We returned last week from a 14 night cruise from Sydney to Zealand on the beautiful Rhapsody - it was the first cruise for me, my husband and 3 children, and our friends, also a couple with 3 children. All the kids were aged between 9 and 16.

We arrived at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney at around 11.30 on 7th January 2010, and there was a fairly long queue to board the ship. I was happy to just gawk at how magnificent the ship looked berthed in Sydney harbour and whiled away 15 or so minutes taking photos. Not a bad backdrop - the ship looming in front of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. There were plenty of porters to take our luggage when we arrived so we were left with only hand luggage. Before we knew it (about 25 minutes in all) we were walking up the gangway and heard our first "ping" of the seapass checking us in. We entered the ship straight into the Centrum, which definitely has the Wow factor! Cabins weren't ready and it was still a little early for lunch, so we explored the ship and found our way around.

The ship - The ship is beautiful with plenty of space for the 2450 passengers on our sailing. We sailed completely full and my concerns at having so many passengers were unfounded as we never once struggled to find deckchairs, chairs in any of the lounges or bars, or a quiet spot to read or watch the ocean go by. The Viking Crown Lounge was a favourite spot for us when we wanted to be indoors and read or have a cocktail or just soak up the view, and was a rocking disco at night. Even in the theatre you could turn up 5 minutes before the show and easily find seats. We never stood in long queues for anything, or had much trouble getting an elevator (although we did try to use the stairs as much as possible to get a bit of exercise!) The ship is beautifully maintained and spotlessly clean, we frequently saw maintenance crew painting and polishing and repairing anything that was needed. We had a loose board in our cabin ceiling and we called maintenance and someone appeared and fixed the problem within half an hour. Read more