Just Off Aug 06 2006 Rhapsody

[zantedeschia]

The sailing was to Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I have all Cruise Compasses if anyone has questions. Will be posting a very detailed review soonish and uploading pictures as I receive/scan them.

[TexasMom2]

Looking forward to your review - we leave 3 weeks from today.

[hersheyl]

Can't wait to hear...we leave 9/17 in a JR. Suite for the first time. Looking forward to hearing about the ports of call. Hurry!

[lawsoncd3]

Can't wait to see the review. We're leaving on Oct. 1, 1 month, 2 weeks away. Each week I watch her pull out of Galveston wishing it was me on the ship... soon, very, very soon. This is ROS pulling out this afternoon. My only question for now is did the cruise line search all your luggage?

[libertybelle41]

Awww....I miss Galveston. We were just

there last week and were sitting right to the left

at fisherman's warf....bye Rhapsody.....have fun:)

[p2lockhart]

Welcome back! Can you tell me when and where was Quest?

 

Thanks!

[mrsjoey]

Zantedeschia, we sail out this Sunday Aug. 20th the same itinerary....:D I can't wait for your review and pics. What nights were formal and what night was the gala buffet?

[zantedeschia]

Zantedeschia, we sail out this Sunday Aug. 20th the same itinerary....:D I can't wait for your review and pics. What nights were formal and what night was the gala buffet?

Sorry for the delay, it's been over a week since I've seen my new boyfriend and we've been (ahem) catching up. He has today off work so I'll start tomorrow.

 

Formal nights were Monday and Thursday. The Midnight Gala was Thursday night, the same night as lobster night.

 

Here are a couple tidbits.

 

I also have days 2 through 7 of the 15-17 teen activity cards.

 

The captain was Michel Claveau (I believe, can't find anything atm with his name on it and they tended to Americanize his name to Micheal). He was without a doubt the most talkative captain I've ever encountered. Not only did he do the noon reports, he would periodically come on and make other announcements. His English was flawless and only lightly accented, previous captains I've encountered spoke with heavy accents so it was a nice change. Also had the speaker turned up in our cabin for once tho it was on cruisecritic that I found out you could adjust that! (I still have trouble finding the volume control knob tho)

 

Stuff I forgot: snorkel gear (second time forgotten for a cruise!), my address book but I didn't need to call anyone anyway (our first cruise with a cell phone). Alex's jewelry that I was going to pair with her formal, a pearl and coral rope bracelet and a pearl and jade necklace. My camera is broken so I nagged Alex about 12 times (so she claims) to pack hers. She did indeed pack it but neglected to pack the data card. (!!) Ship shape dollars from previous cruises - every cruise I plan to take them to redeem them and every cruise I forget. This was my fourth RC cruise btw.

 

Oh, what the hey. I'll post day one, it should be fairly short.

[zantedeschia]

Can't wait to see the review. We're leaving on Oct. 1, 1 month, 2 weeks away. Each week I watch her pull out of Galveston wishing it was me on the ship... soon, very, very soon. This is ROS pulling out this afternoon. My only question for now is did the cruise line search all your luggage?

Great screen shot. :)

 

I'll have to answer "I don't know". We didn't carry on any bags at check-in. Coming back from the ports, we just dropped our bags through the x-ray machines and they went through no problem. The topic of booze came up several times from talking to people and a couple claimed they brought bottles of liquor/6-packs and more of beer on no problem, nothing was confiscated. From talking to some late teens teenagers, they said the "no beer and wine for 18-20 years olds" NEW RULE was INDEED in effect. They claimed we were in the first week it had taken effect. I told them I didn't think it was any big deal since I still bought the occasional drink for my daughter, it's legal for me to do in Texas (yeah I know I'm on ship's jurisdiction) and I'd rather have her drinking/smoking around me than behind my back and she does both in moderation. I can't say I didn't see any excessive drinking cause I did on at least one occasion :) (I'll get to that) since I don't go to the late night party type stuff.

 

I think I sort of derailed but even tho they gave us "increased security" literature about 3 times, we didn't see any indication of them being more gnarly about it and we didn't encounter it upon embarkation (I'll get to that too).

[zantedeschia]

Welcome back! Can you tell me when and where was Quest?

 

Thanks!

Quest was Day 3 Tuesday, 10:30pm in the Shall We Dance lounge.

[zantedeschia]

Warning, this will be very long-winded and detailed. Warning2, I like to post to controversial threads, remember these?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=306279

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=324203

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=329079

 

In which I occasionally get toasted and singed. The one(s) in particular where I said I bought drinks for my 17 year old daughter and that I couldn't get her into the over-18-only shore excursion so I was going to allow her to wander around the pier/shops area in Cozumel by herself.

 

So the burning question (pun intended) is, did Alex survive Cozumel? Was she kidnapped by aliens!!?? OMG STAY TUNED.

 

Day 1 - Galveston

 

I wanted to leave ultra early to try out the pier coordinator/upgrade thing, but decided against when I found out the cruise was sold out. Alex was in an excruciatingly bad mood when I tried to get her up at 9am, I found out shortly after it was cause she was up all night and didn't go to bed until around 8am. Nothing like having your rebellious teenager scream obscenities at you first thing in the morning (I kept my cool and let it slide). Also found out later PMS was probably contributing (good thing I track her periods because I packed more tampons than she did).

