Rhapsody August 3-10

[ILOVEHI50]

We just returned from our Alaskan cruise on the Rhapsody (round trip from Seattle). This board has been wonderful and I do not post a lot; but have learned a lot. I wanted to try to post my first review; since there have not been a lot on this ship and cruise. If anybody has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer as quickly as possible. There were 10 in our family ranging in age from 21-84. All have previously cruised; except for 1. 3 previously did an Alaskan land cruise tour on Princess, and 5 have previously cruised with Royal on the Oasis. We had 4 inside cabins (2 on deck 8 and 2 on deck 3) and 1 was an accessible oceanview cabin on deck 3.

 

We opted to sail out of Seattle; since everybody had free roundtrip tickets through Southwest. We arrived in Seattle the day prior and stayed at the Fairfield Sea-Tac. We had a couple of complimentary rooms through Marriott Rewards and they also offered a cruise package for $169 that included transportation for 2 to and from the ship. The complimentary rooms paid $12 per person for transportation each way. They also offered complimentary transportation to and from the airport as well as to the light rail. Breakfast was also included the next morning.

We did arrive before noon and were able to check into our rooms early. The front desk help were very friendly and the rooms were clean; but they did seem smaller than normal.

 

We did take the light rail downtown and then the tram to the Space Needle. We grabbed a bite to eat right near the Space Needle. Some had pizza and others tried the Pot Pies. Both were excellent. We headed back to the hotel; since we had been up very early that morning. After a good nights sleep, we were ready and waiting for 10:00 to arrive; so we could board the shuttle van that would take us to the ship.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Great start, can't wait to hear more, we are on the Rhapsody on the 24th.

 

Did you dine in any of the alternative restaurants?

How was your weather? (We are prepared for rain or shine!!)

 

 

***

[ILOVEHI50]

We arrived at the pier around 10:45 and proceeded to check in. There was no line at all. I did not check my watch; but would guess we were all on board by 11:30 or maybe sooner. We headed up to the pool. Some got a few drinks and we were all ready to enjoy the trip. I was really looking forward to my roast beef sandwich from the Park Cafe; so I headed in that direction with my husband. This was a great choice for sure; since there was nobody there and the cruise members looked a little bit bored with nobody to wait on. They were very happy to see us. The food was just as I remembered from the Oasis. As the week went on it was very difficult at times to find a place to sit and eat.

After we ate we went back out to the pool area. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to enjoy the warmth and sunshine as much as possible. Somebody said that it was the nicest day Seattle has had this year. We lucked out and the Blue Angels were in Seattle as well; so we had a great view of them practicing from deck 10. A great photo op. There was also a Navy ship docked right next to us that was open for tours. We were able to get into our room to drop off our carry on bags at 1:00 (I think).

We selected the 6:00 dining and were seated at table 2; which was right next to the entrance to the dining room on deck 4. This was a table for 10. Our waiter was Noel and his assistant was Florito, both were from the Philippines. After dinner we did go to the Welcome Aboard show with comedian Rob Long. I thought he was pretty good. I will also post some photos; if I can figure out how to do that.

[ILOVEHI50]

Great start, can't wait to hear more, we are on the Rhapsody on the 24th.

 

Did you dine in any of the alternative restaurants?

How was your weather? (We are prepared for rain or shine!!)

 

 

***

We did not dine in any of the alternative restaurants, basically because I was always able to find something I liked on the main dining room menu and we really enjoyed the Noel and Florito. They were both excellent. My husband however did eat at the Windjammer one evening when they had Mexican and he said it was not very good and he is not a fussy person. My husband also had the Surf and Turf one night in the main dining room. It was the whole Maine lobster and filet and he said it was excellent. We do not spend money on drinks; so why not. He commented on the filet several other times as well. We had hoped for better weather; but it wasn't real bad.

My parents retired to Arizona and lived in Suprise for several years. We got them to move to TN a few years ago; but they did buy another home in their old neighborhood with my brother about a year ago. In fact my brother flew out there from Seattle to spend a few days.

[ILOVEHI50]

This was a sea day and the first formal night. We took the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. I am a person that usually likes to do and see so many things when I'm on vacation that I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. We did go to the Royal Canadian Mounties lecture; which was very interesting. We also attended the lecture on the glaciers. This was pretty much a day to relax. After dinner we did attend the Captain's welcome aboard reception. We then headed to the Headliner show - Tribute "A Salute to the Temptations". This was also a pretty good show and we enjoyed it very much.

