Rhapsody of the seas Hawaii

[slapsyru]

Hi,

we are considering taking a cruise to Hawaii next year on the Rhapsody. Never done a cruise with Royal Caribbean before and no idea what to expect compared to Celebrity, who we are used to. I guess a lot will be similar as they're the same family, but i'm trying to get a few ideas.

Does anyone have any links/scans/photos of dailies for one of their Hawaii cruises. It's quite a few sea days so we want to know what there is to do during the day as it doesn't seem a huge ship. I can find lots of menus online but no dailies or ideas for activities. Hoping for lots of trivia/craft/demos. If anyone has done the cruise before and can let me know, please do.

Thanks,

Gemma

[pcur]

We've cruised to Hawaii on the Rhapsody from Vancouver, and loved the cruise. Rhapsody is one of our all time favorite ships because of the management and crew.

 

The daily activities are about the same as most other cruises, including Celebrity, but on Hawaiiam cruises they add cultural events. They had a great Hawaiian dance troupe on board, as well as a lecturer. Daily dance and lectures.

 

Actually, it was like dueling lectures! The dance leader gave more "on the ground" cultural talks, including customs, family history, etc. Great guy!

 

The "professor" gave the more traditional historical lectures.

 

It was very interesting, and I've experienced this on other cruises to the South Seas and Australia.

 

I don't think you will be bored.

[slapsyru]

Thanks for that. Good to know. I'm on you tube and flickr trying to see the ship. Full on obsess/research mode now.

[Beth C]

Not sure which one you're looking at - May or September... I just booked another cabin on the May Hawaii to Vancouver route so we're up to a group of 10 now :D

 

There isn't a lot of info about these cruises since there's only 4 per year (2 ships crossing back and forth) and there's limited info about Rhapsody since dry dock out there. Make sure what you're searching/watching is post re-furbishment!

 

I see in your history you've sailed the big (aka new) Celebrity ships most recently - I would say the Rhapsody is comparable to the Millennium in size. I have to keep reminding myself that this ship is NOT going to be Oasis or Allure ;)

[slapsyru]

It's the September we are thinking about. I knew the ship was renovated but wasn't sure when. I'd seen some older videos uploaded recently and presumed that was after the renovation, wasn't impressed at all, then saw recent ones that were after it has all been done. It's a huge improvement. Looks a lot nicer.

I didn't realise there were so few of the cruises a year. No wonder i can't find anything much. RC and Hawaii are all new to me. Hopefully not for too long ;)

[Beth C]

We tossed around the idea of doing a return trip from the mainland but they only give you 3-5 days actually IN Hawaii so the one way trip was a better deal for us. I had also seriously considered the Solstice next April or September (balcony pricing is amazing compared to Royal) since they're doing one way trips too but they use Mexico as a start/end and from what I read it's a bit of a hassle to get from Mexico to San Diego for flights - not something I want to attempt with 6 seniors and 3 new cruisers!

[slapsyru]

Ohh, don't envy you there. You'll have your work cut out for you. Still, at least you'll be in a relaxing place.

We are looking at either this cruise or one that starts in Hawaii and crosses to Australia, we haven't decided for sure yet and got a while to decide, so just checking out options and ships. It gives me an excuse to drool over cruise videos on youtube again. We will be flying from the UK, so it's a 24 hour flight to Hawaii or from Australia. Bit of a nightmare whichever we decide on really but it'll be worth it.

[Sing4you57]

I was on last years sailing as well and really enjoyed the duelling speakers. I enjoyed learning about the perspective from the Hawaiian side of the story. Certainly not what I remember from my US History classes. They also had Jewelry making (I failed miserably), Mid day movies in the Broadway melodies theatre in addition to the outdoor movie screen. Cooking demonstrations. Napkin folding (didn't go) Trivia, games, Bingo. There was really plenty to do. They also used the Centrum for the evening Parties aboard. Derek in the Schooner bar was alot of fun.

[critterchick]

We have not cruised Celebrity before, so I can't give you a comparison between the two. I will say, however, that on the crossing in May 2011, we met a few Celebrity cruisers at the Diamond breakfast and they complained nonstop, to the point where we avoided them like the plague. They were mainly criticizing the food.

 

I can't tell you what the activities were, since we spent the 5 sea days reading and chilling out. There was an interesting lecturer and some good shows, but I didn't keep a very good diary, so can't give you specifics.:o

[Beth C]

We have not cruised Celebrity before, so I can't give you a comparison between the two. I will say, however, that on the crossing in May 2011, we met a few Celebrity cruisers at the Diamond breakfast and they complained nonstop, to the point where we avoided them like the plague. They were mainly criticizing the food.

 

I can't tell you what the activities were, since we spent the 5 sea days reading and chilling out. There was an interesting lecturer and some good shows, but I didn't keep a very good diary, so can't give you specifics.:o

 

This is EXACTLY what I plan on doing on my 5 sea days! I don't need to learn napkin folding... just as easy to rip off a sheet of Bounty from the roll ;) or towel animals (heck i'm lucky to get them folded from the dryer!) I have my iPad loaded up with about 300 new books and in the process of adding them to my Kindle for those super sunny deck days. If the sun is out I wont be sitting in a theatre or class :)

[Inuvikcouple]

It's the September we are thinking about. I knew the ship was renovated but wasn't sure when. I'd seen some older videos uploaded recently and presumed that was after the renovation, wasn't impressed at all, then saw recent ones that were after it has all been done. It's a huge improvement. Looks a lot nicer.

