Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ports visited were wonderful.  We enjoyed the Greek Islands very much and found the people so friendly and hospitable.  The ship's crew were hardworking and attentive to our needs.  They were gracious and very professional.

There were a couple of disappointments with the ship itself.  The jacuzzis didn't work so we basically sat in warm water without any circulating jets.  The internet connection was painfully slow and we felt a bit over-charged for such a poor connection. 

That said, the food was great and meeting people from so many parts of the world was envigorating and interesting.  We are thankful for the great service from Lonnie Thompson in preparing for our cruise and look forward to working with her again.

muy buen crucero excelentes sitios de destino el personal a bordo siempre dispuesto a colaborarte y que te sientas cómodo me gustaría tuvieran más actividad de música latina en la discoteca

entertainment was not up to royal's standards, [ very bad ] no tea time on sea days , no brunch & no lobster  [ unless you paid extra for lobster & brunch ] also no talk on the shopping in the ports, was not to happy with cruise, but liked the ports

This was a very enjoyable cruise. Had one day of rough seas but we were on deck 7 and was not to bad. The ports were all great & the crew was wonderful.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you spoke portugese it would be OK. All the activities and staff catered only to the Brazilians.Smoking all over the casino instead of certain areas and a very rude staff. We chose the cruise for the itinerary but did not know that if you were not Brazilian they really wished you had stayed home. Even all the dance and exercise activities were for the brazilians and only Portugese was spoken. We really should have been advised of this before we paid and made flight and hotel reservations.

Starting with the booking:

RCI has no idea about visa requirements.  It would seem that if they were boarding 2500 people, they would have all the details and close coordination with the countries to be visited.  They recommended use of their Visa service  -  way overpriced, I should have done it myself as I have done before.  Cost over $980.

A rip-off!!! This did not count the additional amount I paid directly to the country of Argentina for their entry fees ($250).

Next was the food on board:  

Worst I have had at sea.  Poorly cooked and overpriced  -  lobster and filet meals are extra charges up to $40.

Finally activities on board:  

There were no bridge games proctored by professionals as on all other ships.

There were no live lecturers on subjects such as maritime, etc.  There were only some poor videos of a previous lecturer on port visits.

Half of the professional performers were in the central atrium where there were few seats. Should have been scheduled in the theater.

I will never book RCI again at any price!!!

I love Royal Caribbean, but this particular cruise I was a little dissappointed.

The ship was a little old. I bought a picture window cabin and it was not as shown on the Royal Caribbean site. A 14 day cruise and never got the lobster dinner on captains night. Had to pay for it.

service was not to Royal Caribbean's standards.

the one thing we were very impressed with 

was our captain. He was awesome.Very enthusiastic and informative.

If I hadn't sailed on Royal Caribbean many times before, I might be giving a more enthusiastic review. This time, it was hard not to be aware of the many cost-cutting measures I observed, such as the absence of the usual toiletries in the stateroom, the flimsy toilet paper, mediocre food, and even the end of the mint or chocolate on the pillow at night.

On the plus side, however, the scenery was spectacular, the entertainment was very good (the exception, perhaps, were the less than polished big production numbers), 

Buenos Aires is a port worth visiting for several days before the cruise leaves, and Valparaiso, at the end, is also worth a couple of days, at least. One big problem is that passengers are left to figure out what to do with their luggage at the last port, unless they are booked into a hotel.

The staff was very capable, though some grumbling was heard about the Brazilian government's demand that a large percentage of the crew be Brazilian. That may explain why Royal Caribbean, allegedly, will not be doing this cruise route in the future.

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas.  The itinerary was great and the Captain got us into all the ports and we were able to go around Cape Horn, which was a highlight.  The excursions were good, and the shows were very good.  We liked having music and dancing every night and dance lessons on Sea Days.  The variety of events on board were good.  The Food and Service was excellent also, especially 2 waiters, Alehandro and Isabelle who served us often on the My Dining Plan.

We had good weather and very good entertainment in the evening.  Very good lectures for every port stops from historical and geographical point of view.

Some negative side of trip that ping pong tables on the ship were in very bad shape with unpredictable reflection of ball from the table because of it and as a result a lot of frustration.

When you some days on ocean you would like to watch couple hours ships TV, but the loaded program was very poor assembled because the same movies you can watch 14 days on the road that was not a fun. 

