Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas

Everything was top notch, except being too overcrowded. Food was excellent. Entertainment was stunning. The ship was beautiful. The room was a bit too small, but it is OK we just slept there. Show details

Unethical management practices – In Australia we believe paying a fair price for service and we tip extraordinary service if warranted. Charges of gratuities on a daily basis to $260 for 2 people for the cabin is highway ( or high seas) robbery. Advertised prices for services thru their shops might be $135 then when you get to the shop in 7 point there is a disclaimer plus 25… Read more

to 28.5% service fees and taxes. Really we are on the high seas no taxes there. The medicos charge 4 x times a standard consultation fees with absolutely no care. SPEND your holiday bucks somewhere else. We will not travel with them again.

Cruising is such fun – Cabin 2078 is noiseeeeey .......... so take ear plugs. It is right above the engine so the noise is constant (no nanna naps!). The ship is great but going out of Australia we never had a hot dinner from the dining room - it was always luke warm. Never had this before on any RC ship - but this was my first cruise (our of over 20+) out of… Read more

Australia. All out of the USA the food is always awesome and hot hot hot. Ship and staff are great though and we had an awesome time. But the ship is smaller and older than you get in the USA, that's why it's here.

The best time of my life – The best cruise ever lots of fun ,Good food ,crew stuff verry friendly lot of entertainment not a dull moment .meet lots of Friendly people  Show 2 replies

Perfect – Perfect in any way. we had 3 comedians, shows , the latest movies. The food was very good and the service excellent. we arrived on time . 29/3/2015

My favourite ship – We had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. This was one of her last trips in Australia and wanted to be on it. Cruising is just the best holiday ... Going again in November.

Entertainment wise was not good – There were several reasons I would not chose this cruise again. The entertainment sucks. There was no creativity. We cruise for 11 nites and everyday the entertainment was just singing and dancing. We were expecting some stand up comedies or some magic shows etc. But all they did was tribute to some singers and it really bored us very much. At… Read more

least they have to have some variety every nite. Singing and dancing for 2 to 3 nites was alright but they did it every nite throughout the whole cruise,,,,,,, disappointed. On the third nite, we started regretting taking this cruise. But food was ok.

Disgraceful – Just got back from the so called Rhapsody of the Seas that went from Sydney to Vanuatu and back. In a word, terrible and I will never book or spend another dime with this Muppet outfit. Staff that can barely speak English, room service that never arrived or that arrived 3 hours late and was listed as complimentary but was charged for… Read more

afterwards, bogus food, way overpriced wine and a noisy balcony suite. That's just scratching the surface of our experience.

Not to mention fraudulent claims made by ROTS including "7 pools" (there are only 2 pools with 5 spas that are connected to these two pools), the Ben and Jerry's "ice cream parlour" (there are a few tubs of B&J in the coffee shop) and other such fantastical marketing lines of pure BS.

Save your money people, this cruise liner isn't worth the spend! The "Trapped in a 4 Star Hotel" review above is a pretty honest one although I personally wouldn't even give it that much credit. Not when there's mould on the curtains in your $500 per day room that's right underneath a pool deck where every noise is translated to your cabin perfectly.

Fantastic cruise – Excellent crew loved my first cruise definitely not the last will travel again in 2015.Going Rapsody and Explorer next time can't wait

trapped in a 4 star hotel – If your idea of an expensive holiday is to be trapped in a 4 star hotel for a week, then you've found your paradise (cough). If you like being ripped off with mandatory daily tips (called gratuities which include being paid by your children), b-grade entertainment, b-grade food (unless you pay extra), drunken bogans taking advantage of the 'all… Read more

you can drink ticket for an extra $55 daily fee', coffee that would kill a brown dog (unless you pay for the real McCoy at the one and only café), want to enjoy a cigar outside in a howling 16 knot wind (the average speed of the boat), you like to pay double for a suite with an outside balcony (the size of a Vicount caravan) where smoking is forbidden on that outside balcony under pain of a $250 fine, enjoy paying an additional mandatory tip for every drink you buy, and watching people vomit on a daily basis; then this trip is for you. Enjoy! Frankly, my wife and I would have been happy to get off (were it possible) on the second day. For the $5,000 we paid (including plane transfers, taxi's and insurances) we could have stayed in a 5 star hotel with the same view of the sea in Cairns or Indonesia with the freedom to come and go at will. So think twice before you book that cruise of a lifetime. Unless of course your a bogan beer swiller or you like to be bored out of your tiny little mind and be subject to daylight robbery. Our one caveat to the above was the good service, but one couldn't help but feel one wasn't being lubricated for extra cash tips over and above the mandatory "gratuity." Oh, and don't forget the exchange rate if you want to gamble in the casino. Here they take on the 'Myth Busters' philosophy of replacing reality and replacing it with their own reality. When the legal exchange rate was about .86 cents to the Ozzy dollar the ship board exchange rate was .72 cents; and to add insult to injury a .92 cent return rate on the US dollar you just paid .72 cents for. I could spend another hour describing the many rip-offs and reasons why you should avoid Rhapsody of the Sea, or any other Pacific cruise, for that matter, if that cruise was indicative of others. My next cruise will be sailing up the Amazon where the Bogans dare not venture and the coffee is of excellent quality, and cheap, and a man can enjoy a quiet cheroot in the still of the forest. At least I won't be bored witless.

The vibration was horrendous – Royal Caribbean and Celebrity is for me simply the best mass cruise operator that have ships based at home ports in Australia. They really do care about their passengers. Sadly, not on this recent trip on Rhapsody of the Seas from Hawaii to Sydney, those 16 nights turned out to be a nightmare for us. This was supposed to be a celebration cruise… Read more

and as such we booked a Grand Suite on deck 8. Our internet search prior to booking this cruise never highlighted the constant noise disturbance we were to be subjected to on all 16 days and nights. Right above us was the pool deck and immediately above our cabin was a 24 hr complementary beverage station, with the constant dropping of plastic glasses and cups, the constant thud, thud of grossly overweight bodies, walking to and from this station to quench their apparent thirst, after eating some of most salty food I have ever eaten at sea.

Everyday whilst at sea, a deck party would be put on for the benefit of passengers to enjoy the reggae band sounds of the Caribbean, with the drum thumping out a beat which drove us constantly mad. The vibration was horrendous and went on for hour upon hour, day after day as the stage was directly above our sitting area of the suite. The ship also provided a party each and every single night of this 16 day cruise, either again on the pool deck or in the atrium. We had 5 late night pool parties to disturb our quiet enjoyment of the so called grand suite to 12 midnight. The glasses rattled and shook in our cabin, as if doing their own accompaniment to that drum beat, even with ear plugs stuffed right in and blankets pulled over our heads, there was no escape to the thud, thud, and boom, boom from the noise above.

