Becci Wells

Age: 54
Occupation: artist
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas
Sailing Date: August 15th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Nothing remarkable about embarkation. Went smoothly except for the crowds waiting to board the other cruise line’s boat. I think Royal Caribbean is better organized but that may be the fault of the port authorities. Made our way directly to Windjammer for lunch. Very good food, lots of variety and beautiful fruit and vegetable artistry on the buffet lines. Met up with our Meet and Mingle group (online chat group sponsored by Royal Caribbean, they give a get-together with great o’rdourves and drinks for you on Wednesday afternoon). It was worth signing up for this group because we met many people online before the cruise and did quite a lot together during the voyage. It was great fun. We were all on deck for the sailing and it was quite a party atmosphere with the Caribbean drum band, which was a good one, around the pool.

Our cabin was comfy and not too cramped (interior cabin on 3rd deck) and soon it was time for the dining experience. This was every bit as good as past cruisers tell you and didn’t disappoint. In my opinion, every meal was 5 star. I had Duck ala orange, rack of lamb, as many lobster tails as I could hold and many fabulous soups and stellar desserts. The bread is worth mentioning, the best I have ever eaten and was told it is all baked fresh aboard. There were 2 or 3 varieties of rolls and sliced breads each meal, in the dining room. We loved meeting our diner mates and made fast friends with several, exchanging email addresses, etc. The wait staff were superb, as were all the crew. Never ran into a sour face or nastiness of any kind. They were great. It was interesting to chat with them and they were ready to tell you anything you wanted to know about their backgrounds. One crew member revealed that most of the crew are internationals, work 6 to 8 month contracts and are paid only $50 per month, plus room and board and tips. So it became evident to us that a tip above and beyond the suggested $68.50 per person would be a great help to them as several intimated that they had family at home. We were glad to accommodate as all the service they provided was top notch! Our room steward, Richard was always ready to please and the little towel works of art he left in our room each day were amusing. The room was always spotless as was the rest of the ship. We looked for but never found a speck of rust anywhere. Someone was always polishing or cleaning wherever we went.

The shows were Las Vegas quality and very good. Glen Smith and the Hill Brothers were fantastic. Never crowded at the first show for late diners. The cruise director, Peter Banfield was a hoot all the time and made sure there were plenty of activities. You could take your pick of laid back flaking or full steam ahead participant. I actually think we tried to do too much and wore ourselves out. Since are certified divers, we spent a lot of time in the water, both at Grand Cayman and Cozumel, but of course, Cozumel lives up to its reputation as the premier dive site in the Caribbean. We did Sloppy Joes at Key West and the sunset was spectacular but we viewed that from the deck of Rhapsody. Grand Cayman was very clean but mostly a shopping Mecca. We dove the wreck of the Calle 30 yards off the beach and saw barracuda, tarpon and loads of tropical fish, but missed the stingray city excursion. You need to book these early as they fill up quickly. Cozumel is a diver’s paradise. Saw lobster, star fish, spotted eel, dogfish, stonefish, stingray, flounder, seahorse, lots of different types of crabs along with the resident tropicals in every hue of the rainbow, all in an area about 400 or 500 yards square right in front of Place de las Glorias(hotel on the stip). And that’s not even a reef off the wall. Didn’t have time to dive those areas.

My favorite area on the boat was the Solarium and its adults only pool and jacuzzi’s. This was a mini-paradise on its own. The sea water was great for my skin and I was in it everyday. We played Bingo and visited the casino, but we don’t part with money very easily and abandoned those activities soon on, although some lucky guy won the $9000(that’s right!) jackpot the last night of the cruise.

Getting off the boat was more of a pain than getting on and took several hours. Add this to the fact that we did not want to get off the boat and you have some pretty unhappy campers. O, to win the lottery! However, it did go smoothly and the port authorities get you done as quickly as possible

All in all, I couldn’t say one negative word about Royal Caribbean or our ship the Rhapsody. It was heaven. Book it, you won’t be disappointed. We are already saving for our next one with this line. Someday, we hope to be able to book Mariner or Voyager. We’re sold on Royal Caribbean. Bon Voyage!

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