REVIEW: Planes, Trains, Automobiles & A New Cruise Ship: Our European "Odyssey" Without Our Kids

[seapad]

@RCCL FAN, thanks for the great review, good read for sure! I'd love to hear your friend's feedback after taken this 1st cruise with you....that would be refreshing to know. His thoughts on cruising? His thoughts on the ship. 

 

Thanks. 

[dwp10mm]

14 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Both levels --- up and down --- packed!

I can believe this.  I was on a B2B on Odyssey in February and we were at less than 60% capacity.  I felt the pool deck was crowded most days.  My wife and I couldn't imagine how bad it would be on a full ship.  I did love Odyssey.  But we picked Harmony for our Southern cruise next February because of this.  We do plan to return to Odyssey for the very cruise you are on.  Thanks for the review so far.

[link99]

 We are exploring this trip. More interested in  the islands then the Italy stops. Thank you for the detailed review of Grease and Turkey. Once you have done Italy by land there is just no comparison. I look forward to your adventures traveling through Italy.

P.S The beauty of the Amalfi Coast can’t be experience on a cruise ship excursion. Pompeii was so Cool. Capri was Amazing.

[CruisingJoe09]

On 8/9/2022 at 8:20 PM, RCCL Fan said:

We enjoyed some time in boleros tonight, it was hopping with music and had great bar service. I think i put my finger on it tonight.... cruise director.  

 

I ran into her in the elevator, several of us with her and she just kinda stood there. The activity director got on and spoke to all the passengers, asked about their vacation, encouraged them to come upstairs to the white party going on.  You know... the party host.   I didn't really feel that from the cruise director

 

.   It was like every bar was open, and had music in it at night.  And you had your scheduled shows, but that's it.  There was a lack of energy and vibe on the ship.   I was critical of this on Allure last year with their new cruise director. 

Ships need that energetic party host in my opinion.

 

Tomorrow --- Naples or is it?

 

I was on the ship a couple of weeks after you and have to agree on the CD Ana. To be fair, it's her first contract as CD and she doesn't have the usual hosting background like the others (ex sports staff) plus Odyssey is a difficult ship to manage, with several hundred staff in the entertainment/sports/youth staff to manage.

 

But I did feel that she wasn't that present throughout and things like the morning show were just very basic compared to other CDs. The Activities Manager was great though, a Welsh guy named Dom, very visible around the ship and energetic.

Edited August 14, 2022 by CruisingJoe09

[perfect match]

On 8/10/2022 at 10:48 PM, RCCL Fan said:

Would I book her again?   it definitely wouldn't be my first choice, but if the route was right and that aft facing junior suite was involved oh you've got my attention

After hearing you talk about the noise in “our” cabin, I was getting a bit concerned. I don’t do noisy well, especially in the morning. I feel much better now after hearing you say that with the right itinerary and that aft cabin being available you would be interested in booking Odyssey again. I’m still bringing ear plugs though just in case! Might need to use them in the show, not the room! 😱

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/14/2022 at 2:55 PM, CruisingJoe09 said:

I was on the ship a couple of weeks after you and have to agree on the CD Ana. To be fair, it's her first contract as CD and she doesn't have the usual hosting background like the others (ex sports staff) plus Odyssey is a difficult ship to manage, with several hundred staff in the entertainment/sports/youth staff to manage.

 

But I did feel that she wasn't that present throughout and things like the morning show were just very basic compared to other CDs. The Activities Manager was great though, a Welsh guy named Dom, very visible around the ship and energetic.

 The activities manager had energy, i really liked him.  He was in the elevator and very talkative, and had lots of energy whenever he was hosting.

[RCCL Fan]

21 hours ago, perfect match said:

After hearing you talk about the noise in “our” cabin, I was getting a bit concerned. I don’t do noisy well, especially in the morning. I feel much better now after hearing you say that with the right itinerary and that aft cabin being available you would be interested in booking Odyssey again. I’m still bringing ear plugs though just in case! Might need to use them in the show, not the room! 😱

 

Don't worry about that room.  

 

It will be fine.  

 

The corner cabin next to us had a group  of 5-10 year old boys I think 2 actually in the cabin and others in the same family. 

