Live Report from Alaska - Rhapsody of the Seas

[seaandsea]

Thanks for the review, we are doing this cruise next year.

[pacificcoral]

Glad you are having such wonderful weather. It is quite rare to have flat seas in the open ocean out there.

 

I will agree that there was tons of whale activity last week. It seemed like there were whales everywhere.

 

We had Angel as our stateroom attendant also. He is wonderful and really enjoys his job. We found him a couple of times singing to the music in the Centrum. I really enjoyed how the crew always seemed so happy.

[seaofwonder]

Sorry all! The internet is horrendous on this cruise...just took 15 minutes to pay a single bill online :( Here is the rest of day 2 and day 3.

 

Finishing up Day 2

 

After posting I headed down to the show. Tonight’s show was John Joseph and Johnny B, a comedian-musician duo. I didn’t have high expectations, but they turned out to be pretty funny. It was an hour long show and I would recommend it. I mean, it wasn’t the best I’ve ever since but certainly not the worst.

 

Back up to the room where I turned back the clock and was asleep by 11 PM (10 PM Alaska time).

 

Day 3 – Juneau

 

After telling hubby last night that the clocks go back I was awakened at 4 AM!!! Hubby thought it was 5 AM! Oops. The sad part is that I was actually slowly waking up by then myself. Although sunrise was not until 4:45 AM, the skies were already quite light. The captain had told us that we would be picking up our pilot at 5 AM and then entering the inside passage and we would have good whale spotting. So, we threw on our jackets and headed out on the balcony.

 

And watched….and got excited over every piece of driftwood. But finally, off in the distance we saw some tails! It was simply breathtaking watching the scenery go by. This is the life!

 

At 5 AM we ordered room service…I just wanted some hot chocolate and fruit to get me through to breakfast. Went back out and watched for whales (kept the door open so we could hear) and no delivery. At 5:45 AM we called them again and they played stupid. “Oh we have your breakfast order” Well, I didn’t order breakfast at 5 AM, I wanted hot chocolate and fruit. “We don’t open until 5:30” Um, no you are room service, you’re open 24 hours a day. They made me feel like an idiot, when I know I ordered at 5 AM. Anyhow, they said they would have it delivered right away but now hubby was a little angry. So he called back and spoke with the supervisor (Lester) who then tried to say “Oh, but the clocks were turned back.” Um, yea we know that and what in the world does that have to do with ordering hot chocolate? So, they delivered it a few minutes later, accompanied by Lester who profusely apologized and gave us a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. Nice gesture.

 

So back to watching for whales and enjoying the scenery. What a way to start the day. Breakfast was delivered at 6:30 AM. Right on time (guess Lester doesn’t want to make us angry LOL). Just had scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and juice. It was yummy, but pretty small portions. Oh, also had a fruit plate which was good and some toast, which was still warm when delivered.

 

By 8 AM we were pretty zonked and so we took a nap. Managed to get about an hour of sleep. Up, shower and decided to grab a quick bite at the Windjammer since we knew we wouldn’t be back until after 4 PM. Ugh, what a mistake. We got there about 30 minutes before closing and the buffet lines looked like the Tasmanian Devil had blown through. God, people are such slobs when on vacation. What is it about buffets and manners? All civility is thrown out the window. It was quite disgusting. Managed to find 2 pancakes left at the bottom and shoved them down. Never again….no more Windjammer just before closing.

 

Our tour today was whale watching booked with Harv & Marv. They come highly recommended on the ports boards. I booked with them back in February. You get about 3 hours on the water and then a stop at Mendenhall. I believe it was about $320 including taxes for the two of us. Quite pricey, but this is a once in a lifetime experience for us. Our meeting time was 11:20 and we were there by 11:15 and everyone was ready for us. Had about a 15-20 minute wait for the bus to pick us up. The Radiance was also docked and they were picking people up there too.

 

Once onboard the bus we had a 15 minute drive to Auke Bay where the boats were waiting. Our drive was Claire and he was VERY informative and a really nice guy. Arrived at the boats and our captain was Jayleen who is the daughter of Marv. Young girl (19), but VERY skilled and knowledgeable. She is a 4th generation Juneauite. Just super friendly. There were 2 other couples on our boat and this was Jayleen’s second tour of the day. She said they found many whales on the previous tour, so I was feeling good about seeing them. I know that people say they always see them, but I was thinking that we might not….and that would have been a disappointment.