I didn't realise there were so few of the cruises a year. No wonder i can't find anything much. RC and Hawaii are all new to me. Hopefully not for too long ;)

 

We are on the September 6 sailing next year on the Rhapsody and there is a lady on our thread that has done this cruise more than once so she might be able to answer any questions that you have regarding the Rhapsody. This will be our first visit to Hawaii as well.

 

Dave

[Katana_Geldar]

I so want to do this. Fly to LA and then to Hawaii, cruise home. But they don't do it in the only time of the year we could go in the Christmas new year break.

[weathermom]

We were on the September rhapsody cruise this year. I was worried about all those sea days but there was lots to do. as well as the lectures mentioned there were other things i enjoyed... A great stretch class each morning, aquafit classes (they called them aqua dynamics) and some other fitness classes (free), lots of dance classes.There were also a bunch of fitness classes for a fee. They had a lot more activities than a normal 7 day cruise....lots of trivia classes, name that tune kind of stuff, guest talent contest, lots of staff vs. guest contests etc.

 

One thing we really enjoyed on this ship was the staff. They were so friendly and fun and soooo excited to be leaving their Alaska runs and heading to Hawaii....with the number of days in Hawaii literally every crew member was able to get some time ashore. Their excitement was infectious.

 

The outer decks got warmer every day as we headed southwest. the first full sea day was too chilly to be out much but after that it was great. the sea days flew by and then the days in Hawaii were busy and port intensive. they still did some activities once in Hawaii, but markedly less than the sea days. They still had the movies (inside and on the pool deck) lots of live bands, evening shows etc. a great cruise. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

We did the September cruise in 2010 and loved it so much that we repeated in 2011.

The sea days had many activities and lectures available. Then, you hit the islands and each one was amazing.

We really loved the final night when they brought a large group of children onboard for a cultural show.

I know that Rhapsody has now been refurbished and is a little different than we remember but we thought that our 2 voyages had amazing crews who took great care of all of our needs. Even though the ship was a bit older, it was in great form.

[Miamia65]

Just off rhapsody, here is a link to some of our pictures

 

http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/Aleisha65/library/Cruise%202012

 

There are pictures of the RFS and OS - suites if you are interested. There are also some random pics around the ship and photos with staff, all the photos have tags so it describes what they are.

 

I too am interested in the Vancouver to Hawaii cruise in September or the one after which goes to Sydney.

 

Can anyone tell me what the seas are like between Vancouver and Hawaii?

Only my son got mildly sick BUT if the ship is rocking and rolling a lot and the 5 days are in the sea rather than in a more protected reef area then if the swell is up it makes getting around the ship and doing things more difficult.

 

Don't get me wrong we love cruising but 5 days in big swells could be a problem or maybe the larger seas are only due to certain areas of the ocean.

[weathermom]

Seas were pretty calm for the 5 sea days... The first night and start of the first sea day were the only ones with motion that could really be felt and that wasn't much. we lucked out with a solid ridge of high pressure though.

One years voyage wouldn't necessarily hold true for another years trip though....totally dependent on the weather patterns in that area at that time & you wouldn't necessarily know much before you started.

 

from many years of forecasting on the west coast, I'd bet on calmer seas for the September repositioning over the April one.

[avalon007]

Hi,

 

We are planning a repositioning cruise from Hawaii to Sydney in Sept next year, opposite itinery than you, but we will choose Radiance rather than Rhapsody as she is the bigger ship with 13 decks instead of 11.

 

Radiance has the mini golf, rock climbing wall etc & was also refurbished in 2011 I think, so has the newer dining options with several additional speciality restaurants like Samba Grill, plus the touch screens & so on.

 

We really like the Radiance class of ship also because they have the most glass walls of any ships in the RCCL fleet, a beautiful ship to sail on with sea views at every turn, even the lifts are glass.

 

Have a look at the RCCL web site & compare ships there to see which suits you best.:)

[rubrrick]

We have cruised between SD and Hawaii several times in the past on the Legend of the Seas, which is the same class as the Rhapsody.

 

We never ran out of things to do, but to be honest, both times we had and OS, and spent a great time in our cabin.

 

The Rhapsody was updated earlier this year, and was in excellent condition for the week that we spent travelling up and back to Alaska earlier in the year.

 

We enjoy the size of a Vision Class ship, not too large, and yet plenty to do for all of the sea days.

 

We will be back on the Vision of the Seas in April for a TA to Copenhagen.

 

Critterchick mentioned food, and the complaints by Celebrity passengers on the Rhapsody, and I know that Royal Caribbean is in the process of upgrading food across the fleet, as that was the one subject that everyone felt that Royal needed to improve.

 

I'm looking forward to experiencing new tastes in less than two weeks, when we do a B2B on the Brilliance in the Southern Caribbean.:)

 

Rick