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

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/18/2022 at 6:32 PM, bmblob said:

@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.

 

We actually were still on the ground in Helsinki driving out to the runway when i got the email that one of our bags hadn't made the flight. 

 

We were going home, so I was like whatever....

 

I checked my airtags and yep it was there in Helsinki  they must have just failed to put it on the plane.

 

What annoyed me tremendously was we were flying home on a Sunday morning and they said they would send it on Wednesday.   I was like, why??

 

There was a flight leaving Helsinki to Chicago and to New York later that day,  and again Monday.   Wednesday was the next direct flight to Dallas, but why not put it on the flight to NYC or Chicago and then change planes to Dallas.   It's the second largest airport in the US,  planes are coming there all day.

 

I had nothing to do for 12 hours on the plane so i was emailing and chatting everyone trying to get them to put it on the Chicago flight.... but they refused.  Said "American might lose it" 

 

I'm like YOU LOST IT!  hahaha

 

As luck would have it, it was my wife's carry on bag that she decided to check at the last minute,  nothing really important in there EXCEPT.... the kids' gifts.  whoops!

 

The bag didn't make it until Thursday or Friday for some bizarre reason, but it made it, gifts were all still there  and in good shape, including the glass items we bought in Murano. 

[bmblob]

5 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

The bag didn't make it until Thursday or Friday for some bizarre reason, but it made it, gifts were all still there  and in good shape, including the glass items we bought in Murano. 

 

I am glad the bag did arrive safely to you, including the Murano glass you got.  We saw these Murano glass balloons in a little shop in Rome.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by bmblob

[perfect match]

Thank you for an awesome review, @RCCL Fan! I enjoyed every minute of it. Special thanks for all the information about our cabin on our Odyssey cruise in April. I know we’re going to love that cabin! Thank you also for all of your wonderful pictures! 

[Nunagoras]

14 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

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.    

Yeah! That's the most expensive area in Paris, in fact. You have to run a long way for the cheaper products, but again; it doesn't deny my observations: If not a true 5* product, why those sometimes 5*+ prices?...

 

I understand your point, but on my observation I included the distinctive elements that brought me to the Oasis class: Central Park, Boardwalk, "Mamma Mia" show on the Allure, the multiple pools, basically all the neighborhood environment that makes it so special. Allure became easilly my favorite ship to date... But in general, outside of what the biggest ladies in the world can offer us, my feeling is that MSC remains my favorite cruise line.

 

Curiously, other than on first day, on my sailing the ice rink was closed all week for a huge gay charter program activities... Surely we didn't notice at all! I was fortunate to have our muster station at ice rink and the ice show at first day as well! They even did a sort of 2nd ice show after muster drill!

 

Thanks to your kind words and have a nice day!...

[elaine5]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are debating RCCL Explorer or Odyssey next year for similar cruise. 3 couples. For the 2 other couples, it's possibly their only trip to Europe/Greek Isles.  One couple has done a few Carib cruises and the other none for 30+ years. All late 50s.

After your review, I'm wondering if the Explorer would be better, as less crowded for ship experience and also getting on/off at ports, esp. Santorini. We've been on Navigator and thought it was fine, but likely not as many entertainment venues, dining options, new/fanciness of Odyssey. Which would you recommend? 

[vapersecutor]

Thank you for taking the time to write the review.  We’re on Odyssey for our first TA in October.  Having been to many of the ports you visited, your photos were great for reminiscing.  I personally am an Ephesus fan and have been twice.  The level of city infrastructure created 2000 years ago is amazing.  The ability to walk the streets versus just looking at ruins through a fence is a big plus.  But I understand it isn’t for everyone.

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/20/2022 at 1:28 AM, perfect match said:

Thank you for an awesome review, @RCCL Fan! I enjoyed every minute of it. Special thanks for all the information about our cabin on our Odyssey cruise in April. I know we’re going to love that cabin! Thank you also for all of your wonderful pictures! 

The balcony may have actually been my favorite in my hundreds of nights of cruising.... or maybe I just loved the kids not being there. hahaha.

 

You'll enjoy it .

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/20/2022 at 10:34 AM, elaine5 said:

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are debating RCCL Explorer or Odyssey next year for similar cruise. 3 couples. For the 2 other couples, it's possibly their only trip to Europe/Greek Isles.  One couple has done a few Carib cruises and the other none for 30+ years. All late 50s.

After your review, I'm wondering if the Explorer would be better, as less crowded for ship experience and also getting on/off at ports, esp. Santorini. We've been on Navigator and thought it was fine, but likely not as many entertainment venues, dining options, new/fanciness of Odyssey. Which would you recommend? 

 

It kinda depends on two things.

 

1)  I think with the right entertainment staff/activities  Odyseey could be good.  there wasn't a lot going on, on board the ship.  It felt sleepy.   With the right cruise director's staff keeping the activities hopping I think it could be quite nice.    But if you enjoy sitting places and just listening to music, you'll be fine, there's tons of that.   Just not much else.

 

2) How much time do you spend on the pool deck?  If you truly enjoy the pool deck and like to spend time out  there,  I will tell you that's a struggle on Odyssey.  She just doesn't have enough space for the amount of people on board.  It was just packed to a level that made me uncomfortable and not enjoy it.  With the top unusable to the crowds and below deck empty but with little going on,  I just found sea days boring.   Nights after dinner was bedtime, as there just wasn't a feeling of "we need to be out here doing this"

 

Both are great ships for different reasons.  I would just ask yourself about how much you enjoy pool time?  How much crowds bother you?  and choose from there.  If I were you facing that choice, today, i don't know what I would choose.  I'd probably let price and cabin location dictate my choice.  

 

I'm hoping after my cruise on Navigator over the holidays it will help me have better perspective as to the crowds, but I'm almost certain Navigator does a better job of absorbing the number of people inside the ship.

[RCCL Fan]

4 hours ago, vapersecutor said:

Thank you for taking the time to write the review.  We’re on Odyssey for our first TA in October.  Having been to many of the ports you visited, your photos were great for reminiscing.  I personally am an Ephesus fan and have been twice.  The level of city infrastructure created 2000 years ago is amazing.  The ability to walk the streets versus just looking at ruins through a fence is a big plus.  But I understand it isn’t for everyone.

 

I felt uncultured, but I just didn't care much for the ruins.   I looked at the coliseum in Rome nodded,  said wow, that's crazy and moved on.... not feeling overly moved.

 

But walking the streets of Santorini, Ephesus, getting a sense for the cities' histories, style and culture were awesome, and very fulfilling.

[cruiselvr04]

Enjoyed your review.  What a great trip.  
 

We loved Odyssey but did find the pool area crowded and this was before max capacity.  I think the Jr suites on this ship are the absolute best.  We LOVED ours too.  
 

 

[elaine5]

1 hour ago, RCCL Fan said:

Both are great ships for different reasons.  I would just ask yourself about how much you enjoy pool time?  How much crowds bother you?  and choose from there.  If I were you facing that choice, today, i don't know what I would choose.  I'd probably let price and cabin location dictate my choice.  

thank so much! We were heavily leaning towards O, but it's significantly more. I assumed there'd be great entertainment all over the ship. I think we might stick with Explorer. We were on Navigator Easter break (max capacity) in 2016 and it was fine. We went on NCL Epic out of BCN and the pool deck was jammed and DH said never again.