This was our 3rd cruise and our first one on Royal Caribbean (first two were on Princess) and I thought the staff and crew on the Rhapsody were friendly and helpful throughout our 7 day cruise.
Food and service in both the main dining areas and in the Windjammer cafe were excellent. I would recommend this ship and this itinerary to friends and family who want to sample the Caribbean and have a fun time on the cruise.

We checked in early in Galveston (about 11:30) and avoided the long lines that tend to develop both with cars and with people later in the afternoon. If you can park offsite and catch a shuttle or a taxi to the main drop off area you will save yourself a headache at the start. By noon we were headed for the buffet and the pool and the ship was still fairly empty. We had a room on deck 8 with a balcony and loved the view. Decks 7 and 8 with balconies are the way to go if you are willing to pay a bit extra and the rooms toward the back of the ship seemed to be the quieter ones. In the middle you have the elevators and the stairway so you are going to let the late night revelers and the kids going by your door.

Our stateroom attendant (Dwight) was friendly and very helpful and the same was true of most of the staff we came in contact with. Cruise Director James is a hoot and the shows onboard were well-done and entertaining.

I did the Fury Catamaran snorkel trip through the ship and had a great time at the reef while my wife and daughter went for the ocean kayaking trip and loved it as well (bring strong arms for paddling). In Grand Cayman we all signed up for the Aqua-boats and snorkeling and all I can say is that for $44 you are in for a fun day on the water as these boats were a blast and our two guides found us some great snorkeling spots...ask for a tour of the sunken ship...we loved it.
In Cozumel we did more snorkeling and it was an interesting experience, but the current would be intimidating to any first timers. I'd say the best snorkel trips are in Grand Cayman. We did not see Stingray City but heard from others onboard that it is a "must see" for our next trip.

I would agree with a prior review that wished for more time in port as there was too much to see and too little time in some of our ports. We focused on having a good time onboard the Rhapsody and signed up (via the Internet) for the ship tours. Don't procrastinate if you know what you want to because when you get on the ship there are waiting lines for some trips and some of the tours are already sold out by the time you make your choices.

If you are on a ship sponsored tour they make every effort to get you there on time, but one of the headaches was the fact that everyone was trying to get off the ship at the same time. If you don't have to go ashore right away you will find a shorter line if you wait 30 to 60 minutes and then exit.
All things considered this was a wonderful 7 days and we had no major complaints. We found Royal Caribbean and the Rhapsody to be first-rate and comparable to our earlier cruises on Princess. The Texans onboard were wild and crazy but even that was fun. Buy a Texas hat or t-shirt in Galveston and hang for a wild time.

I should also mention that getting back and forth from the airports seems to be easiest when you use the ship's shuttle, but there is also Galveston limo service at $30 per person each way and we did not find any cheaper deals to get to Galveston if you are arriving by air. We were back at Houston Intercontinental by noon with an 8:30 p.m. flight but there is a free shuttle to Greenspoint mall that helped us with the long wait for our departing flight. I heard that Houston Hobby was easier to get back and forth to Galveston but do not know what the shuttle options were from there. The ship also offers a tour of the Space Center as part of one of their tour packages and is another way to kill a few hours if you have a late flight.