harryfat1

Speaking OCD, so how anal are you on the anal scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest? In my previous trip report, I self-proclaimed to be a 9.2 and more or less have evidence to back it up. In true to tradition, I kept up the high anal number in whipping out my old Allure of the Seas schedule and updated for the Odyssey to give myself and the family a quick overview of what to expect from the vacation. Being true to the anal scale, different categories are shaded together like airline flights are in blue and dinner are in orange, and so on. This is what a 9.2 anal scale person does. Rumor has it others on CC are higher on the anal scale and may have colored-coded their schedule to match their underwear/socks colors for the day. Maybe that’s the next higher level on the anal scale I need to strive for… 20231227_221251.mp4

So why this cruise? I’m sure NOBODY cares about why we selected this sailing but the reason for this sailing is that it fits one of the criteria of what we wanted on a vacation – a new ship and new ports. This is our first Quantum-class ship experience and we have never been to the southern Caribbean so this sailing checked off a couple of boxes. The final deal sealer was both Ken and I saw this on sale way back 16 months before sailing as being a “bargain” (you cringe when you try to say RCI and Holidays and bargain in the same sentence). For a short period, this 8-night Holiday cruise was cheaper than a 7-night cruise on many other RCI sailings for late December. We paid around $1,400/pp in the cabin for 8 nights on a Holiday cruise. Which is a bargain when compared to some of the 2024 Holiday sailing prices I’m seeing out there. So both Ken @Ourusualbeach and I jumped on the deal back in August of 2022 but later on, he had to change his sailing to the next cruise. This is too bad as I was hoping to take pictures of him doing the belly flop contest to post here on CC…🤪 Being OCD, it bothers me that we are only seeing the A and C of the ABC islands during the 8-night itinerary. I have seen Carnival ships making the ABC island trio tour but RCI decided to either do Perfect Day or Labadee in place of Bonaire for the 8-night sailings. The reason for that could either be: 1) The cruisers want a private port experience more than Bonaire 2) RCI makes a lot more money on private port stops as they rake in all the revenue. You be the judge on which of the two reasons influenced RCI more… 20231229_231007.mp4

Thanks for the kind words. I hope this trip report is worth every penny of your annual membership to CC... I may be biased but every time we cruise, there are tons of families out there as when my kids are off from school, so are 99% of other kids off from school as well so I think family cruise trip reports are underrepresented here on CC. For our sailing, they said we had over 1,000 kids under the age of 18 as it was during the extremely popular (expensive) Holiday season sailing. So lots of families/big group gatherings. It was common to see "family uniforms" of groups of 10+ people at various venues.

Thanks. Ahhh, yes, the financial reports. Yeah, back on the Navigator trip report someone asked me to do some calculations on the food costs so I looked into the RCCL's 10-Q (The Q's are quarterly SEC filings and K's are annual filings). Back then the 2023 MDR menu was only 6 months in the works. Once the 10-K comes out, it will have 12 months of numbers and it will be interesting to see what the results are. RCCL filed their 2022 Form 10-K on February 23, 2023. So they will likely file it by the end of February 2024 for the 2023 Form 10-K. Even if I'm done with this trip report by then, I'll come back to show the calculation for 2023 food costs.

Oh, yeah, not having to fly is a big plus. Being on a different ship will mean a new entertainment venues to experience. We liked "The Book" and Effectors show but I can see how some people are not as happy with The Book. Although I think the Anthem might be better suited for winter sailing as it has a covered pool. It rained on us on day 8 of the cruise and there was no place for people to swim in as the Odyssey's pool is not covered but seeing a new ship and a different MDR design is always a good experience.

We like the Quantum class ship. Although we still prefer the Oasis class for its width and wider diversity on entertainment venues. The 270 area is a big hit for us. Maybe because our cabin is near the Aft on deck 6 so it was a quick walk to 270 via the "secret entrance" (more on that once I get there).

Haha, actually I might still be on day 1 by next weekend as I have 2 days pre-cruise pictures, and day 1 on any cruise is my favorite day so I have lots of pictures to upload for that day. Sea days are my "blah" days so those will go fast.

Thanks. Yeah, as we were disembarking on 12/31, I was thinking you and Ken and others on your sailing were out there somewhere getting ready to come onboard. Did you guys have good weather on your sailing? FLL was unseasonably cold when we disembarked at 48 degrees on New Year's Eve. We really like the Odyssey as we enjoy the 270 area. That was our favorite place to hang out and relax in the wide open space.

Mark, Haha, my 117-page contract with CC doesn't require me to wake up at 5 AM on a Saturday to upload pictures. I will leave these early bird time slots for you. Yeah, it's always good to plan for something warm when it's cold outside. I have some new pictures from this cruise and looking forward to share them with everyone.

