We booked a getaway cruise over the Xmas holiday to the Caribbean (Key West, Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya) on the Rhapsody of the Seas to escape the cold and in-laws, but I think I'd rather had stayed home for all the issues and the unbelievable and nearly unending noise we had to endure in our cabin. We are not new to cruising, but this was only our second, and probably last, one with Royal Caribbean.

The bad omens began even before departure as poor weather at Tampa (storms/tornadoes) and high seas in the Gulf, diverted our embarkation to Port Canaveral, across the state. While no blame to RCI for sending the ship to a safer port, having to take a bus from the Tampa terminal thru heavy Orlando traffic (which added 30min to the usual 2hr drive) was not a great way to start our cruise. The late embarkation also delayed the arrival of our bags to the cabin to after dinner, well one of them. I found my bag in the holding spot for our deck and took it myself back to our cabin.

We had a windowed cabin on Deck 3 aft, that proved to be the LOUDEST cabin we have ever had to endure in 10+ previous cruises on RCI and other lines. The cabin happened to be under the kitchen area of the main dinning room (Edelweiss), across the hall from a crew access doorway, just above the engines/props, and who knows what else. The noises including from items dropping/banging, rolling carts, mysterious bangs/rumblings, and the engines reversing during docking (the ship must sail like a pig as dockings appeared to take an extended effort from the port pilots). Fortunately I had packed ear plugs (crying babies on flights and a snoring partner) that were the only way we were able to get ANY sleep as the noises would start very early in the morning (b'fast preps in the dinning room) and not end until late at night. Read more