Alaskan Rhapsody Aug 23rd-30th Photo Trip Report

[Sinppu]

The Three-Cheese Tortellini and two different fish dishes, that apparently are served only on Alaska cruises.

 

Ann chose light and took the pasta. Yeah, I get the irony. Cheese=light? Sky=green? It was delicious.

 

The first one is Butterfish on cedar plank. It left Anouk dissatisfied and Bras offered her something else. She chose the Classic Linguini Pomodoro and was a lot happier.

 

The second one is.... aahhh....fish. &¤%&¤¤fish. Haven't you heard of it? It's really rare. Like, alaska-cruise-on-the-rhapsody-of-the-seas-rare. How'd it taste? Ahhh...ok. Like, alaska-cruise-on-the-rhapsody-of-the-seas-ok. You know.

 

 

 

 

 

Desserts for this evening were the always-in-fashion vanilla ice cream, chocolate mousse, blueberry crumble and vanilla ice cream.

 

 

 

And let's not forget the ever-present chef portrait.

[Sinppu]

Tonight we finally saw the waiter's parade.

 

 

 

It got everyone on their feet and if the applause is anything to judge by, the Rhapsody MDR staff has been the most appreciated of any of the ships we've been on.

 

And then came the surprise.

 

 

They got everyone in the MDR dancing Macarena.

 

 

Yes, everyone. Now this was a Kodak moment if there ever was one in my lifetime.

 

And as if that hadn't been enough, we got one more magic trick from Alejandro and his lovely assistant.

 

 

It was so good Lowry had to google it :D

[Sinppu]

Your review has made me even more excited about our Rhapsody cruise June, 2014! Thanks for posting!!! Awesome pics...:p

 

Oh good good good!

Alaska is worth every buck.

Thanks for reading.

[Sinppu]

We tipped the boys already tonight as we wanted to eat at Giovanni's tomorrow.

I truly hope I'll see these two chaps again.

 

After a truly great day became a great party.

 

I hope they do this on other itineraries as well, because it was so much fun I lost my voice and some weight (singing on the top of my lungs and dancing like there's no tomorrow can do that. Take note.)

 

They had the Rock Britannia Dance Party in the Centrum at 10pm.

 

 

It featured some great Brit Music classics and the Entertainment staff gave all they had.

 

 

Including their clothing.

 

 

Lizzy also made an appearance.

 

 

I loved this gentleman. He tapped his foot, fingers and waved his flag the whole 45-minute show. A boy after my own heart ;)

 

After the dance party we went to bed and prepared to visit Canada again in our last port and cruise day, Victoria.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Sinppu

[dforeigner]

AWEsome review. Like the pictures too!

[Sinppu]

AWEsome review. Like the pictures too!

 

Well it is called Awelaska, right? :D;):p

 

Thanks for reading, glad you liked it.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Sinppu

[Irish Cath]

wowzers , what a fantastic review. I've just added Alaska cruise to my list of next years holiday options. :D

[DonnaK]

Hi Sinny *waves* what a wonderful review! (We went to Bermuda on the Celebrity Summit the same week you were in Alaska!)

 

Miss you and Lawry and hope we can sail together again one day!

[Bimmer09]

Hey Norris. Chicago is a great city. Glad you like the review :)

 

Chicago is a great city Sinny- and yet I long to escape from it on a big cruise ship when the opportunity presents itself!

 

I don't actually cruise with RCL (currently) but worked for them as RCCL as a musician in the mid 80s on the Song of Norway so like the brand. I cruise with Princess and am to-date a happy camper but I do have a desire to sail on a Radiance Class ship as I love the design and all the glass looking out to sea.

 

So I pop over to RCL and immediately click on any photo reviews, especially Radiance Class.

 

I have CC reviews on some Princess ships (including 2 Alaska trips) which are photo-heavy and include videos (via Youtube) so I appreciate how much work goes into what you do. One of my youtube videos is of the Radiance leaving Juneau at dusk, all lit up. It has over 1 Billion hits...er, sorry- I think I am confusing it with "Gangnam Style."

