Anyone cruised Royal Caribbean?

[tassie cruiser]

Hi all,

 

We have previously cruised with P&O (twice) and Princess. Yesterday I made a booking with Royal Caribbean - Rhapsody Of The Seas. Havent paid deposit yet, but to get cheap price we have to pay deposit today..HELP.....

Has anyone cruised out of Syd (or anywhere Aus) on Rhapsody? If so, any advice would be appreciated...Am a bit confused with the US currency etc...on ship.. From what I can gather they have the drinks card (like Princess) which we liked also read about a drinks card for adults (alcohol drinks) I read that on a review somewhere. Does this apply here? Anything else you can tell me would be great as we are supposed to pay deposit today. I could leave till next week but they said cabins selling fast as it is a NYE cruise and dont want to miss out as prices are great. Thanks very much in advance....(forgot to say there is 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids - will be 15 & 18 at time of sailing) Fionax

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Go for it....

[tassie cruiser]

Go for it....

 

 

Hahaha, gee thanks...that was sooooooo much help...lol.......Fiona

[The Fox]

Hi all,

 

We have previously cruised with P&O (twice) and Princess. Yesterday I made a booking with Royal Caribbean - Rhapsody Of The Seas. Havent paid deposit yet, but to get cheap price we have to pay deposit today..HELP.....

Has anyone cruised out of Syd (or anywhere Aus) on Rhapsody? If so, any advice would be appreciated...Am a bit confused with the US currency etc...on ship.. From what I can gather they have the drinks card (like Princess) which we liked also read about a drinks card for adults (alcohol drinks) I read that on a review somewhere. Does this apply here? Anything else you can tell me would be great as we are supposed to pay deposit today. I could leave till next week but they said cabins selling fast as it is a NYE cruise and dont want to miss out as prices are great. Thanks very much in advance....(forgot to say there is 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids - will be 15 & 18 at time of sailing) Fionax

 

 

Hi,

 

I have cruised on Rhapsody twice and its a fantastic ship.Its USD onboard and my suggestion is to buy your USD while our dollar is up.Take it onboard as cash and leave it in your safe and pay it off your onboard account during the cruise.RCI excharge rate changes daily and is not linked to the stock exchange.in oct 08 on our cruise it dropped on one day to 0.51.but if you purchase your dollars you are not effected by any exchange rate you have it cash .another tip if you like most still need to convert the last days spending on your visa card tick the box saying your bank to do the conversion.

 

follow those tips and you will have no trouble .last month on our cruise we brough our USD at 0.94AUD and the exchange rate onboard varied from 0.81 to 0.86.by buying ours we always gotbthe benefit of 0.94.

 

You will love the ship and you will enjoy the cruise.

 

Cheers

 

Col ...i hope you understand what i was saying...i typed in haste so to try and help you.:)

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hahaha, gee thanks...that was sooooooo much help...lol.......Fiona

 

 

Hi Fiona,

 

More thoughts ,

The exchange rate is great at the moment, for you.

You have the chance to experience another line, and the way things are done.

 

We have done 2 RCL cruises, Vision in Alaska, and Legend when it was doing the Au/NZ run, and really enjoyed both.

[NSWP]

I made an enquiry on RCI site yesterday, the quote for transatlantic on Independence of the Seas had added on it..the auto tips, only for Aussies. The Americans do not have their tips added to their cruise fare before they go, it is added on to the on board account and adjustable, for us I think not.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

NCL did the same for us.

I think its great, as I all I want to know is the up front cost.

We even got a voucher to say our tips had been paid, and when we gave it to our "stewart" he was totaly bowled over.... and could not do enough for us after that.

[tassie cruiser]

I made an enquiry on RCI site yesterday, the quote for transatlantic on Independence of the Seas had added on it..the auto tips, only for Aussies. The Americans do not have their tips added to their cruise fare before they go, it is added on to the on board account and adjustable, for us I think not.

 

Les,

 

I checked with them and they said it is $15 US dollars per day per person. That can be adjusted or removed at anytime as long as it is before the last sailing night....does that sound right? Fiona :)

[resordanis]

Hi all,

 

We have previously cruised with P&O (twice) and Princess. Yesterday I made a booking with Royal Caribbean - Rhapsody Of The Seas. Havent paid deposit yet, but to get cheap price we have to pay deposit today..HELP.....

Has anyone cruised out of Syd (or anywhere Aus) on Rhapsody? If so, any advice would be appreciated...Am a bit confused with the US currency etc...on ship.. From what I can gather they have the drinks card (like Princess) which we liked also read about a drinks card for adults (alcohol drinks) I read that on a review somewhere. Does this apply here? Anything else you can tell me would be great as we are supposed to pay deposit today. I could leave till next week but they said cabins selling fast as it is a NYE cruise and dont want to miss out as prices are great. Thanks very much in advance....(forgot to say there is 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids - will be 15 & 18 at time of sailing) Fionax

Hi Fiona,

I agree with everyone else re the money side of things. We have cruised twice on Rhapsody and will again cruise on her in October, it is a great ship. One thing with paying your deposit today, if you ring them, I think they might extend it for a few days (they did for us last year). Yes, things are filling up at present, that is because they currently have a sale, but they always seem to get cabins out of the woodwork at another time it you miss this one (ever though yours is a NY cruise). Hope this helps

