Cruiser Formerly Known As Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on Odyssey of the Seas Sailing to A Minus B Plus C Plus H Islands

[perfect match]

What? No textbooks in college any more? 😱 I don’t know how I would have gotten through school without my textbooks and highlighters! Thank goodness those days are behind me! Far behind! 😂

 

We were in a JS on Odyssey so we had upgraded bathroom amenities, or maybe it was because we’re 💎. I’m not sure but what we had was ok. When we sail Wonder in September we’re in a Boardwalk balcony so I’m not going to expect anything more than the single soap for everything. I’m going to put a note in my folder for that cruise to bring my own soap, shampoo and conditioner on that cruise. Thank you for that reminder. 
 

We never did get to ride the bumper cars on Odyssey. It was on our list of things to do, but we always seemed to have other things we wanted to do when they were open. Guess we will just have to book another Odyssey cruise! 😎 Not out of NY, though. Florida based cruises work best for us. 
 

We are traditional late diners like your family. We did switch to MTD on our first couple of cruises right after the restart, but have gone back to our preferred traditional late time slot. Like your family members, I have food allergies and I really appreciate the fact that I don’t have to go over the foods I need to avoid with a dire rent waitstaff each night. I’m happy to report that I’ve never had a problem on any cruise ship that we have been on. 

[perfect match]

40 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

Was this picture from your room with the angled balcony or the regular one? Even though it is interesting to get an up close look at how the lifeboats are suspended, I’d rather not be looking at that view for the whole cruise. I remember that a few years back someone had posted a link to deck plans that showed exactly where the lifeboats were and which ones were the most obstructed like your picture. If I can find it I’ll post a link but it won’t be tonight. Bedtime 😴. 

[h20skibum]

7 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

We got this flyer from RCI marketing in our cabin and my wife took a picture of it for the 25 years title as this was our 25^th anniversary

Congratulations on your 25th Anniversary.  We will be celebrating ours on our Utopia cruise this summer, although it is a bigger number than yours. 
 

7 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Not sure if everyone is aware of this but RCI and Starbucks teamed up to produce special coffee mugs for each ship that has a Starbucks store.

Don’t know how I missed seeing these on Symphony or Allure.  I am pretty sure I visited Starbucks more than once.  Maybe I was singularly focused on getting a latte if the machine in the Crown lounge was not ready. 

[h20skibum]

3 hours ago, perfect match said:

Was this picture from your room with the angled balcony or the regular one? Even though it is interesting to get an up close look at how the lifeboats are suspended, I’d rather not be looking at that view for the whole cruise. I remember that a few years back someone had posted a link to deck plans that showed exactly where the lifeboats were and which ones were the most obstructed like your picture. If I can find it I’ll post a link but it won’t be tonight. Bedtime 😴. 

This may be the one you are thinking of, although this diagram is from Anthem. I had downloaded it while looking at cabins for that ship.  It shows the double Davits in front of Harry’s cabin. 

 

[LuCruise]

Not the first time I'm commenting, but am really enjoying your report and hearing your experiences, knowledge of how things work and advice.  Can relate.

 

It's funny as on Odyssey, we never ended up making it to bumper cars, which seems ironic to me as to me, the main activity at the Sea Plex is bumper cars.  When we went on Anthem in 2022, you had to book them, so we did so as soon as we boarded.  I think on Odyssey since it was First Come First Serve, it was "oh bumper cars is on now" but our kids (14 and 18 years) never felt like lining up for who knows how long.  It was lots of fun on Anthem though and I'm now missing a bumper car picture in my trip photobook (which I put together after each cruise).

 

For the shower, I'm with you and just always bring our own shampoo and conditioner per bathroom. We also bring liquid hand soap as find it easier than soap bars for the bathroom sink.

 

Same...we always book traditional as we like having "our:" table and with same waiters. Good to hear that they accommodate allergies so well.

 

 

[perfect match]

14 hours ago, h20skibum said:

This may be the one you are thinking of, although this diagram is from Anthem. I had downloaded it while looking at cabins for that ship.  It shows the double Davits in front of Harry’s cabin. 

 

Yes, basically the same deck plan. I think the specific one I saw and haven’t been able to find again was for Ovation. As long as the room numbers are the same it should be the same with any of the Q class ships. In Harry’s case, the angled balcony is a perfect reference point. 
 

Thanks for posting this.

[shazza_h]

Hi Harry,

Thank you once again for your trip report.  I've been a huge fan of your work (and your excel color coding skills) since your Allure report back in the day 🙂 The boys have certainly grown up.  

I was wondering if "Cheapo Dad" is planning a trip on Icon?  Although Cheapo Dad will surely have to be a thing of the past to book on that. More like "Second Mortgage Dad"..!