The cruise left from Santos, Brazil, which is about 2 hours from Sao Paolo.  When booking the cruise, it was never mentioned that the board language would be Portuguese, but when I was reading other reviews, this came to my attention, so unlike some of the other passengers who were very surprised upon arriving at the port, I had a few weeks notice.  The check-in process was complete chaos and the cruise terminal is next to the Garbage dump of the harbor, so it smells horrendous on one side, but the smell dissipates the further to the south and east you get.  Luckily, we were on the far end since there was a Costa and MSC ship parked closer to the terminal.  If you are doing a Royal Caribbean cruise from Santos, you should fly in the night before and then get to the terminal at 10 AM to try and beat the madness. There were huge lines and the priority-lane doesn't really exist because everything was so backed up.

The itinerary was nice.  We started at Portobelo, which is probably the worst port. It would have made much more sense to either dock at Florianopolis or Blumenau instead of the middle of nowhere.  There are some transfer services, but good luck finding a rental car or any way out of the town on your own. The beaches were okay, and there are a couple small shops if you need sunscreen or want some ice cream or acai.

We also went to Ihlabela, near Sao Sebastian. This was a great port.  They have lots of tour options onshore and we booked a boat and snorkel trip with time at a beach for $24 (80 reais) a person.  They also offered discovery scuba diving for $90 a person.  We saw some nice fish and some dolphins, but no turtles.  The beach was crowded being the main vacation time between Christmas and New Years, but we still found a spot and the water was really warm and great for swimming.  

The next stop was Buzios (I think).  This was a nice port, with nice shopping and restaurants, but a little overrated in our minds.  We went to Ferruda (spelling?) beach and one other beach. The water was cold, but it was really sunny, which helped offset that cold.  Unfortunately it was also extremely windy, so we were just covered in sand.  Also beware of people trying to rip you off. Our taxi driver tried to charge us double the fare (there is a chart in Buzios with fixed rates) going to the beach.  The taxi driver on the way back was fair.

We also went to Rio de Janiero. We booked a ship-run excursion, mainly because I had read that traffic has been bad with the construction for the olympics and some people said there are always long lines for the attractions. Truth be told, we would have been okay on our own.  We went to the Christ the Redeemer statue as well as Sugarloaf, and we had a little time to go to the beach too before heading back to the Port.  I think if we had done this on our own, we probably would have had another hour or two to explore.  Rio is a nice town.  We didn't have any problems with pickpockets or other crime.  The port is kind of junky and in a bad part of town though.  

After Rio, our ship parked in the water near Copacabana beach with about 5 other cruise ships to watch the fireworks.  There was one ship "in front" of us that blocked a little of the fireworks, but it was a great show.  The band on the ship though, was simply awful.  We were in the mood to dance for hours, but this band was so bad.  We took a break for half an hour hoping it would be better, but when we reemerged, it was even worse (hard to believe).  Perhaps my wife summed it up best when she said at one point, "this is giving me ear cancer". Tough to dance to, but many of the Brazilians were trying their best to support them.  The DJ in the Viking Crown lounge was much better, but we still went to bed sometime after 3am.

New Years Day was spent at sea, then the next day was Ihla Grande.  This island is beautiful, and was probably my favorite port.  It poured rain, but it was like walking through a rain forest and since it was still so warm, we didn't care.  We just covered our beach things and swam in the water in the rain at Praia Preta (the black beach) where the sand is black and the water amazingly clear.  We also saw some monkeys here, which my wife loved.  We ate at a small restaurant called Gabi Biel, and it was fantastic.  The prices were a little higher than we would have expected on the mainland, but we paid 110 reais for a big filet mignon spread for two including rice, beans, farofa, chimmichurri and fries as well as drinks.  They also had good wifi.

And that was it for the ports.  The next day we were back in Santos.  Getting off the ship took awhile as well and it was pouring rain, and then it was tough to find our ride since there are so many people just standing out there and parked in odd spots so he was unable to get through the traffic mess. Traffic was really good though getting back to Sao Paulo and we had time to stop at a Churrascaria before going to the airport to catch our 5pm flight.

Food was okay on the ship, actually below average for Royal Caribbean.  Chops is nice as usual and there is an Izumi which was quite good.  Those both cost extra, but worth it if you have the money since the dining room was not great at all.  This ship also didn't have any special Indian menus that we liked from some of the bigger ships.  My wife and I just blamed the food on the effort the crew was making to have some Brazilian food like bean stew, rice, farofa, etc. on the ship too and limited their options as well as it being a small ship.

