TRIP REPORT -Rhapsody of the Seas -Tampa- January 14 2017!!
- Thread starter gumbypee
- Start date
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
So ship had some movement this morning. Not bad, never got sick or anything. Just could feel you were on the water. I was told the week before I sailed there was a lot of movement and they couldn't even dock at Costa Maya so we were lucky. I felt a little vibration in my decck two room but it wasn't bad- kinda soothing actually LOL
We went to Schooner Bar on Deck 6 for Sudoku Challenge at 9:30 am. There was a master that got it done in just a few minutes!! I finished it later in the day.
Then it was to poolside, deck 9, for Morning Stretch. It was a nice 15 minutes or so of stretches with the cruise director team member, Talita from Brazil. Afterwards, we relaxed outside with the sun shining and a wonderful breeze on our faces - Ah the cruise life!
Back to Schooner Bar for Morning Trivia-we paired up with two Green Bay Packer fans and we did ok, 9 out of 16 whereas the winners had 15 of 16!!
So we decided to try Edelweiss Dining Room for a sit down lunch. I had yummy chicken sliders, french fries, then banana cake with pecan ice cream.
here was my ketchup from server
lunch
just thought this was a nice elevator LOL
Found a nice spot on Deck 5 to sit quietly and read and relax. I went to Art Auction at 1 pm in Shall We Dance Lounge bc they advertised free champagne but I think they were waiting until the bidding started or something bc there was no free champagne when I got there so I left and went back to Deck 5.
nice and quiet
Off to Cafe Lattitudes for free snack (the specialty coffee drinks had a cost but the snacks were free) - had a Cheesecake Lollipop which was just ok
We went to Schooner Bar on Deck 6 for Sudoku Challenge at 9:30 am. There was a master that got it done in just a few minutes!! I finished it later in the day.
Then it was to poolside, deck 9, for Morning Stretch. It was a nice 15 minutes or so of stretches with the cruise director team member, Talita from Brazil. Afterwards, we relaxed outside with the sun shining and a wonderful breeze on our faces - Ah the cruise life!
Back to Schooner Bar for Morning Trivia-we paired up with two Green Bay Packer fans and we did ok, 9 out of 16 whereas the winners had 15 of 16!!
So we decided to try Edelweiss Dining Room for a sit down lunch. I had yummy chicken sliders, french fries, then banana cake with pecan ice cream.
here was my ketchup from server
lunch
just thought this was a nice elevator LOL
Found a nice spot on Deck 5 to sit quietly and read and relax. I went to Art Auction at 1 pm in Shall We Dance Lounge bc they advertised free champagne but I think they were waiting until the bidding started or something bc there was no free champagne when I got there so I left and went back to Deck 5.
nice and quiet
Off to Cafe Lattitudes for free snack (the specialty coffee drinks had a cost but the snacks were free) - had a Cheesecake Lollipop which was just ok
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
Up next was Closeup Disney Trivia - I should have kept the paper but I did not. They were closeups of parts of faces and outfits of Disney characters.There were 28 characters and we missed three - Zeus, Meeko, and Peter Pan. We had eight minutes to write answers down then we traded papers to grade.
Then I went poolside to do some line dances - Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide etc. It was fun. There was a decent crowd of people doing them.
Time for a carpet pic!!
I was going to go to "Fun Dance Class" in Centrum on deck, but Max (cruise director member) had some technical difficulties so I left to go to Schooner Bar again for Trivia, Country Capitals. This was SO HARD!! List the capital AND currency of the countries. So we only got 8 of 34 LOL
Time for dinner-we had early dining at 5:30 on deck 4 of Edelweiss Dining Room. We missed the first night so this was our first time to meet our tablemates. We were seated at a table of 10 and there were 9 of us. Everyone was very friendly and it was nice to chitchat but it took close to two hours and the food was not that good for either of us so this was our only time there. We were going to go back but the Windjammer kept having such good food we ran out of time LOL
Cantaloupe and Honeydew Shavings appetizer
I didn't see anything on adult menu I liked so I ordered kid's pizza and mac n cheese with fries. pizza was ok, but mac n cheese had no cheese flavor to it. I don't recall what my friend had but she wasn't a fan of it.
For dessert I had banana creme brulee and a bittersweet chocolate souffle. Souffle was not tasty so I didn't eat it. Ate top of creme brulee
souffle
Went to room for some reason and I watched end of Dallas Green Bay game the we went to Windjammer for dessert LOL I tried black forest cake but wasn't my cup of tea and had strawberry cheesecake. no pics
As we were leaving I saw playoff NFL game on poolside TV screen so I sat out there and watched until halftime. Fun!
Off to bed to get ready for Day 3... Roatan, Honduras!
Then I went poolside to do some line dances - Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide etc. It was fun. There was a decent crowd of people doing them.
Time for a carpet pic!!
I was going to go to "Fun Dance Class" in Centrum on deck, but Max (cruise director member) had some technical difficulties so I left to go to Schooner Bar again for Trivia, Country Capitals. This was SO HARD!! List the capital AND currency of the countries. So we only got 8 of 34 LOL
Time for dinner-we had early dining at 5:30 on deck 4 of Edelweiss Dining Room. We missed the first night so this was our first time to meet our tablemates. We were seated at a table of 10 and there were 9 of us. Everyone was very friendly and it was nice to chitchat but it took close to two hours and the food was not that good for either of us so this was our only time there. We were going to go back but the Windjammer kept having such good food we ran out of time LOL
Cantaloupe and Honeydew Shavings appetizer
I didn't see anything on adult menu I liked so I ordered kid's pizza and mac n cheese with fries. pizza was ok, but mac n cheese had no cheese flavor to it. I don't recall what my friend had but she wasn't a fan of it.
For dessert I had banana creme brulee and a bittersweet chocolate souffle. Souffle was not tasty so I didn't eat it. Ate top of creme brulee
souffle
Went to room for some reason and I watched end of Dallas Green Bay game the we went to Windjammer for dessert LOL I tried black forest cake but wasn't my cup of tea and had strawberry cheesecake. no pics
As we were leaving I saw playoff NFL game on poolside TV screen so I sat out there and watched until halftime. Fun!
Off to bed to get ready for Day 3... Roatan, Honduras!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
glad to have you along!
It is a very nice ship - doesn't look her age (although I didn't do a thorough inspection LOL), very clean, and a friendly staff.
Last edited:
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
Day 3: First stop is Roatan, Honduras
Woke up and had breakfast in Windjammer, no pic. Then went to Schooner Bar for Sudoku Challenge. I was close, 3rd place, much better than previous day.
Up on deck to see us approach Roatan
workers below working on getting the ship docked
the view of the water as docking
Welcome to Roatan!!
I got a Christmas ornament (I love having a tree with all the places I have traveled decorating it). Even though I had called my bank to let them know where I would be and even got email confirmation of travel plan my card wouldn't work so I had to pay cash
Then I got in line for my ship excursion "Maya Key Private Retreat". I LOVED it!!!!! We took a boat right from the dock about three minutes to the little island Maya Key. I rented snorkel gear (had to pay extra boooooo) but ended up having an awesome time. Walked out to the dock and a guide asked if I wanted him to go with me and I thought about it and said sure--best decision ever! He pointed out so much that I wouldn't have seen myself! Best use of tip ever!
here is the little boat to take us to Maya Key (in background)
and there is Rhapsody
so I had an underwater camera that actually took quite good pics except I am not that great a photographer and luckily the guide, Edwin, took it from me and took some awesome photos.
this is one of my pics LOL
now these are Edwin's pics from here on out!
LOBSTER
OCTOPUS
SEA CUCUMBER
SQUID
Oh and this was part of the second largest Barrier Reef (it extends by several countries-second to Great Barrier Reef in Australia)
Woke up and had breakfast in Windjammer, no pic. Then went to Schooner Bar for Sudoku Challenge. I was close, 3rd place, much better than previous day.
Up on deck to see us approach Roatan
workers below working on getting the ship docked
the view of the water as docking
Welcome to Roatan!!
I got a Christmas ornament (I love having a tree with all the places I have traveled decorating it). Even though I had called my bank to let them know where I would be and even got email confirmation of travel plan my card wouldn't work so I had to pay cash
Then I got in line for my ship excursion "Maya Key Private Retreat". I LOVED it!!!!! We took a boat right from the dock about three minutes to the little island Maya Key. I rented snorkel gear (had to pay extra boooooo) but ended up having an awesome time. Walked out to the dock and a guide asked if I wanted him to go with me and I thought about it and said sure--best decision ever! He pointed out so much that I wouldn't have seen myself! Best use of tip ever!
here is the little boat to take us to Maya Key (in background)
and there is Rhapsody
so I had an underwater camera that actually took quite good pics except I am not that great a photographer and luckily the guide, Edwin, took it from me and took some awesome photos.
this is one of my pics LOL
now these are Edwin's pics from here on out!
LOBSTER
OCTOPUS
SEA CUCUMBER
SQUID
Oh and this was part of the second largest Barrier Reef (it extends by several countries-second to Great Barrier Reef in Australia)
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
it was so nice and clear and amazing!!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
now time to soak in the rays and relax in the water
was not crowded AT ALL
this was the dock I walked onto and snorkeled right off of
and the included Roatan lunch
this is the life!
Then I took a guided tour of a replica ruin and learned about mayan history and there was also an animal sanctuary on the island that helped to rescue and rehabilitate, if possible, animals.
saw pink boa, jaguar, margay, ocelot, collared peccary, white faced capuchin, black howler monkey, spider monkey, cougar, and toucans. My pics were not very good so I will spare you.
Then it was animal encounter time.....
baby capuchin pen with a bowl of fruit.
Then I relaxed a bit more and went to see Southern Sea Lion feeding at 3:30. It was only a few minutes long but everyone else on excursion had gone back to pier and I had made sure the last boat ride back to pier was 4 pm so I was the only one on the last trip back to Rhapsody LOL
hard to tell perspective but this is how close the island was to the ship
Back on board it was back to Schooner Bar for Love Song Movie Trivia with Sylvia from Slovakia as cruise director team member leading it. My friend and I actually won!!!! We only got 8 of 15 but for the ones we didn't know we just kept putting Sleepless in Seattle and wouldn't you know it, one of them was correct and we won by one point!LOL Sometimes they gave out zipper pulls, tiny bags, key chains, we got Royal Caribbean yellow rubber bracelet things.
We went up to deck 10 and walked around a bit talking to some people we had met on ship and there was a guy from Costa Rica there--I have always wanted to go there and planned a trip one time that fellthrough - so I got recommendations from him and he even gave us his email address. People were so nice on board.
Time for Windjammer dinner - it was British theme night in there.
I tried pasta with alfredo sauce that had mushrooms and I tried to not pick the mushrooms but the flavor was there and I didn't like itso I had a hot dog and mac n cheese and cheese potato. Took cookies back to our room.
Then it was time for Battle of the Sexes game in Centrum....this was Caio (a very hot Brazilian that made a pretty girl although the pic is bad) from cruise director's team
was not crowded AT ALL
this was the dock I walked onto and snorkeled right off of
and the included Roatan lunch
this is the life!
Then I took a guided tour of a replica ruin and learned about mayan history and there was also an animal sanctuary on the island that helped to rescue and rehabilitate, if possible, animals.
saw pink boa, jaguar, margay, ocelot, collared peccary, white faced capuchin, black howler monkey, spider monkey, cougar, and toucans. My pics were not very good so I will spare you.
Then it was animal encounter time.....
baby capuchin pen with a bowl of fruit.
Then I relaxed a bit more and went to see Southern Sea Lion feeding at 3:30. It was only a few minutes long but everyone else on excursion had gone back to pier and I had made sure the last boat ride back to pier was 4 pm so I was the only one on the last trip back to Rhapsody LOL
hard to tell perspective but this is how close the island was to the ship
Back on board it was back to Schooner Bar for Love Song Movie Trivia with Sylvia from Slovakia as cruise director team member leading it. My friend and I actually won!!!! We only got 8 of 15 but for the ones we didn't know we just kept putting Sleepless in Seattle and wouldn't you know it, one of them was correct and we won by one point!LOL Sometimes they gave out zipper pulls, tiny bags, key chains, we got Royal Caribbean yellow rubber bracelet things.
We went up to deck 10 and walked around a bit talking to some people we had met on ship and there was a guy from Costa Rica there--I have always wanted to go there and planned a trip one time that fellthrough - so I got recommendations from him and he even gave us his email address. People were so nice on board.
Time for Windjammer dinner - it was British theme night in there.
I tried pasta with alfredo sauce that had mushrooms and I tried to not pick the mushrooms but the flavor was there and I didn't like itso I had a hot dog and mac n cheese and cheese potato. Took cookies back to our room.
Then it was time for Battle of the Sexes game in Centrum....this was Caio (a very hot Brazilian that made a pretty girl although the pic is bad) from cruise director's team
Mrsjvb
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2007
last time I was in Roatan I spent close to ten grand on baubles. I think maybe heading over to see baby capuchins is cheaper.
Mr jvb has been there a few times, but mostly for work. look up Operation Continuing Promise some day. the Navy and a butt ton of civilian volunteers hit many of the islands in the Caribbean to offer humanitarian assistance. the Sea Bees tag along to build schools, chicken coops and playgrounds. this last time though, he zip lined from the building basically directly in front of the ship. think it was like $30 for two trips.
Mr jvb has been there a few times, but mostly for work. look up Operation Continuing Promise some day. the Navy and a butt ton of civilian volunteers hit many of the islands in the Caribbean to offer humanitarian assistance. the Sea Bees tag along to build schools, chicken coops and playgrounds. this last time though, he zip lined from the building basically directly in front of the ship. think it was like $30 for two trips.
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
wow! Yeah, the excursion was like $59 or something like that. Had great time. That is awesome about the humanitarian work, I'll have to look into that!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
Now it was time for Battle of the Sexes in the Centrum. When I was on another ship (I think Celebrity??) it was like girls against guys with trivia - girls getting questions on mechanical stuff and sports and guys getting questions on makeup and stuff like that so I thought it would be the same. So I volunteered to be one of six girls......NOT the same game this time LOL
First game was having to sing three seconds of a song, and then he would pass mic to next person and couldn't repeat a song. Sounds super easy but it was so hard and so nervewracking--my knees were shaking. I tried Britney songs but then I drew a blank when it was down to me and the guy so I lost that point for the girls - so frustrating!!!!
Second game was passing an orange down row of the six volunteers under chin, almost won but we lost that one too.
Third game was popping balloon game. One person was the "popper person" and the other five had to pop the balloon in different positions against the popper person. I was the last one and the girls won!!!! woohoo
Fourth, was a conga line through the Centrum and the girls got more girls to join so the chicks won battle of the sexes!!
Now off to Broadway Melodies Theater for "Savannah Jack" show
It was four guys, fiddle, guitar, drum, and singer; sang a hit song from each year from 1960-1978. I knew all of the 60s songs and few of the 70s
First game was having to sing three seconds of a song, and then he would pass mic to next person and couldn't repeat a song. Sounds super easy but it was so hard and so nervewracking--my knees were shaking. I tried Britney songs but then I drew a blank when it was down to me and the guy so I lost that point for the girls - so frustrating!!!!
Second game was passing an orange down row of the six volunteers under chin, almost won but we lost that one too.
Third game was popping balloon game. One person was the "popper person" and the other five had to pop the balloon in different positions against the popper person. I was the last one and the girls won!!!! woohoo
Fourth, was a conga line through the Centrum and the girls got more girls to join so the chicks won battle of the sexes!!
Now off to Broadway Melodies Theater for "Savannah Jack" show
It was four guys, fiddle, guitar, drum, and singer; sang a hit song from each year from 1960-1978. I knew all of the 60s songs and few of the 70s
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
Day 3 (January 17, 2017) BELIZE
Got up at 6 am to get ready to tender into Belize City port. The tender ride was only about 10-15 minutes and we arrived at Belize City Pier.
Then we got on a bus for our Jaguar Paw Cave Tubing and Jungle Trek with Lunch ship excursion. It was a little over an hour bus ride but the guides kept us occupied by talking about Belize. Part of the movie "Mosquito Coast" with Harrison Ford (odd movie btw) was filmed there.
We got there, rented a locker for our stuff, got life vest and helmet with light on it and grabbed an inner tube. We walked through rainforest about 20-30 minutes. Very easy walk even with inner tube.
Rhapsody in the distance while on Tender
we had to walk across water first to walk around to where we would enter in water to go through caves
we were in groups of 8 and our tubes were tied together with a guide leading us
crystals on wall
didn't see any bats
this was map we went through
lunch was chicken (bamboo chicken = iguana but this was regular chicken LOL)
then time for bus ride back and then walked around port to shop then tender back to ship
saw a rainbow back at room
Got up at 6 am to get ready to tender into Belize City port. The tender ride was only about 10-15 minutes and we arrived at Belize City Pier.
Then we got on a bus for our Jaguar Paw Cave Tubing and Jungle Trek with Lunch ship excursion. It was a little over an hour bus ride but the guides kept us occupied by talking about Belize. Part of the movie "Mosquito Coast" with Harrison Ford (odd movie btw) was filmed there.
We got there, rented a locker for our stuff, got life vest and helmet with light on it and grabbed an inner tube. We walked through rainforest about 20-30 minutes. Very easy walk even with inner tube.
Rhapsody in the distance while on Tender
we had to walk across water first to walk around to where we would enter in water to go through caves
we were in groups of 8 and our tubes were tied together with a guide leading us
crystals on wall
didn't see any bats
this was map we went through
lunch was chicken (bamboo chicken = iguana but this was regular chicken LOL)
then time for bus ride back and then walked around port to shop then tender back to ship
saw a rainbow back at room
westcoastfldisneygirl
Close driving distance to the Mouse
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2015
Subbing! Tampa is my home port 
Great report so far, loving the pics!
Great report so far, loving the pics!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
Subbing! Tampa is my home port
yay! glad to have you along on the report! I just moved back to Tampa area so this is my first cruise out of Tampa
PS - I take A LOT of pics
westcoastfldisneygirl
Close driving distance to the Mouse
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2015
yay! glad to have you along on the report! I just moved back to Tampa area so this is my first cruise out of Tampa
PS - I take A LOT of pics
Loving the pics keep them coming! I love how though Port of Tampa is smaller and can only have the smaller ships, they are all amazing and beautiful!
This itinerary is one I want to do in the future!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
continuing day 4 (i said day 3 earlier oops). After finishing cave tubing and making it back to the ship, I went poolside for line dances with activities crew: electric slide, cupid shuffle, mississippi slide, Wobble.
Then at 4:45 was Sexiest Man Competition (sorry ladies, didn't take pics LOL).
Back inside to stop at Cafe Lattetudes for another cheesecake lollipop, it was still just ok but I had to try it a second time LOL
We got some cards from the book corner by cafe lattetudes and played some card games a bit then went to Windjammer for Italian theme dinner.
I had mini calzone, mac n cheese, chicken parmesan, then a made to order pepperoni pizza.
Then we grabbed dessert and headed out to watch movie on pool TV
Queen of Katwe movie- it was pretty good
oh and I had asked what the strawberry-kiwi juice/water stuff was and I was told it was Nestle Vitality Sugar Free but I can't find it in stores.....
just did a search on amazon and found it there- it looks like it is a kind of restaurant thing. Hmmmm
https://www.amazon.com/Vitality-Str...r=8-1&keywords=nestle+vitality+enhanced+water
We returned our towels for the day - you do have to check them out with your SeaPass card and check them back in but it was no biggie. You could get at least two per person that I know of.
We had to change the clock forward one hour this night
Then at 4:45 was Sexiest Man Competition (sorry ladies, didn't take pics LOL).
Back inside to stop at Cafe Lattetudes for another cheesecake lollipop, it was still just ok but I had to try it a second time LOL
We got some cards from the book corner by cafe lattetudes and played some card games a bit then went to Windjammer for Italian theme dinner.
I had mini calzone, mac n cheese, chicken parmesan, then a made to order pepperoni pizza.
Then we grabbed dessert and headed out to watch movie on pool TV
Queen of Katwe movie- it was pretty good
oh and I had asked what the strawberry-kiwi juice/water stuff was and I was told it was Nestle Vitality Sugar Free but I can't find it in stores.....
just did a search on amazon and found it there- it looks like it is a kind of restaurant thing. Hmmmm
https://www.amazon.com/Vitality-Str...r=8-1&keywords=nestle+vitality+enhanced+water
We returned our towels for the day - you do have to check them out with your SeaPass card and check them back in but it was no biggie. You could get at least two per person that I know of.
We had to change the clock forward one hour this night
westcoastfldisneygirl
Close driving distance to the Mouse
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2015
Ohhh dessert by the pool tv sounds amazing!
gumbypee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
no idea - I never made it to eating at Park Cafe !
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