The Maître d had a solution which failed abysmally, as no member of the crew bothered to abide by his recommendation not to walk over the floor area after 10 pm at night. His words were well meant but in reality, how can one prevent people from walking on a deck floor which vibrates below with every step felt, as no floor/ceiling insulation was ever installed to prevent such noise disturbance.

Royal Caribbean say, “You are the first passengers to feel such noise disturbance”. What utter rubbish!

They have offered us 50% off a future cruise credit for the noise disturbance but as I constantly made the point, these cabins 8512/8514/8516 should have preventative noise insulation installed otherwise these cabins are not fit for purpose, which should be that any occupants of such cabins should be able to rest and sleep peacefully and not be subjected to such levels of musical disturbance and overhead foot traffic noise.

Royal Caribbean on this occasion you have failed me and although the 50% is well meant and given in good faith, I will not be returning to take up such an offer, so for me, you have made an empty gesture and have just lost an extremely loyal Diamond member from your club.

Spoilt first experience of cruising – I rated this cruise as one star due to the fact that the purpose of this trip was ruined by the irresponsible handling of my luggage. Seven of my friends and I booked and paid for a quilting Cruise. All but one bought their own sewing machines.. Mine was damaged beyond repair so I was unable to sew. After months of difficult negotiations … Read more

emailing and ringing the States I received a third of the cost of a new machine but no real apology or reimbursement for my spoiled trip.I could not commend .this company. I have no complaints about the quilting Tutors they were exceptional.and I would rate them them five stars

First Time Cruising Experience – I was very dubious about going on a cruise, but it is something my husband has always wanted to do. I am now totally hooked after spending 10 days cruising on the Rhapsody of the Seas. Pretty much everything "OZ" has said in his/her review I would say exactly the same. We could fault not a thing on board. From the Captain, who you saw often in… Read more

various spots around the ship or on shore at island stops, to the service staff and housekeeping they were very friendly and went out of their way to help you if needed. You certainly could tell that all working on board felt very much part of a team. We had an interior room and while it was small, there was ample wardrobe and drawer space and we hardly spent any time in the cabin apart from changing for dinner or have a wee nap. It was great at night (or in the day if you wanted a rest) as when you turned out the lights it was pitch black. Where else do you go and you have your room cleaned twice a day with fresh towels and the bed turned down. It was a treat at night to go back to the cabin to see what animal the housekeeper had made with towels and then sit down and read the Cruise Compass to pick out what events we wanted to attend the next day. Our cabin was on deck 7 which we thought was close to everything and we could take the stairs rather than lifts. We ate dinner most nights at the Edleweiss Restaurant on level 5, and choose My Time dining which allowed us to pick a time which suited us. We decided 8.00pm was best after going to the 7.00pm shows. We had a lot of fun and laughter with the staff. Maria front of house is absolutely impeccable. She is so welcoming and friendly to all. Ian, Jigger and Wesley waited on us each night and we loved their sense of humour. There were four couples in our party (all first time cruisers) and sometimes it would be near the end of the afternoon before we came across each other. Never once did we feel this ship was crowded or did we wait in a queue for anything. So once again Rhapsody of the Seas we will look forward to our next cruise with you. Everything

An Excellent Cruise – Having read some negative reviews here, I was apprehensive before boarding Rhapsody of the Seas in February 2014. However, our experience was fantastic, and nothing like that portrayed in those reviews. Departing Sydney, our cruise went to New Caledonia and Vanuatu - 11 nights. We were particularly lucky that the weather was perfect, with calm… Read more ·  4

seas for the entire cruise.

Boarding:

The boarding process is very streamlined and you're told beforehand what time your deck level will board. You should complete your online registration before boarding day to make this easier. You are issued with a pass card which is used to open your cabin door and to charge items to your account. It's all denominated in US dollars and you have to sign off on how you will settle (prepaid cash or credit card). With the latter, you must nominate whether you'll accept the currency conversion from your credit card provider (i.e. let Visa or Mastercard convert USD to A$) or allow Royal Caribbean to use their rates to charge your card in $A). That's tricky without being able to compare them, so I stuck with the former.

After passport control and security screening, we walked onboard (Deck 4) where you're presented with beverage options. We purchased both a wine package and a soft drink/coffee package (more on that later). Despite being a little early, we discovered our cabin was ready and took the elevator to Deck 7.

Cabin:

We had a balcony cabin and it was clean and fresh. We did not expect a large room because after all, this is a ship, not a hotel, and other than sleeping, we spent little time in the cabin anyway, We did peek at the interior cabins as we walked by and whilst cheap, they are a bit claustrophobic. If you really need room to spread out, a suite is the way to go (they even have bathtubs) but they cost a lot more. Bathrooms have a basin, toilet and shower (small and with a shower curtain, but quite manageable). The double bed was king-sized (also available as twin), and there was a couch (sofa bed), TV, desk, phone, mini-bar and coffee table. A glass sliding door leads to the balcony which is small, with two chairs and a table. Being on the port side (left), we had stunning views of the Sydney Opera House from our berth at Circular Quay.

The cabins are located on decks 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 (deck 7 has balconies and deck 8 holds the larger balcony suites). About 2,300 passengers can be carried. Most of the 750 crew reside on Deck 1. Our cabin was much quieter than I thought it would be - these ships are built with prefabricated cabins that are hoisted intact into place and connected to electricity and plumbing. This means there's a double wall (and presumably a small air space between them that acts like double-glazed windows). We never heard any noise from the adjoining cabins, although maybe the occupants were quiet people. I took earplugs anyway because sometimes you can hear people talking and laughing in the corridor late at night when they return from the bar.

We were pleased with having a private balcony and whilst we didn't spend a lot of time sitting there, it was nice to wake up and walk a few steps to see the sky and feel the temperature. I was able to take some photos of some stunning sunrises and sunsets from this good vantage point and the stars at night were majestic.

The Ship:

Taking the stairs we went up to Deck 9 where there's a large pool area (one pool and four spa tubs), a giant movie screen, the Windjammer cafeteria, a pool bar, a separate solarium pool area (adults only; 1 pool, 2 spas), another bar, a vitality/beauty shop and the Park Cafe (snack meals). Deck 10 is a mezzanine level that's a perimeter walkway around the ship. It has a gymnasium, a supervised rock climbing wall, a walking track (one circuit = about 300 metres) and a kids club. Up the stairs into a 'turret' is the Viking Lounge/Bar and a specialty Japanese restaurant.