I am not sure if I would take this cruise again.  It was nice to see the ports, but I was pretty disappointed with the onboard experience for both this cruise and the one we took the week before. The entertainment, with the exception of the dancers, was just so-so, and the music performances were not good with the one exception of a Bossa nova singer who was fantastic. Not sure what her name was though, Julia or something like that I think.  

Since it was New Years, the Christmas decorations were still up, which made the ship feel a little more like "home". If you are looking to choose between this and the Christmas cruise though, this one was definitely better.  I wouldn't be surprised though if Royal Caribbean cancels these Brazilian cruises in the future.  They are just not up to the standard that Royal Caribbean is used to setting and I think that is obvious to the crew and staff onboard that has worked on other ships.

Where to start...  The cruise left from Santos, Brazil, which is about 2 hours from Sao Paolo.  When booking the cruise, it was never mentioned that the board language would be Portuguese, but when I was reading other reviews, this came to my attention, so unlike some of the other passengers who were very surprised upon arriving at the port, I had a few weeks notice.  The check-in process was complete chaos and the cruise terminal is next to the Garbage dump of the harbor, so it smells horrendous on one side, but the smell dissipates the further to the south and east you get.  There was a huge line to get luggage dropped off (we also had one of our bags get "lost in transit" from the handling station to the ship, but I was able to track it down around midnight) and then the line inside the terminal was five times as bad.  There was a line for priority check-in, but this was overrun by Brazilians who just were pushing in where ever they could.

Royal Caribbean requires proof of payment of the reciprocity fee for Argentina prior to boarding, so I had to print that out too.  Needless to say, if you are doing this cruise, you should fly in the night before and then get to the terminal at 10 AM to try and beat the madness.

At dinner, we asked for tap water (strange enough that it wasn't provided automatically as it had been on every Royal Caribbean cruise I have been on, including those in Europe) and were told that it was forbidden.  We had to purchase all drinks in the dining room, so we bought some Evian waters for $4.50 a bottle.  This happened the second night as well and I decided to go talk to guest services about it.  They said that was incorrect of the wait staff and that they should have provided tap water on request.  We just switched wait staff and received water the next nights without an issue. Mr. Haag/Matos at guest services mentioned that the water would be removed from our bill and made himself a note, but this never happened as it showed up on the bill we received prior to disembarking.  While in the end the problem was taken care of, this was a major "yuck" for us and really negatively impacted our view of Royal Caribbean.  One of the main reasons we sail with them is because they provide free water/lemonade/ice tea/juice with meals unlike the European cruise companies (e.g. Costa, MSC, AIDA, TUI).

The itinerary could have been nicer.  Punte del Este was nice, but the town is very small.  The beaches were pretty clean though and the water on the south side of the peninsula was fairly clear.  The north side was a murky brown though and looked a little gross.

Buenos Aires was fantastic.  All Aboard was 11:30pm, so you could watch a tango show, although a midnight departure would have been better.  Steaks there are great, the sites are nice, the port is right in the middle of town, taxis are cheap, really everything a port city should be.  Just no bank terminal at the cruise port and taxis didn't take credit cards, so there was no quick getaway from the point of arrival.

Montevideo is a city of contrasts.  Part of the town is nice, and part of it is incredibly run down.  The beaches closest to the pier are really disgusting and the water is brown and gunky.  I would recommend just looking at some of the sites, eating some ice cream, and calling it a day.

And that was it for the ports.  The next two days were at Sea.  It was Christmas on the ship, but there wasn't a real "Christmas show" or anything in the Broadway Melodies theater, just a small program in the overcrowded centrum area. Bad weather led the other deck parties to be held in the Centrum as well.

Food was okay on the ship, actually below average for Royal Caribbean.  Chops is nice as usual and there is an Izumi which was quite good.  Those both cost extra, but worth it if you have the money since the dining room was not great at all.  This ship also didn't have any special Indian menus that we liked from some of the bigger ships.  My wife and I just blamed the food on the effort the crew was making to have some Brazilian food like bean stew, rice, farofa, etc. on the ship too and limited their options as well as it being a small ship.

I probably wouldn't take this cruise again.  I would much rather just spend time on the mainland in Argentina and Uruguay and leave the cruising in South America for Brazil or the Caribbean.

The 3 port cities are good overall however the Rhapsody of the Seas is one of the older ships in the fleet for Royal Caribbean. The boarding and embarking process were very chaotic and cumbersome. The Porto de Santos is really a commercial shipment port. It was not created for passengers.  The quality of the food was average to below average depending on the venue. However. the Guest Services team was excellent.  

