Quick Review: Rhapsody of the Seas, April 2018

We're back from our first cruise of 2018 on-board Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas.  Rhapsody is one of Royal Caribbean's older ships, launched in 1996, so she doesn't have all the "wow" features of the newer ships.  In her time, however, she was state of the art. 

Rhapsody in Cozumel

I have no real complaints about the ship itself, though my wife misses the Royal Promenade on ships that don't have them.  I have to agree with her on that one, it just makes the ship seem so much more open and easy to navigate.  In the end, there is just so much more to do on Royal's newer, bigger ships that it's hard to go back to the older ships.  That being said, if you want to have a quiet, relaxing trip, then you will enjoy it.  If you are into all kinds of activities and options, Rhapsody may not be for you.  We met plenty of passengers and crew (some who have been on Rhapsody for 10 - 15 years) who prefer Rhapsody over the larger ships in the Royal fleet.  Overall, Rhapsody is in good shape and she appears to be well maintained.

One thing of interest we had not seen before, we were greeted by a letter in our cabin notifying us that there was a potential Norovirus outbreak on the ship.  I guess people do fill out those health questionnaires honestly before boarding.  Luckily we did not experience any issues, though I seem to have come down with something on the last night that I'm still struggling with.  Seems like a common cold / flu though.

This was a Western Caribbean sailing leaving from Tampa with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya.  This was our first trip from Tampa and aside from the port being only 20 - 30 minutes away, the coolest thing about leaving from Tampa was the ship going under the Sunshine Skyway bridge.  Rhapsody barely fits under the bridge.

Barely clearing the Sunshine Skyway bridge

The only port we visited that we had not been to before was Belize.  It is a tender port with a very long tender ride to shore.  I initially wanted to go ashore but with the long tender ride, limited time in port, and fairly negative reviews from people we talked to on board who have been there before, we decided to pass on Belize.  We did get off at Cozumel and Costa Maya, our only 2 docked ports, just to walk around and do some shopping.

We opted for the 3 specialty restaurant dining package which was on sale for only $70 per person.  As before, we ate at Chops, Giovanni's Table, and Izumi.  All 3 were great and Izumi continues to impress.

On ship entertainment was OK.  We didn't go to see any of the shows as none of them really appealed to us.  The bands were very good and the cruise director staff were great. We played a lot of daily trivia with some great people we met on-board and won a ton of high-liters and key chains.

The only real problem of the cruise was disembarkation.  We were delayed in getting off the ship by about 45 minutes to an hour.  We were told that someone was stupid enough to try to get back into the country with some drugs.  There was an arrest and that held things up for a while.

To sum it up, this was another great cruise vacation.  Can't really complain about anything on-board.   The staff was great, the food was great, the ship was clean and well maintained, and the people we met were a lot of fun. 

Hits:

• Staff
• Food
• Met some great people

Misses:

• Not a ton to do. (Could be a plus depending on what you are into)
• Problems/delay during disembarkation