Rhapsody of the seas Alaska cruise

[esper10]

We will be on the Rhapsody of the seas in July to Alaska. This will be our 3rd cruise to Alaska but first time in the Rhapsody. I know this week is the first week for this ship to Alaska. I would love to get some feedback regarding the ship, entertainment in the theatre and in the Centrum. Also if any one would post a campus it would be so nice. Also any specialty restaurant to recommend. We usually do one in a 7 days cruise. Thanks in advanced.

[Susie51]

I was on Rhapsody for my first Alaskan cruise in 1998. I will be interested in following this this thread. Enjoy your cruise.

[esper10]

I was on Rhapsody for my first Alaskan cruise in 1998. I will be interested in following this this thread. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Thanks. May be I should have waited until a couple of cusies were done to post this post but I hope that someone who is crusing soon will know that we are interested lets just wait and see. I will be able to give you feedback once I return if you will ask me or post a question

[lvmy2boys]

We will be on the July 4th cruise to Alaska on the Rhapsody. I would also be interested on feedback. Trying to plan, but not much information on the boards regarding this cruise.

[PegB87]

I'll be sailing on the Rhapsody in 9 more sleeps! (Only 8 more til we fly out!!) I'm SUPER excited!!! :D

 

I will try to remember to make note of these things & report back here!

(Well, if I can drag myself away from my corner-aft balcony long enough to check out what's happening elsewhere onboard! :p)

 

All kidding aside, I'll be happy to report back, as I've also looked for info about the activities & entertainment on this itinerary & have found next to nothing. Guess it will just be a surprise for me!

 

If anyone has specific questions you'd like me to find answers for, just let me know!

[esper10]

I'll be sailing on the Rhapsody in 9 more sleeps! (Only 8 more til we fly out!!) I'm SUPER excited!!! :D

 

I will try to remember to make note of these things & report back here!

(Well, if I can drag myself away from my corner-aft balcony long enough to check out what's happening elsewhere onboard! :p)

 

All kidding aside, I'll be happy to report back, as I've also looked for info about the activities & entertainment on this itinerary & have found next to nothing. Guess it will just be a surprise for me!

 

If anyone has specific questions you'd like me to find answers for, just let me know!

Thank you so much. I would love to know about the specialty restaurants if you go to any, and recommend to go. Also the activity in the centrum,such as music dancing or special events their. Thanks so much

[Anzura]

I'll be sailing Rhapsody on July 11!! It seems like every review that's posted is Allure and Oasis. Rhapsody gets no love ;) Looking forward to Rhapsody Alaska reviews coming in!

[Fa-Li]

Add me to this thread! Will be boarding Rhapsody on June 13. Can't wait! I'd love to hear feedback from this season too, and will be happy to report back when we return.

 

 

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[Oma24boys]

We will be on Rhapsody cruising out on June 13, 2014...cannot wait. Looking forward to hearing reviews from the ones going out before us. This will be my first Alaskan cruise...:p

[blondemafia]

I will be on board on June 20th :D

[esper10]

This our 3rd Alaska cruise.Twice with Celebrity. FYI if you cruise the TRACY ARM FJORD early morning be sure to wake up as early as they say go to the view it from the deck they tell you. veryyyyyy beautiful MUST see. It will get crouded very fast.

[Hoopster95]

This our 3rd Alaska cruise.Twice with Celebrity. FYI if you cruise the TRACY ARM FJORD early morning be sure to wake up as early as they say go to the view it from the deck they tell you. veryyyyyy beautiful MUST see. It will get crouded very fast.

 

Early morning entering Tracey Arm

 

Exiting

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We will be on the Rhapsody of the seas in July to Alaska. This will be our 3rd cruise to Alaska but first time in the Rhapsody. I know this week is the first week for this ship to Alaska. I would love to get some feedback regarding the ship, entertainment in the theatre and in the Centrum. Also if any one would post a campus it would be so nice. Also any specialty restaurant to recommend. We usually do one in a 7 days cruise. Thanks in advanced.

