Review: Rhaposdy of the Seas 1/22/2006 LOOOOONG

[chaswelf]

I thought I’d take a few minutes to write up a review of this cruise and give back a little bit to this forum. I’ll going to go though each day and then sum up with my general thoughts about the ship, crew, food, etc. My DW and I are 48 and 51 and this is my 6th cruise and her 3rd.

 

Saturday 1/21 – We fly to Houston (iah) from MN and arrive on-time on Northwest Airlines. We then proceed to Hertz to rent a car for the drive to Galveston. We arrive to a very foggy and rainy night, it’s around 10pm and we check in to the Super 8 just a block from the seawall. Not the best hotel but it is a Super 8 after all. One thing we notice on the drive down is the smell, with all the refineries and chemical plants along the way combined with the fog it was terrible. My wife commented on how she immediately got a headache and just felt funny; I must admit I didn’t feel too good either.

 

Sunday 1/22 – We wake up to a cool and drizzly day. We pack up the car and I drop my DW at the port with our bags around 10:30. I take the car back to the hertz office and they provided a shuttle back to the port. I arrive back at the port about 30 minutes after dropping off the DW and we proceed to check in. NO one is in line and we have our sea pass cards in a matter of a minute and go and sit in the boarding waiting area. They are only letting a few people aboard at a time but after 10 minutes we are allowed to board.

 

It’s now around 11:30 and we are aboard this great ship. The one thing we notice right away is all the doors leading to the cabins are closed with signs that say they will be open at 1pm. So we walk around the ship with our carry on luggage until the windjammer opens at noon. In the future I will wait to board until after 1 to avoid this minor issue. Anyhow we have lunch and then headed to the cabin. We meet our cabin steward George and ask for an egg crate topper and he brings it asap. We are immediately struck at how much room and storage there is in our outside cabin (2030). It seemed much larger than our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess. We un-pack the carry ons and head out exploring. Unfortunately the weather went down hill all day and it was too cold and wet to be out by the pool.

 

After checking out our table location, walking the ship, getting our coke stickers, and booking an excursion in Key West we decide to skip the sailaway party because it’s now been moved indoors due to the weather. We head to the cabin to find our luggage which we unpack and get ready for dinner.

 

We have early seating and head off to dinner and meet our tablemates from were else TEXAS! We hit it off and have a great meal. We then head to casino, go to the welcome aboard show with the comedy of Jeff William(he was funny), head to the casino, go dancing in the shall we dance lounge, go to the casino and finally go to bed about 1am.

 

Monday 1/23 – AT SEA - After a night of thunderstorms and lighting we wake up to a beautiful day in the gulf. Waters are a little rough but that doesn’t bother us so we head up to the windjammer for lunch and then hang out by the pool in the afternoon. I should note here that we NEVER had a problem finding a couple of chairs by the pool, they were always available. OH at 12:30 we headed up to the meet and mingle and had a nice time meeting those who could make it. We then also used our free coupons for the wine tasting, Got to taste 6 different wines, 3 red 3 whites

 

This was the first formal night so we head back to the cabin around 4:30 to get ready. We love to have all the formal pictures taken so we head out around 5:30 and hit all the photo stations, me in my tux and my DW looking fab. We have a great dinner and head out for the show and some dancing.

 

Tuesday 1/24 – Key West - We once again wake up to a good weather and hang out at the pool for a while and watch the mens sexy legs content, what a great time

 

We are due in Key West at 3pm, I can’t wait since I’m a parrothead and Key West is the parrothead mecca. We take a jimmy buffet walking tour and do the pub crawl until around 9 and head back to the ship and call it an early night.

 

Wednesday 1/25 – AT SEA – Again another wonderful weather day. We have breakfast in the dinning room and then we go to the cocktail seminar. There is a 9.95 charge for this but it was worth every penny. You get to have 6 drinks (small glass) but you can have all you want. Here’s a couple of tips for you, when they make the first drink (a martini) and the guy says “who wants a martini?” get up and go up there and he will give it to you. Also bring 2 one hundred dollar bills to the event and go up front when they ask for them, you won’t be disappointed, and you will get to keep your money!