Deck 4 (where you enter the ship) is the floor level of the Centrum, the open 'atrium' where there's a bar, internet cafe, and a small area for performers to sing and play music. The Centrum soars up past the internal balconies of several decks and is impressive. Acrobats later held a show, suspended above in this void. Walking toward the stern you come to the Edelweiss restaurant, the main dining room and it's laid out nicely with over a hundred tables. Behind it is the Chef's Table restaurant, an exclusive, 18-seat dining experience at extra cost. The Edelweiss Restaurant has two levels, accessible via a staircase that takes us up to the 5th Deck.

Deck 5 takes us out of the restaurant and walking toward the bow, we pass the Centrum again where there's a guest services counter on the right and a shore excursion desk on the left. Continuing along the starboard side (right) you walk through the casino, and into the vast theatre. Live entertainment is performed onstage as well as movies on the big screen. The theatre has hundreds of seats and is two-tiered. Walking up to the upper level takes us to Deck 6.

Walking along Deck 6 toward the stern we pass the Centrum Shops - duty-free goods are available here but it's closed when we are in a port. There's also a coffee shop ('Latte-tudes'), a bookcase, a photo shop, and an art gallery. Astern of the Centrum there are two specialty restaurants (Chops Grille for meat dishes and Italian food at Giovanni's). On the starboard (right) side there's a bar/lounge area ('Schooner Bar') where many trivia competitions are held, and this opens out into a large lounge ('Shall We Dance Lounge'), which has a dance floor but is underused.

Food:

Breakfast can be eaten in the Windjammer cafeteria, the Edelweiss restaurant or room service. There is no charge for this unless you want special items such as fresh orange juice, premium coffees etc. Poached eggs or Eggs Benedict are only available from Edelweiss (no charge).

Lunch is similar. The Windjammer is a buffet where you help yourself and can eat as many serves as you like. Free drinks there are via a self-serve machine dispensing ice-water and lemonade (anything else you pay by ordering from a waiter and charging to your room). Coffee is free from a machine and it's ok (not as bad, I thought, as some reviews here). The lunch was better at Edelweiss where you order off the menu, but similar items were in the Windjammer (the latter being more suited to families with kids).

Dinner for us each night was in the Edelweiss restaurant and the food and service were excellent, restaurant quality. We chose the early 6pm setting as there was usually a 9pm show to follow at the theatre. Anyone choosing the 8pm dinner setting would usually go to the earlier theatre production.

Another meal option is the Park Cafe in the Solarium area, which is more snack-type, healthy food with fewer choices. You can relax on a deckchair here, with the glass roof is sometimes opened.

Dinner is also available at the four specialty restaurants for extra cost, although we were happy to stick with the high quality, included meals at Edelweiss.

All the food we had was nice, with plenty of variety and everything was clean. I couldn't find a single thing to complain about.

Outside every meals area is a device that dispenses a squirt of disinfectant lotion onto your hands before you touch food - a superb system that minimises the likelihood of colds and other germs being transmitted throughout the ship.

Beverages:

You can buy a beverage package or pay for drinks as you go. You really need to plan this a bit if you want to get the best deal. The Royal Caribbean website shows the various packages available so you can work this out beforehand like we did. We did well with the wine package as it was good value. The beverage package (Coke, mocktails, latte coffee etc) turned out to be the wrong choice for us because we overestimated how many drinks we'd be consuming, so we would have ended up paying more than if we had bought drinks as we went. As drinks depend so much on everyone's different tastes and consumption, you really have to work out for yourself what deal works best for you.

Activities:

There's plenty to keep yourself amused on Rhapsody. We went to all the 9pm shows (singing, dancers, comedians, a stunning hypnotist, magicians etc.) and they were all great. On many afternoons the theatre screened a recent movie at 1pm. The casino operates on US dollars so if you want to play poker machines you'll need to bring a few US$ to feed into them (or exchange A$ onboard). There's a roulette wheel and blackjack table as well. In the evenings they had music and dancing on the floor of the Centrum despite it being a small area for this.

The Television in the cabin had a handful of channels but for some reason, too many movies and TV series were in foreign languages - strange when you consider 99% of the passengers have English as their primary language. That was a little disappointing, but we weren't in the cabin all that much for it to be a worry.

There were daily trivia competitions, bingo and other activities, and these are important when you're at sea (it takes two days to get to New Caledonia). When you're at the islands things go very quiet onboard because most passengers have gone ashore. I had intended to read a book during this cruise but never had the time to open it once.

Shore Excursions:

You can pay for these online before you leave home and this guarantees tickets for the popular ones that do get sold out. Yes, they are a bit pricey, but we felt that we couldn't sail all the way to these islands and not see things. Some people opted for paying local islanders to drive them around on private sightseeing tours and reported favourable experiences. On this cruise, Rhapsody visited Noumea, Mystery Island, Luganville, Port Vila, Mare, and Isle of Pines. Shorter cruises omit some of these and may add Lifou and Champagne Bay, Rhapsody also sails to Fiji, Bali, Singapore and the Queensland coastline.

The ship docks at large ports like Noumea, Port Vila and Luganville. Elsewhere, it anchors in deep water and launches a few of its lifeboats as tender vessels to ferry passengers to and from an island's jetty. This system works very well. Earlybird departures simply go down to Deck 1 where you're scanned out as you board the tender. Peak times (e.g. 9:30am) require a ticket to manage the exodus. There's no charge for these transfers to/from shore and you can leave and return as many times as you like. We usually returned in time for lunch and could return to the island after eating.

Gymnasium & Vitality Centre:

The gym was small but equipped with the usual weight machines, treadmills, cross-trainers, floormats etc. They have a resident personal trainer who gave good advice and guidance. The vitality centre offered massages, facials, pampering etc

Onboard Shopping:

Various goods were for sale in the duty free shop and from time to time they had bargain sales. Cheap alcohol can be purchased but they retain it until the last night when it's delivered to your cabin. The only beverages you're allowed to bring onboard in Sydney is two bottles of wine per cabin but they must remain in your room. When you return to the ship after an onshore trip they x-ray your bags and if they discover alcohol it'll be confiscated and returned to you at the end of the cruise.

Staff/Crew:

We particularly liked the high standard of service by staff, particularly in the restaurants. All of the waiters, cooks, cabin stewards etc came from places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Romania, South America etc and were both friendly and efficient. The cruise prices usually include prepaid gratuities but we were happy to give generous tips to our two regular waiters and our cabin steward. I know this is a double payment but we wanted to show gratitude for the good service.

