The ODYSSEY and the ECSTASY Live Oct 23-31

[crewsweeper]

A great review h20skibum.  We're on the Odyssey in April, but my boss is on in January.  Sharing this with him. and hoping the Solarium deck stays empty.

[Luckynana]

4 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

My wife got us the full face masks. I have never snorkeled so I'm not sure if I would like it or not. I've heard the issue of proper seal and some say they can't breathe right. It's like they are suffocating. Need to test it out.

 

 

I too would like to know what beach that is. Looks lovely. Have a great day in Aruba.

Mark, I too would like to know what beach you were at in Curacao.  We have been to the Island several times, but have never made it a beach day.  I mentioned to Jim just recently that on our next trip there, we should definitely go.

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

WOW.

I second that, Bob.  Mark, beautiful pictures!

[Luckynana]

Mark, did you and Susan get your clothes back?  Did Susan't white shorts come clean?

[h20skibum]

5 hours ago, jonj said:

Would you mind sharing which beach you were at in Curacao? We have this itinerary in January and our first visit to this island. 

 

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

I too would like to know what beach that is. Looks lovely. Have a great day in Aruba.

 

34 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Mark, I too would like to know what beach you were at in Curacao.  We have been to the Island several times, but have never made it a beach day.  I mentioned to Jim just recently that on our next trip there, we should definitely go.

 

This was part of the snorkeling tour.  The first stop was at Playa Grandi, and this was where the turtles were. 

 

The second stop, where we spent time at the beach, was at Cas Abao Beach. 

Playa Grandi is at the top left, Cas Abao is the middle arrow, and the port is the lower right arrow in the map below. 
 

 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, crewsweeper said:

hoping the Solarium deck stays empty.

We are on Oasis for 14 days in January, and we are hoping for the same thing.  Protocols don’t change till January 15th, so we may be lucky. 

[h20skibum]

36 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Mark, did you and Susan get your clothes back?  Did Susan't white shorts come clean?

They are not back yet.  Probably tomorrow, because they went in on the bag of laundry special day. 

[dani negreanu]

9 hours ago, h20skibum said:

He said he recognized me from the one picture I posted of me at formal night.  Dang, I thought I was disguised very well with the mask and sunglasses.  

 

Maybe they put a team together to find out who I was.  You know, use the facial recognition to track down the guy with “that vest”

 

Pretty sure "the VEST" gave you away.... it is one of a kind 😉

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

Now that I can go for.   And "Proof" Syrup is pretty decent.

 

I have not tried any of the other flavors but the original is really good. That is what I use.

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

 

 

This was part of the snorkeling tour. 

 

 

 

Thanks Mark I have noted for next time in Curacao. Looks great.

[h20skibum]

Our wing it day turned into a beach day for us, and it was a beautiful, sunny day to enjoy one.  High temperatures were probably close to 90 at mid day.  Much better temps, and scenery too. 

 

We did the day on our own, and we walked everywhere we went. 

 

The last time we were here, there were dancers in the terminal to welcome you, but the island is not that far back to normal.  

 

We walked from the cruise terminal to Eagle beach. Google maps says it should take a little over an hour to walk their 5.2 km route.  

 

 

We walked the sidewalks until we got to Druif beach. Some of the sand was not soft here, and there is quite a bit of coral pieces washed up.
 

 

 

So we continued along the boardwalk. 
 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

If you need a rest along the way, the bunker bar would be a good resting place. 
 

 

[h20skibum]

The beaches are so beautiful once you leave the boardwalk 

 

 

Finally, we arrived at Eagle beach and our view for the day. 
 

 

 

[Sheal]

I didn't realize you could walk to Eagle beach from the pier.  I'm not sure that the family would want to do it if the temp was 90 degrees, they would probably be complaining the entire way.

 

Interesting about the bunker bar.  I've spent a lot of time on various boards, particularly since we were supposed to do a land vacation there earlier this year, and never heard about it before.

 

I see Jan Thiel beach at the bottom of your map.  That is a nice place to go if you want to do some snorkeling.  Not much of a beach but it has sand and a ramp into the water.  It has a beach bar, restaurant and clean bathrooms.

 

We have been to the aquarium too.  They have an enclosed area where you can snorkel around.  There was some huge fish at the bottom but it was a bit murky but we could make out the outline.  The thing was huge!  Obviously not a carnivore or they would not have let us swim all around.  They also have a plexiglass divider where you can view the sharks on the other side.  You can purchase food to feed them through the holes in the plexiglass.  Pretty interesting to hear the sound they make as they suck the bait.  Kind of like an underwater hoover vacuum.  The park also had a seal show and turtles.  After we finished we could walk over to the small protected beach.  It made for a nice day.