 

They would just hang out in the hall, right outside the door and so I heard them.  The cabin steward was wonderful in trying to entertain them, and so I heard them.

 

The chances of you having a group of kids hanging out outside your door is rare.

 

As for 270,  yes it's loud, at times, but the show is over by 10pm  it's not worth leaving that room.  The space, view, balcony are all great.

 

Relax, go and have a wonderful time

[perfect match]

54 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Don't worry about that room.  

 

It will be fine.  

 

The corner cabin next to us had a group  of 5-10 year old boys I think 2 actually in the cabin and others in the same family. 

 

They would just hang out in the hall, right outside the door and so I heard them.  The cabin steward was wonderful in trying to entertain them, and so I heard them.

 

The chances of you having a group of kids hanging out outside your door is rare.

 

As for 270,  yes it's loud, at times, but the show is over by 10pm  it's not worth leaving that room.  The space, view, balcony are all great.

 

Relax, go and have a wonderful time

There’s no way I’m giving up that room! 😱

Thank you for all of your input. We’re really looking forward to our aft view. 😎 We got hooked on aft view cabins on our first cruise. We booked an aft cabin because we couldn’t decide between port and starboard. We liked it so much that the only times we haven’t been booked in an aft view cabin we’re one of our Princess cruises and our Oasis class cruises unless you count our one time at the aft end of the Boardwalk.

 

We’ll be on Odyssey in mid April. I can’t wait to see if we will still prefer Oasis class ships, or if Odyssey will win us over. 

[RCCL Fan]

Day 8  --  Rome in a day

 

 

After we got off the ship,  we were picked up by a tour guide.  One of those packages for cruise passengers.    We used Stefano Roma

 

They pick you up from the port, drive you into Rome, and take you to everything before dropping you off at your hotel or the airport. 

 

I had mentioned that two of us get a little claustrophobic and having some cold bottled water would help.  Our guide showed up with a cooler of bottled water frozen to stay super cold through the day.

 

 

He drove us into Rome and let us all relax during the drive, answered our questions about how much houses in the country cost etc.

 

You've likely learned by now, I'm not a big ruins buff, and so I was not really looking forward to Rome, other than wanting to go to the Vatican, I was indifferent to being here all together.   Infact our original plan was to skip it and go straight to Tuscany but my wife asked to add it in about 3 weeks before we left, so I made some changes. 

 

 

Anyway this guide was the way to go.    Quite simply we had a van, with all our crap in it, that was super cool with a lot of bottled water.   Our guide drove us directly up to the entrance to everything. We could hop out, take photos, go inside, whatever we wanted, then hop back in the van to the next stop. 

 

 

We did the Coliseum, some church with a million steps, the Trevi fountain,  this guy was driving down tiny alleyways and streets cutting through huge crowds of people just to get us literally to the front of everything. 

 

 

He got us to the Vatican just in time to see the pope come out and give his address,it was so moving.  He stopped at a spot for lunch, great food, low prices, and then on to the Parthenon, the forum.  It was a busy full day and we got to see much much in one day.   It was the most useful tour i think we took.  I felt like we accomplished so much.

 

 

He dropped us off at our hotels. We did the Mascagni Luxury Suites and the Hotel Quirnale.  Both had their ups and downs.  Mascagni rooms were tiny, but modern, nice cold a/c.  Quirnale had huge rooms, were kinda warm, and more dated.  Just depends on your preference.  We wandered a bit on our own had dinner and called in a night.

 

 

The next day we did the Vatican museum tour, and got inside the Basilica.  Holy mother!!!    The museum tour was not for me.... our tour guide was long winded and it was just all these random art that didn't capture my interest. 

 

 

It was also super crowded,  I felt badly though, I think the guide could tell I was a bit bored, so i kept wandering off so as to not thrown him.  There was some amazing art here, and the Sistine Chapel was so beautiful but nothing compared us for St. Peter's Basillica. 

 

 

It's massive, and so freaking gorgeous,  you just kinda stand in owe over and over again looking at everything and kinda expect one of the saints to tap you on your shoulder and say hi.   I was like this is heaven, where's my grandmother?   This place just feels so holy.   Catholics you can get your confession heard here.   I was so excited by this,  you have to have a mask FYI  but if you do, you can have your confession heard, and be absolved from your sins right there inside.  I did it and loved it.