The captain (a Canadian) made his daily announcement across the ship, informing us of our location, destination and weather conditions. Before we departed Sydney all passengers were required to participate in a safety drill, assembling at the muster station we would have to use if there was a need to man the lifeboats. The crew take safety drills very seriously, and before we left port, no doubt as a legacy of the Costa Concordia disaster.

Overall Experience:

The ship is not so large that you get lost on it or overwhelmed by the crowds - it's just the right size. We had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday on Rhapsody of the Seas and would not hesitate to go on a future cruise with this ship - or any of Royal Caribbean's other vessels. Comfortable cabin, great food, friendly efficient staff/crew, great destinations

Great holiday – Well boarding on the 28th October 2013 was fantastic....We were in an inside cabin and it was tiny! I have never cruised on a ship with such a tiny cabin and very little drawer space. The bathroom was ridiculous. Our favourite spot was on deck 11 in the viking bar where we sat in the quiet of a day and read books. However the staff in the dining… Read more

room of an evening was just fantastic, food very average even I thought in izumis was very average for a good Japanese restaurant. Buffet had an OK selection but I liked the idea of the Park Café area for additional eats...I had the gratuities removed at the pursers desk without too much of a problem and tipped the staff we thought deserved it. I am going on the mariner of the seas in Feb from Singapore so hoping for a bit better cabin and food.

Expensive onboard for coffees etc, only 1 coffee shop

We're going again next year! – OK the Rhapsody is older and smaller than any other ships I've cruised on but it more than makes up for that with it's great crew! The 3 oceanview cabins the 6 of us booked were quite large with lots of storage. We did have the dreaded shower curtain but hey, you just have to wrestle with it for a few minutes each day so who really cares! The… Read more

food, entertainment, and islands were all great! We enjoyed it so much that we've booked to go again next year! Happy crew! Great entertainment! Older & smaller ship

Surprisingly Great Trip – I booked a cruise on Rhapsody (Feb 2013 - Pacific Islands) as a surprise gift for my parents anniversary. My wife and I were almost dreading it, but to be fair we had an absolute ball. The room was better - and bigger - than expected, the staff were helpful and friendly, and we were generally impressed overall. The ship isn't the newest (and in… Read more ·  1

some ways it did show a little) or the biggest, though that was one of the attractions. The entertainment was pretty good with a mix for all ages. They even had a small library and a daily sudoko / trivia quiz for lazing away time by the pool.

The best thing was probably the food - the standard fare in the restuarant was OK (but nothing to write home about), but the specialty options were absolutely first rate. The Italian couldn't be faulted, the Steakhouse had some of the best steak I have eaten (and I do like meat) as well as great desserts, but the Japanese, although not for everyone, had some of the best and freshest Japaenese food I have ever eaten. Even my parents had a good night, notwithstanding sushi not making their 'favourites' list. I lived in Tokyo for quite a while and this was equal to anything there - certainly any of the restaurants I could afford to eat in!!! Friendly crew, lots to do, fantastic food. More families than I expected, though in fairness they did tend to stick to the 'buffet dining' end of the ship.

I never thought I would enjoy this cruise so much – It never would have crossed my mind to go on a cruise, let alone with my family (mum and siblings) but it was the best thing I've ever been guilted into doing. I was cruising 18th Feb-1st March 2013, Sydney to North Queensland and back. ROOM: At first the size of the room was a HUGE shock. It's tiny. Four of us were sleeping in a room smaller… Read more ·  2

than my own bedroom at home. Soon though, it really didn't matter. There was so much to do (and buy!) on board that your room was literally there just so you'd have somewhere to sleep and put your things.

The cleanliness and service/housekeeping could not be faulted.

STAFF:

I have NEVER experienced such amazing customer service. They are INCREDIBLE. They will go out of their way to make you as happy as you could possibly be, and just go above and beyond in every way possible. They will help you with sea sickness, weird requests, complaints, confusion... Think of the worst customer in the world, the staff on this cruise would treat them like royalty.

FOOD:

The food in the windjammer (buffet style) was not amazing, but the thing I LOVED was how pedantic the staff were about hygiene - you weren't allowed into the restaurant without sanitising your hands. Also, it was pretty much open all the time.

Edelweiss (sit down lunch/dinner) is in a league of it's own.. I really can't fault it. The waiters we had were AMAZING, so friendly and accommodating. They address you by name, crack jokes, and let you try as many meals/deserts as you like.

The best part was though that you had a choice. I love choice. Some days after sitting around in the sun for hours, all you want is to laze around in shorts and thongs during dinner, and some days you feel like dressing up looking glam.

During the day while lying around the pool, soft drinks, water and soft serve are all free

ENTERTAINMENT:

The Cruise Director was incredible. He had such a way with people, and everyone had a good laugh whenever he was putting a show on. The night-time shows can be amazing too (there some that I wasn't such a fan of). My favourite show was the hypnotist.. it's the kind of thing you'd see Darren Brown doing to people. HILARIOUS.

SHOPPING:

Pretty much every night, there's some sale going on. There are plenty of great brands available, and they're all undeniably cheaper than if purchased on mainland. I topped up my makeup and fragrance collection at about half the price as what I'd pay in stores. Brands include: Chanel, Burberry, Guess, Clinique, Ray Ban, Michael Kors, Fossil..

OTHER:

The next thing you need you remember is that this is an American ship. Using your mobile (even when docked) counts as roaming and the power points are American... This isn't such a bad thing though. Did someone say "Duty Free"?! YES THEY DID! I bought 150mL of Chanel No 5 on board for like $130 or something. Insane!! SO CHEAP! There's always a silver lining... amazing staff, great food options, exceptional service, great variety in entertainment a little dated, no free WiFi, beauty/health services are expensive, doesn't handle rocky seas well

Great for all ages – First time on a cruise. Went with my husband-we're aged 23 and 24. We thought it'd be just for the oldies but there was always something for everyone. We went 11th march 2013. Can't really fault it. The gratuities do seem to be a rip off but unlike what people are saying, you do get that option of lowering it if you are not happy at the end. You… Read more ·  1

also have the option of paying gratuities yourself. We approached guest relations and asked if we could do this and they informed us we'd paid for it when we booked. Travel agent didn't mention that. They give you envelopes if you want to add to it.

The food was pretty good. We stuck to the free stuff and although it's not 5 star high class food-it's nice. You can always measure freshness by the quality of the salad. It was always good.