 

Today they hold the horse races by the pool. I’ve always wanted to be a horse owner and decide this will be the cruise. After some heavy bidding for the first horse I back down. But I do get to buy the next horse for $100. Not a bad price. We pick number 3 and take her back to the cabin to await the owner’s race on Saturday with a pot of $780 on the line.

 

After dinner we go to the show that stars “the haygoods”. There a family that have a theater in branson and boy were they good singers and dancers.

 

We then went and played quest, let’s just say I looked marvelous.

 

Thursday 1/26 – Grand Cayman – Yep great weather again. We have booked the 3 hour 3 stop (2 snorkel 1 stingray) tour with capt. marvin. We get up early and they have an early tender (7 – 7:45) were its first come first serve. After 7:45 you need to get a tender ticket. We get to the tender about 7:20 and walk right on. We then walk to capt marvins to check in and pay.

 

This is where I will put a Big BIg BIG warning. The Rhapsody of the Sea stays on Central Time even though all her ports are on Eastern time. I met a couple of people that missed tours in GC and COZ because of this. It was also stressful for me to always have to be thinking “what time is the ship time” when I would look at a clock. I don’t wear a watch because normally I always have my cell phone to tell me what time it is but of course didn’t on the cruise. I wish they would switch to EST after leaving Galveston and switch back when they return.

 

Ok so back to the capt marvins trip. It was great, great snorkeling on the barrier reef and the stingrays were not to be missed. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone.

 

After the trip we shopped around a bit but after being in the water and on a boat for 3 hours we were tired and headed back to the ship.

 

This was the second formal night and we again got dressed to the 9’s and took pictures, had a great dinner and enjoyed the show. Then the casino enjoyed my money!

 

Friday 1/27 – Cozumel – We don’t get off the ship until around 11am after sleeping in. But once we get ashore I’m amazed because I’ve never been to this port and I expected it to be in much worst shape. The main street of shops is about 90% operational but the cruise terminal looks like it has a ways to go. We did not head out of the main shopping area to see what the rest of the island looked like. We spend some money here to help the local economy and headed back to the ship around 3:30 just as an afternoon rain shower moved in.

 

We had a nice dinner and the show this night was the comedy of chris bliss. He was just OK until the end when he juggled to music, that was great.

 

Saturday 1/28 – AT SEA – The seas are a little rougher today(7-12ft) but the weather is warm. We get up to have some breakfast and head back to the cabin to dress up our horse for the owners race at 1:45 today. We dress her up with a little lingerie and name her “after dark”. When race time comes and all the people around the pool vote for best dressed horse we WIN! But we didn’t fair to good in the race but it was fun anyhow.

 

My DW then takes the rest of the day to nap by the pool and I head to the casino to try one last time to get the mortgage payment back ;) still no luck.

 

We have our final nice meal and go to the show with Lance Ringland the ex-Olympic gymnast. He did a great show.

 

We then walked the ship one last time and turned in for the night.

 

Sunday 1/28 - Disembark – We signed up for early disembark. You can sign up to leave the ship in the first 1/2 hour which is normally 7-7:30am for the rhapsody. We were a bit late getting in due to fog but we were off the ship by 8am and on our way. To get off early you need to sign up (you’ll get a form in your room) and you must carry all your luggage off yourself.

 

General observations:

 

Our last two cruises have been on mega ships and the smaller Rhapsody was a nice break, we never felt crowded at any time. She is well taken care of and very beautiful.

 

We think the dinners were fabulous, I can’t quite imagine them much better.

 

Breakfast in the windjammer was just OK but we normally didn’t eat until after 9. We did one morning get up early and get there when the food was fresh and it was much better.

 

The shows were very entertaining and they had a number of headliners.

 

The crew is fabulous

 

The only downside to the whole trip is Galveston, getting there is a pain if your flying. There’s not a good way to get from Houston to Galveston and back without spending 60-100 per person. And quite honestly with our physical reaction to all the plants and refineries and the transportation challenges, we’ve decide we will not cruise out of this port again.

 

OK I’m done typing for awhile, if you have and questions let them fly and I’ll answer.

