Rhaspody of the seas

[bateau bay]

Looking at booking a cruise on the ROS on 23rd October doing the Fiji leg.

Can anyone give us some information on her and what they think?

Looking for some photos that past passengers would have taken. Found lots of professional shots.

[lorry like a truck]

Hi, Went on the Rhapsody in November. Lovely ship. Passenger areas are great. Food was beaut. The buffet was the best I have had. The staff were fabulous. No complaints from me on any issues. Very nice ship.

[mattandkelly]

We absolutely love Rhapsody of the Seas so much so, that it was a tough decision to book Radiance this year rather then go on Rhapsody again. The ship is beautiful and the staff are brilliant - very helpful and lovely. Food was great and plenty of it!! The midnight chocolate buffet has to be seen to be believed! All the passenger areas are lovely, our favourite was the Viking Lounge looking out over the ocean and watching the world go by!

 

Our 6yo daughter loved the Adventure Ocean kids club and we often had to drag her out of there complaining she wanted to stay til midnight!! Hubby enjoyed the casino and had a few wins on blackjack, I had no such luck on the pokies!

 

Didnt spend much time in the Solarium as we have a child and its adults only but it also seemed a bit stuffy and humid, we much preferred cocktails by the main pool.

 

I'm sure you will have a great time on Rhapsody - enjoy!

[sydneycruiser]

About to go on her tomorrow for the third time - can't wait! The Rhapsody is a great ship, staff wonderful and food good. The activities are fun and the entertainment varied.

 

As she's about to be refurbished, the Rhapsody should be even better then :)

 

You'll have a great time!:D

[Debsta]

We absolutely love Rhapsody of the Seas so much so, that it was a tough decision to book Radiance this year rather then go on Rhapsody again. The ship is beautiful and the staff are brilliant - very helpful and lovely. Food was great and plenty of it!! The midnight chocolate buffet has to be seen to be believed! All the passenger areas are lovely, our favourite was the Viking Lounge looking out over the ocean and watching the world go by!

 

Our 6yo daughter loved the Adventure Ocean kids club and we often had to drag her out of there complaining she wanted to stay til midnight!! Hubby enjoyed the casino and had a few wins on blackjack, I had no such luck on the pokies!

 

Didnt spend much time in the Solarium as we have a child and its adults only but it also seemed a bit stuffy and humid, we much preferred cocktails by the main pool.

 

I'm sure you will have a great time on Rhapsody - enjoy!

 

There is no longer a midnight chocolate buffet :( (as well as the mega pastry/cake buffet). In their infinite wisdom, RCL decided that Australian's didn't deserve it this cruising season :mad:

[chookie65]

I'm booked and we can't wait .... I read on here that it's being said that they are going to cut this ship in half and add a whole section.... How do you find out if that's true or false:eek:

[megsie]

What I liked best about Rhapsody of the Seas was the amount of natural light in the interior of the ship. The centrum and dining area feel very spacious because of this. Went down memory lane and looked at some photos in Dec 09 and Jan 11. On the Radiance next month then a Syd to Bris on QE.

 

[megsie]

The Rhapsody is actually berthed in OPT, Sydney today. Can watch her

leaving live, scheduled for 18.30, today on YHA, Sydney Harbour live webcam or coastalwatch sydney harbour webcam. Nice to watch, there used to be a webcam where you could see the ships going through the Sydney Heads out to sea but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. Nice little time waster when things are quiet and dinner's cooking!

[hbtcruiser]

I'm booked and we can't wait .... I read on here that it's being said that they are going to cut this ship in half and add a whole section.... How do you find out if that's true or false:eek:

 

Rhapsody is sailing to Singapore in March for a 4 week refurbishment. From the information I have found they are going to do improvements to the staterooms (new tvs, carpet, etc) and add a couple of specialty restaurants. Its hard to find much more information about this, like exactly which restaurants they are going to add.

 

http://www.*****.com/2011/07/11/royal-caribbean-planning-major-cruise-fleet-upgrade

 

I have a trip booked on Rhapsody in April to Hawaii and are really looking forward to having a look a the ship with the improvements! I will be sure to post some photos :)

[taninaus]

Just sailed on Rhapsody and it is a great ship - the public spaces are lovely. From what I could gather about the renovation from our wait staff (who will be helping with the renovation!) and others they will be cutting through the middle of the ship and adding a large section that includes 300 more rooms, specialty restaurants and a few other facilities. I understand that this will affect the centrum in some way. Also the Moonlight Bar/Conference room will be remodelled, maybe to be a speciality restaurant so I would expect the conference facilities to be relocated. Also as Moonlight was one of the regularly used areas for ship activities that sort of space would likely be replicated somewhere else.

