Rhapsody 9/18 cruise

[cruizinmimi]

I'm hoping someone will post soon about the 7-day cruise that turned into the 10-day cruise. :D Anyone, anyone......

 

Linda

[rascalious]

It was fabulous! The seas were only slightly rough a couple of nights. The weather and ports were beautiful. They added Montego bay and two sea days with a stop for refueling in Ft. Lauderdale. While we couldn't leave the ship there, it was very relaxing watching the ships go by from our balcony.

I will agree many from the Houston/Galveston area had serious worries about their homes and cars. Still, only about 100 folks got off the ship in Montego Bay and far fewer in Ft. Lauderdale. I think they paid their own transportation since everyone could stay on for free. But, I do not know the arrangements that were made for them for sure.

Our concerns for our safety was never an issue, only some doubt as to when and where we were going. I must say, RCI was doing everything to keep all passengers updated on the situation. As they knew something, we were informed via newsletters from the captain. No less than four newsletters and many PA system announcements were given.

Again, we had a wonderful cruise. We will sail Rhapsody again!!!

[cruizinmimi]

rascalious Thank you for replying. I would have loved being on that 7-day that turned into a 10-day cruise.

 

I know everyone was very worried about their homes and cars parked at Galveston. I was hoping that someone would get on the internet in the internet cafe and read the 9/25 Rhapsody m/m thread. We were talking about it missed Galveston and Houston with very little damage. Was hoping that would put some of your minds at ease and you could just relax and enjoy the extra days.

 

Thanks again for posting. Rccl has always taken care of us. I feel they do a great job.

 

Linda

[rascalious]

rascalious Thank you for replying. I would have loved being on that 7-day that turned into a 10-day cruise.

 

I know everyone was very worried about their homes and cars parked at Galveston. I was hoping that someone would get on the internet in the internet cafe and read the 9/25 Rhapsody m/m thread. We were talking about it missed Galveston and Houston with very little damage. Was hoping that would put some of your minds at ease and you could just relax and enjoy the extra days.

 

Thanks again for posting. Rccl has always taken care of us. I feel they do a great job.

 

Linda

RCI kept us well informed, but I failed to mention we all were constantly monitoring CNN. Everyone knew about the storms path and were pretty well confident Galveston was not damaged. The real concern for RCI was if the ship channel would need dredging to allow the ship into Galveston. It was not until Tuesday that we received offocial clearance. Good thing, as we had left Ft. Lauderdale Monday 2:00 AM headed for Galveston.

We spent an extra day in Jamaica (Montego Bay - Thursday) which put us a day behind for our excursions on Grand Cayman and Cozumel. RCI rebooked everything. We did our excursions on our own, but we still had them honored at both ports of call.

[cyndyt]

I was also on this cruise and can verify that the weather was almost perfect as were the ports. I also had made my own arrangements for excursions and they were honoured even though we were a day late. Royal Caribbean did a wonderful job of keeping everyone up to date. They even announced that the port authority had inspected the parking lots and that the cars were fine, which was a big relief to me because I had driven to the Port from Canada. I would have to say that this cruise definitely was good value.

[cruizinmimi]

So glad to hear you all had a great trip and a great time aboard the Rhapsody. The Rhapsody is truly my favorite ship. We've been on the ROS 5x's. We are going back in May of 2006. The ship looked great when we were on her last year in Nov. I'm sure it still looks good :D

 

Thanks again for posting and glad you enjoyed your cruising experience.

 

Linda

[rascalious]

I have posted a few photos. Click on my webshots link below - Steve

[joyinam]

My husband and I were celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary on the Rhapsody 9/18 cruise. Like our marriage, it was sometimes rocky, full of fun, full of unexpected surprises, took different turns and made extra stops, was delayed at times, kept ever-safe, and has lasted longer than some expected! ;) All in all, a super trip. The captain could not have done a better job, in our opinion. Kept us always out of harm's way, communicated all that could be, and really provided leadership at a time that could have been "out of control." Since we live in Katy - west of Houston, and I agree with the earlier poster, much of our info was from CNN - we had several days where we struggled to "take role" back at home, to find out where family members and friends were, who was leaving Houston when, and coordinating folks to batten down our house. As you know, all was fine; but until we knew that, not relaxing at all. Fun, and great to get our minds off of "it" while in port, but even when we knew all were well, house and car probably ok....we still didn't know where were going on the ship, or when we'd get there!

Communication - A+

Accomodations - A+ (proactively offered 10 min per day phone, and 10 min per day internet to communicate with those at home!)

It's our understanding that those who opted to fly home from Montego Bay (extra port stop) were flown BY Royal Caribbean; after that, on their own dime. The choices were given to us in writing, and we had to turn them in. We opted to stay on board, as our flight options would have allowed Dallas or San Antonio, with little hope of rental cars; so we stayed "Stranded" at sea vs land somewhere in Texas.

Royal Caribbean will get a great letter from us, regarding how they handled this situation totally out of their control. We always felt safe, never felt like they would just dump us, and we were very impressed with how they had entertainment for us, Compasses always up to date - they never dropped the ball! Great job! Booked another cruise while on board!

Super job, even in time of crisis!

[TXRoo]

My only problem was that they kept sending out letters constantly changing the dates for us to be in. Some of us HAD to be off the ship on Sunday and RCCL sent us an in cabin letter stating if they were to put everyone off in Ft. Lauderdale then they would fly us home. Other than that we were on our own. We did debark in FL and flew home...the Rhapsody itself was wonderful, great cruise, wonderful crew. My problem was with their team on board who were handling the face to face with people needing to debark, the particular girl I dealt with was not very adept at customer service and told me, after much painful and agonizing continual asking of the same questions that our flights would not be paid for (that's ok), what was not ok was her contention that if we debarked in Galveston (3 days late) and no one was at the lot to help us get our car, then we were on our own. I would have had much more respect for her if she said that straight out, but the continual mealy mouthing made me less than happy.

 

I think it was unfair to dangle the flight home carrot to many of us who definitely had other responsibilities to get back to and then yank it away when it was really needed.

 

I did have RCCL cruise insurance so I am hoping it covers the cost of our flights and hotel room for one night.

 

Oh and as an aside...a little over 100 passengers also debarked in FL.