Rhapsody review, 10 day version, Part 2

[camreesmom]

Part 2 of my long Rhapsody review……..

 

DAY 6: Grand Cayman…..we had been really lazy and didn’t have anything planned so we ended up just going with the ship’s tour to Stingray City. We could have done the same tour a lot cheaper and with a lot fewer people if we had booked it before we left home. We did enjoy it though and recommend that you go to Stingray City some way, somehow. We did a little bit of shopping across the street from where we had to catch the tender and then got back on board. We were tired since this was already our 3rd port day in a row so we took a nap instead of going to the pre dinner show. We ate dinner and then called it a night.

 

DAY 7: Cozumel….we have been here several times so we decided just to spend the day at Chankanaab Park with our friends. Everyone but me spent some time snorkeling but I had made it my goal that day to move as little as possible and just enjoy lying on the beach. And I accomplished my goal very well!!

 

By this point, we were not as worried about our families because we knew the hurricane had not hit home but we were wondering when we were going to get home. While we were in port, we didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about that but once we got on the ship, there was a line of folks trying to get online and find out what was going on.

 

We played Win-A-Cruise bingo before dinner and unfortunately, didn’t win a cruise. We didn’t make it to the show again this night. Unusual for us because we enjoy the shows a lot.

 

DAY 8: It was nice to have another sea day after 4 port days in a row. We were headed for Ft. Lauderdale. The Owner’s Cup horse race was this day but like I said in part one of my review, we didn’t win anything. Some of our friends had cabins on the port side of deck 4 up towards the front where the hallway angles. We had a redneck patio party (Dan, Dan the party man’s words) that afternoon in the hallway and exchanged the memory cards from our cameras. Played the final jackpot bingo but just donated our money. We came close to winning but not close enough! The Friendship Parade was supposed to be this night but was cancelled because we had to go through immigration before dinner. It was quick and very painless. We just walked through the Broadway Melodies Theatre and showed our passports and walked out the other side. The show this evening was the Hills Brothers comedy act but it was another one that we missed. We were in Ft. Lauderdale so we spent a lot of time up on deck watching them load everything on the ship in a big hurry. We used up a lot of our minutes on our cell phone catching up with everyone at home too. We stayed up to watch the sail away from Ft. Lauderdale which ended up being around 2 am.

 

DAY 9: at sea……very relaxing day. We really enjoyed the last couple of sea days because they were just bonus days so there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff going on around the ship. We went up on deck and watched the pool games and spent some time in the Solarium and in the hot tubs. Kelly McDonald put on one show for all guests after dinner and it was packed with everyone in there. Donated some money playing roulette and dh played the slots. He came out about $40 ahead.

 

DAY 10: another sea day…..my favorite. Now we were actually getting sad thinking about having to get off of the ship. We enjoyed some more time up on deck and Derek Lewis (of Kamikaze Karaoke) played and it was another perfect day on the seas. DH played in the slot tournament but didn’t win anything.

 

WHAT NOT TO MISS:

 

Rosario Strings in the Centrum and the dining room, Dick is an awesome violin player and Teddy plays guitar.

 

Derek Lewis and Kamikaze Karaoke in the Schooner Bar (don’t even think about walking through the Schooner Bar if you don’t want to participate)

 

Diezel Band…..playing rock and country music very well in the Shall We Dance Lounge

 

The Quest….can’t explain because it would give it away

 

Love & Marriage….this was hilarious…..a version of the Newlywed Game

 

We had a wonderful time again on the Rhapsody. The Captain kept us very well informed about what was going on with the storm and issued frequent updates. We were given 10 min/pp per day free internet time and free phone calls. We were actually never charged at all for any phone time once they made the announcement that we could have 10 min each day free. There were lines occasionally in the internet café but not an overly long wait. Everyone was extremely considerate. The cruise director ~ Dan, Dan the Party Man ~ and his staff, in particular, Mo Money Marnie, Shawn, Rain and the foreign guy that we never did actually figure out exactly how to pronounce his name, were just great. They spoke to us several times on board and seemed to really enjoy their jobs.

 

Our wait staff was exceptional and our head waiter said that he would be leaving the Rhapsody in February for a short vacation and then he would be headed for the Freedom as an asst. maitre d. We enjoyed the food and on the off chance that we got something that wasn’t to our taste, we were quickly offered something else. Other outstanding crew members were the shot waiter in the dining room and our bartender Steve out on deck.

 

The only service that we received that wasn’t exceptional was from our cabin steward. She was not bad by any stretch of the imagination but when compared to the rest of the crew, we were disappointed. We never even found out her name. We saw her in the hall a couple of times but that was it.

 

I was hesitant to sail on the Rhapsody again just because we like to try different ships but our group was sailing on her and we wanted to join them. After this cruise, I wouldn’t hesitate to sail on the Rhapsody many more times.