My husband and I decided to book a cruise for our first wedding anniversary. I have been on a handful of cruises before but never with Royal Caribbean. This was my husband's first cruise. We didn't chose Rhapsody on purpose, we chose to port from Tampa in case we decided to drive though we ended up finding a nice deal flying.

Embarkation was very smooth. We scheduled round trip airport transfers that took us to the port as soon as we landed. Tampa's port is a smaller one so that may be why it was so quick and smooth. We were on the boat about 30 minutes after arriving.

I had read a few reviews about Rhapsody prior to sailing and I was a bit worried. I was aware this was an older, smaller ship. Yes, the ship does show some wear, but it was always super clean and size does not matter! Honestly, I liked the intimacy of it and seeing the same people at bars every night. The only time the ship ever felt crowded was breakfast and days spent at sea in between ports. I am not listing that as a con by any means, I understand that everyone is obviously on the ship and is most likely at the pool area. It was very hard to find chairs on these days though and people did save them even though rules stated you can't and your towel will be taken (didn't happen, pretty sure it's just a warning). Read more