[rzrback]

We leave out of Galveston on March 19. Do you know if the Haygoods are doing several weeks/months on the Rhapsody or were they a one time show. We are from Northwest Arkansas and have seen the Haygoods perform in Branson for many years and would love to them while onboard. We have also booked the Captain Marvin excursion in GC and are a little worried about getting off of the ship earlier enough. Which deck/cabin did you have? Thanks for the review and especially for the heads up on the time change.

[chaswelf]

I'm not sure about the haygoods schedule. We were on deck 2 cabin 2030, port side forward outside. It was a great cabin but it was loud when the anchor was dropped!

[Firefighterhoop]

Hi Chas, I am also From Minnesota (Cottage Grove (SE Metro)). Galveston is my favorite port to cruise out of, because it is the shortest flight, and usually much cheaper than Miami.

Too bad you had a reacton to the refinery. But maybe because I live in the Heart of the 2 refineries in Minnesota, both within 4 miles of me (St. Paul Park, and Rosemount), I just don't notice the smell anymore.

 

I also love the Itenerary that the Rhapsody does, however, I am excited with the new Ultra Voyager Class of ships, I am thinking with how popular the Rhapsody and the Route is, I am keeping my fingers crossed that they get a Radiance Class ship (Bigger) in Galveston ( They can not put a Voyager or an Ultra Voyager class ship in that port due to the turning radius being around 1000' max for the port, and the voyager is 1020' long, and the Freedom will be over 1120'.)

 

Also Chas, do you remember who your captain was, was it Captain Teo, or captain Anders? - If you are lucky enough to have Captain Teo on your cruise for future cruisers, he is a really nice guy. Make sure you go to the Captain's Corner on the last day of the cruise where he answers any and all questions you have about the ship, staff, being a captain, etc etc.

[chaswelf]

Also Chas, do you remember who your captain was, was it Captain Teo, or captain Anders? - If you are lucky enough to have Captain Teo on your cruise for future cruisers, he is a really nice guy. Make sure you go to the Captain's Corner on the last day of the cruise where he answers any and all questions you have about the ship, staff, being a captain, etc etc.

 

Hello there fellow Minnesotan!

 

We had capt teo and I did attend his captians corner chat, but he did it on wed. this cruise. This was his last cruise on the rhapsody, he was going on vacation and then he'll return to the empress according to some staff members.

[eastwood1fam]

chaswelf-Thanks for the great review. My DH and I will be on the Rhapsody this coming Sunday (2/5). Can't wait. It will be our second cruise on ROS. Last time we didn't make it to GC because of Hurricane Ivan, so we're hoping all goes well this time. Will you be a little more specific about the tendering process and time change? Our Nativeway excursion to Stingray City and Coral Reef starts at 10 AM EST and we need to meet at 9:45. So that means we should get off the ship early, right? Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I don't want to miss anything. Did you do shopping there also? Any good places that can't be missed? Thanks for any help and again, thanks for taking time for the review.

[kbaker]

Thanks for the review! We will be on the Rhapsody on March 12 for the 1st time. Do you need to sign up for the wine tasting and cocktail seminar early or just show up?

[chaswelf]

chaswelf-Thanks for the great review. My DH and I will be on the Rhapsody this coming Sunday (2/5). Can't wait. It will be our second cruise on ROS. Last time we didn't make it to GC because of Hurricane Ivan, so we're hoping all goes well this time. Will you be a little more specific about the tendering process and time change? Our Nativeway excursion to Stingray City and Coral Reef starts at 10 AM EST and we need to meet at 9:45. So that means we should get off the ship early, right? Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I don't want to miss anything. Did you do shopping there also? Any good places that can't be missed? Thanks for any help and again, thanks for taking time for the review.

 

I had the same schedule with capt marvin, 10am trip and we left at 9:30. Get off on the first tender at 7am which is 8am GC time and you will be fine.

 

We didn't spend much time shopping GC so can help there.

 

Oh in key west go to a bar called ricks, it's across the street from sloppy joes. The singer in there is really funny and a good singer too!

 

Enjoy your cruise you will have a great time!

[chaswelf]

Thanks for the review! We will be on the Rhapsody on March 12 for the 1st time. Do you need to sign up for the wine tasting and cocktail seminar early or just show up?

 

You can do either, they sell tickets before hand and at the door.