If you want to save money on drinks as only basic drinks are free like water and juice etc, buy soft drink. It's only $2.50 for a can and they give you a glass with ice. Everything is paid for usin your sea pass which acts as a credit card as well as a door key and your one and off ticket on the ship. They replace it for free if it doesn't work though I'm not sure what happens should you lose it.

My advice is try everything. Quizzes are fun. Gym is ok. Shows are good-get involved and you become like a ship celebrity. They offer bottled Evian or sparkling water at edelweiss. Unless you love it, don't go for it. It costs money and after they offer everyone free ice water that gets regularly topped up. They will tell you what costs money-no scams.

Park cafe, edelweiss and windjammer are the only free eateries. Others cost money. Windjammer is all you can eat while edelweiss is menu, waiter etc.

I loved it and recommend it to anyone. We don't drink but we had an awesome time. Parents left their kids to do what they wanted all day while they relaxed.

Go to the tour talk as well and take some tours. They really do show you the best of each place you go :) Lots to do. Cheap for what you get-3 free 3 course meals everyday. Super friendly all professional with great sense of humour and fun Gym could be better

Never again – I was on the same cruise as Rickj, and we were disappointed as well. When I booked the cruise, I selected to not pay gratuities up front as they suggested, as we decided we wanted to only pay people who deserved it. Imagine our surprise in our cabin to find a letter saying that it was compulsory ($12 a day each for us) and would be automatically… Read more

added to our account each day. Unimpressed to say in the least, they had ample time to tell people, but there was nothing said to us at all until we actually got on the boat. The ship itself was nice, but I did find cleanliness an issue, I get up early so I was one of the earlier people in the windjammer buffet for breakfast, and the tables and chairs were filthy, and the food was horrible. I don't know how they even made hash browns taste bad.

The boat had self serve premade coffee (apparently even a staff member called it dishwater) or lots of different flavours of tea. If you drank coffee, you had to drink the dishwater or buy a coffee from their coffee shop (all drinks purchased on board had a 15% gratuity fee on them) The coffee shop made a fortune.

The edelweiss restaurant was nice, and our staff excellent, but the food was only average, pretty bland. The exception to this was the salad bar at lunchtime. I sailed on the P & O Pacific Sun last year just before it was retired and the food was so much better.

If you like playing bingo or listening to classical piano/violin then the entertainment was great. We don't do either so we found the day entertainment pretty lackluster, they had a great lounge at the back of the boat that was severely under utilized, they could have had a band or guitar playing in there. The boat is geared towards two types of people, the ones who like to drink, and the people who like to play Bingo.

The specialty restaurants were quite good, especially giovanni.

Boat has internet, but at $30 an hour you would have to be pretty keen.

Overall, we would never sail Royal Caribbean again, we just felt ripped off by the company when other companies do a better job. The boat was lovely, our staff were excellent. Overpriced, dirtiness, food.

Very disappointed – We boarded Phapsody of the seas 1March 2013 for a 10 night Pacific cruise from Sydney . We are a couple over 50 having cruised 5 times so far , the majority on Princess with another to Alaska in May. Pouring rain , not the fault of the cruise line but my luggage was soaked inside and out but it should have been covered on the trolley. We… Read more

travelled with a younger couple who had two children and opted to select which staff we would bestow gratities , but when boarding were advised that the rules had changed that day and we would be billed $10 per day per person ( including kids ) for 10 days . They had not budgeted for the extra $$ .

They should have been advised prior to boarding . ( bloody rip off )

No Aussie power plugs in your cabin but you could purchase an adapter for $30 .

No fridge in the cabin

No

Laundry but you could pay them to wash your clothes and they came back not ironed and could not be warn because a you can't take an iron onboard ( even if you did the power could not even heat up my wife's curling wand )

The cabin steward was absolutely hopeless abviousley looking for some $$ , no way , we had a kettle , with sugar , tea, 2 portions of processed milk .

We used these supplies within two days and they were not replenished until the second last day.

Our friends had only one sheet on one of the beds for 6 nights.

The cabin steward removed the shower curtain and forgot to replace it until the next day.

We would not cruise with this line again and opted to try a cabin without a balcony this time but will in the future we will do cabins with balcony.

Could not fault the food, service or entertainment unfortunately we were hampered by the weather.

In all the gratuities were an absolute rip off as well you had deducted 15% on each purchase .

Look at other cruise lines The islands were beautiful and the people were very friendly The gratuities were a rip off , you should have the option to give if you want

A Bit Dissapointing – We were to board Rhapsody Of The Seas (ROTS) following it’s month long dry-docking in Singapore. Upon arrival at the Singapore Cruise Centre there was no sign of ROTS but Pacific Princess was alongside. Check-in with RCI was smooth and relatively fast and we were then directed to a bus. We had heard that ROTS was berthed at a nearby wharf. After a… Read more

20 minute ride we turned into the Pasir Panjang container terminal and drove for another 20 minutes or so. After passing several million containers and hundreds of gigantic cranes (the size of this port is unbelievable) we eventually pulled up next to ROTS.

I was expecting it to be looking all sparkling new from its much publicised refit but it looked like any other ship bearing plenty of scuff marks and rust stains along the hull and windows. OK, so they didn’t have time to do that bit! We waited in the bus for another 20 minutes to keep us in the air conditioning as the final clearances were being conducted in a large marquee on the wharf. It did have quite a few desk fans suspended from the ceiling to keep everyone cool though! After another half hour wait in line, our passports were taken from us (RCI were arranging Indonesian visas for most passengers) and we climbed aboard onto deck 2.

First impressions ….. I though this ship was built in 1996, not 1976! The décor was very dated, tacky and shabby. One enthusiastic American staff member directed us to our room (2096) which he thought was on the other side of the cordoned off ‘exclusion zone’ where cruise cards are scanned and ID photos taken. He told us to walk to the other end of the ship and come back around. Turns out, he sent us the wrong way as our room was basically next to where he was standing and not cordoned off at all. Our state room (it’s a cabin, nothing Stately about 4 berth cabins on any ship!) like the rest of deck 2 looked dated and drab but it did have a sparkling brand new bathroom …. with a litre or so of dried urine on the floor in front of the toilet. So with three bad first impressions we soon met our Steward who apologised sincerely for the bathroom and he quickly cleaned it for us. I guess a staff member must have snuck in and used it a few days prior.

