Rhapsody at Christmas

[Fattyre20]

My wife and I having been on two previous cruises with Princess and are scheduled for Rhapsody sailing on the 24th and this time we are taking our 4 boys (after all it is Christmas!). I'm looking for feedback on a few items regarding Royal.

 

* I've seen the offer of the Soda/Juice packages for kids and adults at a daily charge. Is this necessary? On princess you could always go to an open dining area and get beverages (non-alcoholic) included in the package.

 

* How strict are they with bringing your own wine on board? We were hoping to bring a specific bottle for Christmas day - more sentimental than "fine". We had brought our bottle on our previous cruise but now I'm starting to wonder if we were breaking a rule without knowing.

 

* Our ports of call are Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Any recommendations on shore excursions would be more than welcome as our children range in age from 8, 11, 14 and 17. I've decided on taking my 14 and 17 year old scuba diving in Cozumel (non-certifed dive) as they both would like to try diving.

 

All feedback and guidance - greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[wrp96]

The drinks that are included in your cruise fare a coffee, tea, lemonade, milk, and juice but only at breakfast. Sodas are always extra, even in the dining rooms and juice is extra after breakfast time. If you don't drink a lot of sodas, you can purchase sodas and juice each time without getting the soda card.

[oldmedic]

Fattyre20,

you will be getting on the ship as we are departing. You might want to check the strings specific to the ports for excursion information. As far as Jamaica you might like to contact Carolyn at http://www.barrettadventures.com we have used her several times and loved it each time!! you can see some of my pics at http://www.oldmedic.smugmug.com We always enjoy Y S Falls and the Rockland bird sanctuary in Jamaica, but Carolyn has multiple excursions that would probably be interesting to you and your kids... Can't think of a better place to dive than Coz. especially for an intro to scuba class. hope you enjoy your vacation as much as we are going to enjoy ours!!! If we can help in any other way, please let us know!!

[Mcmflow]

Fattyre20,

you will be getting on the ship as we are departing. You might want to check the strings specific to the ports for excursion information. As far as Jamaica you might like to contact Carolyn at www.barrettadventures.com we have used her several times and loved it each time!! you can see some of my pics at www.oldmedic.smugmug.com We always enjoy Y S Falls and the Rockland bird sanctuary in Jamaica, but Carolyn has multiple excursions that would probably be interesting to you and your kids... Can't think of a better place to dive than Coz. especially for an intro to scuba class. hope you enjoy your vacation as much as we are going to enjoy ours!!! If we can help in any other way, please let us know!!

 

Oldmedic,

 

Just curious, I notice from your pictures you have taken a lot of carnival cruises as well. I was wondering what you thought the main differences were between the two companys and if you liked one better than the other. Thanks!

[Fattyre20]

Thank you for your guidance and feedback. We are really looking forward to the Christmas and discussion of Christmas on the ship is starting to consume our dinner conversations.

 

I did think of a couple of more questions:

 

* Does anyone know the prices for the dinner wine package (approx?) - I couldn't find them on the Royal site anywhere.

 

* Also we were planning on bringing on wrapped gifts - not knowing the security situation - will they allow this or would we have to unwrap everything? Has anyone faced this last Christmas on board?

[Beachlover76]

We went on Rhapsody in Sept. and I took a couple of wrapped gifts along for a friends birthday. There was no problem at all.

We also took along a bottle in checked luggage and no one said anything.

[wrp96]

* Also we were planning on bringing on wrapped gifts - not knowing the security situation - will they allow this or would we have to unwrap everything? Has anyone faced this last Christmas on board?

 

Last Christmas I took wrapped gifts for both my mom and my aunt aboard with me in my suitcase with no problems.

[AudioFilly]

We just finished up this itinerary at the beginning of the month. Rhapsody was a wonderful ship with incredible staff.

 

In Grand Cayman we got together with some others from our Roll Call and chartered a private boat for Stingray City and 2 additional snorkeling sites. We got it through www.ebankswatersports.com and Shawn Ebanks was our guide. From what I gathered in listening in to conversations with others in the group (I was mostly enjoying the great scenery :) ) he worked for a larger more well-known company for many years and has only recently branched out on his own. One of the families with us had 4 kids that seemed to be similar ages to yours. They seemed to be having as much of a blast as I was.

 

All told we ended up with a group of 15 onboard at a cost of about $41pp. This was the best excursion I have ever been on in any of my vacations to date.

 

For a great review of our October 1st cruise be watching for Selectone's review. He and his parents were part of our Charter Group. I can tell you, though you may not believe me, that I laughed even more spending time with him in person than I have reading his review! And that is saying something.

[Fattyre20]

Thanks Again - Another aspect to the trip is where to stay the evening before in Galveston. I've decided that virtually every hotel in Galveston (America for that matter) has had disgruntled guests.

 

Any recommendations for a newer, clean, reasonably priced hotel for the family to stay out prior to the cuirse?

