Many current reviews report that Rhapsody of the Seas is now a “very tired’ ship. In truth one would expect an element of this given the age of this ship. However, this 20 year old ship is generally well maintained and it is not the ‘tiredness” of the ship that disappointed us on this cruise but rather more the lack of service and drop in standards throughout. My wife & I have cruised with RCI previously and based on our past experiences we recommended RCI to our friends who are previous cruisers although not with RCI.
Sadly we have noticed an overall reduction of staff availability in bars, restaurants and public areas - we often waited a long time to be served drinks, at bars and in the centrum. Service during breakfast in the Edelweiss restaurant was also tediously slow; the introduction of a self-service buffet during breakfast in the Edelweiss restaurant seemingly a move to reduce the number of waiters and scale down silver service breakfast altogether. An alternative quiet breakfast was available in the Park Cafe although choice here was very limited. The masses tended to head for the Windjammer for breakfast - a real cattle-market where negotiating a table was tricky never mind getting your breakfast!
There was total chaos with 'My Time Dining' particularly on the first night of the cruise when we waited in a queue for a good 50 minutes before getting a table for four. Three members of staff said “It’s always like this on the first night”. For the remainder of the first week we had to accept an early sitting of 6:45 p.m. as our preferred later dining time was not available. So ‘My Time’ dining is not managed effectively and cannot be described as ‘My Time’ since we were dictated to as to what time we could eat- this we view as a form of mis-selling. We would not opt for ‘My Time’ again. People were allowed into the main dinning room wearing shorts for dinner, so that rule was not being implemented.
Our stateroom was comfortable - plenty of room in the shower and toilet area and the bed was really comfortable. There was no kettle so we missed our morning cuppa in our room and there was no fridge/mini bar. Also missing now are the individual toiletries - instead there is a single soap dispenser in the shower only - this filled with some typical mildly scented hair/body gel soap. The stateroom attendants were efficient.
Easy to walk arond the Old Town - exceptionally busy due to the number of cruise ships in port. Buda Bars worth a visit - if you can find them! Entry to the city walls were over-priced so we didn't do them.
Very very disappointed - we were on this ship for two weeks - Mykonos was cancelled twice.
Had a fun time doing the Beer Bike and then taking the Noddy Train to the winery. Finished with a nice lunch on the seafront.