 

Having not seen plans I am not sure how this will all be achieved. The centrum is a fabulous place and it is lovely to be able to see and hear the musical activities from multiple levels and via the glass lifts so I would imagine something like this will be retained, but how and in what format I am not sure.

[kaseyoz]

There is no longer a midnight chocolate buffet :( (as well as the mega pastry/cake buffet). In their infinite wisdom, RCL decided that Australian's didn't deserve it this cruising season :mad:

 

 

Just back from a 3 night Rhapsody cruise and they had a great deck party along with a Midnight(?) buffet outside.

[gbenjo]

Just sailed on Rhapsody and it is a great ship - the public spaces are lovely. From what I could gather about the renovation from our wait staff (who will be helping with the renovation!) and others they will be cutting through the middle of the ship and adding a large section that includes 300 more rooms, specialty restaurants and a few other facilities. I understand that this will affect the centrum in some way. Also the Moonlight Bar/Conference room will be remodelled, maybe to be a speciality restaurant so I would expect the conference facilities to be relocated. Also as Moonlight was one of the regularly used areas for ship activities that sort of space would likely be replicated somewhere else..

 

I was working down at the Overseas Terminal in Sydney today and had a chat with Rick Sullivan, who is the captain of the Rhapsody and he confirmed that they definately will not be cutting the ship half . I also think you may have made a typo when you said they will be adding 300 more rooms did you mean 30? Captain Rick said there would about twenty more staterooms added and there will be specialty restaurants added and upgrades to the staterooms as well as other "technical" modifications to the ship He was a little surprised that the crew would have told you that they were cutting the ship in two as they were all briefed on what was going to be done Anyway hope this dispels the rumours

[chookie65]

I was at a travel expo on the Gold Coast on the weekend and there was an RCI booth. The staff there said that rhapsody would NOT be cut in half BUT they did say that new balconies would be added plus all the things you said about total refurbishment of cabins ... Carpet, beds, lounges, linen, flat screen TVs ... And the new restaurants. They commented that there will also be a surprise as well and of course didn't say what. But said that the refurb will be much the same as splendour so maybe the rooms will get the iPads ????

 

I have recently seen about 12 cabins come and go on sale on deck 8 - junior suites and the cabin numbers aren't on the deck plans but RCI told me they were aft cabins. They came and went in about a week. I was also offered a family suite on deck 8 which I was told will be a new cabin opposite the royal suite.

 

Very exciting for us who are cruising after the refurb!!!!

[megsie]

There is an interesting article in cruise critic news section on the Rhapsody improvements. Lots of new restaurants, outdoor screen and technology (including iPads). It's under 2.7.2012 cruise critic news as Another Royal caribbean ship To look more like the Oasis of the Seas. A bit of a stretch for this comparison but I think I'd like to check out the centrum changes.

[musicorn]

I have been on Radiance (16 nights) & Rhapsody (3 nights) this year. Radiance had both a midnight poolside buffet and a chocolate buffet and Rhapsody had a poolside buffet just before midnight.

 

I personally like the Radiance better but would not say no to another cruise on the Rhapsody either.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[rugbypopsie]

Have not had the pleasure of the Rhapsody yet but I like the Radiance very much...however not so sure about this apparent policy of stuffing more cabins....???

[Vader1111]

I'm really hoping they don't make the mistake they did with the Radiance. On this ship, they chopped the Viking Crown Lounge in two (in the most amateurish way possible), making half of it accessible only to the elite few (suite owners & those with 90+ nights sailing with Royal Caribbean). They had to do this because they opted to replace the previous elite lounge with more cabins. They really made a horrible hash of the conversion, which never should have been approved in the first place.

[The_Big_M]

It wasn't their most shining design moment.

 

However, I think it helps them from a 'specs' perspective. For those who just look at what has 'the most' on it, they've squeezed more into the same space. Makes lots of things very small and not so well designed, but they can claim that they are there (as compared to others e.g. Rhapsody).

