Odyssey 8/8 - Is an empty ship a good thing, or a bad thing?

[QuantumLeapUltra]

We are heading out on the Odyssey in a couple of days, and I'm not sure what to expect.  I *think* I'm expecting a rather empty ship.  Based on other threads, it seems like people are cancelling due to testing requirements.  I'm not sure why, as it was super easy to get BOTH the PCR test and Antigen test.  All negative here and ready to go.

 

I wouldn't mind a less crowded ship, but I'm also wondering if a ghost town ship would just be... weird.  Also, I'm wondering how the first Odyssey cruise is going.  I haven't really seen too much about it.

 

Anyway, fellow 8/8 cruisers... see you onboard!

[sandebeach]

On the Odyssey social media group for the current sailing, someone posted that there are 1500 passengers on the current sailing and they expect 700 more next sailing. So that is really not "Empty" to me. 

[ticketsunlimited]

You will never again have it so good. It will be like being able to go on splash mountain in Disney as long as you want without getting off and back in line.

enjoy it and please report back.

 

You may even have your own bumper car for the week.😉

[QuantumLeapUltra]

Wow!  Thanks for the info.  That sounds perfect to me, considering there appears to be about 4200 passenger capacity, 2200 sounds like a nice comfortable number.  53% full sounds pretty nice.  Cheers!

[QuantumLeapUltra]

19 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

You will never again have it so good. It will be like being able to go on splash mountain in Disney as long as you want without getting off and back in line.

 

Hah!  That's awesome!  We are big Disney people, so we definitely relate.

 

The funny thing is, we originally had connecting cabins but RCI said they couldn't do it when we were moved from the Indy to the Odyssey.  We just called them to see if we could re-establish connecting cabins, and they claim the Odyssey is "completely sold out".  Hmmm.... who to believe?

[barbeyg]

9 minutes ago, QuantumLeapUltra said:

We just called them to see if we could re-establish connecting cabins, and they claim the Odyssey is "completely sold out".  Hmmm.... who to believe?

They have only designated a certain number of cabins for each sailing to be sold. So, if all those are sold, they are ‘sold out’.
 

Enjoy your cruise! We are hoping to sail her in December. 🙂

[sandebeach]

1 hour ago, ticketsunlimited said:

You will never again have it so good. It will be like being able to go on splash mountain in Disney as long as you want without getting off and back in line.

enjoy it and please report back.

 

You may even have your own bumper car for the week.😉

Just reading about bumper cars on the current cruise, they just opened them up yesterday, but only for two hours. The line was apparently wrapped around and around and around. If they are operating fully on our August  8 cruise, may be easier to get  a ride on them. 

[sandebeach]

One family just posted on our social media FB group "Super sad we will no be cruising. Family had PCR test yesterday morning. We all have Covid. We are all fully immunized". So the testing pre-boarding is probably a pretty good idea!  

[QuantumLeapUltra]

Wow!  I feel bad for them, but yeah, I guess the testing requirement is a good idea!

[Ocean Boy]

14 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

One family just posted on our social media FB group "Super sad we will no be cruising. Family had PCR test yesterday morning. We all have Covid. We are all fully immunized". So the testing pre-boarding is probably a pretty good idea!  

Sorry about that. Are any of you symptomatic?

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, sandebeach said:

On the Odyssey social media group for the current sailing, someone posted that there are 1500 passengers on the current sailing and they expect 700 more next sailing. So that is really not "Empty" to me. 

I'm surprised that they are booking that high a number. However, since the ship's max capacity is higher than Adventure and Freedom maybe it does make sense.

[sandebeach]

19 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Sorry about that. Are any of you symptomatic?

No, not me!!! We are negative. This is a post from our FB Roll Call group

[atricks]

There will be some that cancel or don't want to jump thorough the hoops, but I suspect not as many as you would think.  Odds of getting a successful royal up bid (Even lowball) is much higher than usual because of this, though.  (or someone being very unlucky and getting a positive test right before the cruise)

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

To check to see if you can bid or not

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by atricks

[sandebeach]

18 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm surprised that they are booking that high a number. However, since the ship's max capacity is higher than Adventure and Freedom maybe it does make sense.

Just got off Freedom today, and we had 1700 passengers, including 200 kids and teens (felt like Lots of groups of teens running around). Because they had less chairs out, at times the pool deck was very crowded. It was just a noticeable change from 2 weeks ago on Freedom, when passenger count was only 1001. The crew told us that each sailing would have a slightly larger guest count and the crew was quickly learning how to gear up for full capacity cruising. 

[coldflame]

2 hours ago, sandebeach said:

On the Odyssey social media group for the current sailing, someone posted that there are 1500 passengers on the current sailing and they expect 700 more next sailing. So that is really not "Empty" to me. 