 

 

That night we said goodbye to our friends.    They were headed back to Paris to spend a couple days touring the Louvre .

 

My wife and I were renting a car, and driving out of Rome and into Tuscany.

 

We picked up the rental car at termini rail station which was just about 4 blocks from our hotel.   We still got a cab. lol

 

It was tough getting to the rental car counter,  finding where they keep the cars, and then finding my wife who was waiting with the luggage at one of the train station doors but we made it.  Hopped in a toyota rav 4  automatic, which I paid a small fortune for to have an automatic large car at the train station for a one way trip.

 

 

Everyone freaked me out about driving through Italy, but it really wasn't that bad for me at all.   We got out of the city and onto the highway and I'm ready for a good 3 hours, of fast driving and my wife says "It's lunch time"

 

Our eating habits are so different, I'll eat one big meal a day if you let me and be good.  My wife eats about 11 small meals a day, and it had been 2 hours since her last one... so.....   here we are in the middle of no where and I'm pulling over on the side of the road to try to find a non chain place to eat.

 

 

We found this tiny little restaurant in the middle of no where, it was beautiful.  Large, open, clean, friendly staff, and we had quite possibly the best food of the trip.

 

 

I was in heaven.  Of course I was checking out to leave i saw an animal leg lying on a counter where they just kinda shaved the meat off of it and I thought I was going to lose it. lol

 

We stopped then at Mc D's just to get something cold to drink for the drive, you know with ice, american style.  

 

Well, it was Mc D's but not american style.  There was a coffee bar with macaroons and cheesecake, all these nutella dishes and my "peach tea"  yeah  came with 2 cubes of ice despite me asking for plenty of ice. 

 

Anyway we drove on through Tuscany which was beautiful until we got to Il Miraggio Tuscan Farm in San Quirico d'Orcia.

 

 

Super romantic honeymoon kinda spot.  Hills, beautifully luxury restored inn, total postcard place, it was a 4-5 star  inn, nice service, brand new a modern despite being in an old inn. 

 

 

I loved that when I couldn't figure out the netflix on the TV the owner came in our room to fix it and stayed 15 minutes talking to us about the wallpaper and the restoration work. 

 

We had a horseback riding trip planned but it was more than 100 degrees and they cancelled it for the safety of the horses understandably so.

 

 

Dinner here was very special,  this is tiramisu!   Everything came out and looked very photo worthy and tasted pretty good too.

 

 

The next day we explored on our own,  went to the market, drove through the hills, hit up several wineries.  My wife was disappointed everything was so dry due to the drought, But I thought even with brown hills they were beautiful.

 

 

We ventured to De'Ricci,  one of the oldest wine cellars in was several storied underground,  we came wanting wine, but we had to get a tour first.   It was a very very long winded tour, and if you think it's my usual complaining on these, my wife who has been into the tours said, "I'm two seconds from screaming let me out of here!"   

 

Eventually we got out, had a great tasting and on the way found my wife some more green hills, she was happy.   The wine helped. 

 

 

We got back to the inn for another dinner.  This time we decided to take them up on a tasting menu.  You just tell them what you don't eat, and they will make stuff for you, 7 courses each one a surprise.

 

My wife and I both are super picky with food.  We were like this is a bad idea.  There's so much we don't eat.   Lets be adventurous we said.

 

The first item was marinated olives stuffed with chicken livers.   

 

 

We both exchanged glances and were like we're screwed.

 

I hate one bite,  she refused. hahaha

 

after this our server ran each next dish by us first  and we did better moving forward.

 

 

Check out the "cheese cake"

again  awesome creations for dinner here.

 

We up the next morning,  hopped in the Rav 4 and made our way north, toward Florence. 

 

I'll pick that up  tomorrow. 

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:13 AM, seapad said:

@RCCL FAN, thanks for the great review, good read for sure! I'd love to hear your friend's feedback after taken this 1st cruise with you....that would be refreshing to know. His thoughts on cruising? His thoughts on the ship. 

 

Thanks. 

 

I've asked him....   he didn't really answer.   I know he shared with me earlier, that he was disappointed by the crowds on the pool deck and the tendering process.   He was like it's 2022, the fact that they make everyone get up at 9am and stand in a line to get a tender ticket is insane.  they have an app, why can't we reserve a time on there, everyone knows their time ahead of time and it's done.