[NEW2THESEA]

Enjoying your review very much - Thank you for posting it - definitely look look forward to hearing more & seeing your pictures - I sail on the same cruise on 8/31. Just one question - what nite was the Surf and Turf and Filet? I want to try Giovanni's but I don't want to miss Surf and Turf nite! Lisa :)

[ILOVEHI50]

This would be our first port day and I of course was up early; so I could get out on deck to get some photos before we arrived in Juneau. There were some beautiful snow capped mountains. Just after 10 AM I saw my first iceberg; so that got me very excited. It was the beautiful blue. We also saw some nice waterfalls before arriving in Juneau. We all went our own ways on this port day. My brother and his wife booked the Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier through the cruise ship. They said it was great and they did see a lot of whales and some babies as well. My sister and her husband went salmon fishing that he booked on his own. I'm not sure of the name of the company; but it was Juneau something. There were others on there as well from our ship. He did catch some; but they also lost some. My dad spent the day resting; but had the window to look out.

 

The other 5 of us rented a car to go to the glacier. We rented through Rent a Wreck; but they have a new name now. They were very nice and it was a very short walk from the ship; but the car was not exactly in the best of shape. It did get us where we wanted to go though. We had a Saturn and I think the total cost was about $57. We did also have a flightseeing tour scheduled on our own for 4:00; but it did get cancelled due to the weather. We did have a great day at Mendenhall Glacier. After we took some photos in front of the glacier, My husband stayed with my mom and spent the time at the visitor center. I walked to Nugget Falls with my daughter and her boyfriend. It was a fairly easy walk and we enjoyed getting a little closer to the glacier and waterfall.

 

We had set up a meeting time of 3:00; since we did not know at that time our flightseeing tour was cancelled. Sinced we still had some time we walked to a a few different places to get some more photos. One man told us that there had just been a bear sighting in the area near the parking lot where the salmon are. We did head that way; but had missed it; but we were able to see the salmon and that was neat. We headed back to meet my husband and mother. After meeting them, we still had a little time before we would have to leave for the airport; so we went back to see the salmon and the bear was back and there were 2 cubs up in the tree. I did get some pictures; but they were not as good as I had hoped. My daughter was a little furter up on the way back to the car and she said there was another bear. We were able to stop and get some better pictures of this one. I may have been the same one; I'm not sure. We saw him jump in the water to catch the salmon; but he missed it. Very exciting.

 

It was not time to check in to see about our flightseeing tour and found out it had been cancelled. We would have loved to done this; but seeing the glacier and waterfall was very nice and seeing the bears made for a great day We headed back to the ship and returned the car. We did not spend time walking around town; but we did get to see a bit of it when we drove through on the way to Mendenhall.

 

We did not attend the show Piano Man that night; since I again wanted to be up early the next morning.

[ILOVEHI50]

Enjoying your review very much - Thank you for posting it - definitely look look forward to hearing more & seeing your pictures - I sail on the same cruise on 8/31. Just one question - what nite was the Surf and Turf and Filet? I want to try Giovanni's but I don't want to miss Surf and Turf nite! Lisa :)

 

Glad you are enjoying the review. The Surf and Turf with the filet is available every night for an extra charge. The total with the gratuity was $40.19. The lobster and shrimp night was day 6. It was just the lobster tail; but It was so good I had a second one.

[ILOVEHI50]

This was our day in Skagwy. Once again I was up early; so I could get some photos. It was another cloudy day. We booked a private tour for our group with Trail of '98 TN tours. I booked this in early March and Michele was wonderful to work with. Her husband Tom is the tour guide. This is a wonderful and reasonable way to tour up to the Yukon for a large group. They will arrange the tour around what you want to do and what you want to stop and see. We left the dock around 9:15. This was good; because a lot of the tours had already left; so they would not be stopped for photos at the same time we were on our journey. Tom gave us a short tour around Skagway and then we were off to the Yukon. We made several stops for photos along the way. We ate lunch in Carcross, some had soup and sandwich at the bakery and some had bison burgers down the street.

 

After lunch we stopped at Carcross Desert and then on to Emerald Lake; which is much more beautiful in person than the photos I took. On the return trip we made a few more stops. We did stop at the wildlife museum and dog camp. Then we were on our way back to Skagway. This is the time that I was very glad I booked a tour than rented a car. We got to a certain point and it was so foggy and rainy you could not see anything. I was so happy we took the time to stop for all of the photos on the way up. We did stop on the way back for a photo at the Welcome to Alaska sign. I sure would not have enjoyed driving a car on our way back in that weather.