 

Immediately upon heading out Jayleen slowed down because there was an eagle perched on a buoy. Wow….we didn’t get too close because she didn’t want to scare it away, but through the binoculars it was amazing. Tried to get some shots with my point & shoot, but it was difficult. I wish the binoculars had a camera built in! That was pretty cool.

 

On we went….next stop was a buoy filled with sea lions. I have seen sea lions in San Francisco, but these were different and the noises they made were more like growls as opposed to the barking sounds. We then continued on to an area she had seen whales in the AM. We sat around for about 5 minutes and didn’t see anything so she moved on. A few miles later she started saying “Looking at the spouts” but I couldn’t see anything, and then all of a sudden we got closer and I could see them! Like geysers of water. So amazing. There were many boats around and she killed the engine and we just watched. I went out to the bow of the ship and sat down and aimed the camera. Got some good shots of tails and geysers (spouts) and fins. It was just incredible. There were about 5-6 of them in this little area. Jayleen was great about providing information about the whales, so many things that I did not know. We stayed there for about 45 minutes or so.

 

I’ve got to say that this was just amazing. The sounds that they make…wow. Just sit and close your eyes and listen and then look for the tails. The tails are like fingerprints and they have them all named.

 

Then she said she had a surprise for us and drove us to another area. There was a bunch of whales doing bubble netting. This is where they work together to catch fish. Normally the whales are solitary animals, but what they do in bubble netting is work together to herd the fish and then one whale goes down and uses his spout to force the fish up and then all of a sudden you see all the whales come up…mouths and fins. Oh wow! And we had a good flock of seagulls circling, so as soon as you see the seagulls swoop down you know where the whales will pop up. We stayed here and saw them do this about 5-6 times. It was so amazing. They popped up next to one boat….but never right next to ours ☹ Oh well….it was still cool.

 

Then back to the harbor. On the way we saw a few porpoises jumping in our wake. The bus came and picked us up and we had Claire again. Super guy…been living year round in Juneau for 27 years and you can tell he loves it. He drove us to Mendenhall and gave us 30 minutes at the glacier. So we walked around a bit and took pictures. Right next to the parking lot there is a little creek walk and wow! The sockeye salmon were in there and were swimming upstream. They were huge and bright red/pink! But no bears. Darn, I really wanted to see a bear (and we heard others coming back who said they did see a momma bear and cubs). On the way back to the ship we saw a stream full of salmon, so Claire actually pulled the bus over and let us go down. Simply amazing to see this….the circle of life is quite clear here. You have the salmon fighting their way upstream to spawn and die and the seagulls circling to pick off the eggs.

 

We had the option to be dropped off in town, but I wasn’t really interested in tourist shops. So we headed back and went up to the Park Café. Yummy! So much better than that crappy Solarium Café that used to be there. Then we headed down to the Diamond Lounge for some soda and conversation. Met some new folks tonight and it was great chatting with them. I am really enjoying the social aspect of the diamond lounge.

 

We weren’t really hungry enough for the main dining room, so we headed to the Windjammer for a quick bite. Ugh. Not much choice of food. I had the “make your own” pasta, which wasn’t too bad…but there just isn’t that much of a selection.

 

Then we headed to the production show “Piano Man” which was a tribute to Billy Joel, Elton John, etc. Oh boy….it was so cheesy and the singers….well, they aren’t going to make it past the first round on The Voice. We suffered through about 20 minutes and then walked out. We always sit on an aisle because there hasn’t been a single production show that we’ve managed to make it through (and this is our 7th Royal cruise – I think, I can’t remember right now). Tomorrow is some country show, so we’ll try one more time. I wish they would bring the Broadway shows to the smaller ships!

 

After the show we headed to bed ☺ It was a fabulous day!

[Puffinater]

If you have not made plans for Victoria try the Hop on Hop off tour. I also have mobility issues and this worked great for us. You will get to see plenty. Thanks for the review.

[birdylady]

Our tour today was whale watching booked with Harv & Marv. They come highly recommended on the ports boards.

........

Then she said she had a surprise for us and drove us to another area. There was a bunch of whales doing bubble netting.

......

Right next to the parking lot there is a little creek walk and wow! The sockeye salmon were in there and were swimming upstream. They were huge and bright red/pink! But no bears. Darn, I really wanted to see a bear (and we heard others coming back who said they did see a momma bear and cubs). On the way back to the ship we saw a stream full of salmon, so Claire actually pulled the bus over and let us go down. Simply amazing to see this….the circle of life is quite clear here. You have the salmon fighting their way upstream to spawn and die and the seagulls circling to pick off the eggs.

