Rhapsody of the Seas Review 11/27-12/4
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day 1 - Got up, had breakfast, freaked Scott out by fainting in the hotel lobby (!),
went and sat on the seawall and looked at the ugly gulf water while we waited for our hotel shuttle to arrive (pic 1), caught the shuttle to the cruise ship pier, made it through the line in 30 minutes, the embarkation process and got on the ship and headed straight for the pool bar for margaritas (pic 2). We pretty much roamed the boat, checked things out, got our seating changed to a table for 4 (which ended up being only the 2 of us), and enjoyed our first night of "Bubbas on the Ocean", which means sailing out of Galveston is VERY CASUAL and you will encounter lots of cowboy hats, boots, & people generally dressing quite sloppily! We walked the promenade deck and saw dolphins in the port water...neato! First night at sea...man this boat was rocking. They put out the barf bags just in case. day2 - At sea (pic 3)...being lazy, drinking, being lazy, napping, and eating were the order of the day. Today was also the first formal night, the Captain's Welcome Aboard party, we got formal portraits done and all that. day 3 - Arrived Key West in the late afternoon (pic 4), stood in line forever to get off the boat, headed straight for the Conch Republic Seafood restaurant over by the marina for some conch fritters, conch chowder, and drinks. Enjoyed scoping out all of the scooters along the way and saw some remnants of hurricane damage along the Mallory Square/waterfront area. Ended up going to Margaritaville for our t-shirt shopping fix and to buy the dog a new collar that says "Margaritaville Mutt" on it for way too much money. Scott had too many beers and we ate squid rings. (pic 5) Walked up and down Duval Street and bumped into our waiter from the boat. It was too late for dinner on the ship, but they laid out a grand buffet on the pool deck for us late-eating people. *pics out of order arrrrgh!* |
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day 4 - At sea (pic 6)...see day 2 (except without the formal night stuff).
day 5 - Grand Cayman. You have to tender at this port which would be fine if there were not 7 mega-ships in port that day! Quite a spectacle with a gazillion tender boats. (pic 7) This day was too short, we had our last tender at 315p so there was only enough time for our excursion. Went to Stingray City and did the swim/snorkel. Awesome. I highly recommend it. (pic 8) You can still see evidence of hurricane Ivan (2004), but it is not as bad as Cozumel. *pics out of order arrrrgh* |
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day 6 - Cozumel has no ports so we tendered here too. What can I say? Very sad with
all of the hurricane damage. Entire homes & buildings are just shells. Walls crumbling/falling down. We ate dinner in San Miguel and then took a taxi to Playa Mia Beach Resort (pic 9). We rented a waverunner (my first time!!!) and it was a blast. Scott let me drive and I was jumping waves and all that. There is very little vegetation at all left on this island (pic 10). Tonight was the second formal night and more portraits were taken. day 7 - At sea...see days 2 & 4 for more details ;-) Today the Carnival Conquest (also out of Galveston) was about 2 miles ahead and on our starboard side. She was supposed to dock before the Rhapsody, but we had a life threatening emergency that called for us to speed up and pass her and arrive back about 4am. Around dinner time we were neck and neck and everyone was outside on the decks watching the beautiful lights on the ship. Tried to get pics...came out blurry. Due to the quickened pace, the ship started getting rocky again...more barf bags. day 8 - Arrived in Galveston at O-dark-hundred hours. No rush to do anything since we were in the Yellow Group to disembark. We grabbed our carry-ons and went to get our last breakfast in the dining room :-( Then we hung out on deck looking for more dolphins in the port. The line to get through customs was looooooooooong. We made it through, phoned for our hotel shuttle to come get us and it took us directly to our vehicle which was parked behind the San Luis hotel. Then we got on the highway and headed for home. Went from 80s in Galveston to 30s in OKC. Man, that sucks. Plusses --> good food, good drinks, nice bartenders, a great stateroom attendent, nicely decorated ship, free champagne at the art auction and at the Crown & Anchor party, fun ports, good weather, cool captain, great onboard lecture about sharks, etc. Minuses --> an "interesting" mix of passengers, some of which were apparently hygiene deficient, an incredibly large SeaPass bill at the end of the trip (did I really drink all those Whiskey Sours???) ahahahah. Food highlights --> Mango cheesecake at lunch every day, escargots (plus they made another batch for us on another night), lobster tails as much as you can handle, shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp, going to the wine tasting party caused us to order wine with dinner (additional SeaPass charges!), great vegetarian entrees like pad thai & curry, great soups and salads, rack of lamb mmmmm yummy. *hint* Don't order steaks, you will be disappointed. Try something new (food-wise) everyday!!! Any questions? |
Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Even going to sea for a living I never get tired of seeing the beauty out here.
Sucks about the hygiene-deficient folks you had to deal with. At least you have some stories now! BTW, nice foot pic (#8)! |
Originally Posted by chiefmg
Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Even going to sea for a living I never get tired of seeing the beauty out here.
Sucks about the hygiene-deficient folks you had to deal with. At least you have some stories now! BTW, nice foot pic (#8)! I have several "foot" pics...it's a theme I'm sticking with ;) Oh, and we had Bubbas AND gang-banger looking types...very interesting indeed. My next cruise is going to be somewhat more upscale...it has to be. I'm so old-fashioned that I still believe that ocean voyages should be classy!!! :pat: |
Originally Posted by Phantom Cruiser
My next cruise is going to be somewhat more upscale...it has to be. I'm so old-fashioned that I still believe that ocean voyages should be classy!!! :pat:
Glad you had a nice time. |
Originally Posted by kargoboy
Heh, right, kick those lowlifes back into steerage!
Glad you had a nice time. LOL "I don't see what the fuss is all about...it doesn't look any bigger than the Mauritania..." ~ Karen Dewit Bukater :cool: |
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