Our Cruise
On Rhapsody of the Seas
To Mardi Gras and Cozumel
February 2004
In text and pictures
PART 2So we sailed out across the Gulf of Mexico for Cozumel. It was another wonderful day at sea, just right for relaxing in the wonderful Solarium on board Rhapsody. Our friend Rosalie is a great traveler and knows when to relax. The weather the whole trip was pretty much overcast and drizzly, so the Solarium pool and Jacuzzis were very welcome.There were only about a dozen kids aboard the ship at all, so we certainly were not botherd by them. I guess parents figured Mardi Gras was not the place for their little darlings.
The solarium grill served great pizza, including Mexican pizza with chili beans and beef! I enjoyed the nachos and the fresh made salsa, and complimentary ice tea was always on hand.
That night was the second formal night, so the whole group posed for a portrait. Wouldn't you think such an intelligent and well-educated bunch could win the ship's trivia game? In the portrait are (back row) Paul, attorney and Rhodes Scholar; Karen, multitalented mom and church secretary; Renée, Graduate Gemologist and travel agent; Mike, math teacher; and (front row) Rosalie, college Community Service Officer and trip leader; and Andréa, researcher for Bank of America and now an Asst. Vice President! Yet we lost once by only one point, and once by only HALF a point! But on the "Texas Trivia" we had a perfect score ... yep, a perfect ZERO. The winning team, a group of ringers from East Texas, won with a score of 6 out of 12. OK, so who knows where in Texas the world's biggest parking lot is? On Friday we arrived in Cozumel, on a beautiful sunny day. The ladies managed to spend the whole morning shopping without getting more than 500 yards from the ship. There are a great many things to do in Cozumel, and everybody in town was on the dock, it seemed, offering everything from scuba trips to hair braiding.We were told by the shore excursion staff that the Dolphin Encounter had been cancelled due to rough weather in the water. That was very disappointing but we caught a taxi for Chankanaab Park anyhow. The taxis are heavily regulated and there is a flat rate of $10 per cab to Chankanaab.
But upon arriving at the park, we were delighted to find that only the morning encounters had been cancelled. It is a mystery why Rhapsody cancelled the afternoon one also. Perhaps they were afraid of grumbling if some pax were cancelled and others weren't. In any case, we were delighted that we had gone on out to the Park. We were fitted with life vests (very comfortable ones, not like the ship's!) and entered the water on a long low platform, about waist deep. The dolphin area is enclosed, of course, but open to the sea so there was a gentle swell the whole time. "Our" dolphin was a female named Foxie, who was accompanied by her three month old baby, Marina. Of course Marina did not participate in the encounter, but seemed undisturbed by it all. Dolphin babies grow very rapidly, and Marina was already half the size of her mother. The encounter lasted about a half hour and was a truly wonderful experience, with plenty of hands on time with the dolphin. Her skin was silky smooth to the touch. She performed speed runs and jumps for us, then came over and met each one of us, and we were given a lot of interesting information about dolphins. The entire encounter was videotaped and photographed so of course we had to buy some of each. Interestingly, contrary to previous reports and even their posted rules, they did allow spectators and even participants to bring cameras to the pool.
Then we had some time to explore the beautiful Chankanaab Park. It has a beautiful beach, and this delightful lagoon, set among beautiful tropical vegetation. It was a warm and sunny day and strolling in the jungle like Park was a very good time. There is also an archeological area in the park which features many Mayan and Olmec pieces, including the giant Olmec heads, and this huge Maya calendar stone. There are demonstrations of Maya houses and weaving. We saw a beautiful hammock on the loom. All in all it was a perfectly wonderful day.
Returning to the dock, guess what, the ladies had time to shop some more! We also stopped at the display gathering funds for breeding endangered macaws, and met these clowns! Then we boarded the ship to sail back across the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston. Laying alongside the Rhapsody of the Seas in Cozumel was Mariner of the Seas, one of the giant Eagle class ships of RCI. She is over twice as big in tonnage as Rhapsody, and holds more than 3000 passengers. She certainly was an impressive sight, but we found it hard to imaginge what could have offered us any more than Rhapsody did. We loved the ship in every way, and were hard put to find any negative comments at all to put on our comment card. We certainly felt the Captain and staff turned a potential disaster into a very enjoyable cruise by all the effort the put out to get us to Mardi Gras in spite of obstacles!