 

Scroll down to post #13 and onwards

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41536774#post41536774

 

Of course the contracts of various staff/entertainers/chefs/etc will have changed over since last August, but overall I love this ship,

 

Sorry, I don't have the compasses. The entertainment was very good, and the Centrum aerial act is great! The crew itself was excellent and CD Graham Seymour is one of the best in the fleet... if not the best. I know extremely experienced cruiser Gina (Mommabean) is currently on the Rhapsody... she's raved about the Rhapsody a few times and a few other CC'ers have voiced very high opinions of this ship and crew.

 

Do not miss Giovanni's on this ship. I missed it and regret it. On my subsequent cruises Giovanni's has out-performed Chops and has become my favorite restaurant (now that has become Sabor on Navigator!!!) ... go very HUNGRY to Giovanni's!!! lol. :D

[LuvNtheHighCs]

Early morning entering Tracey Arm

 

Thank you for the pictures and the tips...beautiful!!! We're going on July 11, 2014 and we're also looking for the onboard activity schedule. It helps when making reservations, etc. Thanks for sharing! :)

[polarman]

Our turn is August 29th!!!!!!!! take good care of her and post lots of reports fellow Rhapsody cruisers! :)

[impatientlywaiting]

I agree with the poster who said to get up early! We had a balcony cabin so we didn't have to go anywhere to view the glacier at the end of the Tracy Arm Fjord. W even ordered room service so we wouldn't miss anything! Our captain told us he had never been able to get as close to the glacier as we did that morning (July, 2012). It was very cold so bring warm clothes if you're going to view the glacier from outside! It was kinda spooky because you could hear the little ice bergs scraping the ship as we went by.

[Snaaby1]

Oh boy! I'm going to be on the Rhapsody on Aug 8 to Alaska... just joined this site as I researched--pretty awesome! I'm excited to hear about all the great things RCL has.

I've done 4 Disney Cruises before but I wanted something new this time.

[tbrownharr]

We will be on the Rhapsody for our first Alaskan cruise Aug 1st. Can not wait! Thanks to all for all the reviews and tips so far :)

[mr walker]

Our turn is August 29th!!!!!!!! take good care of her and post lots of reports fellow Rhapsody cruisers! :)

 

Ours too! :)

 

Happy cruising

[deej696]

Just returned from the June 6th sailing. After two cruises on the Oasis, it was really nice being back on a smaller ship. We didn't feel compelled to see and do much of anything, whereas on the Oasis it seems everything is go, go, go. Of course, being in Alaska helps with that too...

 

A few suggestions...

 

Take rain gear like a poncho, etc. It absolutely poured all day in Juneau. Thankfully, my wife had prepared and we had two ponchos with us. The upside was we took a shuttle over to Mendenhall ($20pp) and had the two mile trail down to the beach near the waterfall all to ourselves...

 

In Skagway we did the Laughton Glacier Hike. This took us on the White Pass RR about 14 miles, and then the train stopped to let us off. It was a 7 mile round trip hike, most of it over fairly difficult, rocky terrain. I am by no means in great shape, but I handled it just fine, and it was worth every ounce of energy. If you like hiking and the great outdoors (neither of which I usually go for) this will blow you away.

 

As others have mentioned, when it comes to Tracy Arm (or any day for that matter), you absolutely must get up early. On that day in particular, if you weren't out of bed and on deck by 7, you basically missed it. Captain came on at 8am with a "wake up or you'll miss it" message, but by then so much of it was already over. Thankfully, we were up at 5 every morning because that's when the sun comes up. Treat this trip as an early to bed early to rise sort of thing.

 

We did the Chops Champagne Breakfast twice and it was amazing. Worth every penny. We went to the first one on Juneau day and decided to come back to the other one on Tracy Arm. It worked out perfect - watched the scenery and glacier from our balcony/deck early in the morning, nice breakfast with a stunning view at 7am..

