If you’ve been following along with our southern Caribbean cruise recaps, you know we’ve talked ports, excursions, and rum. But before we close out this trip, we wanted to take a step back and talk about the ship itself, because Rhapsody of the Seas deserves its own conversation.

We booked this cruise the way we book most of our cruises: based on itinerary and price, not the ship. So we didn’t go in with huge expectations one way or the other. But after a week on board, we’ve got a lot to say.

A Small, Old-School Ship

Rhapsody of the Seas is the oldest ship in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, built back in 1997, and it carries only around 2,000 passengers. If you’re used to hearing about Royal’s mega ships — the Oasis class, or the newer Icon class — this is about as far from that as you can get.

Size-wise, it’s closest to Serenade of the Seas, which we sailed on our Alaska cruise, but the Serenade is much newer. But the layout felt like an odd hybrid: part Serenade, part Celebrity Solstice, especially around the elevators and the centrum (their word, not ours — we’re not fans of that term).

We don’t cruise for the ship, and we’ve said that before. But even so, this one felt small in a way that showed on our sea day. We’re not people who need a ton of activities to stay entertained, but there just wasn’t much to do beyond the pool and the fitness center. The rock climbing wall was there. There was apparently a sports court and open badminton listed on the app at some point, though we never once figured out where that was happening. No putt-putt, which sounds like a silly thing to miss until you’re on a sea day looking for something, anything, to fill an hour.

By comparison, when we sailed Explorer of the Seas, the mix of activities felt like a much better fit for us.

Entertainment Was Hit or Miss

This was the first cruise we’ve ever taken without a comedian. There wasn’t even a real opening show — just an acrobat performance instead of the typical opening and closing shows most cruises build around. That’s the kind of thing that usually anchors a cruise.

The one production show we caught was a Broadway-style singing and dancing show, but on smaller ships like this one, it always seems to come with an odd, half-baked plot instead of just being a straightforward concert. We’d honestly prefer they skip the plot entirely.

On the bright side, the live music was much better than we remembered from our last Royal Caribbean cruise in 2022. There was a full party band, an orchestra backing the shows, and a Latin band. Sailing out of San Juan for the second time, we also got to see the same bolo dancing group we saw four years ago , this time going by the name Explosion. The high point, both times, was the crowd going wild during “En Mi Viejo San Juan.”

We also want to flag something about the piano bar. The performer, from Argentina, told us he’d been instructed to only sing in English and had already gotten in trouble once for singing in Spanish, even when passengers requested it. Given that roughly half the ship appeared to be Spanish-speaking, and there was a whole band performing almost exclusively in Spanish elsewhere on the ship, that policy felt out of step and honestly uncomfortable.

The Cabin Showed Its Age

Being a 1997 ship, Rhapsody didn’t originally have balconies — those weren’t standard until Disney Cruise Line came on the scene and then the other lines began retrofitting balconies onto their ships. Because of that, balcony cabins were limited and expensive, so we booked an ocean view instead, our first since before the pandemic.

Our cabin was low in the ship and showed some real wear: small bits of metal came off the vanity cabinet every time we opened it, the bathroom door didn’t close properly, and the shower had been converted to a curtain instead of a proper tube enclosure, which led to a flooded bathroom more than once. Our best guess is that the original doors just aren’t manufactured anymore and got swapped for curtains as a workaround.

The room also never got very cool, which was rough sailing out of San Juan’s heat and humidity. If you’re booking Rhapsody or another older ship in the fleet, go in expecting some of these maintenance quirks.

Dining: Reliable, Not Exciting

Dining options were limited compared to bigger ships — just the main dining room, the Windjammer buffet, and three specialty restaurants. The dining room was only open for breakfast and dinner on port days, which was most days on this itinerary.

Service was excellent throughout, in both the dining room and the buffet. Food came out fresh and hot. Our biggest complaint was the menu itself, which leaned generic and a little bland. There was an Indian dish offered every night, which was appreciated, but we would’ve loved more rotation there instead of the same cuisine daily. If you’re craving Mexican food, don’t get your hopes up for Mexican night, either — our waiter warned us off it, and he hadn’t steered us wrong all week.

One genuine standout: the French onion soup. We’re pretty sure the waiter would’ve started bringing it to the table unprompted by the end of the cruise.

If you’re the type of cruiser who prioritizes food, Celebrity is still the better bet in our experience. Their buffet in particular offers a rotating variety from around the world that we haven’t seen matched on Royal.

The Bottom Line

Rhapsody of the Seas isn’t a bad ship, but it’s a small, older one, and it comes with real tradeoffs: fewer activities, thinner entertainment, an aging cabin, and a limited dining scene. If your priority is the itinerary and the ports, like ours usually is, it can absolutely still be worth booking. Just go in with the right expectations.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read more about this trip, check out the Island Hopping from San Juan Trip Report. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here.