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So we sailed out across the Gulf of Mexico for Cozumel. It was another wonderful day at sea, just right for relaxing in the wonderful Solarium on board Rhapsody. Our friend Rosalie is a great traveler and knows when to relax. The weather the whole trip was pretty much overcast and drizzly, so the Solarium pool and Jacuzzis were very welcome. | |||||||||||||||||
That night was the second formal night, so the whole group posed for a portrait. Wouldn't you think such an intelligent and well-educated bunch could win the ship's trivia game? In the portrait are (back row) Paul, attorney and Rhodes Scholar; Karen, multitalented mom and church secretary; Renée, Graduate Gemologist and travel agent; Mike, math teacher; and (front row) Rosalie, college Community Service Officer and trip leader; and Andréa, researcher for Bank of America and now an Asst. Vice President! Yet we lost once by only one point, and once by only HALF a point! But on the "Texas Trivia" we had a perfect score ... yep, a perfect ZERO. The winning team, a group of ringers from East Texas, won with a score of 6 out of 12. OK, so who knows where in Texas the world's biggest parking lot is?On Friday we arrived in Cozumel, on a beautiful sunny day. The ladies managed to spend the whole morning shopping without getting more than 500 yards from the ship. There are a great many things to do in Cozumel, and everybody in town was on the dock, it seemed, offering everything from scuba trips to hair braiding. | |||||||||||||||||
But upon arriving at the park, we were delighted to find that only the morning encounters had been cancelled. It is a mystery why Rhapsody cancelled the afternoon one also. Perhaps they were afraid of grumbling if some pax were cancelled and others weren't. In any case, we were delighted that we had gone on out to the Park. We were fitted with life vests (very comfortable ones, not like the ship's!) and entered the water on a long low platform, about waist deep. The dolphin area is enclosed, of course, but open to the sea so there was a gentle swell the whole time. "Our" dolphin was a female named Foxie, who was accompanied by her three month old baby, Marina. Of course Marina did not participate in the encounter, but seemed undisturbed by it all. Dolphin babies grow very rapidly, and Marina was already half the size of her mother. The encounter lasted about a half hour and was a truly wonderful experience, with plenty of hands on time with the dolphin. Her skin was silky smooth to the touch. She performed speed runs and jumps for us, then came over and met each one of us, and we were given a lot of interesting information about dolphins. The entire encounter was videotaped and photographed so of course we had to buy some of each. Interestingly, contrary to previous reports and even their posted rules, they did allow spectators and even participants to bring cameras to the pool.Then we had some time to explore the beautiful Chankanaab Park. It has a beautiful beach, and this delightful lagoon, set among beautiful tropical vegetation. It was a warm and sunny day and strolling in the jungle like Park was a very good time.There is also an archeological area in the park which features many Mayan and Olmec pieces, including the giant Olmec heads, and this huge Maya calendar stone. There are demonstrations of Maya houses and weaving. We saw a beautiful hammock on the loom. All in all it was a perfectly wonderful day. Returning to the dock, guess what, the ladies had time to shop some more! We also stopped at the display gathering funds for breeding endangered macaws, and met these clowns! Then we boarded the ship to sail back across the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston.Laying alongside the Rhapsody of the Seas in Cozumel was Mariner of the Seas, one of the giant Eagle class ships of RCI. She is over twice as big in tonnage as Rhapsody, and holds more than 3000 passengers. She certainly was an impressive sight, but we found it hard to imaginge what could have offered us any more than Rhapsody did. We loved the ship in every way, and were hard put to find any negative comments at all to put on our comment card. We certainly felt the Captain and staff turned a potential disaster into a very enjoyable cruise by all the effort the put out to get us to Mardi Gras in spite of obstacles!
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