Rhapsody Question

[CruiseDreaming]

Hi, my DH and I are cruising on Rhapsody. I found out that we will not be docking in Key West until 3pm! Does anyone know the early seating time for dinner? Are we going to be able to do an excursion and still attend our dinning time (we generally really enjoy the dining room)? Well thanks.

 

Kerrie:)

[Ladylouwho]

Our experience with the Rhapsody and Key West is that there is open seating in the dining room that night as so many are off the ship during dinner. There is no set time for you to eat and I believe they will seat you until 8:30 or 9 pm. If you are lucky, you will get your own table and regular wait staff, but not always. There were always plenty of tables though. There is a big sailaway party at @ 1:00am when you leave Key West. Have Fun!

[WV1965]

Thanks for posting this question - I had pretty much the same question as yours and I'm happy for the post reply.

 

Our Meet & Mingle group sounds like we will be hitting a few restaurants/bars and sampling some of the Key West cuisine, so I'm not sure how hungry we'll be for dinner.

[cmich068]

Rhapsody is a great ship, but i don't think there is that much to do in Key West...

[LLSullie]

Thanks for posting this question - I had pretty much the same question as yours and I'm happy for the post reply.

 

Our Meet & Mingle group sounds like we will be hitting a few restaurants/bars and sampling some of the Key West cuisine, so I'm not sure how hungry we'll be for dinner.

 

My mom said something about finding a place in Key West that serves warm water lobster ... you'll never want any other kind again ... mmm mmm mmm mmm

 

Ladylouwho wrote: There is a big sailaway party at @ 1:00am when you leave Key West.

 

YAY ! ! ! ! :rolleyes:

[starq1]

Yeah the sail away party is the best! There is a buffet(don't know if anyone mentioned that) but we didn't eat.

 

We didn't think there was much to do there either, we are not drinkers so we thought this would be a port where we would just stay on the ship. But at the last minute we decided to do the Ghost and Legends tour. We had so much fun and peaked our interest so much we are heading back there again. Rhapsody is making stops in Jamaica but we wanted Key West instead.

 

As far as dinner is concerned we ate at the windjammer. Our tour didn't begin until 7:30 I believe, so we came back a little early ate and then went to our tour group.

[Sassy Chassis]

The KW stop is the one night we skipped dinner on board. We had food at the Conch Republic and then went on to Margaritaville (for snacks & drinks). By the time we were done and back on the ship we were definitely ready for that big buffet on the pool deck. We enjoyed our food while we sailed away :)

[Ladylouwho]

It is not true that there isn't anything to do in Key West. We sailed the Rhapsody twice, stopping in Key West both times. Once, my husband and daughters rented waverunners right at the pier where we were docked and had lots of fun. He got off pretty much right away and signed them up and they only had to wait @ 1/2 hour or so. We have also rented the little cars, don't remember what they are called, kind of like motorized golf carts, and we drove around with the kids and then walked around, shopped, had some Margaritas, watched the street performers at the dock by the ship and then made it back to the ship for a nice dinner in the dining room. The dress code in the dining room is casual that night as it is open seating. There are plenty of restaurants for people who want to dine in Key West. Walking down Duval Street at night with all the drinking and festivities reminded me of a mini-New Orleans Bourbon Street (at least the way it used to be). There are lots of excursions you can take as well. The nice thing about the Key West stop is you can get on and off very easily as it stops very near all the action. I'm not in a big hurry to go back, but the stop is short and sweet, especially if you have never been to Key West. Oh, and one of the stranger sights we witnessed from our balcony when we docked in Key West were two entire families being kicked off the ship luggage and all. Seems their teenage boys had gotten drunk and jumped the bar in the disco to try and steal some liquor. RCCL doesn't look too kindly upon that behavior. (By the way, that was during a Spring Break cruise).

[Pradagal]

Off the subject a bit. Just booked the Rhaposody for the Montego Bay route 7 day. Has anyone done this cruise. First time on this ship as well, have heard the same as Vision. We snagged a corner aft balcony. Does anyone have pics or suggestions for excursions. Thanks!

[Nitra]

I have been to Belize, Grand Caymen, Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel, all aboard the Rhapsody, can you tell I love this ship? I have never done the Jamaica route because I spent a week in Jamaica and hated it there so have no desire to visit even for a day BUT Im sure you can go over to Roll Calls and dig around, you will find many that have, or check out the ports of call sections.

