Rhapsody of the Seas May 2002
Written: Aug 07 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Balcony,Champagne Bar, Key West
Cons: ummmmm, hard to think of any!
The Bottom Line: It was great. It was very reasonable and at the same time we felt pampered and elated to be on board. GO!
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| Brahmama's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas |
This was a really great cruise. It was our 11th - and ranked right up their with the best. Of course, they have all been great!
We drove down to Galveston and stayed at the Victorian Condos for something like $105 with tax etc. They did shuttle us to and from the cruise terminal and we left our car there for free. It was a well-kept condo - living room, fully stocked kitchen and they did have coffee!!! and bedroom. Each room has a pool or ocean view from the balcony and we "could" see the ocean if we peeked just right around the balcony! Of course that was not important at all since we were poised for a 7 day cruise where you could ALWAYS see the ocean!
We ate at a great local type place called the Cajun Greek. Who could resist a name like that? I had a poboy with shrimp and oysters and my husband had the combo and we ended up also ordering a greek salad to share and MORE fish. Obviously it was great food! We took a couple of tiny little baklavas back to the condo for later. Yum. Nice start for a cruise!
Embarkation was the fastest and smoothest anywhere. We had a lovely cabin - it was actually the nicest cabin we have been on - and we did pay an upgrade from 7 balcony to 8 balcony and it was worth every penny ($200 for both of us) We had breakfast on the balcony every day but one and had wine and cheese and fruit with friends another night and stayed out there a LOT. We got to see the sunset at Key West from the balcony. we started out in town and had a great time, but then realized that it would be fun to be on the ship so put together an impromptu sunset party! THEN, we went BACK ashore and walked around looking at an acrobat and the loud lively music.
We had a good table - the assistant waiter was better than the main waiter and was there every minute to pamper us! We thought the food was good - especially considering how many people they were preparing for. I liked the prime rib - Will had the filet one night and said it was wonderful. We skipped the lobster night - we were just stuffed and it was a casual night after the 2nd formal which surprised us. We went up to the windjammer that night and had fish and fruit and felt much less S T U F F E D. We skipped dinner a couple of times, but still felt bloated a bunch of the time! We bought the wine package for $109 plus 15% service and it was a good deal, because the wines in the package sold for $23 up - we had one bottle left and brought it home (an asti that we kept in the frigerator but just never got to it! We had brought 2 from home too and drank one of those and left one for the room steward. (Of course we bought a few drinks of the day and my favorite was the Bellini Champagne cocktail - we got that on sale a couple of days for $3.25 - what a deal!) We rarely drink anything at home but wine with our meals, so we really did eat and drink much more than usual. I was going to the cocktail demo and missed it....We missed a lot of the things that we marked - but had no stress about it. Sometimes we just wanted to hang out.
We took no port excursions - having been to all of them except Key West. Oh yes, at Key West we did go to the Audubon house - and we had headsets and could wander at will. It was nice.
Weather was great. Not even too hot or humid. Just right. one sea day it rained - we sat on the balcony and played gin rummy - sounds silly, but it was just wonderful!
We missed a couple of the shows. I thought the ventriloquist was the best I had seen. I liked the old band music - as we are in our 60's too, the really loud music doesn't appeal that much. we danced some, but not as much as we thought we would. We liked the piano bar and the guitarist and thought the show band was really good. We spent way too much time in the casino! We spent 3 parts of days in the solarium and liked it too. We played ping pong, but we skipped all the bingo....
Hey, we just liked the whole trip. I would recommend it to anyone (Whispering - I think I liked the ship better than Holland America - lots of positive people who didn't just talk about their health and their previous trips, know what I mean???)
As soon as we were cleared for disembarkation one of the guys in our party called the condo for a pick up at the red flag - THEN we found our bags and made our way to the red flag and waited about 10 - 15 min. the van pulled in right there and we were on our way back to the condo. He let us off at our car.Painless way to go - We figured it cost us about $70 with tips both ways since we had free car storage. - what a deal! (I have talked a lot about the parking etc, since many people ask about this - leaving from Galveston)
We would go again, but my husband says never again a 7 nighter - has to be at least 10 nights and hopefully longer. Of course, I agree! We have been on 4 7 nighters (counting this one) and 1 14 night and the rest have been 10 nighters. I found the 14 nighter on the internet - a 2 for 1 deal on the Commodore and it was fantastic, even though the cheapest by far of the cruises. So I don't believe that the price determines the quality of the tour.
We were really surprised by this one - we mainly booked it just because we could drive down and it was so reasonable and it turned out to be right up there at the top!
Hope to see you on a cruise soon!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
Brahmama
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 2 members
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