didn’t have a personality. Even on my least favorite Carnival sailing (Fascination 2016), there was enough vibe and memorable moments that made me give it another chance. This sailing just lacked personality, that special something that would’ve made it unique.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Where to begin, overall fine. Desserts were lacking, some lunch and dinner meats lacked season and the worst offender was the food temperature. Desserts that were supposed to be cold were at room temp (like yogurts) and warm cuts were cold or barely at room temperature. The Windjammer was chaotic most of the time with everybody running into each other and the seating area was very limited with constant reminders on the PA to leave as soon as we were done eating to make room for more people. The MDR was much better but there were still food temperature issues. Like the bread, was always served cold.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
The ship barely has anything for activities, which is a shame, because there is a lot of unused space. Carnival has done an amazing job packing their Fantasy Class ships, but RC has barely touched the Vision Class ships. Lots of trivia and easy listening music was the name of the game.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
The singers and dancers were good, but the shows lacked a live music band and it showed. The sound quality of the background music lacked that oomph that could’ve added that extra spark. The sad part was that the ship has a live band (and they were pretty good) but they were never used during their shows. The Cruise Director was good but lacked a bit of personality.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Service at the MDR was amazing. Nim and Pablo were exceptional. Shirley from the Shops was supper helpful.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Layout was fairly easy to figure out. There was however some areas that had masking tape to cover some holes outside of deck 5 and on one of the windows in the Windjammer. Some of the elevators had voice recordings telling where the elevator stopped, some didn’t. The ice machines kept having issues and the staff had to leave ice buckets near the station. The Windjammer layout was awful.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Cabin space was “sufficient”. The space between the bed and the furniture was very tight. Tv channels were abysmal. The shower space was by far the smallest shower I’ve ever been to in a cruise ship. I’m 5’3 and fairly skinny and found the shower to be very very small. The AC was really good though. Bed was a bit too firm for my liking but got used to it.

Ship tip

If you are on a gluten free diet, stay away from the Windjammer gluten-free desserts. They were tasteless and almost all of them had a custard/gelatinous texture. Salad dressing was limited to Caesar, Honey Mustard and Raspberry dressing at the buffet. However, they had Thousand Island at the Solarium only all the way at the opposite side of the ship, for some odd reason.

Ports of call

Willemstad, Curacao

5 out of 5
Great sceneries, to enjoy while walking. Lots of shops, but the employees were like walking security cameras which felt more intrusive. I get it, but this felt like paparazzis following you.

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5
I enjoyed it. Great place to visit, walk and take pictures. The sun and the heat were almost unbearable. Our tour had A/C so that was good.

Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

2 out of 5
The low point of the stop, barely anything at the port, expensive taxi rates to take you to the “shopping district”. Underdeveloped compared to most ports in the Caribbean.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

5 out of 5
Beautiful sight seeing, clear waters, flamingos… loved it. Also very hot.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
Embarking and disembarking was very easy.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 3

5 Comments

Gwbigdog     1 month ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise

javawoody     1 month ago

Appreciate the feedback

cruising2004     1 month ago

Thank you for your detailed review.

TiffyTaffy     1 month ago

Thank you for the feedback.

HeavySeas     1 month ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and glad you enjoyed your cruise

Other reviews of this sailing