 

but he felt the food and service was great, wants to try it again on one of the Oasis ships with his grandkids. 

[seapad]

3 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I've asked him....   he didn't really answer.   I know he shared with me earlier, that he was disappointed by the crowds on the pool deck and the tendering process.   He was like it's 2022, the fact that they make everyone get up at 9am and stand in a line to get a tender ticket is insane.  they have an app, why can't we reserve a time on there, everyone knows their time ahead of time and it's done.

 

but he felt the food and service was great, wants to try it again on one of the Oasis ships with his grandkids. 

I agree with him, right on the mark. We should be able to do it via the app....C'mon 🙂 
He will enjoy the Oasis class, the aqua show is breathtaking. 

[Sea Dog]

16 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

Holy mother!!!    The museum tour was not for me.... our tour guide was long winded and it was just all these random art that didn't capture my interest. 

 

I felt the same way. While impressive and the art was beautiful, it was too much. It got to be funny every time we saw a sign that said "Sistine Chapel" with an arrow pointing. It took forever to get there.

So glad you had a great time. Sounds like your guide was awesome.

[RCCL Fan]

Venice Bound

 

 

We drove into Florence that morning and  dropped off our Rental car at Hertz's garage which was a good 6-7 blocks for the train station.

 

The plan was to take the train from Florence to Venice.

 

It was a bit of a hike with bags, but we made it. 

 

I had heard so many nice things about Florence, I really wanted to stay, but there was only so much time in this crazy trip of ours.

 

 

 We booked with Italo for the route to Venice, I checked out the cabins of both trains and liked the executive class a bit more on Italo.

 

The train was an adventure.  There's a lot of uncertainty.... standing around waiting to find out which track you get,  going to the track and not knowing if car 1 would be the first car or the last.

 

Everyone rushing really fast to get to the car, because the train waits for no one.

 

Ugh.

 

 

Then as we got on board it hit me.   I'm still in Europe, the land of little A/C  this train is going to be hot. Of all the things I had prepared for, I hadn't prepared for that.

 

 

 

It's a warm, small compartment with passengers hopping off at every station to smoke, so there was a lingering cigarette smell, and little circulating air.   Masks were also required on board.

 

I was like I'm going to die on this train.

 

 

Luckily I remembered in my backpack I had bought a small portable fan for the plane.  I heard non-US airlines often had warm cabins so I bought this.  The flights were all normal, so the fan was just packed away and I brought it out and flipped it on and it made a huge difference. 

 

My wife who doesn't share my claustrophobia turned to me shortly after we left and said, "may i use that?"  she was stuffy and sweaty.  

 

The fan helped her a ton as well.  

 

So keep in mind, yes they have a/c onboard but it's likely set to 80 degrees.

 

Ride was smooth and comfy,  you couldn't tell you were going nearly 200mph.

 

 

 

Italo had TV's in each seat but all the content was in italian so that was kinda pointless for me, so I  entertained myself with my phone until we arrived in Venice.

 

As the train rolled in we sailed right by the new Norwegian Prima ships.   When I first saw them, I was like that can't be, they're not out yet... and Venice has banned big cruise ships.   Then I remembered there's a ship builder her and i grabbed my camera but it was too late.

 

Out of the train station  there we were in the middle of venice,  waterways instead of streets, and out of no where I hear someone yelling my name.

 

 

I had arranged a private boat to take us to our hotel.  This dude has never seen me but I must have screamed high maintenance lazy tourist because he picked me out of the crowd and waved me over to our boat.

 

Venice was my wife's bucket list.  Some place she always wanted to go, always dreamed of, and she loved climbing into our boat/taxi and making our way to the hotel.

 

 

The taxi made a turn away from Venice and out to the sea and I saw the smile drop from her face, she finally said, "It seems like we're leaving venice"

 

"We are"  I told her.

 

Our hotel was on the neighboring island of Murano. I told her Murano looks very similar to Venice but with less crowds and was a bit more relaxing.   She didn't seem convinced.

 

 

We got to the Hyatt where I cashed in points for their canal view suite.  We had a elevator that led directly up to our room  the elevator door opened in our living room. She was ok with the hotel then. 

