Thoughts on the Odyssey as a first timer

I thought I would jot down a few thoughts on the Odyssey after a recent first-time cruise with Seabourn. I've posted a review but it's taking a long time coming up, so as I was grateful to you all for comments prior to the cruise and promised to get back with my impressions, here we go. We were on the Venice to Athens run in early September for 7 nights and were in an Owner's Suite on deck 8 upfront.

• Having not cruised for over 20 years, we were hugely impressed with the Odyssey and Seabourn service and have already booked a longer cruise on Odyssey next year.
  
• Never having seen Odyssey before, they must have done a great job on the recent refit as it felt brand new. It really had a wow factor but wasn't flashy and felt very clean and modern. I was worried about low ceiling height and supporting pillars everywhere (thank you Berlitz) but didn't notice any problems like that at all. It felt airy and (although totally full) there was plenty of space.
  
• The suite was fantastic. Lots of space to retreat to, very light and welcoming and we had breakfast there almost every day. Huge verandah but windy during cruising so often outdoor furniture had to be stowed away. The suite was completely re-furnished in the refit and all the horrible burgundies (still shown on the website) have disappeared, to be replaced with a neutral/champagne palette. I understand mattresses have also been replaced and ours and the pillows were unbelievably comfortable. I found the lighting a bit difficult to handle - different switches had different moods, it seemed. There was an unbelievable array of premium spirits provided. Our suite stewardess Kudzie was an angel, kept the cabin spotless and was always cheerful.
  
• Food was universally excellent (except for some stale sandwiches on the first day in Seabourn Square). Thomas Keller was Grill beautiful but (as everyone says) food a bit over-salted and we were served charmingly but too quickly (all over in 45 minutes!). Highlight was the TK Chicken night in the Colonnade and our favourite place to eat was the Patio Grill, which serves great steaks and is expertly watched over by Maciej. We only went to The Restaurant on the final night as we are pretty low key but we really enjoyed it - we like the way waiters escort ladies to the table - and will go again. Overall there seems a heavy reliance on prawns! Not sure why the breadsticks are legendary. They just tasted like breadsticks, but were nice anyhow. Croissants at breakfast were great - very authentic tasting. We liked the tapas at 6pm in the Observation Bar too. We didn't have a problem with free wine choices, but mainly went for the lovely Louis Latour Grande Ardeche and the Sirius red Bordeaux. Caviar was indeed on tap, but you do need to ask for a double portion as the single is tiny. We availed ourself of this three times, and it was lovely to have, but in the end the novelty wears off!
  
• Service was fabulous. No-one really knew our names, but we don't mind that. Staff were good about remembering favourite drinks and Gabor serving in the cafe in Seabourn Square was a real standout. Any niggles were soon ironed out by the staff in Seaboarn Square. Observation Bar seemed a little understaffed at times but staff were great.
  
• We're in our fifties and quite private so kept ourselves to ourselves much of the time and it's nice you can do that without enforced jollity. Passengers were friendly but not too friendly. All ages but typically 50-70 and mainly from US, Canada, SA, UK, Aus and NZ. Great there were plenty of LGBT passengers too and a special get-together for them. There were some younger people on conferences from Australia / NZ who were a little rowdy but we were pleased they were having a good time. We don't stay up late so can't comment on how things got late at night! Plenty of shorts in the Patio Area at night but that didn't worry us…it was warm on deck.
  
• We didn't go to any evening shows, the Club and avoided most organised entertainment, though the Classical Sail-Away afternoon was fun and the enrichment (two talks on diving) was OK. Overall there was nothing really in the entertainment schedule that made us go 'wow'.
  
• We went on two tours in Greece, which were fun but each had about two hours of driving involved, so we prefer hopping off the boat and exploring by ourselves. There were good stops for this. Nafplion and Gythion were great, as was Kotor. The worst stop was Vodice in Croatia…a boring little town (admittedly it was raining) which had been advertised as Sibenik (which were were looking forward to going to…there was no shuttle bus). The best stop was beautiful Corfu Town with its amazing churches. Lefkada was perfect for a swim.
  
• Embarkation in Venice was stressful as there weren't enough motor launches due to the Venice Film Festival, so we only got onboard at 4pm. We were pre-warned and this had caused me to worry for days but in the end the transfer staff were very professional. Thunderstorm brewing too. We had expected to be taken to our cabin but we got that wrong! Having found our way there, key cards weren't working either on arrival but all got sorted after the Drill. Disembarkation at Athens was a dream but hanging around for the plane at the airport at McDonalds for 3 hours before we could check bags in was no fun. It would be nice to have an interim waiting area (Hapag Lloyd do this, I understand).
  
• Overall, the best holiday of our lives and we are already booked again for next year.
  

Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. It was really great to be able to look through these boards when planning our holiday and thanks for all the trouble people go to in leaving comments.

Many thanks for your thoughts, will look for your review a little later.

Will be on Odyssey in November.

We are boarding the Odyssey on Saturday, so I was very happy to read your review. Thanks for sharing!

So glad you enjoyed it - now feeling very envious as we have nothing further booked with Seabourn at present. I'm sure that won't last long! We are big fans of the Odyssey class ships.