 

Anyway-keep doing what you do. Your English is perfect-even including British phrases like "knackered" (exhausted for the U.S readers). Did you watch a lot of Brit TV in Finland?

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

[Sinppu]

wowzers , what a fantastic review. I've just added Alaska cruise to my list of next years holiday options. :D

 

Ohhh. I'm honoured. If you decide to do it, I hope you like it as much as we all did.

 

Hi Sinny *waves* what a wonderful review! (We went to Bermuda on the Celebrity Summit the same week you were in Alaska!)

 

Miss you and Lawry and hope we can sail together again one day!

 

Donnaaaaaaa!!! Hi!!!

I want to go to Bermuda too!

 

I'm glad you liked the review :)

With the rate we're going, we'll step on the same ship again some day :)

Edited September 22, 2013 by Sinppu

[Sinppu]

 

Chicago is a great city Sinny- and yet I long to escape from it on a big cruise ship when the opportunity presents itself!

 

I don't actually cruise with RCL (currently) but worked for them as RCCL as a musician in the mid 80s on the Song of Norway so like the brand. I cruise with Princess and am to-date a happy camper but I do have a desire to sail on a Radiance Class ship as I love the design and all the glass looking out to sea.

 

So I pop over to RCL and immediately click on any photo reviews, especially Radiance Class.

 

I have CC reviews on some Princess ships (including 2 Alaska trips) which are photo-heavy and include videos (via Youtube) so I appreciate how much work goes into what you do. One of my youtube videos is of the Radiance leaving Juneau at dusk, all lit up. It has over 1 Billion hits...er, sorry- I think I am confusing it with "Gangnam Style."

 

Anyway-keep doing what you do. Your English is perfect-even including British phrases like "knackered" (exhausted for the U.S readers). Did you watch a lot of Brit TV in Finland?

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

 

We do watch a lot of Brit TV. And even more US ;)

But I've lived in England, in Hertfordshire.

Loved it :cool:

 

We'd like to try Celebrity and Princess one day so I'll pop over and look for your reviews.

[Sinppu]

Hi again.

I'll start with yesterday's towel animals.

 

 

 

We had two stateroom attendants: Yani from Indonesia and Bryan from Jamaica. Both were efficient and did everything we asked them to, but weren't as outstanding as our previous ones.

We didn't see them too much either.

 

The ship arrived in Victoria at 9am.

 

 

There's no need to worry about transport to Downtown; there is plenty available right at the port.

 

 

 

I voted for the limousine but was overruled by the shuttle bus. How very ordinary. And cheap.

[Deeliteful]

Alaska is on my bucket list and hoping I'll cruise there next year. My normal room mate doesn't want to go (she feels she's too young at 66! Says the average age for these cruises is 70-104!) doesn't look like it to me. I wouldn't care anyway it looks like a great cruise. Thanks for posting your review.

Anyone know where I can find good solo deals?

[Sinppu]

As you can see, the weather wasn't really on our side.

 

 

 

We did want to see Chinatown and the narrowest alley in Canada.

 

 

 

But pretty soon we gave up and went for the nearest pub.

 

 

[Sinppu]

Alaska is on my bucket list and hoping I'll cruise there next year. My normal room mate doesn't want to go (she feels she's too young at 66! Says the average age for these cruises is 70-104!) doesn't look like it to me. I wouldn't care anyway it looks like a great cruise. Thanks for posting your review.

Anyone know where I can find good solo deals?

 

Too young?! She's flattering herself. ;)

I'd say the average age on our cruise was closer to 50-60.

Caribbean cruises draw a much wider crowd. A lot more families with children and a lot more older people.

 

Thanks for reading! I hope you find a good deal or able to persuade your friend to go with you.

[Sinppu]

Hi everyone,

I'm so sorry there's been a delay in updating the report.