 

We dropped our bags and walked over to a local glass blowing shop, I had arranged a lesson for us.

 

 

They wanted to start with a history of glass and Murano,  I stopped her right there.   Explained we were history full and could we just dive in.

 

We did,  both taking turns learning how to make items and have some sun with the tools.  We both made pendants for our daughters.  This was arranged through the Hyatt and was a wonderful activity, I was so happy we did it.

 

We headed to a pizza restaurant near the hotel for dinner, and it was insane how big the portions were.  The food just wasn't very tasty and a bit greasy.  I only ate like 10%.  Rather than ask me if I disliked it they boxed it up for me to take home.   This was one thing I noticed in Europe in terms of restaurants.   Your servers take your order, bring the plates, and take the payment.   They don't check on you to see if you need anything, you have to flag them down, they get very uncomfortable if you ask for their suggestions.  Just a difference.

 

 

 We headed back to the hotel, now you should know if you're thinking of the Hyatt that their hotel has some type of radiant cooling system.  Basically there's no cool air blowing from vents, but something that slowly brings down the temp.  There were many reviews that said the hotel was very hot in the summer, so I called and spoke to them ahead of time.  One of the reasons I picked the suite was because it had a/c that blows cool air. It was one of two rooms that did.

 

Well, the master bedroom in the suite was HOT, living room COLD, it was clearly something wrong.  I had to make the clerk come upstairs to see the issue. The staff couldn't have been more helpful and apologetic,  they worked on it and made it right for us.   I was so appreciative..

 

The next morning my wife explored Murano for an early morning run. she came back and was loving murano and the course she took for the run. 

 

 

We went to Venice and hit up all the spots, got photos,   the crowds were in full force and we understood what the Venetians meant by the city being packed with tourists, although it really wasn't worse than any other city we visited.  

 

The heat wound up being too much so we went back midday for a shower and nap before venturing back out for dinner.  We really finally were feeling tired from our trip and ready to head home

 

 Neither of us really enjoyed our dinner tonight, it lacked seasoning and flavor.. but our next activity was wonderful.

 

 

 

Sure we had to ride a gondola.   Our guide was fantastic and the trip was everything my darling wife had dreamed of.

 

We decided to walk back to the water taxi and head back to Murano.  We stopped at the outdoor hotel bar and talked, laughed, and enjoyed the calm that was Murano.   We decided this was definitely the place to be compared to Venice.

 

 

The next morning we did some souvenir shopping and a last walk around the island before we hopped on the hotel's free speedboat to the airport.

 

 

It was a great finale to the trip.  We were really pleased with the Hyatt and their staff.

 

 

 

We flew home on Finnair through Helsinki.   I was so happy to see the words Dallas on the montior and head home!

You may have heard about their new Business Class seat which doesn't recline at all but is more like a mini love seat.  

 

 

This time the computer moved us to the middle seats on it's own, and gave away our window seats.  I was a little disappointed, as i really wanted to see helsinki from the air, but was just happy to be on this fancy new plane.  

 

 

It had wireless qi charging for our phones, huge TV's and cameras around the plane which gave us views outside.  

 

 

Had the braised beef cheek for my main lunch, it was tasty.  I loved this plane, there were no overhead bins in the center section and so the ceiling was super high and it felt spacious.  

 

 

We did have issues with the wifi not working properly, and the service wasn't strong. They didn't have many of the drinks, and didn't come check on me. My meal came covered with red onions which I'm allergic to and I waited 35 minutes from them to come back around for me to ask if I could just have more bread.

 

  Flight attendants kept saying it was a new plane and menu and it was their first time on it,  I was like ok.........

 

 

The new seat was fine, it didn't bother me that it didn't recline, I did feel the cushion was super thin, and it was hard and uncomfortable. 

 

11hours, and several episodes of stranger things later the wheels were down and we landed back in Dallas.... without one of our bags

 

but we were home, and it was an amazing trip!

 

[Ocean Boy]

I'll never forget the first time I stepped out of the train station and saw Venice. I was absolutely awestruck. That was many years ago.

[RCCL Fan]

6 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'll never forget the first time I stepped out of the train station and saw Venice. I was absolutely awestruck. That was many years ago.