 

Living in Houston, we left around 11am, got a few blocks away when Alex said she forgot her makeup bag, turning back to get it made me lose my time sense. Arrived in Galveston around 12:30 I think. I had no cruise docs except for a downloaded and printed setsail pass. Probably had something to do with I paid the last $100 owed on the cruise the week before we were slated to depart so never got the docs in the mail. Despite having nothing, it was the fastest, smoothest embarkation I've ever done. Stepping out of car to stepping on ship was about 10 minutes, no exaggeration. The porter had to take us with our luggage to get tags but it was no hassle. Two of the guys in the luggage area were eating BBQ to which I moaned OMG, I'm leaving Texas, no BBQ for a week (that got smiles in return). Checked in, no docs was no problem, had passports for both me & Alex, had notarized letter of consent from Dad which wasn't asked for. Only glitch was I changed the credit card which didn't get changed cause the next day I had a letter under the door saying CC was declined, please come to purser desk (doh, why do you think I changed credit cards?!) Other than that, everything was incredibly easy.

 

We went and ate in the Windjammer, food was so-so but it's never good first day. Finished eating about 1am, right as they opened the cabins.

 

We were in cabin 2076, oceanview midship port side, very close to the Centrum elevators. I thought it was a great location. Looking out the window, we were like right above the water, was a bit freaky at first.

 

We were blessed with great weather. The week before Tropical Storm Chris was threatening and I flirted with buying cruise insurance but then Chris disappated.

 

We lost the cell phone network about an hour and a half out of Galveston, approx 6:30. This seemed to be a magic number that I didn't know the reason for, I'm sure someone could clue me in. But I'd go to a bar, ask for a drink, they'd say "not till 6:30". Shops and casinos and stuff opened around then too, that was how long it took to reach International waters mayhap? Headed out, we were right inbetween two shipping lanes, you could see tankers and ships on either side of Rhapsody in a straight line. Also many many oil rigs right off the coast. Sunset was directly behind us, was pretty.

 

Moon was almost full this night, full moon was on August 9th.

 

Up on deck Alex forgot to bring a lighter, she ran into some not-so-friendly (she claimed) people when she tried to get a light. Shops weren't open, I was like here let me try. Ran after this guy (ran into him later on a shore excursion, found out his name was Jason), I just waved a cigarette at him and he offered a light. Gave us the lighter when he found out we didn't have one! Said keep it, he had three.

 

Called my ex-bf while we were still in port, went "Hi, I'm on Rhapsody." He paused for about 15 seconds, then went "Oh." Later turned to Alex and said "Good thing we're not sailing on Carnival Ecstasy."

 

Even tho the passenger manifest was about 80% Texans, by far the majority of the people I chatted with were not from Texas, I found this interesting.

 

We had second seating in the dining, our table was on Deck 5 in the middle all the way at the back, 6 seat retangular table. Got there and our tablemates were already seated, 2 couples across from each other, forcing Alex and I to sit across from each other against the wall. I didn't like this and it turned out to be an omen. The couples were good friends and spent the dinner talking to each other, making Alex & I feel like the only people at the party who didn't know each other. However, they did not ask the dreaded questions: Where are you from? and Is this your first cruise? Instead, they asked if I was from Jamaica and then collapsed into giggles, I got the impression it was a private joke. Later I asked them if they were from Jamaica and got the peals of laughter again - they were from Houston and Lubbock. Discussed changing tables with Alex after dinner and we agreed to do this. Don't get me wrong, they were young, 30ish, attractive, literate, they were nice people but Alex and I didn't want to spend the week at dinner being left out of the conversation. I don't think they even realized they were doing this, was just one of those things.

 

For dinner I had the watermelon gazpacho, the onion tart and the shrimp ravioli. Alex got the alternate menu steak. Now I understand first night the food is never that great but 2 other people got the ravioli and didn't like it but complained way too much about it I thought. I thought it was too salty. Alex left early because between not getting any sleep and starting her period she wasn't feeling well so I switched my plate for her steak. I had told our tablemates if you don't like something, get something else, get 2 or 3 appetizers/desserts if you want. Got the usual "I didn't know you could do that/had heard that but haven't tried it", one of the guys did order the steak, it came out almost immediately which I thought a bit odd. The soup was excellent, the tart a bit overcooked.

 

Saw the cigar aficianado thing on the Cruise Compass. New bf is a cigar smoker and mentioned it to him in our last phone call. He said it was this thing where they had brandy and you could smoke your cigar so I went and checked it out later. He was absolutely right - they were selling (expensive!) cigars and (expensive!) brandy and cognac and liqueurs. I could see him sitting there smoking his cigar and holding a brandy snifter filled with -- whatever. This was in the Library, they were running air purifiers to take out the smoke. Hadn't seen this activity before, do they do it on all the ships? Met the first crew member I got friendly with, Fhey (pronounced Faye), she also worked down in the champagne bar. Also found printed sudoku puzzles! One for each day. I swear I'm not bitten by the sudoku bug but I have a book that's pretty much been my constant companion since I got it.

 

Didn't do anything late night, Alex had napped earlier so didn't want to sleep and wanted to prowl the ship, I told her to stay low-key (she doesn't stay out that late, tends to come in 1am to 2:30ish).

 

TBC

[msled]

I also just returned from a trip on Rhapsody (7/30-8/6). We had an excellent time. Any questions, let me know. Since someone asked about alcohol. We did not try to 'smuggle' any, but another in our group brought about 10 pints of rum, in their original containers. I'm not sure if he spread them throughout their luggage or not.

[zantedeschia]

Day 2 - Tuesday - At Sea

 

Forgot to mention Carnival Conquest was docked alongside us in Galveston.

 

Breakfast. Now breakfast I eat healthy. Boiled eggs, oatmeal, bran cereal, fruit, soymilk. Soymilk mostly because I don't like cow's milk but they say it's good for your cholesterol. They also had this great country ham on the carving station I couldn't resist, met the second crew member I got chatty with (this despite his English not being that good). Never caught his name, he was the little short (Jamaican?) guy at the carving station at breakfast.

 

Short derailment here, people complain that Royal Caribbean food is not that good, Carnival is better and vice versa. IMO some of it is because RC is a Euro company so their food is more European/Continental. I happen to like this as because of this they do Continental food so much better. But they also tend to do American food strangely, for example, to accompany the ham, they had refried beans. Nice touch sort of, but someone should tell them about redeye gravy.

