Rhapsody of the Seas Review

Birthday to Remember

Review for Alaska Cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas
User Avatar
joromay
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Jul 2014
Traveled with children

I told my husband that for my 50th birthday, I wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise and so I started to plan for it in April 2013. Our first cruise was to the Panama Canal on RCI Vision of the Seas in 2001. We have also cruised with Norweigan, Carnival, and Disney, but we knew we wanted to go on RCI again because we wanted to do a roundtrip out of Seattle and it had to be a family-friendly cruise. We were joined by a group of family and friends and were a total of 11 people ranging in age from 7 - 62 in three junior suites and an inside cabin on Deck 8. Taking advantage of Marriott points, we flew into Seattle the night before the cruise and stayed at the Renaissance Seattle on Madison Street. Nice hotel about an 8 block walk from Pike's Place Market and 5 blocks from the Seattle Monorail, a short ride to the Space Needle. My only regret is that we didn't spend more time in Seattle as it was a beautiful city that we were not truly able to explore as it should be. Hopefully, we will get a chance to come back!

Our cabin, 8102, was was spacious with more storage room than we needed and a massive balcony that had three chaise lounges, a table, and two chairs. More than enough room to host balcony parties! To get a sense of how large, I put my size 7.5 feet one in front of the other roughly 13 times from entrance of balcony to end and 10 times across. My only complaint about our room was the vibration that we felt when the ship was moving at maximum speed (primarily the first two days out of Seattle) and my bed was not very comfortable. However, I didn't mind the vibration and Setyo, our very accommodating cabin steward, put a foam sheet on the bed that helped. My husband slept like a baby on his side and my daughter was very comfortable in her sofa bed. For me, I guess it was a small price to pay for the humongous balcony! Just in comparison, the other balconies were about a third of the size as ours. Setyo also did a wonderful job cleaning the cabin and making sure we had fresh towels, soap, and other toiletries. All in all, I would take this cabin again any time for the size of the balcony and the 180 degree views!

Other than embarkation and debarkation day, and one other day for lunch at the Windjammer, we primarily ate our meals in the MDR. It's not that the food in the Windjammer was bad, it was the crowding that chased us away. Our ship had been sold out for months, and when we got on board we learned the reason was that it was hosting a group of about 1,000 Chinese guests from Jeneusse corporation. Apparently, they had booked all their employees on three consecutive cruises between RCI and Celebrity. However, about 400 of them never made it on board because they were unable to get visas, so the ship was never really crowded, other than the Windjammer. Excursions and activities on board were virtually empty, which was wonderful for us (but not so much for the staff I guess). Food in MDR was good, sometimes excellent, but never bad. We had a very nice waiter (Gus from Indonesia) and his assistant waiter was a lovely young Chinese girl who's name I never really got. Angel, the head waiter, was very accommodating.

Cabin Review

Our cabin, 8102, was spacious with more storage room than we needed and a massive balcony that had three chaise lounges, a table, and two chairs. More than enough room to host balcony parties! To get a sense of how large, I put my size 7.5 feet one in front of the other roughly 13 times from entrance of balcony to end and 10 times across. My only complaint about our room was the vibration that we felt when the ship was moving at maximum speed (primarily the first two days out of Seattle) and my bed was not very comfortable. However, I didn't mind the vibration and Setyo, our very accommodating cabin steward, put a foam sheet on the bed that helped. My husband slept like a baby on his side and my daughter was very comfortable in her sofa bed. For me, I guess it was a small price to pay for the humongous balcony! Setyo also did a wonderful job cleaning the cabin and making sure we had fresh towels, soap, and other toiletries. All in all, I would take this cabin again any time for the size of the balcony and the 180 degree views!

previous reviewnext review

Find a Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise from $376

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.