Oh, very nice to have an upcoming cruise. It looks like you are on the 6-night cruise on the Odyssey this weekend? Our itineraries are different as we were on the 8-night cruise but it's the same ship so at least the onboard info will be helpful. Not sure if it's super timely as others can tell me, I move along at a snail pace so I will still be on day 2 or 3 by the time you come back from your cruise. Actually I think the snail is actually faster as at least it's going a single direction whereas my trip reports typically go sideway fast as we get distracted by whatever odd topic that pops up. If you have any specific questions about the cruise, I can try to answer them now. I probably don't know the answer but there are many vetran cruisers reading this reprot that will know it. One suggestion is to show up at Port Everglades early. Try to get in board ASAP to get the complimentary time slots for IFly and Northstar as you can only reserve them once board and connect to the ship's wif-fi.

Thanks. Yeah, originally I was going to upload the pictures last weekend but got busy with real-life obligations. Took a while to sort out the various pictures from different cell phones to see what pictures I wanted to include in the opening segments. My favorite picture is the night picture of the ship as many ships sail off by 5 PM at the majority of the ports so it's not possible to see your ship all lit up at the pier. The iFly picture is not me but my younger son. I wouldn't be crazy enough to go on that as I would pull a muscle I didn't know I possessed having my body bent in the "U" shape. I believe they put up the Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving and take them off after the New Year's sailing? RCI went heavy on the Christmas theme with lots of holiday-themed events. Money issue aside, I must say I enjoyed December sailings more compared to other money as it's very festive during the Holidays. Santa was at the Windjammer daily waving to people.

Thanks. Good to be home. Yeah, now the wife is saying how much she enjoyed her Chops steak on Christmas Day. Think it's a slippery slope I have started on...

Thanks for reading along. Never thought I'd hear the words "good" and "Cheapo Dad trip report" in the same sentence unless it was preceded by the word "Not"...🤪

Ahh, yes, food pictures. Typically at this point of the introductory phase of the trip report, I go on the “cheapo spiel” saying I try to save money by only eating in the complimentary venues. However, for this cruise, I splurge with a couple of specialty dining (albeit lunch only) and a balcony cabin (albeit VERY obstructed) view. Thus the explanation for the long title of this report as I can’t call myself “cheapo dad” in this report as I had surrendered to the “dark side” and spent money above the minimal fare. So for the remainder of this report, I’ll be known as Cruiser Formerly Known As Cheapo Dad (“CFKACD”)… Although in my self-defense in the Cheapo Inquisition Hearing scheduled for later in the year, I spent the extra money because: · It was our 25th anniversary so I thought maybe spending a little extra would be warranted. To quote Homer Simpson “Give me your second least expensive champagne…” · It was a Christmas sailing so I thought the family would enjoy the new experience · The specialty meals were all lunches and with Black Friday prices, they weren’t as outrageous as the Christmas Chops dinner at “only $99.99”. Haha, No Thank You, RCI… · Nearly impossible to find a double/double inside connection window view cabin on the Odyssey. We were lucky to find this set of cabins as is

Another key to writing a trip report is knowing your primary audience. For me, I want to appeal/help out the first-time cruisers. Even though I have cruised enough times previously, I just considered myself to be a newbie +1 cruiser. This is our first cruise on the Quantum (plus) class ship so I will try to share some info that I learned during the cruise to pass along to future newbie cruisers. This cruise is right on the heels of the Navigator of the Seas cruise just 4 months before so there was a tad of redundancy (disappointment) feel on the MDR food pre-cruise but Odyssey is different enough when compared to the Voyager class ships and Holiday sailing adds extra dimension to the cruise you won’t experience the other 11 months of the year. So hopefully I won’t sound too “been there done that” in this trip report +++++++++++ Dude, I don’t care if you are a newbie or old-bie wan. Just show me some food pictures +++++++++++ 20231224_150742.mp4

Life is all about setting expectations. If you set too high of expectations and things don’t turn out as expected, you are disappointed. Whereas if you walk in with low expectations, then if anything good happens, it’s an unexpected bonus and you are happier for it. If your expectation is to drop in looking for a quick synopsis of a cruise review that’s completed in a few posts, you can stop right now. Click on the back arrow key on your web browser and move on. This thread isn’t for you. However, if you are bored at work and want a diversion to talk about cruises/road trips/donuts/lost luggage and whatever rabbit holes we might slide down to the next few weeks, pull up a chair… 20231223_163745.mp4