Things improved thereafter, we did the muster drill which was taken seriously and quite well organised. It was the first we had done without life jackets though. Then we were looking forward to the sail-away party at 6:30. About 10 people turned up for the party and they slowly dissipated before we finally sailed at 9:30. We watched the sunset from the back deck which was a brilliant red in the equatorial smog and we sipped a Singapore Sling. There was some really cool music playing through the PA and my son and I seemed to know every song. This could be a good sign of the entertainment to come. Wrong!!

During this cruise we often found ourselves comparing ROTS to other ships we had sailed on …. Sun Princess, Pacific Dawn (P&O Australia) and Celebrity Millennium. The downside to this trip was more to do with RCI or onboard management as opposed to the ship itself.

THE GOOD

ROTS is quite a nice ship but our expectations were somewhat higher. It’s similar in size and facilities to Sun Princess but lacks the more refined décor and appointments. During the 15 nights sailing from Singapore to Sydney the seas were dead flat except for the last two nights when the Coral and Tasman Seas were whipped up to 3 – 4 metres by a strong southerly wind. ROTS handled these conditions really well, the only noticeable movement was in the Windjammer (buffet) which is forward on Deck 9. The movement was barely noticeable in our mid-ship room, just the occasional slight shudder.

Edelweiss dining room is quite grand and spans two levels. We often had dinner at a balcony table looking down to the lower level where a piano and viola duo performed (the same repertoire!) each night. The waiting staff were excellent, very entertaining, amusing and friendly. Any special requests we made were answered with “Certainly”. If something was out of the ordinary, like hot milk with coffee (as the coffee was often just warm) it just took a little longer. Although the plates were usually hot, some meals were often barely warm. Most meals were always really good although I had a chicken dish one night which wasn’t cooked completely through. That aside, cruise ship restaurants will always beat those on land for service, quality and ambience. And … you get to eat out at a very nice restaurant 15 nights in a row!

Drink prices were quite fair, soft drinks were $2.50 each, cocktails around $8.00 and wine was $8.00 per glass or from $26.00 per bottle which is slightly cheaper than our experiences with other cruise lines. We had the added bonus of Australian dollars being worth more than US dollars. The bathroom in our room was brand new, it was larger than those on some other ships and everything functioned well (e.g. the toilet always flushed!). We didn’t need to ever wait long for an elevator, even with one out of action in the aft group of 6. The lifts do need a makeover though, the gold trim is looking very worn and tarnished and the backlit transparencies above the doors have the appearance of View-master slides from the 70s!

I used the gym a few times, it was quite large and well equipped but always very busy. We spent many hours in The Solarium pool area, aft on deck 9. It has a class canopy (not sure if it still opens), an Egyptian themed pool, 2 hot tubs, sun lounges, a bar, a café serving free snacks and a well equipped drink station. It’s really good when you can serve yourself tea, coffee, hot chocolate, lemon drink or iced water at anytime, day or night. It wasn’t too difficult finding a table or sun lounges in The Solarium as this cruise was not full to capacity.

Our room steward did a good job and although his English was fine, he had trouble understanding us sometimes so we needed to slowly repeat some request. But he went above and beyond a few times and we gave him a cash tip on the last day. He was very persistent in encouraging us to complete a satisfaction survey. A good report must mean a lot to certain staff so we reported his service was of an excellent standard. But I hate filling out those things … I’m on holiday! We saw a few of the headline guest entertainers in the main theatre some evenings, they were all really good (magicians, ventriloquist, hypnotist, juggler/comedian). The shows are always really short, around 40 minutes. I’m glad they had these guys on board because the other entertainment wasn’t too good.

There were plenty of maintenance activities taking place throughout the cruise, especially window cleaning and painting. One of the nice features of ROTS is the abundance of windows and they seemed to be cleaned every few days. Just one day at seas can render them cloudy with salt splashes.

THE BAD

It was a combination of boring guests, repetitive bands and a lack of interactive entertainment that made this cruise much less enjoyable than others, especially with so many sea days. Like most longish cruises in 4+ star ships it’s going to have plenty of very old people. This cruise had its share of younger families too but it seemed like nobody was keen to try to enjoy the night life. Some of the most interesting people we met were a couple aged 68 and 70, a 90 year old chap and another about 85. They all were full of life, funny and interesting. So it’s not an age issue. The 90 year old had been on ROTS five times before and was very unimpressed with the refit. His words were “they raped it”!

The main problem was the live entertainment. There were three bands, a calypso band who played on the top deck each day (the same set), a Filipino band playing modern standards (the same set each day) and a piano/keys/drum trio who ….. played the same set each day. I’m sure the RCI ploy was to have a band playing in the brand new R-Bar every day and evening and guests will buy drinks to pay for the refit!!

Although there were interesting activities like trivia comps each day, many clashed with dining times. One of the most fun activities on a cruise is nightly Karaoke but it only seemed to be on every second or third night. Therefore, the karaoke crowd didn’t snowball into a bigger group each subsequent night like on other ships. And early on, the PA system wasn’t working properly as once again, it apparently wasn’t dealt with during the dry-docking. On the highest deck is the Viking Crown Lounge which is meant to be a night club. It opened at 11:00 pm each night, then they closed it down at about 5 past! There was only ever a dozen or so people hiding in dark corners or gazing out windows and no encouraging cruise staff to be seen anywhere. So the night club was a major fail.

The TV options in the cabin were also poor. There were one or two RCI channels to sell you more stuff, a really bad live map of the ship’s position which was almost impossible to see clearly, one new release movie in a constant loop (overdubbed in Spanish and German) that wasn’t even in English. Even the 3 star P&O Australia ships have a wide selection of satellite channels. There were only 4 or 5 movies played on the big new screen on the top deck including awesome titles like The Muppets, Casablanca and … it only gets worse. The midday screenings were at 1:00 pm, during most people’s dining time in Edelweiss.

RCI kept trying to flog us the specialty restaurants that had just been fitted during dry-docking. For our anniversary we went to Giovanni’s Table which had a $20 surcharge. The head waitress was an abrupt Hungarian woman who warmly greeted everyone with ‘Buena Sera’ and bode them farewell with ‘Ciao’. So too did the other waitress we had. Their English wasn’t good and they definitely didn’t speak any Italian except for their greetings. The waitress was rude and basically told us what we’d be having as that’s how it’s done in this restaurant. The risotto was really good, but the rest wasn’t as good as the buffet upstairs. To me, if you need to have 5 specialty restaurants on a ship, it doesn’t instil much faith in the free restaurant. Giovanni’s didn’t come close to the complimentary dining in Edelweiss.