 

Back to topic, here comes one of the obstacles I always encounter. Getting the soymilk. I ask and get so many different answers, usually starting with "we don't have any". Being first day I didn't insist yes they really do have soya milk but did ask someone else. He went to the kitchen, came back, said he couldn't find any, was going to send someone to the "store". I was like, um okay. Eventually came up empty on the soya milk. Later I got on the RC website, sent some feedback. "Hi, I'm on the 06/Aug/06 sailing of Rhapsody atm, was told there was no soya milk. When we get to Jamaica could you please pick up some?"

 

The overall artwork on the ship doesn't jump out and grab me like it did on Splendour, but I do like the themed art in the stateroom hallways. Ours is black and white photos of old great jazz/blues musicians. Our cabin attendant is named Edgar. I greet and chat with him every opportunity. He asks if we have any special requests, I'm like more towels! We're girls, we can't do only 2 towels! He's great and jots down all my requests.

 

Finally made the shopping seminar against my better judgement. I held out for about 25 minutes, it was not what I was expecting at all. I don't know, I was expecting hints and tips on how to find the lowest prices, how to haggle with the merchants but it was more of a hyperactive pep talk on which shops had what designer watches and pushes to sell shopping discount thingees. Free gift flingings into the audience. Not my cup of tea.

 

Previous lunch experiences on RC for me has not been great but I noticed the lunch menu had changed. Especially noticed they had Nicoise salad (see my previous comment about continental cuisine). So I popped in, probably shouldnt' have cause I had *just* gotten off the treadmill and was a bit flushed and moist still. I was decidedly anti-social as I kept my headphones on (Alex brought 2 IPods, a CD player and several CDs - good thing we like approx the same kinds of music). Wasn't going to eat bread but they had little dishes of some excellent tapenade. As everyone else went after the butter, I happily devoured all the tapenade along with the wonderful bread. The salad was excellent.

 

Since I have a new boyfriend and had cancelled ex-bf cruise (was Nov 9 sailing of Empress), I went to see the C&A Loyalty Ambassador. Place was totally empty, a contrast to last time when people were doubling up on bookings and showing up early hoping to steal appointment slots. I mentioned how slow business was, she said I was her first booking of the cruise. New bf cruise is Jan 25 2007 4-night sailing of Splendour to Cozumel.

 

Today Alex started her period with a vengeance. Great way to start the cruise. She goes into a *MASSIVE* blue funk. I'm like GREAT, just what I need. She doesn't want to leave the room, she doesn't want me to leave her, doesn't want to tag along after me and I want to do things. I advise her to let me know beforehand if she plans to jump off the ship, it gets me a don't-be-stupid-Mom look. She didn't sleep well previous night and is very sluggish. I finally compromise, I went to the spa and booked her a massage. There are slots still available during dinner so I get her into a 7pm (first seating) appointment. She grudgingly agrees to shower and tag along after me. Sticks her head out the bathroom door 30 seconds after going in with a grin on her face: "There's a rubber ducky in the shower!" (I tend to pack one - it has little contacts that you wet and it lights up). She did follow me around for about 45 minutes, then went back to the room to nap. One of the things I did was go back to the C&A place to get my C&A number, there was a lovely woman already in an appt but she allowed the Loyalty Ambassador to spend a minute looking it up for me. So nice! About here Alex went back to our room to nap.

 

Stopped by the florist and picked up a single bud vase rose for the room to cheer Alex up, was only $6.50. Later let her buy a little necklace in the shops for to wear with her formal. I found my white gold dollar-an-inch bracelet in my purse (bought on a previous cruise) and clasped that on her wrist (she wore it the rest of the cruise).

 

Since I tend to spend way too much money on overpriced alcoholic drinks, one of my missions was to seek out all the free booze opportunities. First one is today, the champagne art auction. Only glitch is you have to register. I do and nab 2 glasses of champagne. I don't participate. Fhey was here serving champagne.

 

Kind of appalled at all the RBBJ's I see on the pool deck. I want to go up to some of these women and go "do you actually *like* those??!!" Some of them look like they have 2 pomelo halves glued to their chests!! (!!!!)

 

Second free booze opportunity - the wine tasting! I go down alone, get seated with a 20ish Canadian couple and another woman who now for the life of me I remember nothing about. This turns out to be a boon for me as I hit it off with the couple, an Asian woman named Jette and her boyfriend (3/4 Italian and 1/4 Irish he informs me) named Simon. We were getting along so well I asked if I could switch to their table, they said sure, they were at a big table and they were the only ones at it last night. I make note of the table number! During the wine tasting, our table kept getting skipped and we kept getting poured last! I got to the point where I was spitting nails over this, one wine pouring they poured 3 glasses at our table, ran out of wine and I'm the only one left with an empty glass. Karma karma karma. Last wine served was a red wine with very strong cherry notes, my favourite fruit. The wine is Spanish, called a crianza (I order it at dinner that night). Now I can't glow enough about Jette, she is positively adorable and refreshingly naive. What's this stuff? Is this supposed to be like that? Are you supposed to eat that? (poke poke) Yes, it's the rind of the brie cheese and yes you eat it. *Delightful* looks and facial expressions. Constantly. I thought she was Japanese because of this (I'm not trying to be stereotypical) but she's half Filapino and half Chinese. Do you speak Tagalog? No, but her mom does. I leave the wine tasting in much better fettle.

 

Alex goes off to her massage, comes back much refreshed. I napped and missed the third free booze opportunity of the day, the Captain's Reception (good thing I nabbed that champagne earlier).