[Skyrules]

I'm booked and we can't wait .... I read on here that it's being said that they are going to cut this ship in half and add a whole section.... How do you find out if that's true or false:eek:

 

We did the recent 3 night cruise on Rhapsody, and that story was doing the rounds of the ship.

 

Another story going around was that the new speciality restaurants were going to put into the space currently occupied by the Eidelwiess Restaurant.

 

What I do know is that the Moonlight Bay Bar will be converted to a speciality restaurant and the Crown & Anchor lounge (above the Viking Crown Bar) will also be converted to a speciality restaurant.

[chookie65]

The American website for RCI has been updated and now includes the new things coming on Rhapsody ..... click on the link and scroll down to read the ships features... Remodelled staterooms, ipads in all rooms, flat screen TVs, new furniture and linen/completely remodelled interiors, new bathrooms, chops grills, park cafe, izumi, chefs table, poolside outdoor screen, concierge club and diamond lounge, new a la carte menu in viking crown lounge, royal baby and tots (not for me), R Bar and Britto Gallery. All sounds fabulous.

 

I guess they have updated the US website because she's off to Alaska during winter.... at least we know what's happening now from the RCI website.

 

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipClassCode=VI&shipCode=RH&br=R

[BrizV64]

We have just returned from a ten night cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas. We went with our 3 grown up children and their partners and we all had a fabulous time. It's a ship with a great atmosphere. Captain Rick - what a lovely man! He was super professional and informative all the way through the cruise, but you could see he had a great sense of humour too, which I am sure all the passengers enjoyed. The staff were very helpful, warm and friendly. The meals were delicious, wait staff very attentive. Our cabin was very clean and meticulously attended to. No complaints at all. I don't think any of our family wanted to leave when we docked in Sydney, we all felt a bit sad saying goodbye. We are so ready to book another cruise at the end of the year, same ship - can't wait to cruise on the Rhapsody again. Make sure you go to all the shows in the theatre, we enjoyed every single one of them. So much to do on board, it really is the best holiday. I have nothing but praise and positive comments to say about this wonderful ship and her staff.:):):)

[BrizV64]

We have just returned from a ten night cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas. We went with our 3 grown up children and their partners and we all had a fabulous time. It's a ship with a great atmosphere. Captain Rick - what a lovely man! He was super professional and informative all the way through the cruise, but you could see he had a great sense of humour too, which I am sure all the passengers enjoyed. The staff were very helpful, warm and friendly. The meals were delicious, wait staff very attentive. Our cabin was very clean and meticulously attended to. No complaints at all. I don't think any of our family wanted to leave when we docked in Sydney, we all felt a bit sad saying goodbye. We are so ready to book another cruise at the end of the year, same ship - can't wait to cruise on the Rhapsody again. Make sure you go to all the shows in the theatre, we enjoyed every single one of them. So much to do on board, it really is the best holiday. I have nothing but praise and positive comments to say about this wonderful ship and her staff.:):):)

[wilko1969]

we just returned on the 16th FEB .We had a ball .We alreay booked another cruise on the same ship Cant wait until year.I cant fault this cruise ship

[ashnmar]

We have just returned from a ten night cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas. We went with our 3 grown up children and their partners and we all had a fabulous time. It's a ship with a great atmosphere. Captain Rick - what a lovely man! He was super professional and informative all the way through the cruise, but you could see he had a great sense of humour too, which I am sure all the passengers enjoyed. The staff were very helpful, warm and friendly. The meals were delicious, wait staff very attentive. Our cabin was very clean and meticulously attended to. No complaints at all. I don't think any of our family wanted to leave when we docked in Sydney, we all felt a bit sad saying goodbye. We are so ready to book another cruise at the end of the year, same ship - can't wait to cruise on the Rhapsody again. Make sure you go to all the shows in the theatre, we enjoyed every single one of them. So much to do on board, it really is the best holiday. I have nothing but praise and positive comments to say about this wonderful ship and her staff.:):):)

 

Well put, couldnt put it nicer if we tried. Agreed...................:D

[tulip69]

Well i am going on my first cruise on Rhapsody in December. Never having cruised before my daughter and her husband suggested that i join them on this cruise. Lookong forward to it very much. Having a few nights in Sydney first. :):rolleyes::D