 

Those social media groups are very unreliable for these things. It's like when people go to concerts and said "there were 25000 people there it was crazy!" Turns out there were 1actually 0k. Wish Royal would publish the numbers.

[rtazz17]

We leave on allure on this sunday too. Probably be our only cruise ever like this.(reduced capacity ). I like having crowds of people but Ill take this one time! Theres pros and cons. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by rtazz17

[Ocean Boy]

23 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

No, not me!!! We are negative. This is a post from our FB Roll Call group

I read the word "one" as "our". I keep saying the font on this website is too small! I'm glad you are all good.🙂

[sandebeach]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

I read the word "one" as "our". I keep saying the font on this website is too small! I'm glad you are all good.🙂

Thanks!!! And yes, the font is small!!!!

[ReneeFLL]

1 hour ago, sandebeach said:

One family just posted on our social media FB group "Super sad we will no be cruising. Family had PCR test yesterday morning. We all have Covid. We are all fully immunized". So the testing pre-boarding is probably a pretty good idea!  

That sucks. Hope they weren’t flying in.

[sandebeach]

3 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

That sucks. Hope they weren’t flying in.

If they were flying in, I hope they got their test results before they left for the airport!

[ReneeFLL]

Just now, sandebeach said:

If they were flying in, I hope they got their test results before they left for the airport!

So true. I’m only booking local cruises for now. The next one we have to fly to is not until October 2022. 

[Russ Lomas]

4 hours ago, QuantumLeapUltra said:

I'm not sure why, as it was super easy to get BOTH the PCR test and Antigen test.

 

Also, I'm wondering how the first Odyssey cruise is going.  I haven't really seen too much about it.

I think a lot depends where you are located.  Some people seem to be having a heck of a time booking a test and getting the results in the required 3 day window.

 

I agree that for an inaugural cruise, it is basically crickets in terms of people reporting what it is like onboard.   Hopefully, you and your fellow passengers report back here more often.

 

3 hours ago, ticketsunlimited said:

You may even have your own bumper car for the week.😉

I talked yesterday to someone on the Odyssey currently.  He said that yesterday was only the 2nd time the bumper cars were operational in the entire cruise.

 

3 hours ago, QuantumLeapUltra said:

The funny thing is, we originally had connecting cabins but RCI said they couldn't do it when we were moved from the Indy to the Odyssey.  We just called them to see if we could re-establish connecting cabins, and they claim the Odyssey is "completely sold out".  Hmmm.... who to believe?

We had 3 cabins in a row on Indy but when they moved us, the best we were able to swing was 2 next door to each other (for our August 14th sailing) and the 3rd one about 8-10 cabins away.  This on a half empty ship.

 

2 hours ago, sandebeach said:

One family just posted on our social media FB group "Super sad we will no be cruising. Family had PCR test yesterday morning. We all have Covid. We are all fully immunized". So the testing pre-boarding is probably a pretty good idea!  

This is my biggest fear.  My entire family is careful, masking, following rules, and as far as I know, entirely healthy.  We are scared silly about getting our Covid tests early next week just in case one of our family tests positive and is asymptomatic.

[xpcdoojk]

I can only imagine that a cruise with a 1000 people on a ship designed for 4000… would be a wonderful experience.  The shows might not be as good, but the rest with no crowds, sounds like a slice of heaven to me.  Imagine the FlowRider line with 4 people at peak times…. Ahhh….

 

jc

[djefferis]

Everyone seems to think half capacity is going to be half the crowds everywhere - I’m not so sure.

 

Yes at things like the dining areas where EVERYONE funnels through in a 3-4 hour window it will be less crowded. 
 

But activity wise - I suspect most of the cruisers on these sailings will be repeat cruisers - I just don’t see a lot of newbies deciding to try out a cruise vacation at the moment. Activity wise - things like the shopping showcases might draw people who have never been on a cruise before - but people who have sailed a few times know all about Del Sol / Diamonds International and where to find the Senor Frogs in port and can skip the seminar and map. Those types of activities will be less attended.

 

On the other hand - less passengers - the activity staff might focus on those that are more proven crowd drawers - like the trivia’s and cut some of the less attended things. Less activities might push more people into the offerings available - and with less people cruisers might be more likely to participate thinking it won’t be as crowded as before. Bottom line - you might see similar crowds as before - go or at least taking up as much space - with just some additional distancing in place. 

 

Regardless if it’s 10% or 110% capacity - it’s still a cruise and it should be enjoyable. That’s all that really matters to most.

[JessyCruises]

We are getting on 8/22 and cannot wait!  We are flying in from Canada so it will be a bit of a pain getting there, but so worth it 🙂

 

Maybe I will actually be able to win some trivia with less people onboard.  I am actually staying on for the 8/28 and 9/5 cruises so by the last cruise I should be getting 10/10 if they use the same questions each cruise 😂😂

 

Please report back with lots of details!!  Have a fantastic cruise!