 

Today is first formal night. Alex wore her black formal (will post a picture when it gets scanned) and I wore black velour pants, black velour tank top and a blue paisley bolero style jacket. We went to dinner, requested the table change, there are spots open so our change is honored. Turns out this "really big table" is a round table for 6, located right at the bottom of the stairs, by the piano and by the captain's table. I'm flabbergasted by this good fortune. Along with Simon and Jette, the other couple show up. I want to say "older couple" but I have to mentally adjust when I realize they're my age! (turns out Linda is one year older than I am). They're from Austin and seem liberal and friendly and chatty enough to put up with the wild behaviour coming from me, Alex & Jette. I had asked Alex to take a formal picture so I fret she's not going to find us. I tell Jette look for the girl with pink hair and facial piercings, Jette's excited: "I can't wait to meet her!" I put out so many feelers that Alex informed me a waiter came up to her and went "are you looking for your mother?" and pointed her to our table.

 

These tablemates are so so so much better, I'm happier and relieved. Halfway through dinner they realize we're sitting next to the captain's table and oh is that the captain sitting right there??!! I'm like um, yeah. And how do you get invited to sit with him??!! (I wish I knew). It was the only time the captain dined during the week tho. An interesting comment from Linda about the dress code. She said she wasn't sure how much to dress up and asked a friend if she should bring formal and the friend responded definitely yes.

 

For dinner I had: 2 servings of escargot. This got into a very funny exchange as I cajoled Jette into trying one. I just wish I could portray the reactions and expressions from Jette. Simon was adamant, snails would never pass his lips, but Jette eventually did try one with moderately positive results. But as we all know, we really get the escargot for the garlic butter. :) I also got the pear soup (very good), and the filet because I've done the duck to death.

 

Again, retired earlier. Again Alex was restless and roamed till about 1am or so. She's still refusing to to attend/participate in any shipboard activities and I'm still trying to nudge her in that direction.

 

New bf just called -- "where are you?" More very soon.

[tkportersat]

One of the most entertaining reviews ever!!

[frudutx]

When is the second fromal night? We leave on Sunday and I'd like to tell the "kids" what to expect.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

d

[msled]

Formal nights were Monday & Thursday. Thursday was lobster night and the Gala Buffet was at 11:30.

[frudutx]

Formal nights were Monday & Thursday. Thursday was lobster night and the Gala Buffet was at 11:30.

 

Thanks, I'll tell my daughter and my son's GF.

 

d

[zantedeschia]

Oops, I just figured out Day 2 was Monday, My Bad.

 

Alex and Jette hit it off really well, I am pleased.. They compare heights, Alex, at 5 foot even, is about an inch taller than Jette, 4' 11". Goes neenerneener I'm taller than you! (Alex is shorter than everyone!) Tiny, tiny females.

 

Months before the cruise I was a cruise bore to the point where Alex was I don't care Mom, leave me alone. Even when selecting the shore excursions. So now on the cruise she asks me what we're doing, I tell her "you told me you don't care." She's like "you're being very annoying and I looked at the tickets so I know we're doing the canopy tour and some pirate thing. What's the canopy tour?" I tell her it's this thing with the ziplines and then I refuse to tell her what a zipline is for about 10 minutes. When I finally describe it, she's intrigued.

 

Here's the dilemma I've been angsting about for months. Which is I couldn't book Alex on the tour I wanted in Cozumel cause it was listed as 18 and over and she refused to go on one by herself. I finally go what the hey, I'll cancel my solo excursion in Mexico and book something for the both of us. ShoreEx desk guy tells me not to cancel but figure out what I want and then trade the ticket. Turns out it's good I don't do this cause I go back, different guy misunderstands my question and tells me how to sign up instead. I'm like can you tell me what excursions have spots open? He says right now they all do. Mexican cooking class is listed, I'm kind of surprised cause it's a small class and sells out right away I had been told. Here it lists the minimum age as FIFTEEN, (the website listed 18 and over only). I'm like what the $$%&?? I request one ticket for it not expecting anything. Next day I get one ticket slipped under door much to my astonishment! Shore excursion problem is solved, I'm happy again! I speculated the reason there was still space in this tiny class is everyone signed up in pairs and if there was only one slot open, anyone trying to sign up 2 people would have been refused.

 

At breakfast I ask for soya milk again and am finally rewarded with 2 large glasses! My patience pays off. (See, they DO have it!)

 

Went to the cooking demonstration at 10:30am at the bottom of the Centrum. Oh btw, there's a nifty fountain at the bottom of the Centrum on Rhapsody, first time I've seen one on a cruise ship! Anyhow. I've seen the demonstrations before but never stopped to watch one in its entirety. Turned out it was pretty cool. One guy was carving a watermelon, one chef was decorating a cake, another was making a beef dish and the head chef guy was showing how to make gravlax. After, they brought out trays filled with the cake, beef and gravlax and allowed everyone to take a taste. Recipes:

 

Gravlax with Dill Mustard Sauce

1.5 pounds salmon fillet

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cracked peppercorn

2 bunches fresh chopped dill

1 cup linie aquavite

 

Place the salmon skin side down on a tray. Top with a mixture of the sugar and salt. Top with the peppercorns and chopped dill. Drizzle aquavite over. Leave refrigerated for 48 to 72 hours.

 

Honey Mustard Sauce

Combine equal parts mayo, mustard, chopped dill and honey (try 1/4 cup of each).

 

To serve, slice the salmon thinly on pumpernickel or rye. Drizzle with the Sauce.

 

Medallions of Beef Tenderloin with Green Peppercorn Sauce

12 2.5-oz medallions of beef

2 ounces green peppercorns from brine, rinsed

10 ounces brown sauce (?? I'm assuming a beef reduction here)

2 ounces heavy cream

2 ounces brandy

2 ounces red wine

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 ounces clarified butter or olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, minced

salt & pepper to taste

 

Heat a large saute pan till hot. Season medallions with salt and pepper. Sear medallions in hot pan in butter or oil on both sides to brown. Remove and set aside. Add a little more butter to pan. Add onions and garlic and cook a few minutes; do not let burn. Add chopped thyme, red wine and brandy; let reduce to half. Add brown sauce and cream; simmer a few minutes. Add peppercorns and taste to adjust seasoning. Add medallions of beef, heat through or cook to desired doneness. Serve.