 

As for Key West, I love that place, at least for a day. Best time I had was before the ship started going in late in the day because passengers wanted the night life that KW is known for. We were due in at 7am the next morning but were ahead of shedule, we docked at 10p the night before and over nighted, OMG it was so fun. The crew got off, and almost everyone headed to town. We all ended up at Sloppy Joes dancing and having a grand time. It was one time the crew was allowed to hang and party with the passengers without problems. As a matter of fact that is the night I got engaged to my bar waiter, that I married 3 months later.. LOL Anyway another story. I enjoy it in the evenings there, it is alive. You can browse around, just enjoy the sights, you get in there early enough to shop some if you wish, and yes there is a lot of nightlife if you are into it. There are exursions if you want, such as the sunset cruise, and some other things folks have mentioned. Enjoy the charm and take it for what it is, a small beach community stuck in a time warp but charming in its own right.

[missybirchfield]

Off the subject a bit. Just booked the Rhaposody for the Montego Bay route 7 day. Has anyone done this cruise. First time on this ship as well, have heard the same as Vision. We snagged a corner aft balcony. Does anyone have pics or suggestions for excursions. Thanks!

 

We did this trip last September. Ocho Rios was the port our itinerary had. We loved that! Did a private tour with Ionie McBeam. Well worth the money! This was when hurricane Rita was supposed to hit Galveston and we couldn't get back, so they took us to Montego Bay, Jamaica also.

We were on our balcony and got offered lots of things by the people down at the shops close to the dock. I will add that there is a little shopping mall right at the pier there, and it had a chainlink fence with razor wire and we stood on the balcony and watched the guards checking all of the cars going into the mall area. Will not ever go back there! One other thing in regards to Montego Bay... RCCL has a ship recommended store there and we went in to get my husband's Movado watch band fixed.. he gave them his credit card because he thought it would be expensive... it turned out to only be $5 or $10 (can't remember), anyway, when we got to Cozumel, he went to use his card at Diamonds International and found out that his card had been cloned in Jamaica. We knew which store and where because that was the only place he had pulled it out in.. Long story short, pay CASH! in Jamaica.

[Aprille]

We snagged a corner aft balcony. Does anyone have pics...

Which deck? I have a link to pics of 8088 in my sig. Awesome cabin/balcony! :cool: Even if you're on 7 you'll get an idea of the size of the balcony from my pics. Corner aft balconies on 7 are even larger than 8. But the cabin on 7 is D1 compared to JS on 8.

[Karshrimp]

Be sure and visit Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville while in Key West. We were there in January having a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" when Jimmy came walking out of the kitchen! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Autographs and pictures for all! It was the highlight of the whole cruise! :D

[reney313]

I preferred the KW stop at evening vs. during the day. It is exciting to watch all the activity out on the streets at night. Definitely watch the sunset at Mallory Square. There are various street acts that are fun to watch and take pictures of. As far as eating, many have answered..it is open seating. This ship is like "right there" so you don't have to worry about a long walk or a tender ride. I think for this itinerary most people end up eating somewhere in KW, but if I were with a family, I'd likely take advantage of the ship dining room.

 

As far as the buffet on the sail away party...I had every intention of making it there as I was starving (we had more of a 'liquid' dinner). I think I decided to stop in the stateroom to use the facility and may have laid my head down for a second. Needless to say, I never made it to the top deck until the next morning ;) Oops.

[BallFour4]

I found out that we will not be docking in Key West until 3pm!

 

You are leaving Galveston on CDT time and arriving in Key West at 4:00 EDT. It will be later by one hour, but the ships time remains CDT.

 

There is much to do and see in Key West, but remember the face of the city changes after dark.

 

The sunset at Mallory Square is nice, and we've walked back to the ship for dinner and then left again to walk around town. The Key Lime cookie place is great! and be sure to have a beer at Captain Tonys. If you've ever heard Jimmy Buffett's song Last Mango In Paris you will understand.

 

Enjoy the Rhapsody, she's our favorite and we hope to go on her this summer for the third time.

[CruiseDreaming]

Thanks for all the fabulous replies! This is great. I am a bit of a Parrothead so I had wanted to visit Margaritaville. I checked the web and the Pirate Soul museum closes at 7. I think we may be able to squeeze our plans in even though its a short port day. Hubby wants to go parasailing. It just seems like a lot to do in not too long a period, but after listening to you great folks I'm much happier. This is our first Rhapsody cruise. Thanks a bunch!

 

Kerrie:)

[scotts8826]

Our family went parasailing at Key West. My boys (17, 13, 11), my wife and I had a great time. I figured an activity like parasailing had to be safer in the US than in a foreign country. I booked directly with Sebago Watersports for about $40 a person. We arrived at 4 EST, got off the ship, walked through town to the smaller harbor where they were located, checked in and sat down on the boat about 4:45 pm for our 5 pm reservation. We got back to town about 6 pm. Went back to the Rhapsody Windjammer for a quick dinner and then went back into town to shop until about 10 EST that night. Key West is a sight at night with all the bars hitting full stride. I imagine Key West has got to be the number one port for passengers missing their ship!

[Lightsluvr]

is wonderful. Adjacent to the dock. Free street entertainment. The sunset is breathtaking...and romantic...