ozcruiser

Hi all,

Have only cruised on Princess before and now considering Rhapsody of the Seas which has a similar itinerary (in Australia) to Diamond Princess. I've noticed that there is 1/2 a star difference in the rating in favour of Princess but how different are they really?
Many thanks!

kfusto

Rhapsody is an older ship without some of the bells and whistles of the Diamond (specialty restaurants, etc.) She is smaller as well.

I like Rhapsody as the ship design os open and spacious with lots of light. RCI has an energetic and warm staff, good food and lots of activities. They recently upgraded bedding across the fleet.

I would read the many reviews on both ships over on cruisecritic.com. Take the stars with a grain of salt as there are some ships with lots of stars that I really disliked and others that IMO are underrated.

spurs

Very good info from kfusto. I cruised Rhapsody and Princess ships (other than Diamond) and would say in this case the 1/2 star difference is true. In service, food and ship itself Princess has the edge. Consider also price: if you can get better deal on Rhapsody, it may make sense to book it.

Eschew

I have not been on the Rhapsody personally but have been on the Diamond. In my opinion, Diamond is one of the nicest decorated ship. You will have to see the pool. The tile work is something to see. All the ships are different even within the same crusie line, even if they were built on the same "platform" and suppose to be the same "class".

You can lump the services and operating philosophy based on a cruise line, but in terms of the ship's decore and layout, they are never the same. I know of people who likes certain ships so much that they "follow" the ship.

My suggestion: go to cruisecritic and look at the differnce between the two ships.

One last thought, crews usually signs 6 months contracts. Some may return and some may not. Just becasue the crew were excellent a year ago means nothing if you are travelling next year. However, if a cruise line consistently gets higher rating, I will take that any day over a single bad incident.

With that said ... despite they lost my luggage, over charged me on an item, I am still going back as it is a one time thing. If they lost my luggage again, then it is a different story.

BudgetQueen

I am just off the Rhapsody Austrailia/New Zealand. Frankly, I would look at itineraries. The itinerary I took was fantastic and offered me, what I wanted out of the ports.

They deeply discounted this cruise with air, and did a great job in my opinion.