WOW!!!!!!

We used Harv and Marv and thought they were super too. You are so lucky seeing bubble netting. I hear even at the height of the season this isn't always going to be seen.

And to see so many salmon. I guess you just made up my mind. Next time, we go height of the season. We did this itinerary about 2 years ago the end of May and had a great time, but didn't see nearly as much as you.

 

Erika

[rockykat]

How do you get to be Diamond after only 7 cruises ?

[Clarea]

How do you get to be Diamond after only 7 cruises ?

If you sail in suites (JS or better) you get double points. Or, if you take long cruises, you could accumulate 80 points more quickly.

[Puffinater]

How do you get to be Diamond after only 7 cruises ?

 

Four 10 day cruises in a JS or higher would do it.

[richstan]

I am on Rhapsody's 8/31 sailing and enjoying your review! Thanks!

[seaofwonder]

We've only sailed in junior suites :-)

 

Day 4 – Skagway

 

Our arrival time was 7 AM, but we slept in. I have an excursion booked, but we don’t leave until 10 AM. So we eased out of bed around 7:30 AM and sat on the balcony for a bit. A little sea lion kept popping up with a big huge fish in his mouth!

 

We elected to eat down at the dining room after yesterday’s Windjammer experience. Yum! We were seated at a table with a couple from Ireland….we just got back from Ireland last week, so it was fun to talk with them. The other two couples at the table were kind of dull. I had the French toast (my usual downstairs) and it was delicious as always.

 

Following breakfast we headed out to explore the town. You don’t really need a lot of time for this LOL It is a tiny little town. The population is something like 700 people, but in the summer it swells to 2-3x that size (depending on who you talk to). The town is very touristy and not really authentic….but we didn’t expect anything else. We caught a shuttle into town for $2 each way ($5 for a daily pass). Walked around for a bit. It was only 8:30 AM and not a lot of the stores were open yet. Most open at 9 AM. I bought a few small souvenirs, but only because I have some OBC that must be spent onboard, so I’ll buy more on the ship (they have essentially the same things onboard). We walked around for maybe 30 minutes (it’s all jewelry or souvenir shops selling the same things) and headed back. I hung around in the room until about 9:45 AM when I headed downstairs for my excursion.

 

My excursion was the White Pass rail + the Yukon. I chose this because I collect states and provinces/territories and I knew I would never find another way to get to the Yukon (still not sure how I’m getting NWT in my lifetime…Nunavut will be done when I do a polar bear trip to Churchill). I wasn’t sure how this excursion was working, but we were expected to be down on the pier at 10 AM where two tour buses were waiting. I chose the second bus, which was good because it left early but bad because there were two large parties who were so annoying! One kept asking where the beer was (several times throughout the day) and the other was asking where the Eskimos and Igloos were (*sigh* I finally piped up “I’m Canadian and although we didn’t grow up in igloos I did ride a dog sled to work.”). I don’t know, maybe she was joking, but it was ignorant to use Eskimo (PC term is “Inuit” or “First Nation”). It’s like going up to a Irish person and asking where the leprechauns are. Sorry…..this just reminded me why I HATE coach tours. I couldn’t escape from these people until we got on the train (I chose a different car from them).

 

Anyhow, to the actual tour. We left on the bus and had a great guide named Jordan, who just comes up for the summer with his wife. He served as a great guide giving us historical information and also serving as a bit of a naturalist. We drove up to the Yukon first and then would catch the train down. On the way up he stopped at a few photo spots. Man, this as so picturesque…the mountains were amazing and we had sun!!! Sun!!!! It was fabulous and actually a bit warm. We got up to the Canadian border where an agent came on and just checked that we matched our passport pictures (the same thing happens on the train ride back, but by US customs). Then we were off…first we went through British Columbia and then arrived at the Yukon sign. We stopped at the sign for pictures. Because I am a bit paranoid I actually walked down the road a bit past the sign….just to be sure I can really say I was in the Yukon!

 

We then turned around and stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge, but really is in B.C. We were provided a lunch consisting of bison chili, coleslaw, and some bannock bread. It was all very yummy and I had forgotten all about bannock bread. It is a First Nation bread that we used to eat in elementary school on field trips. It is very yummy. Then we walked out across the suspension bridge, which was a little scary! All told we had about 70-80 minutes at this stop. They do have a few gift shops where I snagged a few Coffee Crisp bars (my favorite Canadian candy!).

