Rhapsody of the Seas

[happy daze john in oz]

Well guys I am back after my trip with Royal Caribbean lines on the Rhapsody of the Seas. Bit of a culture shock in many ways, so much has changed since our days. Ships of this sort are now just floating five star first class hotels, to the extent that they even carry a hotel manager as well as human resources manager. I know many of you will have been on a cruise with some other companies so I can only comment on this ship and the company that owns it.

Our cabin, now known as state rooms, had a queen size bed. There would have been times in our day when a queen size bunk would have been in order, but no outward evidence of any of those lovely people on this one. First morning at sea I lay there waiting for the 'wakey, wakey rise and shine' but all I got from the young Philipno stewardess was a very polite, 'good morning sir'. No rattle of beer crates, and all the ship is carpeted so I missed out on early morning scrub outs as well.

The majority of crew have two berth cabins, some singles, on deck one, a mess room and galley, as well as a longe where drinks can be purchased. The days of the 'Pig and Whistle' are long gone. Amomg the crew were about 35 married couples with both members of the crew. Senior officers are up on deck 7.
There are more people wearing gold braid than you could poke a stick at.
The first officer, British, 28 years old and first officer/safety a 23 year old female. Chief steward female with 3 second stewards, male, bars manager female. I wll post on the gallery a sheet with some figures about the ship and others in the fleet. Most of the ordinary crew are on six month contracts with between one and two months leave at the end of each contract and the average wage is about U.S.$500 per month. As the company is registered in Nassau they pay no tax.
For those of you who worked on the Queen's, U.C.L. or P&O would be aware of the quality of first class then, well it is still here only about 10 times better.
Eating, an occupation that takes up much of the day, goes on from 6a.m. to 11p.m. then on a couple of nights there was an on deck late night buffet. I never realised night sea air could shrink clothes so much.

Two main eating areas, dinning room on decks 5 and 6 used by most bloods for dinner only. Here the service is first class fine dinnig style, a blast from the past of all those great first class liners of our day. But no rush as dinner is in two 2.5 hour sittings, four course meal. The days of head high held trays with ten or more plates are gone, now the wingers have trolleys. Each winger has about 18 bloods each sitting with an assistant winger between two stations to help, and nine head waiters. The dinning room also operates a self service breakfast and lunch service. The other restaurant is full self service seating710 with alfresco seating available as well. Here there is so much food and choice it is hard to know where to start. Food styles are dependent on where the ship is sailing and the nationality of the majority of bloods.
Watching some eat reminded me of my days as a tourist winger on the Cape run, but no Maltabella. For some eating has become an olympic event, higher, wider,..... I am sure some of the bloods were using front end loaders to fill their plates.
Every time you go for seconds, or in some cases thirds, forths, fiths, you are required by ships rules to take a fresh knife and fork which are rolled up in a linen serviette. As a result the steam queens are kept busy 24/7 laundering up to 12,000 per day as well as 2,000 pool towels, bed linen and towels which were changed every day at four per blood. There are 2,000 sun loungers.

Entertainment is non stop from 8a.m. to 3a.m. when the disco closes. There is a casino on board and a magnificent theatre which puts on two shows per night as well as other events during the day.
Bars, of which there are plenty, open from 9a.m. so a beer with breakfast is possible. Being a cashless society it is easy to over spend. All prices are in U.S $ and some are a bit high, but there were some good offers. 5 to 6 in the evening round the pool two for one pints of draught beer at $7.50 for the two. Mixed drinks, Myers Rum and coke, Gordons Gin and Tonic etc at $6.25 but great value as they only get 8, yes eight nips from a bottle!!!!!!!!!! Then in the theatre two for one cocktails before the show at $7.0 for two.
Wine by the case is the cheapest way to go, ten nights, pre pay for ten bottles and save 40% on the individual bottle price. That is fine until night six comes along and you need a second case. Taking alcohol aboard is strictly forbidden and security so tight you cannot even smuggle it aboard. So you have to pay their prices.

Thursday night a great pool side party from 11p.m. to 1a.m. with the West Indian band playing and a great buffet. Docked in Villa next morning and one of the bloods was taken off in a body bag, always something going on.
Got to shake hands with the captain which was a bit of a trauma as the last time I got that close to one he was logging me three days pay, something about a bottle of Cape Brandy and a pair of frilly knickers if I recall.

Every night the executive chef, a Brit, did the rounds of the dinning room. On our first night I got talking to him and told him of my back ground. From then on every night he would sit with us for ten minutes to compare times . As a result a number of bloods asked me why I was complaining so much to the chef, but when I told them the reason they soon turned a bit green. There are galley tours, but first buy must buy a company cook book at $29.95 but not for me, I got a personal private tour. The galleys of today are so different from those of our day, very compact, more like some hotel galleys, but they turn out the equivalent of 10,000 meals per day.

Crew numbers of 760 are made up of about 12 engine, 25 deck, 10 maintainance crew, 50 utility who do all the cleaning mainly at night, 139 galley from executive chef to K.P. Including 18 bakery/pastry who only work nights. 20 casino, 12 shop attendents, 89 entertainers including cruise manager and staff, 8 photographers, 60 bar staff, 10 child care, the balance is mainly catering including all the gold braid, wingers, assitant wingers, stateroom attendants, who have 20 staterooms each. Catering staff are now food and beverage attendants, or accomodation attendants.

Most of the crew were Philipino with a large number of West Indians, and many from Europe , China, Canada,U.S.A. It was a very happy ship and we all had a ball, in fact we may have had two or more.

