Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas

We cruised on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas in May of 2009. Our itinerary took us from the Hawai’an isles (we began in Honolulu, O’ahu), and ended 10 days later in the beautiful port of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Rhapsody Docked in O’ahu, Hawai’i (click for larger picture)

It is always exciting to see your cruise ship in port, and this was no exception. RCL has some beautiful ships, and we boarded with great anticipation. The Rhapsody of the Seas is a Vision class ship, launched in 1997.* The Vision class marked a new era for RCL back then, bringing ships into service with more features than ever before – like rock climbing walls – and with even more attention paid to aesthetics. RCL says this is their most well-traveled class of ships.

Vision class ships introduced an atrium area surrounded almost entirely with glass, with glass elevators, allowing cruise passengers to enjoy sweeping views of the sea (or port) and sky while on any floor of the atrium area, and while riding the elevators. The result is a bright, sunlit atrium of several stories which acts as a natural gathering place for passengers and for entertainment venues. On this trip, we enjoyed the many and varied dance and music numbers from Spirit of Polynesia, a fantastic group of people (see more pictures below).

Rhapsody of the Seas Atrium

Another View of the Vision Class Atrium

Food

Embarking was fairly straightforward, especially as this is a smaller ship. As most people do when boarding, we headed straight for lunch at the Windjammer Café. We found the food here to be delicious and varied throughout our cruise, and in fact ate here many times for dinner rather than in the dining room. Much of the reason for this is that we are vegetarians, and found the formal dining room menu to be much more limited. There was always plenty for us to eat at the Windjammer, and they had different specialty foods on different nights, such as sushi. One thing we had a tough time with was seeing them throw out everything after each meal (we saw staff tossing plate upon plate of dessert displays full of untouched cakes, pastries, etc.). This is to ensure that the food is always fresh, I know, but it’s still difficult to witness such waste.

Staterooms

Our room was an ocean view stateroom. We had asked for a balcony, but there were none available, even at the time of boarding. The ship was completely full, we were told. Even so, the oceanview room felt quite spacious and had everything we needed (I was traveling with my 12 year old daughter).

Rhapsody Outside Cabin – Oceanview

Rhapsody Inside Cabin

General

The main areas of the Rhapsody are in fairly good shape, and are kept immaculately clean. I did notice some signs of aging on this ship, such as stained grout between the pure white flooring in the atrium. The ship’s décor is typical of Royal Caribbean: neutral and classy with a touch of a nautical theme. Bits of the ship seem dated and tired, and some areas are in better shape than others, for instance the lounges and casino were in fabulous condition.

All main areas of the ship were thoroughly enjoyed by passengers, particularly because we spent several days out to sea as we crossed from the Hawai’an islands to the continent of North America. The inside areas, such as the adults only pool (gorgeous!) and the spa, gym and lounges, got more crowded as we headed north. As the weather changed from balmy and warm to cold, rainy and blowy, the pools were less and less utilized and eventually they were closed off.

Some more pictures (click for larger views) and videos:

The Rhapsody at Sunrise off of Maui – Beautiful!

Click here for a video of the waves crashing in O’ahu

Click here for a video of a beautiful waterfall in Maui

Spirit of Polynesia Hula Dancers

Click Here for a video of the Spirit of Polynesia Dancers

The Rhapsody at Sunset off of Maui

Surfers in Maui – Look Closely! (Click for larger view)

Adults Only Area on Rhapsody of the Seas – Spa and Gym to the Side

Pool Deck and Hot Tubs on Rhapsody

Hula Dancers on Pool Deck

Formal Dining Room - Waiters Singing

Following the Norwegian Pearl into the Port of Vancouver – An Incredible View of Stanley Park and an Amazing Experience Going Under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, Unforgettable!

The Port of Vancouver – Canada Place

Overall, we had a lovely cruise aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas. It was a little difficult to pack for and deal with a what started out as a warm tropical vacation turning into a cold, windy one, but we managed. :) We did lose internet access for a few days while crossing the Pacific ocean, and this, for me, contributed to a feelign of isolation which I did not enjoy. My daughter, however, didn’t seem to notice and had a ball. She says the kids’ club is fantastic, and misses her cruise already.

*While we had a lovely time and all onboard seemed to enjoy the cruise, I would hesitate to cruise on an older, smaller ship again. Having been on the Freedom class just the year before, we have found that older and smaller ships don’t measure up in terms of quality and cleanliness, as well as ambience and things to do. This is, of course, a matter of perspective, and the many retired couples aboard the Rhapsody like it just the way it is, and would likely find the Freedom class too big, too noisy and too full of younger people. As it turns out, any cruises over 7 days tend to be booked up by a fairly mature crowd, meaning that the vast majority of the passengers were one, if not two, generations older than me. I was an oddity at 38, and there weren’t many kids on board either. Just so you know!