 

After this we drove to the train depot in Fraser. We were assigned two cars for our bus. The train left right around 2:30 PM for the slow drive down. It was quite a beautiful drive and we actually went right past a bear!! Yay! A bear sighting ☺ The ride down took nearly 2 hours. What was nice is that you can stand outside and take pictures and since it was a beautiful sunny day I did just that.

 

Back into town you can either walk back to the ship (the train doesn’t stop at the pier) or catch a coach. It was faster to walk back. Got back and headed to the diamond lounge where we hung out for a few hours. After that we headed to dinner at the MDR because DH saw a few things he wanted. We were seated at a table with another couple and had some great conversations. I had the pork loin and it was OK. Dessert was Berrymisu and it was just OK. I am never really disappointed by the food quality onboard….I don’t have high expectations and I’m not a foodie.

 

Following dinner we headed to the room. We need to be up early tomorrow morning for Tracy Arm!! We enter the fjord at 5 AM and we want to be up for it.

 

It was really a pleasant day in Skagway and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There is so much to do up here in Alaska….maybe we’ll return one day. We’re so tired of the Caribbean and are always looking for cruises to switch things up (like Europe, Alaska, etc.).

[kentuckytravelgirl]

Thanks for the daily updates Twiggers. We are on the August 31st sailing and are quite literally counting the days! Did you book the railroad excursion before you boarded or after you were on the ship? We have quite a bit of OBC and would like to spend it on excursions, but we can't book them and use OBC until we are on the ship. Thanks and I can't wait to hear about Tracy Arm. BTW, are you using the ships computers for your postings?

[seaofwonder]

I booked before we left, but they were saying there was still space available. We booked our Victoria excursion onboard.

 

I was using my own computer for posting and many others were commenting on how slow the wifi was. Thankfully it was free, it I had actually paid I would have been a bit angry!

 

We now have free wifi at The Seattle airport, so I will try to post some more (I have it all written).

[seaofwonder]

Day 5: Tracy Arm Fjord/Sea Day (Formal night)

 

The compass indicated that we would be entering the fjord at 5 AM, so we were up! As were our neighbors and a few other people out on their balconies. The captain had said that if it was real foggy then we would do Endicott Arm. So we really had no clue where we were, but it wasn’t foggy. It was chilly, but not foggy.

 

The fjord is very narrow and so the mountains were right outside our balcony door. I have been hearing so many people say “Oh, we didn’t get a balcony because it’s too cold.” Um, well I was happier on my balcony because we walked up on deck later and it was raining, very windy, and colder than our balcony. Our balcony was sheltered. Don’t get me wrong, it was chilly, but not as bad as up on deck.

 

Anyhow, we sat around on our balcony for hours, talking to our neighbors and enjoying the breathtaking scenery. I really think that this was the moment we booked this cruise for. Do you also get this on the Norwegian Fjord cruises? If so, then we need to book one of those!

 

Finally, we turned a bend and you could see the glacier in the distance. I would say that we arrived at the glacier around 7:15ish. So about 2 hours of gently cruising through the fjord. We didn’t see much wildlife though, just birds (no eagles though). Once we arrived at the glacier the captain did a full 360. So we were able to get great views from our balcony; however, he started on the port side first so they actually got two full views of it. We got a partial view floating in and then one full view during the turn. We weren’t sure if he was going to turn, so we ran up on deck quickly. Big mistake…so cold and crowded.

 

Anyhow, we had breakfast delivered during this time and hubby made some tea to warm us up. When the captain announced we would be pulling out, we quickly climbed into bed. We were tired and chilly and after scenery watching for 3 hours we had enough.

 

Napped for a few hours and then just lounged around the rest of the day. Played some trivia and then headed for the diamond lounge around 5 PM. By this time the waves were really big. There were baggies out at all the stairways. I was fine, but then going up to the diamond lounge with the full views I started feeling ill. So I was in bed sleeping by 7 PM. I was a bit bummed that I missed the aerial act ☹

[kentuckytravelgirl]

We are a bit concerned about the weather. Do you think it would be possible to just take our chances when we get into Skagway and try to book the excursion then?

[seaofwonder]

You could probably walk into the town to the train depot and just book it that day....but no guarantees there would be spots left. The weather is hit or miss...it can change in 5 minutes. It might look horrible when you wake up and then be sunny an hour later!

[seaofwonder]

Day 6 – Sea Day (lobster night)

 

Just another sea day, nothing really to report. We went to trivia a few times and I must say that the Schooner Bar is NOT the place to do that on a sea day. It was so packed that people were on the floors and stuff.