Hello. The over all cruise was good. However we where unaware that there would be so many non English speaking people.  I'm not a prejudice person but I found the high number of rude , loud, arrogant people uncomfortable. We found that when announcements where made the English version was about 3 sentences and the Polish version was about 3 chapters.  I realize that the majority of the cruises that we take are primarily English speaking and other languages might feel the way we did with this cruise. However it would have been nice to know ahead of time so we could have made a discussion to take the cruise or not. If you are having a Gay cruise or a nude cruise you make people awear. 

What i guess I'm saying is the the shoe was on the other foot this time and we where not happy about it  which I guess is our problem but we where interested in doing a South America cruise but have now lost all interest in doing it .

As I said I don't consider myself prejudice but I may have come across that was but we found it uncomfortable day after day. I hope this has been helpful

Over all was good.

Our last night was a mass.

By 10:45 pm i didt get the luggage tag for disabarking .

After few calls I got them by 23:45pm.

coming to pick them up, one luggage was missing.

When finally I found it, I saw, that the ship tag and a personal

tag, was missing.

I don't have any doubt , that they were remove by force.

they couldn't , just fall by itself.

by suspicious is on station room attended .

As she is also the one, to provide them.

I insist of being notify on the investigation .

that I hope, will be done.

We started our Cruise from the Beautiful City of Barcelona, The ship ( Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas ) is one of the older ships that I have cruised on.the room was small,but comfortable. The ships staff were very friendly and helpful. The food in the main dinning room was up and down, some very good and some not to tasty at all. We ate at there upscale eateries 5 times, there the food was very good.our stops were in Cadiz, Lisbon, Caneria Island ,an aborted attempt to go to Madiera Island & Recife Brazil. We had fun on all of our stops.

Terrific ports, plus we had great weather and clear seas. The ship was only OK.

Service was sincere and positive, but by no means the best we have encountered.

Issues included:

1. 4 days at sea with no bridge director

    This was huge. Every bridge player I encountered complained at this.

2. Other activities were boring and predictable

3. All but one show was music - no comedy - only dancing 3-4 times

4. Dining room was inefficient (for cruise ships). Probably issues in the kitchen and with the seating mechanism.

5. Food was very good, but not great

My wife and I invited another couple to join us on this cruise. We are Diamond Level members and our friends are 1st time RCCL passengers. We had requested a dining room table for (4). Our Sea Pass cards all had the same table number,(214), but when we arrived at the Dining Room for dinner, we found that we were not sitting at the same table. Another couple were also given table 214 by mistake and when asked to move to a different table, they refused. My wife and I could not sit at the same table as our friends, even though it was a mistake made by RCCL. We were told there was nothing that could be done and either my wife and I or our friends would need to be seated at a table with 6 other people. I found this unacceptable and my wife and I did not eat in the Dining Room at all.

On the first night of the cruise I found that the mattress on my bed was completely useless. When I sat on the middle of it I sank completely down to the wire mattress support. I have a couple discs in my back that cause quite a bit of pain if not supported properly. I showed the room attendant, he agreed that it was in terrible condition. I asked if a newer mattress could be put in place or if an "egg crate" topper could be used, because I not only need support, but I need a cushion as well. Instead, the large sag in the middle of the bed was filled with multiple layers of firm mattress pads and fillers which leveled it out, but made it very hard and no topper was available. I had eleven days and nights of on and off leg and back pain. I was not happy.

We have always enjoyed cruising with RCCL along with Celebrity. We have never had any issues to speak of and have always recommended RCCL to all our friends and family. We were very disappointed that this had to happen when we had our friends with us. My wife and I have (4) more future cruises booked with RCCL, the next one being in January. I hope there is not a repeat of these type of issues.

William & Sharon Alex

although we're seasoned travelers, this was our first cruise, & a good choice it was. Even though the seas were very rough & the itierary had to be altered due to rough seas & port strikes, we managed to enjoy the experience. We were surprised at the comfort & roominess of our state room. All the staff were exceptionally pleasant, efficient & helpful. Abundant food; evening meals were particularly good. The short stays in port were difficult for us as we enjoy staying several days in order to get to know a place. But a cruise is more like a tasting experience; you find out if you want to return for a fuller experience. Ephesus was our favorite stop. We arranged an excursion through a private company & that worked well. 

This was our 10th wedding anniversary trip. We had a great time and made many new friends. I got to see Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Ephesus & Naples  and even ride a donkey. We had a great time.