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Even at 14 years of age, Rhapsody of the Seas is a good looking vessel. She was clean and well-maintained. On our Alaskan cruise, we opted for the stateroom we had envied on previous cruises. This was our first time in a junior suite – and it was sweet. Our center aft balcony provided us 180 degree views of everything our ship passed. The balcony itself was quite large, possibly 10′ x 14′. Underway, our deck was in the lee of the ship providing us with as much shelter has could be expected in outdoor Alaska. But most of the views could have been enjoyed from our nice little indoor sitting area. This was the first time we did not go to the Atrium pool to read. We did see many others enjoying that space as we passed through on our way from the Windjammer cafeteria to our stateroom. But that stateroom was just too attractive to leave alone.

At the 6pm “main” seating, we had great company. A cute young Mexican couple, both software engineers working in Houston; an Orange County Ph.D. candidate, his Columbian wife, who worked in medical software development, and their toddler; a Scot who had taken up citizenship in his long-time home of Australia and his Filipino wife; and a recently retired couple from Hong Kong whose children had taken over their import business. One of our favorite parts of every cruise are the wonderful people with whom we have a chance to talk. We also had the chance talk with two people from outside Oxford, and three generations of Cubans now living in Miami, during different meals in the Windjammer.