 

Captain does the noon report, says the closest land to us is the ocean floor at 15,000 feet below us, or 75,000 toes. Mentions a tropical wave ahead but nothing comes of it.

 

Today's free booze opportunity wasn't exactly free, had a $9.95 fee. The cocktail seminar. They came around selling tickets at the wine tasting yesterday and I bought one and conviced Simon and Jette to do the same. However, what gets me is this was slated at 12:15, so I didn't get a chance to eat lunch and have food in me to counter the booze. I had done this previously and gotten pretty juiced so I asked Alex to be meet with me after so she could take care of me if needed. For 10 bucks, they throw a lot of booze at you. I got there, don't see Simon & Jette anywhere. Look for 15 minutes, finally give up, move around to the side. I'm there for about 10 minutes and then realize they're sitting right in front of me! I'm like do they see me? Did I offend them, are they ignoring me? About that time they turn around, spot me and wave me up. Yay! The previous cocktail seminar I attended was a straight presentation, this is how the cocktails are made, this is how they taste and samples were passed around. This one was more of a show, it was a lot of fun and highly entertaining. Had audience participation, they pulled people in to make and drink the drinks. And again, I'd say 90% of the people were not from Texas, interesting how the statistical sampling was not randomizing. Only glitch was this one group from Ohio that managed to get a member up on the floor 3 times, I didn't think this was fair to the rest of the audience. I believe they tried a fourth time tho but were sent back. As the seminar progressed and everyone got drunk, it got very loud and rowdy.

 

Drinks IIRC were: apple martini, cosmopolitan, bahama mama, BBC, yellowbird, and a B-52 shot. May be missing one, not sure. Alex showed up about halfway through, said the guy at the door asked her for a ticket. She said she was looking for her mom and he let her in. Jette and I both each immediately dropped a drink on her (she loved the BBC). We were pretty sloshed by that point. Spent the rest of the afternoon detoxing, resting and drinking a *lot* of water.

 

Back in my cabin, I got the invitation to the Crown and Anchor party on Thursday and my gift, a canvas bag. My previous one was the toiletry bag. I gave that to Alex while we were packing and she put CDs, Ipods, rechargers, etc in it.

 

Tonight is mojito & martini hour. I stopped by the Viking Crown lounge and asked the bartender how he made them. He said he didn't have fresh mint and used a mint syrup. Screw that, I'm not gonna drink a mojito if it's not made properly. Linda at dinner later said she tried one and they were too sweet.

 

Entertainer tonight was a juggler and as I have a fondness for jugglers, we attended. This guy was really good, did a routine I'd only seen once before and one routine I'd never seen before. When we walked in to get seats, there were a couple people saving seats, informed us they were taken. I said you can't save seats and I think we'll sit here and sat down. After about a minute the guy goes, "You know, you're an ass" and I snapped back "so are you for saving seats." He and his companion left in a huff. Now I can't begrudge someone saving a seat for their partner or 2 seats for their parents but these people were holding an entire row, 10 seats, fourth row back from the stage. Alex seems perturbed, I'm like who was ruder, me or him? A kind gentle from the row behind us comes behind me and commends me for what I did. I suggest he and his wife move up to the row we're sitting in, they did this. Someone on the other side asks me if anyone was sitting in those seats, and I was amazed how ingrained it is that people think this is an acceptable practice. Juggler's name was Ivan Pecel, btw.

 

For dinner, I had the duck pate, the apple soup (the pear last night was better), 2 servings of the lamb as the chops were tiny. By this time I had convinced Jette to try the fruit soup, she does and likes it. Not sure why I forgot to note the desserts, I'm relatively sure I was eating them. Linda ordered a yellowbird after we raved about it. It was much stronger and not as tasty as the ones they made in the seminar. She wanted to share hers with us but Jette and I were still detoxing and eschewing alcohol at that point.

 

Once again I retire early and don't do much after dinner, once again Alex is restless and can't sleep.

 

More to Come.

[zantedeschia]

First pictures are up. There's one of Alex in her formal and one taken first dinner night. I bought that one cause her expression matches the poster. Good shot of her facial piercings. Her normally dark blue eyes turned out greenish in the photo but a lot of resolution was lost in the uploading and conversion to jpg format. She's wearing the necklace that we gave to the Jamaican dude, more on that later.

 

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/anankae/my_photos

[mrsjoey]

Hey Zantedeschia, thanks so much for your review. We have sailed the Rhapsody 3 other times but it has been 3 years since we sailed her. I was wondering do they still have a midnight pool party? if so when? I the past they would have it when we left Key West at midnight. Thanks again for all the great info. Keep it coming!!!!!!!!!!!:) :D

[zantedeschia]

Hey Zantedeschia, thanks so much for your review. We have sailed the Rhapsody 3 other times but it has been 3 years since we sailed her. I was wondering do they still have a midnight pool party? if so when? I the past they would have it when we left Key West at midnight.

Closest I can find to that is something they called Dancing Under the Stars, Poolside, 11:30pm - 1:00am, Wednesday Day 4 after leaving Ocho Rios, which would correspond to the Key West Day on the other itinerary (that Day being Day 3 of course).

[zantedeschia]

Got up early as I was anxiously waiting a cell phone signal after none at sea. Grabbing my phone in anticipation, I check and -- there's no signal. (!!!) Alex and others tell me it's cause T-Mobile must suck (is that why everyone uses Verizon?). I use the ridiculously expensive Internet access to get on T-Mobile's website to make a query: "Do you have any coverage in the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel?"