Although the overall appearance of ROTS was that it was very clean and well maintained, the decorators must have been having a joke. Most of the décor was tacky, very Vegas and poorly coordinated. I mean, there were 4 different types of carpet on the floor outside our room in the open stairwell area on deck 2. It was a proverbial dog’s breakfast. One couple we met said their bathroom wasn’t completed until about 10 days into the trip because there apparently wasn’t time to finish it before leaving Singapore!

All of the shore excursion prices were ridiculously expensive. Most were well over $200 per person. Most of the concierge staff were difficult to understand and had trouble understanding all English accents (Australian, American, Canadian, British, NZ, South African etc) but I’ve experienced this before on other ships with eastern European staff. Although you can eventually communicate the issue it’s not done with a smile! We often heard other guests complaining about various things, much more on this cruise than others before. Each time we went to the concierge desk, we’d often need to wait for someone in front of us giving the staff a good serve of complaints. So although this review has some negatives, there were many passengers who fared a lot worse than we did.

One of the most uncomfortable aspects was confusion surrounding tipping, especially on the last night. Our gratuities were included in our fare. That’s great because in Australia, we don’t tip. People are paid fair wages and tipping only occurs in extreme circumstances of exceptional service. We were given envelopes and several pages of documentation about tipping. I don’t want to read stuff on holidays! It included suggested amounts for all your service staff (room steward, head waiter, waiter, room steward’s cabin boy, waiter’s dog, etc) and it amounted to over 600 bucks. You can get a whole other cruise for that! It appeared to us that RCI were attempting to hoodwink unsuspecting guests into parting with more cash on top of what they had already paid with a voucher system (charge your credit card after you disembark!). The way it was written was very convoluted and discouraged giving cash tips. On the last night in the restaurant, some of the guests were having photos taken with their waiting staff and discretely passing them envelopes. This was really uncomfortable as we had already prepaid it and we felt like we had to give yet again.

For quite a few days there were a handful of Bulgarian electricians in our corridor attending to cabling in the ceilings and walls. Access was often partially blocked by ladders and trolleys etc. and it often got very noisy with conversations, shouting and banging. Makes it very difficult to rest in your room. They weren’t the most polite gentlemen if you needed to get past either. Once again, not much leadership here.

The cruise director often made mention of some Centrum spectacular in his announcements, a show to take place on the last night. Throughout the cruise there were continuous rehearsals and technical checks being done from the trapeze set-up, down six levels to the floor. This included lighting tests, rigging being raised (large areas closed off), sound checks while you’re trying to communicate with concierge staff, more rehearsals and dress rehearsals etc. So by the time they were doing their final run through, we’d seen it a dozen times or so. The main thing is, they got it right before the summer season in Alaska. Those Aussies were good guinea pigs to annoy and test it out on!!

THE UGLY

The night before we were to arrived in Brisbane, a printed note was left in our room advising that the water would be turned off ship-wide for maintenance from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm the following day. I thought that this must have been an error because you cannot deny basic sanitation to nearly 3,000 people, especially in a hot-bed of potential infection like a cruise ship ….. everybody knows that. Sure enough, it was turned off the next morning. So how do you control things like Norovirus in a situation like that. There were people coming out of public toilets looking confused and disturbed as there was nothing to wash hands with. Surely the maintenance should have been done during dry-dock. Big fail RCI, if we wanted to go on holiday without water then we’d go camping!!

It was bad luck for us that most embarkation took place from portside on deck 2, just along from our room. The embarkation point is a bit of pot-luck as it depends on the tides, the gangway configuration at each port and the berthing direction. So it can be on the other side of the ship or on another deck altogether. Unfortunately for us, for the duration of the 36 hours we were berthed in Cairns, the x-ray scanner and card reader were positioned right outside our room. Access was all hours so it seemed like a continual beeping and whistling of scanners, noisy conversations, shouting and drunk staff coming back to the ship in the middle of the night. So some person in management on board didn’t even consider who might be disturbed by having the scanners outside their room and didn’t even mention it beforehand or offer a solution.

After several hours of noise and the inability to even get in and out of our room easily, (yes, security stopped us every time until we physically shifted their stupid velvet rope!) my wife complained to the concierge. Finally they ‘got it’ and offered us an inside room (we’d paid for an outside room) on the other side of deck 2. So we packed up our things to move for the night, dragged them all around to the new room and were getting ready to settle in when we found that the toilet had back-flushed and the bathroom floor was awash with …… No wonder the room didn’t smell too good. So back to our original room we went. I was very impressed with the way my wife used the access card for the temporary room like a ninja star …. It’s still stuck firmly in the wall behind the concierge desk!! A second big fail RCI!!

It appeared to me that there was a lack of leadership on ROTS, from the Captain down. When the commander of your ship has a short stature and has a speaking voice like Michael Jackson, how can you command any respect?! He’s probably an exceptionally good master mariner and took us through some of the most treacherous coral reefs in the world but he’s probably not a very formidable character. Apart from the waiting and cleaning staff, most of the crew didn’t seem to care at all. It felt like they were thinking, “Lets get rid of these darned Aussies in Sydney so we can head back home to Seattle for the Alaskan cruise season”.

Now to the ports of call ……

SINGAPORE

An amazing place! Big, modern, clean, sophisticated and very interesting. It a very expensive place to stay but quite cheap to get around. Our travel agent recommended not staying there as it can easily get to $500 per night for a family. So we arrived at around 8:30 am on an Emirates (they’re brilliant) flight from Brisbane. We had a tour van pick us up at the airport and we chose to go to Raffles, Chinatown and Marina Bay Sands Sky Park. Using the van meant we could keep our luggage with us and then get dropped off at the cruise terminal. This ended up costing us only $45 as we cashed in some credit card points when we booked it. Raffles was very interesting and a charming hotel. We wanted to have a sling in the Long Bar but we were there about an hour before it opened. We then went to Chinatown and had a look around the streets and shops. Once again, very interesting, non-threatening and everyone is very polite and considering there’s four official languages, everyone speaks perfect English. Prices on some things were very cheap, some were much the same as in Australia. Marina Bay Sands has an amazing view from the Sky Park. Admission was about $16 each but for a 200m+ vantage point it was worth every cent. Plenty of photo opportunities here. At each place our driver Kadir waited patiently for us. He then took us up to a vantage point in Mt Faber park where you can see the cruise terminal (no ROTS though) before taking us back there. I’d love to spend more time in Singapore, although it’s often very hot and humid, everything seems to be 10 times bigger …. Especially the ports and the thousands of ship waiting to dock!