Included in the price of our fare was a section for gratuities, but that is not enough for the company. On the last night each blood recieves 4 envelopes in their cabin, one for the waiter, one for the assistant, one for the head waiter and one for the stateroom attendant. With this is a list of suggested tips to pay each. The total came to the same sum as that which I had paid with the ticket. But not wishing to appear mean I left each a tip in the envelopes, ' be good to your mother, and but shares in Royal Caribbean'.

We have often said that the ships of today have no resemblance of ships as we knew them and that is correct, they appear more like floating appartment blocks, though once on board they can still be recognised as we knew them. However they do not take kindly to rough weather, and some have been built only for calm seas. On our last day we hit a bit of weather, 35 knot wind across the port bow and 3to 4 meter waves, nothing startling. But she was all over the place like a mad womans knickers. Bloods were asked not to go on deck, a request I ignored, and on each and every corner sick bags were available. During the whole voyage there had been no one talking on a mobile, but that morning there were plenty talking to 'huey' on the paper bag. Due to the build of the ship there is so much open areas that there is nothing to absorb the engine vibrations so she shakes like a mad womans dentures aft of amidships.

Well we finally got back to dry land where my credit card was rushed to the emergency department and put on the critical list, it will require a number of substantial cash transfusions to keep it alive I have been informed.

To those of you who have not taken a cruise I would say, if you can then do it. It is the only way you will ever get back to sea and this time you will enjoy it all.

[Geoff Anderson]

Hi JOHN. WELCOME back mate . Glad you enjoyed your cruise, cor what a write up you gave. you must have been taking notes all the time. But i still prefer the old days, when a ship was a ship and not a floating hotel.
best wishes geoff

[happy daze john in oz]

G'day Taff mate, have to agree on that one but things are always on the move. One point I forgot was to mention wages. Average catering wage is about U.S.$ 500 per month and as the ship is registered in Nassau they pay no tax.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi John,
Well back so soon mate,haha! thought you would have stayed away for much longer! Only kidding!
Great writeup you have given us there John,and i thank you for all that info,its good to know what goes on aboard these new Cruise Ships!
Very glad that you and Terri enjoyed your trip,and as i read it mate you would do it again!
I will have to think on that one now,as it does sound very inviting!
Actually looked at the same Cruise that you did and see that you can get a cheaper fare,but then not the same sort of accomadation!
Anyway mate glad to have you back here with us,and now you will have to put up (or shut up haha!) with us all here and also on the Virtual Ship,which by the way seems to be dying a slow death!
We will have to jazz it up,and you can bring the Maltabela along for starters! haha
Cheers

[Gulliver]

Hi John! Welcome Back. Thanks for telling us about your cruise.I've been tempted to take one.but don't think I'm quite ready-I know that it could never invoke that sense of magic again(not that I served on pass.ships!),but even so sailing on what seems to be a 'plastic''top-heavy,floating Motel doesn't appeal.The only attraction would be the warm sunshine and the exotic port or two I hadn't yet visited!
I also feel a bit uncomfortable not being 'up there'.not knowing what's going on.
Years ago I sailed overnight from Hook of Holland to Harwich on a Sealink ferry(St George).It was quite a rough crossing ,all the doors onto the outside were closed off-and it felt really scary to be a passenger and not knowing what was happening that night.(Needless to say quite a few of us passengers comforted ourselves with a few duty-frees!

Incidentally I found Filipino crewmen to be top-notch.Hard-working,loyal and very pleasant.Good overtime rates etc. accounted for them serving 12-14 months.Excellent wages compared with lowly Filipino wages shoreside.Most of them were able to build their houses when ashore on leave-most of their pay was sent home to help their families-and they always paid off in Hong Kong with packing cases full of goodies for their large extended families in the Phillipines .I have a lot of time for them.

Cheers,John
Gulliver

[happy daze john in oz]

ref post #4

Hi there Vernon, yes there are cheaper berths, all inboard and a bit dim, not to my liking as I prefer to wake up to see the sea and sun. Balcony berths are dearer but no bigger nad what would you want to spend your time on the balcony for when there is so much to do on board. Already planing the next trip. Think I may have to bring some of the female crew from her onto the virtual ship, might stir things up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stevesherratt]

Hi John, Welcome home and many thanks for your account/log it made me LOL we are thinking of a Cruise next year and your account has convinced me to press on and do it.
Some of my mates have been and all have had a great time but “it will never take the place of the real thing” we are looking at Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas to Scandinavia and Russia next spring out of Harwich.
All the best Steve R770014 South Derbyshire

[happy daze john in oz]

ref post #7

Steve, it will never replace the real thing we knew but the experience is well worth it. It is different, but then agin so much has changed in the past 40 years. Royal Caribbean has I think now set the standard for crusing and are very professional at what they do. Go for it, I know you will not regret it.

[alf corbyn]

g'day john and welcome back. a very good write up and an enjoyable read.
the virtual ship i very slow as some of the crew keep on going backwards. we reached genoa and then we were suddenly back near gib. i can't wait to get to port said but i think we have lost our way. the navigator?? seems to be relying on GPS instead of his brass thingy. cheers. alf

[Dennis McGuckin]

Nice write up John.
My impression was much like yours. Didn't really feel like I was at sea, as she hardly moved.
Also didn't recognize any of the old ports we visited in the Caribbean. Mind you I had the 'ball and chain' with me so didn't go to the old favorite areas!
Will think of you when I see the Rhapsody of the Seas. She spends the summer months out of Vancouver on the Alaska run.
Den.