[rkmw]

Les,

 

I checked with them and they said it is $15 US dollars per day per person. That can be adjusted or removed at anytime as long as it is before the last sailing night....does that sound right? Fiona :)

 

hi Fiona, i had a look at an online TA and they quote Gratuities of AUD $146pp but that is included in with the price

 

with the Rhapsody 12 months ago if you wanted to pay your tips you had to sign a paper to put it on your account

 

its a lovely ship so if you book it have a great time and buy some USD while the price is up

 

i found this from a US TA's site

 

Tipping Guidelines Waiter, $3.50 per person/day. Asst. waiter, $2 per person/day. Maitre'D, $.75 per person/day. Cabin steward, $3.50 ($5.75 for Suites) per person/day. 15% tip included on beverage orders

 

add that up and its $9.75 US PP P/D

 

 

 

rkmw

[Ausgirl]

Just got off Rhapsody yesterday - 2 week cruise to NZ. Loved every minute, she is a beautiful ship and you will have no regrets.

[Guest012]

We have cruised on her twice with a third coming up next month...we love everything about this ship and she has the friendliest crew we have ever cruised with....she is our favorite and to this stage we rate her above all others we have cruised on...can't wait to get onboard cruising this time with friends we met on her first Honolulu to Sydney cruise back in 2007........cruising on the Navigator of the Seas in October will be interesting to see if the standard is fleet wise.......in my mind all cruise ships are worth a try....at least once...cheers Shiona

[The_Big_M]

add that up and its $9.75 US PP P/D

 

That's the correct amount per person for a regular stateroom (Suites are extra). You'll find it on the RCL site as well. It also applies to children as well as adults.

[tassie cruiser]

We have cruised on her twice with a third coming up next month...we love everything about this ship and she has the friendliest crew we have ever cruised with....she is our favorite and to this stage we rate her above all others we have cruised on...can't wait to get onboard cruising this time with friends we met on her first Honolulu to Sydney cruise back in 2007........cruising on the Navigator of the Seas in October will be interesting to see if the standard is fleet wise.......in my mind all cruise ships are worth a try....at least once...cheers Shiona

 

Shiona,

Thanks for that, just what I wanted to hear.... As we have only cruised P&O and Princess, can I ask couple questions?? What are the drink prices like? I read somewhere where you can buy drink cards (for adults) alcholic drinks, think it was something like $44 for 12..wasnt sure if that applied to Aus sailings..or maybe i got that from a US site. They have the drinks card for kids?? Is there a charge for the Pizza place, on P&O there is , Princess there is not... any other info would be great, thanks... Fiona

[The Fox]

Les,

 

I checked with them and they said it is $15 US dollars per day per person. That can be adjusted or removed at anytime as long as it is before the last sailing night....does that sound right? Fiona :)

 

 

Hi Fiona,

 

When we cruised on ROS in december if you had anytime dining the gratutities were complusory ...if you had set dining they were not.

 

Cheers

 

 

Col

[NSWP]

Thanks for the info on gratuities on RCI. Am looking at doing a transatlantic next year after our South American cruise on Star Princess. Transatlantics for April 2011, not yet out but some good deals for April 2010, i.e. Independence of the seas for $1500, 14 days, Ft Lauderdale to UK, doing a little of the Azores, Spain and Portugal on the way, hope it is on next year. I will be on it. A lot of the ships head over to Europe from the Americas in April each year, repositioning cruises, bargains, way to go.

[Guest012]

Shiona,

Thanks for that, just what I wanted to hear.... As we have only cruised P&O and Princess, can I ask couple questions?? What are the drink prices like? I read somewhere where you can buy drink cards (for adults) alcholic drinks, think it was something like $44 for 12..wasnt sure if that applied to Aus sailings..or maybe i got that from a US site. They have the drinks card for kids?? Is there a charge for the Pizza place, on P&O there is , Princess there is not... any other info would be great, thanks... Fiona

 

Hi Fiona the drinks in USD are slightly higher in price than P.O/Princess Australia but on a par with Princess USA...having said that on the ROTS they sure weren't meanies with the alcohol and i think the cocktails are bigger on this ship....i could only manage one drink a day...:D:D so our overall onboard account was lower on this ship than others..they did run special two for one cocktails but be warned they are the watered down versions... Someone else i am sure can help with the alcohol and soda cards we haven't purchased either and still haven't found the time to go have pizza yet....don't even think we had a hamburger...but i know they were no charge......lol...........maybe in February.......

 

Les good thinking with the repo, John and I are doing a transatlantic in October Rome to Ft. L price was ridiculous ....$865US 14 nts for a Promenade cabin....i call it our insideoutside or is it outsideinside cabin....:D the repo's are definately the way to go....excellent value.....cheers Shiona

[subaru94]

Does the Rhapsody of the Seas have a piano bar at all please?

[Ausgirl]

Does the Rhapsody of the Seas have a piano bar at all please?

 

Yes the Schooner Bar is a piano bar in the evenings, and is a lovely place to spend time after dinner.