 

it was a first for us, and yes, it's very impressive for sure.   I still stand by the decision to stay in Murano but I did love it there.

[Tom_n_Sara]

You crushed this review. Thank you!

[Nunagoras]

Wonderful review!... Congrats!... Permit me just a few observations:

 

Sadly; Europe wise; and note I'm a proud European; we're having that odd problem you experienced in with the bar or restaurant in Paris. Some vendors in the first line most touristy areas are living like if there's no tomorrow morning. All the money must be done tonight. Sadly; I tend to avoid first line touristy area venues these days cause of this. Obviously for the sins of a few the ones whom "pay" are the honest ones in the mix whom will have more difficulty doing business because some of us indeed know those whom procrastinate exist, but we don't actually know whom the heck would be the legal ones and whom are the the others. Unique good thing: By taking some time to explore the more lateral streets usually used by the locals, I usually find some nice, well priced, places whom honestly provide such a nice service and deserve very well our business. Surely: There is a place for true 5* products at true 5* pricing target, but this is not what we're here talking about. Those first line touristy places are, most of them, just your typical mainstream places similar to the ones you use at home; so, why those over inflated prices?

 

European cruises are primarily meant with longer days on shore in mind. Really the ship will be a place for you to have dinner, some night life and sleep. Nothing really to write home about on ships activities there, exception being for the lovely Oasis class. When I went on Allure, I went on purpose for an itinerary where other than one port, I basically went on nearly all of them, so, basically I opted either way for smaller excursions or just to make said day as if it was another sea day to be able to use the venues!... No surprise you found the Odyssey quite "quiet" on the activities front.

 

From a very long time from now; I had a feeling that there are 2 different RCI lines: One for the Oasis class; another for the smaller ones including the Quantum class (actually they might to have a 3rd one for the older vessels like Vision class, but let things to be the simpler way round). Curiously your review was the missing part I needed to confirm that, once my only RCI experience is on lady Allure here in Europe when she first came for her 5yo dry dock. Simply the size of an Oasis class permits RCI to make the magic happens on just pretty much everything else possible and imaginary. They could to make a specialty line just for them. Sadly very few ports can handle those ships. The other ships may be great to an extent... But nothing really out of this world special compared to what the competition is doing right now. Actually some NCL, Carnival or even MSC new builds are doing some nice things, perhaps a few of them better than Quantum class or smaller RCI ships. I may agree with you from your description and photos: Quantum seems to have been designed with very port intensive and possibly colder climates in mind. Let us to see what they bring with the Icon class when she starts out...

 

Finally... Sadly; the current lack of air conditioning here in Europe is mostly driven by the energy crisis going on here in Europe these days, cause the Russian "Czar" decided just to invade one of his neighbors on February 24, trying to threaten all the world to let him to do whatever else he wants... Surely that's somewhat inconvenient... But life is what it is. Obviously a 27ºC (80.6ºF) maximum temperature on an Italo first class train is less than desirable. Better days will come once we find a way forward to solve this ordeal.

 

Have a nice day!...

[HicksRA]

If you planned and arranged all this on your own, you did an awesome job!  

[Sea Dog]

Great review I loved every bit of it. I would of gone crazy on the train with it being so hot. I need to get back to Venice. We were there only for a day and didn’t see much. It looks like there is so much to see. Again thanks for taking us along with you. Well done Wayne.

[bmblob]

22 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

11hours, and several episodes of stranger things later the wheels were down and we landed back in Dallas.... without one of our bags

@RCCL Fan

What happened to one of your bags?  Another case of lost luggage?  Did you finally get it back?  Hope so.  

Great review and thank you for your thoughts on Odyssey.

[link99]

Loved your  Italian adventure. It brought back so many good memories. The arrival into Venice by  water taxi just leaves you speechless.

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:53 AM, Tom_n_Sara said:

You crushed this review. Thank you!