 

We did make one more stop just before returning to the ship at an overlook where you could see the ships at the pier. It was a little foggy still and raining; but it was still nice. Since it was raining as we had already had along day on the tour; we had Tom drop us off back at the ship and a few walked back to town. If I ever get back, I'll proably just spend the day touring Skagway; since I did not get to walk it this time.

 

There was a late night comedy show with Rod Long again; but once again I went to bed early rather than attend the show; because I wanted to be up early the next morning when we entered the Fjord.

[ILOVEHI50]

Up early to see all I can of Tracy Arm Fjord. Sunrise was at 5:05 and that is about the time we started to enter the Fjord. There were only a few people up on deck 10 when I got up there. It was a little cool; but not terrible. There was some light mist as we've had pretty much the whole trip; but it did stop pretty early. I was set up at the very front of the ship; so I could view both sides and get some nice photos. Once it started to get a little bit lighter, more and more people did get up there. There were plenty of places to stand on either side of the ship; it just seemed to be the very front that was crowded. There was also plenty of place to stand on deck 5. One side of deck 5 is smoking and the other is non smoking; which was very nice.

As it turned out the Captain Rick got permission for us to go to Endicott Arm and see the Dawes Glacier rather than Tracy Arm and see the Sawyer Glacier. The reason being is that there was already another ship in Tracy Arm and he did not now how long they would be there; so we might now have a good view of the glacier. I thought what we did see was very beautiful but am curious what the difference would have been between the two. We did see an iceburg floating around 8:30 that had 17 seals on it. I did get a couple nice photos of them. I had to hurry up and change my lens; so I could zoom in on them. If I had been on the side I proably could have gottne more shots; but if I had been on the wrong side; I would have missed them all together. There were a lot of waterfalls and it really is a beautiful area. The glacier was very nice; but again I'm not sure how it compares to the Sawyer Glacier.

This was our second formal night and I hit the hay early once again; since I had been up so early that morning. I'm not a person that is up very late when I'm at home and with the 2 or 3 hour time difference depending on the day, it really was late for me.

[ILOVEHI50]

This was another sea day. We attended the cake demonstration and the Captains Corner where Captain Rick did a Q and A. I really enjoyed that. We missed the Royal Canadian Mounties lecture earlier in the day; but we did attend the one in the afternoon. This was just more of a relaxing day and enjoying the last full day on the ship.

[ILOVEHI50]

This was our day in Victoria British Columbia. We arrived in the morning; and just opted to walk around town. My parents did the classic cars tour in an old antique convertible. My brother did the hop on hop off tour and my sister took was pedaled up town in one of the carts pulled by the bicycle; but I do not remember what it was called. The other 4 of us just walked. It was an easy walk to town. It was a very nice, sunny and warm day also. Shorts weather again. Victoria really is a beautiful city. We toured the Parliament Building. They have free tours where you can go on your own or they can be guided as well. I did not realize there was still the connection the the Queen. This was nice though; because it brought back some fond memories of our trip to England. The rest of our time was spent going into a few shops and then we headed back to the ship. They really do turn the ships around here. As soon as the Princess ship had pulled out there was another one that pulled in to take its place.

It was sort of sad knowing that our trip was coming to an end.

[ILOVEHI50]

Some of the other things we did were played Bingo on the final round to try and win a cruise. I didn't win; but enjoyed it anyway. We did play country music trivia and won that. Of course we are from Nashville and my husband plays music; so we did sort of have an advantage. Overall I think this was a great first trip to Alaska.

 

I would like to go again and would like to stop at some other ports as well. The next time it would probably just be the two of us or perhaps another couple. I think I would prefer to go earlier in the season. I thought the ship was very nice and the crew overall was excellent. The room steward we had was very good; but the one my parents had was not very good. We opted to do the luggage vallet and we would not see our bags until we got back home. This worked out great; since we were traveling with my parents; but it was 10:00 and their luggage tags had not been delivered and the bags needed to be out by 11:00. We had to track him down and he had them in his cart. They had said earlier that they were not happy with his service throughout the trip. Everybody else in the group had no problems at all with their steward. I would do the luggage vallet again.

 

Like I mentioned before our dining room waitstaff was wonderful for diner. Noel had our food to us before every other table around us had theirs. Flori was excellent at making sure our water glasses were always full. This is a big deal to me. We only ate breakfast in the dining room a few times and the service was good; but not as good as what we received from our servers at night. Everybody in our group thought the food was very good in the main dining room. Some things better than others; but I was very satisfied. With that said; I am looking forward to trying the new menu items next month on the Allure.