 

Finally, Victoria. We just sort of winged it here. No excursion or plan when we got off the ship. We walked downtown along the waterfront and past Fisherman's Wharf - a nice stroll, weather was great. We saw the usual sites downtown, had some lunch, and decided to walk back through Beacon Hill Park and along another stretch of waterfront. As beautiful as I'm sure the famous Butchart Gardens are, this was a truly delightful walk and it was completely free.

 

A few other thoughts...

 

~If you're up in the air on whether a whale watch tour is worthwhile, then skip it. I'm guessing we saw 100+ humpbacks from the ship and one pod of Orcas.

 

~Tracy's Crab Shack is awesome.

 

~Take a deck of cards and a good book. There's tons of downtime on this cruise, and as hard as it is to believe, you might get bored of the scenery after a while.

 

Long story short, we absolutely loved our first Alaskan cruise, and can't wait to do it again.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

[PompeySailor]

Early morning entering Tracey Arm

 

Exiting

 

 

 

Great Photos, Rhapsody is a fine ship:)

[Anzura]

Just returned from the June 6th sailing. <snip>

A few suggestions...

 

Take rain gear like a poncho, etc. It absolutely poured all day in Juneau. Thankfully, my wife had prepared and we had two ponchos with us. The upside was we took a shuttle over to Mendenhall ($20pp) and had the two mile trail down to the beach near the waterfall all to ourselves...

 

<snip>

 

A few other thoughts...

 

~If you're up in the air on whether a whale watch tour is worthwhile, then skip it. I'm guessing we saw 100+ humpbacks from the ship and one pod of Orcas.

 

~Tracy's Crab Shack is awesome.

 

~Take a deck of cards and a good book. There's tons of downtime on this cruise, and as hard as it is to believe, you might get bored of the scenery after a while.

 

Long story short, we absolutely loved our first Alaskan cruise, and can't wait to do it again.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

 

Thank you Thank you!! I'm on Rhapsody in a few short weeks. So excited! I have a few questions.

We are doing the same thing in Juneau. Was the $20 pp round trip or one way?

Where is Tracy's Crab Shack? Port?

Thanks for the cards/book suggestion. I was just telling my kids we are heading to a used book store to get some reading material. I didn't have cards on my list though!

My youngest was bummed we aren't doing a whale tour. Your sightings from the cruise has made him excited again. I hope we are as lucky as you :)

 

thanks again!

[Fa-Li]

Just disembarked and will add my 2 cents. The best investment I made for this trip was a great pair of binoculars. We also saw tons of humpbacks from the ship, but with scale and distance, they don't look like much without binos.

 

The kids programs were great. We had kids 11-17 in our group and hardly saw them when we were onboard. They had so much fun with their new buddies.

 

Great cruise, ship was in good shape, crew was fantastic. You will love it!

 

 

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[LuvNtheHighCs]

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Hi D.J. and thank you for sharing an amazing summary of your cruise! We're going on July 11th and one thing I just can't get is an itinerary of the onboard entertainment. I called RCCL and they couldn't (wouldn't?) give any specifics. Any chance you brought a Compass home? :)

 

The most I've been able to get is:

Entertainment:

Don Barnhart, Comedian - Derek Lewis, Guitarist - Ronn Lucas, Ventriloquist - Patrick McMahon, Impressionist - Sideshow Bert, Juggler.

Theater Shows:

Piano Man II - Pure Country - Ballroom Fever III

 

I don't know if they're any good :D or what time they're on, so it makes it hard to plan meals and spa, etc. Either way (Compass or not) thank you again for a great summary of your cruise!

[mr walker]

I don't know if they're any good :D or what time they're on, so it makes it hard to plan meals and spa, etc.

 

In our experience the 'Headline' shows are on twice each night & are timed for 6:30 or 7pm for late diners (8:30pm) and again at 8:30pm for early (6pm diners), except for the 1st night when there is normally just the 1 show at maybe 10 or 10:30pm - most people prefer to watch the sailaway and the scenery instead of a show. The shows normally run just short of an hour.

 

So arrange your dining and other entertainment/activities - you will get to see the shows.

 

Trust this assists.

 

PS we are on Aug 29 sailing, the last one for the season.

 

Happy cruising.