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Royal Caribbean International

MV Rhapsody of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Wayne Yim
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: August 17, 2003
Itinerary: Caribbean - Western

This review is about our week long cruise on RHAPSODY of the SEAS. Behind the wheel was Capt. Rolv. Chr Olaussen. We sailed from Galveston on August 17th 2003 and visited Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We wanted to go on a Caribbean cruise closer to home and Galveston was the closest to Oregon.

Public Areas definitely is showing wear and tear. Sticky wood flooring in the Windjammer Cafe (the lido pool restaurant), sticky furniture, some damp carpet, and peeling paint. Now the good stuff:

The Atrium is stunning. Soaring over 7 levels, this place is very airy during the day. The "world and loops" sculpture that hangs from above is quite nice. Rich, welcoming colors are used throughout the ship. The two level main show lounge is big and the seats are comfortable. The sightlines are excellent. Only the seats in the back have worst sightlines. The outdoor pool is crowded during the sea days.

The Solarium pool is quiet all the time. Like all her fleet mates, the Viking Crown Lounge is high above the ship, offering great views of the ocean undisturbed. you can get a 360 degree view up there. Note that there are only two elevators that go up there and waiting time could be long. These two "panoramic" elevators travels from deck one to deck 11. The two level Edelweiss Dining Room is very nice.

Food in the Main Dining Room is excellent. All the food was good and it was hard to pick what I want to eat. Lobster Tail was offered. A problem we had was the seating assignment at night. We and another family coming along requested seating together at dinner. Well, we never got it and the staff hesitated to reassign us. Finally they put us in a room along with four other tables. We had seven people crammed into a six person rectangular table.

Food in the Windjammer Cafe is not fresh enough at times. I expected this to happen, since it is a buffet. This place is not opened 24 hrs. The Solarium Cafe offers pizzas, burgers, fries. hot dogs, and snacks from 11:00 am to 6:30 pm and reopens from 11:00pm to 2:00am. The pizza is not as good as the ones I had on Carnival Cruise Line. Sometimes its cold. Other than that great food everywhere.

I was surprised how well they designed it. Even though it is a small room, we found we had left over storage space. About 12 drawers, multiple sizes of shelves, a decent size desk to do makeup and put misc stuff on. There were at least 5 mirrors to give to feeling of openness. The 50' closet is nice, but there is not enough hangers. The bathroom was small and I don't think two will fit in there and still be able to move (not counting the shower). There is a big mirror in the bathroom. The shower was "ok" sized. I did not have to fight with the curtains and surprisingly, there is a nice little ditch right outside the shower incase you floor the shower and to take care of splashes. The ditch leads to a little drain located behind the toilet. Oh yeah, there is also space under the sink to put stuff like magazines or books.

I attended all the shows. Guests include Bruce Gold, The Hill Brothers, LaRaf, Finis Henderson, Michael Roloff, and Kelly McDonald. There were many talent in the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. The Cruise Staff did a good job and our Cruise Director, Mike Hunnerup, ran few gameshows. I did not attend the Late Night Comedy shows, but heard good words about it.

On the ship, there were over 150 activities in seven days. I participated in many of the "ShipShape Activities". Its a great way to exercise onboard and you get "ShipShape" dollars which you can go redeem it for merchandise in the ShipShape Center on the last day. Some other activities includes sock hop, Bingo, Karaoke, "Singles Mix and Mingle", Belly flop contest, and pool party are just a few. One thing I witness was the grand opening of the rock wall. Located Deck 10 aft, the wall now takes the up the back deck spaces. Sorry joggers, no more "around-the-ship" jogging. The track is now from the front of the ship and crosses between the Solarium and the funnel. The rock wall opened on the 4th day of the cruise and that was the main attraction for the rest of the cruise.

From toddlers to people in their 80's, every had fun from what I heard. There was 150 kids onboard my sailing, down from 600 the previous week. I would recommend this cruise for everyone who wants a leisure and still adventurous cruise. There were more older, less active people than party type people. The ship is very quiet around midnight, unless there is the Midnight Buffet!