kawagama

We did our very first ever cruise last year (May) with HAL to Alaska. We were on the Noordam and quite enjoyed it. We had a balcony stateroom which was very comfortable and our cabin stewards were great. We are in our early 60s. Haven't yet done a cruise with RCI, but are booked for October.

From what I gather, some of the differences are in things to do. We had several sea days on our cruise and found those a little long. I guess we just didn't take advantage of all the talks and demonstrations on board the ship. There certainly was a long list, however! We enjoyed the food quite a bit. The portions in the MDR were not large, but certainly adequate. And if you have a large appetite, you can certainly order more. The buffet was great too--lots of different stations, always something to choose. Sometimes, getting a seat in the LIDO was tricky, but we always managed to find two. We did Open Seating dining and enjoyed the company of many different folks from all over. The Noordam holds approximately 1900 guests and while that is a smaller ship, we basically never saw the same people twice at dinner! Or anywhere else! So certainly large enough for us.

The one thing about HAL is that they do let people smoke on the balconies (unless they've finally changed that) and you cannot bring your own wine anywhere on the ship without paying a corkage fee. You can only drink it in your own stateroom--something which we found quite annoying. I am looking forward to bringing my own glass of wine to dinner on our RCI cruise.

Getting on in Vancouver was long and tiring. I guess we went at the wrong time (when everyone else did!) and ended up waiting in several long lines--one for immigration and security and the other to get checked in. Later we found out that some people through this process had been given the chance to sit down for part of the wait--something we couldn't do. However, they did have stewards wandering around with glasses of lemonade and cookies.

We enjoyed the cruise. The boat was very clean, lots of hand sanitizers everywhere, comfortable rooms (and beds), and plenty to do without going over the top.

We are going on the Rhapsody in October. We are not soda drinkers, generally, nor are we big drinkers of alcohol either, although wine with dinner is always nice. If you have to pay for soda and alcohol on this ship, what is there to drink that is included? Just water, tea, and regular coffee? Are there fruit juices available at all? Sparkling water?

We are two couples travelling on Rhapsody in October and have selected My Time Dining option. Is it possible to reserve dinner times for My Time Dining in advance of the cruise, or do we do that once we are on the ship? I've only cruised once on HAL and we reserved each day or the day before, but because of that could only get a very early or a very late dinner time. If we wanted a more standard dinner time (6-7:30) we had to just go and wait in line (which never took very long at all). Is that the same on RCI ships? Or specifically on Rhapsody? And if I can reserve in advance, when would I be able to do that? How soon before the cruise? We most likely will not do specialty restaurants. Thanks for any advice!

We've only been on one cruise (to Alaska) and are now going on a second one in October. Both times we chose according to where we wanted to go first and then looked at what was available and the price. For Alaska we ended up with HAL because of timing and availability. We wanted to go in May and some of the other cruise lines were already booked in the category that was preferable to us. In October we are going on RCI because we are cruising out of Venice and doing the Greek Islands. Our only other choices were NCL and then some other European lines. A friend told me to stay away from NCL because she had heard very negative reviews from several people she knows. So, basically that narrowed it down to RCI for us. We also chose a cruise because we are going with another couple. A cruise allows us to be together, but also to do our own thing on the ship. A land tour would have us together all the time in a car or bus or train. We felt it would be a good compromise trip.

Head to Maho Beach, go to the Sunset Bar and Grill and watch the planes come in. It's amazing!

Keep checking CC daily. You'll see someone here posting the info. CCrs are the BEST!

Is it too early to do that for an October cruise?

Very new to cruising. How do you find out about these discounts? Do you check the RCI website daily or do they send announcements? We're not going til October.

Thanks so much! That's great news! On HAL we could only drink the wine in our rooms if we wanted to avoid being charged extra for waiters to open it for us. I guess it was their way of ensuring that people bought their wine for dinner.

We are booked to sail on the Rhapsody in October out of Venice and have only been on one cruise before, with HAL. I would like some info about wine (and other beverage) procedures on RCI if anyone can help.

1) Are we allowed to bring our wine on board on the Rhapsody? One per person?

2) Must this wine be consumed only in our stateroom or are we free to take a glass to the dining room for dinner? Or to a lounge? Or on deck?

3) If we bring the bottle to the dining room for dinner, will we be charged a corkage fee? If so, anyone know what that is? On HAL it was quite high, but all this was clearly spelled out on their website. I haven't been able to find any kind of info fact sheet for RCI.

4) Is water available in the Windjammer? Can one fill a personal water bottle there? Or do we have to buy water on board?

Thanks for any tips! We are not seasoned cruisers, so a lot of these dos and donts are still a mystery to us novices.

Thank you! We aren't looking for golf or zip lines either. Our itinerary hits Kotor, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, and Argostoli. I was hoping for Santorini, but our friends were worried about a stop in Turkey, so we opted for this one instead. Just booked it last night!

The itinerary we are looking at is slightly different, but in the same area. We are two retired couples from Canada and are simply looking for comfortable rooms (beds) and decent food. We aren't super fussy, but want to make sure we aren't disappointed. Were you happy with the food selections and your accommodation?

We are two retired couples, so on the other end of the spectrum than you! Were the cabins and beds comfortable? Was the food good? That's basically the negatives I'm seeing. We are Canadian, so on the polite side (lol), and aren't fussy high society types. We are looking for comfort and decent food, basically. Thank you for responding!

Four of us are looking to book an October cruise to the Greek Islands. It seems that the only lines that do this are RCI, MSC and Costa at that time (that are in our budget). The two itineraries that we are looking at leave from Venice and that means the Rhapsody of the Seas. The reviews I have been reading are not great and I don't want to book something that will be a poor experience. I have only been on one cruise (with HAL) to Alaska. Our friends have never been. I would like this to be a good experience. Will we be disappointed, or should we just ignore all the negative reviews and forge ahead to book? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.