Keep up the great work - love reading the updates. 

[harryfat1]

22 hours ago, perfect match said:

Was this picture from your room with the angled balcony or the regular one? Even though it is interesting to get an up close look at how the lifeboats are suspended, I’d rather not be looking at that view for the whole cruise. I remember that a few years back someone had posted a link to deck plans that showed exactly where the lifeboats were and which ones were the most obstructed like your picture. If I can find it I’ll post a link but it won’t be tonight. Bedtime 😴. 

Yes, many college classes have virtual books that the students can just read on their laptops or they can print them out if they prefer the traditional method of having hard copies.  Some English classes have mandatory novels to buy but sometimes you just buy/rent them from Amazon for the Kindle to read from there instead of the traditional book.  Colleges have changed since we all there eons ago.

 

It’s much easier to just go over the food allergy once with the MDR staff instead of 7 different waiters if you choose flexible dining time. I like the same seat/table zero wait for my table from nights 2 to 8 on the cruise.  Night 1 was the only time we had a slight wait as people were being shown to their tables.

 

Most of the entertainment time slots align with the regular seating.  On the Navigator, all the shows were at 7 PM and those lasted for 45 minutes, giving people enough time to make it to the 8 PM dinner.  On the Odyssey, all of the main theater shows are at 10 PM so we go to them after dinner as maybe the Odyssey/Holiday crowd are younger and they can stay up for the 10 PM shows.

 

Yes, this was the view outside of our cabin.  I will have more pictures and discussions later in the trip report.

 

[harryfat1]

19 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Congratulations on your 25th Anniversary.  We will be celebrating ours on our Utopia cruise this summer, although it is a bigger number than yours. 
 

Don’t know how I missed seeing these on Symphony or Allure.  I am pretty sure I visited Starbucks more than once.  Maybe I was singularly focused on getting a latte if the machine in the Crown lounge was not ready. 

 

18 hours ago, h20skibum said:

This may be the one you are thinking of, although this diagram is from Anthem. I had downloaded it while looking at cabins for that ship.  It shows the double Davits in front of Harry’s cabin. 

 

Thanks.  I got married later in life or else my number would be higher as well.

 

When were you on the Allure?  I know you were on the Symphony just the week before our sailing.

 

The mugs weren’t available on the Navigator back in August as we asked the workers at the Starbucks station right after boarding.  I think the mugs came out in the Fall. 

 

The only mug the Starbucks on the Navigator has for sale is a Miami mug, which was interesting considering we were in Los Angeles on a West Coast sailing.  Why would someone buy a mug for a place they didn’t go to?

 

Thanks for the map on the obstructed view.  Yeah, I think every 4th or 5th or so cabins would be impacted with a big obstruction.  But even if we had known this beforehand, we still would have booked the cabins as these were the only 3 back to back to back cabins available that had a double/double inside connection. 

 

You book with whatever cabins are available with the view being secondary if you are traveling as a group and want everyone together. If you just need a single cabin, then you can be picky about location and view.

Edited January 29 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

15 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Not the first time I'm commenting, but am really enjoying your report and hearing your experiences, knowledge of how things work and advice.  Can relate.

 

It's funny as on Odyssey, we never ended up making it to bumper cars, which seems ironic to me as to me, the main activity at the Sea Plex is bumper cars.  When we went on Anthem in 2022, you had to book them, so we did so as soon as we boarded.  I think on Odyssey since it was First Come First Serve, it was "oh bumper cars is on now" but our kids (14 and 18 years) never felt like lining up for who knows how long.  It was lots of fun on Anthem though and I'm now missing a bumper car picture in my trip photobook (which I put together after each cruise).

 

For the shower, I'm with you and just always bring our own shampoo and conditioner per bathroom. We also bring liquid hand soap as find it easier than soap bars for the bathroom sink.

 

Same...we always book traditional as we like having "our:" table and with same waiters. Good to hear that they accommodate allergies so well.

 

 

Thanks again for the compliments.  Since you guys were on the sailing right after us, it’s good to re-experience the Odyssey again from a different perspective.

 

We rode the bumper cars again later on in the cruise as well. It was a lot of fun to do as a family.

 

Yes, the wait for the bumper cars can be long.  Many people line up for them even before the stated time slots and as I posted previously, RCI is not as well organized as Disney in offloading and getting the next group in there ASAP. You will need to dedicate at least one hour to wait and experience the ride.

 

[harryfat1]

42 minutes ago, shazza_h said:

Hi Harry,

Thank you once again for your trip report.  I've been a huge fan of your work (and your excel color coding skills) since your Allure report back in the day 🙂 The boys have certainly grown up.  

I was wondering if "Cheapo Dad" is planning a trip on Icon?  Although Cheapo Dad will surely have to be a thing of the past to book on that. More like "Second Mortgage Dad"..!

Keep up the great work - love reading the updates. 

Hi,

 

Thank you for your compliments and for reading my various babble for the past 10 years. You must be a very patient and quiet person as I noticed you have been with CC for the same 10 years period but this is only your 38th post.  

 

I'm honored and appreciate you dropping a line to say hi.

 

Yes, the boys are now taller than my wife and me.  Somewhere down the road, I will be upgraded to cheapo grandpa.

 

Icon would be nice a and "wow" experience but like you said, the cost is crazy high.  I'm in no hurry to go on it at this stage of my life as itineraries are more important than ships for the most part, other than the Carnival ship we will be sailing on this December as my wife wants to sail on the Jubilee as the original Carnival Jubilee was her very first cruise so she has a special fondness for that name.

 

Hoping to go on European cruise(s) as with all the port days, that's my type of cruising.  Caribbean cruising has too many sea days for my liking.

 

Don't be shy and stranger and post more here if you have any questions or more comments.

 

[harryfat1]

Day 2 – Sea Day (Christmas Eve)

 

Typically in my trip reports, I insert the scanned version of the daily compass here at the beginning of every new day so people can either download a copy of themselves to look at if they are going on a future Odyssey sailing or they just want to follow along. 

 

However, since our cabin steward never delivered the daily compass to me for day 2, there’s nothing here.

 

In case I haven’t said it enough times, I’m not a sea day person.  As I mentioned in post #2, we don’t cruise for relaxation.  We cruise to see/experience new things. Sea days on its own don’t flluil our requirements but to get to the destination, we put up with sea days.  I know for many people here on CC, sea days are why they cruise. 

 

That’s fine, everyone has their preferences.  Just telling y’all where my bias sits.

 

My family is not morning people.  I get up the earliest amongst us at 7 AM but that’s not really early by many people’s standards.

 

I wanted to get up and walk around the ship to see things before it gets crowded and the morning is the best time as you get the best unobstructed pictures early in the morning.

 

7:15 in the morning in the corridor. 

 

 

[harryfat1]

When I was back at home, I wanted to go to 270 every morning to check out the view and drink my coffee from there.  I thought there would be short cut via the opening (per the previous post) but couldn’t find it on day 1.

 

Oh, well, try the old-school way and go to the staircase and go down one flight of stairs.  I posted this earlier but this “open air concept” on deck 5 below is why we couldn’t connect between port and starboard side elevators.

 

 

Just need to go down 1 deck and walk to 270 from here

 

[harryfat1]

Got some nice shots of the area with very few people in the area.

 

The next few pictures are probably my favorite set of pictures from inside the ship as it wasn't easy to get pictures of no people around on a ship with 5,200 passengers

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

The area outside of 270 has a lot of seating for people to sit and eat/drink in case 270 is being utilized with a planned event.  Whereas the café Promenade (Esplanade) has no seats and must share the seating area with Sorrento Pizza next door.  This 270 outside area is much better to sit and enjoy your snack/drinks if you can’t go inside 270.

 

 

Nobody here at café 270 at 7:18 on day 2.  They are open at 7 AM. You can get pastries/danish as well as breakfast sandwiches here along with regular coffee and tea.

 

 

Buy your package at home before coming on board.  Much cheaper especially if you get it on sale.

 

 

What I did on many mornings was get my coffee and something simple to eat and just hang out at 270 looking at the ship’s wake and enjoying “my time” as the family sleeps in.  Later on, I would go back and wake everyone up and then I eat a second breakfast with them upstairs at the Windjammer.

 

Here’s my seat/view for breakfast.  With a cup of coffee and a Danish/croissant, life is good as you get a small bit of tranquility on a ship that’s 125% capacity full of people.

 

Lots of space to just sit and chill with morning coffee and wake the ship's wake.

 

 

 

Highly recommend people coming to 270 for morning coffee if your cabin is near the Aft of the ship

[perfect match]

Great set of pictures, Harry! I don’t think I ever took any pictures there, or very few at best. We were always hurrying off to get somewhere or the area was so packed with people that I didn’t bother. It’s nice to see your pictures. 

[harryfat1]

I made it back to the cabin and woke up the family to go to breakfast upstairs.

 

Since this was a Holiday cruise, we brought along various Holiday decorations.  We brought some gnomes holiday magnet stickers but they weren’t strong enough to stay at the outside door so we only have these cheapo-looking posters for us to identify our cabins walking back.

