|
My wife and I went for 9 nights on Rhapsody out of Sydney on 27 November, 2011. Last year we were on Sun Princess for 14 nights to NZ, so this review is really a comparison.
The Junior suite On Rhapsody was very good. It was clean and everything worked. The balcony was deeper than on Sun Princess and as we spent a lot of time on the balcony, this was a real plus for us. Our cabin on Sun Princess was a Balcony cabin and the same as the ones on Rhapsody, but the balconies weren't as deep on Sun Princess. Both ships cabins were however clean and comfortable, didn't smell musty and everything worked.
All staff on both ships were great. Nothing seemed a problem to anyone and they all bent over backwards to help. There seemed to be more drinks waiters around the pool on Sun Princess.
The food on Rhapsody was ok. The main dining room on both ships were about equal - nothing special. The buffet on Sun Princess was much better than Rhapsody. On Sun Princess it was open 24 hours and there was a wide choice of food which continually changed and was good quality. Rhapsody had sittings for breakfast lunch and dinner, and the food quality and choice was just ok. One night I walked two circuits of the entire buffet and found I had a single green prawn cracker sitting in the middle of my plate before deciding on making yet another ceasar salad - which I should say was very nice.
Sun Princess also had a few other restaurants serving pizza, snacks, steak etc. the dining options on Rhapsody are really limited to the main dining room and the buffet.
We bought an Australian Wine Package on Rhapsody which was very good and for 10 bottles, averaged about $25 per bottle - a discount of about $8.00 per bottle on the bar price. I don't think Sun Princess had this.
We found Sun Princess a quieter ship.Music from the main Atrium on Rhapsody filters through most of the ship, including our cabin. It was just background noise and didn't keep us awake, but you could hear it over the sound on the Air Con and the noise of the sea. On Sun Princess, the music seemed to be in more discreet and enclosed areas and the cabins were only subject to noise from the Air Cons and sea.
Just reading back over this, it seems I have been quite critical of Rhapsody and yet, we had a great time on board. Notwithstanding what I said about the food, I always managed to find something to eat which I enjoyed. It's just that there was more choice on Sun Princess.
If I had to rate them both, I would give Sun Princess an 8/10 and Rhapsody a 7/10. If you are booked on either of them, look forward to it, you'll have a great time
|
