Live from Odyssey

[Mikew0805]

On 10/4/2021 at 11:18 AM, jam19872016 said:

1500 is the number I was told by crew.  They also said there are usually less people on the 8 day cruise. More crew than guests last week.

Yeah I was on last week.  728 total guests.

[jam19872016]

On 10/8/2021 at 11:41 PM, ReneeFLL said:

I still haven't finished mine. I started with the turtle and changed to this one. I even worked on it in the Schooner Bar in between trivia.

I think we probably met you at the coloring event. M was the artist I was the one on my phone the whole time lol.

On 10/9/2021 at 3:23 AM, JCDCA said:

If you’re a big video poker player, you should move to something like Double Double Bonus. And I can’t believe the amount of food this week 😂

I've thought about it since JOB has a lower payout but it seems harder to learn perfect play and seems like it needs a bigger bankroll. I like to play $10 a hand a can appreciate the more frequent, albeit smaller, pays.

[jam19872016]

On 10/9/2021 at 2:38 PM, 2Martinisluvcruzin said:

Thanks for another amazing word snd photo journey. Can't wait for our first RC cruise on Mariner in two weeks

Thanks for reading along!

[jam19872016]

My drive home took a while. The downpour was pretty bad. Living in Florida I'm used to daily, sometimes extreme, rain. You pull over for 15 minutes and it's over.

 

Thats not what this was. After a couple hours I pulled up the  weather radar and saw it was notbletting up, but it was localized to south Florida. I drove in some pretty scary conditions but once I got past it it was a beautiful day.

 

I will post my final thoughts in a day or so once i get settled back in. 

 

For now I leave you with my final breakfast from coastal kitchen.

 

Baja eggs. Never had it before but very good.

 

 

It came with salsa and sour cream on the side that I added and it was delicious.

[cindyscruise]

Where did you get the Kimmelweck sandwich. I love those on Oasis class

[OSUZorba]

22 minutes ago, cindyscruise said:

Where did you get the Kimmelweck sandwich. I love those on Oasis class

Those are in Two70.

[jam19872016]

21 hours ago, cindyscruise said:

Where did you get the Kimmelweck sandwich. I love those on Oasis class

That thing was so so good. Yum. Can't wait to try it again 🙂

 

[jam19872016]

Summary:

 

Sorry it took so long to post my wrap up thoughts! Once I get back home it seems I never have a chance to come back and finish my thoughts 🙂

 

Dining:

 

I was very lucky with the lower capacity to be able to join M in Coastal Kitchen. She was solo in a grand suite and I was solo in a balcony. I was not able to join her in the Suite Lounge which I was fine with. The food here blew me away. It was better than any specialty dining I have ever had on any cruise line at any time. Not every dish was a winner of course, but overall the food was very very good. The service was also above and beyond. M is a very picky eater and no request or modification was too much, and she can be a challenge lol. I wish there was a specialty dining option that was this good, I would gladly pay for it at least a time or two per cruise. I doubt I will ever be able to enjoy CK again as I do not ever see myself paying for a suite or being comped one by the casino.

 

Most of my meals were at CK but I did eat breakfast a couple times in the Windjammer. It was what I would expect from a buffet, nothing more nothing less.

 

I also sampled El Loco Fresh a couple times for a snack. I was not a big fan but I am not sure I have tried it enough to give a fair assessment. Blue Iguana on Carnival is not consistent either but just basing it off my experience this week, I think I prefer Carnival's concept better. I will reserve judgement for now though.

 

I also enjoyed a Kummelweck from Cafe 270 and it lived up to the hype for sure!

 

My one dinner in the MDR was fantastic. I have not done dinner in Royal's MDR since Majesty pre covid and it was pretty bad. I was very impressed with the food this time. Maybe I caught it on a good night, or maybe Majesty just wasn't a good indication of food quality across the fleet. Hopefully it is the latter!

 

Wonderland rounded out my dining on Odyssey and it was another treat. I have a big appetite and I cannot say that I left hungry. The food was plentiful, although small individual portions, and delicious. The price point is a little high but I would not consider this a one and done experience. I would probably only do it again on the dining plan, but that really goes for all specialty dining. I'm cheap like that lol.

 

All in all I was very impressed with all my meals on Odyssey.
 

[jam19872016]

Public Spaces and Cabin:

 

I love the Royal Promenade concept and I am not sure I understand why they did not keep it with the Quantam class. The Royal Esplenade by comparison has no wow factor and feels closed in. It was fine at 36% capacity but at 100% this will be a crowded ship. It also needs more elevators. At low capacity elevators were slow and rarely under the required 4 per car, and 100% I suspect they will be unusable (I'm remembering my time on Breakaway class ships where you literally squeezed your way onto an elevator if you wanted to use one)

 

It was a beautiful ship though with a lot of nice artwork in the halls and throughout the public spaces.

 

My criticisms did not impact my enjoyment of the cruise, although if my predictions about crowding at full capacity were correct that likely would impact my cruise. I suspect I have been spoiled with all these low capacity cruises.

 

The cabin was simply amazing. I had a standard balcony cabin and it was huge. I don't recall ever having such a spacious standard cabin before. It felt as large if not larger than the "spacious ocean view" cabin that I had on Freedom Of The Seas. I would have liked to have seen some of that extra room dedicated to the bathroom as it was a tight squeeze but overall I was very pleased with the cabin. I also liked that the door opened into the hallway instead of the room.