[oldmedic]

McMflow,

We really enjoy both lines. I compare the two kind of like Coke to Pepsi. Each one has it's own flavor, but is really like the other in many ways. I prefer Carrnival's Food and Beds to RCCL's, but I prefer the room set up and staff on RCCL. (Not that we haven't had excellent service on Carnival). I just like the standard answer of "it's my pleasure" on RCCL. Basically, the only reason we have done more Carinval than RCCL is because of trying to get to Platinum status, which we have finally reached on Carnival, but after comparing the programs, I think RCCL probably offers more perks for returning guest. we do prefer the smaller ship as opposed to the Mega-Liners. Galveston is so easy for us to get in to and out of. Most of our choices are based on price and itenerary. The only port we really don't enjoy is Progreso.

[Mcmflow]

Oldmedic,

 

Thanks for sharing. Our first cruise was Carnival on the Celebration, and we thought it was great. We picked RCL this time because of a perk with a credit card. Just by pictures and things I have seen since finding cruisecritic, I think we will end up liking RCL better, that is of course if there isn't terrible service or something. :)

[oldmedic]

The worst service we have ever recieved was great at its worst!!!! I did have to get up once or twice to refill my coffee cup at breakfast in the lido dining room on occasion. but we have always recieved the best waiters and waitressses that the ship has to offer! lol... My theory is that the worst day cruising is better than the best day at work~~

[AudioFilly]

Fattyre20: Normally we have always stayed at Gaido's since I was a little girl first visiting Galveston. It's old, but extremely clean and somewhat of a tradition with us. But this time around they were completely booked and no cancellations were popping up. So we had to find an alternative.

 

We stayed the night before at the Baymont Inn & Suites. They just opened up in August. In fact the rooms still have that new construction smell to them. We found it to be very nice & roomy. The bed was incredibly comfortable. They even had little amenities like a mini fridge, a microwave & coffeemaker in the room. They provided little packets of both a regular & decaf coffee, but we are not coffee drinkers so I can't tell you anything about the quality of the packets.

 

It looked like a nice set-up for complimentary continental breakfast off of the lobby. We didn't take advantage of it and opted to go out for a leisurely breakfast, but if I had kids with me I definitely would have been economizing more and would have been all over a free breakfast for the group.

 

They also include free parking for the duration of the cruise. So we just called a cab to pick us up. We used Jeff's Cab. We called them ourselves from our room on the way down to check out. There was a group waiting by their car that had the front desk call for a cab, I don't know what company they used, but they were still waiting for their cab when Jeff's Cab pulled up to pick us up.

 

Upon debarkation, it was a breeze catching a cab back to the hotel. I saw a huge congested group waiting for what I thought was the taxi stand. Turned out they were the line for the shuttle buses to the parking lots. We ended up just breezing right past them to the taxi line, jumped in the first available cab and took off.

 

One more tip if you stay there. When people started arriving back from the previous week's cruise, we moved our car up front to a spot that was under the parking lot spotlight. I didn't hear of anyone having any problems with their cars being left anywhere on the lot. But I know that it provided more peace of mind for me knowing that we left our car under the light and visible from the front desk.

[cruisecrazymama]

It is great for families. You get a seperate bedroom with queen bed. You have a set of bunkbeds for the kids, and there is a sleeper sofa in the living room should you need that. It also has a kitchen with full size fridge. stove and cookware and dinnerware. Oh and I forgot to mention the private balcony with gulf view from every room. The price is right as well....89.00 per night. We were wanting to stay there prior to our Thanksgiving cruise, but they are giving it an entire facelift on the outside...already did the inside. It has always been very clean and the folks who run it are super nice. The only down side..if you can call it that, is that it is not near the historical district. or the pier. It's over on 61st ans Seawall. It won't be open for our stay so we are staying at the Hotel Galvez. Also a nice clean hotel. No where near as inexpensive though.

Good luck, I know you will love the Rhapsody.

[Fattyre20]

Thanks for the continuous feedback and good ideas. I called the CASA but with all the renovations going on they don't have anything for Dec 23. I just stumbled across an Econo lodge (nothing fancy but it is a fairly new hotel built in 2001) that offers cruise parking - they are showing a suite that will sleep six for $99.95 and a single king for $79.95. My folks are coming on the cruise as well so this may work if I don't hear any horror stories about this hotel.

 

Audiofilly (Lezlie) thanks for the ebank link. They have just started up a waverunner/snorkel tour to stingray bay and the boys were thrilled to see this so I will be calling them tomorrow! By the way we are also in Mckinney!

 

This is such a great board and source of information. I can't wait to get on the Rhapsody!

 

59 days to go!

[AudioFilly]

Fattyre: Glad to be of help! We haven't been in McKinney for long. We just moved here in May, having lived in Dallas & Garland most of our lives. You wouldn't think the cities being so close geographically that there would be such a huge difference, but there is. It's really nice to go to a store or restaurant and have them seem truly glad to help you. At the grocery store people smile and say hello as your carts pass on the aisles. It's incredible! We are absolutely in love with McKinney and the people here.