It was a freaking long  one,  thanks so much

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/18/2022 at 5:25 PM, Nunagoras said:

Wonderful review!... Congrats!... Permit me just a few observations:

 

Sadly; Europe wise; and note I'm a proud European; we're having that odd problem you experienced in with the bar or restaurant in Paris. Some vendors in the first line most touristy areas are living like if there's no tomorrow morning. All the money must be done tonight. Sadly; I tend to avoid first line touristy area venues these days cause of this. Obviously for the sins of a few the ones whom "pay" are the honest ones in the mix whom will have more difficulty doing business because some of us indeed know those whom procrastinate exist, but we don't actually know whom the heck would be the legal ones and whom are the the others. Unique good thing: By taking some time to explore the more lateral streets usually used by the locals, I usually find some nice, well priced, places whom honestly provide such a nice service and deserve very well our business. Surely: There is a place for true 5* products at true 5* pricing target, but this is not what we're here talking about. Those first line touristy places are, most of them, just your typical mainstream places similar to the ones you use at home; so, why those over inflated prices?

 

European cruises are primarily meant with longer days on shore in mind. Really the ship will be a place for you to have dinner, some night life and sleep. Nothing really to write home about on ships activities there, exception being for the lovely Oasis class. When I went on Allure, I went on purpose for an itinerary where other than one port, I basically went on nearly all of them, so, basically I opted either way for smaller excursions or just to make said day as if it was another sea day to be able to use the venues!... No surprise you found the Odyssey quite "quiet" on the activities front.

 

From a very long time from now; I had a feeling that there are 2 different RCI lines: One for the Oasis class; another for the smaller ones including the Quantum class (actually they might to have a 3rd one for the older vessels like Vision class, but let things to be the simpler way round). Curiously your review was the missing part I needed to confirm that, once my only RCI experience is on lady Allure here in Europe when she first came for her 5yo dry dock. Simply the size of an Oasis class permits RCI to make the magic happens on just pretty much everything else possible and imaginary. They could to make a specialty line just for them. Sadly very few ports can handle those ships. The other ships may be great to an extent... But nothing really out of this world special compared to what the competition is doing right now. Actually some NCL, Carnival or even MSC new builds are doing some nice things, perhaps a few of them better than Quantum class or smaller RCI ships. I may agree with you from your description and photos: Quantum seems to have been designed with very port intensive and possibly colder climates in mind. Let us to see what they bring with the Icon class when she starts out...

 

Finally... Sadly; the current lack of air conditioning here in Europe is mostly driven by the energy crisis going on here in Europe these days, cause the Russian "Czar" decided just to invade one of his neighbors on February 24, trying to threaten all the world to let him to do whatever else he wants... Surely that's somewhat inconvenient... But life is what it is. Obviously a 27ºC (80.6ºF) maximum temperature on an Italo first class train is less than desirable. Better days will come once we find a way forward to solve this ordeal.

 

Have a nice day!...

 

The funny thing about our pricey dessert stop was we were right by the Eiffel Tower and purposely walked away from it into a neighborhood,   but clearly not far enough.   Oh well. We drank, we ate,  we laughed.  Water under the bridge. 

 

As for RCI  I have sailed on every class ship now.   I think the voyager, freedom, and oasis classes typically have similar programming and vibes and feel.  It's energy lots of what I like to call "hard product" to keep you busy:  promenade, ice rink, flowrider. 

 

The vision and radiance classes specialize in the "soft product"  not a lot on the boat to do physically but they make up for it with tons of trivia and games and activities at every turn,  there's always a family feud type game or the egg drop in the centrum, or who wants to be a Royal Caribbeanaire... always some cheesy little something to stumble upon a share laughs.

 

Odyssey seemed to be somewhere between these two Royal's i know.    

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/18/2022 at 5:34 PM, HicksRA said:

If you planned and arranged all this on your own, you did an awesome job!  

 

Thanks so much.  My wife kept saying "i have no idea where we're going or what we're doing, I'm just along for the ride."

 

It was all me.  but I did have the whole pandemic to research and tweak and change my mind.   I redid flights like 6 times. hahaha

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/18/2022 at 6:21 PM, Sea Dog said:

Great review I loved every bit of it. I would of gone crazy on the train with it being so hot. I need to get back to Venice. We were there only for a day and didn’t see much. It looks like there is so much to see. Again thanks for taking us along with you. Well done Wayne.

 

I think we were done by the time we got there.  We took a very low key approach to Venice.  I definitely loved the outer islands.   Murano was a good choice for us.   There's a Hilton in Stucky I heard good things about.... but I have Hyatt and Marriott status not Hilton. 🙂