 

 

In case some people don't know, the cruise ship cabin doors and walls are metallic so if you have anything magnetic, they will stick.  Or so we thought but if you had the cheaper thin magnets, then they just slide down to the floor.  Not good.

 

[harryfat1]

I went outside to take a few pictures of the outside while the family was waking up.

 

Still somewhat cloudy morning and very windy outside. Sailing south, we were going against the currents, and with the wind gusting, the ship was rocking back and forth a bit.

 

 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention last night that they opened the balcony partitions between the 2 cabins.

 

Looking way out in the horizon (red arrow), saw another ship in the distance

 

 

Zoomed in

 

 

So this is the obstructed view directly from our cabin.

 

[harryfat1]

7 minutes ago, perfect match said:

Great set of pictures, Harry! I don’t think I ever took any pictures there, or very few at best. We were always hurrying off to get somewhere or the area was so packed with people that I didn’t bother. It’s nice to see your pictures. 

Thanks. I like these pictures because most of the people are either asleep or upstairs eating.

 

Yeah, the area around 270 is my favorite.  Especially if you get there early around 7 AM.  Very quiet and peaceful.  I had almost the entire place to myself while drinking my coffee.  Wish all my mornings start this way back at home.

[harryfat1]

Here’s another view of the inside connecting cabin opening up.  I’m not sure if I got pictures of both doors but there’s one door on each side of the cabin to close at night time.

 

 

Oh, speaking of nighttime, forgot to mention that the Odyssey being a newer ship has nightlight in the bathroom so for those of us who need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, this is a real plus. 

 

Whereas on the older ships like the Navigator, you have to fumble your own in the dark or turn on the light and blind yourself thus staying awake for the next 20 minutes before going back to sleep.

[harryfat1]

The morning picture on speed has us going 18 knots sailing outside of Cuba

 

 

70 degrees outside in the morning.  Not warm yet.  31 knots wind so it’s part of the gusty wind I mentioned previously.

 

 

Artwork as seen from the elevator

 

 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

When were you on the Allure?  I know you were on the Symphony just the week before our sailing.

We were on Allure this month.   We did Symphony, then the beach house for the holidays after that cruise, then Allure.  Needed one more point to bump us up to D+, so we figured as long as we were in Florida, why not.

[hucifer]

Since I came here a little late, I meant to tell you that I completely agree with you about the first day of the cruise being the most special. There's nothing like the anticipation of stepping on the ship for the first time that vacation. Nothing beats the excitement.

 

As far as the uncle in prison...my son and I were on the Serenade last summer and we had a day at the CoCoCay waterpark. The only other ship docked there that day was the Allure. Uncle Prison would be waiting at the top of each slide. When we would get up to the top, the uncle would ask us "Allure passengers?" while holding up his camera. After telling him no, we were lowly Serenade scum, he would immediately turn to the next folks in line as if WE were the crazy aunt in the basement. 

[harryfat1]

8 hours ago, hucifer said:

Since I came here a little late, I meant to tell you that I completely agree with you about the first day of the cruise being the most special. There's nothing like the anticipation of stepping on the ship for the first time that vacation. Nothing beats the excitement.

 

As far as the uncle in prison...my son and I were on the Serenade last summer and we had a day at the CoCoCay waterpark. The only other ship docked there that day was the Allure. Uncle Prison would be waiting at the top of each slide. When we would get up to the top, the uncle would ask us "Allure passengers?" while holding up his camera. After telling him no, we were lowly Serenade scum, he would immediately turn to the next folks in line as if WE were the crazy aunt in the basement. 

Haha, you ghetto cruisers from the lowly old ship don’t get dedicated photographers.

 

In all seriousness, I think they might only have 1 photographer per X number of passengers, say 400 passengers per photographer on a normal sailing.  Such that an Oasis-class ship with 6,000 passengers might have 15 photographers whereas Serenade at 2,500 capacity will only have around 6 or 7. 

 

Half of the Serenade photographers may be at the gangway to take photos of people getting off the ship and the rest of the team at the entrance to the CocoCay or the beach taking pictures.  So there’s no one at the slides for you to visit the uncle in prison. There’s just not enough of them to spread around.

 

In our prior visits, I never recall seeing photographers at Columbus Cove at Labadee taking pictures of passengers but we saw one this time.  Don’t know if they have bigger staff on this Holiday sailing or if I just missed them in the past.

[harryfat1]

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  I was busy watching football yesterday and didn't upload as much as I wanted.

 

We will see how far we get tonight.

 

+++++++++++++

Lots of people at the Windjammer this morning at 8:45.

 

 

I love the fact they had to put the sign, "For Display Only" at ALL the gingerbread decorations around the ship (Windjammer/MDR/270) in case someone wants to eat it...