Rhapsody Of The Seas Alaska with Pictures

[BenjiRodney]

This will be mainly a picture review of our trip on the Rhapsody Of The Seas to Alaska from June 15 - 22, 2012.

 

Little Background: This was my 7th cruise, but first on Royal Caribbean. All previous cruises were on Carnival.

 

I flew into Seattle on the 14th, Jerome had arrived from Denver (had meetings there the previous week.) Jerome was already at the hotel and checked in. Left Charleston WV on time at 5:30 am connected via Charlotte and arrived Seattle a few minutes after 10. Grabbed the luggage, found Go Airport Shuttle and took off for the Hampton Inn and Suites at 700 5th Ave North, just a couple blocks from the space needle. Great location, there is a grocery store nearby on the corner in case you need anything or may have forgotten any items.

 

Hotel offers a shuttle to the pier for 7 per person and we signed up for the 11:30 shuttle.

[BenjiRodney]

Precruise: Walked around the Space Needle, took the monorail downtown and walked to Pike Place Market. We happend to run into Jerome's parents and brother (he lives in Seattle) at the market, had a little lunch and made palns to meet up for dinner latter. The parents arrived on Wednesday and were staying with his brother. They were about 60 of us in a group from the Charleston WV area going on this trip. Dinner that night was at Cactus in South Lake Union, it was walking distance from the hotel.

[BenjiRodney]

Yeah Cruise Day is here, we booked this last May, so had over a one year wait to get ready, so let's get going with some pictures:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

There was a holland America Ship docked next to us in Seattle. Boarding/Embarkation was super easy here compared to a previous cruise out of Miami. Well organized and they kept the lines flowing quickly. We arrived before 12 and were on the ship within 20 minutes.

 

 

I Think I see my luggage.

[BenjiRodney]

The rooms were not ready until 1pm, so we grabbed a table outside of Windjammer and waited for Jerome's parents to arrive, they were in the terminal checking in.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Muster drill was scheduled for 3:15 pm and the alarms went off right on time. Flights must have been running late as people were boarding while the drill was going on. They were sent straight to thier muster stations.

 

 

We started sailing around 415-430 pm, so not too late.

[BenjiRodney]

We had early dining at 6pm, so we got to see a lot of the sights from the dining room window. We ate in the MDR 4 nights and at Windjammer 3 nights. Food was good, service was excellent, our waiter Antonio was from India and his assistant Sun was from China, they took great care of us this week.

 

Celebrity Infinty sailed out in front of us.

 

Another view of Holland America as we pulled out towards sea.

[BenjiRodney]

The remainder of Friday and all day Saturday would be sea days as we would not pull into Juneau until Sunday Morning. So not a whole lot of pictures on Saturday as it would have been just waves and waves. The ship was tossing and I love the motion, I do not get sea sick, but many did. Bags were placed in all of the stairwells/hallways in case you needed one from the sickness.

 

You will find that many activities are going to be held in the Centrum, here is a picture of it at night.

 

[BenjiRodney]

I will be back later with pictures of our arrival into and of Juneau. If you have any questions please ask I will try to answer them. We did have a Meet and Mingle on Saturday morning and I won a bottle of wine, drank it later in the week at dinner.

[Coolcruise02]

I can't wait for more! We did the Rhapsody to Alaska a couple years ago. :)

 

PS. I live in Ohio, just across the river from Parkersburg and I go to the Charleston/Cross Lanes area a lot. :)

[BenjiRodney]

The pictures cannot convey the true beauty of Alaksa and all that we saw/experienced. This was simply one of the most most amazing places that I have had the opportunity to see. The seas were much clamer when we entered protected water for the journey to Juneau. We did see a pod of killer whales as we approached Juneau. It was a little foggy and rainy until we arrived, then it stoped.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Juneau was breathtaking as we pulled into port. We would be docking at the AJ "floating" dock which was a short shuttle ride into town. Radiance of the Seas, a Princess Ship and SilverSea would be in town with us today.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Our plan for today was to do some shopping and we bought tickets for Mt Roberts Tramway. We walked around for a little to wait for the fog to clear so that we could do the tramway.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

More Juneau:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Juneau continued:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Going up the tramway:

 

 

View of the Rhapsody from the top:

 

[BenjiRodney]

The other car we passed as we went up:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Still snow on the ground up at the top:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Better view after the fog moved:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

This is Lady Baltimore who lives at the top, she was injured and not able to be released to the wild.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Princess was leaving port:

 

 

We took the tram back down and walked some more before getting a shuttle back to the ship. Lunch up top on Mt Roberts was great, fast service, no big crowds like on the streets.

 

[BenjiRodney]

 

[BenjiRodney]

View of the Aft of the ship as we made it back to the ship:

 

 

Clearer shot of the tramway platform at the top:

 

[BenjiRodney]

Back on board and waiting for the departure to Skagway:

 

 

Heading downstream:

 

[BenjiRodney]

Some of the sights as we left Juneau: