Hawaiian Cruise – at sea Days 2 -6

Sept. 19 through 23 (part 1)

Dining:

During the cruise, we made fairly detailed notes each day but after a while we found that each day at sea started to fall into a pattern, which would make for a somewhat boring read.

The first thing everyone raves about on a cruise is, of course, the food. It never fails to amaze me how they can prepare so much food for so many diners and it always has 1st class presentation and tastes exquisite. It matters not whether one is dining in the Windjammer Cafe which is buffet style, or the sit down dinners at the dining room, on Rhapsody, the Edelweiss Restaurant. For this cruise we chose to try the “anytime dining” rather than the normal first or second sittings. It was nice to have the freedom of dining on our schedule, however, we found that we missed the fellowship of having the same table-mates and wait staff every evening. The next cruise, we will go back to the regular arrangement.

Swimming:

Some of our favourite activities on board are swimming and other activities around the pools. Rhapsody has two pools, Solarium and pool deck pools. Which one you use depends upon your preference at the moment or the weather. Both pools are warm and salty. Also, they are designed to reflect the water wave motion of the sea, which is a lot of fun when the ocean is active. The pools can get quite wavy and occasionally slosh back and forth with some force.

The Solarium pool is inside making it nice when the outside weather is cool and cloudy. It is always warm and humid in the solarium. The spa is adjacent to the pool area and both have the same decorating theme.

There is also a small lunch counter there where you can get a burger, hot dog, pizza, ice-cream & etc. The Windjammer Cafe is also close by if you want more than that to eat. Of course, you have to cover up a little bit to go there. The Windjammer is a “No shirt, No shoes, No service” place, but that’s OK.

There is also the main pool outdoors on the pool deck. The pool is bigger than the solarium and has two levels of lounging chairs, full bar and easy access to the Windjammer. The pool deck is also the main place for entertainment. Besides open swimming, there are various pool activities organized by the cruise director’s staff.

Pool Deck looking aft

Diane enjoying the pool

Corner of pool showing ledges that help generate waves.

Spirit of Polynesia plays at the Pool Bar fwd of the pool.

Doug & Spirit of Polynesia Dancers.

The water in both pools is normally warm but can vary from day to day depending on the sea and air temperature. They are great for relaxing after returning from ashore. They are all filled with salt sea water, so are very buoyant. I can always float on my back, but in these pools, I can even float vertically with my head almost clear of the water. It is a strange feeling when you are not used to it. Both pools also have hot tubs which are kept quite warm, almost hot.

Entertainment:

Entertainment is another activity that is never lacking on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and this cruise was no exception. As you go from one area of the ship to another, there are bars, lounges, atriums and the theatre where music and shows of any number of genres are encountered. Usually, some of the entertainment is geared toward the destination of the cruise. In this case, we were very pleased to see that the Spirit of Polynesia was featured. Kimo Baird and his troupe of musicians and dancers are authentic Polynesians, speaking, playing and dancing in the language and spirit of the Islands.

The evening entertainments can be divided into two types. The first is the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. They are talented performers who present Las Vegas type shows, glitzy production numbers backed and supported by the ship's own orchestra. Their shows are full of energy and colour with amazing sets. The only thing I would change would be the volume set by the sound engineer. I find it a little too loud for my liking, but that is the way things are done today.

The second type is represented by the showtime headliners. They are acts covering a wide range of entertainment representing magicians, jugglers, singers or instrumentalists of the classics to rock'n' roll or comedians. These will be acts who have been on television, Broadway or Vegas and always very entertaining.

Hawaiian Cruise 2009; Day 1

18 Sept.

Neither of us had slept very well the previous night; just too excited I guess, contemplating the adventure ahead of us.

With the packing all done and the sun shining brightly, we left for the cruise ship terminal with our good friends and neighbours, Bob and Isabel, who had kindly offered to drive us down.  At the terminal at Canada Place in downtown we breezed through US Customs then sat down to wait for our turn to board.

Part of the procedure was filling in a short health form.  Diane and I had both had a bit of a cold within the previous week and answered the question on the form in the affirmative.  Big mistake as we then had to wait to be cleared by the ship’s doctor before we could board.  As the doctor was busy with another matter on board, our wait lasted for about an hour.  After the doctor finally arrived and asked us a couple of questions and took our temperatures, we were finally cleared to board the RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS.

Once aboard, we found our cabin, an outside one which meant we had a porthole or window.  As soon as we got our bearings, we picked up our cameras and went exploring and we wanted to be on the upper deck for the departure at about 5:30 PM.

 

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Leaving Vancouver at Sunset.         On our way to Hawaii

Technorati Tags: Vancouver Harbour,sunset,cruising

As you can see from the last shot of Vancouver Harbour, it was well into evening by the time we cleared the port.  Time to enjoy a wonderful meal in the Edelweiss Dining Room.  We had opted for casual “My Time” dining meaning that we have flexible dining hours and do not have the same table or waiter all the time.

By the time we finished dinner, it was time to go to the Broadway Melodies Theatre for the evening show.  Our entertainer tonight was David Orion, a comedian, a star search winner who was the opening act for Jerry Seinfeld at one time.  David Orion's home page.

After the show we stopped for a while to listen to Hawaiian music by the Hawaiian Trio.  Excellent!

  Broadway Melodies Theatre            Hawaiian Trio

Hawaiian Cruise 2009

It had been almost 2 years since our last vacation, a cruise from Galveston, TX to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel with a 3 day stay in Houston at the end.  When we heard about a repositioning cruise aboard RCL’s Rhapsody of the Seas sailing out of Vancouver on 18 September, well, we just had to go.  We would have 5 days at sea followed by stops at Lahaina, Maui for 2 days, Hilo, Hawaii; Honolulu, Oahu; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Kailua-Kona on the big island of Hawaii and back to Hoholulu where we stayed for 3 days at the Ohana East Hotel at Waikiki before flying home on Friday, 3 Oct.