I promise to get back to it Monday evening!

 

Hang on in there!! :):):):)

[windjamming]

How did I miss this Sinppu review!!! And just as I am starting to plan next year's very possibly Alaska vacation? (OK, so it's nearly a year out, I'm a little...obsessive) Just starting to read and looking forward to your unique humor!

[Jsim2011]

I enjoyed your review.

 

We sailed to Alaska on Rhapsody last year.

 

We had a fun cruise especially with Derek Lewis at Adult Day Care in the Schooner Bar.:D

[Ander026]

Great review of your Alaska Cruise. I am glad that you enjoyed Rock Britainia. I saw Graham Seymore perform Rock Britania on the Freedom of the Seas a few years back. Hopefully you made it to his comedy show.

[Sinppu]

I enjoyed your review.

 

We sailed to Alaska on Rhapsody last year.

 

We had a fun cruise especially with Derek Lewis at Adult Day Care in the Schooner Bar.:D

 

Adult day cares are such nice facilities, are they not?

 

How did I miss this Sinppu review!!! And just as I am starting to plan next year's very possibly Alaska vacation? (OK, so it's nearly a year out, I'm a little...obsessive) Just starting to read and looking forward to your unique humor!

 

:o

Why thank you.

More to come very soon :)

[Sinppu]

Ann wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back to the ship. Lowry didn't want her to have to go alone so he went with her and a little later Thommo was discouraged by the weather so it was only Anouk and me left.

 

We decided to go shopping and naturally the weather improved while we were doing it.

 

 

We found excellent shops and bargains and were very happy.

 

 

We wanted to take a look around in the sunshine and found Victoria to be very pretty.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2013 by Sinppu

[Sinppu]

Victoria has over 3000 flower pots.

 

 

 

 

It was easy to navigate in the city, it's not big and there are a lot of maps to help you.

 

 

 

Victoria is very colourful, even the candy apples stick out (pun intended...ha ha ha.)

 

 

 

We walked around a bit a decided to head back to the ship when it started raining again.

[Sinppu]

Next up was the dreaded packing of the bags.

 

Ann was feeling better so we all went to dinner at Giovanni's Table and it was yet again a wonderful experience.

 

Team SL battling out who has the best pout.

 

 

As one of our friends once put it: "Clearly you're a match made in heaven. No one else would suffer you two."

 

I agree. :o

 

Our waiter was Marlon and he was attentive and funny.

 

 

You can dine in Giovanni's family style also but we all have quite different tastes so we also ordered individual portions.

So prepare for the food porn again!

 

We started with really tasty bread.

 

 

 

Antpasti plate, served us all 5.

 

[Sinppu]

Anouk was the only one who had soup, this is her Zuppa di Lenticchie alla Contadina. She said it was so good she could have eaten two bowls of it.

 

 

Lowry and Ann had this; Mozzarella In Carrozza alla Giovanni. It was tasty, but heavy and the portion was huge.

 

 

Now this is probably Thommo's Filetto di Manzo appetizer. I think.

 

 

Anouk's Crespelle di Ricotta e Spinaci with Pomodoro sauce.

 

 

Mine and Thommo's Risotto ai Funghi Tricolati which was the best risotto I've ever had and Thommo agreed.

 

 

Ann's Pappardelle alla Crema di Radicchio e Pancetta.

 

[Sinppu]

My Gamberoni al Forno.

 

 

Ann and Anouk had the Filetto di Manzo Griglia with Barolo sauce.

 

 

Thommo and Lowry opted for this. Now I have no idea what it is as I unfortunately can't see anything on the menu that look like it. Sorry :o

 

 

We shared some Tiramisu and chocolate cake but forgot to take a photo of them. We were too busy consuming our last wine bottle, I believe...

 

The dinner was great. Giovanni's is our favourite specialty on RCCL and we always eat there when given the possibility. I love Italian food and do not think the $20 pp too high.

 

Then it was time for the Farewell Show.