 

Entertainment:

 

The active entertainment options are mostly lost on me but they definitely stand out amongst the competition and this ship has most of the Royal staples and a a few that are unique to the ship like the virtual reality room in the Seaplex. The name of it escapes me at the moment. It was not open on our sailing, some kind of software issue but it looked cool.

 

The shows were all excellent. I was hoping there would be a Broadway show but there was not. Overall though the shows were very good quality and I would say the best that I have seen on a cruise. 

 

I still look at what they do with their Oasis class ships and scratch my head with the direction they went with Quantam class though. No aqua shows, no ice shows, and no broadway shows. It seems like a step backwards. Without a doubt though, still better than the production shows on Carnival.

 

Service:

 

Service was top notch all throughout the ship. The crew are all so happy to be back and it feels genuine. I look forward to the day I can see their smiling faces again, but in the meantime their smiles are big enough you can't help but notice it anyway. 
 

[jam19872016]

Covid Protocols:

 

I can't wait for the day that this is not even a section to review. In the meantime here we go.

 

I have been on three Royal Caribbean ships since the restart and this was by far the most relaxed (that is a good thing to me) Just reporting my observations not intending to start any debates. Some differences I noticed:

 

I was allowed to use the freestyle machine! I feel like a bother having the crew do this for me so I was happy to be able to do it myself.

 

Most everyone wore their masks when they were supposed to. Crew enforcement when you did not was mixed. Again not trying to start a debate.

 

Of course I noticed some lapses in protocols that I suspect were motivated by the revenue they generated. One such example was bingo signups. It was held in a very small space with a line that stretched all the way through the music hall. Not a big deal for me, but odd the events they will not host so as not to draw a crowd but this was okay.

 

Another example was the steam and sauna. On Mariner it is free, and unavailable. On here it carries a charge and it apparently does not pose a risk. I am super hopeful it will be available on Mariner the next time I sail on her and this is not truly only available on Odyssey because it caries a charge. 

 

Odyssey still had the silicone bands instead of the super annoying satin wrist bands. These do not bother me like I thought they would. I wore mine at all times outside my stateroom. M did not, nor did some others. Nothing was ever said. I'll be honest, if nobody says anything I do not plan to wear the cheap irritating ones if I get them again. They serve no purpose, as we are all vaccinated and they are not able to be used for contact tracing. If it is going to put crew in an awkward position of being an enforcer, I will of course put it on when I am in a vaccinated zone, but otherwise I won't be wearing it.

 

Going in the other direction, Odyssey did not provide the compass in the room. I guess that somehow contributes to the spread of Covid or at least that is the logic Carnival uses for not delivering the fun times. However, I had a copy in my room on day 3 that I had gotten from guest services and after that I was always provided one even though I didn't ask. M did not so I think it was my steward just going above and beyond and not them delivering to everyone again.

 

Also, the mandatory hand sanitizer was out of control on this ship. I don't use the stuff personally, but I am not against it in general, however the stuff they use is very cheap and really dries your hands out instantly. I do not care for it and I found myself not going into a venue to avoid it. 

 

Overall:

 

Overall I continue to love the product that Royal provides and with the better loyalty perks and better casino program, I can see myself gravitating more and more toward Royal and away from Carnival. I also really enjoyed the Odyssey and would like to sail on it again but part of me knows it won't be as special at full capacity and kind of want to remember it how it was this past week.

 

Thanks for reading along with my review and until next time, Bon Voyage!

[jam19872016]

On 10/3/2021 at 3:17 PM, ReneeFLL said:

If you still have the box can you take a picture of the lot number and any other numbers that are on there? I’m wondering how many defective tests are out there or do you think it was something else?

I didn't take a picture because I am not tech savvy enough to know what information is stored on the QR code but the lot # of my tests is 143929. Hopefully I have no more issues. All my previous tests have come back in plenty of time, but this was my first time sailing on a Sunday Vs. a Friday so maybe having to process over the weekend is what slowed things down. I hope so, my next three all leave on a Thursday or Friday so should be good if that theory is correct.

 

Just in case, I am going to book a rapid test the AM of my cruise as a plan B and let my at home kit be plan C if something happens with the rapid test. Unfortunately where I live rapid testing is not an option or I would make that plan A.

[Sorry Muffin]

I really enjoyed your review.  I will be on the Odyssey in May 2022 to the Holy Lands/Greek Islands. I can hardly wait have not been on a cruise is Sept 2019.

 

[Jovocrtt]

Thanks for taking the time to write this informative review! We sail in March.

 

[jam19872016]

18 hours ago, Sorry Muffin said:

I really enjoyed your review.  I will be on the Odyssey in May 2022 to the Holy Lands/Greek Islands. I can hardly wait have not been on a cruise is Sept 2019.

 

Thank you. Enjoy your trip, that cruise sounds amazing! I want to travel overseas so bad but I need travel restrictions to ease up first.

 

 

6 hours ago, Jovocrtt said:

Thanks for taking the time to write this informative review! We sail in March.

 

Thanks for reading along! Enjoy your cruise.

[cindyscruise]

Thank you for your review.  We booked this for the bumper cars, IFly and Northstar.  In our 70's but this is our second childhood.  We are coming in from the Dominican Republic (expats) so because of Covid need to get tested twice in a few days.  Oh well.  This is our life now so I am resigned to it. Oasis class still our favorite and we will probably go back to them for our next cruise.