Rhapsody review, 10 day version, 9/18/05 sailing

[camreesmom]

WARNING: VERY, VERY LONG!!!

Long review but then it was a longer than normal cruise.

 

EMBARKATION: The easiest ever. We had spent Saturday night in Galveston at the Days Inn. They offer free cruise parking. We had to catch a taxi to the pier but it was only $12 and well worth it. We had completed our Set Sail passes online so we stood in line for no more than 10 minutes, went up to the counter and were checked in. Then we went to the line for photos and to take the picture for our SeaPass. In all, it took us no more than 30 minutes from the time we got out of the taxi and walked on board. We got on the ship a little before noon so our rooms were not ready so we went to the Windjammer for a bite to eat and were able to get in our rooms a little after 1.

 

DAY 1: We had an ocean view cabin on deck 4 so we watched out the window while they were loading luggage onto the ship. Our luggage arrived about 30 minutes later so we unpacked and then went to take the spa tour. Went to Muster and then to the Sailaway party up on deck. We had late seating dinner and that night the show was pre-dinner. The Welcome Aboard show featured a comedian, Kelly McDonald. We enjoyed the show. We were seated in the upper level of the dining room and our wait staff was EXCELLENT. I can’t say enough good things about them. The head waiter was Sergei from Lithuania, our waiter was Stanny Fernandes from India, and our asst. waiter was Christopher. These folks were just amazing and we will really miss them. We were with a large group and so we ended up seated at three tables. Sergei made sure that everyone was tended to. One of the guys in our group arranged for us all to have shrimp cocktails every night for the entire cruise (which ended up being a 10 day cruise!)

 

DAY 2: At sea…..We slept in and got up just in time to enjoy breakfast in the Windjammer. Enjoyed some music up on deck during the day and just relaxed in general. We played bingo in the afternoon, didn’t win anything of course. I had a spa appt. for an updo since this was the first formal night. We went to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception. The show that night was after dinner and was the Mardi Gras production show. We had seen this show last year on the Rhapsody and they made very few changes. It is a good show if you haven’t seen it before. After the show, we went up to the Viking Crown Lounge for the cruise director’s staff’s Disco Inferno. We could not believe how crowded it got in there. We stepped off the elevators and almost couldn’t move. There was no hope of getting to the dance floor at that point. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and this remained the mood for most of the cruise.

 

DAY 3: at sea………..another day that we slept in. We didn’t even make it to the Cocktail Seminar. Sad, but true. We really enjoyed it last year on the Rhapsody but we were definitely relaxing this year. This was the day of the horse auction and our group had already decided to buy a horse. We ended up buying two and still not winning anything! We were really lazy this day and just enjoyed some time in the Solarium. We didn’t even make it to the after dinner show which was the magicians.

 

DAY 4: Ocho Rios. We had prearranged a tour with A-Z Jamaica Planners. Belinda met us at the dock and then Mickey came to pick us up in an air-conditioned van. Our first stop was Dunn’s River Falls. This was probably the highlight of our cruise. We climbed the Falls. It was hard in some places and at one point, I even ended up just sitting down in the water. It felt cold at first but then as we climbed higher, it felt really good in the heat of the day. We were probably the first group up the Falls that day. After the Falls, Mickey took us to Fern Gully and then to Wassi Pottery Works. It was hard deciding what to buy at the Pottery factory, so many pretty things. Then it was on to Shaw Park Gardens. If you are looking for a place to have a destination wedding, this would be the place. Absolutely stunning foliage, all different types of ferns and ivys, different trees, water falls and a gazebo at the bottom. A lot of the flowers were blooming and it was just beautiful there. Mickey took us shopping afterwards but he knew most of the shop owners so no one bothered us. We felt very safe with him. The cost of the tour was $39 a person and included the $15/pp entry fee to the Falls and the $10/pp entry fee to the Gardens. We even had a private tour guide at the Gardens. We have even discussed a land vacation to Ocho Rios because it was so beautiful there. We got back to the ship at around 3:30 and quickly changed and went to Margaritaville for a little bit before it was time to get back on board. We were exhausted after climbing the Falls and took a quick nap before the pre dinner show. Gary Mule Deer was the headliner that night. We enjoyed his show although several people said that he has used the same material for a few years now. After dinner was the Quest and we had many, many laughs participating although our team didn’t win.

 

About this time was when we were getting not so good news about Hurricane Rita and it looked like it was heading straight for our house. Our cell phones worked in Ocho Rios so we spent some time on the phone as soon as we got there trying to check on our families. At sail away, the Captain announced that we would be in Montego Bay on day 5 instead of Grand Cayman.

 

DAY 5: Montego Bay…….some people chose to get off the ship in Montego Bay and fly home but we didn’t because we could not make it home before everyone had to evacuate so there didn’t seem to be much point. We hadn’t done any research on Montego Bay and there weren’t a lot of excursions offered through the ship so we made the mistake of riding the $3 shuttle to the shopping center. The people there were so aggressive and almost as soon as we got there, the ladies with the fruit baskets on their heads were trying to get us to pay them to take a picture with them. We were very uncomfortable in Montego Bay. There were little kids around 7 or 8 years old knocking on the windows of the shuttle bus trying to get you to buy stuff, not all of it legal in the US. We decided to go back to the ship. We ended up watching Monster in Law in the Broadway Melodies Theatre. We would have enjoyed the day a lot more if we would have been better prepared.

 

This was a 7 day cruise that turned into a 10 day cruise so I’ll stop here at the half way mark for those of you who are already tired of reading this saga! More to follow, of course.

 

[Snoozeman]

Thanks for the detail. We had Sergei week b4 you. I would have loved a few extra days. I'm glad you enjoyed yours. Loved the Rhapsody.

[camreesmom]

Thanks for the detail. We had Sergei week b4 you. I would have loved a few extra days. I'm glad you enjoyed yours. Loved the Rhapsody.

 

Snoozeman, our group gave Sergei heck but he was quick with the comebacks. DH wants to try the Freedom next year so maybe we'll be lucky enough to see him again.