[lawsoncd3]

Thanks for the great review of your vacation. It sounds as if you two had a wonderful time.

 

We're leaving from Galveston on Oct. 1, 2006. We're toying with the idea of having the air-sea package and fly out a day early and have the shuttle from the airport.

 

I enjoyed reading your report. I hope I do as well! ;)

 

Dona

lawsoncd@cox.net

[djcruz4fun]

Thanks for the report,sounds like an enjoyable cruise.

 

My wife,FIL,MIL, three BIL and 2 SIL and I will be on the Rhapsody in May.

 

We are all doing the Pub Crawl in Key West. Did you enjoy it? What did you do? Thanks!

[helicopter]

This is where I will put a Big BIg BIG warning. The Rhapsody of the Sea stays on Central Time even though all her ports are on

Eastern time

. I met a couple of people that missed tours in GC and COZ because of this. It was also stressful for me to always have to be thinking “what time is the ship time” when I would look at a clock. I don’t wear a watch because normally I always have my cell phone to tell me what time it is but of course didn’t on the cruise. I wish they would switch to EST after leaving Galveston and switch back when they return.

 

Cozumel is not on Eastern Time, it remains on Central Time:)

[nanaj1]

Hi

 

My husband and I are on the Rapsody on Feb.19th.

We have booked with Captain Marvin also. Could you tell me what it is like to get off the boat, is it deep. I do not swim and will stay on the boat if any trouble with the depth of the water, but my husband will swim with the stingrays. I want to get off but a bit worried about the water. We will not get off the boat to snokel, does this matter.

Thank you for a great review. Wish I could find some more people on our cruise. No meet and mingle set up.

[Sassy Chassis]

Hi

 

My husband and I are on the Rapsody on Feb.19th.

We have booked with Captain Marvin also. Could you tell me what it is like to get off the boat, is it deep. I do not swim and will stay on the boat if any trouble with the depth of the water, but my husband will swim with the stingrays. I want to get off but a bit worried about the water. We will not get off the boat to snokel, does this matter.

Thank you for a great review. Wish I could find some more people on our cruise. No meet and mingle set up.

 

Depending on how tall you are the water will be either at your waist or maybe your chest. The water is very clear and warm so I don't think you'll have any problems walking amongst the stingrays. Have fun! :D

[chaswelf]

Thanks for the report,sounds like an enjoyable cruise.

 

My wife,FIL,MIL, three BIL and 2 SIL and I will be on the Rhapsody in May.

 

We are all doing the Pub Crawl in Key West. Did you enjoy it? What did you do? Thanks!

 

We didn't do the orgainized pub crawl we just did it on our own. It's hard to go wrong on your own, there a bar every 10 feet it seems like. One fun thing we did it go to sloppy joes and they have a live web cam that points to the stage. We when infront of the stage and call home to our 24yo DD and she logged and could see us live on the internet!

[chaswelf]

This is where I will put a Big BIg BIG warning. The Rhapsody of the Sea stays on Central Time even though all her ports are on

Eastern time

. I met a couple of people that missed tours in GC and COZ because of this. It was also stressful for me to always have to be thinking “what time is the ship time” when I would look at a clock. I don’t wear a watch because normally I always have my cell phone to tell me what time it is but of course didn’t on the cruise. I wish they would switch to EST after leaving Galveston and switch back when they return.

 

Cozumel is not on Eastern Time, it remains on Central Time:)

 

Yep, I messed that up, it was Key west and Grand Cayman were the time difference was an issue. But I must admit after worrying about it in the first two ports I wasn't too sure what time it was in coz.

[chaswelf]

Hi

 

My husband and I are on the Rapsody on Feb.19th.

We have booked with Captain Marvin also. Could you tell me what it is like to get off the boat, is it deep. I do not swim and will stay on the boat if any trouble with the depth of the water, but my husband will swim with the stingrays. I want to get off but a bit worried about the water. We will not get off the boat to snokel, does this matter.

Thank you for a great review. Wish I could find some more people on our cruise. No meet and mingle set up.

 

not to worry the sting ray sand bar is only about 2 ft deep, there may be a little deeper water right when you get off the boat. But if your worried about it they do have life vests you can wear