To borrow a phrase from the old Capital One TV ad – what is in your cruise? To me, a cruise vacation is the ultimate buffet of vacations. There are many ways to enjoy a cruise vacation and just like eating in a buffet, people will have different experiences from their cruise even on the same sailing. Just a matter of personal preference on how you approach your cruise. For us, our preferences on a cruise are based on the 3 E’s: Entertainment Experience a new ship/port Enrichment/Fulfillment in seeing the awesome spectacle of nature Notice that “relaxation” is not on the list. Being cheap, I want to maximize my dollar value when I go on vacation. I didn’t spend thousands of dollars and spend hours on a plane/car just to relax on a vacation. I can relax and sleep for free in front of the TV on the weekend in my living room. I vacation to see and experience different things. So that’s the bias of this trip report. We take a lot of pictures on vacation. It’s from something I read a while back which has become my motto – the most expensive picture on the vacation is the one that you didn’t take. Essentially the thought is that you have spent a lot of money/time/effort to get to wherever your vacation spots are and you don’t want to go home and think – dang, I should have taken a picture ZZZ while I was on vacation. Even if you can go back later on, at the extra cost, the lighting/mood/people will be different and you may never be able to recreate the same atmosphere so when in doubt, take the picture. 20231228_194718.mp4

Greetings! This is my trip report from our family’s vacation on the Odyssey of the Seas 8-day cruise to Southern Caribbean from December 23 to December 31. I called this posting a “trip report” instead of a “cruise review” because, in my opinion, I am not qualified to do a professional review. This is just a summary of what our family experienced during our vacation time – Days of our lives, so to speak. Keep in mind when I say “trip” report and not “cruise” report. This means you will be taken along for a ride for the entire trip process, not just the cruise portion. It’s the mailman version of the vacation resort, stopping off at each and many detailed points that may be of no interest to the veteran cruisers. Another way to look at it in cruising terms is having to suffer through some idiot pressing every number on the elevator between decks 2 and 12 and you have to watch the elevator door open and close on every deck instead of going all the way to the top…. Background – We are a family of 4 on this cruise consisting of my wife, 2 boys, and myself. For those that have read my previous trip report, we sometimes travel with my in-laws but they didn’t sail with us this time. My wife and I are both CPAs (aka bean counters – yeah, we have very boring mealtime conversations talking about tax law changes and we wonder why our boys tune us out) so I will have more numbers-related discussions than most people care to read. Bias – Everyone has a bias on their preferences when it comes to cruises & life in general. The key is to identify the bias and discount the bias versus fact. We like the big ships, the bigger the better. Our best cruise was on the Allure of the Seas – an Oasis-class mega-ship. You will see that bias in my report. That’s just our preference, but certainly will not be everyone’s preference so discount it any way you deem necessary. This format is the same format as previous reports as I typically throw in some random pictures in the first few introductory posts in what I considered highlights of the trip. Similar to movie trailers that give you a quick overview of the cruise but not giving you any details. For that, you would need to stick around for a while to read through my various posts. On the other hand, if you think the pictures in the next few posts suck, then go ahead and hit the return arrow on your browser as the future pictures won’t get any better than these first few sets. +++++++++++++++ Dude, who cares about your background? I’m not interested in hiring you for a job. Hurry up and show us your cruise pictures already. I’m frustrated in trying to find a reasonable price for my next RCI cruise as I have spent numerous hours/days/weeks/months clicking on every dang RCI sales promotion that is not really a sales at all. These inflated prices suck. I wish my stock portfolio could go up as fast as these cruise prices. With the way Icon and Star of the Seas are being priced, all my stocks need to double in price before I even think of booking a sailing on those…. +++++++++++++++++++ 20231224_195138.mp4

I made it back home to California from Fort Lauderdale but my luggage went to New Jersey instead... Filed a claim at SFO with Jetblue for my missing luggage and now we will see how many days before they can find it or should I say IF they can find it...

Thanks for the tip. Boarding the plane soon. Will work on it after I get home. Don't think this plane is going to SF

Thanks. Safe travels for your family as well. We'll be here at the airport for few hours before the long flight home. Yeah, we made it to Labadee. Tried to upload few mooring line pics from Labadee as that was the only port on our sailing you can walk up to take the pictures but CC software keeps rotating my portrait pictures sideways so can't do that until getting home. Very crowded ship as it's Christmas sailing. It was over 5,250 on the Odyssey, which is over 125% of double occupancy. Tons of kids and families. Many large groups of 10+ people.

Here at FLL with new set of BFFs waiting for next several hours before we can board the plane for a 6.5 hour direct flight back to California. This is the the glamorous part of vacation seldom seen on YouTube. While waiting, looking at few more random picture from the cruise. Samsung phones are amazing in its zooming abilities. Took this from outside cabin. Can't upload the portrait modd pictures as CC software keeps fliiping it sideways

@h20skibum Mark, As discussed on your Symphony cruise review, here are few pics of the speed of the Odyssey. Going down, we were zipping along at 20 knots on first couple of days and got as high as 21 knots. Coming back it's about 18 knots.

Here at 270 chilling with hundreds of BFFs to depart the Odyssey. No hurry to get off the ship as our flight is later this afternoon. Either wait here with free drinks and comfy sofa or bad seats at FLL and everything with a price tag.

Hi Patti, Sorry for the delayed response. Had no internet service until getting back to a very cold FLL where it's 50 degrees outside. Almost like being back at home in Bay Area. Few pics from later part of the cruise. Don't know why the CC software keeps rotaing my portrait pictures