 

I went to the Entertainment Tour that was offered for Diamond members. We got to sit in on about 5-10 minutes of their practice for tonight’s production show. Then they had the theater director and one singer and one dancer answer questions and tell us about life as an entertainer. It was quite informative. I am always impressed with the dancing onboard, it’s the singing that leaves much to be desired (except the singing captain, he was really good). That lasted for about an hour or so.

 

Hubby and I then went to lunch in the MDR. There was a huge line (25+ people) waiting and it took nearly 15 minutes to be seated. Once seated the service was really lacking. No pleasantries were exchanged and the service was really brusque. A little off putting and really unlike Royal Caribbean. I did make a note of this in my final survey.

 

After lunch we caught a bit of a cake decorating competition between the cruise director and the head chef. It was entertaining and we got cake afterwards ☺

 

Hmmm, what else? Oh, I bought a Next Cruise certificate because I have no clue what we’re doing for summer 2013. Maybe Europe, maybe somewhere else. No idea, but I don’t want to miss out on the free OBC. There was no one in the future cruise area, which seemed unusual as it was packed on our previous cruises.

 

We hit the diamond lounge for a few hours and then a quick, unimpressive dinner in the Windjammer. The last few cruises the WJ has left little to be desired and I keep writing it on my survey cards. Maybe it’s just because we’ve cruised so many times with Royal? But my buffet at my university does it better….Royal could take a lesson from some dining halls. Fresh made stir fry, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, fresh sandwiches, turkey, chicken freshly carved, etc.

 

Meh, maybe I’m just getting old! Anyhow, we skipped the production show and headed to bed.

[seaofwonder]

Day 7 – Victoria

 

I’m Canadian and Victoria doesn’t really do anything for me. It’s a pretty west coast city…been there, done that. The allure of Canada does nothing for me, since I’m Canadian. But I did manage to snag some ketchup chips at a gift shop ;)

 

We did book a tour though, just a 2 hour scenic bus tour. The weather was sunny and beautiful. The bus tour was alright….I mean, the city is absolutely beautiful, but I am a really history buff and prefer European cities (or something like Montreal, San Francisco, or Boston in N. America). We also didn’t feel like paying big bucks for another adventure tour. These tours on the Alaskan cruises are so pricey!

 

Ha, we also had another idiot on the bus asking (as we’re standing next to the ocean) “What is the elevation right here?” And another great question “What season is it here in Canada?” Yes, seriously…these were serious questions being asked. Even the bus driver was laughing. I have got to stop going on these big ship excursions.

 

We elected not to be let off downtown because 1) I’m from Canada so I really don’t need Canadian souvenirs; and 2) Products in Canada are horrendously overpriced when the dollar is at par (thus the reason that all the Canadians come into the US to do their shopping). Stopped at the gift shop on the pier and snagged some of my favorite Canadian chips.

 

Lunch in the Windjammer….not many other options on a port day.

 

Cashed out my OBC down at guest relations and now we’re just vegging. I think there is trivia at 2 PM.

 

We ended up winning the trivia as there were only 3 teams playing. We got luggage tags this time. Something new ☺

 

Went to the Diamond lounge for awhile and then to dinner in the MDR. Food wasn’t so great and the service was really subpar. Not sure what is up with this week.

 

Also, many people in the diamond lounge were commenting on the lack of activities onboard. This would likely explain why trivia was so full. I can count at least 4 times that we skipped trivia because it was too crowded.

 

To bed at our normal time. Our flight tomorrow leaves really late, so we’ll be taking our time getting off the ship.

[jerseygirl703]

Thanks so much for the look into your cruise, we are heading out on that cruise on 8/24. Reading about your trip has me very excited! I had a question though, I know you mentioned that it was chilly a few times, what were the average temperatures? I am planning on bringing a medium weight coat, a windbreaker and some sweatshirts and jeans, but are hats/gloves needed at all? Thanks again :)

[seaofwonder]

Jersey - Hmmmm, our port days were quite nice, in the 60s. Our early morning on Tracy Arm was quite chilly for a girl living in Texas! My hat came in quite handy....gloves not so much (because you need fingers for the camera). That was really the only chilly time.

[jerseygirl703]

Thanks for the help. I hope we are able to see as much wildlife as you did. Really getting excited now! Thanks again:)

[seaofwonder]

I hope that you will too!!! It was quite amazing....from what the locals said the bears get more active as the summer progresses. So maybe you'll see a lot of bear!