 

The windjammer food was good; but I did try to avoid going there. I really like the Park Cafe and I had lost a lot of weight prior to the cruise; so I could fit in my formal gowns. I did not want to put all of the pounds back on. I think I did pretty good and only added a few back.

 

I wondered if I would regret not having a balcony or a oceanview cabin. As it turns out I did not. There really was not any trouble finding a place on deck 5 or 10 to take photos. For the amount of money that was saved over the balcony, we are able to go on the Allure next month. We did book this cruise during the WOW sale last year and got the $100 shipboard credit. I did take advantage of the next cruise certificates I could purchase on board and purchased 2 of those on the second day of the cruise. I had the certificates in my e-mail when we returned home.

 

I hope this information is helpful to anybody that will be going on this cruise and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have. I will get some photos posted as soon as I can figure out how to do that.

[SnowshoeCat]

Perfect timing for this thread! I was just (a few clicks ago) pricing out Alaska cruises and Rhapsody was leading the race :) Your words are encouraging!

[ggroup]

Thanks for your excellent review! How much was the luggage valet service and was it priced per bag? Did you not have to retrieve it at SeaTac prior to boarding?

[ILOVEHI50]

Perfect timing for this thread! I was just (a few clicks ago) pricing out Alaska cruises and Rhapsody was leading the race :) Your words are encouraging!

 

I would not hesitate to book on the Rhapsody for this cruise. I did forget to mention the cruise director Casey was pretty good and we did attend the Love and Marriage show. I always enjoy that.

[Gordo]

Enjoyed your review.

 

We are considering a cruise to Alaska. Thanks for all the great information.

[ILOVEHI50]

Thanks for your excellent review! How much was the luggage valet service and was it priced per bag? Did you not have to retrieve it at SeaTac prior to boarding?

 

The luggage valet was $20 per person and I think you could do up to 3 bags per person. My husband and I each had 2 bags; so it was a total of $40 and since we were on Southwest Airlines there was not an additional charge. If you only have 2 bags between the 2 of you it would only cost $20, just put them both under the same person. We did not have to claim the bags at Sea Tac. We just claimed them when we arrived at our final destination. We had a late flight; so it really worked out nice; because Sea Tac Southwest does not want you checking in until 3 hours before you flight; but we had 6 hours and had no problem. Our bags even got put on an earlier flight; so there was no waiting for them once we arrived back in Nashville, they were already waiting for us.

They also check you in and print your boarding passes for you as soon as they are available.

[ILOVEHI50]

I am going to give this a try for the photos. Hopefully this link will work. I'm not the best are resizing; so I tried to make sure I stayed under my limit.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40429070@N04/

[ILOVEHI50]

The photos are in reverse order; so you may want to start at the bottom and work your way to the top to see them in order.

[richstan]

Thanks for your review and pictures! I can't wait for my upcoming cruise on the Rhapsody!

[ILOVEHI50]

Thanks for your review and pictures! I can't wait for my upcoming cruise on the Rhapsody!

 

You're welcome. A couple other things I forgot to mention was that my brother and sister each bought a cookbook and with that they each received a tour of the galley for 2 people. If you're interested you may want to check with your waiter, rather than wait until later in the cruise when he shows you the cookbook. Be sure to ask about the tour. I would like to do it; but am going to ask when we are on the Allure and hope they have the same offer.

 

They do also have a walk for wishes where for $10 you get a t-shirt and do 4 laps around deck 9 with the captain leading the way. I did do this and it was a good way to walk off some of the calories.

[vivavegas]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to write a review and share your experiences with us!:) Glad you had a good cruise!

[jerseygirl703]

Thanks for the review and pictures! We are going on the Rhapsody on the 24th and you just added to my excitement. You got some great pictures:)

[maxx]

You're welcome. A couple other things I forgot to mention was that my brother and sister each bought a cookbook and with that they each received a tour of the galley for 2 people. If you're interested you may want to check with your waiter, rather than wait until later in the cruise when he shows you the cookbook. Be sure to ask about the tour. I would like to do it; but am going to ask when we are on the Allure and hope they have the same offer.

 

They do also have a walk for wishes where for $10 you get a t-shirt and do 4 laps around deck 9 with the captain leading the way. I did do this and it was a good way to walk off some of the calories.

Thank you so much for the review. There aren't many reviews for Rhapsody & we are anxious to read everything as we are virgin Rhapsody cruisers.

Can you please tell me how much the cookbook & galley tour is. We did the galley tours several times on P&O cruises & they were fascinating.