 

And oh yeah. WE'RE IN JAMAICA, MON! I'm excited because it's the only stop on the itinerary I haven't visited previously. Jamaica is mountainous and pretty as viewed from the ship. Conquest is not with us! In fact, we are the only cruise ship docked in Jamaica that day.

 

I found out how to get soymilk. Ask a supervisor! They're the ones in the white uniforms in the Windjammer. Now if someone says "I don't think we have that" I retort "yes you do, go ask a supervisor."

 

Our excursion was the Original Canopy Tour. We got on a bus with another tour, some horseback riders. Stopped at the horse farm, dropped them off and continued on. We had 2 groups, 2 buses. We drove up a rickety little mountain road, a good portion of it single lane with steep dropoffs on one side, no shoulder. Gee, don't even have to get on the zipline to get your adrenaline going. From the bus, we did a 15 minute-ish walk to the first platform, all downhill on a trail, 75% at least made up of crude steps. Don't do this excursion if your mobility is not good. Once there, it took quite a while for them to harness everyone up, about 30 minutes or longer and they suggested a cigarette break among other things. Alex and one other guy smoked and chatted, later we were like wasn't that the guy that gave you the lighter? Some people put on insect repellent but there really weren't any bugs. There wasn't much wildlife in evidence at all, it was quiet in the rainforest. Loud water noise from the river much further down below. (800 feet maybe?

 

The tour was fun but tamer than I thought it would be. Only glitch was there was a bit of time spent waiting on platforms for the first group to go on ahead and the guides to leapfrog ahead of us to set up. We did 2 lines, wait wait wait, 2 more lines, wait wait wait, then 3 in a row no stopping. Last zipline was 600 feet long they said, whee. When we got to the bottom I started overheating and took off my shoes to cool off. Guide told me to put them back on, I requested water which he found for me. When asked and I responded no I'm not okay, he took my gear and carried it for me (the water cooled me off sufficiently to carry on). We stopped for refreshements, they had ice cold water, fruit punch and rum punch. The fruit juice was thick and the rum punch strong. Alex did not like it, I found it improved upon watering down. Walked back to the buses, got on, drivers counted and our count was one person too many. When they identified the person who was supposed to be on the other bus ("oh I don't remember who my bus driver was") she refused to move cause "our bus was more comfortable." I mean that's why they told us about 7 times "your bus driver is Lucky, remember that." *sigh*

 

We went back to the horse farm, they gave us about 10 minutes or so to look at the pictures. Too many people crowding around so I went and got some jerk chicken and a Red Stripe. Guy went "she can't have any" pointing to Alex. In an aside I told her I'd give it to her on the bus. People think Alex is 14 or 15 cause she's short, unless they talk to her first, then they think she's around 20. Then the dude start raving about her clunky metal necklaces, where did you get them, tell me about them, where can I get one? I said you want one? He was like what do I have do to get one? I jerked my head toward Alex: "Give her a beer." He pulls one out of the cooler, goes "4 dollars" (but doesn't open it until I hand him the money). When Alex started to take it off, he insisted she didn't have to give it to him, and she started to put it back on. I was no, we made a deal, give it to him. He put it on and was estatic. Other guy behind the counter asked how we like Jamaica, I repeated a comment Alex had made earlier, I said "she thinks the women are very beautiful." Both of them in unison go "You should be looking at the men!" About this time the bus driver came back and made us get back on the bus. Aw, we were having too much fun. The jerk chicken was *good*. The beer so-so (I prefer Corona).

 

Got back to the pier, went to the shopping area. Alex was like if you're not going to let me buy any ganja then buy me a t-shirt with ganja on it. I wanted some Jamaica Blue Mountain. Ran into this woman and her companion, a scruffy looking man. I don't recall if they accosted us or not but somehow we got to talking. I remember, she asked us if we wanted our hair braided. Gave them both a cigarette, Alex missing the significance of this gesture. I gave the women (Janet was her name) my last 6 dollars, asked her if she had a phone I could call the US on. Turned out one of the things they sold were phone cards but the one she tried didn't work on her phone (apparantly a lot of Jamaican phones only work in Jamaica). So she trotted off, borrowed some cop's (!) phone, I had her call my bf at work (direct dial to the US worked on it). Find out bf had taken the day off, he never takes the day off! So I asked her please call his cell. I get him but he hangs up on me (!!!). I apologetically ask her to call him a third time! I promise not to stay on too long, this time I talk to him for about 5 minutes. Scruffy companion offers to sell us some weed, Alex perks up, I say no, Janet tells him to leave us alone. At least 2 cops are hanging around observing us. We try to get some cash from an ATM, wander around, try 3 ATMs, they're all down. It's like the entire network is down. This takes pressure off me cause Alex keeps asking Janet about ganja, how much, but I don't have any cash with which to purchase any. Janet latched onto me which was just fine, I was happy to have a personal guide (I had done this before in Antigua). Take me to a t-shirt shop, she does. Take me to get some Blue Mountain, she does (3 pounds at $25 per). Then we got Alex's hair braided. Oh, I want some cigars, back to the coffee shop. Woman making hand-rolled Jamaican cigars only takes cash so I go look at the (ahem) cigars from the country the US is too anal to have a trade agreement with. At times Janet would launch into Jamaica-speak with one of her friends, I'd turn to Alex and go "Do you understand that?" She's like "The language is called English, mon." If I listened real close I could catch most of it, the slang included.