BALI

Having been to Bali before, I wasn’t keen to go ashore. Members of my family wanted to buy some cheap stuff so off we went. Last time I was here I stayed in Sanur Beach in a bungalow style resort hotel. It was quite well shielded from the pestering commercialism that Bali is annoyingly renowned for. Not so in the surrounding streets and on beaches. But this time, we were going to Kuta Beach which is a whole different ball game. The port of Benowa is accessed by the ships tender, the gangway was nicely decorated in Balinese fare, flags and tinsel of all things! The terminal is a small building smelling of incense and humidity! Just outside where cabs and buses pull up, there were hundreds of people oozing through a wire fence trying to peddle all sorts of stuff (carvings, perfumes, watches etc). It looked like a leper colony desperate for a cure! Somehow, a driver directed us to a dodgy little beamo (mini-bus) which didn’t have a side door! Then he sped us at several hundred kph into Kuta for an agreed rate of about $20. It was total chaos, you can’t take one step without dozens of people forcing stuff on you that you don’t want. And if you don’t haggle the price it’s apparently bad luck. There first bid is about 11 times greater than the price they settle on! It’s like a shopping equivalent of a commando course with live ammunition. After 10 minutes, you need pain killers for the headache. To cut along story short, leaving Bali is the highlight in my book!

DARWIN

We managed to wake up before dawn just as we were approaching Darwin. Being on deck at that time was a great experience and Darwin looked bigger and more impressive in its neon glow before sunrise. Tropical sunrises and sunsets are really worth the effort if you get the chance. We had to wait until about 6:00 am for Windjammer to open for breakfast but at least we were off the ship early. RCI offered a shuttle service into the CBD for $7 per person, each way. We just waited for the first cab to arrive and it was less than $7 for the two of us into the Smith Street Mall. It was quite dead at that time as the shops hadn’t opened yet but it wasn’t long before it got busy. So being the smallest capital city in Australia all the shops were in easy reach so we could stock up on a few things at the supermarket etc. It’s a compact but nice CBD and the surrounding parks are clean and well manicured, there seems to be a lot of pride in the place. The new waterfront precinct adjacent to the wharf was very impressive. New apartment blocks, cool surf shops, a huge wave pool, crocodile proof lagoons, a large breakwater pathway to the wharf and a lift up the cliffs to the CBD level. The walk back to the ship took only 10 minutes. Darwin is full of history and there were plenty of landmarks and memorials etc detailing the Japanese bombing from 1942 and cyclone Tracey. It’s amazing to see the old town hall and a church (both stone buildings) that survived 64 bombing raids but were destroyed by a cyclone! As we were having lunch in Windjammer that day we looked down and could see a small crocodile swimming only a few metres away.

CAIRNS

I didn’t have any high expectations of Cairns. I thought it might be a bit of a redneck city but I was pleasantly surprised. It was far more sophisticated than I imagined and seemed to be a Mecca for backpackers and overseas tourists. We walked up to the main shopping mall, met some distant relatives there and had a coffee. We didn’t do any of the tourist things or excursions here, they are quite expensive. But we checked it all out as we were coming back here on a P&O cruise two months later. That afternoon I walked up to the huge marina for a good look around and to take a few pictures. ROTS is the largest ship to ever dock in Cairns. I later learned that there’s only a one metre clearance below the hull here.

AIRLIE BEACH

It appeared that RCI had contracted three large catamarans to perform the tendering process. Four of the ships tenders were lowered and tethered together in the distance but possibly just for maintenance of their gantries. Airlie Beach is a pretty destination in the Whitsunday Islands area. RCI were offering a shuttle service into the main street from the marina for $7 per person each way. It was only a 15 minute walk along a boardwalk so I assume the buses would be more for those who couldn’t walk far. Like most towns in the Australian tropics it had a large lagoon pool at the beach as stingers can be a problem in the sea water. Someone appeared to stuff up the tender arrangements as one of the catamarans headed off to South Molle Island to pick up some tourist and left the ROTS passengers at the marina. We had to then wait about 45 minutes until the next one, then another 15 minutes on boards while it loaded up. Although it didn’t really bother us and we had some shade under the marquees, hundreds were stuck out in the sun and plenty of complaints were flying back and forth.

BRISBANE

ROTS has a Gross Tonnage of barely 2% more than Sun Princess but cannot berth at suburban Hamilton wharf, possibly due to its ability to pass under the Gateway Bridge. So the larger ships berth at the Fisherman's Island grain wharf (not pretty at all). This is a long way from anywhere and is likely to cost $70 by cab and is not serviced by public transport. RCI provided bus travel into the Brisbane CBD for $27 per person each way. This is our local port so we treated it as a sea day and stayed on board. Not many people stayed on so we had must of the ship to ourselves.

SYDNEY

We were up before dawn to sail into Sydney. Many others on board had the same idea, then went back down to get warm clothing …. It was a cold April morning. Sydney Harbour is stunning, even more so before sunrise. After docking at Circular Quay we had our last breakfast in Windjammer and watched Dawn Princess sail past the Opera House on its way into Darling Harbour. Disembarkation was quite quick and easy, then it was a half hour wait for a cab. To ease back into normal life we had booked a 4 hour lunch cruise around the harbour. I don’t think you could ever get sick of the sights here. Then, a cab to the airport for the flight to Brisbane and thoughts of the next cruise.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to cruise with RCI again. Apart from the novelty of perhaps going on Allure while it’s still the biggest cruise liner on the planet, I’d be inclined to stick with the lines in the Carnival group. At least they have tangible rewards and try really hard to encourage you to come back. Nice Ship, Windows Cleaned Often, Continuous Painting, Ports of Call (except Bali) Entertainment, Management, Lack of Customer Care, A Day Without Water, Bali

The worst experience of cruising ever – This ship was the worst I have ever experienced in a total of 19 cruises. A supposed $20,000 'luxury' cruise was so bad that I disembarked half-way and flew home. Do not waste your money on a cruise on this ship - even after 18 months I am still suffering the traumatic after-effects of the most awful trip ever. Extremely bad value for money, on a horrible ship with horrible staff. Don't bother.

Excellent cruise holiday – Just got back from a 9 night South pacific cruise on the Rhapsody of the Seas. The service onboard was excellent. The standard of the show each night was extremely high. There was a wide selection of food at the dining room and the Windjammer Cafe. There was never a boring moment with continuous activities all day. High stand of service  Show 2 replies

The perfect holiday – This ship had so much to do and see that I sometimes forgot that I was floating in the middle of the ocean! They have a varied program of activities catering for those who are there to relax and those who are looking for a bit more of an adventure. good food, good drinks, varied activities, comfortable shows could use some improvment