[h20skibum]

We were in front of the Coco Loco Beach Bar.  It had restrooms where you could change, and beach chairs and umbrellas for rent.  We rented two chairs and an umbrella which ran $40 for the day. 
 

They also had food and drinks. 
 

 

We had a couple of the coco loco burgers, and the meat in a McDonald’s junior burger would look huge by comparison.  They also had beers on the opposite side of the menu, and those ran $9 each or $54 for a bucket of 6.  I guess that is a special price for drunk bargain hunters. 
 

I also saw this, but I didn’t see it on the menu. 
 

 

[h20skibum]

All in all a beautiful day. Now for a couple shots on the way back. 
 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by h20skibum

[FionaMG]

36 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

All in all a beautiful day. Now for a couple shots on the way back. 
 

 

 

Love, love, love Eagle Beach. One of my all-time favourites. I have a photo I took there several years ago as wallpaper on my work computer. Oh the memories!  Sigh!

Edited October 28, 2021 by FionaMG

[dani negreanu]

52 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

We had a couple of the coco loco burgers, and the meat in a McDonald’s junior burger would look huge by comparison.  

 

Very expensive.... and on top of that -- small portions 😢

 

😁  Note to self -- eat a huge breakfast on the ship 😁

 

[floridababa]

Two big compliments 

1. espresso coffee sucks every place on ship

2. dinners are far below than before 

not sure if they are cutting back on quality but food is not same quality as in past on Royal. Every night a problem finding something to eat and no we did not go to specialty restaurants as we feel we pay enough .
we are diamond and not sure if we would travel again with Royal. 

will look at other boards and find out if it’s on all royal ships

[h20skibum]

A little food porn for tonight, since I didn’t take any last night. 
 

Baked potato soup 

 

 

Lasagna

 

 

Bananas Foster

 

 

 

[Luckynana]

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

If you need a rest along the way, the bunker bar would be a good resting place. 
 

 

Interesting info about the Bunker Bar!  So many beautiful pictures of your day in Aruba, Mark!

[Lionesss]

@h20skibum

What an excellent review.

 

It is great being able to follow your travels.

 

Love your scenic beach pictures.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[h20skibum]

After dinner we had the show “The Book” booked in Two70.  We arrived around 7:45 for the 8:30 show, only because I read that the bar would be open at 7:30, and it seemed like a nice place to relax before the show. 
 

There was already a fairly long line of people hoping to get prime seats for the show.  They did announce they were letting in P’s and D’s before the others. We picked a couch right behind the Star class reserved seats. 
 

They announced the venue would require masks throughout the performance, because unvaccinated would be there. The venue was pretty capacity controlled with a lot of empty seats for social distancing. 
 

This was a very high tech show. The graphics and choreography were great, but I may have to think a little longer about the story line. 

 

One thing we noticed is how loud some of the venues are.  Susan’s Apple Watch keeps notifying her when a certain decibel threshold is crossed. 

[h20skibum]

A bear appeared in our cabin

 

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Susan told the bar waiter that she likes lots of chocolate in her mudslides, and she says this one was just perfect. 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

36 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

After dinner we had the show “The Book” booked in Two70.  We arrived around 7:45 for the 8:30 show, only because I read that the bar would be open at 7:30, and it seemed like a nice place to relax before the show. 
 

There was already a fairly long line of people hoping to get prime seats for the show.  They did announce they were letting in P’s and D’s before the others. We picked a couch right behind the Star class reserved seats. 
 

They announced the venue would require masks throughout the performance, because unvaccinated would be there. The venue was pretty capacity controlled with a lot of empty seats for social distancing. 
 

This was a very high tech show. The graphics and choreography were great, but I may have to think a little longer about the story line. 

 

One thing we noticed is how loud some of the venues are.  Susan’s Apple Watch keeps notifying her when a certain decibel threshold is crossed. 

No idea why some venues have ear splitting sound levels. It makes the show so uncomfortable for me.

 

As far as story line goes, I think sometimes you have to let it go and just take in the visuals. It is kind of like a song that sounds really nice but the lyrics go no where.

[h20skibum]

Usually when I see it is day 7, I am really sad

 

I am glad we have an extra day, but I could use a few more. 
 

Not the greatest sunrise pictures today, because the clouds were a little high. I will still take these views

 

 

Big lake of the day

 

 

I found the zamboni driver in the Solarium this morning 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

No idea why some venues have ear splitting sound levels. It makes the show so uncomfortable for me.

We noticed that especially when we went to the Legends of Rock show in the Music Hall. We sat as far away, and as close to the door as we could and it still blasted us out.  
 

We left after a half hour, and found it was at a comfortable level when we were two decks away.