 

Anyhow. I wanted some more jerk to eat. Couldn't go to the place that had the great jerk fish cause once again they only take cash so we ended up at another cafe. I offered to buy Janet lunch, she accepted. The service was very slow but we really didn't mind, tho the jerk here was nowhere as good as the jerk from the horse farm. She suggested some juice which was pretty tasty, I forgot what it was, something plum. June plum? Somewhere in there we got free shot coupons and she took us to Margaritaville where we redeemed them. She refused to partake but the shots were weak, couldn't taste any rum at all. After all this she took us back to the entrance and bid us farewell, telling us many times to come back to Jamaica and visit her, stay with her. It was a very productive session.

 

Back onboard the ship, Alex and I had our first fight. On her last Internet session, she had used around $12 worth of Internet time, over half of what had remained. I was like that was supposed to have lasted all week and we only have $7 worth of pre-paid time left! She got all miffed and testy. Wasn't a bad fight but it set us on edge and we missed the show that night which we were thinking about attending. Regretted it cause Simon raved about it. Was Los Pampas Gauchos doing the artistry of "Flourescence".

 

Went to the casino so I'd have some cash for Grand Cayman tomorrow. I wanted change, the cashier tells us to feed some bills into the machines and hit cash out. Even tho I never gamble and swear I never will, I get about $5 worth of quarters, split them with Alex. I waste all mine in the coin pusher, she starts feeding hers into slot machines. Wins 2 to 5 credits enough times to keep going, then wins 25. I take half of the quarters cause I know she's going to lose it all which she does. I estimate we're down about $5. She wants to keep trying, I say no, that's enough.

 

At dinner, Linda and her husband weren't there. They weren't there the rest of the week in fact, prompting me to fret that dumped us and switched tables. Jette was more forgiving, they're probably tired, they're probably having dinner in their room, etc, etc. Simon and Jette complained about the pushy Jamaican vendors, I was like we didn't have any problem at all. Jette spouted, "I knew we should have taken Stephanie with us, she would have protected us!" Oh, I forgot to mention our waiter was this awesome guy named Kumar. He was great, can't go on about him enough. The conversation this night turned rather scandalous. Jette had asked Alex about the cliquishness of the students in American schools and while Alex was elaborating, she mentioned the baseball players used teabagging as a form of hazing. This got a trademark Jette look and a confused question: "What's teabagging?" omg omg OMG OMG you don't know??!! And how do we explain this??!! Somehow we manage and we're too loud about it and attract some disapproving looks from the table next to us. Still thinking Jette is Japanese, I quip, "I suppose you don't know what bukkake is, either." Not surprisingly she doesn't. I turn to Simon: "Don't you tell this girl *anything*?!" We exchanged email addresses during this dinner, I couldn't put anything my phone as current bf is highly jealous and I'd get the fifth degree if he found an entry in my phonebook under "Simon."

 

For dinner I had the tropical fruit appetizer, a very good seafood salad, a green salad, the alternate menu plain steak and some coffee creme brulee that was soggy and not good at all.

 

I was very very pleased, this was an awesome day. I gushed a lot about it to Alex, she had a great time too.

 

More to come.

[zantedeschia]

Oops, Ocho Rios is actually Day 4. I'm gonna have to stop posting titles cause I keep messing them up !!!

[zantedeschia]

Forgot to mention dinner the previous night, the fruit soup was the banana. The only one I don't get cause about the only way I like bananas is in banana pudding (the kind with the vanilla wafers), or banana cream pie. Also on the excursion yesterday, the lead tour guide saw our passports peeking out of the top of Alex's back pocket and suggested we leave them in their truck insisting they would be perfectly safe and returned to us. I'm not sure how perfectly safe they were, but they did return everyone's backpacks/stuff (that were left in the truck) at the place where we stopped for drinks (it was this gazebo area on the side of the trail alongside the river). Our passports were there too. There were about 40 people in our tour group.

 

Other things forgotten to mention. The Solarium on Rhapsody has an Egyptian theme. And when you're right above the waterline (looking out from the window of our room) it looks like you're going really fast! You can also see changes in ship velocity, like when we slow down approaching land.

 

We arrive and moor off Grand Cayman this morning and -- still no T-Mobile signal on either phone! Fine, I'll use my calling card. Go to AT&T website, look up international access numbers. Find one for Jamaica, check. Find one for Cozumel, check. Don't find one for Grand Cayman. (!!!!)

 

Conquest is here! So is some other cruise ship, the name I couldn't read. Asked someone later about it, they said it was some Spanish/Cuban ship.

 

Tendering was not too terribly painful. The weather was overcast! Stormy in fact, lots of black clouds, thunder & lightning in places. Occasional rain. This was fine with me as here was our only outdoor excursion and I forgot to bring my hat. Did remember the passports.

 

Our excursion today was the Pirate Encounter. Alex intially refused to put on her bathing suit, I finally persuaded her to wear it under her tshirt & jeans. As we waited for the previous tour to debark, one woman forewarned: "You *will* get wet." We boarded a 3 masted galleon crewed by people who dressed and for the first part of the cruise, acted like pirates. This was a family oriented tour, max 48 people I believe they said. There were 2 fussy toddlers which I thought was pushing it, but the little ones settled down eventually. They had a metal gun mounted on the bow and this one guy pulled Alex and some of the other kids up to help him fire it (loud!). As we motored out, we rounded Conquest. He kept shooting at her which I found highly amusing. We slipped past Rhapsody where we could see the crew up on deck performing an emergency drill. Later Fhey tells me she saw me onboard the tour ship as we sailed by.

 

Onboard, the "pirates" pulled out all the 5 to 14ish kids, 6 or 7 of them, and tortured the poor things. Made them scrub the deck, poured buckets of sea water over them, swore them in as pirates. Then the captain turned towards Alex who was up on the front deck and loudly proclaimed that "she's guilty". They pull her down and tie her to the mast. For several minutes, the captain accuses her of the most bizarre things, some of them to my consternation, are actually true! She made a lot of "oh my!" "oh no!" faces, rolled her eyes and put her finger up to her lips in a "shhhh" motion. Then they dumped a bucket of ice cold (ice coming from the cooler) seawater on her. Alex, to her credit, was a good sport about this. Another passenger took pictures and we exchanged email addresses. I'll post them if she sends them to me. They did this to another kid, an older boy, but it was funnier when they did it with Alex. After all this, they moored in 11 feet of water and served soda and water (neither Alex nor I liked the rum punch) and encouraged us to swim and dive off the high sides of the galleon. It was like jumping off a 20 foot diving board and the water was fabulous.

 

During this the captain came up and started chatting with us. Alex asked him if his nose ring was real. Apparently he gets it a lot as it was large and gaudy, but seemed offended by the question coming from Alex given her facial piercings, especially her own nose ring. He pointed to his earrings, 3 on each side and went "why would these be real and this one not?" He talked to another woman about how he did a lot of underwater photography and at length about various primitive cultures around the world.

 

After we got back, I wanted to go to Hell and went about finding a driver that would take us there. The bus was cheap (apparently the buses are the same type vans they use for the taxi service) but I was under time constraints and and unsure about the route and it was raining, no pouring sporadically. I asked a woman who was selling Cuban cigars out of the back of her van if I could pay her to take us, she said no but went about finding someone who would and she did. I got quoted $12, thought it was total, turned out it was per person. Told the cab driver I only had $19 cash and some coin but figured she'd negotiate. She did being it was late in the day and rainy with only 2 large cruise ships in port. She was insistant about not waiting, I said I only wanted to be there 10 minutes, long enough to mail a postcard. Sent one to my bf, said "I thought I was going to Jamaica but somehow I ended up in Hell. Got here in a taxicab, not a handbasket!"

 

Tendering back to the ship was relatively painless. Maybe I was hungry but lunch in the Windjammer was good today. They had decent tacos, Alex raved about a tuna pasta salad and we both liked the cauliflower mornay.

 

Alex is much improved but now I'm feeling off and wondering if I'm starting my period.

 

Poor Alex can't figure out which side is port and which is starboard. I think it's more than just left and right, I think she's having trouble orienting herself, especially on the decks with no outside view.

 

Shortly before we depart, 2 people's names are called over the intercom. I tell Alex this is because they haven't made it back to the ship, or at least the ship doesn't think they're back yet. I don't know if they were ever found.

 

Tonight is second formal night. Also Crown and Anchor Reception night, I note that invitation only events are not listed in the Cruise Compass. Took advantage of this free booze opportunity and had 4 or 5 glasses of champagne. I snatch a handful of canapes, mainly the ones garnished with caviar.

 

For dinner I had the mushrooms in pastry (good) and the peach soup (good) and 3 lobster tails! (also good) I'm pretty sure I didn't have dessert as I was about to explode. Royal Caribbean cooks have never overcooked the lobster, I applaud them for that.

 

Forgot to mention the shots. Earlier in the week, I bought a French Kiss, had bailey's, kahlua and frangelico IIRC. Bought one and passed it to Alex even tho the waiter said I couldn't buy her one, cause she loves Bailey's. Today's was one of my favourite shots, Buttery Nipple. This of course got a trademark wide-eyed look from Jette. This shot is made up of Bailey's and butterscotch schnapps.

 

During dinner, one of the head waiters sought me out (by name!). I'm like OMG, I'm in trouble, what did I do??!! She wanted to talk to me about the soya milk, "you got my email!" I exclaimed. Wanted to know who told me they didn't have any, I wouldn't have told her even if I had known. Trouble is I was told this a few times, mentioned that to her. She was very apologetic about it. After she left, Alex went "they're stalking you!" She thought it was a bit creepy.

 

Checked my email, I finally get a response from T-Mobile! They say oh yes in Jamaica you should have service from X company and service from Y company in Grand Cayman and oh yes there's service in Cozumel too but it may be spotty cause of the hurricane damage. I'm like *****?! I go look at their website to read up on international roaming. Turns out it's something I have to activate! I swear I spent 15 minutes or so poking around on their website, omigosh. Finally figure out how to activate it on Alex's phone. Can't on mine because I do pre-paid minutes cause I'm lazy. Their site also said we should have at sea service on Rhapsody, but I later found out this isn't so. International roaming charges are 5 dollars a minute. Bleh.

 

On the elevator, I ran into a guy ranting about the increased security because of the terrorist threat. You haven't heard??!! Go watch the news!! Like now!! I'm like I don't care man, I'm on vacation, go away.

 

Tonight is the Midnight Gala Buffet. As I'm still stuffed from dinner, I give it a miss. I did want to hit it to see if they had any caviar, oh well.

 

Alex finally sleeps! (for a rejuvenating change of pace). Exhaustion catches up with her. She bemoans she's too tired to listen to the excellent jazz quartet playing in the Centrum. Intrigued, I go out, and it's 7 musicians. Two trumpets, a sax, a trombone, a pianist, a guitar covering bass, and a keyboardist doing percussion. Alex was right, they were very very good. The Cruise Compass says Big Band Sounds with the Rhapsody of the Seas Orchestra, 11:15pm - midnight. The sax player introduced himself as the Rhapsody of the Seas music director.

 

I'll leave with a note about Jette's name. It really is Jette! I caught a peek of her Seapass cause the bartender waiter guy (pushing the shots) gave me back hers and vice versa. Her name is Jojette! So cool!

 

More to come.

[AudioFilly]

Wow Z! I'm enjoying the review tremendously.

 

Gotta pop by and say though that you are attempting to give way more attention to your BF while off on vacation than I would to my DH. I'd be like, "I'm off on a cruise. See you in a week! Kiss, kiss!"

 

And at those rates for both the phone and internet service, I'm thinking of the booze that could have bought. Seems like mis-spent funds to me. Not to mention the time spent on this that could have been spent drinking and frolicking!:D